the first sip...

well if you are someone who has spent a part of his life in a hostel then you would have probably figured out by now what i am going to write about.if not then this is an insight to what happens in those hostel rooms in some of the best engineering institutes of India..Not long back sometime in the month of september was the day when i would do something which i had avoided in my 1st year of college..if you still havn't guesses it by now then what i am referring to here is drinking..the very act of sipping a costly drink with a few cubes of ice down your throat and then being lost in a world of unknown peace and comfort...let me break the ice by saying that i never felt any of those things..true that i tasted my first sip of whisky that day but i didnt feel anything because a lot of things happened which i explain henceforth....

sometime in the 1st week of september a few of my friends decided to get a bottle of antiquity;one of the best wines available in one of the best packaged bottles..any man at first sight would want to have the entire drink just by the look of the bottle..blue coloured glass, slender neck and cylindrical at the bottom and of course the charm of a royal drink..and above all way too expemsive...so as the night begins at around 10 three of my friends sit to drink..believe it or not they even bought a different set of glasses to enjoy the drink..its very hard for someone to sit in a room with his laptop when he can hear some of his best friends drinking in the next room..so i proceed with the heart and hope that i too shall conquer the drink today..

now i am not that much of a party freak and its certainly weird to see me at a party when people are boozing as if its the last day of their lives and they had to finish their most important tasks..so as obvious as it could get my friends were shell-shocked to see me at their small gathering..the first thing they did was to invite me for a drink..i gladly accepted and i sat down for that big moment of my life..i held that glass in my hand and just as i sipped that golden coloured drink-----i realised that it was the most horrible thing i had ever tasted in my life...i ran down the corridor and spat it out of my mouth...my friends started cursing me as if i had just missed the chance of being immortal...i told them and i am even telling you---the only thing whisky ever tastes and smells like is nail polish remover.that was the worst thing i had ever tasted till date...my friends got the message that they had to enjoy the drink among themselves..however i decided to stay back and give them company....

overall it was a pretty jolly night...a lot of funny things happened apart from my incident..one of my friends spilt out all his past relationships and one abusing all the people he had a grudge against...it wasnt a bad night after all...except the fact that we were gossiping so late in the night that all four of us missed our classes next morning which meant even more trouble...

the truth behind the colorful walls

If u ever get a chance to visit my institute; that is NIT Rkl then i would advise you to come pay a visit to out newest attraction of our Institue..The new Hall Of Residence - the Homi Bhabha Hall Of Residence is the newest addition to the line of pre-existing ancient architectural failures of the civil engineering designs who designed the previous halls of our NIT..Torn and Tattered is what the old ones were..And although the new one seems to have a fresh blend of the basic kindergarten colors in it(red,blue,yellow) it isnt the impression that it gives from the outside.

As mentioned earlier about the pathetic condition about the facilities and hygienic conditions of our hall i would like a few more subjects of utmost importance to the student body which are unware of our hall's condition.This article of mine comes a little late.i planned to pen it at 11 in the night but was unable due to a game of cards going on in my room at that very moment which i find pretty interesting..Now its the eve of Ganesh Puja..Its 11 in the night and i walk towards the mess to fill my bottle full of water..now the best part about a general night at my hall is that the mess has water supply enough for 420 students..now the bad part is that that day it didnt have supply even for one..there was no water in the mess since 11 in the night...having lost the hope of being able to quench my thirst i returned to my game of cards in which i was engrossed till 3 in the morning...after that i decided to try out my long lost luck ofhaving a sip of water to touch my lips..to my surprise there was still no water at even that unearthly hour..how often do you expect a tank to run out of water at a time when no one uses it???

to make matters worse there was no water supply in any of the bathrooms except one in some far end corner of the hall...now in case an emergency of some sort arises that requires the use of a bathroom how is a person supposed to stay clean?...or does the institute now expect us to clean our bowels before going to sleep?....

utter nonsense i say and so say the other 400 students along with me....although fruitless i still live in constant hope that someday before i pass out i expect to use a clean bathroom which does not stink of our excreta....

hygiene par excellence in an institue par emminence

yes it very true....didnt you know it??..our nit hostels are so clean that you wont even find a housefly in the the entire hostel...the toilets are so clean that the students actually admire the cleanliness and are always in a queue to use the washrooms..the mess is just so spick and span that you would think that you are actually in a 5 star restaurant enjoying a sumptuous meal...now if you have ever lived in a hostel in your life you will probably realize what i have  been talking about...and if you have been actually reading this thinking that what is written above is the truth then i suggest you continue reading further else if you know the truth i would advise you stop right here because you have nothing more to go though...

