Thursday 21st May 2009

11.00 PM

I’m woken up by the distinct vibration of my cell.

I fish around for my cell.

Find it under the pillow.

The bright screen Saying DP.

Me thinking (in half awake, half asleep state): What on Earth is DP? Why had I set a reminder for DP?

After numerous recall attempts it finally dawns upon me that DP was a recursive acronym.

DP- DIPCM Papers

DIPCM – Digital Interfacing and PC Maintenance

PC- Personal Computer

I had set the reminder so that I would remember to get the question papers from library that morning, but the fool I am, I set it at 11 PM instead of 11 AM.

Note to self: You’ve got to be fastidious while setting reminders henceforth.

11.15 PM

Went back to sleep.

12.00 AM

My ears again register that distinct vibrating sound of my cell.

I again search for my cell.

This time I find it on top of the book besides my pillow.

(Yeah! The teddy is replaced by books during exam times in the hope that some of that incomprehensible stuff from the books percolates into my head.

Remember that law of Osmosis – When two bodies are kept in contact separated by a semi permeable membrane, the ions (or whatever) move from the region of high concentration to that of low concentration. No prizes for guessing the region of low concentration in my case.

Or in case god took pity on me (the chances of which are as rare as those of

KKR winning IPL

Narendra Karthikeyan winning in any F1 season

( I wish I could add Roger Fedrer losing his No. 1 Ranking - After that impressive win on clay last week, I pray that he soon gets back his invincible position. All the best Roger for Ronald Garros.)

SRK getting an Oscar

BJP coming to power

Junior B delivering a hit movie

Note to self: You’ve struck oil, stop drilling! You must really get rid of this habit.

Where was I?

Hmm…..

Okay, so in case the god decided to help me I wanted to spare him the trouble of finding my coursebooks)

Coming back to the main point- the cell

The little screen was delightfully glowing and announcing the birthday of my schoolmate.

Note to self: Check the time before setting birthday reminders on cell. The sony Ericsson cells by default schedule the reminders to 12 AM.

Now that I had woken up, I decided to wish her.

Thus began my quest for finding a birthday message.

I’m halfway through the inbox, but no success.

I wish I could apply all those searching and sorting algorithms I had studied in C++ last year.

Note to self: If I ever work as a computer engineer (which is highly improbable given that I have already started preparing for CAT) first thing to design is software for cell phones that would allow searching the inbox with given keywords.

I finally found one birthday message.

I sent it after doing a few modifications.

It occurred to me that I could have composed the message myself and not taken all this trouble- too late I guess.

Note to self: Save time by self composing the messages next time onwards.

12.17 AM

Went back to sleep.

1.55 AM

Me in my dream world.

Dreaming about an adventure trip in Kumaon valley

(Wondering why of all places on earth I was dreaming of Kumaon valley, read this)

Me, that lady and an old retired military Lieutenant

Are in search of a cave which houses a temple which has the sacred golden feather.

Thanks to my over zealous reading of adventure novels in childhood-

The dream had us facing many obstacles like

freezing cold temperatures

rocky mountains

rivers with no bridges

wild animals

and yeah

there were villains too :P

A group of greedy local businessmen who wanted to sell off that feather to foreign dealers.

And the patriotic three of us trying to save our national Treasure :P

Scene:

Me, the lady and military uncle sitting on ground.

The map of the region spread in front of us.

Military uncle explaining us our next strategy.

The lady suggesting some corrections.

Me admiring the beauty of the woods.

Suddenly I hear my brother asking me to wake up.

I woke up startled.

My first thought was that I had overslept.

I desperately searched for my cell.

I heave a huge sigh of relief when I see the time

Its only 1.55 AM.

Apparently my brother couldn’t sleep because of the tension.

So he woke up before the alarm rang.

Me thinking: Look at him! How devoted and dedicated he is towards studies.

& Look at you! You’re dreaming of adventure trips!!!!

2.05 AM

Me studying in my room

Brother in his.

3.00 AM

I’m still studying *Applause*

(It’s quite an accomplishment for me – usually I doze off on the table within 15 mins)

My brother (Rohit) comes with some difficulty in a physics problem.

After struggling to study Registers and Flip Flops, physics was the last thing I could ask for.

I’m frustrated.

I feign a smile to hide it.

The problem ain’t easy.

It takes me good 15 minutes in solving that problem.

And another 15 minutes in explaining the solution to him.

He gives me satisfied smug look.

He goes back.

I’m relieved.

He comes back within 2 minutes with all his books.

I look at him with a question mark.

He says: Saving Electricity.

Me thinking (as aloud as possible): What the hell do you think you are doing when you use the TV and comp at the same time, when you leave the refrigerator door open?

He asks a few more difficulties.

My precious 1 hour is wasted.

He feels offended when I tell him that I’m not gonna solve any more of his difficulties.

I don’t care.

I had an exam too.

4.15 AM

Me still studying. * Louder applause*

All of a sudden it starts thundering

And lightening.

And then comes the first shower of the season.

I’m totally ecstatic.

Tiny droplets of water falling on my hands through the window.

That intoxicating swell emanating from the mud .

Cool breeze caressing my face.

You’re getting the drift, don’t you?

But electricity dept. decided to play a spoiler.

They cut the power supply.

The whole of the city is immersed in darkness.

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Rohit: Go get the emergency light, didi.

Me: Why should I? Remember, I had got the emergency light when there was power failure 3 days back before our first paper?

Rohit: Oh yeah! I do remember.

But you know what; I also remember getting the emergency light when there was a power failure last semester before my engineering drawing paper.

Me (boiling with rage): Oh yeah! Then you might possibly remember that I’m 2 years elder to you.

