the rear view..

I remember,
failing in the History exam in VI,
I wept till my eyes turned pink...
was new in the school, teacher gave an ugly look,
said..another looser comes here..
Don't wanted to face Dad..
felt like running away somewhere..

I remember,
the Finals with APS,L in XI,
last wicket,eight runs per over..
A freaky bowler and an aching head,
but the game depends on me the coach said...
The very second ball, I saw my bails go in the air,
disappointed,deserted, disintegrated everything i was,
wanted the pitch to sink and fossilize me than and there..

I remember,
my breakup in the III yr,
I ran and ran to catch up the time,
hoping like always some,how i 'll make things fine.
nothing got sorted, time dint stop
saw my pyramid of hope, crumbling from the top..
Realising not all life's best things stay forever...

I remember Roomil leaving us forever, last year,
I didn't cry, not even a single tear,
Stood dere and watched my bestest buddy go up in flames..
Just felt like looking up and asking god..
why was I the chosen one always here..

As I sit here and remember.
a billion such craps that i have survived..
fell ,rose and fell again,
but never gave up int the game called life..

I might not have still figured ,
how winning is done..
but some how along the course of life I have learned,
the way living is done..

though the elementary lesson of cricket still hold on,
life is one bouncy track..
the ball will not always come on to your bat..
stay on the pitch,keep moving your feet..
Someday,you will learn to live that bouncy pitch..

Begining of an end...

Rahul Dravid once commented, "On the off-side, first there is God, then there is Ganguly”.

Now there will only be God, since dada would be retiring this Monday.A Tiger in true sense. He wore his heart on his sleeve, led his team passionately, ruffled feathers of one and many. All said and done, he did everything what a batsman needs to do to prove himself to be world-class.

Dada said farewell to cricket after 12 glorious years and at times controversial seasons in the highest level of the game. But for cricket, it`s not merely the loss of an icon, rather of a born fighter, who led his country with passion and shrewdness and would go down as one of the best captains in the annals of cricketing history.

My affection for dada takes me back to 6^th class…I had recently discovered my love for the game…. Sahara Cup was on during those days and a guy called Saurav Ganguly, left handed batsman and right arm bowler, like me.(though I was a spinner) was ransacking the pakis bastard’s camp like hell in Toronto…and I knew who was my role model in cricket for now….the betest lefty..

I grew up imitating his every shot, his batting style, following up his each century, cheering each of his boundary …Most of you guys will laugh on it but believe me was so obsessed with him during the 1999 WC that every note book I bought in 9-10 class had a picture of Dada on it…

Still remember the Independence Cup match of January 99, as India did an impossible by chasing 315 by the pakis in Dhaka…man!! It was an impossible victory…300s were rare during those days…. chasing 315, was as mammoth as disintegrating Mt.Everest…Dada made his career best 124 despite of being getting hurt…Kanitkar’s four on second last ball and India won the match…the whole damn society was dancing on streets..haha!! Wonderful it was …

There was no looking back after that, his heroic 183 against the Sri Lanka in WC’99 …The Natwest Trophy final win in 2002 against England after heroic performances by Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif brought out the spontaneous passion ingrained in the man, who celebrated by taking off his shirt and fluffing it in the air from the Lords balcony…Yeah!!

In Australia in 2003-04 he knew that his struggling team needed him to lead the way in the critical hour with a captain's innings and he promptly produced a rousing, valorous hundred on a lively pitch against a rampant attack. It was this performance that confirmed, once and for all, that Ganguly was not as fragile as he seemed.

But for me the greatness Dada lay more in his approach to the game than mere statistical analysis. He was a fighter, a die-hard fighter…always refusing to give up..his immence belief on his brigade…the fearless spirit and his aggregation..

Dada did not mind directing the fire at himself. What could they do? Bowl bumpers? Already every fast bowler worth his salt had tried to knock off his head. He had no lordly lineage but he walked and talked as he pleased, not exactly trying to provoke opponents but unwilling to deny himself. He did not give much ground to the modern game, with its fitness and diving and running between wickets and morning training and all that rot. It was brave of him to remain apart, for it left him exposed to ridicule, forced him to justify himself. But Ganguly was not scared of the pressure. Perhaps he needed the extra pressure the way a veteran car needs a crank. And, just in case, he had the populist touch.

If Anil Kumble was the colossus, Sachin Tendulkar the champion, Rahul Dravid the craftsman, VVS Laxman the sorcerer, then Ganguly was the inspiration.

Throughout he has toyed with his fate, tempting it to turn its back on him so that once again he could surprise the world with a stunning restoration. Something in him rebelled against the mundane and the sensible. He needed his life to be full of disasters and rescues, and comebacks and mistakes and memorable moments. To hell with the prosaic. At heart he is a cavalier, albeit of mischievous persuasion.

With 85 on Friday,just falling 15 runs short to complete his fairytale endings…its just so ironic that his fate has once again has eluded him…still there is one more inning to go.. I hope we’ll get to see some real action…

A date with DESTINY : PART 1

“Most of the time crap happens in life but sometimes miracles do happen.”
For me august 18,2007 was one such day…Well you don’t sit for yours first campus selection everyday.
I woke up around six I (at least 2 hr before my routine) just to find out it was already morning…last night I had fallen asleep with Balagurusami (fuck man!!! It’s a book) while trying to handle the File Handling’s Chapter.

I checked the time, I didn’t had enough of it..the formalities were to start at 8.30 A.M. It was six already… and for once in my life I wanted to reach college early today. I glanced Bala and clock almost simultaneously. There was no option but to leave the file handling chapter. Bad move, I thought but was helpless… I had to get ready.

While brushing my teeth I made an eye contact with my image in the mirror, something inside my head said,”one good day and every one will forget how much you screwed your 4 yrs of engineering or at least it will help you to forget it”. I smiled, the white foam of toothpaste came out of my mouth…I smiled again..

