Oh Bengal!

“E re bus driver! Michil aasche.. Gaadi ta Jore kore daudao na hole din bhar ekhane amra morbo”. Roughly translated into, “O mighty bus driver, Please drive fast. A Michil (procession) is coming. If we get caught we have to rot here whole day”.
Whoever said that negativity clings was absolutely correct. Here I salute those who believe in the positives and continue to strive to attain their dream despite all the odds, without the surroundings letting them affect in any manner. Past one month has been tough. Tough in the sense, I never felt so helpless and frustrated at the happenings. And when you are not doing something which reduces the helplessness, it just adds fuel to the fire.
Whatever I may say or do, I always had a soft corner for Bengal and still believe it’s the best place on earth. But the recent spate of happenings has just left me unhappy. And the innumerable hoardings of our very own Mamta Baneerjee, which surprisingly found its way all through Calcutta post Nano, just leaves me mouthing obscenities. It’s strange how she has managed to gather so much fund and colour the whole of Calcutta after that ‘oh so famous incident’. In the last 22 days that I have been here I have seen 9 Michils (processions), 1 state wide Bandh, 2 National holidays, 3 Sundays (full day off for babus and the likes) and 3 Saturdays (half day off for some Government babus, which undoubtedly gets transferred for full day, and half day off for others). Now my tryst with Michils:
I remember my school days in Bengal. Whenever a huge Michil was scheduled to take place ‘The Telegraph’ would write pages about it. Why is it useful or useless, which places to avoid, which routes to take....... and stuffs like that. With time these Michils became so common that the newspapers baron thought that if they continue to publish news like that there would be no space to print the other relevant news and so it stopped. And so I think the progress of Bengal. Out of the 9 michils I was caught in 7. Now what do I mean by caught? Ever imagined yourself stranded somewhere in the middle of sea? The feeling is something like that. Nowhere to run.. Nowhere to walk.. Just keep sitting or worse standing where you are and watch the endless list of people cross the road behind their so called leader. Sometimes it takes as much as 2 hours to get your car to cross a stretch of 1 kilometer. This is Michil. And their effect? Well I sometimes fail to even know the reason why and what those people are doing. But some of the reasons were:
• Making the para teachers permanent and increase their salary. After endless search I got this piece of information from a teacher which was in a Bengali newspaper. “I know our act caused inconvenience to many people of Kolkata. But this was necessary to let our voices be heard”. I felt like cutting his throat so that he does not even dream of letting his voice heard ever again.
• Reducing the price of Petrol and reducing the fare of buses... Heights... Someone please tell them Calcutta has one of the cheapest transport facilities... By the way as this Michil was not as successful as they had planned so they called a state wide bandh in which they threatened that not even the IT companies’ buses will be allowed to run.
• Today there was a Michil in Esplanade, the heart of Kolkata. I asked a person who was standing there and listening to someone shout at the top of his voice, “yeh Kya ho raha hai”. He smiled and replied, “Pata nahi bhaiya. Kuch der me nasta milega. Isliye main khada hoon”.
• One procession said, “Say No to Terrorism”.

I was so disgusted by all this that I would not be surprised if tomorrow I am stuck in a Michil which says, “Say No to michils”...... It’s such a wonderful place but sadly now it’s being fed to dogs and bitches. And all I can do is stand and watch and watch till the line of procession gets over and everyone returns back to work as if nothing happened.
But still I am in love with this place because of the sheer attitude of its people... Because of the simple Nature to take everything positively that comes their way. Times are bad but everyone is sure that one day all this politics will come to an end and everyone will get his due. People have got tired of complaining. Solutions are being worked upon even though many have given hope for this city’s revival, the young stalwarts have hope in their stride and they are working towards the betterment of this city. I am not just speaking out of the blue. I have seen it and am seeing it. Follies have been realised and maybe this statement is apt for the situation- “We have hit rock bottom. Now the only way is up”.... Despite everything I still love this place and long to get back here every vacations :)

Bombs Bombs everywhere...

