In search of myself...

At 8 pm on the 31st of december, my mobile seemed to ring louder than usual. I picked up the phone, expecting a call from someone wishing me for the new year. It was from an uncle of mine from Delhi, as close a relative as is the distance between the earth and the sun. He congratulated me for getting placed. I was surprised as it had been over a decade since we spoke (now the distance should seem long enough) and had no clue as to how the information had reached him. He wanted to talk to my dad. Suspicion grew stronger as this person was related to me from my mother's side and hadn't spoken much to my dad. After the initial hiccups, his conversation with my dad grew smoother and for me, hotter. It was a marriage proposal, one from my uncle's friend for his daughter, who apparently had seen me at the wedding I happened to attend at Bangalore a couple of days ago. My dad was laughing joyously; I knew the next few days at home would be spent with people pulling my leg from al

I had been to a wedding in Bangalore where I came face to face with coincidence. An old teaser in a magazine that I happened to read stated the height of coincidence as follows - "someone's mother and father getting married on the same day". This experience of mine was closest to this. A few days back, I was recruited by General Motors (GM), Bangalore for the power train applications division. I wanted to visit the place this time, but could not do so. I thought I would do it later next year before joining when fortune played its part. I was introduced to a distant uncle of mine, who is supposedly a senior project manager in GM. As if all this wasn't enough, he heads the power train applications division too. I could not believe my eyes and ears for the rest of the day and my ever-fickle mind started imagining weird things. And just take a look at the first question I asked him - "Sir, do you have a cricket team at GM?". I learnt from his expression that h

The meet is over. Everything seems to be a lot more relaxed now. No more strenuous sessions of practice. No more nets. All the efforts that went in to making a brilliant team minus our captain (Dharik) resulted in a silver medal and a certificate. Is that what we played for? Does the glory from a silver medal do enough justice to all the pains the man with a broken collar bone took to pull back the team from the drain? For those who don't get the import of my words, we had moulded ourselves into a beautiful cricket team worthy of wearing the IITM whites, when disaster struck. Our dedicated captain, Dharik Sanchan, broke his collar bone during practice and was ruled out of the tournament. The vice captain, Ayush, another fighter in the making, did his best to darn the damage, but there was always this gut feeling of an unfilled cavity in the side, atleast for me. Dharik finished his make-up examinations and went with us to Mumbai for the tournament to render moral support. I thin

Yes, this is indeed the night before the journey to Bombay for the 43rd Inter - IIT sports meet. The days of tough practice have drawn to a close and it is time for the final test. It is hard to believe the wait is over, but everyone in the team has been eagerly looking forward to this moment. Spending a whole day on the train tomorrow is gonna be tough I swear. There is not a single player in the team who is not injured in some form or the other. Yet, the pain has to be borne, for it has been a compulsory side effect of rigorous practice and we are doing so, very well. There is a feeling of patriotism localized on to a scale called IIT Madras. The contingent of a 116 members is raring to have a go at every other contingent out there. The feeling is inexplicable, trust me! Pray I do justice to all the facilities I have enjoyed at insti...

I had not for once dreamt that I would make my fiftieth post with a job in hand. Yes, fortunately, I have been placed with Messrs. General Motors. December 8th would remain a red letter day in my life. Pre-interview emotions were high and a lot of talk about a lot of things filled the air around the placement office. The place was filled with probably the most wily souls ever, all clad in gentleman-like formals with prior preparation to speak lies enough to fill the quota of a couple of human births. Everybody looked noble and I knew everyone's eyes and everyone's smile hid something ulterior and I was no exception. Tension tightened its grip on all and the cool weather was no remedy to perspiration. There was an aura of camaraderie mixed with subtle jealousies and trust me, the two are seriously contagious at such a place. Reminiscence is sweet, but I still can't believe I lived through it. The technical interview was cool and for a moment, I thought I was wasting my time,

