Yesterday, 2:00 pm, Simulation Lab:
As I slipped into my seat among the rows and rows of PCs, an amazingly familiar feeling came rushing back to me.
It's been nearly three years since my last web-technology class at school, which would be the last time since I stepped into a software lab or something like that. Alright we do have the CC, but CC is different, it doesn't have the same feel.
There's so much I could say about my web-tech class, I guess a never loved a class more but well, most of whoever reads this will probably be from college so no point going on and on about it.
But well, something felt nice. Like home...

After a long time, like a long long time, I'm looking forward to a movie.
And even though I know I won't get to see it before I get home for summer, which will again be a little while, I love the trailer enough.
And this is it...

I've had a long, tiring (make that stupidly tiring), pathetic and painful day.
Started with me waking up early to study IC!! And that wasn't the painful part.

Chose this t-shirt which had been drying on the line for the last two days, and after putting it on, realised it was full of ants! Took it off, shook it just once and the whole bathroom floor was full of ants!
Apparently they had tight-rope walked over the clothesline, and gathered in my t-shirt for their round-table conference 2009 chapter or some goddamn reason I don't even wanna understand!

Anyways, so that sent me back into the shower for the second time (two hours before the IC end-semester exam, trust me that is not the best way to pass time!). I was furious at the ants!!
And I saw for the first time in my life what ant-bites really look like. And learnt that they hurt a lot more than mosquito bites :(

Why is it then, that I don't think once before killing a mosquito, and often end up going out of my way to save ants from dying!!

For the rest of the day, I kept getting the feeling of ants crawling up my neck or arms! The IC test was pathetic, worse than I had expected it to be.

After that, I realised my towel was full of ants.
And I was painfully aware for the rest of the day of the ants strolling around my table, but like I said, I have no idea why I am so kind to them, I just let them be.

Dinner time, there was just one ant going in circles around my plate, but it made me furious.

Finally, at the end of the day, I found a book that seemed interesting and settled down in bed with it and realised my bed was full of ants now! That did it. That was 'the' limit.

I moved my table, moved my bed, took a broom and got rid of my 18-month collection of dust, spider webs, dead insects and long-lost and forgotten items from far under my bed. And then took that chalk thing you get to keep ants at bay, and put it everywhere I have ever seen an ant stroll in my part of the room.

Then I remembered the clothesline, and went to check out its end. And there, at the end, was a whole bunch of ants, waiting for some auspicious moment to start their trek I suppose!
Yes, I put chalk along the line. Right now, all I care about is an ant-free zone.
Finally I was done with the de-antification, and sat down on my bed.

And then I realised I had something in my mouth.
It was an ant!!!

I don't think I can finish a semester without posting any of my wildlife photography ;)
So here's them...

Beautiful to the point of being majestic

Apparently, I won 200,000 GBP in some stupid something I never knew existed. lol.
This is the mail I received:

NOKIA MOBILE DRAW 2009
NOKIA CO-OPERATION UNITED KINGDOM
Nokia House. Summit Avenue Southwood
Farnborough Hampshire GU14 0NAG.
United Kingdom.

Dear Winner;

Your E-mail has won 200, 000GBP in the UK NOKIA MOBILE PROMO2009. To claim your wining prize contact Dr.Graham with your full information. Send your Personal Information to him so that he will proceed further for your wining prize claim immediately.

Yours Sincerely.
Nokia Co-operation,
United Kingdom
drgrahamnokia@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: +447031818712

Personal information

Full name:...........................
Address:............................

Total Amount Won.............................
Date of Birth:.......................
Occupation:.......................

Contact Mobile Number.........................

Citizenship:........................
Next Of Kin........................
E-mail:...............................
Sex:.................................


WARNNING:
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information CONFIDENTIAL to avoid double claim or impersonation.



Congratulations! once again Thank you for your Business

Looked around the internet and obviously, its just a stupid scam.
So just beware if you come across something like this, its just junk :P

End of the semester, its sad, its sultry, its boring!
Everyone just seems so sad, dying over assignments which hardly are worth even five marks I bet, lab tests, project deadlines - the stupidest part is that all the deadlines are at the end of the sem, when you'll realise you're stuck at a dead-end and there's no escape..

