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!

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!!

Our Batch Day:

July 07- the day holds a very special meaning in a few of our lives :) yup...our batch day...we(softies 2k4 @ The Phoenix) began our journey of coll life(07/07/2004).... From then on we have been together through thick and thin... Sometimes i feel like comparin my class to India...guess y? india is famous for unity in diversity rite?? The same applies for my class...though a bit diverse, we all stand together for a cause and lend a supporting hand to each other...so we are always united in spite of all our diversties...

It's bin three yrs since we joined coll...and every batch day held something special for us...



July 07, 2005- our first batch day... we had all gone to our classmate deepthi's house and the fun and frolic that we had there...oh my god...we could have brought their roof down..brought us even closer....



July 07, 2006 - perfect batch day with the full class strength...and guess the venue..it was in the train(don remember the train's name!!)... We had an industrial visit to Microsoft,Hyderabad and we celebrated the second batch day in the train with a proper cake cutting ceremony :) And that was my happiest journey i should say... Perfect class!!!



July 07,2007- This was the ultimate batch day that we ve ever celebrated:) This day also had a lot of specials in it

1. The date 07/07/07..really spl


2. Chocolate day..


3. Our third batch day

This year was a bit different...all of us were not together..few of us doin our internship in B'lore, rest in hyderabad and chennai....So we wanted a get together cum batch day..So the plans were laid out.... Not full strength but still enough strength to scream and have a big time.... So 27 of us out of 38 set out on our great travel to wonderla....And we can never forget the cake cuttin...cmon that s our(more specific-softies2k4's culture) culture rite??? So the cake cuttin was under the big banyan tree that was so huge....So along with a few monkeys and we singin a big happy bday, the cake cuttin happend rite in the centre of the place...And wat s spl about the cake this time???? Since it was Chocolate day, we had chocolate flavour....And monkeys came running for their share too....hmmm..so we had our share and gave them the rest...

Next came wonderla....Theme parks can be amazing if u can go as a gang...The rides were hilarious and breath taking as well...Half of the rides were turnin and churning us in all ways possible...Phew!!! We went upside down almost in all the rides...And we were screaming to glory!!(as a result of which half of us now have a sore throat!!) And the water games were too cool...(not to mention the fact that we had great fun pushing each other into the pool)....Loads and loads of snaps taken....lots and lots of gossips...Stories and stories abt each other's experiences in the company, the usual teasings, the very usual pullin each other's legs., the chatter, the fun.... (Sure i ll miss ma coll days wen it's over..hmmm.)Perfect it was...The reps Abarnaa and JK had a big time controlling us and putting us back into the cab....

And not to forget our cab journey...All the anthakshari(songs+rhymes, should say more or less of recitation, but never mind!!!) and the Dumbse...and not to forget the song tat was taught by Tom "He got the whole world in his hands!"....All the laughter and pure fun that we had...Simply amazing.....

Coming together is beginning!!!

Keeping together is progress!!!

Working together is Success!!!

This being the our class motto,, am very proud and happy to be a part of "The Ph0enix!!!"

Three cheers to the Phoenix!!!

PS: Guess wat??? I don want ma coll days to get over! And even if it gets over i wanna relive the days again with the same batch!! Jus perfect!!!:)