Thursday, April 24, 2008

Farewell batch 2004-08

The journey is over.....the boulevard is full of memories and dreams...friendship...fights..laughter....a lil bit of studies too.Boys have grown up into men..who can take bruises ..who have the guts..and who have got a soft and sensible side too..4 years have gone bye..and there is not a single regret..no complaints....just pure nostalgia...I have made friends....some even for life...This parting will hurt ..we will miss every moment..every bit of it for sure.The days just went by in a hurry...sometimes in anger we cursed when will this end...but now we want a magic wand which can turn the clock back..bring back everything...I believe this is what priveleged people get...the lucky ones..And at this moment of time I am sure everyone of us would wish for atleast one more semester..if we are given a wish.......

Monday, April 21, 2008

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Few Questions

I am not pretnding to be sad ..but I am not able to defne happiness....could be I am happy but I dont know it
Who am I ?....... the ultimate question that I have ever challenged myself with......I still dont have an answer.
What makes me like someone and hate someone else..................This one is tough tooo.
What do I long for..................can't define ?
Whom should I trust.........
Whom do I love...............
Does she love me.....Do they care for me...Am I important...... Am I  doing the right thing..........What am I upto..........Do I live to please people........whats unconditional love........I AM CONFUSED BIG TIME............................I dont plan to write all this piece of crap........So again what am I supposed to do................Am I at peace with myself..........I simply don't have the answers.
What should I do...............BUT SOMETHINFG I KNO W FOR SURE I MISS ONE PERSON MORE THAN OTHERS.......and this crap is the spill out of that one feeliong of incompleteness.......Lord help me...I LOVE HER

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Health

THE SPEAKING TREE

Fasting Is A Way Of Knowing Your Body

Amar Misra


The two important pillars of health are good nutrition and moderate exercise. The most important factor, however, is your mind. Diet control has a lot to do with mind control. Which is why fasting is prescribed in many religions as a way of self-discipline.
If you try to learn the inherent programme loaded in your body, it would direct you to health and happiness. You may not need to curb your cravings to eat what is not good for your body. The method is called witnessing.
You can start by taking five minutes from your morning schedule and spend it watching your breath.
Sit in a comfortable position and start watching your breath. Keep your focus on your breath when you inhale and exhale. This
practice would give you a glimpse of a state where there are no thoughts in your mind. Slowly you would be able to watch the activities of your mind and the journey of thoughts from one subject to another. Soon you would know the system that operates your senses and in turn your mind.
You have five sense servants. You can see, hear, smell, taste and touch. None of these sense servants are designed to govern your hunger. Yet you feel hungry when you see the food you like. Any talk about your favourite food or its aroma immediately triggers your hunger. When you find anything tasty, you want to eat more and more of that food.
If you allow all your servants except the cashier to handle and operate your cash chest, you cannot remain solvent for long. Your body is programmed to send a specific signal to your brain when it feels hungry. The trick is in the knowledge
that most of the time your eating patterns are governed by habit and not by the requirements of the body. Then how to know and feel the real and actual sense of hunger?
Fasting is one of the timetested and proven methods that helps you understand your hunger and has been used by almost all religions of the world. The best way to begin is to go on an ‘only water’ diet for as long as you can do it conveniently depending upon your health. It may range between 10 hours and 24 hours unless you have some medical
problem. The purpose is to focus on your hunger and understand how it feels to be hungry and how hunger increases its intensity.
When the body gives you a signal that it is hungry and needs food, then try to wit
ness the sensation and understand how it feels. Drink water and the signal would fade away. Next time it would give you a stronger signal. You need to understand these signals before you respond to the same.
When you feel that you are very hungry then you drink some fresh fruit juice and watch how a signal of satisfaction is generated. Try fresh fruits, milk and cereals later but always keep the focus on your hunger and satiety signals of the body. The objective is to know the dynamics of your body which is unique for everybody.
Is it not surprising that among the six billion people living on this planet, no two persons have the same finger prints? We are designed to be unique and incomparable. So respect your body and learn its dynamics. Knowing ourselves would help our body attain perfect health. Always.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

The Ride Back Home--the story of an NSITian by an NSITian

The Ride Back Home PDF
Written by Perseus Patrawala

Just going back home the other day, i was contempating and pondering over the 4 years I have spent not only in college, but in the daily travels (or shud i say travails) to and from this institute...