Looks like a beautiful morning.
And outside my window, its full of wildflowers again :)

Long time no six-leggeds right? :P
Well it's not like I forgot them, I ust haven't had the time, more like the mind to put them up here; so yea yea I'll find them and put them up here soon, but for now, check out my today's photography.
Saw some ants carrying a big beautiful insect at the wash (the NITC analog of a wash basin) after lunch, alas by the time I rushed back to my room and got my cam, the insect was already in their lair! Pretty fast I must say..
But I clicked away at the ants anyway ;)

hehe, the place isn't as bad as it looks here :D

I think this one's a beauty

Its pouring @ NITC.
Just like my first year, it's been raining forever since yesterday ;)
Enough to kill the sad souls with gloom! and send a few scuttering for blankets and according to me, all of this, everything, just rocks!!
Feels great, and the best part is..this isn't first year!! :P

Let the rain fall down, and wake my dreams..

I wonder if anyone of you reading this post read my blog two years ago, when I wrote about my first mock GD [1.0 for me ;) ]; the bottomline was - I didn't speak a word through two goddamned GDs, until in the end, they picked me out to conclude!!

2.0: Didn't know it existed till after I was done with 3.0!!

3.0:
It was due to start at 5:30; I woke up at 5:40 (obviously with no intentions of going for it!!) and ran into the IPF people in the corridor; they asked me to be there by 6:15 over my protests 'hey when did I say I was coming?!!'
Anyways I had nothing better to do - actually I did but I preferred exercising my vocal cords over it ;) and I went, just like that, with just one thing in my mind - 'No matter what, I gotta speak this time!!'

And well, guess what happened? At the end of it, I was told -
You know, this ain't jam?? You needn't keep talking, you can stop if you think you're done!!

Lol...
Obviously I didn't make it to the next round but I'm proud as a goose to have driven those people to say that to me!! :D

Guess what we did today? We planted a tree :)
All branches have a really crappy subject called Environmental Sciences or Studies I'm not very sure; but it's really crappy for only my class, the other branches have it easy, rare classes and one test I think.
Our HOD is so serious about every thing, (stuff NOT related to electrical and electronics engineering especially being his favs!) he tells us this subject is by the court's order and hence we must abide!!
So anyways, he decided to let us make it through this one only if we each plant a tree! Not a bad idea at all if we didn't have to sit through his classes ;) I would happily plant three trees every week!!
So today was the day - we had to pay 60 bucks each for some guy who dug little pits (and some stupid someone - I dunno who obviously!! - filled mine with gravel!!) and got us the saplings. This was in the new chemistry department by the way.
So we just had to take the plastic off and put our plants in; I finally got to do something that made my hands dirty after ages!! :D

And then we had to water it; this was another adventure for we could only locate the guys' washroom and we ultimately had to fetch water from there only; (I didn't, I just managed to get a mug from this guy ;) but only after waiting for like sooo long for someone to lemme have a bucket and then finally realised there was no point trying to be so sincere!!)
And ultimately when I did manage to get a mug of water, I couldn't find my plant and somebody else had to point it out to me. lol!
And then it was time to capture the moment and preserve it forever ;)
So we all got pics with our respective plants; our HOD was happily clicking away to glory!!
All in all, it was nice, something different; though under the glaring Kerela sun!! The walk to the chem dept. was nice ;)

Yea yea I know I haven't blogged in a while; well, I've been kinda busy (and low). First there were the sessionals, then we went out to Ooty (amazing trip) and then, two weeks of being so low I didn't even know two weeks went by!!
Add to that four labs this week and three weeks of craving for a BIG cold coffee!!
So we finally decided enough was enough! And we went all the way to the city just to kill our cravings..
And it was awesome!! Just like my high school days :) >>
Three gals, hanging out at the mall, doing nothing except a BIG nice coffee from CCD :) Ok, the CCD is nothing like its supposed to be, even the coffee is not even half as good, but its as good as it gets here I guess. And it sent my mood sky rocketing so thank heavens CCD finally made it to Calicut, though just like me, it seems to have forgotten what its supposed to really be like after getting here :devil