The recent spat of bombings has forced me to think(a rare activity involving me). It has scared me and the element of pity has engulfed my heart. Scared because i don't know where, why and how the next bombing is going to take place. It maybe that i am out shopping and the whole complex is blown off, it maybe that i am in a church and a crater 25 feet deep and 30 feet wide is formed because the truck parked outside contains explosives. I am not allowed to go to Goa for vacations because that's the place which has been tipped off as the next target. My mom is not allowing me to go for the Dussehra festival in Mysore because she thinks that such a huge gathering is a soft target for the 'terrorists'. My freedom of movement is being curbed. My sense of belonging in this country is being curbed and obviously i don't like that.
I am scared because the public is losing it's cool. I pity the people who died for no fault of theirs in the bombing and i pity the people who got affected by their death and i pity the people who will be looked down with suspicion after the bombings are over. It's only a matter of time before the tolerance level of the public reaches it's zenith and it's forced to take a drastic step in order to curb this menace. I am scared of that day and i pity that day.
It's not a secret that the Muslim community is suspected everytime a blast takes place everywhere. From the Mumbai blasts in 1993 to the recent Delhi blasts everytime the suspicion has fell upon Muslims. So much so that even when blasts took place in a mosque in Hyderabad the Muslims were targeted. Why is all this happening and what on earth is "Indian Mujahideen", claimed to be an offshoot of SIMI. Shakeel was 17 years old when he was suspected to be a part of a bomb plan and he was 27 when he was released on the basis of lack of evidence. The drive undertaken by the police of Hyderabad on 22nd and 23rd of August 2008 is utterly shameful and is not remotely close to what is called humane. Muslims are picked up from their homes without any notice and are mercilessly tortured and beaten. Ear lobes are cut off and electric shock treatment and ice beating is too common. They are tortured until they sign a blank paper which will be their testimony claming that they were involved in the bombings. God alone knows where the 'real terrorists' are and what happens of them and we know how 'actual terrorists' are formed. When such things are happening how can the people of India(sarcastically leaving in a Democratic Country) dream of a peaceful country. I can't even think of it.
By now the people who are reading this must be thinking that i am a staunch Islamist, sitting in some corner and dreaming of taking revenge because the people of his own clan were treated badly. But i am a devout Hindu, writing this as a blog post to be submitted in a competition and go to the temple twice a week. The only difference is that i have seen all these things happening and i somewhat understand the plight of the common Muslims who suffer for the no fault of theirs. Oh yes their only fault is that they live in a free world and a democratic country. I stay in a place where Hindus and Muslims live in completely harmony. The Hindus understand their limit and the Muslims understand the religious sentiments of the Hindus. But even then there are occasional raids in the houses of the Muslims and they are arrested without any condition for bail. The Muslim who live here seem to have accepted their fate and they seldom complain and the harmony between the two opposite castes is not affected. But i am apprehensive about "Till when?". The apple of discord is going to be sown at sometime or the other and i shudder to think of the time when that will happen. Blood will flow like water and my place will be destroyed. Someone please try and help.....
Then you might be thinking what about the people who die in such balsts 'for no fault of theirs' and why shouldn't the Muslims be targeted when the IM openly claims the responsibility for such a henious crime and label this as their fatwa? Well why should one whole community be shunned for the activity of others? The good and peaceful Muslims are sure that Allah never wanted this, that whatever they are doing is just because of their selfish motives and those people will never be able to attain Jannat. Then why are these people being targeted? What is the Government doing to ensure that our country is not affected by such plagues and what are we doing to ensure that there is no flaw from our side? We must understand that in harmony lies our success mantra. Unless and until this bit of knowledge enters our head may God be with us and may you not be in the place where the next bomb is going to explode(I am optimistic about that with the prevalent conditions).

Registration Number:115
Name:Rahul Mourya
Branch:Mechanical
Section: 5 B

Pain Redefined....