This course called Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in the third semester of my M.Tech programme at IIT Madras has brought turmoil into an otherwise peacefully advancing season. A little thought into it has yielded the following results. This does not have to do anything with the professor or anyone else concerned with the course. It is only sheer incompetence on my part that has produced such magnanimous returns. The professor was always helpful to students and was very sincere with the course, quite on the contrary to what I was. Advantages of having done the course: 1. Mastered the Greek alphabet. 2. Killed enough time during the third semester. 3. Admired the "babes" that attended class. 4. Learnt how to use 'printf', 'scanf', 'if - else' and 'for' loops in C. 5. Interacted with my own classmates for more time. 6. Another blog in my list. Disadvantages of the choice: 1. Spoilt one good course that I could have opted

The feeling, I am happy has vanished into probably the same place where it came from (read previous post). All credit to two of my good friends. Today's progress with studies was bad too and I wanted one good kick on the butt. I turned to my best friend, my dad. All he said was this :" You have done it before. You can do it again. Your conscience is telling you to study and your mind wants to do exactly the opposite. So, the apathy or the fear, (who cares now what it was) is purely because of your conscience being controlled by your mind. The solution is simple - leave the mind to the conscience. Thats all. There is none equal to you." What he said is tough to implement. But the simplicity of the reason has brought a sea of relief with it and I am in pretty high spirits now. The second is Prakash, my good friend from Chennai, currently employed at Bangalore. He had sent me a mail this morning, enquiring how things were with me. I vented out all my ill-feelings and probabl

In two days from now, I will probably be writing the last examination in my life. The exam has fallen on a day before the campus placements are supposed to begin and the completion of A5 thesis submission by a good friend of mine (the last from my batch of friends studying at IIT) seems to have deserted me in the war-front. A feeling of insecurity has crept in from thin air and it is putting butterflies into my stomach like never before. The day doesn't seem to pass and nothing of what I am studying is getting into my head. The future seems to be filled with nihility and I am helplessly being sucked into unwanted thoughts. What trait of mine is giving rise to this is unclear. I have been petrified by examinations in the past. This one seems to be different from all of them for I am still not able to differentiate if it is fear or apathy. God save the examination ahead!!!

Visit http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070032045&ch=11/9/2007%208:21:00%20AM For those who cannot access this link, this is an article on how people at a few BPOs "celebrated" Deepavali at work. Those who worked on Deepavali got double pay. And the BPOs actually decided to work as their American and European clientele wanted business as usual. 'Customer Delight' is the word. Would they do the same during Christmas too? A big NO! Christmas is 'THEIR' festival. But isn't it a matter of business? To a majority of Europeans and Americans, nothing is more important than their holidays. There are organizations that shut down operations for about a week during Christmas. Is there, then, anything wrong in asking for business in India during 'OUR' festival? My opinion - NO! Why? Because businessmen are born to make mincemeat of every employee under them. Then whose fault, if any, is it? You guessed it right - the employees who

I worked with Messrs. Audco India Ltd. prior to my decision to continue my masters and I am reminded of one incident there that had left me open mouthed for a while. This took place a day after I joined. One of the rules in my letter of appointment as Engineer Trainee read, "No leave shall be permitted during the period of training (six bloody months!) whatsoever, unless availed under unavoidable circumstances. I needed to take leave for my Driving Test to get my Driving licence and had to take the third day from joining, off. I approached my product head and explained the situation. This reply of his kept me thinking for the entire day - "Anand, go to SSR of PSD and tell him you have been put under NRV. He will decide if this is CL or LOP". Blistering Barnacles!!! What do I make out from that? I approached a senior with this outrageous statement and he deciphered it for me. "Anand, go to Sowrirajan (SSR was how he was known) of People's Support Department (PSD)