This is what I absolutely love about Calcutta...
I don't really belong to the city, but I've been there all my life; it's the only place on earth I call 'home'. And the city never made me feel I don't belong there; in fact I'm yet to know anyone who felt out of place there..it's like 'everyone's invited'!
And all these things are stuff I realised after I moved out for college, I love every damn thing about that place; the streets, the British architecture, Park Street, the wind on the bridge when driving home from the station, Rosogulla (I realised to my utter horror after getting to college that you can't just go out and have Rosogulla everytime you feel like; and the lesson is to never take a Rosogulla for granted again!!), the rolls and momos on the streetsides, and the Bengali language, which I still barely understand but somehow, this far from home, it sounds like home ;)
It just feels so amazing to get back there..no matter how low I've been..the moment I'm back home, everything suddenly feels so good, like perfect!
Its the best city in the world to go home to..

The British left the city some priceless presents..

A typical sight in the older parts of the city..this is somewhere near Park Street..the hearbeat of the city..

How come nobody ever died coz of eating in the mess?!!

I really really really wonder...

Week 2: through
Congratulations folks..we did it!!

[I wrote this when I was fourteen and I don't remember a few lines, but it's been ages since I wrote something like this so..]

Money can buy anything they say
Of course it can, who says it cant
It can buy you a bunch of superficial friends
And a club membership to keep up with the trends
It can buy you that gorgeous sequinned gown
And the most expensive villa in town

But there are some things money can't buy
Success, happiness and your perfect guy
It can buy you a house, but not a home
And people you can call your own
It can buy you a limo and a glittering tiara
But, remember princess Diana??

In short, money can buy most things in life
But what it can't, is what we call life!

Its weekend already, pretty quick and must say, the week was a dream.
Just one class on thursday and now I strongly feel one day must be off every month just so we can pay our bills.
Anyway so weekend right; am so outta things to do; I hear half the things in Focus have closed down and with even LF gone, this place appears so freaking dead!!
Oh and I haven't had a first hour yet so am yet to catch a glimpse of the freshers. Like I care, I'm supposedly anti-ragging (lol)
Plus only two days of classes ain't sufficient to generate any gossip; dude there's really nothing to do then I guess.. apart from gaping at the Tathva poster (wassat!!)if you please!!

Haven't I told you before about how much I hate the start of the sem??
Well, I'm gonna say that again!
I HATE THE START OF THE SEM and more than that I HATE THE START OF AN ODD SEM
for in addition to no work, there's no LAN and there's the rain which theoretically makes me very very happy but it doesn't. It reminds me of how my first year started off and it isn't nice at all.
And the rain makes you feel cold sometimes and then you wanna feel warm and it really really SUCKS big time :(

1.The new template:
Before I had seen what NITC actually looked like, I only thought of all I'd seen on my last visit to Kerela, which would be Trivandrum and the beaches around it; and I totally imagined my college was on a beach etc. etc.
This template is totally like what I had imagined, I'd be totally on my own in a new place like a traveller, a new phase of my life and a beautiful beach.
This is how it turned out to be: the college is pretty but not on a beach! There is a beach which is very beautiful. I do feel like a traveller, a total outsider in this place, looking at a whole new kind of culture. And yeah, this is a new phase and so much better than the last even though I despise so many things about it (the number of things I despise has exponentially dropped since first year :wink)!
2.
One more month to go and oh man I'm so tired of these two month summer holidays; I just wanna get back to college now, I can't take this torture anymore! Its just so killing when you know something is coming but you gotta wait for it and there's nothing you can do to make it not come or something.
Waiting to get back to S5 though once that does happen, I might totally be complaining about it in this very space!! :P