Pain- Something that knows no limits and understands no boundaries. I had the ‘opportunity’ of experiencing two different limits of the ultimate teacher of the human race (maybe living beings). The end of semester exams marks one of my happiest moment , as i get to go home and live life my kingsize way. This time i happened to book a ticket in Howrah mail, which leaves from Chennai. Everything was fine and well until we discovered how Lalu was managing to generate so much profit in railways. He had converted the side upper and side lower seats into a 3 tier i.e. instead of 2 people now 3 people will be sharing the already shrinked space.
To add to the problems i had the middle berth which meant that only half my body would fit the space and half will be left dangling outside. So here the situation was a bit grim. I was travelling by train after a long long time because the airline operators had stopped giving free tickets and the rising fuel prices were a bit too much of a luxury to pay. Barely had i stopped ruing my fate, there came another news. The train was filled with patients coming from Chennai and it’s adjoining areas, two of which were right infront of our seats. I as a person just can’t stay with people who are undergoing suffering and pain (quite a paradox considering the fact that i live in a slum area and am part of BDO, but then in life you don’t have many choices...). So all this was too much for men (read painful) and i was contemplating a change of seat until i noticed that one of the ‘patient’ was actually a kid of about 5 month old.
The child had plaster all over his legs and hands and a pipe ran through it’s right nose. Watching him i was reminded of my childhood state, related to me vividly by my parents and sisters. As of now even if i have a clogged nose i feel a lot of pain and discomfort and here i was watching a cute little kid who was playing silently instead of a pipe being thrust against his slender nose. Forgetting all my inhibitions and thoughts i started talking to his mother (ya and by the way thanks to lalu the 3 tier compartment was looking like a general compartment with more number of people being cramped into with less baggage space). His mother revealed that any kind of food intake earlier was directly entering his lungs thus creating respiratory problems. So now he had a pipe through which food was fed. On being asked how i got the most gross but true explanation that a child can be fed. Milk was poured into the pipe and then her mother blew into it until it went inside. I wondered how until i was given a demonstration which sent me outside the compartment with my head spinning.
So here we are. I was passing off a luxury as a pain until i realised how lucky i was to eat through my mouth. More than the plight of the child i was thinking about the condition of the mother. She was barely 25 and so much to endure. There was not a slightest of complaint. She was all chirpy and cheerful and kept playing with the kid. It’s not that she was made that way. Seeing that child i was feeling pity for him but her mother was blank. Maybe it was because of the continuous ‘pain’ she had endured all through. Maybe it was one of acceptance but i was startled. Hats off to her and all the moms of the world who keep their spirits alive instead of countless hardships on their path......

Vacations...

Last one month has been nothing less than a roller coaster ride for me. I met a lot of people and visited amazing places. On one such occasion i had a rare chance of meeting a highly intellectual person with whom i was engaged in a discussion on which was better- objectivism or collectivism. I obviously supported collectivism without which our whole system stands to fall. Whatever had been our differences the only thing we agreed upon was that for the society and for the country to progress as a whole both the aspects are required at some point or the other. Whatever we discussed stood to crumble yesterday when i faced my worst day in terms of the way the government works.
As i was on vacation and had almost three days in hand before i embarked on my next trip i was entrusted with the job of getting the birth certificate of my nephew. I had two ways of getting the work done. Get a phone number from my dad, call that person, give him some extra money (read bribe) and i have the certificate in my hands without even stepping out of the house. The other was to go to the Municipal office and obtain the document ‘legally’. My dad advised me to exercise the first option but as i have been ‘taught’ all these years, i took the latter option. And lo i was standing infront of the municipality not knowing what to do next. But somehow i managed to find the office where certificates are issued. I filled up a form and after waiting for around 3 hours and fighting hard to listen to the grand old man to call out your name which produced infrasonic waves, i was told that the surname of my sis and jiju was wrongly entered in the computer. What on earth was this supposed to mean? I asked him but he shooed me away telling me that i shouldn’t be standing there if i didn’t know what was that supposed to mean. Go to hell- wanted to tell him this but my manners stopped me and i later realised that it was a mistake. This grand old man was supposed to cross check all the details and then pass it to some other person who did something which i guess will never be known to me. People were falling on top of each other just to know who was the lucky person whose name would be called and the voice didn’t help. I wanted to teach the grand old man ways to do his job in a better way but hell i was not the one who ran things there and above all he was a ‘government babu’.

Anyway i somehow again managed to find out the room which houses all the records and where i was supposed to go to get the surname corrected. Don’t ask me the logic. Even i fail to reason with them. The grand old man has all the records in his grand old computer but instead of correcting the name there he wanted me to go the main office, wait till the record book which has all the names hand written is fished out and then come back to him with the seal of a higher authority which says that the surname is spelt as choudhary and not chowdhury. Kudos to you man. We are impressed. And mind you, all this is because of the error of the government officials while transferring data. My jiju is learned and sane enough to spell his surname correctly atleast in a government document. Anyway i grudgingly stood in the long queue (all the people were standing to get their names corrected). After about half an hour a babu comes out and proudly declares that the office is closed for the day and calmly tells us to come the next day. The working hours is from 11-2 and yes there was no board or banner which said that. We are supposed to know that. Wow!!

