I think ...

Name:
Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

There are seriously so many things about me that I find it impossible to summarize them within this character limit :)

Sunday, September 24, 2006

The INDO-GULF trip

One of the days in life you don't like to forget - Truly amazing with lots of masti, enjoyment and bus travel.
We started at 5:30 in the morning and reached Jagdishpur at around 11 - with a halt in Lucknow. I and Vivek Aalok got into the bus late so had to sit with girls. There was a lot of 'booing' around initially and some tit-bits during whole of trip, but without much caring about them we both continued to enjoy. Especially the three of us (me, Vivek and Niharika) stayed together and talked a lot.
We enjoyed ourselves a lot. We sang songs, did a lot of chatting, shared thoughts and opinions and guess what, talked about books. OK. Will think about Niharika in some other post, but let me remind myself that Shilpa also talked and if we had continued she would have started chatting fluently. Actually, I invited her to sit down beside us.
So, the journey started by Sir coming late and sitting in front of us. But the good thing is he enjoyed our singing (even bad songs) and showed us some magic tricks. Also he was sleepy more than halfway through the journey. We offered him biscuits and chips, and he gladly agreed. He impressed me today.
Priyanka as usual started by taking out the books but songs forced her to put them back, especially 'Awaara Bhanware'. Amanjot was talkative as usual. Arnika was on fire compared to how much she speaks. Shilpa - mentioned above. Niharika deserves a separate post. Shivangi and Poonam talked only in factory area.
Our hostelmates? As usual. Packed in the back of bus like school days - playing Antakshari, passing comments, singing waise wale songs, applauding every out-of-normal-course thing, shouting at will - man! I missed that. But have done enough of that already. On crossing Lucknow, Rishi and Sadanand joined us and started singing songs. That was fun. However gud the girls may be, you get real fun with the gang !!!
When we reached the factory, we were made to wear helmets and to deposit our mobiles and cameras. After that we divided into 3 groups and were shown around the area. First we were taken to the Control Room of Ammonia Manufacturing Plant and later to that of Urea Production Plant. It was fully automated and quite impressive. Then our guide - Mr. Navin - took us to various parts of the plant. It was huge - the pipelines, absorbing and reforming towers, pumps, generators ... everything. Chemical Engineering displayed with its full grandeur. But the most amazing and the most unforgettable of them was the Prilling Tower. It was 109 meters high and quite a few meters wide. Urea sprinkled from the top reached the bottom as round prills. Mr. Navin opened the Inspection door and as soon as I saw it, I was mesmerized. It was awsome. Just like snow falling from way above and collected by a rotating twin blade at the bottom. Everyone was thrilled. Then we caught an elevator to climb up the tower and from there we say another breath-taking sight. Whole of the plant which looked so huge was laid down in front of us like a small model and men looked like small ants moving around. We stayed there for quite some time and came back to the ground. Everything was big again. Then we went to see the Water Cooling System and returned back.
Later we had our lunch, which I accept was not very good, and waited for don't-know-what for around an hour before heading back to Kanpur. As our campus neared, everyone was becoming merrier except one - myself. I wanted this journey to continue for some more time. Can't say why. Maybe because I was having a good time or a good company, or maybe something else. But here I am, sitting in my room, typing this post and ...... reliving today.

This much was written on Saturday and then I slept so much that today is Monday now. I will share pics later.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Delhi Trip

Started to write on 19 Sep :
Delhi is a fantastic place and everyone must visit its beauty atleast once. There are a lot of bandis but even if we leave them out of picture, Delhi has a lot to offer.

