Except for all the intial stages of my life, I think have always come off second best. In every department I choose to excel I find some people in it's top flight already reigning. I believe talent always scores over hardwork. Seriously, what amount of practice can make you calculate 2,465,099,754,779 times 7,686,369,774,870 in less than half a minute or come up with the 23rd root of a 201 digit number is less than a minute ? Only Shakuntala Devi did it. That is sheer inherent talent. Well, I do not mean hardwork is of no use. Instead I support that toiling really pays off but use it the smart way to maximize your output. Everyone is not gifted which is why I think one really needs to struggle to find out the proportion in which he has to invest his time and brains. Even after that, consistency plays a major for which everybody needs to keep their hand in. I'm talking about all these because this semester has been a great realization so far.
Although I find a lot of people whom I think I have to emulate for a better performance I think I really know my onions. For instance, look at classes I'm attending for CAT preparation. Sorry Naresh. But this is definitely the time I've to write about you. Specially when you have left for home and it will take you a long time to react. Someone just try and stop this fellow. He is just too good at everything. This fellow walks into the class with such a nonchalant gait, almost an insouciant attitude but this is when the whole show starts. He starts owning every section left, right and centre, hook, line and sinker, lock, stock and barrel. Consider this a rhetoric or consider this verbose but I used them all because that is how he too does it. There are some exceptions where in some part of the English classes Sasank is the one we have to look up to. These classes are so much fun for me. They are totally different from these bland technical courses. There is one thing about me I have to mention. I'm not trying to boast but what I've realised is that I'm very fast with things at the basic level. But once complexity starts creeping into the scene I shed my seriousness about the topic and then display my lazyness. This is the only thing in me that has to change. This is the only thing I hope will not repeat in my preparation for CAT. Last week we had an evaluation test and I knew Raviteja and Naresh would stand out a mile but which of these would win the race was still a nebulous estimation. Well the former triumphed leaving the fellow next to him a comprehensive 9 marks behind. Leave this. What followed this week was an astonishment to me. We were exercising Reading comprehension on Saturday when Naresh proved his immense talent again. I attempted 20 questions and scored a mere 12 correct. Per contra Naresh answered the whole paper consisting of 30 questions and erred on not more than 4 instances, 2 of which were the result of haste in reading the questions. In all probability Mr.Subashish was sceptical.Sunday showed a low attendance in class. Only 3 of the 14 students were present becuase this was holiday time and most of us left home to enjoy the vacation. Actually 4 were still in the university but did not show up. Unfortunately we had a faculty evaluation on the same day. We needed to indicate how good the faculty was at PT. I went totally against one female instructor who would link 2 words for synonyms in the most absurd ways possible. PT has till now has been a very good experience. I'm right now impressed by Mr.Prakash and Mr.Subashish. The others have done a fairly good job to keep my interest alive. Group discussions are in full play. But some people are still preferring to stay silent. They are not inattentive. They are hanging on to the speaker's lips but something is still hindering them from presenting their view. The amount of information and ways to discuss every topic is being delivered after every session. I think I should start making note of all the facts. When it comes to factual analysis of a situation, I still have to gain a lot of ground. I'm losing grip on current affairs which means I really need to concentrate on that and keep myself abreast of all the happenings. Now I need to read a lot to increase my speed and also my knowledge. That is not the only concern. The need to be more eloquent and lucid has been quite a bit of trouble. Anyway this is how I like it. What would enthuse if life was a bed of roses ?