I returned the next day as soon as the office opened only to find a longer queue. I can’t give up- i thought and stood in the line. After about an hour or so the queue didn’t even move an inch. Obviously these people were testing my patience so i barged into the office and was said, “You don’t run things over here. Go out (no please)”. I listened and me and my puppy face went back and stood in the queue. People empathised and told that the babus were busy doing the work of the higher class people who paid extra money and found standing in the queue an unimaginable task. A guy from the office was watching all this. After about five minutes he comes upto me and says, “Give 300 rupees and your work will be done”. Fists closed and mouth shut i just nodded my head in disagreement. I was the 15th person in line and it took two and half hours for my file to reach the ‘babu’. He saw me and asked my family history and how i was related to the child. In the end he closes the file and tells me that he cannot change the name. Either the child’s mother or father has to come with an affidavit and their voter ID card to get their name changed. I just sat looking at the person’s face with a confused look, not knowing what to do or say. He helped me- “Please go and let the next guy take your place.” And if you have forgotten this was a fault of some government official while copying the name from the hospital record to the municipal record. Even if it was a human error, a simple notice stating the things required to get your name corrected, outside the office would have done the job.
I went home. Took the number from my dad and told that person to get a birth certificate for me. Now i know why my dad advised me, now i know why no one knows what to do in a municipal office, now i know what to tell someone when he asks me how to make a birth certificate.. now i know.. now i know.. I don’t say i am proud to do this but i won’t stand in a municipality office like that ever again. Not as long as the system works like this. It’s very nice to say- we are the system, we will change everything, unless and until we change we can’t expect the system to change and we have no right to crib. All useless. After whatever i saw i can’t tell my sis or jiju to go and stand at the municipal office which closes down at 2 and then spurs the remaining people like a cur. I can’t.. i can’t.. I understand that all the young people reading this will abuse me for whatever i am telling but even i was determined to fight the system until this. Maybe things are different at other places, maybe this is an exception. But not this place again. I will fight for the other places but places like this....I GIVE UP..

Nandigram..not a gram anymore??

I came to Calcutta a day after a bandh was called and will be leaving a day after a bandh was called to protest against the Nandigram issue. Lot of people have been asking me what’s wrong with Calcutta and the reason for which the general public and business is being affected. Is it an extended Diwali vacation??
Here I will first tell you what an SEZ is, then show you how the common man is affected by these bandhs and then show you the plight of the people living in Nandigram.

A Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a geographical region that has economic laws that are more liberal than a country's typical economic laws. The category 'SEZ' covers a broad range of more specific zone types, including Free Trade Zones (FTZ), Export Processing Zones (EPZ), Free Zones (FZ), Industrial Estates (IE), Free Ports, Urban Enterprise Zones and others. Usually the goal of an SEZ structure is to increase foreign investment. One of the earliest and the most famous Special Economic Zones were founded by the government of the People's Republic of China under Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s. The most successful Special Economic Zone in China, Shenzhen, has developed from a small village into a city with a population over 10 million within 20 years.
Currently, India has 811 units in operations in 8 functional SEZs, each an average size of 200 acres. 8 Export Processing Zones (EPZs) have been converted into SEZs. These are fully functional. All these SEZs are in various parts of the country in the private/joint sectors or by the State Government. But this process of planning and development is under question, as the states in which the SEZs have been approved are facing intense protests, from the farming community, accusing the government of forcibly snatching fertile land from them, at heavily discounted prices as against the prevailing prices in the commercial real estate industry. Also some reputed companies like Bajaj and others have commented against this policy and have suggested using barren and wasteland for setting up of SEZs.
Attempts to set up a Special Economic Zone in Nandigram have led to protests by villagers in the area. A Parliamentary Committee to study and give recommendations on SEZs has said that no further SEZs be notified unless the existing law is amended to incorporate the changes related to the land acquisitions.

Normal life was affected in Kolkata and other districts in West Bengal on Monday due to a bandh called by the opposition parties on the Nandigram issue. Bandh supporters blocked vehicular traffic and train movement in different parts of the state by picketing on tracks, police said. A state bus was torched near Moulali in central Kolkata in the morning but the police could not find the attackers. Vehicular traffic was thin on the city streets and many shops and markets were closed. Many passengers remained stranded in Howrah and Sealdah stations with very few taxis were available. Rail blockades were reported from Baruipur, Nabadwip, Bansberia, Chengail, Bauria, Ramrajatala and Bagnan stations, railway sources said.
And this is the report after each and every bandh that is called in Calcutta. We, the people of Calcutta, are sick of it. The daily business suffers, the schools are closed, the general stores are closed. You can do nothing other than sit at home and crib about the situation. Is this India??

