Going away

hey reader..

I'm sorry for not having blogged in the past two days.. was too busy making my portfolio.. I'm flying to Bombay in the morning.. have an interview @ Symbiosis Inst. of design in Pune on the 9th... i know i had said i got into raffles and all that but there were a lot of hiccups when it came to taking a loan... i NEEDED one but it isn't recognised by the I govt so no bank was willing to give the loan.

Symbi was my next choice so still lucky to get a chance.. ill be back home on the 17th.. gonna check results there and come, in case i get in and need to pay the fees..

WISH ME LUCK!

till then,

\m/rock.in.peace\m/

Stepping Forward

Dear reader,

Like i had told you earlier, i had just had the weirdest couple of weeks of my life... My grandmother passed away, the football club i supported lost two of the footballing world's biggest prizes and the girl of my dreams wanted to breakup for a reason i can never explain to myself. But that was not where these two weeks would get over. There was still one more day i had to get through.

23rd May 2008

This was the day my board results were scheduled to come out. The website said they would release the marksheets at 8am. Most of the people i spoke to the day before, whether online, on the phone or face to face, were a nervous wreck. This is what they spent 13 years in school for - this is what it would all come down to - one sheet of paper that could change their future.

I, on the contrary, was only really worried about passing my maths exam. I had realised a couple of weeks prior to this day that my practical marks would probably clear me in physics and chemistry but my maths was horrific (i had attempted 41 marks!!).. But i wasn't the wreck most of my friends were... i slept late the night before, wanting to play a whole night of the games on my desktop (FIFA, CS, etc etc) and so, woke up at 8.30.. A major reason behind this was my mom, who begged me to wake up and check my score so i could tell all my aunts calling up again and again my marks myself and that dad had already printed my marks (Guess who was the wreck at my place) :P

I had passed... i got a 65% overall, which was fine for me because all i needed was to clear all my exams and get at least 70 in english to apply to Raffles Design Institute (the college i had narrowed down upon), but would probably make most of my engineering aspirant friends want to kill themselves... A few calls later, i was ecstatic with not just my marks, but also cuz' i got to know that most of my friends had done well and were pretty happy.

After gulping down a portion of bread for breakfast, i freshened up and headed to CR Park (my grandma's house, where another of the post-cremation ceremonies was scheduled for the afternoon) in an auto-rickshaw with my mom. We bought sweets on the way and once we got there, i took that packet along with a couple of bags of stuff we needed for the puja and walked into the house. For about half an hour, i was congratulated by my aunts and uncles, then my cousins and in the process, got a hefty amount of money and a few gifts here and there. Then, i remembered that my friend Mansha had called me while i was outside the sweet shop and that i had told her i'd call her back when i'd get to my nani's house. I dug deep into my pocket to take my cell phone out. When i didn't, i searched the other pockets and when the phone was absent in all of them, i went on the hunt for it in all the rooms of the house, then an in-depth look into the furniture only to NOT find it. I traced my steps back to the point where i had gotten off the auto and still there was nothing. While i kept calling it from my dad's phone, all i could hear is the tring-tring of the call. Then it became not reachable, then rang again but no one was picking it up. No one switched off the phone. No one had any idea as to where it was. In all probability, i left it in the auto but thats one answer ill never be sure of. What i am sure of is that i lost my N91. It was the best phone i ever had and had stuff in it no new phone could replace. Not only were all my contacts and favourite messages in it, it had rough drafts of songs i had started to write that i hadn't written on my computer. It had photos i don't have anymore. All my music and all my playlists had gone. That phone was my survival, almost. And i LOST it. And trust me on this, i'd rather have it stolen. At least i wouldn't have to live with the guilt of just "DROPPING" it somewhere and would know some poor, yet greedy bastard had ripped it off of me! I was on a low, lower than i could ever imagine myself in.