An inner look into our highly talked about NIT hostels would give you an impression about how the students live without a 12 hr water supply,muddy and dusgusting washrooms and flies squattering all over the food during meal hours..yes odd it may seem but it is the truth at end of the day..there is never a queue in the morning for using the toilets because frankly speaking they are just too disgusting to go in and empty your stomach..well i havnt used it in ages..and i wont reveal where i clean empty my bowels because then it will be raided after people read this blog..Truth be told  i once vomited after seeing their condition...Even the floors are full of mud water that you would be forced to pull up you pants and then enter the dreaded area.

Getting to the  mess frankly speaking i was never an admirer of the food...To even add to the frustration was the extreme worse condition in which the hygiene of the mess is maintained...now i dont expect the quality to be high class but at least you can make an effort to keep the flies of the table..frankly speaking the institue should take a step towards the health of the students..after all at a place of national emminence you dont expect to get succh services as far as sanitation facilities and food hygiene are concerned...

i along with hundreds of others are of the view that they should be given at least proper facilities to study in a healthy environment....

catch me if you can

16th August 2008 - The world gasps its breath to watch the blueribbon event of the Olympics.8 contenders for the most prized gold medal of the Olympics and a chance to have their names in the history books forever. However there could have been only man who would proudly walk away with his country's flag fluttering in the sky and a precious gold medal hanging around his neck.The top contenders for the event were gearing up for the most important event of their life. The commentator continuously blabbered about the contenders’ past achievements and what could possibly be the outcome of the day’s match. Minutes later the gun goes off and everyone is holding his breath. And then suddenly Usain Bolt comes as a bolt out of the blue and goes miles ahead of the others. Clocking in at 9.69 seconds and creating a new World and Olympic record the hero from Jamaica certainly ruled the Bird’s Nest stadium.

the fastest man in water

1972 Munich Olympics - Mark Spitz creates history by wearing 7 highly deserved and a million's worth Olympic gold medals around his neck. History was made as viewers around the world saw an era in the making. The world gasped in awe as this athelete broke all barrieres to clasp 7 medals in a single games. No one ever imagined that this record could ever be broken until prehaps a few more decades...

2008 Beijing Olmypics - 36 years down the time line;Already hailed as the Mark Spitz of the new generation Michael Phelps was being claimed to be the man who could at least equal Spitz's record of 7 gold medals in a single games,set aside breaking it.little did anyone know that he would re-write history by breaking the record and claiming not 6,not 7 but 8 beauties only to be crowned as the new Aqua Gladiator as newspapers around the globe proclaim him.

Phelps total Olympic career puts him at the 2nd spot with 16 medals to his credit-14 gold and 2 bronze.He is behind Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina, who won a total of 18 medals (nine gold) spanning three Olympic Games.Phelps' international titles, along with his various world records, have resulted in him being awarded the World Swimmer of the Year Award in 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007 and American Swimmer of the Year Award in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007. Phelps has won a total of 48 career medals thus far: 40 gold, six silvers and two bronze. This includes all of the Championships in which he has competed: The Olympics, the World Championships, and the Pan Pacific Championships.

He has already broken 6 world records this Olympics this year and probably many more are yet to come at the next London Olympics scheduled for 2012.Rightly given the title of the Mark Spitz of this era he has been dominating the pools for quite some time now.And at 24 he has a long career ahead of him in which we are yet to see many more stupendous swims from this hell of an athlete...

