MEMORIES OF FOURTH YEAR

This year lethargy has had its hold on me otherwise this post would have appeared way back in June. This also marks my bloggiversary. What started as an activity for a curious soul on a summer afternoon, maybe to fill the void left by the disintegration of a long letter writing relationship, has sustained itself for four years now. More of this later…..for now let me stick to the topic…

B.I.T was its usual self-the drills had become all too familiar by now. So you find yourself blabbering away to glory in the 2k4 rooms while the ladies work hard on their thesis. As butru often points out, you suddenly have a lot of time at hand mostly because your sole commitment in the college has wooshed away. Yes, you do miss the animal tales, the music sessions, the ‘meet me now (4:45 a.m!!!!)” calls, forest walks and rides to nowhere but you also know that there is no point in getting depressed about it….look beyond.
Things have also cooled down on the academic front. The teachers take it easy and we follow lead. So, with all this time in the world you discover college like never before.

There is a drastic re-definition in friends. You finally begin to pick out the shams from the true gems. Yardstick- “People who do not have to spend an hour to achieve the – out-of-bed-look”. Evenings are free and spent curled up in a corner devouring some book or the other. Ah! You become your former self again….bliss! Society is fine but you need that withdrawing space where it’s you, your thoughts and the spider on the wall.

ANDC trophy work was fun- The visit to the haat every Saturday to study the Hadia and Mahua sellers, the Rs. 12 noodles, herbs and spices from the Jharkhand forest. You also discover a lot of things about your friends during group work- the last minute deserters matched by the crazy all night zealous workers. The last minute sheet finishing at CCD, haggling with the courier guy and reaching back at 9 all drenched.

LIK was better still. The visit to Banaras, living at Kautilya society guest house, the ratri jagaran sabhas, being at 11 pm on the ghats, being at 4 am on the ghats, watching the sun rise over the ganga, the taste of mallia melting in your mouth, hearing Prof. Singh talk about Banaras so passionately on assi ghat, aghoris, fighting for the rent and at last almost missing the train. Coming back- almost living in the design studio, passion of the group that blurred the boundary between day and night and finally the submission!! We did not win but it was one of the most satisfying exercises we have done.

One day you play along and eat the wild mushrooms Kaso so often cooks. Soon there is on spot on your skin that is not red. You rush home and stay back for a month only to return for zonasa in Calcutta. No shosher maach this time but much better performance at the events. You also stop part time view making unhappy with the money and start devoting time to competitions (more money and better satisfaction).

To pick out memories- The Rajjarappa trip will go down in history. You had to convince 6 girls to go with 12 boys they had never seen to a place they had never heard about!! “ See, they are really nice boys. They even touch my parents’ feet when they meet them (yardstick 2)”. “ They are decent and well behaved”. “There will be no drinking-smoking I assure you(yardstick 3).” You had to paint this angelic picture partly out of imagination because even you knew just two of them. You also had to define a code of behavior for the girls. “Don’t act snobbish, be friendly to all and carry some food please.”
In the morning things did not go as planned. The girls were ready by 7 but the boys turned up only after 9. The first impression we got of them- shaggy, stubble and leaning against a trekker at pmc!! The girls would have run back if I wasn’t there pushing them in. Things brightened up as the journey progressed. The initial hesitations were thrown aside hastily and soon people who had never seen each other were using pet names. The temple and boat ride were fun but the company was incredible. We couldn’t see the sulphur springs but nothing else was left un-explored. By lunch friendships has flourished and the laughter was not stopping at all. No body felt like going back so early so we took a detour to rukka dam, saw a nagpuri film being shot, posed for a gazzilion pics and finally came back by dusk. That night, both the hostels were abuzz recounting how much fun they had with total strangers!!

It was also the year of dirty politics. Bitotsav made everybody power crazy. People who were in teams till last year cursing pauaa were now in posts promoting it. Fights, corruption and giant egos all broke loose and I lost all the affection I has for this special event.

Thesis- the topic selection process was too overwhelming; you lost your mind and are still trying to untangle your thoughts!

