Ive Reached...

So, yes... vacation is finally over, and I'm back to Tiruchy(Yepp... thats what its called...). Its early morning... I arrived just a couple of hours back after a very, very tiring flight. The Sem is already to a bad start. I think I can see bacteria... lack of sleep.

Ajwad

Whose life is it anyway? - ParT II - It wasnt me...

TdaYs SonG: Sound of Muzak - Porcupine Tree

It was just like any normal evening... maybe too normal, because what followed didnt give me time to think, like, at all.

It was Shab - e -baraat. Its this religious occasion(I have no definite idea on this one... sorry) and I was in the mosque. We have no mosques in campus, so I was about a kilometre down the NH-67, in a place called Thuvakudi(Do not bother trying to understand... just think... some place near college.). So after about an hour of being holy(I can hear the smirks... will you stop :p), I stepped out of the mosque. I was feeling very compassionate somehow, that day, so I went to the STD booth(I know what that sounds like, but bear in mind, I was in the mosque a few minutes prior...), called up grandma, paid my respects, called up aunty ji here, and uncle ji here, and did the whole, nice boy thing for a while, and then bought myself a pack of smokes, and de Dew, and was chugging away... like I said, it was just like any normal evening...

I didnt notice the White Maruti as it parked right in front of the adjoining Kirana store. I also didnt notice who was driving. Maybe I should have. I should have, damn my self centred self, for not being aware enough to notice my Industrial Instrumentation Prof, with family, nonchalantly getting off to do his daily groceries.

I was more than cursing myself, for chosing this locality to pray at(How was I supposed to know that he's gonna have to shop today, now, and park his car right in front of my face), for smoking a cigarrette right on the street where Dr. Sahab comes to buy ginger-garlic paste, but you know what... I didnt even have time to think all these things at that time...

He was walking into the shop when he spotted me, and I had the half smoked cigarette in my left hand, which also clutched the green Dew bottle. He looked at my face, and kept walking into the shop... did he notice me? Didnt he? He should have; a person would have been blind not to...

As if on reflex, the cigarette dropped from my left hand. I walked into the store trying to act normal, still clutching the bottle. I bought myself chewing gum, paid the person... somehow trying to validate my presense in the area. I didnt want to look too guilty, by going up to him and telling him that I was in the mosque all this while. All the while, he seemed oblivious of my presence. It started, and ended in a flash; I finished up with my soft drink, and left to college, hoping, praying even that it was all ok, that he had not seen the cigarette in my hand... that somehow, the green soft drink bottle had done its job... distraction. Later I realised, it had done just that. And I, my friends, was in deep trouble. Very deep.

I dont own an alarm clock. My theory is, any alarm that can be switched off is useless. Anyway, I woke up at 9.15... just in time for the second lecture. I pulled on whatever clothing that I had scattered and ran to department. I saw the first lecturer making his way out of class, and confident that I was early enough on my next class I walked in...

I saw Dr. Sahab(If you're wondering why Im calling him that, please take note... this thing is on the internet... no names...) standing right in front of my class. I had no problem with that. His eyes met mine. With a very stubborn lump in my throat I realised... it wasnt his class right now. I didnt have to wait long to find out who he was waiting for.

'You... yes... you'
(Ok man... you got me.)

'Why didnt you attend the first class...?'
(Ok... so thats all it was... wait... it couldnt be)

'Sir... Im not keeping well these days, *cough* *cough* (and another persisent...) *cough*'
(God, please be kind, I prayed to you only yesterday... please please... please)

'Follow me...'
(Do I even have a choice dude?)

He lead me to his office and took his throne. I was definitely in for something not so pleasant today. I didnt know why; I had a gut feeling(After all of the nonsense I've been through, you'd think I had realised, but no... its like my dad says..."Hum nahin sudhrenge"(We shall not improve...:))

'Do you smoke...?'

(is that a question?)

'Sir...'

(Should I... shouldnt I)

'Answer me...'

(improve your grammar)

'Sir, occasionally sir... but that too not within campus sir, I swear sir, you can ask anyone sir... sir? No sir...'