I guess its about time I did this; half the summer gone and I'm yet to bid adios to my sophomore year, I have so been avoiding this...
The year started off with me breathing a sigh of relief for I would be no more be a fresher at college and wouldn't have to deal with people interfering in my affairs anymore; and then I realised college wasn't that bad, in fact it was pretty good and soon I was in love with it.
S3 was all about friends, hanging out, exploring and discovering the place, partying, and making new friends; it was like waking up to college!!. A real pleasure I must say.
S4@EEE was hell, classes, classes and more classes, yet the best few months of my life plus the assurance from seniors that with this, the worst was over..
And then jubiliation over being half way through with college, its great to be there but I wanna get over with it real fast; its all got something to do with my obsession about growing up quick!!
So, though I hate to admit and absolutely refuse to believe, S4 is over and I'm gonna miss it...

Will tell how it was tomorrow :P

After spending all of my last summer on fiction, I'd resolved to totally keep away from it this year; but some things are just meant to be: I ended up at my aunt's place yesterday with no internet, no signal on my phone, and just a cupboard full of books; and this is what I laid my hands on...
Khaled Hosseini's 'The Kite Runner'
I still don't believe it was just fiction, somehow every word I read in there seems to be as true as it can ever be;
I know I broke my resolution but it was worth it. I'll only try to keep it for the rest of the summer..lets see ;)

The salient feature of today's lunch: was not the horrible veggies that made me thank God over and over again for me not being able to get back for lunch on tuesdays the whole semester except for this last one.
It was the chapatis, that God initially planned to make papads, but changed his decision last moment!
They took two hands and all the muscles in the jaw area.

This other time not so long ago, they gave us bananas for dessert(an amazing concept by itself by the way - one banana for dessert, sometimes even two!!) and the banana skin and the chapati were the same thickness. The second similarity: we weren't really expected to eat either!

Here is the latest batch of six-legged visitors in my room...

This one with it's shining (seems more like varnished!!) belly looks kinda cute to me...

Unfortunately we found this one dead on my roomie's table :(

And this one made me late for class this morning; for I wasted nearly ten minutes, waiting for it to stop flying around!!

After my last post, I thought the inspiration for my last post's title deserves a post of its own!!
A Bug's Life is one of the best movies I've ever seen. In fact, many animation movies make more sense than the others these days, take Wall-e for example; I was truly and pleasantly surprised by that movie.
But this post is to A Bug's Life, so below is a walk down the memory lane for all those who went to watch the movie; and for the ones who didn't, the pics below look good right? Now go watch the movie!! :P
Flik - the hero!

The cutest!!

The flight...

The entertainers...

What they do the best ;)

The few spells of rain last week have brought all the insect population around here back into action. A new kind visits my room every evening now-a-days.
Two days back was this bug with horns!! I'll show you what it looks like another day but for now, check out this one:

this beautiful (rather majestic!!) bronze shelled bug; paid a visit to my room last night from, I'm ready to believe, the land of the Pharaohs!! ;)

I know I know...the bug doesn't look all that beautiful in the pic but I swear it was a real beauty!!!

God bless the guy who invented ketchup!
Back in school, I was known for the amount of ketchup I ate with my sandwich for lunch! In fact, I sometimes had stuff just so that I could have ketchup with it!!
At home, ketchup used to be a lifesaver - I'd drown everything that refused to go down my food-pipe otherwise in ketchup, from spinach to bottle gourds!!
However there was one thing I never used ketchup on: Domino's pizza. That was one taste so divine I wouldn't compromise even for ketchup!! ;)
But two years in college and I can't remember the last time I totally totally drowned something in ketchup; for the so-called-ketchup they serve in and around NITC would send Mr.Ketchup turning in his grave if there ever was a Mr.Ketchup that is! :P

There's something very special about wildflowers; maybe because not many people consider them special in the first place and hardly ever give them a thought. Somehow, I always notice even the tiniest wildflowers and love myself for never missing them.
The part that strikes me the most is that they grow on their own, totally uncared for; unlike the I'd say 'pampered' ones you'd get at the florist's!! And they stay good for a longer time and are just so nice, bringing even the driest stone to life!
And my favorite part is that they spring up almost anywhere, like the really pink and really pretty ones that sprung up outside my window this morning out of nowhere and reminded me of this really cute quote I came across once:
        Love is like wildflowers, it's often found in the most unlikely places ;)

