An emotional Get-Together

The day started with little excitement, I was gonna see my dearest ones after a gap of around 3 months. But I had no idea that this was gonna be the such an emotional day, that it left me with a nose blocked by held-back tears..

Indra was the first to reach college. I too had planned to get to my college by 9 in the morning, but a last minute appointment at the bank delayed me by around 2 hours. Some of you might know that I and my friends had built a mobile phone controlled robot car for our B.Tech project. I had brought it back home to show it to my parents. Alas! it didn’t work. I tried repairing it, but without success. Today I had planned to take it back and deposit it with my project guide. The 8B buses are always too much crowded for carrying any such delicate piece of work. So, I had to take another route and so forth. Anyway, getting off at my college I saw Avinandan with his better half. On entering the gates we saw Indra and Sneha at a distance. Sneha was a bit miffed. Her better half had scrapped his plans of coming and meeting us here coz of sudden fever. Otherwise it was great! we could not stop talking and smiling and laughing.. Needless to say, I kept cracking my fresh baked anecdotes whenever I felt the atmosphere settling down. My main target was Avinandan, coz his new-found girlfriend has brought about some seemingly impossible changes in him, that too in a couple of months.  So, we set off to get our N.O.Cs and final mark-sheets from the Registrar. In the course we went to different labs we had attended in this 4 years. Memories came flooding back as we visited them. The bench vices of the workshop, the drill machine diagram diagram on the black board, those huge DC motors in the electrical lab.. With all the signatures we went to the Admin Block for the next formalities. We were surprised to know that the piece of paper with all those signatures was not to be submitted today 😦 , we got to wait till December to submit it. Then we shall get our certificates.

So, finishing off this business we went off to Panch-Phoron, a restaurant nearby. On the way we saw a lot of policemen armed with guns and sticks. Reason? The town development authority has decided to demolish all illegal constructions in the city. They didn’t even spare the roadside makeshift food stalls. The ambient scenes could have dampened our spirits any other day, but today. We were too charged up for that! We were so busy talking that we hadn’t noticed that we were walking past our destination 😉 . It was Avinandan who pointed it out. The restaurant was on the 2nd floor. We first thought of taking the lift. But not being patient enough for the lift to come down, we set off the stairs.

We took an 8 chaired table for ourselves. Handed over a paper napkin to Sneha, she took out a pen and started . She is the manager at all out outings. She finalizes the stuff we order, how much each one has to pay etc. I had expected an item of PANEER, but no one else seemed to think on my line and so it wasn’t ordered. We ordered 4 plates of mix veg, 3 plates of biriyani and some more plates of some chicken items (I can’t recall the names :P). It was quite a while before we were served. We spent the time listening to Arijit’s experiences at Durgapur Steel Plant (he works there), telling Avinandan’s new found love how much had she changed him in these last 3 months who kept complaining about how much of a trouble it was to bunk a day at his job, I got my rakhi from dear sister Priyanka, teased Sneha how she never likes her own smiling photos, took a few pics etc. Finally, it was time to dig in! The food had been served. I was damned hungry.

There was a shortage of gravy 😦 but it was all great! Sneha and Priyanka could not finish their cold drinks, which I happily finished off! I am well known among my friends for my vicious appetite. All were saying they were full to their throats, but I felt like I could finish off another half plate of mix veg (though after a loud burp). We paid the bill and came out. Again thought of taking the lift. The lift showed “overweight” sign and I had to get off. We all met at the bottom of the stairs. Avinandan and his girlfriend were the first to take off for their workplace at city-center. They were getting late. Then it was Sneha’s turn, she took another auto to city-center bus stand. At last myself, Indra, Priyanka and Arijit were left. We took the next bus to city-center.

Within half an hour we were at city center bus stand. Sneha was smiling and waving furiously at us from her window side seat, the bus was “vroom”ing. There was still a minute left for the bus to depart. We kept talking but she insisted us to go on, enjoy the evening and not wait for her. Suddenly she turned her face away from the window. We could sense her choking on her cries. A few seconds later, she did look back at us, smiling, once more. But this time her eyes welled up and she could not hold back her tears. The bus started moving, tearing away her tearful eyes from our view. Slowly the bus took a turn around a barrier and she was gone.. I caught a glimpse of Priyanka misty eyed, before she wiped them off.. I could neither cry properly nor could I brush away the emotions (like I always do). I don’t know what was holding back my tears. My eyes were red, but my nose was runny..

The last time we had parted, we weren’t so much emotional. We had a reason which made sure that we would meet within another couple of months. But this is the final parting shot.. This time, we really don’t know when shall we meet again, if at all..