I was in total panic; I was reacting to every contortion of his face... somehow trying to placate him with whatever I could manage...

'How often do you drink?'

(What the....?)

'Absolutely not sir... I dont... never'

(What is he talking about...?)

'Come with me'

(Where... We actually have breathalyser apparatus?)

If this wasnt bad enough, I was lead straight into my old arch enemy, the H.O.D's office, who by now, was very much hatching a plot to take over the world... my world.

'Come in'

(Run away...)

'No... you stay out for a while, when we need you, we shall call you inside'

(Ok... FOUL: The both of us should get equal brainwashing opportunity)

The next ten minutes were spent in just trying to fathom... why booze, and why all of a sudden. And then... it struck me... it was very very clear. The green bottle was in my hand, partially masking the cigarette. He may not have seen the cigarette, but he definetely saw the bottle. That, compounded with the location that I was in.

Before we venture further, let me try and describe a schematic of the area where this incident occured. There are shops on one side of the Highway, which mainly consist of a kirana store, followed by a cigarette shop, a shop selling chicken, FOLLOWED BY 2 WINE SHOPS, and then a couple of buildings later, the STD and the mosque. 2 fucking wine shops, right where my HOD wanted them to be, right where the worst mix of circumstances could have decided to happen to me, on one fine normal evening.

'Come in'

(This better be good... be prepared to cry... be prepared to cry)

'Good morning....sir'

(I havent done anything wrong... not yesterday... strictly weekends only)

'Are you going to explain yourself' - Dr. Sahab

(Ohh man... this is not going to work... I cant tell him exactly what happened... Its just to perfect for them... deny... deny and cry... TeArs: ON)

'Sir, no sir... I dont have alchohol sir, I'm a muslim, its not allowed to us'

(They didnt look too satisfied...My professor, who evidently does not drink soft drinks in life, actually went to the extent of thinking that a Mountain dew bottle.... but I couldnt laugh just yet... status: bamboo up ass.... TeArs: ON)

'I saw you near a wine shop the other day' - My H.O.D.

(What... How the... you arent even part of the story dude...Goddamnnit... TeArs: ON... Work, work bastard )

At this point... I was too frustrated with the whole idea. They are framing me... right in front of my eyes, the whole conspiracy is being set up; I was not liking this. Not one bit. But I had absolutely no idea how I was to get out of this situation. One last shot... if this fucks up, it just does... for real: TeArs:ON

'Sir, I do not consume alchohol, for the last time, its not allowed in my religion, and as for why I was there, I was there because we had to pray for such and such a religious occasion. Yes, I am in the habit of smoking occasionally, that I admitt to; It is not a nice habit to have, and I am trying to curb it. If you still think I am lying sir, I have no other way to convince you. I do not booze'

(Yes.... Yesss I had nailed it... speeches always work... almost)

My H.O.D. spoke first - 'Fine... write an apology letter...'

I was numb with relief... I didnt even hear the rest... I already knew what he had to say. What I didnt realise that, in order to clear my name off this whole nonsensical allegation, I had proven my faculty member wrong. Bad... bad move. Like I said... everything compounded, it would never be the same again.

Dr. Sahab very quietly said 'Be warned though, we shall be watching you.'

(Not we... No we... you... you will be watching me... I know... )

'I assure you sir, I shall not fall into any sort of trouble'

(But I had a sneaky feeling... it was only a matter of time)

For once... I didnt do anything that day... but still wound up in shit. How bad can my luck get...?

But someone once famously said... What gets bad... can definetely get worse.... its only, a matter of time.

cheers,

Ajwad

Whose life is it anyway? - Part I - Phist of Gawd

I woke up early today. I dont know why. Maybe because my nostrils werent capable of taking air in. Maybe because slowly, the music going on in the background was shaking of sleep in my gradually. Maybe because finally, I was bored of sleeping that night. I dont know. All i could see was 06.17 hrs on the clock. And this was a week into my vacations.




