Carpe Diem

Finally, I return. Post one awesome day (in the course of which I managed a fairly decent and reasonably modest score in the GRE) and a few not so awesome ones, I come back to writing my blog. With the exception of the trip to BARC (which was more like a day's remand in Guantanamo Bay thanks to the intervention of Mr. Pradyumna Pathrabe) the days were ok.

Without much ado, I shall embark on what I was supposed to explain via this post.
The expedition to the Marwah House on the 5th of September, 2009. Like most legendary expeditions, this one was undertaken under severe stress and a fair(read enormous) amount of pressure. The conditions were far from perfect; severe under-preparedness (according to the standards of a few supposed experts), a total lack of concern and inability to concentrate on the task at hand to name a few. Another factor contributing to the legendary status of this expedition was the Explorer.

Born an astonishingly modest genius, prolific in his formative years and touted to be the next big thing. Sounds familiar doesn't it? Alas, the kid lost his way somewhere amidst all the claims of his being a prodigy and ended up being just average. Forever destined to be known for his obvious talent, but never quite living up to the expectations. He was reduced to being the perennial underachiever. And to see him falter short of the line every single time, was now a rule rather than an exception. Always pretty good, but never good enough.

But the kid didn't mind. He came up with theories and counter theories to explain his failures. He had reasons for every shortcoming and excuses for every success. He never realised the importance of being single-minded. Always unconcerned, deliberately unprepared, he would always laze through tasks.

When the time came, he saw many undertake the tough expedition. Highly prepared, having worked ridiculously hard, people went one after the other to a very demoralising downfall. A few people though, did manage to make it (but according to the aforementioned theories of the kid, these people were simply aliens) to the goal.

And in these highly unfavorable conditions, including a case of severe cold feet on the day before, the explorer embarked on the expedition. After the due formalities which made sure that the explorer(along with a host of other mere earthlings) was actually capable of going on the expedition without legal, psychological or physiological ramifications, the journey commenced.

As soon as he went to his cubicle (de ja vu arranged for cubicle number 11)and approached the Computer, the sight of orange, compact ear muffs greeted him. Things were already falling in place. A short tutorial, a trip to the loo and two and a half hours of examination later, the explorer emerged, beaming. He had reached the promised land. Years of under-achievement, all leading to this one single moment of Nirvana.

Some people's motto is "Never retreat, never surrender", some may say "Be prepared". The explorer has always believed that either you're capable or you're simply not, you can never work your way to capability. So he always believes in the principle "Just show up, don't bother with anything else."

Statutory warning: Though reading about the explorer and his amazing stories may give you a high and an immense boost in self-confidence, YOU are NOT the explorer. Things NEVER actually work that way for anyone else. The explorer and the circumstances he finds himself in, are all a work of his own superiorly deranged mind and any imitation in part or whole will be simply foolish not to mention absolutely impossible( and NOT possimpible).

Amusement aplenty

My last post, which was supposed to serve as a warm-up for my nth return to my blog, ended up with a lot of people giving me sympathy.
Shocked though I was, I was also amused at the instant conclusion that most people jumped to. That is exactly what I meant when I said, nobody knows me. Because if they did, they would've known that I write random shite in my blog, which actually, has no great bearing on my Life in general. So people, reserve thy sympathy for the needy.
I have my awesomeness and my randomness to keep me company.
To continued awesomeness and misunderstandings.

I'm the Man

Days, weeks, months have passed between my last post and today. I haven't been myself for a large part of the last 7 months of this year. I return, not only to blogging, but to myself and my inherent indifference.
I have always had a problem with people in general. I look at people and always have an impression about them. They appear as complex social beings who are really difficult to comprehend. But over time, I have seen that most people (and by most, I mean MOST) are as complex as, probably the decimal number system. You know a few, you know them all. It's like they have these complicated facades and once you've decoded them, it's all drama. I almost always think of people as complex and when I finally realise how inane they are, it's disappointing.
I wear a facade. Everyone does. What's important is to have substance behind it. Some people have these masks to hide their true selves, most people to hide their lack thereof.
I can safely say, that NO one, knows me entirely, except myself. ( NO, not even you).
And from all I know about me, I love my blog. So my blog shall be seeing a lot more of me.
I know posting smileys on my blog is passe, but whatever. :-)

The return of the Prodigal Blogger.

Days have flown since my last post. Things are the same, but my perspective has changed. I am more AWESOME than before(but that's just me).
Not writing on my blog has been difficult for some weeks, but you see, I simply have to share my amazing thoughts with my entire readership (sums up to 3).
This semester has been hectic for me. What with plenty of football(awesome), lots of shit and some more shit(not so awesome), I have been reduced to jotting my thoughts and observations down on random people and random incidents on pieces of journal paper(true story).
Now, in order to give my readership an idea of how I've spent my last 2 months, I'd have to put up all the SENSITIVE, PROFANE, and did I mention SCANDALOUS data on my blog.
I sincerely wish to avoid legal complications. So, general public, rest assured that your frivolous lives will not be G.K.
(psst. interested people can come to me for private screenings of my journal diaries)
On second thoughts, I'd rather pass.
But you get the point.
I will now dedicate much more time to my dear blog and my beloved readership.
To continued AWESOMENESS.