"PPTs" at IITM stands for pre-placement talks, besides notoriously pointing to useless presentations in Power Point that students here make with expertise, to compensate for loss of marks in the quizzes (periodical tests). This blog is on a pre-placement talk that I had to attend skipping cricket practice for the only reason that I need a job in future to play cricket as well! Messrs. GE had come for the PPT and it all began at 4.45 pm in a hall filled to capacity as this organization is known for mass recruitment. To ease boredom off the relatively long presentation, the representatives had conjured up a few questions to be put to an audience, I am sure, that was eagerly waiting to look only at the slide carrying the package offered. Anyone who gave the right answer would get a cap. I got a cap too! But what was different? I had only heard a part of the question (it wasn't a visual) amidst my slumber - "Which car is it?"Someone from the audience yelled out a na

The notice was put up a couple of days back and I could swear that there could not have been anybody who was not looking forward to the lecture by one of India's outstanding statesmen and former Chief Election Commissioner - Mr. T.N. Seshan. I rushed to the temple after cricket practice and sped on my ailing cycle back from the temple to the IC & SR building here at IIT Madras - a healthy two kilometres. People were entering the hall fast and it was overflowing in no time. There were more than twenty minutes to the start of the lecture and my crazy mind had started thinking of all kinds of bullshit. Thankfully, Mr. Seshan put an end to it by entering, punctual and gleeful as ever and very much unlike politicians - a magnanimous presence I felt! Students who had managed to squeeze in their butts into the meagre spaces available on the aisles between the rows of seats struggled to make way for the guest. The hall was filled to atleast thrice its capacity and the airconditioner wa

An extract from http://ibnlive.com/news/rajini-joins-setu-debate-advises-mk-to-talk-it-out/50648-3.html Please go through the original article for more amusement. 'At the state government's film awards function, Lord Ram took center stage yet again. It all started when superstar Rajinikanth requested Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to solve the issue amicably, talking it out at a higher level.' But Karunanidhi's response was categorical. He said, "Rajinikanth has the luxury and opportunity to travel to the North more often than me. He even goes up to the Himalayas and meet the saints there. So next time you meet them please tell them that Karunanidhi may be an atheist but he doesn't hate Ram .” Karunanidhi quotes further - "We're not against Ram, we don't have anything personally against Ram, we don't hate Ram. Be it any avtaar whoever has done some good to the society, we only appreciate it. We wouldn't dump the project just because it has Ra

Cricket nowadays, is played less by players and probably more by characters. One interesting character in the Indian team is Santhakumaran Sreesanth. His first name should translate to "peaceful boy" but he seems to be quite otherwise, for on the field, he does everything but fast bowling. Every bowler ideally has a run-up, delivery and follow-through. For Sreesanth, one could call it dance, delivery and blabber through. A commentator hyped him up, saying "there is killer instinct in this kid". Bullshit. Can't the commentator distinguish aggression and juvenile delinquency? All through the run up, I feel he thinks of phrases to be used against batsmen. Naturally, most of his deliveries are smashed around the park. His body is held on ground firmly by the weight of the charms that he sports around his neck. He probably would find it tough to clear the customs at airports. On the hottest of days, he wears about three layers of clothing, with a colorful wrist band

I really don’t know why I feel like writing this. But still, I write, as I would like to share the amusement… X, Y and Z contested for elections in a state way back in 2004. There was no clear majority and a coalition government was to be formed. Z called X to form the government, but X flatly refused, don’t know for what. Y ruled the centre at that time. The latter also had a clear majority in the same state but not an absolute majority, which is a prerequisite for a party in India to rule. So, X and Y entered into an agreement, the clauses of which allowed for a twenty month regime for each. X took it up first. The twenty months of power for X and waiting for Y have drawn to a close and it’s time to swap positions. Now, X wants to hold on and Y wants to displace the former, rightfully so. X is challenging Y to contest in a re-election as if it would fund the entire process. In the meanwhile, X has also made attempts to make alliances with Z, which now rules the centre and Z has given

