Monday, June 14, 2010

We need to remember what used to be good!!


"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things!!". Came across this quote recently. So true!!

July-7th 2004: With a mixture of fear and anticipation in our eyes,we walk into the college campus. And more so for us, the hostelites, moving into a new place with new people was like a nightmare coming live.

A class of 40 people, all wide eyed, trying to catch a glimpse of the class,the to-be classmates for the next five years,trying to break the ice with the person sitting next to them. A kind of tense atmosphere reigns, the welcoming session gets over, and it was time to get on with classes. And even before one could realise, time takes a whirlwind speed, twisting and turning us all the way and today on July 7th 2010, here I sit, thinking about those five years as clouds that have passed by, as the most treasured period of my lifetime

Wish I could have a time-machine, travel back in time to those days, where life was full of activities yet fully relaxed, full of fun, fights, tears of joy!Those days our only concerns were whose assignments we would copy from, or whose notes we have to xerox for our internals/semester exams and of course, the main concern being attendance lag!

Bunking classes were as simple as waking up at 8 in the morning, realising that we wont make it on time even if we rushed, and since morning attendance is gone already, we could as well decide to catch few more hours of sleep!

Package submissions, package "Synopsis" submissions(though they ran only for a max of 2 pages, were tedious, nevertheless! ), assignments, lab exams,figuring out a way to pester lab faculties into giving us a tea break, in between long 3 hrs of lab, running to classes at 8:29 AM(attendance at stake! ), climbing the huge bridge, running almost 3 flights of stairs for every other class, bunking classes in the name of preparation for the symposium Login(OD's), ooty and kodaikanal trips after Login, campfire dances - awesome time we had!

And not to forget going late to classes with the excuses of " no water in the hostel", "fan fell down in the room", etc, getting caught sleeping in the class,sneaking tiffin boxes and eating food during lectures, arranging for Industrial Visits every year, going for treats in big groups to Arunachalas, Aryaas, Boomerang, Caramel, That s Y food, Seasons..

Hostel was even more fun with chit-chats, non-ending laughter,teasing and fun. The so-called night studies during which we ultimately wind-up chatting till midnight, the evenings that we go down for tea break and after nearly 4 or 5 hours of never ending chat, we get back to our rooms after dinner, unforunately most of the time, the day being the eve of our internal exams or semesters.Then panic creeps in, after downing cups of tea, we bury our head into books!!

But the most memorable and most cherished event of all 5 years of our college life is our North India trip, which was an amazing bonding time for all of us.Starting from coaxing all classmates to join the trip ,to planning out the entire trip by delegating responsibilities to committees(special credits to our reps),fevering the excitement with a class T-shirt to brand us all,"Softies2k4", sharing and caring, fun and frolic experience totally!

I have always felt that we were the perfect set of people strewn together. Though initially it few fights and misunderstandings made their presence, at the end of it all, we were a class, caring for each other, supporting each other's efforts and praying for each other's well being. There was always a shoulder to cry on, a soul to share your anxieties,worries and frustrations with, a person to share your happiness with.. A gang with whom you can hang out, have fun, roam around the city and enjoy life.
Everytime we organize a get together these days, it brings back all those memories afresh, making me wish that we could go back to those days, which always held zero percent responsibilities and hundred percent happiness.

Truly, those were the best days of my life!! :)
Cheers to Softies 2K4! And as we celebrate the sixth anniversary of our Batch day(7th July), Thanks to all who made my college life a truly gratifying experience!!
Love you guys!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Review-Michael Crichton-"State of Fear"



Michael Crichton's "State of Fear"- a gripping, scientific thriller.The book can be seen from two perspectives- one, where the author gives a proven picture of how the term "Global Warming" has been misused by NGO organizations to create fear among the masses, and the second, there is the brilliant plot by Eco-terrorists, to "create" calamities for publicity reasons and how it is thwarted by the characters in the novel.

The story revolves around
  • Peter Evans, an environmentalist lawyer
  • Morton a millionaire philanthropist
  • Drake, the Director of NERF(National Environment Resource Fund) who is also a close friend of Morton
  • Sarah, Morton's Secretary
  • Kenner-an environmentalist
  • Sanjong- Kenner's friend

The storyline in brief, the story begins with suspense, mysterious people buying very lethal stuff and a scientist being murdered. Peter Evans is Morton's lawyer and believes in conventional stuff about global warming, just like any of us, and is convinced that earth would face disastrous results much sooner if global warming is happening at this rate. Morton, being a rich philanthropist, funds NERF for various philanthropic reasons and mysteriously, he withdraws his monetary support for their International Conference and disappears. Now Evans, Sarah, Kenner and Sanjong join hands and fight the eco-terrorists who had planned to "create" natural calamities during the conference . The plot is progressively foiled by the team, and the suspense is heightened when Morton, who was believed to be dead reappears somehow magically to rescue them, from a life-threatening danger.And during the course of their rescue mission, slowly it is discovered that NERF has been routing their funds for such illicit mission, to create "fear of Global Warming" among the masses and gain more publicity by false propoganda.

The author, through this book,conveys to the reader that Global Warming has been blown beyond proportion, by various organizations, for publicity and creating fear among masses. He also states various proofs, in the forms of graphs and quotes from famous environmentalists.He emphasises that global warming is not a phenomena to be scared of, and whatever measures the mankind takes to control it, has only caused even more disaster to the environment and humans in general. The huge amount of money that has been spent on all this, could be effectively used otherwise to benefit mankind.He reiterates throughout the book that if man tries to take control of nature, assuming that he is attempting to maintain the balance, then he is going to cause irreversible damage to the existing delicate balance structure of nature.

The book is an awesome thriller, and the story is beautifully spun, to keep the reader's interest intact throughout. Also the scientific facts and graphs might go a little above our heads, yet simple language is used to convey the message. Kudos to Crichton!! A masterpiece and a must read!!