Just going back home the other day, i was contempating and pondering over the 4 years I have spent not only in college, but in the daily travels (or shud i say travails) to and from this institute.

I know it seems a pretty odd topic to converse or even think upon. But really, it does form one of the most integral part of a students life.

When i hear my dear hostler riends cribbing over the horrendous 10-minute walk they to make from their rooms to the canteen or admin, (obviously not thte college ; you dont think students come here to study now, seriously, do u? ) I kind of feel just about raving mad to smash their faces. Common sense prevails, and i hold back, bcos exams are near, and notes have to b arranged frm the hostlers laugh.gif

Do they realize, some dayskies have to bear the sweltring heat, a 1 1/2 hr standing ride alongwwith all the pushing and shoving, only to come and find an empty college.

Anyways, not digressing away from what i started off, lets begin at the beginning. 30-40% of the colg students are hostlers. Of the remaining, another 35-45% have their own mode of conveyance, be it bikes or car pools. What a about the rest - yes - one and only - BUSES.

There are only 2 routes from NSIT - 817 and 764. These 2 buses, rather routes, will generally take u to where u wish to go, cos as they say - \"sab raaste bhagwaan ke paas hi to jaate hain\". Since i personally travel by the 817 \"route\", my personal reminiscences lie from that domain expertise.

So, whn colg gets over, after saying all ur tatas and bye byes, you trudge desolately from the admin to the main gate. Standing out there, you wait for a noble soul to give u a lift till Kakrola (or evn further). Obviously, beggars cant be choosers. So anything and evrything goes - from a Skoda, to a Pulsar, a van, tempo, tractor ..... even from a bullock cart. Most generally a khataara scooter will be ur saviour. By the time u crawl along along at a snail's pace to Kakrola, half of Dwarka has zipped past, and is staring and oggling at you.

The best lift we have had is frm an army bus. One wednesday afternoon, whn all colg gets ovr simultaneously at 3:30, one of my friends managed to \"hold up\" an army vehicle. The driver kept seeing the number of students (about 40 in the least) getting onboard the vehicle. It was truly amazing.

Nonetheless, u finally reach NSIT's paradise and most happening touring spot. Just like Bangalore's MG road, where u will recognize 80% of the ppl as ur colg acquaintences (thats another story), Kakrolla also offers u a chance to catch up with friends, while u wait for ur DTC. Ah! DTC - the lifeline - the immense pleasure of saying \"PASS HAI\".

Some people get impatient after waiting for 35 minutes for a DTC. So then u take a RTV, in the hope of reaching home quickly. But as soon u pay the guy the 2 Rs/- fare, u find a DTC whizzing past you, and all ur friends smuggly sitting in it. You think its been a bad day.

But wait - the worse is yet to come ...

After a 30-35 minutes of trvelling misery, you get to Uttam Nagar, with all bones dislocated, and ur head in a swirl. Now u r eager to catch ur nxt prey, oops, i meant the DTC bus. Life or Death, it hardly matters. You cut across the swarm of traffic like an expert pro. One hand movement and u expect the cars to slow down - just bcos u said so. Next is the 100m dash to get onboard the bus, which most definetely leave the bus stop before u can arrive there. Most of us would emulate even Jesse Owens, who beat a race horse in sprinting.

Now that ur in the bus (God knows which - as long as it takes u near to ur final destination), u try to find a seat where u can sit and sleep off the tireness u have accumulated over a rigorous day in colg - organizing mass bunks, playing TT and baski, persuading friends to give u treats for no reson whatsoevr.

But before all this, u must indulge in something called \"haggling\" - a term used to describe your bargaining with the conductor over the bus ticket. You never buy a 10 Rs ticket - always a 5 or 7/-. The 3 bucks saved can go into drinking a bunta in the canteen the nxt day.