Recently, Nandigram has witnessed protests against the setting up of an SEZ, leading to clashes between protesters and police which have left a number of people dead and accusations of police brutality and Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), insurgency from same side. Police and CPI(M) cadres allegedly killed 14 of the protesters on March 14, 2007. Later, 10 people with ammunition, mobile phones with phone numbers of local CPI(M) leaders and CPI(M) party flags were arrested at a nearby brick kiln in Khejuri. On 14th March 2007, policemen and Communist party hoodlums [2] in disguise of khaki clad cops in slippers tried to enter Nandigram with massive arms and ammunitions. The people of Nandigram from all walks of life under the umbrella of Bhumi Uchched Protirodh Committee tried to protect their homes from the incursion. The Communist Party employed police and their accompanying hoodlums used their firepower at the people of Nandigram, killing at least 14 people and injuring several others.[3] They also raped several women. At least 2 people were reported missing since then. Many corpses were smuggled outside the area by CPI(M) cadres. Nearly all the victims of police firing had bullets lodged in their upper torsos, thus proving that the police violated standard operating procedure and aimed at their targets’ heads and chests. Some victims had bullet entry wounds on their backs, thus proving that they were shot while they were fleeing the cops. the CPI(M) leaders proved that they are no better than Hitler in terms of dictatorship. The ruling party of West Bengal ordered the police, along with CPI(M)cadres armed with bombs and pipe guns, to enter Nandigram and teach the protesting farmers a lesson. Bullets were fired and bombs were hurled at the innocent, unarmed villagers including children and women. Many dead bodies were smuggled outside to destroy evidence of mass killing. On November 10, 2007 thousands of CPI(M) cadres entered Nandigram and fired mercilessly on two unarmed procession of the villagers led by Bhoomi Uchched Protirodh Committee leaders. The police remained silent spectators. The Print and Electronic Media were not allowed to enter the area from the previous week.
Is this justified??

Here I have shown you how SEZ can be beneficial, how bandhs affect the general public and the plight of the innocent people in Nandigram. What’s your say in this?

Eden at it's best- well almost

Disclaimer: I always try and see the positive side of things but the series of events that took place forced me against my conventional rule. I may be incorrect. These are my views. Please read at your own risk…

8th February- Who could have been more happy than me. All these days I had been grumbling and cursing VTU for the odd timing of our holidays but I was more than happy when I heard that the Eden match and the famed book fair of Calcutta would be coinciding with my visit.

A day night ODI at Eden (capacity 90,000), a fairytale comeback for Dada (Sourav) and a ticket just beside the Indian players dressing room- all made a perfect recipe for a perfect cricket match at the perfect ground and with a perfect company. Phew!!! Calcutta was grooming for an encounter with the world cup team. Almost all the tickets were sold 2 days prior to the scheduled date of the match. In fact the cost of black tickets of the Club house on the day of the match was as much as 12,000 bucks. Wow, I should have sold my ticket for a higher price but then craziness surpasses everything. Crazy for being a part of that Mexican wave (banned in Australia because it distracts players, but who cares when the crowd is in full swing), crazy for that cheap paint on your face which affects your skin, crazy for cheering the team India and crazy for a feast for the eye..

All was fine till the rain gods decided to shower their blessing a couple of days before the ‘grand event’. Well, Calcutta is Kali Ma’s place and everyone prayed and prayed and prayed which resulted in 8th Feb starting with a sunny morning (for me morning means 10 A.M. so don’t blame me for the weather conditions before that). So the celebrations rolled on and Calcutta’s other works came to a standstill and I was inside the stadium by 12:30(yes, 2 hours before the scheduled start of the match.)

Players practicing, stadium full so why won’t Calcutta tremble. The whistles were out and the banners were ready and we were gearing up until we heard a loud sound- Dhoom.. It came a few feet away from where we were seated. It so happened that a stout man (heavier than me.. ) stood on the cemented seat and it came down crashing ( see picture for more details ). No injuries. No problems. Small things happen in big grounds such as these. We were back to our self. The weather office had said that there was possibility of slight rainfall but we guessed it wasn’t a big problem at all. A ground like Eden is fully equipped to small crisis such as these. But we were proved wrong.