Vanity: The Devil's Favourite Sin

Al Pacino became quite famous for his role as the Devil in the flick The Devil’s Advocate. His one liner-vanity, my favourite sin is still pretty much famous among his fans and all those who admire his works. Indeed it is true that half of the world lives on a meal whose chief ingredient still continues to be pride. Everyone at one point of time has a sense of egoism in him. This attitude not only harms him but also his relationship with his peers and others who know him hereby leading him to a feeling of insecurity. Being a student myself i have experienced this phenomenon hundreds of times. Its common at this age when you see your peers or in most cases yourself boasting about how you managed to crack 100% in a maths paper or how you won that gold medal in the debate competition.

It’s true that everyone has a level of egoism in them. Especially at this stage when there is so much competition among student; as well as pressure from parents children are bound to boast of their success. To some extent it relieves a child of some stress which he developed t his house where his parents are continuously scolding him for missing out the 1st rank in his class. Students for whom egoism becomes a permanent trait are generally loathed by the society. His peers start to think of him as selfish and one who is solely bothered with his own success and can be selfish to that extent that he may not even help his friends. To cite an example one of my friends of my school days was highly talented and was top of the class every time. But his nature of looking down upon everyone and proclaiming every other second none in the class could be beat him turned out to be so poisonous that he turned into a social outcast. Every day you could see him sitting at one corner having his lunch with no one bothered a bit.

What students need to realize that they may be talented but when they talk of their feats in front of others those who are not the top brass of the class they are taken in the wrong sense. But why limit ourselves to only students. Even parents nowadays are no less. You can clearly see a mother talking how her son or daughter stood first in some odd competition and was congratulated by the principal. Nowadays parents are more hurt by their child’s failure more than the child itself. They believe that their child’s academic performance is their status symbol in the society. What parents fail to understand is that by forcing upon the child to perform beyond his capacity they are indirectly distancing themselves from their children.

Egoism is one of the worst traits a person can have. If it comes out of its dormant stage then it turns out to extremely dangerous for the host. There is nothing better than being modest and certainly becoming egoistic is bound to lead you into deep waters.

After all Pride Hath A Fall.....

Shame in the land of Africa

After Nelson Mandela fought for the Blacks for his entire life and brought peace to the land of Africa through his tiresome effort over the years who would have thought that a man like Robert Mugabe would bring such immense shame to the continent and especially to Zimbabwe.Having been President for the past 20 years his political position has been questioned especially after killing of the tribes in midlands of Zimbabwe, expropriation of private property and printing of trillion of dollars therby triggering hyperinflation.He was also accused of harassing and intimidating political opponents.

All said and done Zimbabwe had a chance to bring about a reform with this year's election.Mugabe lost the election 43% to 48% to Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC.However the lack of 50% votes by any party forced the way to a run-off election.MDC memebers accused ZANU of rigging votes so as to swing the balance in their favour.Post elections Zimbabwe saw a completely harsh regime with members of the opposition party being tortured and murdered.The teachers who supporterd MDC in the elections went missing and many were killed.Even MDC leader Mr. Tsvangirai was forced to take shelter in the embassy fearing his life.Inflation already at 1.5m% the economy was crushed.After the re-election on june 27th Mr. Mugabe won outright.After all the opposition party had boycotted the election fearing the harsh injustice and crimes done against the people of Zimbabwe.The election could no way be considered legitimate.

FOUR months after the elections on March 29th, which were followed by a campaign of ferocious violence meted out by pro-government militias, President Robert Mugabe and the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, have agreed to start talking. That is a big breakthrough.One reason for the negotiations is that the UN, the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional group of 14 countries, have become more involved and seem less willing to give Mr Mugabe a free ride.

Is the ruling party now genuinely interested in sharing power and finding a lasting solution? Or is it buying time in a bid to outwit its rivals yet again? The circumstances have changed in Mr Mugabe’s disfavour.Indeed, Zimbabwe’s economy is now reaching a new stage in its meltdown, with inflation officially running at 2.2m% a year but in reality at least four times higher. The harvest has been bad; even bread may start to run out.The pressure is beginning to pile on the leader and if he does intend to bow out of this soon enough his neighbours are determined enough to show him the door.