I had got the emergency light when you were a year old.

(Me rejoicing thinking that he can’t beat this one)

Rohit: My dearest didi! There were no emergency lights then. They came in the market a few years back.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - -- - -

Poor me! I had lost the argument.

I reluctantly get off my chair.

And set out to en’lighten’ myself.

After stumbling across a million things on my way, I finally managed to reach kitchen and after fiddling around in the dark, I find the emergency light on the shelf.

We both resume studying.

4.45 AM

Power is restored back.

5.00 AM

My dad wakes up.

Rohit asks him to make coffee for us.

Now my dad has no experience in making black coffee.

What he serves us turns out to be the sweetest thing I ever had in my life.

We both gulp down that syrupy coffee.

The caffeine in coffee is supposed to help us keep awake.

But I guess the extra sugar my dad had put overpowered the effect of caffeine and I started feeling sleepy.

I decide to take a short nap.

I set the alarm.

I go to sleep, hoping to continue my adventure trip.

No longer had I slept, there was power failure again.

All my dreams were shattered.

(Sounds clichéd, but who cares, I wanted to dramatize the whole incident)

I decide to study.

I see that Rohit has taken the emergency light to his room.

I requested him to come in my room, he refuses.

I’m left with the only option- good old candles.

(Me trying to give some solace to myself) Not bad – I love candlelight.

I light the candle and keep it on my candle.

Strong winds start blowing.

Poor candle is engaged in a battle with the wind to keep its flame alive.

I remember Aishwarya singing that song from Devdas:

Ye diya! Na bujha hai, Na bujhega, meri chahat ka diya !

My poor candle has no filmy credentials.

So I decide to aid the candle.

I try some make-shift arrangement of newspapers.

It crumbles down within 2 mins.

I start thinking of other alternatives.

I hit upon an idea.

I get an empty, transparent jar and put it on the candle.

My heart fills with pride looking at that great innovation of mine.

It felt great, studying there sitting by the window in candlelight.

I prayed that the current didn’t come back soon.

Bingo! That very moment the current came back.

Whoa! Finally the communication path between me and god has been restored back.

But alas! Some supernatural force put a NOT gate in between.

God hears the opposite of what I pray.

Anyways, I start studying.

I had 2 more modules to finish.

8.15 AM

At the breakfast table:

(My mom always has this overwhelming desire to try her culinary skills during the exam time and so she makes new dishes everyday during exam period.)

Mom: Look! What I have made for you.

Me: Please Ma, I don’t want to try anything new today.

(My mom’s face which was beaming with excitement a few seconds back, turns sad. I cannot see her disheartened like that.)

Me: Okay, let’s see what you have made.

It turns out to be quite good.

I praise her and tell her that she’s the best mom in the world.

She has this twinkle in her eyes and a smile that makes me feel so wonderful.

8.30 AM

Me and dad are about to leave for college.

Like a dutiful child I take the blessings of god and my parents.

My mom reminds me of the things I have to take.

I realize that I have not taken the hall ticket.

The worst part is that I don’t even remember where I had kept it.

All three of us start searching for it.

We decide to follow the Divide and Conquer strategy.

I search my table.

Mom searches the table.

Dad is searching other places like newspaper stand and brother’s table.

My dad is endlessly commenting on how irresponsible I am, how careless I am, how I had misplaced a zillion things in the past.

Finally after an extensive search of the entire house I remember keeping the hall ticket in a book and leaving that book in my dad’s cabin. (My dad works in the same college I study)

I felt so happy- I bet even Columbus wouldn’t have been so elated on finding America.

Before leaving my mommy dearest gives me a bottle of fresh home made mango juice.

It’s an absolute bliss in the summers.

9.00 AM

Reached college.

Dashed to my dad’s cabin and found the hall ticket there.

Started revising.

11.00 AM

Done with revising the modules, only a few problems had to practiced.

1.05 PM

I get a migraine attack.

I had got one before the last paper too.

Screw the Alchemist.

(Remember that proverb, everything that happens once, can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.)

If something has to happen twice it got to happen once before – I guess this proverb is most probadly invented by Paulo Coelho himself.

My mom had attributed the reason for migraine attack to lack of eating, so this time she had made sure I ate lots.

Poor mommy! She thinks everything is related to food.

Thankfully I had the tablets this time.

(I didn’t even have the tablets last time and I had to answer my paper with that terrible headache – no wonder I screwed it.)

2.00 PM

The paper started. Till then the headache had subsided and it was just a mild pain.

4.50 PM

The paper is a bit lengthy. I am yet to solve two questions.

Both of 6 mark each.

I start with the easier one.

Half way through it and my memory fails me.

I just can’t remember the remaining answer.

Before I could start the next question, the bell rings.

Me trying my best to write every single letter I could.

The supervisor (Hate her) snatches the answer booklet from my hands.

5.00 PM

Phew! The paper is over.

Me feeling a bit sad for those two questions.

Wait

Not a bit – a hell lot sad.

The headache starts again.

I was still feeling happy somewhere that the paper got over.

5.15 PM

Came home.

Caught a movie on Star Movies.

Movie is : The Village

I had earlier Watched Sixth Sense and had liked it.

I had heard that this one was also a M. Night Shyamalan Movie.

Thought it would be good too.

Turns out crap.

8.30 PM

I’m supposed to be studying for next paper.

Somehow I’m not feeling like studying.

That explains why I have been writing this post for the past one hour.


PS: I had written this post on friday night, but the net wasn't working, so couldn't t post it.

PPS: The format of the post is inspired by this post.A bit of copyright infringement chalta hai :)