Being jobless and fighting ennui aren't new to me. On parallel lines, I was chatting with a good friend of mine at school, Dharini. This blog on some of my experiences in school was her idea and this is dedicated to her. She asked me to credit her for the idea in the blog and hopefully she can't sue me now. I am thinking hard to recollect one experience that would top the list of all the strange ones that I have had there.... Let me start with this... St.John's Senior Secondary School, Chennai was where I went. I owe a lot to it. In fact, everything to it. Alright... I am not getting sentimental. St. John's had this routine of conducting parent-teacher contact sessions (it still has) on the second saturday of every month. This was something I regarded as a desperate attempt by a school to screw a child's weekend. It wasn't the case with me as I was the most impudent, disobedient brat that parents would dread bringing up. Anyway, they have brought me up. Kudos! I

It was a special day in the history of Indian cricket in the year 2007 after the notorious first round exit from the world cup. A team that was regarded inexperienced and unreliable pulled off an emphatic win in the miniscule version - T20. Someone had this message on Gtalk - that Dr. Kalam's foresight into India becoming a super power in 2020 had been fulfilled. How creative! The victory was not an ordinary one. It was against a team hyped up by the media and commentators as an arch rival and the Indian team was under more pressure than ever as it had to maintain its victory run against Pakistan at the world cup. A team without the three stalwarts that was not expected to win any of its matches went on to win the rubber by comprehensively defeating teams like England, South Africa, Australia and Pakistan. New Zealand was made to sweat and fortunately, Daniel Vettori was at his consistent best. All that apart, I had to watch the match at the common room of our hostel. My friends ca

The news of late, seems to have troubled me. I can't help but express my thoughts on certain issues. One of them that has caught my attention is the controversy on the Ram Sethu (the bridge built by Lord Ram to take his army across to Lanka). 'Culture Minister', Ambika Soni has come into notorious limelight after presenting a government affidavit, which stated that there was no historical evidence to Lord Ram's existence. She is under tremendous pressure to resign as the BJP would leave no stone unturned in making this a national issue. They have in fact, vowed to make this an election slogan and have always advocated that the Congress is Anti-Hindu. Ambika Soni, on the other hand, seems to be the most noble person on earth. She says the affidavit was prepared, not by her ministry, but by the ASG (Additional Solicitor General). She also added that she would resign, if the party needed it. Pinching the baby and rocking its cradle would definitely put a lot of kids to sl

Please bear with me. My mind is at unrest after reading this. Maybe you will face the same situation too. Thanks to NDTV for publishing this piece of utmost national importance. "NDTV Correspondent Saturday, September 15, 2007 (New Delhi) The Supreme Court on Saturday set aside a Karnataka High Court verdict, which had reduced the sentence of the accused of raping a ten-year-old girl from seven years to three and a half years. The High Court had reduced the sentence stating reasons that the accused was a young boy of 18 years belonging to the Vaddara community and illiterate. Supreme Court has held that the measure of punishment in the case of rape cannot depend upon the social status of the victim or the accused. The socio-economic status is an irrelevant consideration in the sentencing policy." "My friend slapped me the other day and I think it would be right on my part to go directly to the supreme court, as the high courts pronounce judgments based on caste." No

I happened to visit the NDTV website and there was this eye-catching piece on the collapse of the flyover at Punjagutta, Hyderabad. This is the second tragedy after the notorious twin blasts a few days back. The article carried the statements made by a few distinguished personalities on the incident. However, reading this article angered me for reasons that a sane reader should find natural. Read and decide. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: ''I am shocked and deeply grieved by the accident in Hyderabad'' - I am shocked at your concern. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy: Expressed ''utter shock and anguish'' - What else could he express? Soon after learning about the incident, Reddy visited the spot briefly and took stock of the situation - What a responsible person! Later, he directed the officials concerned to immediately attend to the rescue of those who are still caught in the debris and trapped in vehicles - He could not have told

I reached the lab at half past ten, hoping to get some project work going. To my surprise, there were more people in the lab this night than is usually the case. I thought there was serious research going on and I ought to work a lot harder to catch up. A closer peek at the taskbar on everyone's system said something else. They had tabs dying to be opened and blinking desperately. Those tabs opened websites most useful to research, rediff.com, scores.sify.com, ndtv.com, cricinfo.com and the like. It did not take me long to assist them in the research and I opened a page myself. Yes, undoubtedly, it was the first match of the 20-20 fantasy world cup and Chris Gayle had been tormenting the South African bowlers as if it was his birthright. And junta at the lab were lauding his exploits with comments on every ball bowled. Every hostel has a television here. Why on earth, did people have to come to the lab when the only thing they managed to do tonight was take a look at the scores??

