flash back...

28th July, 2005... exactly, four years back we have entered IISc main building, the place where many dignitaries, and renowned scientists have done their pioneering research! I happened to meet one of the best pals of my life there. I am more than happy that it hasn't changed a bit in these years.

Today, it reminds me of that funny attire of mine, when I entered the registration office. Neatly tucked full sleeves shirt, polished shoes, neatly shaved face, and those innocent looks... huh, it was funny. After two years of stay, there were no signs of in-shirt, clean shave or polished shoes! and no more innocent looks too ;-)

It kinda of joy to recollect those memories!

rev'iisc'ed

happy graduates, with old friends after the convocation...

this tree is one of my friends at IISc ;-)

after a gap of five months, we have revisited IISc on the occasion of convocation... met all our old friends, those green surroundings, each and every plant, fallen leaves, new buildings, the work place, good old adviser, tea-board, coffee-kiosk, faculty hall, and last but not the least... the bird-watching session ;-)

It was a different feeling altogether... I felt strange when I received the degree certificate... though the certificate has no practical importance, except that it gives us a proof that we actually have done masters... there is something more to it... it reminded me of those first few days after we entered the institute... our expectation levels of life were really high, and we have tremendous confidence and fire inside to achieve anything under the earth... the two years of stay, for good or bad, has brought lot of changes in all our lives...

there were so many sleepless nights, thinking about future and working for the assignments... there were good, bad, sweet, bitter and funny moments... this short trip to our institute has brought back all those memories, tickling our heart... we got a chance to look back how we used to live here... how different we are now, compared to the secured and yet pressurized lives at IISc... I wish I have an opportunity to go back two years into the past and relive those couple of years, in a better way!!!

reminiscences...

Two years of stay at IISc has come to an end with this week... too many wonderful moments to count... lots of fun... personally, everybody in our batch has decided to take a break from studies... leaving the institute one by one... i can see that this place is being deserted... of course, that is only to be filled back with fresh and energetic faces... here I am, introducing all my batch mates... who shared joy, happiness and difficulties together...

Lakshmanan: most sincere of all... never compromises when it comes to rules and regulations... "work is worship" is his philosophy of life... this is first time I am seeing "sincerity personified"...

Girish: a man with standards... highly difficult to convince him... notorious for his red-hottedness... his regular attire is in a long lab coat that covers his whole body ;-)

Marimuthu: another work-minded master piece with signs to prove the Darwin's theory of evolution... known for his broadcasting abilities and 24x7 working capability... aspires to be a professor at IITM in future...

Santosh: ever-smiling smart boy with incredibly high passion for fotos, food, and fashion... highly informative... recently started dreaming of getting a beautiful girl as his life-partner...

Gajendra: known for his witty humor and take-it-easy lifestyle... doing research on viral dynamics, ranging from bird-flu to HIV... let's see what will be the outcome of his research...

Anjaneyulu: typical filmy-lover hailing from guntur... eagerly waiting for some producer to prove his directing abilities... his physique suits his name... gigantic in style, and magnanimous by nature...

Kalyan: looks can be deceptive... one of the highly confused... known for the massive transportation skills on his bazaz bulldozer... he is the one whom i've tortured during my stay at IISc...

Alok: this half-smiling 27year old boy works as scientist at DRDO... recently caught with phonomania, spending at least 6 hours per day chatting with his would-be wife... god bless that girl ;-)

Mahendra: short man with greatest power... incredibly charming and alarmingly regular with his routine... never deviates from the track... all of us are waiting to go to his marriage...

Mathew: yeah... here is our Mr.M... highly notorious for his PJ's... sincere at work and simple at heart... truly jovial company... heading to BPCL to take rest for a couple of years...

Arun: Mr. Crack Jack... a person hard to decipher... his passion for exploring of technical knowledge is adorable... eating brains, watching naruto, and solving sudoku are his passions...

Aarthi: truly inspiring... stubborn in a notoriously positive way... one of the very few who made a permanent impression on me... truly genuine scientist in her own way... 32-bit smile is her trade mark ;-)

Krishna: intelligence blended with absent-mindedness... this fellow ranks the first who tortured me for the last two years... i often wonder how nothing but technical junk stays in his brain!!!

That's all about my batchmates in a nutshell... i am still unable to believe that our masters program has already completed... and all of have started our journey to different corners of the country to live the real life... shifting from protected zone to self-protecting zone... five/ten years down the line, hopefully, some of us will be hailing as eminent personalities!!!

Past...

life is going superfast these days with loads of work to finish... and interesting too!!! there is lot of fun and satisfaction in lying on the bed after a day long work... but, what happened to me these days??? struggling at least three to four hours to get sleep after going to bed!!! the reels from the PAST are reemerging from those buried neurons... making me uneasy, unhappy, and uncomfortable!!! if i look back at those sweet memories, i become sad... if i look back at those times of insecurity, i become sadder!!! tired of trying out few things like jogging, watering, aerobics, evening walk etc... and couldn't switch off the PAST... am i guilty? or am i feeling discontent about present life? or do i really lack guts to live in reality? am i not honest? or is it just insomnia that attacked me? friends say it is time to get married!!! is it really so? how can i invite anybody into my life with so much of stupidity and uncertainty? what the hell is this? why am i so confused? i wish i get 'short term memory loss'!!!