Dravid won the toss, elected to field and the first ball was driven for four. Doesn’t matter “Dada hai na”. Our block was jampacked but still people were trickling in. We knew how. Today was a day of celebration- let even the police earn. We adjusted but even then petty fights broke out here and there. No problem. Calcutta was just gearing up. Wickets fell and a deafening noise echoed the stadium. Mexican waves were at full swing. It couldn’t have got better than that. Even Jayasuria’s hits were cheered. Afterall the Indians need some runs to chase. Overconfident..

18.2 overs..4 P.M. .. One and half hour of play and then the dreaded thing happened. The players were walking back to their dressing room. Oh shit! The match will have to be shortened by a few overs. Doesn’t matter but Dravid’s decision to field first was absolutely correct. Maybe the D/L rule can also come into affect later. The short drizzle converted into heavy shower and the skies opened up. Monsoon came early in Calcutta. There was mahem in the open sitting area. All were running to the basement for cover. “fine, the rain will stop. Don’t worry”, I was telling this to my friends when suddenly imaginary cracks appeared on the ceiling and water (DIRTY WATER) started falling just infront of us. The rain might have lasted for about half an hour. The authorities were on the ground by 5 and rescue work started. Plastic covers had been placed earlier and a sloppy looking super sopper entered the field to dry the uncovered areas. We surveyed. None. Just 1 soaker for such a huge ground. It will take almost an hour to dry the whole ground. Shit! Precious time lost.

Comments began to trickle in. “why can’t they just cover the whole ground using plastic sheets?” , “1 soaker.. usse kya hoga?(what will happen with that?)”. Anyway I thought it doesn’t matter much. We waited and waited and waited….

But mind you this is Calcutta. We were not idle. Cheers and the wave was on. The party was on in full swing. Hurray! But 1 super sopper and 9 groundsmen. Is this the limit and capability of one of the best ground? And look at the god damn pace of the workers. They are walking at a speed of 0.00001 m/sec. Just when these things were being discussed the machine went of order and sprayed all the water in the ground itself. What shit man.. It was repaired and after sometime instead of throwing the water outside the ground, the worker threw it inside. The whole crowd was shouting but why wasn’t he stopping? Never mind. Some more time lost. In total the machine broke down 5 times..

It was already 6 and they had not yet removed covers. 5 workers were standing and gossiping. The hand sponges were not working. What was happening? Will anyone tell us?

The umpires, Dravid and Ganguly walked out amidst loud cheers at 6:30. They inspected the something. Wait man.. the work is underway(though sloppy). They had a long chat. Sharad Pawar came out and waved to the crowd. We went berserk. That was a sure sign that the match was going to take place. Until… Until… we saw that it was displayed on the board that a ‘final inspection’ was going to take place at 8:30. shit! Maybe it will be a 20 over match per side.

We were happy. India had the upper edge. A nice game will be seen today. But to our surprise the working speed of the groundsmen decreased further. Before this announcement a small wet part was visible and even after 4 hours nothing was done to cover that. The groundsmen were just standing and staring. What the heck…
Oh yes and I forgot to mention something. While removing the covers(whose apparent job is to collect water over itself and protect the layer beneath), the workers spilled all the water in the ground itself. What was this? Were they trained people? Something was seriously wrong..

We again waited and waited (that small patch was still wet), until news came around 8:20 that the players had left. What? We refused to believe in that rumour. Dravid, Mahela and the umpires walked out at 8:30, patted on that wet patch and went back with only the umpires staying back and talking to a commentator. What? We still refused to listen to the rumours. What was happening? The stadium still had around 70,000 people (fools) waiting to watch a 20-20 match. After about 15 minutes it was displayed on the board-“play called off”.

What? All of us were shell shocked and were being pushed towards the door by the rushing crowd. So sad. The players had left by 8:15 and we fools were waiting to watch a match. Is Eden not adequate to fight a half hour off season rainfall? 1 super sopper? 9 groundsmen?

Next day the authority reports, “ We never received any intimation that it’s going to rain. The groundsmen worked very hard but unfortunately some water was still left on the ground because of which the match couldn’t take place. We actually have 2 machines but 1 was at Jadavpur University.” Wow! Will god come at your house to tell that it’s gonna rain baby and was the other machine………..(control)

If we take the average price of a ticket as 600 bucks (will certainly be higher than that) then Eden gets around 600*90,000. Sorry I forgot my mathematics. Isn’t this money enough to hire adequate people to dry the ground when everyone knows that it’s going to rain? Ok lets agree it’s not adequate but why play with the emotions and time of public? (not public god damn ‘fools’). I guess even at 6 they made up their mind that at no cost will they allow a match to take place. But why keep us waiting bruder?

