A Different Engineer Story

Well, it has been 6 years since I was (accidentally) exposed to the world of engineering. Though, it was more of a pre-destined path. 90% of the top scoring kids in India are made to opt for science stream and medical/engineering subsequently, and I was no different. Somehow, I managed to crack JEE. What I encountered later has been quite an interesting experience. No, I am not going to talk more crap about the IIT’s. You may have already heard enough of that. Here I elucidate about weird people’s weird opinions about engineers-especially the ones I have seen.

                Well, as they say, the govt institutes with double “I’s” command a lot of respect in Indian society. I am lucky enough to be a student at these institutes. You move out of your college campus and people tend to look at you with an aura of supreme-ness (which is totally over-hyped). But, in this crowd of praising people, one always runs into self-proclaimed superstuds who think that only what they are doing is great and rest of the things are ultimate crap.

                These folks can find the weirdest of reasons in the world to show people like me below their level of intelligence.  Here I present to you some examples:-

• “Aji aajkal toh IIT’s ka level ekdum gir gaya hai. Isse accha toh yahi hai kisi private college se engineering kar lo. Kam se kam wo job toh dilwa dete hain.”

Why the hell don’t these folks tell that they/their kid was not able to crack the JEE? If the level has really gone down, then why was it that their “INTELLIGENT” kid failed to get through into even such low-grade institutes?

• “Aji ab IIT kar bhi lo, toh kaunsi badi baat hai. Package toh dhang ka milta nahi. Isliye toh ab inki ranking top-10 mein bhi mushkil se aati hai”

I wonder why the people who say these lines never had the pleasure of even entering into IIT’s. And talking about packages, the IIT’s don’t offer bribe to the companies who dump you 6 months after your placement and neither do they offer bribe to these survey companies to put their institute into the top-10 engineering colleges of India. Here, your kid does not, in fact he/she CAN NOT, get through any management quota but only through an exam that is common and same for all. The packages have never been bad but still, are good enough for your abilities. Plus, there are a lot of top companies that your so-called engineering college may not even get a sight of!

• “IIT mein toh bas woh bachhe padhte hain, jinke pass private college ki fees bharne ke paise nahi hote.”  

I can only laugh at such people. There is a limit to ignorance and stupidity and this comment is far beyond that limit.

• “Ab toh reservation lag gaya. Ab IIT mein acche bacche nahi aate. Isliye humne apne beta/beti ko IIT mien nahi bheja”

Excuse me! If someone would like their facts right, the number of general category students in all the IIT’s is still the same. If your kid had the talent to get into it, he/she would have done so anyway.

• “Arey, kaahe ka IIT. Bas naam ka hi hai. Kuch padhai nahi hoti inme.”

 Agreed, but the point is that very few colleges in India will grill you like the IIT’s for studying purposes. (its another fact that you may still end up learning nothing). If you really thing that people don’t study in an IIT , then,(BREAKING NEWS!), students in other colleges in India study a lot less. This may be hard to digest, but yes-it-is-true.

Now, a lot of people might think that this post is written by an arrogant person who is proud of his achievement of clearing JEE and doesn’t consider anyone in-front of himself. Sorry, but you are wrong. This post was written because such folks never stop cribbing, I am not proclaiming that I’m the most intelligent fellow of India and, that, IITs are the best and perfect college of India. Sadly, they are nowhere near to what one expects out of the “proclaimed” institutes of the country. But, i am frustrated of people trying to undermine those who study there. We, as IITians, are not asking for your respect. We are not as great as we are hyped to be. But, still, we are not as worthless as people quoted above make us to be. We still study in an institute that is still better than the umpteen bad ones that exist in India. 

               This is just an appeal to people to stop acting over-smart. We are not looking to battle over who’s smarter? That would be a really stupid thing to do. But, we also do not wish to indulge in a battle to show who’s more pathetic? That would be an even more stupid thing to so. Just live peacefully. We just wish to be treated as normal persons. I want no fame and no battle to show each-other down. Just let us be normal and enjoy the beautiful world.

P.S: i know this article is not going to go well with many people in many sections of society.I just wanted to express my irritation to a certain section of people and i have done so. That was the only intention.  

THE MISSED BYGONE

I cried but tears refuse to fall.
My heart shatters, but no sound at all.
I don't know what wrong i did,
Hey God, can you answer my call..?