Visiting the old age home was also an experience. Makes you wonder about the strange ways of nature. The parent-child relationship suffers from such parasitic influences-happy to take but only lies and deception when it comes to giving. However, I will never forget the optimism of the 105 years old marwari lady who washes her clothes, does all her chores, reads and does not have a single regret in life!!!

You see what drastic change retirement brought about in your parents’ lives. From an 8 to 8 schedule they suddenly had nothing to do. It took a while but I think that they are settling in and re-discovering things they never had the time for earlier – Gardening, shopping, cooking (and composting!!), traveling, bathing Mia (v.imp), reading, writing, painting………

Now the last leg of our architectural studies has begun. Thesis is in full swing however you feel very disconnected to the whole thing. Maybe it will get cured in sometime. College seems pretty empty without your batch. Zonasa preps are again gaining momentum. Transtaling Traditions also eats up a lot of energy. Have many plans for the coming session- Hazaribaag, North East, Bihar…….ah! the blessed wings of fantasy appear again.....

Also have to clear up a lot of pending blogs……coming soon- “ Hadia and Chullu- the recipe”.

DASVEDANIA......



If ragging is supposed to be torturous......then how come we laughed our heads off
if freshers is supposed to be an economoical event.........how come we were treated like kings
if if seniors are supposed to be snobby...how come ours worked for us late into the night
if there is supposed to be a batch demarcation........how come we spent all our time in their rooms
if juniors are supposed to bow down in respect of their seniors.....how come we made ours run #$%ed
if good byes are supposed to be good riddance.......how come we cried so bitterly at ours
to the most incredible bunch of girls i met.........muah!!

Thesis Topic.....
ah......the time has finally come....
four years of architectural education to be condensed in one topic............
ideas and suggestion welcome............

Haystack Diries......
Few things can be as pleasurable as lying on the haysack all day long, especially when you have an exam the next day.......

There are times when B.i.T just takes your breath away..........

On a walk down O.C road when it is raining hard.......

Strolling barefoot on the upper lawns.........

Sitting by the river when the morning mist is just lifting off.........

Clear sparkling sky and the hide and seek game the clouds and the moon play.............

The carpet of brown leaves that cover everything before February...........

It is not every day you are blessed to live amidst 760 acres of reserved forest and an unpolluted river. Feel blessed and make the most of it........................

REDISCOVERY........

What can be more gratifying to the human sense of curiosity than a library. All those books overflowing with knowledge...just waiting to be opened. For a person whose social life underwent drastical changes this semester, I found solace in the B.I.T Mesra library!
Things got better when a friend fixed a date with me in the library. We did random searching on the comp with surprising results. There were entire sections dedicated to Yoga, cookery and even sex! we even bumped into plays by Girish Karnad and travelogues from the Himalayas. It was a different way of 'hanging out' and it was awesome!
On other days, when i am in a graver mood, I browse through the Architectural section. They have some very rare and good book there which students hardly access. Add to this free newspapers and journals and magazines from all over the world.
Other random observations-
1. there are still a lot of people who do actually sit down there and study.....real study. Very inspiring!
2. if we ever happen to strike up a conversation with a person the strict librarian in the maroon pathan suit walks up to us and says the same line( every single time!) " agar baat karni hai to canteen mein jaa ke karo." Is this not a flaw in the system?? shouldn't a place in the library be dedicated to human-to-human knowledge exchange? Should a conversation be a big sin even if it isin't disturbing other readers?

Botton life is.....the library is currently my favourite haunt........it is a free bookstore........and a really strong support system..........
MUAH!

This has become an annual affair for me. An otherwise productive human being thrust into an utterly jobless vacation where the most ‘happening’ thing is Mia’s nail cutting ceremony…..here is the best of what happened last year

Memories of Third Year

We experienced a major change in the way we lived (ref. to earlier reports on the pitiful life of prisoners in Jail no. 9) with the LAN and internet around. DC++ brought about end to ‘real’ social interaction in an otherwise united girls’ hostel. Telecom providers suffered heavy losses b’cuz Net Meeting took care of all the koocheekoo. My sleep pattern altered as the best time to download anything from an otherwise excruciatingly slow internet is 2 AM. Our projects and presentations improved drastically b’cuz of all the information around as did our game-playing and movie watching. We were now ‘connected’

More about the individual now…..

