As I see myself

Sandy's one line status message sums it up aptly. The end is approaching, and I hope to wake up from my dream in my first year and start all over again!

This what I see in the status messages everyday in my gtalk. Ofcourse, there is that occassional "Last one month in this God forsaken place" and a little more of blasphemy, but that is just an expresion of anguish at the system which is stubborn enough to test us even in the ultimate month of our union at BITS Pilani.

I have no idea why I felt like this today, but if I had a chance to go back and start from the begining, I would love to go back in time and do it exactly the same as I had done in the past four years.

Lots of meomries......I guess i shall organise them one day soon !

Yesterday was a stirring day that progressed with a frenetic promptness. It started with a normal BITSian supT. The aftenoon came and along with it brought the president of india with it. The evening was possessed by Oracle and its representatives making a very lucid allocution on the work they were carrying out at Oracle IDC at Bangalore. The evening sun set and setup a rendezvous with yet another powerful citizen, albeit of USA, Vivek Paul, the richest BITSian alumni.

After all this excitement in a single day one would hope that the next day would be set apart for rest. Well, it definetly was and it turned out to be one big boring day. I spent the whole day lazing around and sleeping.

But I found these amazing activities that people could do on a boring day. Read on!

Ride the bus for one block.
Bring a camcorder to a funeral.
Have a staring contest with a baby.
Pay your apartment rent short by 10paisa.
Ask the Akshay bakery if they have urinal cakes.
Return to work the day after you've been fired.
Call work on your day off and say you aren't going.
When the phone rings, pick it up and ask for somebody.
When ordering a pizza, emphasize the this order is "to go".
Hire a bodyguard and then start as many fights as possible.
Conduct a telephone call while you're straining on the toilet.
As the bus comes, hold out your thumb as if you're hitchhiking.
Watch a movie with the volume muted and speak for the characters.
Call a furniture store and ask if they have a swimming pool table.
While driving, smile and wave at every driver that gets mad at you.
Say to somebody in the bogz, "So, takin' a ______, huh?"
Find a construction site and tell them you're bored and offer to help out.
File a restraining order against your pets. ("Tommy, quit following me!")
Call the library and speak quietly so you don't disturb anybody there.
Name your pet God. "Come here, God, come here! God wanna go outside?"
Donate your old, worn socks and dirty underwear to NSS or MY India.
Send someone an invitation to your party, and write in it that they're not invited.
Call the phone number on a "Lost Dog" sign and tell them you haven't found it yet.
Enter a room full of people, and ask them all to leave because you need time alone.
When you enter a movie theater containing very few people, sit next to one of them.
Guys: Announce "Whoa, that was a close one!" after zipping up at a restoom urinal.
For an answering machine message, just say that "you called to leave a message. Bye."
When someone on the phone says you have the wrong number, ask what the right one is.
Get on an elevator full of people and push all the number buttons so it stops at every floor.
In a movie theater, constantly whisper to the person beside you, "Here comes the next part."
When you see a crime scene, approach the officer in charge and ask, "So, what do we got?"
Mail your Christmas packages a few days late. On the box, write, "Do not open 'til Christmas."
While driving, ask someone for directions in a heavy foreign accent. Afterwards, thank them in perfect English.

Have a perfectly boring day!

The most awaited moment of recent BITSian history happened today, and it was worth the wait.

Even though we could not get the audi pases, we made most of what we had.

At 2:30PM a BIG gang of students stood outside the library, under the scorching sun, jubiliating at every sound of a passing automobile in anticipation of the most powerful man in the country.

The moment finally arrived at 2:48PM.

A short, frail looking old man, extremely healthy for his 76 summers, walked out of a small ambasador car (which was followed by a long fleet of other vehicles) under the shade of a blue umbrella. He hopped up the library stairs and into the shade of the library roof. Then as if an afterthought, he walked straight back into the sun, sending his security men into a tizzy. An old man with white flowing silvery hair, stood on the library stairs and waved at us!

The President of India had arrived!!!

After a short 3 minute walk inside the library he walked out and straight into his car. This time he ordered his driver to drive slow. The entire convoy of 27 cars went past us at less than 10kmph. Dr.Kalam unfolded his blinds of the car and watched all of us shouting and waving in exhilaration of having the first citizen of the nation wave back and smile at us.

Once inside the audi, after the initial formalities of the welcome speech by the VC, the most awaited "invited lecture" in BITSian history began. Dr.Kalam talked about "Convergence of Technology". He felt BITS, with all its multidisciplinary approach and flexibilities was the right venue to broach such a discussion. The man started with World-Class systems, drifted into nano-technology and carbon nano-tubes. He talked about bioSciences and its culmination with information technology to form bio-informatics. He spoke of design and manufacturing and the strides our nation was taking in these fields. He then spoke of INdia's commitment to global development by citing an example of our support in helping in wiring the 53 african nations in one BIG wired network. He sought active BITSian support in this initiative.

Then there was a small QnA session. The normal questions regarding poverty level in india, multi-cultural affects on students in 21st century, moon mission etc were asked and answered with aplomb by his excellency.
KrishnaHasa from my-india gave a small intro about my india and asked Dr.Kalam about how
students could channelise their forces for better utilisation of communities like my-india. The president promptly replied that the most important goal of a student is excellence in education. The activities like social service, my-india etc can be carried out in your liesure time as on sundays and holidays, but he again emphasised that the foremost aim of a student is excellence in academics and nothing else.
Sindu Anand was the last to ask the question. She asked something related to righteousness.
His excellency ended his speech in BITS by answering this question with the following words and made us repaet them after him.

"When there is righteousness in the hearts, there is beauty of character

When there is beauty of character, there is harmony in the home
When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation
When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world"

After this he left the auditorium and proceeded on his journey to jaipur.

The much awaited visit had come to an end and we were fortunate to be a part of it.