I was doing what i had to do..
trying to stay impartial and all..
I was steadily treading my path,
When, out of the blue, came this call.

You didn't do anything wrong, you say
But, did i do anything wrong? I ask.
All i ever said was the truth,
But, in the glory of betrayal, i now bask.

I don't know what future holds.
The present is already so bold.
There are some things that go "Out of hand",
while there are also some that "you can't control".

What's done has been done,
No use ruing about the past.
Live moves on, and so have to we..
let's go ahead and
HAVE A BLAST TILL WE LAST..!!

The incomplete proposal

Warning! This is a piece of awful nonsense written from a loafer's point of view in just 20 minutes. You might find yourself really irritated after reading this.
Read at your own risk!

Excuse me! Kya main aapke do minute le sakta hoon..?
Tumhe apne dil ka haal suna sakta hoon..?
Shayad tu ye jaane ya na jaane,
Saal ke pehle din se tujhe pyar karta hoon.

Isey gulaab na samjho,apna dil de raha hoon,
Guldaste ka akhiri fool tumhe de raha hoon.
Main na jaanu pyar kya hota hai..
Par itna jaanu ki tujhse pyar kar raha hoon.


Mere pyar ka gift, tu sweekar toh kar,
Ek baar!! Ek baar toh ikraar tu kar,
Pyar kya...car bhi de dunga tujhe..
Tu apne address ka bakhan toh kar!


Tere gharwalon ko bol ki main taiyyar hoon..
Tu kahey toh dikhata unhe bhi apna pyar hoon,
Tu mandir mein bol ya church mein,
Main toh bhaag kar bhi shaadi karne ko taiyyar hoon!!

HOW TO SOLVE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS IN IIT-JEE? (part-2)

Click here for Part-1  

First of all, i'd like to apologize to all those who managed to read the part-1 and "actually" waited for part-2. On my part, i can only say that i was quite busy with my life in IIT. Well, without wasting any further time in discussing crap things, let's come straight to the point. So, we were done with 7 shortcuts, here are the remaining few which i remember-

8) Find for n-terms: There are perhaps the easiest kind of questions in maths. Generally, the nth term or sum or product of n-terms is asked. What you can simply do is put the value of n=1,2,3 in the given options and compare with what value will come for 1,2 or 3 terms by simple calculation. Mostly, the answer comes with n=1 or 2. The maximum number of trials required in such questions is 3. If it goes beyond 3, then the question is a high level one and it's better to leave it alone. Example: Sum of n natural numbers (1+2+3+....+n) is
(a) n(n-1)/2;    (b) n(n+1)/2;    (c) n(n+2)/3;     (d) (n+1)(n-1);
Here, the sum of 1 natural number is 1. Now, if you put n=1 in the options, we get;
 (a)=0; (b)=1; (c)=1; (d)=0; Hence, options (a) and (d) can be ruled out. For n=2, the actual answer is (1+2=3). On putting n=2, we get (b)=3; (c)=8/3. Hence, only option-(b) is the correct answer. Similarly, with some practice, you can easily learn how to apply this kind of logic in questions.

9) Generalize the question: This is one of those favorite derivation types questions given in JEE. They will give you a complex orientation and ask you to find one of the variable.what you have to do is assume an orientation such that two or more of the arbitary values go to zero/one/some easy value and then check the options again. Example: suppose for positive real values, it is given that :m³x⁴=n³y⁴  and m²<n²,then

(a) m³x²>n³y² ; (b) m³<y⁴ ; (c) m³x²<n³y² ; (d) m³>y⁴

Now, if you actually start doing the maths of it, you will find yourself in a trouble of inequalities. So better think of an alternative. As we are given necessary conditions for with m and n, so lets assume m=2;x=3;n=3. Thus, you will get y as fourth root of 24 which you can approximate as square root of 5(coz 5x5=25). Now root of 5 is 2.2. For these questions you have to be good at approximating values which is not a big ask (atleast its more natural than remembering all identities). Now put these values in the options. You will easily see that on cancelling the "3" in the options wherever possible, the only option that still stands as correct is option (b) which is the answer.
Similarly, in questions where you are given random inclinations of plane (alpha,beta,etc), see what will happen if the inclination was zero/90. Now put alpha/beta/whatever equal to zero or 90 in the answer and see which of them satisfies the condition. Similarly, for finding moment of inertia about a random axis, same can be appllied.Try this one yourself. Example: Find M.O.I of a rod along an axis at theta degrees from its length passing through the centre.

