Just My Luck!!!

Pre Script: The reflections of a depressed mind.

He gazed far across the distant land

As far back as the sky joined hands

His eyes scoured the outstretched sight

Desiring the fulfillment of his fantasy flight.

The affair could well have been clandestine

Had their love sustained the test of time

As much as they loved the other with all their heart

Reality was bent on tearing them apart.

His feelings for her was as deep as the sea

He always wondered why the others failed to see

She had feelings of a similar kind

But success was not the first thing on her mind.

His family approved of their match

But as always somewhere there had to be a catch

Her family had absolutely no clue

She always wondered "wont it be a bolt in the blue?"

They had to defy all the laws of nature

If they wanted to see a combined future

Even though time was not on their side

When the secret was out, they managed to cling to each others hide.

Post Script: He is the fat guy in the pic and she is the thinner one towards the right of the pic.

One day @ the university head office

It all began with a phone call. My friend passed on the information that our university registrar will not be available from next week. It was almost time to hit the panic button as my visa interview was just two days away and I had to get hold of my Provisional Degree Certificate. I had a couple of documents left over from my previous visit to the university office on which there were two phone numbers given. I tried calling them up. It was no surprise that it went un-answered. Would have been astounded had they been answered at the first go and would have probably resulted in the paramedics being called to my house on account of my passing out due to the university officials quick time response. Anyways, the more surprising part was that it kept going into the fax dial tone. After about calling 6 different numbers for about 100 times I finally managed to get through to the office which confirmed that my work would be done if I reached Belgaum.

P.S--- Have skipped a lot of details which cannot possibly summarize the agony and irritation of getting through to our University.

Finally I could see the so very famous university building looming up ahead. I could very well categorize the architecture as a marvel. Acres of land purchased by the university and boasting of about 7 fairly large buildings and several bungalows or houses. I was greeted into the university office with a horrible news that left me a bit tensed. Students, had been stranded on the blasted land from as far back as Friday. Most of them had to stay over to ensure that they could collect their PDCs or transcripts by hand. I heard that the management had been hopelessly horrible. In fact I could quite clearly see it so. A room probably big enough to accommodate a Santro or a Swift had been allocated for the collection of applications for the PDCs and transcripts and the Mark Sheets. I did manage to submit my applications for the above mentioned documents and was given with the hope that I would receive them by evening. I managed to make a few friends there and inquired about the previous days blunders. There were about 100 or more students who wanted the documents and 90% of them had to stay back as they were not given the documents on the same day. In fact one of the guys application only had been lost. Imagine his plight had he asked them to post the transcripts and gone back home. Finally after about an hour's worth of shouting and about 30 hours of anxious waiting the guy managed to get hold of his transcripts. Wonders and amusements never cease to happen at VTU. One of the guy happily walked out of the office with his provisional degree certificate showing to everyone that he had been granted a first class degree in the PDC when in reality he had only managed an aggregate of about second class.
I really do not know where the money that the university collects keeps disappearing. They charge quite a hefty sum for the transcripts and the other documents necessary for students keen on pursuing a higher degree. On an average each PDC costs Rs 200, Transcripts cost Rs 250 for the initial and Rs 150 for every subsequent copy, an 8th sem extract ( which is nothing but the xerox of the 8th sem marks sheet with a seal and signature from the registrar) costs Rs 175. This apart probably the cumulative mark sheets costs another Rs 200 or so. Even the charges paid for the revaluation and re-totalling should not be forgotten. Reval costs 600 per subject and the others I have no clue. A challenge reval costs Rs 3000, and just imagine there are roughly 120 colleges withing the university. There is so much of cash in-flow. But the standards and the organization is a total zero. Some of my friends were even stating that these officials should be made to study subjects like Engineering Technology and Management or Operational Research and Management ( I hope I got that right ).
There is actually no point cribbing and complaining about such stuff at the moment. As they say 'Alls well that ends well'. After a long and arduous wait till 5.30 in the evening I finally got the documents, which now leads to " In the Nick of Time!!!!! ".

Random

It has been quite some time since I posted something.
I can as well say this is just for the sake of posting, not that I really wanted to write or blog or post or whatever.

I can as well start by announcing my entry into the engineering world. Result was announced yesterday. I can say that I am finally a graduate now. I just realized something that, I missed obtaining an overall distinction ( 5-8th sem ) by 96 marks. At first it does seem like a huge margin. Here is some simple math that suggests how narrowly I missed it.

96 marks in 4 semester means that comes up to an average of 24 marks in each sem.
Considering that we had about 8 subjects in each sem it narrows down to 3 marks per subject.