Agreed your ground, your players, our choice to be fools and come and watch a match but why were we kept in dark about the conditions? Wow! Players leaving before the inspection. Great man. No doubt India still remains a ‘developing country’. But don’t worry you people can’t be reason enough to hinder our progress to fulfill our President’s dream(off the topic). Once bitten twice shy.. Eden ‘was’ my favourite ground.

INTERNALS

Internals- A sweet reminder to all the first semester guys (especially hostelites), that we entered Mathikere Sampige Ramaiah Institute of Technology, to study and get a Bachelor of Engineering degree. With just forty two days after college started, we crimmed a lot about this exam. Forty two days might sound a lot but then so many events taking place at the same time we were just thrilled with the pace our life was moving. From settling down in a new place to facing ragging, from making new friends to exploring the everfamous places of Bangalore, from attending the freshers party to getting to know the teachers in whose classes proxies can easily be managed, from hearing the scolding of the ever so rude warden of our hostel to enjoying the nightwalk from hostel to the hospital (via girl’s hostel), from digesting the mess food to making our birthday kick aim perfect…….. lots and lots of things were happening in our life when dhoom came the realization that we have this big hurdle of internals at the end of every maonth which needs to be cleared. And most importantly this was the first exam of our engineering life so we were really tensed.
We were tensed but even then we kept postponing our scheduled date for starting the preparation for internals. We had this gut feeling that we can manage it but all that gut feeling went down the drains when we actually surveyed the portion we had to study(this was the result of bunking too many classes). Anyhow we managed the first day of the exam. The arrangement for this exam was quite different from the arrangement which we had faced till now before entering college. And that made the intelligent minds(I am being sarcastic) a chance to prove their worth. I guess I won’t have to elaborate on that. We all know the ground reality.
The tougher subjects were reserved for the second day. For the first time in my life I started my preparations at twelve am and sat for the exam at 10 am. I don’t know how I got the audacity to do that and even now I get a shiver down my spine when I think about the situation at that time. The whole night almost all the guys were sipping coffee, getting tensed and studying. It was really a different kind of experience for me.
Anyway the seniors say the interest for the internals goes down as time passes but I hope that doesn’t take place with us. But who knows?

EXTERNALS

Externals- The force applied by VTU to shake us from our comfort level and make life as tensed as possible. Jokes apart, our first external exams were a different experience and living in a hostel and studying in Ramaiah was cherry on the top. Managing the 3rd internals, trying hard to reach the required attendance level, buttering the teachers to maximize the internal marks, getting notes photocopied, asking each other which chapters to chuck and which to do properly, bunkingclasses for studying and ending up watching a movie or playing cards and then lamenting when the day is about to end...all these things will remain close to our heart and will be fondly remembered.
The instructions by mom and dad(better not be shared) and mom acting as alarm by calling up early in the morning and me getting up for 10 seconds to receive the call and again dozing off also forms an important part of the examination time. The tension one gets after knowing that someone has completed the syllabus while he himself is yet to start is uncomparable. The group discussions and the exchange of notes saved us a lot of individual work and will hopefully fetch us marks. I still remember the challenges before the exam to score well and the immense gusto with which everyone started studies(although it faded after some time).
During the study leave most of the time was spent on the phone- smsing and talking and asking each other how much syllabus has been completed. The discman and speakers were a loyal friend during these 'testing' times. Whether we learnt the subject or not is still unclear but we atleast learnt a whole lot of new songs.
One common phenomena was going out after dinner to get refreshments for the night(yes the hostel canteen man betrayed us and ran away to his village during the exams). A good amount of time was wasted on that and we used to get a whole lot of things to last the whole night which reflected itself in some of us extendingour tummy line(not again...). The unwashed clothes were an added pain.
We also ended up taking a survey on the number of hours we sleep and surprisingly we found out that our sleeping time increases during the exam time.
And yes how can an exam be complete without paper leaks. Every night before the exam we used to get a whole set of question papers and the person giving it claiming that 90% of the question will be from that set but als we finiding out the next day that not even 0.9% clashed. Many fell for these tricks and ultimatelyscrewed their exams(royally screwed i must say).
Anyway the first semester exams were enough to shake us from our comfort level and hopefully next time we will be better prepared to face the VTU wars.