So your academic life also goes ‘hi-tech’ as they now accept CAD submissions. The Sarkar-Sandy duo makes Design something to look forward to each week. The big drafting board sits dejectedly in the lobby while the laptop becomes your new pet. Sletchup and itz brethren now occupy your time.

As for the ‘kya parha aur kya dekha’ section--- this was the year dedicated to meaningful movies. Dharma, Khuda ke liye, the Daniel Pearl story, Pother Panchali,Namesake, Kite Runner etc. Books were galore too… Shantaram, Clockwork Orange, Mud…….

Then one fine day you watch ‘the inconvenient truth’. That green seed, lying dormant after that ‘say no to crackers’ campaign’ in class 11, begins to wiggle again till all you can see or do is GREEN. No more drinking coffee in a plastic mug or eating anything packed or processed. Switching off every light and turning off every tap and delving deeper and deeper into this ‘ECO FRIENDLY’ pit!!

You were your ghanchakkar self again this year. Rajasthan and Ahmedabad with 2K5 & 2K6 was the best ‘academic’ holiday you had. IIT-Kgp is a must on the unwritten B.IT itinerary and you had to go there. From living in the dingiest lodge to extreme loose motions….all happened in a span of 2 days. The all-girl Kolkatta trip was magical. From Ms. Das’s Shosher Maach to College Street…..made you an even more ardent supporter of the ‘ I love bengalis’ club.

The 14 new people from MGR were a very pleasant change in the class of 21 who had by now drawn swords and wanted to taste blood at the drop of a hat!

BITOTSAV was the high point and the win unforgettable. You even got to see and feel the OBSA events up-close b’cuz of wearing the Khancheez hat. The quiz was a beginning and Reflections a great initiative but the bickering and enemy-like attitudes of class mates was two steps back when we had just taken one forward.

It was also the semester of realizing that change was afoot. Your fellow earthworm eater, the lazy evening walker, Mini animal planet, pleasing like a cool breeze and more addictive than a daily dose of nicotine was to pack his back and go. A beti shaped hole in your life!?!

So what palns now? Decluttering it shall be this sem……removing the essential from the chaff……in words…..thoughts…..and actions……

Allaha hafiz

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.

MEMORIES OF SECOND YEAR…..

So you fell in love with the damn place. What can you do? The heart has a strange way of its own! You go back after a two month break and it all seems so beautiful. You get a funny tinkle in you stomach when you get down at the station. The auto walas increased their price again. Then comes the blessed BIT more. The gates of the placed you cursed last time seem like the very gates of paradise and guards like cute angels. You drop off the boys in their hostel. Its five in the morning, the guard is sleeping and you decide to go in. the one and only time you get to go inside H-6 and see those rooms. Double rooms for boys…..about half the size of the single rooms that girls have in h-8. tut tut. Some boys in their towels run for cover at the unexpected sight of a girl.
Happy? Had your fun? Got your kick? Good! Now you head to your own den. The sight of your friends makes you very happy. Oh! How you missed these rascals. Some are coming in form the station and some are gearing up to move to H-9. Ah! You almost forgot…..you gotta change your hostel. Leave the comforts of h-8, the super clean bathrooms and single rooms and move to h-9……it’s what some girls call going to sasuraal while others say it’s moving into the real world.
Well all that registration drama happens and you loose some running around and then gain some hogging in the canteen. The “ get-together-for-another-great-semester” thing. Even that food seems good!
All this love-shmuv lasts a week or so. Honeymoon over! You get back into the grinds. The schedule of everyday life takes over. All the ‘ I’ll learn Spanish this semester’ or ‘I’ll learn to tap-dance’ is replaced by the more realistic ‘I’ll submit my assignment on time……hopefully’.
All things are similar to last time……except……there are some new kids on the block…2K6! You see that just girls ,girls and girls…..that new reservation thing. Few of your friends, the ones in the limelight, have a tough time accepting that the limelight has now shifted……it’s about the kids now. We old guns otta move out and enjoy the show! And its quite a show…..the same courtship games, the same ups and down in the fests, the same hoo-haa about 9 pointers………you see it all. The game is the same….only the faces change. And thank god they do!
Then you get to see that the new chicks are about substance too. They call up GP when you go to rag ‘em! Hells Bells! Oh! How you love ‘em and wish you had that kinda guts………..
Elsewhere a lunatic cooks up the idea of THiNK and lures you in. it’s fun….starting a magazine from scratch. You learn and un-learn a lot of things along the way. You attend meeting where nothing logical is ever discussed and all the real decision are taken over phone. Well all is done and you are waiting to see the first edition sometime soon.
Then your beloved BITotsav ’07 happens. All goes well as long as 2k3 toes the line but how much can a man take? When the goons flex a muscle or two the guys decide they’ve had just about enough. They hand over the keys and say try running the show you old guns! It all falls to pieces when they leave. For the first time it was students against the administration, en mass. Nothing happened and nothing changed but at least they tried. You and all others you know ain’t forgetting Kranti ’07 in a hurry…..