It was one long, hateful, tiring, loathsome semester. But everyone knew that. I was legend in campus. They called me the living proof of Murphy's law( NO fUckIng CommENts...). The whole story is too long for one cohesive entry... so well... its going to take a while, and a lot of patience(Yes... mine...:p).




Part I: Fist of God.




It was my Transducers introductory course (if I dont know... you cant expect to know... get it?), and I was smiling on the way to class. This guy, my lecturer, was nicknamed 'Sandman' with all of us; he had this legendary ability to give us the good stuff. It didnt matter how awake you felt. He just had this nack of well... putting you to sleep. And I had the perfect solution. For the past few days I was carrying some paperback to class and reading away. The lecturer goes on and on. I dont have to pay attention; I dont sleep or get thrown out, and I'm quiet enough to pass off as one of those highly disciplined types(fine... at least the low profile types...(Ok... give me a break...!)). Lookinfg back at all that, all I can think of is 'Little did I know...'




So I reach class, take my usual place in the left row, right next to the window, from where I could see any and every staff member who entered the department building. What I didnt calculate was them seeing me...(Yes... thats my little did I know moment...).




So there I am... halfway through a very interesting read (I think it was a Forsyth...), and suddenly, through the corner of my eye from the left... I see something.
Its my HOD, minding his own business and entering the building... Our eyes meet...




As his gaze drifts downwards, with a practiced hand I push the novel into my bag, clutched my thumping heart and prayed for the life of me, that he didnt notice. He just walked right into the building. I was safe... I smiled.




Two minutes by the clock. The door to my lecture hall flew open, with Guess who smiling at the whole class. No one knew what was happening. No one... except me. I saw him see me. And that wasnt good because he knew I knew he knew. He walked a few paces, till he was level with me and put forth his right hand in front of me. Like I was supposed to know what to do. I did, but I tried to play the fool...




Wrong move. I was pulled by my ears to his office(Excuse me... this is college... wtf... Ear pulling?).




'Who are you?'

(Was this guy playing it cool?)


'Sir... nx6125... sir'

(What...? im not going with my roll number in print... Sod off...)


'And what exactly do you think you're doing with a novel in the classroom?'

(Smart question... who had the answer to that one... lets see... Sir I was reading...)


'No Sir... sir'

(trust me, this, I'm too scared to answer thing works... its my secret weapon; that, and begging.)


'What?, you think you're very smart?'

(Actually yes, considering you couldnt catch me with the Debonair I brought to class yesterday...:))


'...'

(Silence... scared silence... I did not know wht to do... it was turning serious)


'Unless you call your parents, I will not allow you to write your exams...'

(I had him... I allowed myself a smile. It was in my head... but I knew I had him.)


'Sir... they live in Dubai, so you'll have to dial international....'

(I made the innocent face...)


And, just like that, his hand moved away from his Cellphone wallet. Dubai was expensive to call to. And he knew. I took my chance. I got off easy. An apology letter. A promise to not do it ever again.




What followed convinced me of one thing: I was a marked man(Yes... but you dont understand, its not just college... it doesnt work that way where I study.). I understood. I prepared myself for the inevitable: It was never going to be the same again....




Yes... Ok... I still carry books to class. No ones supposed to know allright...?


cheers


Ajwad

rOLlInG to DeCEMbEr - The SeM GoNE bY:

What have I been doing since September...?

You don't want to know. Its been a horrendous start to my penultimate year in College. 5th Semester was a drag... all I could think of it was... actually nothing. I didn't have time. The last 3 months were filled with running somewhere or the other to do some or the other godforsaken assignment... but thats not all. There are other things that lead to this unfortunate state of mine(Yes... its happening ... but on another post...) For now... I'm back. Watch this space...
Oh well.. mah next post...:
PrOxY aTtEnDanCe

lol....

Ajwad

HmM.... HaDDta uPLoad Em SomEdaY... n VoiLa

Well... this is a series of pics that I never thought would come out... Summer of '06... Vacations ... the first one is at home... its when I just woke up... do I even need to talk about the second... the second is from the same time period... but well.. Im in a saree shop... it was supposed to be an experimental one, where I blur out the sarees(to get a mindblowing effect btw)... but yea well... got bored... took a snap... n voila...:)

CauTion: Wet Paint...!