P.S: I agree with you completely and totally when you say that the title is lame.

Northern Sojourn: Day 1

It was early morning on the 12th of January. We were all set for a backpacking trip of the Northern side of our country. 8 of us, it was. The short train ride to Kurla was non-eventful.
We got ourselves a ride to Bandra Terminus. It was me, Niranjan and Kunal in the taxi. Our taxi driver was something else. This guy was right outta a video game.
He drifted along the long winds near BKC, merrily drove his old FIAT at 80 and was blissfully ignorant of all driving rules and lane-discipline known to mankind.
At one particular signal, the stud from the outer lane, barged to turn to the right and managed to bring the taxi right in front of a truck and another taxi. we had our balls in our mouth, but thankfully, the truck driver braked in time to save our lives. Our taxi stud meanwhile started swearing at the other taxi driver. We were too relieved to say anything.
Soon we reached Bandra and after finding our way through the many people, we got onto the train. The hours between morning and night were passed normally, without any drama. A few card games, a few phone-calls et al.
It was 3 in the night when terror struck. We realised that we were no longer in Maharashtra or Gujarat. The cold was unbearable. Several jackets, sweaters, gloves and skull caps later, we were at peace. This was our first encounter with "Thandi", which would go on to become our slogan throughout this trip.
As we went to sleep, the only thoughts in our mind were about the next 6 days.
Delhi, here we come.

Northern Sojourn: Day 2

Morning it was, as we reached New Delhi station. Excited at the prospects that lay ahead of us for the next 5 days. Arvind, Yash and Prateek left to find us a place to keep our bags for the time being so that we could freshen up and wait for our TATA winger, which was to take us sight-seeing in Delhi.
Turns out, the only Hotel they found was a run down cheapo place. I was afraid they might be hiding webcams in the rooms. Prateek was mighty pissed. Not exactly the best start to the trip. But we tided over it. A few fights and one broken sofa later, we moved out into the Winger.
The Lotus temple was first up. After an inspiring hour at the temple, we left for the Qutub Minar. It was in the minar complex that the guys found that Chinese Girls could be cute as well. A few clicks here and there and we were off to Ghaziabad for lunch.
It was lunch at a small Dhaba. After relishing our butter chicken and rotis, Nippa was in his element, arranging for 8 cans of draught beer. One for each of us. Arvind was the only sourpuss.
Brilliant. In the evening, the Winger dropped us at Old Delhi. After ensuring that our bags were safe in the cloak room, we were off for a tour of Chandni Chowk.
Dozens of jalebis and Parathas later, we were all on the train to Haridwar. Our first eventful day on the trip.

Northern Sojourn: Day 3

We got off the train at Haridwar, amidst dense fog and intense cold. We got out of the station, knowing only the address of our Hotel in Shivpuri and nothing else.
Little did we know that this was going to be the most eventful day of our journey.
On our way to the Guest house in Shivpuri, we stopped by at the local water sports co-ordinator and booked ourselves a raft ride down the Ganges.
Off to the hotel, a quick change later, our jeep picked us up and took us to the starting spot for our raft ride.
Several Patelshots later, me, Niranjan and Kunal who were lagging behind the gang geared up for the ride.
Nippa was the first one to get himself geared up. Being afraid of water, he was particularly pleased that we were wearing life-jackets. This was when inspiration struck Arvind. For the first tie in his life, he managed to pull off a "Chance pe Dance". On seeing Nippa's happy face, he said, "Karkare was also looking like this wearing a life-jacket, before he came back dead."
(R.I.P Officer Hemant Karkare, no offense meant)
We all were amazed and aghast at the sudeen brilliance of this quip. Soon after a quick brief, we were on the raft. Several rapids later, (rapids which were a better experience than any roller coaster you may find) we reached the cliff jumping spot.
Yash, Arvind, Niranjan and Prateek signed up for the jump and successfully jumped from a height of 25 ft into the Ganga. All Guts, all Glory.
Soon we reached the end of our raft ride at Ram Jhula. Prateek and me found a treasure trove of knowledge at Ram Jhula in the form of "The Divine Life Society's Publicatons", where we picked up a number of great books.
Back to the Guest House it was. After having our baths, we realised that it utrned dark pretty soon in this part of the country. At 7.15, we trudged along searching a restaurant/dhaba where we could get something to eat. We did manage to find one after several trips across the bridge.
Many of us had egg-plant for the first time in our lives. But it was worth it. Nippa showed his negotiation skills again when he managed to obtain a bottle of Contessa XXX rum. Back to the hotel, with 3 bottles of Thums Up.
Nippa fixed us all a small each. And after downing our pegs, we all went to sleep.
Aah. sleep. The guest house attendant had provided us each with a blanket.
The blanket. It was love at first sight for me. Me and my blanket. It was so warm and so cozy when I crept into bed with my blanket. It was the best night I had for ages. I wanted to take the blanket back with me. This blanket was my love. And in her arms, I fell asleep.