(a) ML²sin²Ө/12; (b) ML²cos²Ө/12; (c) ML²sinӨcos²Ө/12; (d) ML²sin²ӨcosӨ/12

SOLUTION: Here, we clearly know that M.O.I of a rod along its length is zero. So at Ө=0; M.O.I=0. On putting Ө=0 in options, (a),(c) and (d) become zero. Also M.O.I of a rod perpendicular to its axis i.e. Ө=90 is ML²/12. Now, on putting Ө=90, only option(a) gives ML²/12. Rest all become zero. Simple!! Isn't it?? 

10) Modern Physics (atom,nuclei,radiation,etc): Now this is one topic you would not want to lose marks on. This topic accounts for roughly 20-25 marks in IIT-JEE and you won't need more than a day to expertise this topic even if you start from scratch. If you can't expertise, atleast cram all the formulae related to modern physics. YOU SIMPLY CAN'T LET THE QUESTIONS FROM THIS TOPIC GO AWAY FROM YOU.If you atleast remember all the formulae, you can devise something even in the exam ahll to find the correct option but please DON'T LEAVE IT. Its study requires less than one-tenth of the time required to study "Mechanics" and still it provides marks- 10 times than "Mechanics". STRANGE BUT TRUE!

11) Co-ordinate geometry: This is one area where even a raw but approximate diagram may work in some questions of finding radius, area, equations,etc. Simply draw a diagram according to scale and try to find the required thing. It may seem trivial but it works in many situations. What's the hesitaion in trying something to get to the answer when you don't know the concept? :-p

12) Kinematics, trigonometry: These are the two least weightage topics in JEE. Try to do them as late as possible. It won't even hurt if you leave these topics. They are meant to take up huge volumes of your time and have maximum 2-3 questions in JEE. In the same amount of time, you can score 20-25 marks by studying other topics. YES! IT-IS-TRUE! One may argue that trigonometric basics are used at lots of places elsewhere. My answer is that what you know about trigonometry, by default, is enough to solve the main questions. The tricky ones require use of some identity which only the geekiest of nerds will have idea about. So its better off to leave these topics and concentrate on other areas.

13) Chapter-1 (physics): Remember it? When you enter 11th standard, you have the first chapter about measurements and all which no one cares about. I don't know why no coaching institute pays importance to it. But, this chapter is one easy piece of cherry. Read it thoroughly. You get 3 questions from it about dimensions,maximum error and approximation. If you are not able to understand it from the book, read all the questions from your study material about it. On looking up the answer key, you yourself will eventually figure out the ways to get to the answer of these problems. Remember, on the answer-sheet, only the answer is important. No one cares about the way to get to it. This chapter is just freely distributed marks.

14) NCERT is GOD/GITA/QURAN/BIBLE/WHATEVER:Even my teachers used to say the same when i was in 12th and even i never paid attention to it. But, today i know they said the truth. NCERT is the most precise book esp. in case of CHEMISTRY. In physics and maths, you may find deviations but every question of Chemistry in IIT-JEE is taken from the NCERT book. Read or maybe cram the whole of NCERT (chemistry especially). Most importantly, questions in inorganic chemistry are directly lifted lines from the NCERT.

15) Mind over heart: This happens with the most of us. We see a question in exam and our heart says that the answer is something whereas the mind says something else. Always, go with the mind. The IIT-JEE is meant to test 'intelligence' of over 5 lakh students, not to simply test if something new strikes you during the exam. So, let only the mind solve the questions and let the heart only keep up your spirit. The reverse leads to disaster!

16) Confidence: Whatever happens, this is the most important thing needed during the preparation and exam. Let your spirits always stay high. Remember this fact- " The person writing all this (Dhawal) had only confidence with him. His concepts were zero but still i managed to clear JEE because he believed in himself." And i am not being modest or anything. Neither am i thinking low of myself. I am simply saying the truth in your as well as my face. So, If i can.....anyone can!!
Moreover, never go to the exam centre with any book or anything. The only thing you should be carrying is your admit card and a pencil box with your stationery. And if you feel low while studying, here are some songs that will help lift you up. Put them in your cellphone/ipod and listen over on earphones. I believe it will help you.

