Moments

New Delhi 7th Sept: Today, vinayaka chaturthi was celebrated in full fervour and devotion in the common room of Kumaon Hostel at IIT Delhi. The puja started at 7.00 PM and was attended by devotees in large numbers. Famous personalities like Anoop and Girish took time from their busy schedules to attend the function and receive the blessings of Lord Ganesha on this auspicious day. The puja was conducted by a Brahmin from Andhra Pradesh, who was a first year M Tech student of the institute. Vinayaka Chaturthi is a celebrated all over India on the chaturthi, 4th day after new moon in the month of Bhadrapada. This year the festival was celebrated at Kumaon Hostel in IIT Delhi. The decision of celebration was taken yesterday by a few enthusiastic research scholars from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. A collection of Rs 50/- per head was done among the PhDs and the arrangements of the idol, items for the puja, and the prasadam were made. The puja started at 7.00 PM in the Common Room. A few ...

At last after about 3 weeks of riding in the campus, yesterday I decided to take a chance on the roads. Depositing my phone bill, which W does every month, was just an excuse. Yesterday afternoon, I was dreaming about my bike ride which provided encouragement for the exercise. After getting equipped with Tapan's Helmet (made an STD call for getting it), I got onto the bike. W started thinking which gate would be easier. But I was determined to get out of IIT through the toughest gate, our hostel GATE. I braked the bike so hard at the gate to hand over the pass, that W was almost over me. The road ahead had started troubling me. Had the same kind of experience with the car too. On getting into the traffic, I got the red light immediately. This has always been my nightmare on any vehicle. To start off smoothly at a red light. And as usual, I got the clutch-accelerator combination wrong and we were caught right in the middle of the road with horns blaring from behind. But couldnt do a...

Day 4, March 5th 2005 Getting up early in the morning had become a habit on this tour. All 4 of us got ready at 7.30, as if we were up for a 8 o'clock class of MJK. We had decided the earlier night that, we shall leave for chandigarh by the narrow gauge train in the afternoon. So we had the morning for local sight seeing. We planned to vacate the room at the dharmasala and keep the luggage at their reception. But the manager was very adamant about the rules - "Luggage cant be kept at the reception". So we decided to dump in our luggage at the cloak room of the shimla bus stand. Then we got onto a local bus to Kufri. It is a small town some 9kms from shimla. It is famous for apple orchards and very good scenery. It has become a known tourist place because it is the place where one will find snow throughout the year. As expected the sight from the hill top in the morning sun was really picturesque. But we couldnt enjoy the snow. What will a few snow here and there enthuse u...

A promise made long back was fulfilled today. It was promise made by W, to teach me how to drive a bike, on the day I finished my car driving classes. Every time I tell him that I will ride the bike from the insti to hostel, he will say not now. We will start the classes on a weekend in the morning. Probably he cared about how he will go back to Noida, if the bike broke down. So no driving classes in the evenings. He also thought that I will take time to learn, so no driving classes when he was about to go back. At last yesterday, when I had asked him twice the driver seat, he decided to come today morning and do the Sri Ganeshaya Namah. That is the first thing that a child is made to write on the Vidyaarambham day (Vijay Dashami). After an hour long morning walk around the campus with Su and W, I was bade Best of Luck by Su and I was handed over the key. Learning how to get the bike moving on 1st gear, took me exactly 8 restarts. The problem always was Less Accelerator. Seeing W'...

Day 2, March 3rd 2005 After an eventful day and a sound sleep at night, we were ready at 8 am for the next destination, Solang Valley. The place was closed for tourists and no taxis were allowed. Fortunately we negotiated with a driver and convinced him to come. At the check post of Nehru Kund, we made excuses to the Indian Army that we are not here for sight seeing. "We are going to meet our family friend in a village nearby". That was the excuse that worked. Reaching the village, we spotted a shop for snow dresses. We had our jeans soaked in ice the previous day. So we planned to take the full snow dress kit - boot, gloves and a fur coat. During seasons, a set will cost you around Rs 200. After a bargain, we got 5 pieces for 300 bucks. Solang was 3 kms from the village (Palchang). A walk along the road was the only option. The road was fully covered with snow and no vehicle would take us there. The view all around us was completely white. All the beauty of nature was captur...

Few more mountains captured in memories!!! Visit to the Himalayas continues with a trip to Manali and Shimla. All the planning was perfect this time. Nice climate. Nice timing. Nice arrangements. Nice company. (Doesnt mean that earlier company was not nice). But it was a all boys trip which has its own privileges and advantages. All mischieves!!! (Do I need to elaborate?) Here is how it goes Members: Raja, Ankur, Girraj, Harsh and VG (me) Places: Manali - Nehru Kund (Snow Point), Solang Valley Shimla - Mall Road, Kufri Extra and unplanned Chandigarh - Rock Garden, Sukhna Lake, Rose garden, Sec 17 market Just a background on the planning. A trip was due for a long time. Planned the trip to be after our mid-sem presentations (Feb 26th). Arrangements of stay was made at PNB guest house at Manali (Coutsey - Harsh Dhand). Thrilled to go on 1st March after the LP workshop ( I couldnt miss that.. I was the volunteer.. How can u expect JD to leave me on a vacation when an event is being ...

Congratulations!! Now you have got a new driver. A person you can trust giving the stearing of your brand new Merc. Here is how your driver got trained. Have a sound theoretical knowledge of driving. Thanks to all the drivers alongside whom I have travelled a lot of kms on various journeys. Knew when to change gears, when to slow down, .... Had been thinking of learning to drive from the time when I was 18 yrs old. The age, because my father was very particular abt letting me drive only when I am of the right age to get the license. So when I was 18, my dad got me a driving license. Which means license to learn driving. Thought of joining a driving school from my B Tech 2nd year but probably now was the right time. Got the number of a driving school from one of their car-top. SATIJA Driving School 26192178. That is for somebody who wants to learn driving in Delhi. Also had Gaurav Raja to accompany me in this new venture. A secret. I never wanted to learn driving alone. I dont know why!...