Then, if ur lucky, u'll get an empty seat nxt to some uncleji. If not, yet another hour will be wasted standing in the middle of the stampede, with ur upper torso being jolted in a diametrically opposite direction from ur legs. Worse, never sit on a ladies seat, unless theres a cool looking chic besides. And Murphy's Law will follow you soon. The moment u sit, some auntyji will apparate out of sheer nothingness, like from some other space dimension, and ask u to vacate the seat - irrespective of whether u r carrying 1/2 a ton worth of books, registers, ED apparatus etc etc.

And if u do get he seat, and sleep off - just follow a couple of precautions. The guy nxt to u will let u keep ur head on his shoulders, only till u dont start drooling and dropping saliva on his shoulders. After that it cud nasty.

Secondly, remember where u have to get off. One of my dreams has been to visit the metro station and enjoy a ride. Well, once it almost got fulfilled. I slept soundly, and by the time i woke up, i saw strange and unfamiliar buildings passing thry. My misery was compounded, when the conductor told me i was about to reach the metro station. I quickly got off and came back to my \"intended\" bus stop, a 3/4 hr ride probably.

I was still groggy and very sleepy. In the confusion, i tried crossing the main road on a green signal, only to be bumped by a speeding motorbike I never saw coming. It wasnt so scary apart from a swollen leg and a near crushing by the blue line bus, that just stopped with screeching brakes an inch away from us.

But looking at the brighter side, some good uncle gave me a drop back till home, seeing my condition - and u know wht - that was 2 Rs saved frm yet another bus ride (this time it wud have been my final one) green.gif

And so as the engineering joke goes - Alcohol and Calculus dont mix - Never drink and derive.


The above scribbling of mine typically describes a single day of travelling back to our abodes. Imagine spending 4 years doing this. Also take into account the fact that for the 1st 3 sems, the Uttam ngr-kakrolla route was closed - so we had to take the long way back.

Looks like i have travelled immensely in these buses and probably tried and tested 9-10 different routes for getting back home, sometimes evn going half way to gurgaon, or evn in a 764 to IIT (which is in completely ooposite direction to my home) to accompany some \"friends\" enroute (if u ppl get the drift :wink: ). No wonder the buses are a third home for us, considering we spend 4 hrs travelling in them daily.

But its been a hell of a 4 fun years in the \"buses\". And the excitement and incidents will definetely be missed.

However the best route/journey I have encountered so far is :

Friend + car + \"thoda sa bahaana\" + \"bahut saara maska\" = lift back till home

Perseus Patrawala

COE (Class of 2005)

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Parents

THE QURAN says (Al-Asrar-23), "You must obey and respect your parents and when one or both are old, don't say anything improper to them, but help them and speak to them politely with absolute , respect and regard." Like so many old parents, mine too complain that I have little time for them. For a long time, I shrugged off these complaints, feeling certain they couldn't understand the rush of modern life. Selfish though it sounds, I thought things like accompanying them to the doctor or stopping for a cup of coffee were enough to make them understand that I cared for them and their world. However, one day I discovered more.

It was one of those unusual days when I paused to take a breather on the sunny balcony There in the . sun was an old style woven bed, with my mother's favourite magazine and pillow on it. It was one those women's magazines that I remembered she used to read when I was a child. I suddenly visualised her falling asleep in the sun, white haired and frail, with the magazine in her hand. I decided to seek out more old books from her precious collection and went to the storeroom.

How surprised I was to see in its dim interiors, not junk but things that I had myself forgotten! There was a large portrait of a pretty smiling baby that my mother had hung in her room when I was about to be born. There was my little suitcase that reminded me of my first job, my old shoes, books, bags and even decorative pieces that I had presented my parents on numerous anniversaries and birthdays. The whole collection whispered of my presence.

It dawned on me then how precious these memories were to my parents. Though their little ones had flown away they lived with cher , ished moments of our childhood. In contrast, how much did I think of them? I hope to deal better with my emotional responsibility now.

innervoice@hindustantimes.com