The most prominent scar, college life left on me..

These last 4 years left some permanent marks on me. Some emotional burns, cuts, bruises, and wounds left their permanent scars, which have shaped me into my present self.  The most prominent one which  actually made me write this post is that, I am a lot cooler than I used to be. I don’t mean handsome kind of cool, but cooler by state of mind. I shall explain with an example. Read on..

Just take the situation yesterday. I and Avinandan had gone to Kolkata for an informal job interview (we had a reference). By the time we were done with the interview and lunch, it was quite late. We were gonna miss the last buses back home. We hurried to Karunamayee. Bad luck, we didn’t get a ticket for the last bus which was leaving right then. Given the time available we couldn’t have opted for the train. So, we thought of going to Esplanade, hoping to get a ticket on another bus to Durgapur. We had no idea if we had already missed the last bus but we were hoping to be there in time. Owing to traffic jam on the way, our bus took around 1 hour for a route of 30 minutes. Luckily, we were there in time. Buying the tickets, we took our places on the bus, informed the ones concerned and everybody heaved a sigh of relief.. Avinandan asked me if I was tensed about missing the last bus and being stranded in Kolkata for a whole night. I said “Nope, I am much cooler now, thanks to you and my college mates…”.It made me reflect on what would have happened if my 18 year self had been through this.

First of all, hearing he had already missed the last bus at Karunamayee, he would have been half blinded by fear. He would have felt hugely nauseated and a migraine would have set in for sure. Each and every second on the bus to Esplanade would have been a huge torture for him. He might have cried out or fainted in the heat of summer. In the mean time he might have lost his mobile phone, bumped into a dozen people already destroying his specs and so on.. Cumulative anger and frustration would have made him half dead by the time he would have reached Esplanade.

Amongst all the different character traits that I have gained through my 4 years of college, this one is the most prominent. Knowing, believing and feeling are 3 different things.. There was a time when everybody used to say to me “don’t panic, everything will be alright”. Slowly I began to believe, but I never got the hang of “everything will be alright”, because I never saw beyond my immediate neighborhood. College life forced me to take a broader perspective and that changed me for good! Now I feel “whatever happens is always the best that can happen, my duty is just to hang on tight and enjoy the ride”. Whatever situation I might face, ultimately I am going to be alive, which implies either I will be successful or I will be defeated and embarrassed. In case none of these happen, it will be much simpler! I would be dead and be spared the trouble of facing others with the embarrassed look!

Thank you my friends! Thanx a lot..

The final day of college life!

My day started with the thought “What if I can’t write anything today in my exams, I don’t wanna fail in the last one…”. It was real scary.

By 10 I was at the exam hall. It was the usual scene; most were preparing cheat-papers and writing on benches with pencils etc. Few were talking about the extreme heat of the summer, laughing at some anecdotes and so on.  I was feeling as if I was in a slaughterhouse about to be killed. Cheating in exams that is something I had never done before. I didn’t expect that myself being able to do that without being caught. The question papers arrived 5 minutes earlier, it killed me on the first look just as I expected. There wasn’t a single question that I could have answered by myself, all were lengthy derivations and I hadn’t prepared them at all. Something else was playing at my fate today. Suddenly something like a heat wave rushed over me and I uttered “Hey Adra, Pass me the cheat”. I was surprised at my tone of voice. This was one of the strangest things I have ever done. Next 2 hours went like breeze! I deftly cheated throughout the paper. I completed the paper with 1 hour left. There was ample time left to throw away the cheats through the broken window behind me. Time became slow. I could not wait to submit my paper and break into the final celebration of my college life! After the exam I ran to the library to submit my last library book and it was done! I was free! We started writing on shirts in the library itself (on other days this would have earned us a good scolding, but not today). Friends and all, we had become a family. Today it was time to depart, time for the last get-together. It was time to get emotional, time to speak those unspoken words we had in our hearts for years. It was time to show off our pent-up sentiments and so on…. Here, u can see some pictures my friends taken by my friend Avinandan.