Still this trip is very special to me because I finally managed to go to Swetank's home - Swetank Cottage in Gurgaon. I actually went on the ticket of one of the Secys of Book Club who refused to go to the Book Fair. Two other second yearites also refused and they were subsequently replaced by Gupvar (4th year) and Sabyasachi Ghosh. Shefali also accompanied us as she wanted to find out about the IAS Coachings in Delhi. So the team comprised of me, Swetank, Gopi, Gupvar, Shefali, Sabyasachi and three juniors.
It started with two bachche missing the Institute Bus and later arriving on station. Train was on time and we got our seats comfortably. It was there I started talking to Gupvar, who was quite decent but impatient. There was an adult man sitting on our seats who constantly looked at Shefali but no one else seemed concerned and even Shefali did not stop her unnecessary talking and movements. Throughout our up journey I avoided (and succeded) saying something disagreeable to Shefali - even when she started reading 'Constitution of India' when everyone else was talking.
On Saturday morning we reached Swetank's home and were greeted heartly. I noticed that Swetank treated Devika(aka Chinki) in almost the same way as I treat Richa. We freshened up and had a round of very tasty food. Swetank showed us his room which, sadly(!) enough, was exactly like my room a few years back, though the only difference was that his was a bit smaller and had no Balcony. But it had a rocking chair and the Bathroom was a bit bigger and with a nice sliding door. Also the lights were a lot more decorative. But now it is owned by his sister and my room is owned by some other family :(. Anyways, I found myself swinging once more in a jhoola kursi after so many years.
After our stomachs were filled to their capacity and Shefali had acted in all strange manners possible, we left for the Book Fair - correction : to take Shefali to her friends. And they turned out as her true friends, because - 1) They acted like some secret agents on a mission and kept on changing their meeting place, 2) As soon as she saw them, Shefali and her friend were hugging each other which took even him by surprise. But I was quite a lot occupied in the natural beauty moving aound and neglected the acts going on. By the way, I must mention that I already had a 99% arguement with her on the way from Dwarka in metro. Did I say METRO?? Oh, it was a lovely experience - far better than Metro of Calcutta, though there it is mostly underground. Across many areas it served as the only means of mass transportation, and as usual there ws a lot of natural beauty.
Before Pragati Maidan, we visited a book shop in Khan Market and there again I had an experience of my life. Apart from us, the only Indians were either shopkeepers, security guards or servants and beggars. The place brimmed with foreigners who roamed around as comfortably as in their native places. And there was not even a single shop that I could rate as exceptionally good. Everything seemed normal except the foreigners.
I did not find Pragati Maidan as a maidan as I expected, but it was good. Book Fair comprised of books by 260 publishers spread in 5 halls. We left it only when it closed at 8pm. As there was no time left for sight seeing, we returned to Gurgaon where we had another round of excellent food with Anvit, Apporva and Nikhil.
Sunday morning saw us all tired and sleepy. We woke up late which meant such a long delay that all hopes of visiting even India Gate vanished. So we enjoyed our breakfast along with Swetank's Foofaji. It was then Sabyasachi accidently spoke out that he would have been happy if Abhinav Jain was here as he was the only one capable of making the environment light. Ouch! that really hurt. Still, we moved on with Aunty and Foofaji seeing us off after a trip to a Mall in Gurgon. Why Mall? Well Swetank and Gopi went frantic in a Book Shop which was actually good. But for me, I saw probably the most sexy girl in Gurgaon wearing a sexy red dress. I love that Mall !!
But we had to move on and our next destination was Dariyaganj - the place in Delhi to find books at their lowest rates. And what happened was not unexpected. Swetank went crazy and so did Aadhar and to add fuel to fire the shopkeeper invited them to his Godown. We bought more than 50 books there and guess what, even I ended up with 5 books of my own. So, we moved again and to cut the long story short, we finally arrived at SouthEx, went to a very good BookShop (I got my 7 Hindi books by Narendra Kohli), again were awed by more natural beauty and then to another bookshop ...
Not to mention our trip to McD, we headed to NDLS and boarded in the train. (Oh yes, we went to Pizza Hut also; that was fun except Shefali ringing the bell) So, once in the train again the story was repeated. I tried to refrain myself from saying anything to Shefali or Chachi, but once they started discussing Satanic Verses and something about Muslims in a busy train, I had to interrupt. I know I can be rude sometimes, but I am not good at being good all the times. So, train moved on and we reached Kanpur, in time for Dr Chhabra's class.
Today : I am still craving for another visit to Delhi with lot of time to spare and loads of masti to do. Hope to see that day while in IIT.