That wasn't the end of the day. There was to be another high point in it... I called up Kelvin, the admissions officer of Raffles and told him i was in the vicinity (his office is at Nehru Place) and he asked me to reach there at 4. And so i did, with a completed form and a cheque that covered their application fees (I was supposed to have done that two days after my mom left for bombay but the death delayed it till this date). But when i did hand over all the documents to him, kelvin assured me that he had saved me a seat @ the college. That i wouldn't have to worry about waiting for an acceptance letter and that i was accepted already!

I had passed out of school and walked into college on the same day (now, without my phone but i walked thru nonetheless!). I didn't slog in class XII, i didn't stay up all day all night to study for it. I didn't even buy an IIT form. Didn't attend Brilliant Tutorials or Akaash or Narayana or any of those prep classes. I didn't try being a doctor or an engineer. And yet, at the end of the day, with just a 65% that i passed out of school with, i don't have any regrets. All i had was a smile on my face. And the transition from school to college wasn't the only reason for it, infact that was almost nullified by what was the biggure picture, the real reason. I saw my parents smile. I saw them happy, unlike the parents of kids around me, bugging their kids to walk on the safe path. My parents urged me to do what I wanted to and not have any regrets with it. I did. And they were happy. Life seemed to come full circle and i lived up to not my parents, but my own expectations and now set out to achieve my goals and ambitions!

\m/rock.in.peace\m/

The Beautiful Game

Dear reader(s),

Today was pretty boring... most of it anyway. I know that's a pretty awkward start to this post but i really didn't know how to start this time..

Anyway, the interesting part of my day, the time when i wasn't playing on my computer, or sitting online looking at people signing in for 5 seconds and appearing offline (SERIOUSLY PEOPLE!! STOP DOING THAT!!!), i was playing The Beautiful Game. For the less literati of my readers, that is just a translation to a game the world calls FOOTBALL (except the stupid Americans and Australians who'd rather call it "soccer" but whatever).

It was in the early evening, kick off at 5.30 p.m. (everyone was told it would start at 4.30, but come on! This Is INDIAN FOOTBALL!!). Now, there might be a little briefing about the teams and why they were like such before i tell u about this amazing match. The match was basically between Bonny's society against a mixed team comprising players from tintin's society and mine. But, Bonny, Tintin and I, along with Prasid, Niloy, my school friend Marshel (who was playing with us for the first time), Bala, Anant, Shitij, Dhruv, Udit and Noni. Some may ask why and well, simply cause' (a) I don't get along with anyone in my society, (b) We both like playing with our friends (c) Its not half as much fun playing with those bastards that reside in my colony, the same ones I've had my share of fist-fights with!

So anyhow, the game kicked off and well, i wont bore you with minor details cause' i know it cannot be close to being really interesting to have to read a description of each pass made and each wild shot, etc, etc... But ill tell u this. In a VERY, VERY long time (i think BONNY, of all people, has had at least 5 hair cuts since we've been playing together, and trust me, that is a very long time!!), this was one of the best games we've ever had.

P.s. A few of our girl friends (not GIRL FRIENDS, so to say, more like our female friends from Bose's society had come to watch the game... They were in the nearby market and when they got to know we were playing, dropped by to "cheer us along"...

--FIRST HALF--

Like i said, not gonna go into details... But mainly, the other team had scored a goal, well constructed and well finished. We got charged up and went all guns blazing. However, LUCK killed us. I alone had hit the post of the goal and not scored twice. Everyone did the same. If i were to sum up the no., i think there were at least 10 such shots... we were awestruck.. SO CLOSE yet so agonizingly far!! (DAMN I HATE THOSE POLES!!!) ... Imagine, a shot bonny hit, struck the inside of a post, hit the goalie square across the face, fell to Marshel's feet and his shot hit the upright and sailed away!!! DAMMIT!! We lost our steam soon enough, in the hot late-afternoon sun and went into half time a goal down. As we took monstrous sips off a small supply of water, the ladies joked about bonny's and my reduced clothing (we took off our t-shirts.. IT WAS HOT FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!) and we talked about plans for the second half. Marshel, the star player of the first half, Marshaled the troops along, playing manager-manager (you know, like there's doctor-doctor and ghar-ghar!! :P).. we got a refill of water, re-hydrated our systems and marched back into the field...