In front of our library

                  

Afterwards, we decided to spend the night at Sudipta’s mess and visit Sudipta’s hometown tomorrow. I had to do some packing and stuff, so I came back home. An hour later me  Avinandan and Arijit we  3 joined the 3 others, Suvajit, Suvayan and Sudipta (remember the making of the song “college er sei dingulo“?). For dinner we went to restaurant named “PANCH-PHORON” (it is a Bengali spice).Enjoyed a hefty dinner, but it was already past 10 so, we were gonna have to walk the distance back. Luckily enough we got the last bus on the route. It was already running late, so we were at Sudipta’s mess in no time. I got to mention, in my B.Tech life of 4 years, I haven’t ever seen these buses going so fast! Avinandan was adamant about taking a his first sip of beer. Sadly enough, there were many who had planned to take the first sip tonight! as a result we could not find any good one. At last we found a bottle of Haywards 5000, it wasn’t chilled though. Arijit had bought a cold 2l Sprite. We decided that it should be mixed with the beer to lower its temperature. Avinandan was the first to take a sip. But he could not drink much. The rest of the bottle was finished by Arijit and Sudipta. Then we decided for game of cards. I am lousy player, so I was taking a little rest and the others were playing. Around 2 am everybody got tired and we came out of the room into the open air.

Now it is 2 3o am. Tonight, sitting outside by the side of a well, with a few of my friends under the open sky, counting the stars and yawning, we are reflecting on our life for the last 4 years. It was 8th August 2008, that we started this journey, the journey of 4 years of B.Tech. Looking back there are a lot of sweet and sour memories but most have been victims of my short-term memory. So I am keeping quiet, laughing at their anecdotes. In the meantime we can hear funny noises from the girls mess just beside the place we were sitting and we are wondering aloud what they are up to.. I am terribly sleepy, but trying to keep myself awake.

This is our last night together, A memory we shall cherish forever!

SantuOnline is 2 years old!

“YEAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!  SantuOnline is 2 years old!”. This was my first thought right after getting up this morning! I am sooo happy, seems like it is my own birthday! I still remember those days when I used to plead with my friends to visit my blog (I didn’t know how to get visits then). Most didn’t  care. Indrajit was the only one who used to comment on each of my posts and I had to be content with that.  It was only this January that I started blogging like I meant it and now have a handsome reader base! I am obliged. I guess I have improved a lot as a writer since I started.

Here are some old posts of mine. I know they aren’t as good as as my latest posts, still take a peek at them. Let it be your B’day gift to my blog! 😉

My very first post, Hello world! . Notice the way I have written? I didn’t know what to write and how to write then.

My first brush with wildlife photography, I clicked an awesome pic of a grasshopper at a distance of just 5cm!

CUTEsome THREEsome, I clicked a mommy dog and two puppies suckling! Cute indeed! U cant miss this one.

uffffffffff…….. chaap ketechhe   a post on an exam. I had been  in a pressure-cooker situation that day!

life at the end of two years in college  The title is explanatory enough. A sentimental one..

curious cutie Snap of a li’l cat, by my friend Tanushree.

HAD A GREAT FALL, I fell while climbing down a hill.

a Friendship day post! This is one of my personal favorites! I celebrated the afternoon of Friendship day, at a river side with my closest friends.

have free time, but I am trying to relax A miscellaneous post on a day I was bored of doing nothing 🙂

a Lovely Sunset.. Another one of my rarely awesome pics! Please, dont miss this. This is a pic of my hometown.

and lastly the series of 4 posts about  a job interview I had appeared for. My very 1st one away from home!

A JOB INTERVIEW, 3rd in my life,1st one away from home

A JOB INTERVIEW, 3rd in my life,1st one away from home -> The written test

A JOB INTERVIEW, 3rd in my life,1st one away from home -> Results are declared..

A JOB INTERVIEW, 3rd in my life,1st one away from home-> the journey ends..

 

A lovely dream that I don’t want to realize..

This one might look like an awards post, but it is not. It is just a bunch of thoughts concealing a childish wish.

Meeting new friends is always great! No, I am not talking about Facebook type of friends. We just have them on our friend lists, not in our hearts. Those I have in my heart are from my real life and from WordPress. It might seem a bit odd that I am equating worth of real life friends and those on WordPress as same, but actually there is nothing strange about it. Let me explain.  You see on FB, we like,comment, show off, feel jealous, congratulate and humiliate each other with status updates, photos and all that. But on WordPress, we just we just go on writing our own thoughts. People who resonate, follow on. Thus a good and healthy friendship is born. I am not undermining the worth of real life friends. I am just saying, my WordPress friends are almost as close to my heart, as my real life friends. Here’s a list of few of my favorite blogs. Read on to know why I like them..