For those who are not aware, Tifanys is a restaurant inside the IIT campus where I generally end up every morning after having missed my breakfast. Well, this blog is nothing concerning the taste that you get to eat or the ambience at the place. I would like to make a mention of a waiter who seems to be an inspiration to me here at IIT for more than a year now. Why? The day of a worker at Tifanys starts at around 7 am and continues for an hour past midnight - a whopping eighteen hours of non-stop work. This waiter seems to know no fatigue. He greets customers vociferously and of course, with a broad smile anytime you step into the restaurant. An energy plot against eighteen working hours would probably be a horizontal line in his case. When I raised this point in the course of a chat with a friend, he said it was out of compulsion that he did this. I beg to differ. Going around for eighteen hours a day for six days of the week with the same enthusiasm is no joke. I have seen none work

Teachers' day here at IIT Madras was celebrated with a panel discussion on a topic that according to me, could never be conclusive - "The IIT Degree - A passport to material prosperity?" . The discussion was chaired by a renowned professor here who was extremely impressive with his interplay of words in English. One could possibly keep listening to that well-modulated, commanding, flawless (I've run out of adjectives) voice of the moderator all day long - something that is the monopoly of great speakers. The speakers at the discussion were five in all - three faculty members and two students. After they had voiced their opinions loud and clear, the moderator took charge yet again, enthralling listeners with his charismatic strain. A major portion of the discussion revolved around attempts to define what prosperity exactly is. Again, an unending venture that unfortunately showed up as it does consistently at such fora because every human has his/her own definitions of

Dawned September 5 and there was an urge to jump out of bed. Something that never happens to me. What was the urge all about? It just got stronger and stronger. Yes, I woke up on Teachers' Day with a violent jolt from within. The first thing I wanted to do was to rush to every teacher's residence carrying gifts. But it obviously wasn't possible because the effort that has gone into making me as I am today was not put in by a handful, but a multitude of gurus. The least I could do was make telephone calls to a few I still remained in contact with and a few more, with whom there hadn't been any conversations in the recent past. The latter set failed to recognize me. It was but natural. They have been seeing batch after batch pass out and I was nothing more than a member of one of those batches. However, some teachers felt happy that I called and I was elated when they recognized my voice. What makes me write here??? Its a question I have been trying to answer as I type. I

I had been to a wedding in Bangalore recently and the devil in me noticed things that make me scribble here. First of all, a lot of people gather at a wedding to look for matches for themselves or their own relations. Blessing the couple tying the knot there is secondary. The gaze reaches far and wide and envy fills the heart of a parent if either the groom or the bride is slightly well qualified. Unnecessary comments fill the air and generally, people hint at the most trivial details that don't match. " The girl is too short for the boy. The groom doesn't match our girl's complexion. Look at the girl - can't wear a saree properly. The boy is too fat for her. The girl seems to be heavy-headed. The boy seems overaged. He is BALDING!! The girl might be sporting a wig. Why did she have to marry so early, she is just twenty two. The bride has a squint....." These are just samples. There are many more comments that a human, I feel should not bother to speak. The br

This course on finite element modelling here at IIT seems to be of immense benefit to me. There is more Greek in it than English, besides the havoc of higher mathematics. I seem to have picked up the Greek alphabet instead of learning FEM. And every alphabet is pronounced equal to an entire word in English. Oof... Anyway, I could boast of having learnt a foreign language and boost my CV.