Live like you're dying-Kris allen
Firework-Katy Perry
Lose Yourself-Eminem
Remember the name- Fort minor
Someday- Flipsyde
Who says- Selena Gomez (esp for girls) 
 ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR J.E.E..!!! Good luck..!!! Hope i helped you in some way.

P.S: If you are doing engineering just for the namesake of it, then you are committing a grave mistake. All you will end up with is an irritated you. If  you actually are interested in solving question by such methods as i suggested, the C.A.T is the exam for you. In C.A.T coaching, you are officially taught all these methods. :p And, if you have to give C.A.T in the end, then why waste 4 years on a degree that is almost rendered meaningless after M.B.A. So my final word is that- 

"Do engineering if only you are really interested in it. Else please don't waste your life on engineering. Rest is all upto you."

EVERGREEN LOVE..! Part:2-The Love never ends

CLICK HERE FOR PART-1

BUT she was unmoved. She didn't reply but pointed at the result sheet. Her name was, as expected, in the topper's list at the position of eleven. But her face was lacking everything that had made me fall for her- no smile, no glow on her face. I could not guess what was wrong with her. Definitely, rank-11 could not be the matter of worry. Was she so much of a nerd who thinks that life has ended if their position goes into double digits? I couldn't understand what troubled her, why she was dejected and downhearted.
She just didn't say anything. Then after a long wait which seemed like eons, she said “Oh! Hi! Sorry I didn’t notice you. I have been good. Let’s go to the canteen. It has been a long time since I had ‘Ramu ki coffee’.
Finally, relief entered into my heart. She remembered me and all was normal with her. We went down to the canteen and had the famous ‘ramu ki coffee’ with namkeen and patties. As usual, i never allowed her to pay the bill. We sat chatting. I told her about my foreign trip. How i had roamed around in Rome, Paris, London, Berlin, etc. (though i deliberately did not mention all the hooker part.) She also sounded too excited to hear about all these beautiful places. I told her that i will show her the pictures that i had taken of these places. I told her that I was coming the next day to pay the fees and asked her to come the same day so that I could get one more chance to meet her and talk to her. I truly felt on top of the world. Bryan Adams had made an understatement when he had sung about cloud number 9. Right now, i was on cloud number 99! I didn't mention any of these facts to her but just asked her, and she accepted. Then she left the place. We agreed to meet up at 2pm next day.