Vighneshacharya is always ready with Speedy Sparks to preach and inspire. His inspirational posts have helped me a lot. Next my mind points to DrChristy from Nashville. Her posts about Jesus and the almighty, those are abrasive enough to rub the veils of materialism and ego off our eyes, yet soft enough to gently touch the heart and show us the right way. I have gained a lot of patience and peace reading them. Currently she is doing some posts on medicines and vaccines. Next I should mention THATlou, short for “Treasure hunt at the Louvre”. Her blog is always full of historical facts objects and artifacts. Even though I hated history, I love her posts.  At Atranquilplace, the photos and words take me to heaven the moment I read them. Awesome! At semi coherent ramblings and such, he just talks on and on and on and in the end, you realize it wasn’t him talking. It was you reading! I love going through his mind . At Angiestoeklinblog, she is a simple girl of tween, living in San Francisco. You have to read her blog to know why I like her. So is Lexical Tapestry, she mesmerizes all with her posts and poems. I should mention, the author of Indrakatha is my best friend. Now for poetry blogs, one is Madame’s Tea Party and the other is Camilla Carron. Madame’s Tea Party posts so many each day that I can’t catch up, and Camilla Carron, she can get you cracking with laughter with just a few lines. Enough with the list.. There are around 30 other bloggers whom I follow for some reason, but I don’t wanna make this post too long. Now, lets cut to the chase!

Just this morning I had an idea. Why not go on a world tour to meet these wonderful people in person? It isn’t that bad an idea and I spent my whole day dreaming of meeting them. I saw myself in San Francisco, looking at that huge red bridge. I found myself laughing at Camilla’s poems. I saw myself in Nashville listening to some spiritual talk by drchristy, and so on.. By evening reality dawned on me. It isn’t quite possible to realize that dream, not at least in my present situation. That made me sad. The chain of thoughts went on, till I settled on a nice climax. I am a human being right? I am bound to be judgmental. What if I don’t like something about them. Instead of being enchanted, I might get a bad taste in my mouth.  It might spoil their images in my heart and if that happens, then what is the point of realizing such a dream?…  I said to my mind, “No reality check please, I just wanna keep dreaming”. Dreaming and wishing that one day, I will be meeting these wonderful people. I want to preserve their images as it is, in my heart and keep resonating with their thoughts for ever.. 🙂

a milestone on our way to the end..

Yesterday, it was the last lab exam of my B.Tech.. getting pretty nostalgic right now. But this attack isnt as emotional as I had expected..

The day started with much excitement. Remember that song I was talking about in “Finally it happened“. We were planning to do a video recording of the song and dedicate it to all of us friends. Anyway, it was a typical Indian summer day. News forecast had warned that it was going to be 45 °C around noon, and it was hot indeed. Anyway, after the exams I took the bus to my friend, Sudipta’s mess.

Sudipta, posing with the guitar

Getting down at the bus stoppage I thought, I might have a bottle of Amul Kool, (saffron flavored milk). I bought one. No sooner had I put it to my lips, than I noticed two hooded guys approaching me. I was puzzled for a second at least, but their style of walking gave away. At once I recognised them; one was Suvayan (our lead singer)

Suvayan, our lead vocalist

and the other Avinandan (our only musician).

Avinandan, our only musician

Thankfully, they had come to pick me up. I was on the pillion when I heard the shopkeeper caliing me back. He had forgotten that I had already paid and was asking for it again. Damn! I never cheat on anybody, and how dare did he accuse me? Somehow, I managed to convince him of the truth and stomped off.. I left my bottle of Amul Kool there, it still had a some left in it..

With the usual welcome, I saw Suvajit was setting the plates and dishes for a treat of chicken Biriyani.

Suvajit, serving the BIRIYANI

It didn’t take much time to finish off the Biriyani, washed down with a few gulps of Thums-up. Then started the rehearsals for the song.

initial tuning..

Suvajit, posing with the guitar

Avinandan would think up and play some tunes and we would try to match it to the lyrics. It went on for around 20 mins. Finally we come to a decision on the song opening tunes. Then the rest went like a breeze. The different stanzas were being sung along with with the guitar.  The song video was being shot in pieces. Since this was our first chorus with a guitar in company, little flaws came up now and then. Somewhere the lines were too long, somewhere too short. But it was funny posing as composers and music directors 😉 .

We didn’t know when time flew by, until we heard someone shouting outside. We had frozen in our places for a minute, till Sudipta came back. He explained that ourselves, composing songs and singing at the top of our lungs, had added to his neighbors’ misery on that hot afternoon. Our rehearsals came to an abrupt halt, but we were too charged up to stop the shooting midway.. Suvajit then decided that we better go to another place (his previous mess), and within 10 minutes we were there. The juniors living there were kind enough to let us go on with our shooting, even after the abrupt murder of their afternoon naps on such a hot day. We are grateful to them. Now, the final stanzas were shot. Still, we hadn’t shot the whole song in a single video. So, it we shot another two to three videos on the whole song. The last one was the best. I have put it on YouTube, click here.