Other things were more or less the same and as the session draws to a close you start cribbing again. You hate the damn place. What with all the rules and regulations…..the in-time, the dull life…..sheesh! You gotta get out and fast…..

Right now you are sitting at home, away from the monster and what is your prime occupation? You visit it’s group on orkut, you check out the forum, you hop and skip on the blog of fellow BITians and right now you are writing about it.

Strange are the ways of the heart…………………

Should have written this one looong ago…but better late then never….

AFTER 6…….

So you finished with your tata-bye bye at PMC by 1810 and managed to get your ass inside H-9 by 1815 only to get in the loooong line in front of the ‘sign-in’ register. You curse the system as you wait in line surrounded by sweaty and stinky girls….one signature each day to certify your presence in the hostel. Finally you reach the register…….now begins the search for a pen because some girl absent mindedly walked away with the original. You notice something strange on the register….nobody in your lobby has signed….bang it hits you then….its your signing day…you have to sign for the whole lobby. You have to do it in a clandestine fashion because it caught the warden will give you a hard time. Somehow you manage to forge 10 signatures…….its 1630….

With some hope you go to the food counter….only to be rebuffed rudely…..’chai bajey ke baad kuch nahi milega’ says a fat mausi and leaves…..still hunger makes you persistent and you scrape at the leftover samosa and cold chai……

You reach your room…..your roommate is absent but there is music playing…..not only from your room but from the 10 rooms surrounding yours….its a funny headache you get after you listen to a) Zombie b) where is the party tonight c) hanuman chalisa at the same time……..

You go to take a shower…….only to find the drain clogged with long strands of silky black hair. The wash basin is no better……..egg shells left by some lady who washed her hair with it. You really have to appreciate the variety of things girls will put on their faces and hair…..any thing form ripe tomatoes and bananas to sea weed and algae…….yuck!!

The time between 1900 and 210o flies in a daze. It’s finally time for dinner and your friends drag you to the dining hall. Another long line is waiting for you. But once the parathas arrive it’s a scene to behold. Manners, etiquettes and all such inconveniencies are cast aside and girls give way to the animal inside them. They jump, they snatch and they fight…..to get two hot parathas. You join in the fun and throw in a few expletives to make the atmosphere more charged. After few such fights you get your food and as you go to the table to eat hungry eyes of girls till waiting in line follow you…….

Back in your room you realize you forgot to fill water. Damn! No way are you going to the first floor to do it now so you dwell in your need. You spread your sheets and get to work. Why the fuck did I take architecture you wonder…….but other girls have a better life. 90% are out with their cell phones huddled in corners talking on and on and on to god knows who. Others not afflicted by the cell addiction are huddled in groups in one others room talking to each other. I am in awe of the ability of girls to talk about practically nothing for hours…..

from your room you get a view of what others are doing….some are dancing for no good reason….some are having a fashion parade and some are simply laughing their heads……strange….damn strange……

so you see….its a weird world in there. From being deprived of food to being bullied by mausis….I bet you expected me to write about the good things in there….like girls moving about in practically no clothes…..maybe tomorrow when I am not so sleepy I will….