By eight I was ready in my casual attire … checked myself in the mirror, man! I was looking damn good. I did a salute to god, something that I always perform on occasions when I feel heavy requirement of luck and I desperately needed it today. I stepped out .
It might sound melodramatic, but every thing outside that day was looking fresh and wonderful ( might be because I never stepped out so early in the last 3-4 years)…but it was really wonderful.
On my way to college a school guy who has missed the bus waived me for a lift, I thought of ignoring him and speeding..”Do good to someone dude, at least today”, someone barked inside me. I stopped and dropped him to the next stop. Well, I was a slightly changed person.
Within the next ten minutes I was in college..A poster of SAPIENT saying ”TEN REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD WORK WITH SAPIENT “ was fixed near Lincon..I glanced it. It said ”1. Wear up your sleeves- No dress code. 2. OUTLOOK SURVEY: best companies to work for in India and blah! Blah! Blah!”. Fuck you man! I get a job in your company I get to earn big money and make my Dad believe I have got some worth. That’s all I care. . Some people were so involved in reading it as if they will be asked to write the 10 points in written.Poor Chaps, I though and moved on

Started searching for some familiar faces. Found them near Library..A full beautiful girl from our junior batch was doing registration. She asked me for my name and No.( enrolment one yar). I fumbled. Look this is the problem with idiots like me, whenever we talk with people smarter than us we loose all our confidence…Though in the later part of the day I will have to talk to a person much smarter and intelligent than me, I thought..but that’s only if I qualify written.

I don’t remember much what happened between the registrations and written except that I went to Bon-Bon and puffed two suttas and came back to know that Jhadi has lost his cell on the way. Bad start of the day for poor guy.

The written started around 10 I think ( Ya! The guys were exactly on time). I strategically planned my seat, diagonally to N’jahwan in a way that I get the best view of his answer sheet. After all it was a big day in my life…I had to make my arrangements.

cont : in the next post

Wrapping up....

Finally, I am done with my final year project…the viva was average, rather I should call it good considering my standard.

First it was the last internal exams, then the internal practicals and now the final year project.Suddenly it seems that I am hurriedly wrapping up everything for the last one time. I am wrapping my four years.

With this week the external practicals would get over and than the finals exams too.

Everything that we now talk and discuss has got a phase shift from earlier time…it would have been a great surprise if it wasn’t the final year. The panvadi, bon-bon, momo king and cricket might be loosing their significance in my life sooner…but than I will be eternally thankful to them ‘coz they made my b.tech bearable. This would have been very tough otherwise…

I remember my earlier days in the college, how desperately I wanted to get the hell out of here…but now when the time is flying by... I wish I could stay a little longer, for there are some things that are still left undone..

Harking back, the drama was no less than a bollywood movie for me. A billion heart breakes, thousands of twists and turns…tonnes of backlogs sinking into ass....semesters after semesters and then some pain in the ass professors, who always looked at me as if I slept with there wives last night ... and than a somewhat happy ending.(hope so..the last sems final are still to go)

Way back in my earlier semester, I often used to wander weather I will be getting placed or not? And leave anyone it was even me who wasn’t able to come up with an answer…So I decided to let time figure it out itself.

Fortunately in the end every thing figured fantastically well....I beleive by now I have learnt to survive and win in the system…but wait for serenity does not stays longer here, so theres software slump,the fuckin U.S economy slowdown and cost cutting, firing and all …

But somehow I have always been able to figure out things well in the end…hopefully I will get it done this time also..

Aamen

To begin with....

Once upon a time, there lived a boy called Rishi…. Well, he’s still pretty much alive. A little more rounder at the waist perhaps, but alive and well. And for a while all was good….He was like a Delhi roads… a perpetual Work in progress… sorry for the inconvenience; bear with us today for a better tomorrow and all that.
When people asked him what he did, He would easily reply, hey I’m doing my engineering man!! Royally screwed yeah, still got years to go to get it over and done with. Blah Blah blah… So, for a while… it was all good.. Well, not good in a yo ha hu yahoo!! way all the time, because there was the usually adolescent bullshit of heart breaks, exams, fucking pain in the ass college professors and oh yes… backs, backs and backs. But, then one fine day, He was done with engineering. He had done his time, paid his debt to society (No! the phrase isn’t appropriate, I know!! But hey, you haven’t been to my college either) and after 4 long years of chutypanti! (For lack of a better word) he’d say he had turned out pretty fine. Doubly placed!!! Even….
So, why am I referring to myself in the third person you might think…? I don’t know!!! So don’t ask.So, here I am..4 long years in engineering college has left a nice BIGASS void in my life! For which I will be eternally thankful.. A doubly placed instrumentation n control engineer, trying to make it in the world of software development. For 4 years, I’ve hidden myself behind the “work in progress” tag. And now as that reassuring bit of security is slowly getting dissipated, I find myself in a scary new situation. It’s Time to take on the big bad world. And I’m not ashamed to say, I am scared shitless!!
That blogging bug is back! For a while now, I couldn’t write.. Especially when all I did write was what I DID and how I DID it.. And forget another reader; it was ME who was getting bored of my own shit. So, a good long break and I think I’ve understood why exactly I had started this shit in the first place. I was nervous as hell, and had no idea what I was doing and I wanted a place to puke all the shit in my head out. And I wanted people to read it too.And I’m glad many people did and liked it, enjoyed it or reacted to it. :) Thank you. But I’m also sorry that you had put up with the crap that I was spewing for the last few months. This break had made me realize that unlike in the old days when I used this blog as a place to vent my thoughts out, I had reduced it a place where I gave near trivial accounts of the silly things I was doing once in a while…