Finally, it happened!

Imagine, you are standing on a high cliff, cornered. You have got to jump, there is no other way. You have a parachute strapped on. There is a sudden urge to jump, yet the next moment you find yourself balancing on the edge.. This loop goes on until you suddenly find yourself weightless, flying, the ground accelerating towards you. Pulling on your parachute strings, you come to a safe landing. You cant help applauding yourself at the feat you have accomplished! You think, “That pumping adrenaline, it was more of fun than fear after all”

Something like that happened to me yesterday, twice. Don’t worry, I wasn’t on any high cliff. I was safe and sound on the surface of earth.

First one happened when my friend Suvayan asked me to sing a song, composed by some of my friends. Never before I have sung or danced or given any speech in public. Whenever I sing, I have my headphones on my ears to spare me hearing my own singing. But, Suvayan was adamant. He wont let me go without it, and I was sort of hanging on the edge, wanting to jump, yet not able to.. Sudipta, Arijit, Suvayan all sang the song. Somehow I could not. My voice was imprisoned in my throat for a couple of minutes and suddenly, it broke free! It was kinda muffled, and I was a bit quick to finish the song. Heart pounding against my ribs, I was complimented, which meant I had made a safe landing.. 😀 again I sang it for 7 or 8 times. By now, it was quite funny (more like adventure for me)! Every-time he would point out the little flaws and try to rectify those. I think I did quite well! Finally, I had heard myself singing in public, without the headphones 🙂 The bathroom singer has come out of the bathroom 😛

Guess which one is me..

Second one happened at my college. We had our college fest yesterday. Though the fest was going on for two days, we joined it on the last evening. There were two events scheduled, performances by Vineet and by Underground Authority. Man, Vineet has a marvelous voice. With him singing, everybody around was jumping and dancing in frenzy! I had to have my hanky tied across my face (not to inhale the sand clouds being kicked up). Initially, I was just standing, clapping in tune and singing with him. But, when he came up with his Himesh version of Jodha-Akbar title song, we were all into another world! Midway into the song I realized, I was dancing!! (another never-before for me 😀 ) And it went on till the end.. By the time Vineet signed off, I had a biting pain across my belly. But that could not stop me for long. Half an hour later, I was again dancing to the rocking tunes of Underground Authority..

Underground Authority

kicking up sand clouds!

The last fest of my college life, an evening I would not forget… Thank you all my juniors who have put up such a spectacular show on such shoestring budget. It was a fantabulous evening.. 😀 😀

The journey to the end, has begun

Yesterday, it was the last sessional exam of our final semester. Most of my friends were getting emotional about it. Yet, I was strangely unaffected. Maybe because, I was more concerned about our college project than anything else. Meanwhile, a friend from Computer Science department called up. She asked me to wait outside the admin block after the exams. I found it intriguing as she didn’t give any reason. I asked her in jest if she was planning to beat me up 😉 . After the exams I was waiting at the admin block. After a couple of minutes she appeared. Still I had no idea what she was planning to do..

Taking out a shining digicam from her bag, she said, “Today is the last sessional exam of our college life, never know when all of us may see each other again”. So she was taking snaps of all her friends, to commemorate the day. She called  another friend of mine who was passing by,  and asked him to take our snap. Standing there, I was felt something. Something unusual… Finally, I was getting emotional. There was a traffic jam in my head. Thoughts and memories were honking violently to get my attention.

Never again, I would sit for those sessionals. Never again, I would stare at my studious friends taking extra sheets and scribbling away violently. Never again, friends would tease me saying “Ask him, he is a know-all” and so on.. I am already missing them, terribly 😥

Just another couple of months, I will be severing all my ties with college life..

The journey to the end has begun..

I got my B’Day gift!

After a long wait, I got my bday gift from my friends. Nagging them day n night, it was fun asking when when I would be getting the gift. They too used to say in the same tone, “sabr ka fal meetha hota hai” (meaning, being patient gets u sweeter fruits) 😉 It was really nice gifts!

They gave me this nice leather wallet from Shreeleathers and a Wild Stone deo

My own wallet has become worn out, it is over 2 years old. So, this new wallet is gonna be used soon. But the deo has such a nice odour. Man! I could be sniffing at it for hours and hours together. Frankly, I dont use deo. Dats why, I am gonna keep it safe. I am gonna preserve it as a souvenier from my last year in college.