Next day,I went to the institute to pay the fees for another year of my torturous coaching and one more year when i can adore the innocent beauty of Sanjana’s face. I reached there at 1:30 as i did not want to leave anything to chance from now on. God had already played with me twice when i had left things to chance. Though the procedure was done by 1;50, she was nowhere to be seen. But I didn't leave the place since I was waiting for her. The clock rand 2:00, then 3:00 and 4:00 too but there was no sign of her. As she didn't turn up, it made me believe that she wouldn't come. Why did i leave it for today? God had once again played trickery with me and deceived my luck. So I decided to leave.
I entered the car and was about to start. Just then, I saw her walking and approaching the institute in haste. Immediately I got down the vehicle and went towards her running. Maybe, God is not that cruel either. He examines us first and gives us the reward later. I ran towards her like a child runs towards candy. The first thing she told me was "Sorry!". I asked "For what? And whatever it is for, it’s ok. There is no need to introduce sorry between us." She replied "I am not joining here and sorry for making you wait." I couldn't understand what she just said to me. This was too much cruelty towards me from luck’s side. But i thought i had heard something wrong. "What nonsense are you saying? Are you in your senses? Had ‘ramu ki coffee’ intoxicated you or what?”, i said jokingly. “How come you are not joining here? Is something wrong?" I asked.
Her eyes became wet immediately. This was not what i had even imagined of. All my joke sense swished away and i found myself struggling to grasp the reason that had made the beautiful angel cry. Crying, she said " I am not joining here. I am joining somewhere else." "What is the reason.? When you have to some place for coaching, then why not the best one? And please stop crying, for God’s sake!" I said. Her tears were burning me like a rope on fire. My strength was giving up due to the flames of her tears. She then said something which engraved in my heart forever. "It might be the best one in city, but my parents cannot pay the enormous amount of fees, so they are joining me in a bit low grade coaching institute. That's not much a problem for me. Maybe the coaching will not be up to the mark, but I think I'll be able to do things myself. But, i don’t think i will ever be able to come here again. We’re moving to some other place."
I was in a complete shock. I couldn't take it. Then she told how hard it was to convince her parents to let her come to this place one last time to see her classmates. She had pleaded hard with her parents to convince them for her last visit here. Then, she said she has to go and lifted her hand to shake hands with me. But the sight of a bruise on her arm caught my attention. I asked her "How did this happen? I don’t think it was there yesterday." She narrated to me what were the consequences of her result and what all had happened at her home the previous day.
When she informed about her rank at home, they were at first happy. But then they immediately turned against her the moment they came to know that she missed the scholarship by just a single rank. The institute gave scholarship to only the top-10 rankers in the examination. She had to face all the music at her home and later she was also bashed by them. Then she showed me the wounds all over her body. There were scars at her other hand. Her feet were marked by the red slashes. Also her face was still red. Even the kids in Africa in the UN posters were not beaten by their parents for studying so brilliantly
My heart swelled up. A burst of tear wanted to break the dam of my eyes but i held them on. I knew that her tears would return on seeing me cry and I did not want her to cry again. I got so much irritated and angered at her parent's behaviour towards her. I felt that i should just go and bang the hell out of her parents for beating a beautiful angel like her. My insides were burning on hearing all this. I wanted to ask why God made such people? Maybe even orphans were better than her. Atleast, they did not get beaten for excelling in exams. In spite of appreciating her excellent performance that earned her a top rank, why the hell did they beat her, scold her and abuse her. Bull shit! What the F***!! Why does God create such people? Why should they be so cruel towards her? What was her mistake? I simply thought of killing them. I tried my level best to console the poor girl by talking about other good things, in order to divert her mind from the painful incident. I knew she won’t accept but i still offered her that i could even talk to my parents and convince them to pay her fee. But both of us knew that such talks were of no help. Later she left as her parents had told her to be home by 5:00. As soon as she left, tears burst out of my eyes. I stood there crying till my driver called out to me that we had to go home. I thought that maybe i will see her somehow in future. Maybe, we’ll stumble into one another somewhere. But, at that moment, i just stood there motionless. Only the salty water in my eyes was moving. My heart felt as if it had been sliced into a thousand pieces.

I never met her again. In fact, i never got to even see her again.

Even today, till this date her crying innocent face, which I last saw several years ago comes to my mind. Every feature of hers is as fresh in my mind as if it was just moments ago that i had last seen her. I could never meet her again. I tried on all the social networking sites to find her, but my efforts went in vain. I even called at the number she gave me the last time we met, but it is always the telephone operators useless messages that I find on the other side. I never got a chance to see her again. In the past five years of my life with her absence, there was no such instance that could give me some information relating to her whereabouts. I simply have no clue about her. I don't know whether she fulfilled her dream, whether she is living in the same place and whether she is happy or not. Do her tyrant parents still bash her for getting good marks? I don’t know. I don’t anything about her, not even a single bit. Sometimes I feel I shouldn't have said the words which I uttered just before she left. It was I who asked whether I could be of any help to her, in regard to money.

I have met so many girls after that. I have had so many crushes after that. I might have even liked a one or two, but I can never forget her whom I loved from the very first moment I saw her. As time passed, I also got a bit busy. Currently I'm pursuing by B.Tech degree from a reputed university. Maybe, someday she might read this and know all these feelings of mine that i never got to say to her. With so many new things and other involvements of mine, may be my search for her might have become a bit loose and non yielding, may be my memories have started to fade, but I LOVE YOU forever........my dear Sanjana..!

EVERGREEN LOVE..!

Written by: Mulpuru Raviteja; Edited by: Dhawal Pratap Singh

There are more than 6 billion faces on the earth and each one is unique. We meet people, remember them. Then, we meet new ones and forget the previous ones. But some stay engraved in your mind forever. This is about one such face. It has been almost five years since I last saw her. I don't know where she is, how she is, what she is doing, whether she is happy or not. In fact, I don’t even know if she exists or not.

