St. Xavier's Memories: The true spirit of Christmas

Date: 23rd December 2000

Place: St. Xavier's  high school, Wardhaman nagar, Nagpur  

I couldn't believe my eyes !
It was magical !!
This was the annual Christmas celebration in our school- My first time ever!

This was probably the only single time of the year when the morning assembly meant something to me. The choir was at its absolute best. Not for a single  moment did I feel  that I could've been better off skipping school that day. 
I hated school so much. 
But not this. This was different.
This was special.

After almost 2 hours of celebration, we were dispersed  to our classes as usual. But the best was yet to come! Each and every one  of us was treated with a little cake, a chocolate and a peppy packet. The class teacher talked to us a bit about Christmas and then we were released.

9 days of Christmas vacation followed !
It just couldn't have gotten any better than this !!
I skipped school a lot for the next 7 years in Xavier's. But I never missed this one single day. 
I just couldn't. 
I loved it.
I missed this day the most when I finally left Xavier's  in 2007. 

12 years later....

Date: 23rd December 2012 Place: Whatever that was left of my school.

I was passing by one fateful morning and saw this.
It was heartbreaking. 
A tear came out of my eye.

We had prayed every single day for almost 6 years for the new building  of our school and it had finally come to reality in 2007. I never regretted missing the chance to spend at least one session in the new school building. This old building was where all of us spent the better part of our childhood and we wanted it all to end right here. And we were lucky. Ours was the last batch in this building before the new one got finished and this fortress of our golden memories was abandoned.

There was no need for this building and maybe it was sold to someone. I always wanted to visit my school someday in the future, feel the joy of sitting on those little  benches again, just stand in the assembly hall murmuring the Christmas carols we were taught and become all nostalgic.

I won't  be able to do that.
EVER.

But no matter what, the spirit of Christmas  will live forever in the hearts of us Xavierites.
It won't  die.
That's a promise.

Enough of this sheet !

Take a look at this sorry sight of a 1st year engineering student.
Just look at it!
This one single iconic picture describes the entire story of what an engineering student goes through during his/her 4 year tenure.

I took this picture of one of my friends on 30th January 2011 during one of our 1st year sleepovers where we'd do nothing but make sheets, followed by making some more sheets, just to please the E.D. faculty who used to get some kind of sickening pleasure by overloading us by assigning all kinds of work related to shit.. oops! my bad! .. SHEET making.

I still remember that night as if it was yesterday. Ajinkya (Let's call him that) parked his moped outside my home, hurried up the stairs and in the process, dropped all the stationery (which always reminded him of his Kindergarten days) on the floor, followed by some of the most innovative curse words coming out of his mouth at a pitch so high, it would have made me never be able to face my parents, had they been there. Thankfully they weren't that night.
Ajinkya picked up all his belongings, tucked all the roller scales and pencils and whatnot in his jacket pocket, and finally greeted me in a tone so calm, it gave me the chills.
The guy could always make you wonder if there's 2 different people in there.
We started the usual sheet making and we kept going at it for hours. At approximately 3.30 in the morning, I finished my 11th sheet and was about to start the 12th (that shit never ends, mark my words!) when I saw him, just lying there miserably, the half made sheet getting crumpled on his lap under his weight.
What a peaceful sight that was, yet it felt sad watching those damn sheets getting the best of him. After 7 hours of college, 2 hours of night classes, and some 3 hours of midnight study, the poor soul deserved this.
I put his stuff away from him on the table, switched off the light and carefully put a pillow under his head so as not to wake him up.
He was the topper in ED that year with 79 marks.
4 years later, Ajinkya has successfully completed his B.E. in Computer Science and has also cracked the GRE with ease. He'll be on his way to the US in a few months and be one more step closer towards achieving his goals.
I couldn't be happier for my friend.
Dude deserved every bit of this.
He survived the shit. Sheet.
Whatever.

Confessions of an air travel virgin

The plane is about to take off.

I'm already feeling dizzy. 

This is my first time on a plane.

I'm scared.

After multiple assurances from parents that it'll be fun, I finally agreed to travel via an airplane. I'm already regretting that decision. After successfully avoiding air travel for all of the 23 years of my life, I'm finally on a plane. 

And now it's airborne. 

There's no backing out now.

Apart from the 15 seconds of the high speed take off, nothing's bothered me till now.

TILL NOW.

This flight from Nagpur to Pune is roughly an hour for the regular travelers, but for me.. IT'S A WHOLE FREAKIN' HOUR!!!!

After watching several kinds of not so pretty airplane tidbits in shows like The Twilight Zone and even Mr. Bean, I am here inside a plane, some 3000 feets above Mother Earth. 

WHAT WAS I FREAKIN' THINKING!!

Ohh.... I just felt something in my stomach. This is not a good sign. 

This plane's vibrating like anything!! And I'm sitting here between 2 seemingly regulars, scared out of my wits. God please don't make me throw up here. Not inside this plane.Any-FREAKIN'-where but this plane!!!! 

Well maybe I'll have a cool story to share with my friends but not at the expense of my digni...... Dear Lord it's vibrating again!! 

(40 minutes later....)

Hey it's landing!!!! 

I've done it!! I've travelled in an actual plane without going through any embarrassing shit I was afraid of since ages!!

Now I'm feeling like a total dumbo. There was nothing to worry about here. Apart from that tingling I felt for a few seconds, the entire flight was as smooth as a Volvo bus ride, minus the rough roads and with an added bonus of a saving of 12 hours!!!!

I could do this again. Hell yeah I'll do this again. I'll make my best friend Pankaj travel with me this time. He has a fear of heights. 

Now that would be fun! His expressions would be Gold. I've earned the right to enjoy that.

Haven't I ????

The cool Era of gaming

Remember this??

Gone are the days when we used to hit the video game shops in hot Summer

afternoons , a couple of 1 rupee coins jingling in our pockets- Nothing more was asked by the video game owner and thus the stage used to get set for an hour or two of pure fun!

Whether it be the bubbly plumber Mario, or the vigilante Contra, we just couldn't  get enough of those games and could play them for hours, leaving wantingfor more every time we finished our allotted  quota  of an hour. 

The moment my parents gifted me this treasure trove on my birthday was a day I'll  never ever forget. It was like getting some kind of power and control and not having to continuously stare at the wall clock to see how much time was left for the hour to end.

Then came the PlayStation.

Followed by Playstation 2.

Followed by PlayStation 3.

The video games of yesteryear fell into obscurity and the introduction of

tabs and PSP's hit the final nail in the coffin.

But the memories that were created by those classic games will be forever

etched in our hearts....

Project MIHAN

Date: 14th December 2014
Time: 8 A.M.
Place: MIHAN (Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at
Nagpur), Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
It just didn't feel right. Something had changed.
But we loved it. It was beautiful.
We invaded the MIHAN campus and it felt as if we were far from the
scorching heat of Nagpur city, the centre of India, like somewhere
heavenly, somewhere we would like to be forever....
We weren't able to see a thing, the intense fog wouldn't let us!
It didn't take long to completely get drenched and feel as if we have just
taken a nice cool bath.
This is a shout out to the future employees and companies who are
going to be a part of MIHAN. Come visit here and feel the aura that has
been set by Mother Nature here.
You won't regret it.
Just like me.
Just like every one else who experienced an entirely different face of the
otherwise fuming atmosphere of Central India.