Someday, It is gonna take me down the memory lane…
I might be sniffing at the deo, again…
Most probably,
my eyes would be moist then…

A day of protest at my college

I joined the protests on the 3rd day,  around 10 in the morning. The scene at the college gate was an unusual one. Students (around 600 by strength), all were squatting at the college gate. Heads were bobbing up and down throughout, all shouting slogans against the college management. It was the most unusual sight in my college. (I should mention, our college management is a Draconian one. Fully dictatorial. Nobody ever dared saying a word against. So, this was the most unusual sight.)

I went in, sat down with others. Initially I was silent. It took me sometime to warm up to the atmosphere of protest, then I joined the chorus. It was a hot day. So some students took initiative and arranged for water bottles.Some took rounds at leading the SLOGAN-eering. Pent up anger of years had got a vent. It was nothing like I had done before, and being a part of such a huge protest felt awesome! After what felt like 1/2 an hour, I took a look at my phone for the time. It was 1 pm! 3 hours had passed by without any notice! My stomach gave a slight growl of hunger, and within minutes I was on my way for lunch.

I returned around a hour later. This time, this following scene gave me goose bumps.

There was a whole police team armed with bamboo sticks and tear gas guns. My heart was racing fast, feet went cold, sweat drops were pricking me in the neck..Uff.. I could have fainted. Right then something brought me back to my senses. A group of girls were sitting right next to the policeman with the gun. If they could shout fearlessly, what was holding me back?? –I call this, “Inspiration, staring u in the face!“– I took my place on the ground and joined the chorus again. 1/2 an hour later, the policemen did retreat and left us even more confident, our voices grew even louder! In between, when we were tired of “Slogan”-ering, we had short chats about our 4 years of our college. There were short rounds of  narration, anecdotes, laughter and fun. But everytime anybody from the college management was visible, we started shouting again.

Around 7 PM we broke up the assembly. Telling each other to meet at the same place next morning, we came back to our rooms.

A tiring day it was. Lying in my bed, there was a feeling of accomplishment, inspiration and lots of fun. Most importantly, I was felt braver than ever. 🙂

The 1st day of 2012, a Lesson is Learnt

First of all, a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to YOU. Sorry for being late. I was a bit busy with the job of applying for some job interviews 😉 , thanks to my friend ROKY GHOSH. Anyway, let’s get on with the story..This is how my 2012 started..

1^st January.That day I got up at 6 45. Morning was strangely warmer than the prevoius day, and less chilly. I went out to check the weather, and to my surprise it was cloudy! Winter has always been my favourite season. But, when it is adulterated with this monsoon weather; I don’t like it. 😦
Having nothing to do I thought, I might SMS some friends. That could take care of my boredom. Then I remembered, it was another blackout day, so I coudn’t SMS.Somehow, I had a feeling that if I tried, I could find a tweak for this problem. I use WAY2SMS for sending SMS on blackout days, that also only when I am at home with my computer. So I had been searching for apps which would allow me to SMS over the phone net connection. There are indeed plenty of apps, but none worked perfectly on my 2700 classic. So I had been searching and trying them all, one by one, hoping that the next would work. But the new year day, was my lucky day. I finally found a app, (named JAXTR SMS) which actually works on my Nokia2700c!!!!!  I could’t believe it! After 1 whole year of searching, I had finally found it!!! I felt ecstatic! Like, I was on cloud nine!

To some, this incident maybe such small and insignificant, it isnt worthy of mention. But, it has taught me an old lesson, Keep trying and u will succeed..

(O! I forgot to mention, SMSing with this app, it isn’t free, but still far better. On blackout days each sms costs 60 p. With this app and bsnl net connection, I am sending each sms for approx 4 p.!!!! Now, it doesn’t seem logical to fill the coffers of these Mobile Service providers, does it?!!) 

What a way to start a new year!!!  😀 “WELL BEGUN, IS HALF THE WORK DONE“.

With such a great beginning, I am not hoping, but actually confident that this year, is gonna be a great year!! 😀 😀

A JOB INTERVIEW, 3rd in my life,1st one away from home-> the journey ends..

Finally, a long awaited event comes to an end. Today we are returning back to durgapur.A few minutes ago Karthik left for his interview. we are getting ready, to leave. The caretaker has already told us to leave within 9 am, but I dont  think we would be able to get out of here before 9 30.. 😉

Well, it has been an eventful journey. A rich experience for the three of us and it is very hard to summarize all of this in a few words. Thats why i have tried to put it all in this collage

the whole journey, in a single frame..

