GD 75

This is my mobile. It has been with me since the year 2001. The stylishly grand Panasonic GD 75. There are many handsets that came after it with even better and bigger features (which we may never use) but till date I havent seen any mobile that gave me the same quality and ease when it comes to being hands-free. The voice that comes out is crystal clear and all that needs to be done is to press the track ball in the middle and you can immediately shift to hands-free mode, even while you are on a call. The next best thing I like in my handset is "cuckoo" ringtone ... The ringtone retains its identity with out being lost in a sea of blaring immitations of cinema tunes!

"Kachakach bhari Hyderabadi bus mein safar ..."

When I was new to Hyderabad I was terrified, petrified and mortified by the way kids hang around at the rear exits of the local buses. "God, How am I going to travel in this place!" I thought. It is not worth the risk I thought. I used autos most of the time. I never ventured far off from my college. I stayed near the college. After some time I thought I was missing a huge slice of Hyderabadi life by not using the local transport system. To my surprise I found it both exciting and very cost-effective. Who would let you hitch a ride from KPHB to Dilsukhnagar for a meager fare of Rs.13 that too in the comfort of a "Veera" ? The more I grew accustomed to the pace of life here the more I felt that I was missing bus travel. I had other reasons for shifting to Dilsukhnagar but my fancy for bus travel was along with them. One night when I was traveling from Masab tank to Dilsukhnagar one of my friends asked me as to why I had taken the pains to change my residence. The answer was simple - In my part of the state Hyderabad was as famous for its buses as it is for bangles at Charminar! It was notorious for the 'hangers' at the exits as well. I knew that my stay at Hyderabad would be short (assuming I live to be a 100 :) ) and I didn't want to miss this slice of life in Hyderabad. I get to see a lot of different kinds of people each time I travel. Contrary to what people think I keep observing people for a lot of things - their mannerisms, voice modulations, dialects etc; What is a more perfect place to study the people than a bus? Traveling by these buses made me realize certain things in life like the other day (the two blind men episode from my previous post in this blog). The incidents have been both positive and negative but most importantly I have learnt lessons from all those experiences. Through experience I have realized that - just because there are 'hangers' at the exit doesn't mean there is no place in the bus - There is always place in the middle. When the bus for a particular route number comes crowded the next bus on the same route would be not so crowded, sometimes you would be lucky enough to find a place to sit! Lessons like this have been many. But even to this day I resist 'hanging' - It is simply not my cup of tea. I would rather wait for the next bus than to do the 'ape-hanging' act!

Worry-wart

I was travelling from Dilsukhnagar to Koti last night. Since I was unable to get a seat in "Veera" I decided to make the journey to KPHB via Koti. I was seated comfortably in an ordinary bus because it was the startting point. The bus was dark. I sat in a corner seat near the rear exit. I was pre-occupied with other matters which seemed quite important to me ... Well, I worry sometimes probably a bit too much! It was dark around me and I closed my eyes and rested my head on the window. I was hearing a constant chatter and laughter from the seat near by. They were chatting in the local Hyderabadi dialect. I was hearing sounds of laughter. As already said some questions kept crossing my mind. Then there was light. I opened my eyes. The light from the street lamps fell on the two guys who were chatting. It was then that I noticed that there was something missing. To my surprise I realized that they were blind! One was completely blind while the other was partially blind. If I was in their place probably I would have been worried about getting off at the right place from that over crowded bus! But their chatter and laughter continued oblivious of the surroundings. The remarkable aspect was that they didnt even take the seats reserved for the handicapped near to the driver's seat! They suddenly made me realize that there are larger things in life and because we are so caught up with worrying about smaller things we tend to miss the bigger picture - Often. I felt guilty because I was trying to mountains out of mole hills while indeed depravation of one of the most important senses in the human body might be considered a huge loss. Those two blind men taught me to take life as it comes and enjoy the beauty of life as much as we can for indeed providence has been kind to me and bestowed upon me skills, health, senses and a sound mind. I should probably use them to bring happiness on the faces of the people around me ...