My mobile has a flair for receiving a multitude of messages that go this way. 1. "'Om Shri Ganeshaya Namaha'. Send this mantra to ten people and good luck will hunt you down in two days. But if you break this holy chain, you will have to bear the wrath of Lord Ganesh's fury." - forwarded by a friend of mine who claims to be an atheist. Lord Ganesha now comes on mobile. Ohm e-ganeshaya namaha. Wake up people!!! 2. "A test to find how many people are close to you. Send this message to ten people who you think really matter to you and in whose lives you are willing to make a difference. I sent this to you because I deem you as being the closest to my heart. I wanna be a part of your list of lucky guys" - another friend who has been out of touch for long. Suddenly we are making a huge difference in each other's lives. Please relieve me of such messages. That should make the difference! People since time immemorial, have been living and dying in their own

I still can't believe the transformation happened in me as well. Not very long back, I was mischievous, yet innocent. Now, after only a little more than a decade has passed, I see the same things very differently. Things like a super-hero in a movie jumping off infinitely tall buildings to catch the 'bad guys', cartoons that shot arrows at each others' butts, puppet shows etc. that would amuse me then mean nothing now. In fact, they are trampled by criticism. There was a time when the usage of the word "fellow" was thought of as part of abusive language, the word "love" meant nothing other than a boy and a girl hugging each other in hiding and cricket was played with under-arm bowling and 'one-pitch' catching allowed. Weather was no bar to daily outdoor activities. Going out to friends' homes and meeting their parents was common. Times have changed. 'Fellow' is used freely. Tom, Dick and Harry are addressed 'fellows' irres

Where did I stop? Oh yes. We reached Kukke Subrahmanya at midnight on Saturday with the help of some adept driving amidst the downpour. I learnt from our driver later that we had lost our way somewhere in between and were put back on track by a helpful truck driver. I had dozed off gloriously through the entire episode. The bed seemed cozy and I hugged it tight. It wasn't long like always, before I fell asleep that night. Early next morning my aunt woke me up after quite some struggle. We reached the temple and performed anga pradakshina . We had splendid darshan and were also fortunate enough to take lunch inside the temple. Satisfied thoroughly, we started back from Subrahmanya at half past two. Our train back to Chennai was scheduled to start from Bangalore on Sunday at 11.30 pm. We had to make it by then. And Mysore had to be visited enroute. That day, I realized what Murphy's law (fate) is. Our van broke down in the ghats on a steep hairpin bend. A nut had fallen off from

It was almost eight when we reached Dharmastala - a town known for benevolence. It is located in one of the most scenic spots in the Western Ghats on the banks of the river Nethravathi. Interestingly, the administration here is run by Jains and the poojas are performed by Madhva priests. The Lingam is made from gold and there is no police force in the town. Tradition goes that the entire town is guarded by the deity ( Lord Manjunatheshwara ). Devotees believe that nothing could be taken possession of, by humans, in the sacred town. Not even stone. A massive dining facility run by the temple administration serves food to more than ten thousand devotees a day - free of cost! Besides just this, the administration also runs charitable educational institutions and hospitals. Mass weddings are conducted every year to aid families that can't afford marriages of their own. Coming back, we had a great darshan and my father was in tears for an untold reason. I perceived them to be tears of

We drove along for sometime, bathing in the sweet memories of Halebeedu till the Belur Channakeshava temple brought us to firm footing again. From the outside, it looked forlorn and dilapidated. Inside, it is immortal. The skies had started pouring and we rushed into the sanctum sanctorum filled with darkness owing to a power failure. There stood the lord, his form illuminated from a solitary oil lamp, in all splendor, tall and dark and handsome (which is precisely why he is called " Channa-Keshava "). A sight to behold indeed! The sculptures here are second to none. Pillars with confounding carvings of Gods and Goddesses were not new to me anymore. What surprised me was a vacant area, very much the size of a human palm, on one of the pillars. I learned from someone there that the spot was deliberately left vacant by the sculptor, " Amara Shilpi Jakanachari" , who openly challenged anyone to come forward and fill that spot with anything that he had failed to carve.