Done with my classes for the day and have nearly a week of holidays stretching ahead and I have absolutely nothing to do, nowhere to go, just nothing! The hostel's already starting to feel empty, most locals will be gone by tomorrow morning.
By God's grace, the weather's been a teeny bit better than what it's been all semester and I'm getting lazy all the time as usual.
The latest unwanted development in my life is me getting addicted to computer games. The whole reason I never do them is because I have this tendency to get really addicted to them: the most dangerous one I ever had was NFS, that too at a very dangerous time - when I was supposed to be preparing for my entrances!! But after staying off them for like three years, I thought one innocent game wouldn't hurt; but that was me underestimating the game as well as myself!!
Btw, before I sign off - thanks for the inspiration krik krak ;) Been too engrossed in my games lately :P

Back after a long time, I don't know what I've been doing for the past few days; feels like I've been in some sort of a trance and still in.
When it comes to blogging, the Ragam blog's had my attention for the past week and still does! Honestly, I don't really know what I'm gonna do in Ragam; I wonder if I'm waiting for it out of habit. They call this 'falling into the NITC way of life'.
Something weird - in this whole semester I have only watched one new movie fully till now; I just don't have the patience to watch movies anymore. In fact, I don't have the patience for anything now-a-days; hate shopping as always, no movies, no reading here n there, I don't know what I'm coming to!
The weather's horrible; and the chicken pox thing is still on, I wonder when it'll finally go away. It's such a not-cool thing to happen to this college.
On top of everything, there are the never-ending classes, eight to five four days a week - it's killing me!! Especially when it includes something like an hour of 'value education' of all things!!

Hmmm..it's been a long time since I last posted here.
Second sessionals over, and no I am not satisfied at all; I now realise I got myself into real big trouble when I opted for EEE and even a bigger mess when I didn't realise for a long time what I've gotten myself into! Now I realise it a little I guess and I think I know I'm done for!
Anyways there's something that takes the wind out of me more than EEE does: laundry!! So after exams there was over a week's laundry to tackle - all thanks to our 'power laundry' - for those lazy moments, when you finally decide that the long steep climb to the laundry is a lazier option than doing all that yourself!!
Next issue: we have a new Electronics teacher, and we're starting all over!! God bless us and him too; things don't look too good, just classes, classes and more classes!! :(
The weather's turning more pathetic from pathetic! I hear its getting bad in the rest of the country too but atleast they're getting bad from good (winter). We never had winter!! I don't know why God forgot to bless his own country with that amazing season!!
And of course, everyone's supposed be excited about Ragam right now, so I guess everyone 'is' really excited about Ragam! ;)
Do keep an eye on the official Ragam'09 blog folks..

This is just an arbitrary list of things I miss this moment...

• Kwality Walls (and even Mama Mia)


• Being home, being hidden from the world in my room, doing nothing just lying dead on my bed.


• Refrigerator


• Washing Machine


• VH1


• Waiting for evening when mom will come back from work and I won't have to get bored alone at home anymore.


• The whole thing about being home, being in Calcutta, a lovely city where just everyone's invited!


• That gulmohar tree in front of my window. It must be so full of flowers right now.


• A Cafe Coffee Day whichever way you look, especially the one right next to my new home: It seems to say everytime I'm gettin back: 'welcome back home!'
  
• The Telegraph - hopeless newspaper; I even miss the hopelessness!


• At home, I describe a sultry afternoon as sultry; here, it just sucks :(


• I can write no more, I feel very very sad today.