When Girls Change Tubelights....

The problem was simple.

Panks wanted her tube light changed. So when she entered my room looking for someone who knew how to do it, I jumped at the opportunity. I call it an opportunity because I love changing tubelights and bulbs. Yeah, it looks strange for a hobby but I can’t help myself.

I removed the functional tube from Anu’s room (who had long ago moved out) and took out the dead one from Panks’. Now this presented a problem as the holder was a bit twisted and my position was hardly comfortable. The chair, which was in turn on top of Panks’ bed, was shaking. The simple solution would have been to fix the twisted holder with a pair of tweezers. However my enthusiasm for changing tubes is equaled by my fear of getting electrocuted. I cannot touch the damn thing even if the mains are switched off (strange combo!!!)

So there I was trying to get the thing in when Poo entered. I was so happy doing what I was doing and turned to tell her about it. I, however, forgot that the fan was on. Clang! The tube was split into half as if by a blow by Darth Wader himself. The three of us stared at the broken pieces now scattered all over the place. Shit!!

However the spirit of a tube light changer is not easily broken. While cleaning her room another idea struck!! Panks agreed.
At midnight we slipped into the guest room of our hostel, replaced the working tube there with our dead one and ran as if we had just looted Swiss bank. Half an hour of twisting and turning the holder the tube light finally fit. Both Panks and I were covered in sweat (the fan was OFF this time!). We prayed to god, blew the conch and flicked the switch on. Nothing!!! Like a madman I flicked it again and again!! No result after six hours of hard work and sweat can be depressing and with a glum and broken spirit we went to bed.
Two days later the electrician told us that it was the switch that was not working properly.

First year at BIT

You hear a lot about college from your elder brothers and sisters. You imagine this place with no uniform, no parental guidance and very little studies, in short, a place where the party never ends. But this dream bubble gets brutally popped when you enter the gates of Birla Institute of Technology (they should add a :ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK board there).

For the first five minutes you see nothing but trees, trees and more trees with hostel buildings peeking from behind done up in gay(pun intended) yellow and spotted with undies. Finally you reach your own cellular jail. And then your warden says the two magic words “IN TIME”. Things get worse with the stuff they call food and hell holes called toilets.

First day of class, hope rises again. With buoyant steps you enter the building. A swarm descends upon you- SENIORS. From the next day on salwaar kameez, oily hair and bathroom chappals become your style statement. They make you sing, dance or act the fool anytime anyplace. At night you sob your stories to parents and hope you had never left home.

After the first week something happens….something they call orientation. You get used to it. You tell yourself, “It maybe bad but it is what I have to live with now”. And then the fun begins…..

You share your sorrows with your jail mates. You form a team and have fun at Techneek. You enjoy the sad show at Fugia. You experience the joys of free SMSing. You slip off to Subarnrekha right under the guard’s nose. You learn how to study the night before the exam and still get good marks. You learn to play the guitar. You come across funny words like PMC and BABA. Seniors don’t seem so bad when they hand over notes and treat at CCD.

College campus is a place where rumors spread fast. For one whole week you gossiped about a girl from your hostel getting married even when she lived as a happy spinster in the next room. You hear one day that your room was raided and enough stuff was found to earn a narcotics officer a lifetime achievement award. In reality not even a room heater was found!!!

Suddenly you realize that this jungle is always abuzz. Drishyant, Genisis, Dope Seminar. During BITotsav you wish you had Hermione’s time turner because you have to participate in 4 events at the same time.

And now as you finish this blog entry from home you can’t wait to go back. The place has somehow grown on you. The administration may be cold and apathetic or plain non-existent (except on registration day) but the students take care of the rest. The best soldiers are the ones that take the hardest obstacle course. So cadet tie up your boots for another action packed semester !!!!!