--SECOND HALF--

We went a goal down and were pretty confident that a few positional changes would bring us back on level terms with the opposition. We were wrong... The game slipped out of our hands (it was a muddy pitch too!).. In went goals 2 and 3... Almost all hope of coming back and winning was lost. ALMOST.

Then, with a flash of inspiration, i stole the ball from just outside our box, ran like the wind to the other half, dribbling across 2 opponents, crossed the ball to Bonny, whose touch directed the ball to tintin and whose decisive touch guided the ball where it belonged... Into THEIR goal!!
Score: 1-3
Within 2 minutes of restart, another goal, almost identical, by Prasid made the score 2-3!
The Game was coming back into our hands (or more rightly, into our feet), the shots went on target, some still struck their posts, but they could hardly ever find a way into our half of the field... Soon enough another strike by tintin found its way into their goal and we were back into the game... 3-3!!!! FINALLY... As the game went on, everyone checked the time.. It was hot and no one really had much energy left in them... We decided to play till 5 minutes after the next team scored (just to give the others a chance to equalize)... and then, this happened. They were surging into our box, passing smoothly and finding their guys well.. one took a shot at goal and hit Udit's hand... Penalty time.. well taken to.. blasted into the goal and the score was 3-4 now.. with 5 minutes left, we poured men forward and gave it our best, hit the post once (AGAIN) and shot wide a couple of times before i bodies gave up and we called it quits.. shook hands with everyone for a game played well, changed, packed our bags and got going again...

That's just how football is i guess.. you can never really tell what could happen until the final whistle goes, till its all FINALLY over.. A team you could count out could come back from a 3 goal deficit and equalize and then, though the momentum is with them, against their luck, could concede a goal from an unforced penalty. That's why they call it The Beautiful Game...



The next part of my weirdest two weeks' story is about this beautiful game and i guess now is the best time to tell u this tale...

21st May 2008

Luzhniki Stadium in the heart of Russia's capital city Moscow was set to host the first ever all-English final in the history of the UEFA champions league... Manchester United prepared themselves to face Chelsea FC, who appeared in the competition finals for the first time. I was at Bonny's place, along with Prasid, Niloy, Tintin, Dushyant and Aparna. It was probably the biggest game of the season and Chelsea needed to give their fans (myself included) a reason to cheer and went in the more determined of the two teams. The match kicked off at 12.15 am here... The game went well, tensions were high and the events of the days prior to the game had multiplied them. Manchester Utd scored, Chelsea followed suit and leveled the scores. It would stay that way till the end of the 90 minutes of the game.. and nothing changed after 30 minutes of extra time, though Chelsea regularly looked to win it, being the better side in this prestigious tie... They hit the post a few times and surged into the Man U area more often than the reds would please..

However, a few drastic events, including the suspension of Chelsea's strike force, Didier Drogba, drove the game into penalties and everyone had their fingers and hearts crossed. We had together finished 4 large packets of chips and some namkeen apart from the 3 2l bottles of Pepsi, Fanta and coke... Then the shots weer struck. 5 shots later, the scores were tied at 4-4. Then, Chelsea's Anelka struck straight at Van Der Saar and it was all over. Chelsea had to climb the stairs to the podium, heads held as high as was possible, cheered on my their fans and clapped in respect by the oppositions' supporters, to receive their runners up medals. Then, the team in red climbed the same stairs to receive medals of gold and a trophy that meant a lot to not just the European footballers, but the millions who tuned into the game. Though the Man U players posed with their Cup, They knew just as well as the rest of the world that they were, in reality, just the second best team on the pitch. Chelsea deserved to win, but it just wasn't our night.

That's just how the Beautiful Game goes about. You win some, you lose some, but if you go down, u do so with heads held high. Lesson learnt. Match over. Good Night.

\m/rock.in.peace\m/