The Manipal Our Parents Dreamt Of ! !

Yes people! I have some very bad news for the all the future “wannabe”-MITians. (where MIT stands for Manipal Institute Of Technology :P ). This place, under the influence of our esteem director, has metamorphosed from the ultimately cool and chilled out Manipal, to something thats well… not so cool and chilled out. The badnaam galli is no longer so badnaam. The freshies have to pay Rs. 50 as fine, for each class that they bunk. (yes, I know you r shocked. So were we. Not tto he forget the plight of the freshies!! ). The anti-ragging sqaud is functioning quite effectively. The various clubs and dance groups (and all the seniors in general) are forbidden from having any kind of interaction with the freshies. The freshies with whom one manages to interact, try and act so ultra-cool and wanna-be smart, that you end up following the director’s orders. (a freshie who had come into my room to take some last year books, sits on my bed, happily narrates an incident when she shouted “fuck you” in the presence of our chief warden (unintentionally), asks me the city I come from and then has the gall to say “oh! So you are one of those smart chicks from a small city eh??? * with proper hand movement and facial expressions et al* :I )

The latest and the funniest thing to be started on campus is the anti-couples squad. As the name suggests, this particular group of people move in jeeps after 10:30 pm and their main aim is to part couples and groups consisting of both boys and girls. So folks, don’t blame me if iam not able to post something on “manipal couples” from now on. ( if u don’t know what iam talking about, read this.)

This is not it. Each day, something new keeps cropping up. Now, even the hostel timings have to be strictly adhered to. If the present trend continues, Manipal will no longer remain every student’s dream. *sob sob*. In fact, it’s soon transforming into the manipal our parents dreamt of :(

“The girl who got stuck in the lift”

My 3^rd sem here, has suddenly become SO eventful, that I simply cant believe that a few weeks back (i.e a few days after I returned to manipal) I was all set to pack my bags, and run (or rather fly :P) back home. Agreed that the initial couple of days in each semester are quite slow and it takes time to get into the mould of things, but I really did not know that things would transform so soon. It is not possible to elaborate on everything but I have to tell you guys about the latest episode in my life.

I got stuck in the lift in my hostel !!!

Yes people! I finally got stuck in my hostel lift *100 Mwatt smile :D*. Before you start giving me is-she-crazy-or-what kinda looks, lemme clarify the reason of my delight. The two lifts in my hostel have always been popular for getting stuck and we have, very often, heard girls scream and bang the lift door, calling for help. Each time, I saw something like this happen to someone, after the initial feeling of sympathy washed over my being, I would inevitably find myself wondering how it felt like, to be in a situation like this. And Boy! Law of attraction does work! Yesterday, when I was least expecting it, the lift gave a sudden jerk and stopped a lil above the 4^th floor. I was all alone in the lift. After a few nanoseconds of panicking, a finally realized that my dream had come true! It was time to see how I handled such a situation :D

I got to work. I tried all the buttons on the life panel. None seemed to function. Next I banged on the lift door. Since the lift had been elevated just a foot above the 4^th floor, I was hoping someone passing by would hear me. After 5 minutes, I finally decided to pry open the inner door and I succeeded. I could see outside, through a small crack between the outer sliding doors. I continued banging and soon a couple of freshies, who realized what had happened, stood outside.

Freshie 1- Please don’t panic.

Me- No! No! I am not panicking. Just go and tell the matron about it.

(They try to open the outside door, but in vain.)

Freshie 2- (to freshie 1)- Is she alone??

Me- (overhearing the convo) Yes iam alone. Now will u please go and call the matron?

I dunno if one of them went to call the matron, but soon they started their chitter-chatter again. Now, I was getting a little restless coz I had to study for my COA exam the next day, and I had wasted enough time already.

Me- (in a bored and slightly irritated way): listen. Will you please go and tell the matron bout the lift?

Freshie 3 (who had just joined the group and was being enlightened with the reason for such a commotion)(in a very very sweet and sympathetic, almost childish way) - Please don’t cry, we are all here.

Me: (I cudnt control laughing:P) : No dear, iam not crying. Its fine. Just get the lift started.

I assumed that the few seconds of silence that followed my response, had something o do with freshies finding it to be quite unexpected ;) But what the hell??? Was i supposed to cry in there or what?? :O

After another another 5-7 minutes of boredom (yes, being stuck in the lift alone, can be very boring :I), during which I tried to inspect the gear-kinda things that were attached on the inner side of the outer door, the lift finally started working and I got down on the 5^th floor. I came down to thank all the freshies who had provided me with a decent amount of entertainment while I was stuck in the lift, and I became popular as the “girl who got stuck in the lift” :P, with all of them asking each other- “oh! She got stuck?”, “Was it her??” and the likes. On the whole, it was a different experience: D

p.s. my mom definitely disagrees with me on this one. She was positively freaked out when I narrated the incident to her, which had less to do with the fact that I got stuck, and more to do with my enjoying the experience.;) But the only thing she’s glad of, is the fact that I have been er.... kind of avoiding using the lift the whole day today and have hence been, exercising my leg muscles quite a bit :P

A Trip To heaven....

