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,...