See that does not seem to be a big margin does it??
I guess math does not change the end result now. Anyways the most positive outcome of all this is that I am finally an engineer. People tend to think that an engineering graduate must be so different from the rest of the graduates. As in they must have stuffed themselves with technical stuff and are capable of solving problems related to their fields ( or maybe some weirdos can manage to deal with stuff out of their area of specializations....this is just a possibility!!!!). Seriously i just feel I am just one among the 5 lakh graduates from India freshly out from 4 years of gruelling engineering studies from about 2000 odd colleges.
After 4 long years of cramming in information of roughly 50 subjects I feel I am still the same when I started out 4 years back ( except probably I have put on a little more weight and aged 4 years ). It makes no difference at all.

Moving on, right now I have been staring into this screen for the past 3 or 4 hours listening to the same two songs over and over again. Again it does not make any difference. Does it really matter to anybody if I listen to the same song a hundred times each day? Maan I so wish people would give some kind of royalty for listening to their songs endlessly. Practically would be rich by now.

You do need some kind of motivation to do anything I feel. Alright I created a blog and started putting up post after post in the beginning. Then I lost steam. And now I am back again. Does that make a difference?? Well maybe it does or maybe it does not. Who cares??
Anyways, when I started out with this post all I wanted to do was post a couple of lines, so that I do not completely go out of touch with blogging. But as has always been the case with me, I could not stop myself. First it was sentences that were never ending and now it has graduated( just like me...quite pathetically ) to blog posts.

Day 2 and 3 away from Bangalore( 29th and 30th june )

The two days were spent in complete laziness.
The most out of the box or un-routinely thing that happened was probably my friend leaving for Benaras and there was a send off for him. All this was happening about 250 km away from where I was in deep sleep dreaming of probably some god forsaken thing which I do not remember. Here are some of the most interesting things that happened before I returned back to Bangalore.

• Signing of the Sleepsvilla treaty in bright and colourful ink.
• Signing of the Remotesvilla treaty. ( Usurped total control over Mr. Onida, became my pride and my sister's envy literally!!!!!!)
• Signed a pact with Mephistopheles to trouble my sister.
• And finally helped Asterix and Obelix overcome and thrash the Romans time and again.

Finally its good to be back home.

Day 1 Away from Bangalore( 28th june 2008 --4.30 in the evening )

Listening to the haunting melodies of a very popular hindi film I reflected upon the previous days experiences. It was one of the rarest occasions when I had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning. I was supposed to catch a train at 6 to my native. This was immediately after a fitting finale to the wonderful time spent together in college as a group. Yeah Yeah I know this post is also heading towards the nostalgic path. Well it is not everyday that you graduate leaving behind a saga of wonderful memories. It was our last dinner together as a group, and the members made sure that it was a night to remember. Everytime we went out I felt that it was the best outing that we have had, but the next one was always a notch above the previous one. The guys were actually sending us off. It sure was a wonderful gesture to bring a cake and a parting gift for those of us who were shifting base away from Bangalore.
Talking about Bangalore, its almost 2 days away from home and I must say that the city has a strange and magnetic charm to it, which makes you want to stay back or you yearn to return as soon as you are out of the city. It had been ages since I had made a train journey. Here I was under-taking one, and greeted by a sign inside the coach that said----"WELCOME TO INDIAN RAILWAYS, 25 GLORIOUS YEARS OF SERVICE". Here is how the events proceeded:-

6.00- Train leaves platform ( above IST standards I must say!!! )
6.15- I buy paper to read the news
6.30- I am welcomed with the sign that reads-----"WELCOME TO INDIAN RAILWAYS, 25 GLORIOUS YEARS OF SERVICE"
7.15- I wake up and finish reading the newspaper
7.26- I am welcomed with the sign that reads-----"WELCOME TO INDIAN RAILWAYS, 25 GLORIOUS YEARS OF SERVICE"
7.30- I have breakfast
7.40- I sleep
8.30- I am welcomed with the sign that reads-----"WELCOME TO INDIAN RAILWAYS, 25 GLORIOUS YEARS OF SERVICE"
8.40- I sleep
9.30- I am about to get off the train to catch another connecting train
9.30.01- I am welcomed with the sign that reads-----"WELCOME TO INDIAN RAILWAYS, 25 GLORIOUS YEARS OF SERVICE"

You can as well see what was the most eventful thing during this journey. Yes thats right. I was welcomed a million times by the stupid LED display inside the coach.
Apart from that there was nothing too exciting to write about. There was the customary greetings to my granny which was followed up by our surprise visit to my aunt's place. Imagine 24 hours without access to my system. This post was actually a hard copy before it appeared here.

Note:- Days without access to system--001