This is not a love story. This is the story of my love!

All this started when I probably did not even have the understanding of the word ‘love’. I was in class VIII. It was one of those days that my parents decided to visit my neighbour’s school and they took me along too. Reason? Our schools came under the same management. The exam dates, progress report collection date, and many other events of our schools used to take place more or less on the same day. So, i had to leave my dear Mario game and go to school to waste my Sunday. We proceeded to his school. I stayed outside in the playground as my parents went to see my friend’s performance. I was banging my smiley faced stress ball on the wall with full force to vent out my frustration of wastage of my Sunday holiday. Why was i tagged along when i had no work here? In fact, they knew that I was leagues ahead of him in studies.

“Excuse me, can you go to the other court? We have to practice here.” A voice said to me. “O.K”, i said and turned towards the other side of ground. That was the first time I saw her. My whole body got stuck as i soaked in her beauty through my eyes. She was as beautiful as Aishwarya Rai in Taal which i had just seen yesterday. Her beautiful eyes, innocent face, cute smile and the heavenly look captivated my mind, heart and soul. Suddenly, i realized that she was also staring at me although her stare was that of surprise while mine was of admiration. Somehow, i managed to put my body together and moved myself away from there though my eyes were still stuck at her. I heard my parents calling me to go back. Damm! Why did they have to call me and cut short my joyful moment once again? But I could never forget that face. As we were leaving, i nudged my friend and asked him about her. I got to know that, that girl was a student there and a very intelligent one too. The whole journey I just kept imaging circumstances when i could get a chance to come to my friend’s school again and see her. There were lots of chances, but luck didn't favour me. That was it.....I never saw her again. Somehow, even God was conspiring to cut short my joyful time. Just like everything wears away, my mind started forgetting her. And as time passed by, I couldn't remember her.

Time passed and i moved on. In further attempts to cut my fun, my parents enrolled me in a coaching institute for IIT-JEE in just class IX whereas normal nerds start preparing for JEE in class XI. Thus started the hectic routine of my life which has been continuing till date.

School –> study –> lunch –> coaching –> study –> dinner –> study –> sleep –> study –> school.

Finally, the schedule started to take its toll on me. I was caught sleeping in the class and, no wonder, the teacher sent me out of the class for that. I was standing in the corridor waiting for the class to get over and go home. It becomes really irritating to pass time in such situations. Somehow, the boring class seemed more welcoming as it atleast gave me a chance to do nonsense at the back of my notebook and pass the time. Right now, i was tracing the path of the lizard travelling on the wall in front of me. As the clock neared 5, students started exiting from the class opposite to me and i lost track of the lizard. Suddenly, i saw a familiar face in that crowd. It was the same girl whom i had seen an year ago at my friend’s school. I rubbed my eyes to check if i was hallucinating. No, i wasn’t. It was indeed her. She was wearing a sky blue salwaar-kameez which made her look as cute as Preity Zinta in Kal Ho Na Ho. My eyes just kept tracking her till she was visible no more. It was then i realized that i had reached the gate of the institute. I turned around to see my classmates asking me what i was doing there. I went back to the class, took my bag and started on my way home. I couldn't believe what was happening with me. Fate had initially separated us and later brought us to the same place. Though we studied at the same place, I never got a chance to talk to her initially. Reason? I was on the engineering side and she was on the medical side and our class timings, exam timings etc. were different. Though I was happy that i got to see her face often, at the same time I was really eager to meet her, talk to her, introduce myself, know her name, her background, know everything about her and get close to her. Suddenly, i started to like biology. All the cells and classification used to remind me of her. I even scored 99/100 in biology whereas my score in maths was 87/100 in my school exams. I even tried to convince my parents to let me prepare for medical exams instead of engineering. But my doctor parents did not listen. Two doctors were already there in my home. Now, an engineer was due. So, i decided to concentrate my energy on finding a chance to talk to her. This did happen. At last, my brilliance in studies helped me in some way. She used to top in her field and I used to top in mine and so our names used to feature on the toppers list always. Hence, we had a lot in common! As I knew her before, I thought of taking the 'topping the exam' point as an opportunity to somehow meet her. But, God had some other plan in mind.

I was scanning through the result of my last phase-test on notice board.