I pushed everyone aside to get a good glimpse of the art. From the word go, I began shooting pictures. This is where destiny showed its game. The batteries were totally drained out and I could click no more. I had to be content with the camera on my mobile for the rest of the time. As far as my ability with words extends, I shall try to explain what I saw. The plan is star-shaped for spatial economy. Maximum carvings on minimum built-up area is the intent. The lower portion of the outer walls had carvings of elephants, lions and horses. There are 1248 elephants carved and no two resemble each other. I have no words to explain the intricacies of the sculpture. Besides these, there are carvings of important incidents from Hindu mythology. Each sculpture seemed more enchanting than the previous. A carving of the dancing 'Mohini' (the lady incarnation of Lord Vishnu) spiked me up. The posture of has been depicted, incorporating the most trivial details. If one observed this picture

We drove further between what seemed an endless stretch of trees until we found inhabitation. We had reached my father's birthplace, a village called Salagame in Hassan district. This place is very close to the Master Control Facility (MCF), from where satellites launched from SHAR are controlled. After spending a few minutes there, we drove to Halebeedu ( pronounced ha-lay-bee-do) , one of the two homes of sculpture marvels in the south. I had heard people glorify this place like nothing else. My mom would force me into trying to recollect incidents on my previous trip to Halebeedu, when I was three years old. According to her, I had visited the place and should have remembered everything about it. I descended from the bus at one end of a long path with lawns on either side that led to a wet monument. People heading inside towards the monument looked anxious and those coming out looked spellbound. All this amused me, for I thought stone carvings were best found at Mahabalipuram an

My previous trip with a large number of relatives was during my thread ceremony in 1999. Those were some of my most pleasurable moments in life. I was eagerly looking forward to another. The boon was granted on the 30th of June, 2007. We started our journey westward from Bangalore on that chilly morning. We were 25 in all and I had jumped to catch the window seat in the last row, much to the displeasure of a herd of younger cousins. In such issues, I am smaller than the smallest kid. The digital camera was put to full use, for I clicked away to glory at everything interesting I saw, once we had reached the outskirts of Bangalore. There was nothing outside that I could draw my sight away from. I kept staring at those large mountain ranges silhouetted against thick, dark clouds, bearing life-giving water. The roads wore a lovely dark gray tint and the trees on either side had gone into their darkest shades of brown and green, thanks to the monsoon. It was a contrasting change, for Bang

The control room is filled with scientists. The rocket is ready to be launched. Everything seems to be in place. The glorious vehicle, in a few seconds, will reveal its destiny. Tension grips the minds of everyone witnessing the launch. The most trivial of technical faults could put an end to years of hard work in a matter of seconds. If the lift-off does not occur, things could be set right and the launch could be deferred. But after lift-off, the vehicle is controlled internally. It could only be manually destroyed if it malfunctions in its trajectory. Crores of rupees, years of labor, loads of fuel and tons of strategic material would have to go down into the sea along with the rocket. Imagine the feelings of those involved in the project. Those ten seconds must be passing like decades. If the mission is successful, everyone is to be credited. How many come into limelight after a successful launch? If it fails, who is to be blamed? Hats off to all these people who take such heavy fa

We entered the SHAR premises after the routine security checks. The whole place looked forlorn and there was nobody moving about. The stranded roads inside would lead to security gates at regular periods. Thankfully, there was a scientist aboard our bus to save us from getting lost in the labyrinth. We got down from the bus to visit the spot where static testing is carried out - a long, wide corridor with a high roof and overhead cranes all around. This was where the motors (rocket engines) were tested for various parameters. The most interesting thing about the enclosure was that the entire roof was mobile and could be slid out during the testing process. Nobody stayed within a radius of 3 km during the testing. A single testing operation needs six months of preparation. Then, we were led to the first of three launchpads. This was where my respect for engineering grew manifold. The entire rocket would be assembled on a platform in an enclosed structure that is 51 meters in heig