Looking out of the window has never been more beautiful and enrapturing… Trust me! I may sound like a total dreamer (which I am, in a certain way) but the only way I can define Kerela is by saying- “Heavens all here!”
This trip to Kerela had been organized by RedX, the socio-adventure club of Manipal and for a nature-lover like me, this was a total not-to-be-missed opportunity. More so, because this time I went for the trip not as an outsider, but as a part of the RedX family.
We left Manipal on the 9th at around 11:30. After thoroughly enjoying ourselves in the bus, singing (in voices, sure to give any “bathroom singer” contestant, a complex :P) for almost 2 and a half hours, our vocal cords finally got a bit of respite when we had to stop at the check post on the Karnataka- Kerela state border. We were stuck there for almost 2 hours (due to some document problem, as I was told about, later on.). But no issues, because standing there on the highway, in no man’s land, in the dead of the night, was a totally ultimate experience. Due to the rain, it had become a lil chilly or may be I was shivering because of the strange amalgamation of feelings of excitement, anticipation and apprehension that had taken control of my being, in such an atypical situation.
Finally, at around quarter to 4, we received the much awaited green signal to proceed towards our destination. The next couple of hours were followed by deep slumber, to recharge our batteries for what lay ahead.
The advantage of sitting beside the window on such trips is that, the first sight that greets one’s eyes when one is woken up by a sudden jolt of the bus, is a misty window and beyond that, an array of rapidly passing, freshly bathed, green trees (and I mean totally GREEN trees), after which one does not curse the roads for spoiling one’s beauty sleep. After I had enough time to satiate my eyes with such a treat, we finally pulled over at a small place, on the way, to freshen up.
For the next leg of the journey, I sat in the last row of the bus, with my friends. We had a photograph session (yes, I lurv taking snaps :D ) and another round of India’s most favorite any-occasion-any-location game - Antakshari. After a quick breakfast at a "Mallu" hotel (where chutney was served in a big steel bucket, the kind used for bathing :P), our next stoppage was at Paithalmala.
I had the time of my life there. Mentioning how stunning the view was, will be stating the obvious and repeating a very clichéd line. As the four jeeps, overflowing with the previous occupants of the bus, climbed the hills further, all we could do was hold our breaths at the sight that greeted our eyes. Once on top, we got an astounding view of a miniature waterfall. Though I was initially quite reluctant to get my shoes and jeans wet in the icy cold waters (which I swear, had nothing to do with the leeches that were supposed to be present there *involuntarily shivers*) , the adventurous streak in me finally took over and I braved the fall (and the leeches :p).
We decided to walk back to the foot of the mountain instead of taking the jeep. I really wished I could have stood there longer and taken in the view, but as we were already running behind schedule, we all had to hurry up. On the way back, I also went leech hunting. (I couldn’t help it! I really wanted to see a real one, having heard SO much about them. Good or bad? Well, lets leave that out of the discussion :P). And yes! I finally did see a leech. Not on the way, under some rock, but on a friend’s hand, in the bus !! (see… I told u. The law of attraction never fails to work :D ). Traveling down the mountain, hanging on the bars behind the jeep, was an experience Iam gonna take long to forget :D
Our next stop was St Angelo’s Fort. On the way, I and my MP3 player gave each other company. You know, it’s really surprising how slow, romantic numbers sound so wonderful in such situations! ;) The multitude of random thoughts that keep romping about, all over one’s cerebrum, just adds to the feel.
Set by the sea, St’ Angelo’s Fort looked beautiful. Rains have this weird kind of magic. They can make everything look so serene and pure; even a century old fort that had mosses and algae growing all over it (and loos which had locks that looked as if they had been last used when the king was alive and nobody has bothered to open them ever since :P)
Since by then, the Rain-God had turned quite hostile towards us, we could stop for just half n hour at the next and also the last place on our itinerary- Payambalam Beach Garden (sheesh! The names of these places are tough!).
At 12:15, we finally reached home-sweet-home (I mean Manipal:P ), all wet and shivering.
After such an awesome time, the repercussions (read- sore throat and mild fever) seem very insignificant. Instead, such exhilarating display of nature’s bounty, leave one vying for more .

Happy friendship's day :)

Dated: 3rd August,2008

There are as many definitions to the word -“friendship”, as there are people in this world. Every one of us, have our own list of things we want in a friend; we have our own choices and preferences; our own lists of dos-and-don’ts in friendship and our unique ways of dealing with it. But the thing to be noted is, all of us have at least 1 friend in the whole wide world. Friendship is probably the first relationship that one consciously gets into, and it’s also the only relationship that can undergo the maximum amount of transformation with each passing day.

I have seen friends remain friends forever, friends become lovers, friends become lovers and then again good friends, friends become lovers and then the most bitter enemies, friends become “incompatible” after a year of friendship due to some technical fault ( read incompatibility between their wavelength of thoughts), friends become acquaintances due to the intrusion of another “fraaand” (generally of the opposite sex :P), friends become competitors (and then obviously no longer remain friends) and I have also seen friendship metamorphoses into hate.

But, the most important thing is that a friend always touches your heart the way no one else can, even if it is for a very brief period. Its funny, but this is the only “relationship” I’am scared of getting into, because when a friend breaks your heart, its hurts….. it hurts a lot. Probably that is why I have so many acquaintances but very, very few “friends” coz not all can break the barrier and get close to your heart : )

So, here it is, to all my friends, who have been with me whenever I have needed them, and also to those who had once been my "friends",and will always be a chapter of my life, no matter what.

Happy Friendship’s Day!!!