Home and Back

Its early morning for me, 7:45 by the watch and this flight journey is so boring, no leg room, and smaller windows so the view is inaccessible from the middle seat, and neither is the airhostess worth looking at though the flight attendant seems to far more impeccably dressed ( No homo rants please). Train journeys are far more enjoyable and interactive; here everybody is sleeping whereas I too am sleepy but don’t want to snooze. The only thing worth talking about is that the legendary comedian, Surinder Sharma is 7 rows ahead.
Don’t know how to put it but whatever, this is just a plain description of my visit to delhi for a couple of days for the semifinals of Sports ka Superstar. Wasn’t really expecting a call for it so preparation was not on. With Prateek’s episode being a really high scoring one, lost all hope so on the day of the expected call up, if it indeed was supposed to come, I planned a ‘Mumbai Darshan’ starting from Sidhivinayak Temple (I know I am a very selfish fellow to remember God in the time of need). There were some security checks going on there, so no one was allowed to enter. After a second visit, and an extended stay just before leaving it for good, they finally let people through. I was expecting queues as long as those at Shirdi/Vaishno Devi but thankfully that wasn’t the case. So after paying my obeisance there, we went up to Mahalaxmi temple. But on the way as expected, I did get my call. After that I pitched in for a visit to Haji Ali but those around me warned about the grotesque scene of the handicapped beggars there which would be unbearable but I think I have hardened myself enough so we went ahead with the plan but there weren’t many signs of it. This was my first mosque visit, adding to the far more numerous ones to gurudwaras and churches. Then we went to Girgaum Chowpatty beach, Marine Drive, Nariman point, Gateway of India. The site of the long row of people along the curved Marine Drive way was the one to cherish and I too was a part of it. It ended at CST from where I boarded the local to strike off all modes of transport on this trip. Being a Saturday, the crowd was just 10% of what it is usually. Also met up a boy of my age only whose Dad is sitting paralysed at home. I won’t let my own views out on this as its quite funny and hurting but I did agree partly with his view that all you need to woo a girl is money. Must have walked a lot on the trip and that was evident with the uneasiness in legs and also a nearly complete loss of voice due to the cold/cough which would stay for around 2 months atleast as I won’t take any medicines, precautions for it and also due to my habit of speaking mindlessly like a chatterbox all day. I have also started teaching a Class 12 boy in the office basement who is being taught under the CSR initiative of Deloitte along with many others. Initially I didn’t think I would do justice to him but thankfully the hours I put in teaching Prateek (shame on him, still got just 49 in mathematics in boards but will now call himself an IITIAN after taking humanities) helped me a lot this time. This is the moment I wait for throughout the day although end up at home quite late. Their books are horrible, just formulae, no derivation so without guidance it would be really tough for anyone to pass. I also passed on my cold to him, sorry for that mate. After the class, I am always left with no strength to speak. My 1 week at the wonderful reliance guesthouse courtesy Pavit is over and now it’s time to go to chandivilli with other Deloitte employees and Akshay. That building was for the super rich with 2 separate lifts for the servants and to our last count the number of super expensive cars (above 30 lakh) were around 35. The Beetle and Hummer parked side by side was synonymous to a hairy bulky villain on top of a petite heroine. Getting an apartment in this 30 floor building seems a distant possibility so let’s see what the future has in store for me.
My shoot was for Tuesday but Sunday too went by without preparation. CL mock was a disaster with me and Pavit swapping scores and both of us missing the Quant cutoff. Coming back to Delhi too was a boring experience with the only adrenaline rush I felt was during the takeoff. Delhi was a complete change. I felt like a scorpion coming back to its Dry Desert Sand (Delhi) form the marshy swampy land (Mumbai). The poetic devices used in the above sentence are alliteration and rhyming scheme. Being back at home was wonderful, all my calls for freedom have subsided as I didn’t really use it anywhere and I would be cherishing home more from now on. Throughout the day felt groggy, slept off accidently at night so ended up without preparation. Vella admi Prateek also came to attend the shoot and was obviously disappointed when the technical glitch led to the shoot starting at 8 PM whereas I was there since 9 AM. Coming to the episode, I being at number 2 was the first challenger to Khaas Khiladi but couldn’t beat him as I said Vitaly Klitskov instead of Vladimir Klitskov and then was slightly slower on the buzzer. After 12 questions, he was at 100 and five remaining including me at 80. I was 2nd on timing so some other guy went for the challenge this time (whoever would have won this would have made it to the final) and it would have been exciting had he lost but tables turned and he won. So now within 4 questions, I had to overtake the other guy who was far better than me. I ended at 100 along with Soumyadipta but had better timing, the previous khas khiladi at 130 and the current one who won the previous shootout at 90 (below us but in the finals). So I was the best loser in the Lucky Loser round but this time there is no coming back. To get rid of the heaviness before the final 4 questions I reminded myself a previous statement that no one will decide my future and life isn’t over if I don’t make it. This did help a lot as I have slightly drifted from treating every competition as the last battle. But this isn’t a good format that a low scoring guy makes it and I couldn’t.
At office, I missed by W2D again along with the opportunity to dine with the senior brass here and Pavit and Akshay are going gaga over how they knew about the project they are doing which I think is only to make them not feel bad about the uselessness of it. After a week in testing which was fun as I derived sadistic pleasure in finding new defects, reopening the previous ones if needed to increase the work of the developers. But to get some coding work (for the report to be given at college), had requested my Project Manager to put me into application development and he happily agreed. So the real hard time will start now. Next weekend it should be Shirdi most probably. Let’s hope I can concentrate back, this time on placements but the idea of working for the next 12 hours after another sleepless night as we reached home at 12, isn’t a pleasant one. Last semester result came and the bad ones were as expected but the good ones also disappointed. In the 1 credit programming lab where we never do anything, somehow I ended up helping the Mtech girl taking it in her own research work and she ended up giving me the lowest marks in the group. Even the boy who didn’t submit the file got more than me. I can’t find any reason behind this, but she does owe me an explanation for this.

Late Edit: Looking back, the 2 people who had beaten me at the prelims made it to the final and the 2 who beat me in the lucky loser's round won the finals. I am no match to the bongs and bangalore walas but with slightly easy questions and more focus on time and luck i might have had a chance. The guy who went to the final with 90 points had lady luck smiling on him as he is getting married in a week. Couldn't beat him on that factor but just 1 question could have changed the whole thing. The closer margin by which you loose, the harder it is to forget.Have lost 2 semis, 2 finals. The only reason I don't act arrogant on these shows is cause I am never sure what might happen next and I end up losing shamelessly. How long do I have to wait for things to turn my way?