OK, I'm a little frustrated now. There was a shceduled outage on blogger as soon as I wrote this , and I have ever since been in love with the refresh button on my Web browser. Refresh... refresh... oh wait... refresh, and finally after a lot of begging and pleading to the machine, it finally worked. The past week has not been good to me. I have been running from one end of the campus to the other, registered for the IMS CAT course, studied for it, done a lot of assignments, and well, lived the life of a classical nerd, for the past 7 days. And trust me: These guys do not need a work out. They use their heads too much. I am wondering, if that is why my appetite is on its familiar-but-not-so-pleasant zenith. I am getting fat now.

Not healthy... just fat.

For the first time in my life here at NIT, I have stayed up till three doing an assignment (Sounds like no big deal huh...?), in the first month of the semester(And now?). My take on it: Its good, coz when I sit in my Electron Circuits class now, I can actually understand how the ciruit works... OK... not exactly, but somehow. Its like, you know when you've heard a language that you dont speak for a long enough time, you can pick up what the other person is saying, without actually knowing words. Meaning, you can understand, but not really say anything. I am feeling pretty proud now. Wait...(For those of you, who are out to burst my bubble, please click on the upper right icon on our window[HINT: It looks like an X].).



Other reasons why I've been that busy are: We just shifted from the temporary hostel, to this other way cooler one. Problem: We were on the first floor of the temporary hostel- and had to shift to the second floor of the other hostel... and these buildings, were almost a kilometre in distance away from each other. I was particularly weary of such excersise... so well, I just dialed my phone, and called my brother(I am not a sadist... but I do happen to have juniors who will work for me). So voila, while I was lighting cigarettes, there were these guys, picking my stuff and shifting it, bit by bit(Righteous people: try lifting a huge trunk, which well, is too big to be held by one dude... oh wait... did I mention: It isnt empty!).

Theres amazing ventilation in the new hostel. The 4th wall, is almost entirely window(They're big man...), and it gets pretty chilly early in the morning, which obviously means I will only bother a little lesser to be seen in class in the morning, and god knows I need to. I think I still have the IHS hangover, where I want classes to start at 1.00 in the afternoon, and probably end at 6.30 in the evening. Can you imagine the kind of life I've been living so far, what with having to wake up at a solid 10.30 in the morning, after getting a decent 6 hours of sleep? And suddenly, I have to get hit by a truck, and land up here. What went wrong with me, I thought, when I decided that this college, will determine the future for me. The biggest pain in the ass, is the attendance bit. Now the thing is, when I dont attend, Im supposed to redo the course from scratch, the next time its offered, which amounts to me doing a 5th sem course, in my 7th sem, when I'm actually supposed to be getting placed and doing weed till my eyes pop out. Apart from which I shall be dropping a course from my 7th semester, which means, I shall be wasting my time, just figuring out what my subjects are before doing anything substantial.

And, financially, the news is, I'm broke. I have not one penny in my pocket right now(which is a good thing, because the cigarettes are cutting themselves down.). Its not like I dont have money in the bank. I have money in the bank, but my cards fucked, and I dont want to use my passbook, since this stupid rule that will cause me to lose a lotta money if I update my passbook. So well. I'm playing it safe and being broke. I gotta go now, get my photographs... God BlEsS

Aj

P.S. Got a haircut... post pics shortly.... Aj

ThiS ShiT Is siCk...

Yeah I know, I shoulnt have had a cold water bath at 11:30 in the night. And yeah I know that I should have had something for my cough. But guess what: No one counts on all the diseases in the world - NOT all in one night. You gotta be psycho to be able to think that way. I think they've named a disease after that condition. Thats when you know your'e really psycho- they have a 'name' for what you have. Freaky.