March 03, 2009; The Telegraph:

A man walks in the snow in New York on Monday. A massive late winter snowstorm pummelled much of the US east coast on Monday, leading to hundreds of flight cancellations and school closings. (AFP)

And this is God's own country, they tell us: Kerela

Its February and I'm in the northern hemisphere so according to all the geography I have ever studied I should be enjoying atleast a cool weather right now, but since I'm stuck in Calicut which happens to be too close to the equator, it doesn't really make muc difference which side of the equator I'm on I guess, it's gonna be equally pathetic on both the sides, all year round!!!
Its not cool and I am not enjoying!! And from what I've heard, it only gets worse till we leave for summer. And thid time we have an extra-long semester (no complains about the semester getting extended ;) though) but we're gonna be stuck here, right under the sun for a long long time; so I'm really dreading what's coming up, an addition to all my never-imagined-this-could-happen-to-me-at-college experiences!!
So everybody at college, take care, drink loads of water (lest u get dehydrated and end up having to spend a night at BMH!! Trust me, hostel is heaven after a night at BMH) n loads o everything else you can get your hands on ;)
And oh yeah, keep an eye on the Ragam blog as well; that would be http://ragam09.blogspot.com ;)

We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes and the flashback starts
I'm standingin summer air

See the lights,
See the party, the ball gowns
I see you make your way through the crowd
To say hello
Little did I know

That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
And I was crying on the staircase
Begging you please don't go,
And I said:

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a lovestory baby just say yes

So I sneak out to the garden to see you
We keep quiet cause we're dead if they knew
So close your eyes
Escape this town for a little while

Cause you were Romeo I was a scarlet letter
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
But you were everything to me
I was begging you please don't go
And I said:

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a lovestory baby just say yes

Romeo save me, they try to tell me how to feel
This love is difficult, but it's real,
Don't be afraid
We'll make it out of this mess
It's a love story baby just say yes, oh,

I got tired of waiting
Wondering if you were ever coming around
My faith in you was fading
When I met you on the outskirts of town
I said:

Romeo save me, I've been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you but you never come
Is this in my head, I don't know what to think
He knealt to the ground and pulled out a ring
And said:

Marry me Juliet, you'll never have to be alone
I love you and that's all I really know
I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress
It's a love story baby just say yes!

Valentine's day is coming up again and with it comes that whole cards thing I wrote about last year. Someone just came by knocking at our doors to sell them to us - courtesy call - you gotta buy one for your sake!
This year they ain't as disgusting as last year but instead, are so damn cheesy I now think last year's was better. Anyways, like it makes any difference to me! In case anyone's interested, do keep coming back to this page. I will put up stuff if anything interesting happens; though I have a feeling you're gonna turn out to be hell lucky, nothing interesting will happen and I'll have nothing to write here and hence you'll be saved from reading anything!!

Here it is!

It's our first sessionals this week and it makes me so gloomy! First sit and study and then, find you've ruined all your exams and your GPA is plunging down at the speed of light!
What happens everytime exams come around is I suddenly begin to notice all the wildlife around me! Like just now I spotted two baby peacocks playing outside my window. And the moment I get my cam out, they're gone!
So no pictures for you guys to see. But, last semester, I did manage to capture some of it (the wildlife) so I'm gonna put that up, right here, for all of you to see.

The first bunch is this family of mongooses that I think lives right across from my window!



Next is this slug I photographed in our bathroom the morning of my last exam last semester I think, when I really should have been studying but was so bored!!

This is where I wish I could be this moment...

Hey its saturday night and am here, stuck in my room without a fan again (there is a fan but it doesn't work so as good as not being there!) And there's supposedly the biggest moon of the year out there in the sky tonight but I don't see any way that's going to affect my evening..
So more than a week into semester 4; I've heard this is supposed to be the toughest one for my branch, so what I'm happy about is that things can't get worse than they are now. But again, you never know, I might just do what everyone thinks is impossible (get worse than already am).
Hmmm classes, classes and more boring classes; the same stuff when read in my room from a book appears so much more interesting! (In case my last doesn't really go down with you I guess it's because I really do have some nerdy genes inside of me.)
Anyways I wrap up here; never heard of anyone who cares to read long blog posts. So have a great sunday and a great monday and a great everyday! (Have a great life!)

I hate start of the sem! Its so freaking boring!
So boring that don't even feel like writing! Come back later.
Ciao