"Dus bahaane karke le gaya dil"

I don't download ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers etc; on my mobile. Not that Iam a technophobe or that I don't know how to. I just don't feel like doing it. I think I belong to the old school (I have been using mobile since the grand old days when incoming calls were charged at Rs. 7 a minute) where the importance lies on the convenience the device offers rather than the features that cater to our fancy. These days whom ever I call seem to be having these nice songs coming up at the other end. I have been songs in different languages these days. As stated earlier I had an uneasy sleep last night which I attributed to my hangover. I got up in the morning and suddenly thought that I should have a caller tune. What other would fit the bill rather than "Dus bahaane karke le gaya dil"? This number was going round and round inside my head since Sunday night. I succumbed to the temptation and dialed Hutch Care and got the number set as my caller tune - Finally!

Longest hangover ever ...

At MSIT 'Trance' one of the guys from 2005 said "Maadi Vijayawada ... Maadi oka metta college ... Naaku evanni kotha ... Maa vaadu yedho kashtapadi englishulo maatlaadaadu kaani, Naa valla kaadhu ..." (Iam from Vijayawada, Iam new to all this, One of my classmates here did try to pull off this intro in english but I can't do that). I had no problem with either written or spoken english neither did I fear the audience when I was on stage, even before I moved to Hyderabad. Moving to the city only chipped off the rough edges and polished my skills. Here I was able to hone my skills better because there were people around me who were good at it. I aspired to be better than them. But I do have to admit that - Pizza huts, pubs, bars, 4 track roads, traffic jams, designer clothes etc; were new to me too ... The number of restaurants offering a wide variety of cuisines was in itself a big surprise for me! The only thing that bothered me was that I didn't get enough opportunities to pub-hop (I went to a pub just once). I never set foot in a disco. I had virtually no night-life as I was an early riser all through my life. MSIT 'Trance' finally gave me a chance to swing to the tunes spun by a DJ. The party rocked ... But the hangover remained. Yesterday was my third consecutive night where those flashes of light and the numbers were going round and round inside my head. Till date this was my longest hangover. Is it always like this the first time on the dance floor? (Some of my juniors who answer the call of the night might be able to answer the question better and enlighten me) I do not know as yet. But surely I liked the taste of it. I think it is time for me to have a night life, once I settle down ofcourse!

MSIT - "Trance"

I can never forget the time I had my first Pizza or the first time I shook a leg to the tunes spun by a DJ. Both of these occassions are very special to me. Both of them happened on a cool November night and both of them happened while I was at MSIT. I had my first Pizza at the freshers party at Pizza Corner on Nov 5th, 2003. The other happened yesterday night (Nov 6th, 2005) - two years later. Incidentally these were the two days I enjoyed the most where I left all my inhibitions to the winds! The day was so good that it was almost as if I was high on alcohol. When I woke up this morning I had a sore back and there was a hangover of last nights music - It was going round and round in my head (especially the DUS number). After a day of super charged excitement I suddenly felt low today morning.

The day started - We all assembled at JNTU for boarding the bus that was to take us to the resort. The ride set the tone for the next few hours. For the first time in 4 years I was posing silly and stupid questions to my juniors! :)) I enjoyed every minute of the journey that lasted a little over an hour. I was able to interact with most of the 2005 batch juniors, Courtesy: 2004 batch girls - who used to send these people to find out about date of births, nick names etc; Most of the time it so happened that they came asking for someone and I used to assume that person's name as mine and send them back with some weird replies. It was so much fun because I was at the receiving end when I was a freshman in engineering. The 2005 MSITians were made to go back and forth in the bus - guys and girls alike! The most interesting thing I heard on the bus was from a 2005 MSITian. When asked why she joined MSIT she answered that she chose MSIT over M.Tech because MSIT had no exams which was 'kinda kool' ! Good point Miss. Point taken - If you had exams like our batch and that of our seniors you would have piled up arrears which would seem impossible to pass!