"Are you Akash?". I turned around to see that it was her. I Just could not believe my eyes. I was shocked, surprised, excited, overwhelmed and what not. Somehow i held my calm face and replied "That's me...what do u want?"

"I see your name every time the list is put up and also my friends tell me a lot about you... it's you only right?"

"Yeah, you are talking to Akash. But who are you?” I thought of appearing totally oblivious to her.

“I am Sanjana. Just thought of meeting the topper one day.”

“Oh! You are “THE Sanjana”.  Even I wanted to see you some time...looks like your name never comes down the list....a regular player I suppose...." I replied. I thought of showing off some style in my talk so that she gets impressed by me.

Then she continued talking about her interests, goals, plans for the future, school life, and academic life. That’s one of the setbacks of these nerdy coaching institutions. No matter how beautiful a girl comes up to you, she will always talk about studies and studies only. But i was happy that i was getting to know at least something about her. I was making progress in my love life. In due course of time, we became good friends. Whenever I used to get some free time, I would leave all my work aside and rush to meet her on some pretext. Once i even asked her a doubt in biology saying that i did not understand that topic when it was taught in my school. Talking to her used to give me a great joy and relief. I used to forget the world in her presence. One smile on her face helped me forget all the worries in my life. Maybe this was the moksha feeling that my parents and grandparents used to discuss in their free time.

From our small talks, I could learn that she hailed from a poor financial background. Her parents had a small job. It was very difficult to make the both ends meet. I also came to know that she was studying there with scholarship that covered her tuition fees, laboratory fees and conveyance charges. Also, it was available only to the few people who topped the entrance exam, conducted by the institute as a part of the selection procedure.

As time passed by, final exams were at the helm. So our meetings became sporadic and also short lasting. I had, sort of, lost touch with her. Suddenly I came to know one day, that the classes for her batch got over a week ago. My feet found it unable to stand. God has once again cut short my enjoyment. I couldn't digest the fact that I will not be able to meet her again. The time that i used to spend with her was now spent roaming idly in the streets of the area hoping that i might get a glimpse of her somewhere. Out of my shyness, I had not even asked her phone number or where she lived. Now, i hated myself for it. What a stupid i had been! Everything around used to look useless and i was nothing less than the love-torn ‘aashiq’ that they portray in Hindi movies.

Like this two months passed by. Somehow i tried to get over her. I even convinced my family to go on a foreign tour so that I can get my mind off her. Though i dint get over her, the trip was quite enjoyable. I was even approached by two prostitutes in Paris! I passed my class IX. Once again, I came to the institute to give its entrance exam for getting admission into class X coaching. The moment I reached there, the reminiscences of the past kept troubling me. The walls, on which we used to sit after the classes, the canteen where we used to have a burger and a coffee during the break, the tree under which we used to have conversations. The sight brought thoughts about her back into my mind. The exam duration was spent less in thoughts of physics and more on recalling memories with her. I gave the exam and went back home. Few weeks later, I had to go back to check the results.

I don’t know who said it but it is indeed true. “History repeats itself.” I saw her. I simply kept staring at her. A new lease of life got blown into me. Maybe God was just saving the best for me for the end. I couldn't control the joy and happiness I got in seeing her after such a long time. Had there been no one around, i would have surely punched in the air a thousand times. Now, without wasting any second, I went straight to her. I felt like the Hindi movie hero approaching the heroine as they do at the time of happy endings. I said “hi! Where the hell have you been? How have your life been? What you did in the holidays? What all exams did you give? Did you go anywhere on a vacation? How did the final exams go? How was the entrance test result? Little did I realize that I had thrown such a flurry of questions at her in a single breath. The excitement had gone way over the top and was flowing like the Belagio fountains. In fact, all the people surrounding me were staring at me as if I was some lunatic babbling anything nonsense.

BUT she was unmoved. She didn't reply but pointed at the result sheet. Her name was, as expected, in the topper's list at the position of eleven. But her face was lacking everything that had made me fall for her- no smile, no glow on her face. I could not guess what was wrong with her. Definitely, rank-11 could not be the matter of worry. Was she so much of a nerd who thinks that life has ended if their position goes into double digits? I couldn't understand what troubled her, why she was dejected and downhearted. She just didn't say anything. (more in next part. Please stay tuned)

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