No, really, I lead a pretty disgusting lifestyle, if I may say so myself, but I definitely didnt count on my health giving away almost completely, just one fine morning. So I wake up, and Im really cold, like its the middle of december. I had a hunch this would happen. On an ordinary day, I'd be really happy, with the prospect of not going to college the entire day. But this day was different. You see, my attendance is already terribly low, and trust me this wouldnt really look good(my reputation wasn't exactly what you called 'nice').
Suddenly I'm looking around for a pill(Usually dont pop them... just wanted to get to class(yes... this happens sometimes)) and a minute later... lose hope(See... the lazy me is back). So I just lie back and go to sleep, but this time wearing three t-shirts, my blanket AND the bedsheet over me, and still feeling cold. This couldnt be good.

[This is when I really didnt know what was going on... I was sleeping... well not really, I slept only half the time, so this is a partial recollection of what happened when I was awake...]

I can see half the fan spinning, I'm too tired to look at the whole thing. I'm still really cold, and now my feet hurt. My head hurt and breathing made my nose burn. Now my eyes are fixed at a corner on my wall, where a spider is taking an awful lot of time to decide where it wants to go...

Its not day anymore. I open my eyes, look at the corner. The spiders not there anymore, but the corner reminds me that I'm supposed to be sick. Its still cold, which means I'm burning up. I resign and fall asleep.

Its late. I message my brother. I need two things. Food, and Medicine. Pronto. Having spent what little energy I had, I doze off again.

I wake up, at the hazy silhouette of my brother at the door. He was smoking a cigarette. How I wish, I thought. My food and medicines ( Did not want to go heavy... Hello! How was I to know that in a very little time... the shit was gonna get CraZy.). I called out to him, but had no voice. I strained enough to call him, and started coughing. Just like that, I tell you. Trust me. Just like that I was coughing, lightly at first, but in a few moments... pretty heavily... like my lungs had declared war on my body. Too late for a cough syrup now. Fortunately it was a friday, so there were a few days that I could play around with.

I have a painful sleep. If theres one thing that you do not want to have along with fever, a splitting headache and a very bad cough, is a bad, bad pain... in your entire body. The pain is just enough to keep you semi awake, so soon you get bored with trying to sleep, and are forced to notice, what goes on in Ajwad's room through the night, among other things:

Its dark. The fan makes wierd noises every 4 seconds. Yes... exactly 4 seconds before it cries out. Its like a word... if you listen to it closely. Always the exact sound. I feel bad for the fan... saying the same word every 4 seconds of its existence. Makes Polly's life seem worthwile. Hell, at least it gets crackers sometimes.

Its too dark to see the spider, so well, I kinda missed out on its adventures. My jeans are hung behind the door... and theyr'e almost about to fall off, but not quite. Even if the fan was on a faster setting, I coulda sworn the damn thing would have fallen. But it didnt... it just stayed there. I was really really bored, and my idea of adventure was to predict if the pair of jeans would actually fall(Sometimes I wonder, if this is the way they come up with movies these days).
The sky wasnt changing colors yet. I flipped open my cell phone(Yes... I have a clamshell cell phone... I know its no biggie... but who cares... I somehow think its super cool), to check the time. I opened up the gallery, and looked at pictures that I took. Not really me, no, Im not that big on cameras on phones, but those that my little sis took these vacations... hmm... Me sleeping... interesting... Me sleeping1, me sleeping2, my brother sleeping... A dozen other pictures of all my family members sleeping... (Only mug shots... so well...:p), I saw a few pictures my sis took of herself. I smiled. Apart from this there were a few pictures of my ear... (yes... Ive tried stunts too), and other very wierd pictures of my fingers... and some really random pictures of... I dont know what... They were taken too wierdly for reason. Somehow, looking at pictures made me miss home. Then it struck me more, when I took a breath n my nose burnt... again. I closed my eyes again, this time I was determined to sleep. I have no vivid recollections of what happened that night...

Its been 3 days now... I feel much better. I feel strangely happy,like I just got over some depression... When you get over an ailment, its got a confusing effect on you. I feel like superman. I feel like I can hold everything thats kicking my ass right now, and ... well... kick it right back. I think everyone deserves to feel that way. Afterall... hope is what makes the world go round. Gotta rush. Cant miss class.


God bless,
Aj