For me, 2011 has been a series of misfortunes and bad experiences. Thats why, I had never expected the year to end on such a good note. Yet, it did.Someone said it right “All is well that ends well“. Lets hope, 2012 may bring happiness and luck for all of us… 🙂

A JOB INTERVIEW, 3rd in my life,1st one away from home -> Results are declared..

Today is my birthday! Thats why last  night my two partners, karthik and saaki gave me the B’DAY BASH!

We were supposed to get the results around 9pm last night. Yet, 8 am in the morning, and we were still waiting. Every now and then we were checking our mails, doing FB. My FB wall was overflowing with Happy Bday wishes..U know, in my life of 21 years I had never got so many BDAY Wishes in one day. Waiting for the mail, we were getting hungry..Then we went out for breakfast.

O! That reminds me of something. Last night we had seen a extremely lean dog, with a narrow face. It looked just like “KREACHER”, the elf of HARRY POTTER movies. So whenever we see any dog, Karthik says “Kreacher!!” and we have a nice laugh.. Today we were late for breakfast, so the “kochuri”s were finished. We had “paratha” and “Ghugni”. Then we returned back to our rooms and a surprise was waiting..

Guess what?? Our results had been declared! Karthik had cleared the test, me and Saaki didn’t. So after a short round of applause and facebook updates, we 2 settled down to watch “HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON”, an animation movie. I was also planning to visit my friends staying in HOWRAH, but there wasn’t sufficient time left, to go there and return. Karthik was supposed to report for his interview around 3 30 at the WBUT, salt lake today. There wasn’t much time left for him. So he went out,  took a chair and sat on the porch. He was revising all the topics and we were enjoying our free time. There is some benefit to failing after all..

Wishing karthik best of luck, we all went out. He took a taxi, and we went to a hotel for lunch. The manager was very talkative, he would go on speaking to u and u wud have to listen even if u don’t like that. Had a solid lunch. After that, I thought since we don’t have anything o do, lets go for a walk. So we went off roaming towards Alipore More. Saw a large number of high rise buildings, there was a whole high rise building labelled “GOLD’S gym”. We learnt a lot about bus numbers and bus routes. We walked for around a hour and returned back. On the way we had a chat about our favourite heroes and films. He told me to watch “shutter island”, featuring Leonardo Di Caprio whenever I get time. Having nothing to do, I went to sleep, Saaki was watching “the mummy” on my lappy. I woke up in the evening. Afterwards I went out to buy 2 eggrolls. Bad luck, then another idea struck. I went to a sweet shop, ordered for  3 “rasogollas”. Just like I guessed, the rasogollas were fresh and warm! They just melted in my mouth. I ordered another three for saaki. He too had a pleasant surprise!! And just as he was finishing them, karthik came in. His interview has been postponed to tomorrow 9 30 am. Again a little bit of Facebook-ing, teasing etc. Then we had dinner and came back to our rooms. Karthik seems quite tense. He is shuffling through the books and topics. And I am going off to sleep. Tomorrow, we shall return to Durgapur..

A JOB INTERVIEW, 3rd in my life,1st one away from home -> The written test

Today morning started with karthik waking me up. He was asking for the login password to my lappy. Unlocking my lappy, I went for my usual morning business. Saaki was still fast asleep. By the time I was back, karthik was busy practicing problems of “time and distance” on INDIABIX. I joined in. After sometime saaki woke up and joined us. By then we were practicing “permutation”, “pipes and cisterns”, “work and time problems” and etc, all on different tabs in the same browser. We were much tensed about the test. Saaki and Keto were solving the problems; I was just looking at the solutions lazily (to my surprise, that too helped during the test).  Next thing was to look at the watch and we decided it was time for breakfast. We took a short walk of around 10 min and found a shop selling “kochuri” and ”ghugni”. Had  a hearty breakfast. Then another short walk and we were back into our rooms. The mail had told us that our test was scheduled at 11am. A phone call to our TPO Mr. Francis  told us that the test was postponed to 1 pm. That was a good news. We got down to practice a few more problem types.

taunting saaki!

O! Did I forget to mention that in between all of these scheduled jobs, we were doing a lot of unscheduled chattering gossiping and lots of laughing!!