3 years... and those sweet memories!!!

Exactly three years back, we have written GATE... the entrance test conducted all over India for admission into post graduate courses in engineering!!! We used to be very ambitious and used to think about one and only one thing... that is to secure a single digit rank in GATE... those days were really wonderful and unforgettable... i cherished those countless number of hours I spent with my study partner and my best friend, discussing about whole bunch of problems, and those jubiliant smiles on our faces when we succeeded!!! we always kept our positions in top first and second in a class of eighty... and that too for all the four years!!!

Finally, we both cracked the exam and secured good ranks... after months of vacillation between higher studies and a lousy software job, we have finally decided for higher studies!!! but, to our badluck, we both got in different institutes... my dreams for further studies are buried now, at least temporarily!!! she got into one of the best openings a chemical engineer can dream of... and i got into one of the best challenging jobs!!!

three years passed... lot of changes have taken place... both personally and academically... that enthusiasm and zeal to achieve something is not at all there... just the memories remained... again the same lines... We always know that looking back on the tears would make us laugh someday. But we never know that looking back at the moments we laughed together would make us cry someday!!!

sankey tank park alias joggers park...

as part of my weight reduction program, i have started jogging agaain... bangalore weather is getting to its extreme in coldness... sun can be seen nowhere until around 8-9 in the morning... air is completely filled with mist and fog... it is a blissful experience to run upto this so called sankey tank park, which i felt should be renamed as jogger's park since the whole track around the pond in the park is occupied by people who come for their morning walk/jogging... watching so many different kinds of people is a different experience...

to mention a few interesting observations: i could see more number of old people are coming in couples or with their good old friends, whereas, most of the youngsters are coming alone... most of the people, irrespective of their age, looked worried rather than relaxed... majority of girls, who must be working (i guess!!), lack smile on their face... people who are slim are doing their brisk walk with more seriousness than those who really need to do it!!! the variety of people coming here is so varied that one middle aged woman is doing meditation sitting on one side of the pond, and a couple of young girls are smoking cigarettes on the other side... the traffic level is increasing at an exponential rate between 6:30 to 8:00... water in the pond is far better than all other lakes i have seen so far... the mist dancing on the surface of the water is an awsome view...

though the park is located nearly 2km away from our institute, i found it very joyful to jog till that point to make my day more beautiful... the laziness, the fatigue, and the feeling of cold are vanishing within 2 minutes after starting from room... to add to the joy, i found another task into my routine... i am watering the plants in the lawn of my department!!! some said it is weird, but i found lot of satisfaction in that!!! yes, the way i look at these plants has changed... now, i can feel that they are smiling back at me!!! hope i can continue this routine for long...

the diary...

last night, i was feeling terribly bored and alone... started browsing my old diaries, which are neatly arranged from 2003 onwards... not all the pages are filled but, every page that is filled looked important... i went through some of good old memories, which made me laugh, cry, and finally silent...

i found some of the hotel bills that i 've paid during treat given by me to my girl friend for the first time, the movie tickets, and some of the letters... which includes a small slip saying i am an idiot but still lovable!!! the feeling is awsome... i don't really understand why people have really forgotten the beauty of hand-written letters... a mail reaches a computer, but a letter reaches the hands of our loved ones... the difference is large... we can hug a letter or a diary but not a mail or a computer... sometimes, i feel like i am crazy or over-sentimental... everything that i've shared with my loved ones always reminds me those wonderful days... how romantic is the song "kitni baatein yaad aati hai?"...

the diary is a reflection of our transition from the past to present... it never objects to what we write or feel... true sink for the whole bunch of feelings... it is the only thing that reminds us what we did in the past, how we were, and what decisions we have taken... only thing it demands is a little bit of patience and mood to visit it...

most of my diaries are presented by my friends... of course, if nobody presents, i will take them to some bookstore and make them buy for me... every year, i will buy one or two diaries to present to friends... a kind of selfish gift that we can spend... because, it brings your memory to those friends whenever they write their diary... i have already got one from krishna for the coming year... this year's diary is completely filled with mixed emotions... i must say that there is a clear transition in my personality from the start of the year to the date... hopefully, in a positive direction...

hoping that this habbit of writing diary will not die!!!

exactly one year...

hurray... it is already one year after i entered iisc... 27th july 2005, one of the memorable days for me... the first feeling i got after entering this institute is a big 'wow'... so many interactions, so many new lessons, so many shocks, ups and downs and so on... this place is always been a confusion for me... sometimes, i feel it's just heaven... and the next moment, i feel exactly the opposite... but still, i feel very much fortunate to be here to enjoy the beauty of nature at its best clubbed with the beauty of labour... hoping to get many more pleasant and surprising encounters in the coming year!!!