The spot in the resort where we were supposed to rock was visually pleasing. The breeze was cool. The spot was a secluded neem grove in the middle of a small body of water. Everybody introduced themselves on staged. 2005 batch juniors dispayed their wares (hidden talents) :) on stage before we made way for the MSIT 'Think tank'. I think I slept open-eyed through half of those addresses. Before our blood-sugar levels went dangerously low and put us into a coma - to our relief they announced a break for lunch. The lunch had all the usual items and ofcourse my favorite - gulab jamuns! They were so delicious, soft and yummy! Umm ... mouth watering! The brigade attacked the buffet with full force. The fort was under seize! A little over an hour later the warriors rested, contended and tired but happy with their conquest.

The gastronomic warriors who attacked the buffet full force after having had their share of rest turned into real warriors. We were divided into two teams the Red and the Orange. The event manager at the resort painted us all on the faces with the colour of our team. We looked really 'Kool'. We played tug-of-war and dodge ball. We lay down on the grass in an effort to recuperate our energy for the next item on the list - the Disco. As the sun set the music got louder. My heart beat increased with the music.

The lights and the smoke were in place. Finally the hour for which everyone was waiting was announced! The DJ started spinning. It was time to rock! I never thought that a DJ-Disco could be that much fun. If swaying to the tune was fun, watching these young guns rock to the tunes was even more fun! Just watching them filled my heart with loads of excitement! I have to accept that these guys have unmatched energy levels. I have seen quite a few guys and a couple of girls who were swaying their bodies to the music all through those hours with out taking a break. Commendable stamina. I did my bit. Actually I had my heart's fill - Both by watching and doing. The disco lights had such an effect on me that I was haunted by these flashes of light all through the night. I actually couldn't sleep much (I woke up at around 5 AM. My body said that it needed rest but my mind said that its energy levels were so high that it couldn't rest :) ).

If the bus ride in the morning was to be labelled exciting the ride in the evening has to be labelled 'super charged'! Everybody mingled with everybody else to pull each others' legs! Too sad for the guys and girls who came along in the morning but didn't take the bus in the evening. They have missed the loudest and the craziest part! If it was english and hindi in the morning it was telugu in the night. I don't know how the guys around me bore my really loud voice. With the help of 2004 guys sung a few 'mass' songs and after that started the most craziest session of all. Bus lo vunna vaallandariki peru peru naa arichi - vaallaki yedo oka description tagilinchi - 'O' yesukunnaam! At the end of it my vocal cords got so used to me shouting since morning that I was able to pull out only loud high pitched sounds. Anything less wasn't coming out. Incredible but true. I often face this problem when my vocal cords get stretched for too long a time. But I like the feeling the next day - My voice becomes deeper!

What ever be it - a sore voice or a deep voice - What matters the most is that I enjoyed to the brim. Once it happened because of my seniors and now because of my juniors. All thanks to their efforts in organizing this bash. They named it "Trance". The term was apt beacuse it did push me into a trance making me forget all my worries and gave me a hangover from which Iam yet to recover. I will treasure these moments for life. They will forever remain young in my mind!

Kajraare, Kajraare ...

In bollywood this has been the year of the Bachchans ... Not the Roshans, Not the Chopras and finally in a long time not the Khans! (Though Saif did light some fire works). Over the past year we have seen one movie or the other starring either the junior or the senior Bachchan. Most of them have been acclaimed as box office successes. Whether it is Dhoom or Black or Sarkar or even Banti our Babli - What the critics said didn't matter because I loved them on screen. In the morning I was watching "Kajraare, Kajraare" from Bunti aur Babli and was left dumbfounded by the sheer energy that senior B exuded. He literally lit up the entire screen. The commedy timing of both senior and the junior B was perfect coupled with the oodles of oomph that was brimming from the screen in the form of Aishwarya Rai. Love them or loathe them, You have got to admit that bollywood wouldn't have been the same with out the Bs!

A 2 - day holiday for Diwali ?

I think that the authorities should seriously think about the proposition of giving a 2 day holiday for Diwali. One on the day of the festival and another for the next day. People get physically and mentally excited on Diwali - it is always an adrenalin rush. The crackers, the fire works, the sound, the light all takes us to a new height. When we have that much adrenalin pumping through our arteries the hangover remains the next day morning too. We might feel lazy to get dressed and go to work. It might be an under productive day for most of us. So is it not prudent that we have holiday the next day too?