Got ready, and then boarded a taxi after a little bargaining. Like last night, this taxi driver too didn’t know the place we were supposed to go. Anyway, within 15 min we were at Esplanade.  This left us regretting. As last we had taken a karunamayee bus instead of the espalanade one, and had a lot of trouble getting to Chetla. Anyway, by 12 30 we were at the centre.

waiting and gossiping...

the EVER-SMILING Tanmoy, and our ABHIJEET KASHYAP

There were students roaming all around us. A friend told us to go to the playground, and register our attendance. At last we found the guys from our college. They were sitting in a group in a tree-shade. Then the long wait started. Every now and then our TPO would inform us that our exam time has been postponed. To our bad luck, our TPO had been temporarily hired by the campussing officials from WIPRO, as they found him very active. So, we saw him escorting students of all other colleges.

"Mastaar" da!

handsome guy!

Our guys were swearing at him aloud. At last around 4 pm we were allowed to enter the exam hall, a big auditorium.

Quickly, I took a place beside Karthik. Soon we were shifted to the gallery seats on the 1^stfloor, because only 2 students were allowed on 1 bench. Me and Saaki took a bench. We were given “career boarding pass” (a card) to fill up. Then the officials came in distributed the OMR sheets, gave instructions, and the test started around 5 pm. To my surprise I did fare well in the verbal and quantitative sections, but technical was a bit hard. The test completed around 6. Then we had chowmein, then went off roaming around the place.Karthik says he hasn’t fared well, but we 2 are bit more confident than him.After a little bit of “sight-seeing” we took a bus to sealdah, and another back to chetla.

OMG! I have again forgotten to tell u.  A pet monkey lives near to our guest house. It is a small one. Today morning it had tried to snatch Karthik’s  X6, while he was taking its snap. In the shock Karthik had dropped his phone.. Anyway, we did manage to get some snaps of this little monkey..

what is it doing?

 cute, huh?

looking for something?

A JOB INTERVIEW, 3rd in my life,1st one away from home

The story starts on a Wednesday, when we got mails for the off campus recruitment. Next day i was off to my college for more info. Took a look at the eligible list sent to us. My friend KRTHIK (keto) and SAIKAT (saaki) were on the list. We live in Durgapur Steel Township near to each other. So we decided that we shall go together. But the very next day KETO had done a big blunder at home (what we Bongs say, “CASE KHEYECHE!!”). I m not going to divulge all the “CASE” details, but we couldn’t book our place of  DSP guest house till Saturday 12 pm. then we had a hell of a time trying to get 3 bus tickets to Kolkata. The ticket counters weren’t functioning normal. at places the agents were not at their shops. By the time i got an agent who could give me he tickets, he said the main counter had been closed. To compound our problems, the UREKA bus transport service had been discontinued. at last on Monday I managed to get 3 tickets on the bus to Karunamayee, that too after waiting 2 hours at the ticket counter in biting morning cold.

Then I informed my 2 partners, and went home to get ready for the journey. i have a short-term memory, so I forget most important things with the utmost ease (I do get a lot of scolding for that). Anyway, I had my things packed, got a bath. All the time I was trying to remember if i had missed anything. Took a bus around 1 pm, the bus was to depart around 2:15. Went to city centre, after waiting for a short period of time, i found karthik with his “special somebody” at a sweet shop. RIGHT then he remembered that he hadnt brought his formal shoes. Leaving me with his luggage, he went back home to get his formal shoes. i was waiting alone, till CHANGA (aniruddha) turned up. He was boarding the Esplanade bus of 2 PM. right after he disappeared, Saaki appeared on the scene. He was carrying just a long blue travel bag. We had a short chat, and then Keto came back. He reminded me that I had forgotten my phone charger. Now, I was growing nervous and trying to remember what else??? By 2 13 we had boarded the bus, Keto and Saaki had given me the window seat, thanks to them.

Now, we were on bus chatting and taunting each other. All of a sudden karthik remembered that he had forgotten his papers for the Guest house. Without them he would not be allowed to stay there. We saw him perspiring in the cold. He tried calling the office phone numbers with no avail. At last, his mom went to their office and cleared the matter. It was around 6 30, we reached Karunamayee. we 3 boarded an auto-rikshaw to College More. There we had an endless wait for the bus to take us to Chetla. It seemed like all the buses were showing up except the one we needed. at last we saw a Chetla bus. Boarded it, but had to get down after a few minutes. The conductor wouldn’t allow us with all our lauggage. alas, we were again walking back to College More. By luck, we saw a empty taxi. the driver didnt know the exact place we were supposed to go, but he seemed to be confident enough to take us there. Then, after another long journey we did manage to reach Chetla guest house. We filled in the rooms. Keto was in one, me and Saaki in another. We had roti tadka for dinner. i am going to sleep, in my room, karthik and saaki are practicing apti for wipro..

Tomorrow is a big day