This semester has some really weird courses. A couple of them are so terrible, they actually pull us back us to square one. I loathe the only principle underlying them - Regurgitate to score. Now that is bad. When all other courses have laid an emphasis on conceptual realization these are the foul eggs. This is only my opinion though this may not be the general idea or the truth. Despite having something to learn what causes the discomfort is the inclusion of theoritical answers in the exam. I have a great problem remembering these key terms of answers. Twice in this semester, the communication course has proved that only practical thought is not enough. If you are inept at writing fast then you can forget scoring above average in these papers. At least the second mid-semester paper was not a surprise because the students expected the same thing to repeat. Second mid-semester exams seemed to get over in a jiffy but started with a scary time-table. The onerous task of preparing for three exams scheduled on the very first day made be cringe in fear. I was half-dead, rushing off my feet and trying to stay awake when I was appearing for the third one. I came back after the third exam that day and slept very peacefully at 9 in the night until a stretch of 7 hours was completed. This period of nap proved to be a blessing in guise for me because my sleeping period has now been restored to normal. Software Engineering was fun. Truly, roaming around the hostel helped me a lot. Wherever I went foraging for information I learned new things. I'm very thankful to those who came up with all those silly but useful abbreviations to memorize those idiotic approaches and utilities.
There was so much planned before the exams started on how I should utilize this short break. I've done zilch till now but let me only hope some part of this break will go in a productive manner. This is the third day of the given 9 days which mean one third of the stint is over. Well, hope has always been the foundation and cornerstone of my faith. At least my sleeping schedule is now proper. These guys are planning on early morning cricket, so that should mean I need to get up early from now on. This will help me retain the time slot I'm adhering to right now. I was also planning to get some basketball in action but haven't started any though Raj claims he's been to the court yesterday and even the day before it. It's still hot there and who wants to play when this room is as snug as a bug in a rug. I'll wait for a while and move to the court when the sun will mellow.
Now, all smart girls stay away from me. I realised that I cannot have intelligent conversations with girls. The last two statements are partly true and are only meant to arouse interest because I don't think I have anything spicy to scribble here right now. I've noticed that I get vicarious thrill out of blogging. Moreover there are so many blogs to read when you select that NEXT BLOG>> button on the right top corner. I do not understand which things matter and which don't in this colossal world of blogs. There is so much information that is being shared on some but the essence is lost with no specific blog oriented search.Coming back to what I promised last time, things are always easier said than done. People might have started thinking that I 'm busy. Everything on my schedule sheet is squashed like sardines. Yet, I do nothing. For the past three years I would have been the rightful owner of Nobel prize for peace had the organizer looked into the matter thoroughly. Despite having such an acclivitous situation to conquer, I've always maintained a stiff upper lip except for one time when I shouted at my teammates after a Counterstrike clan match for not buying grenades sufficiently. That is how peaceful my life is and that is how I've been so good to the world around me.
Alright now, what would you expect from someone who's had the wonderful experience of a hackneyed recursion of events ? Why would someone with neither a tale to recount nor a fable to narrate try and resurrect a stagnant list of entries made by a stalwart from the group of the most capricious beings that ever dwelled on this earth. See, that sounded weird again and was quite reflective about the mood I'm in right now. I once heard someone saying Everything changes, except change. Now that is wrong, totally wrong. Include me in that list and tell the world that I'm one of those who is totally resistant to even the least changes possible in this universe. I now know why people coined a term life-cycle. Everything goes around in circles and that includes hours of the day, days of the week, months of the year, totally banal, threadbare. Now this routine is proving to be a baleful threat. Then again, I don't see any problem with that. I postponed the Solving threats section of my checklist to some other ambiguous part of my schedule, the date of which happens to be undeterminable but I'm sure it's at least a fortnight away. Once again, my hearty acknowlegement to those who have been perseverant to reach till this line. If you still think I haven't made you reach the boundaries of your patience, you are free to continue from here. I'm warning you. I'm free today and this is going to be really long.
The only thing I've accomplished this semester is winning a dance competition at Footloose which is the only reason for me to consider the last month fruitful. I cannot imagine how I abandoned this place for over 28 days in February and then continued the trend in March. Usually I take lines of writing even to describe a single day. So I need to abstain from writing the whole epic now. But let me make note of all the nice and bad things that have transpired during this horrible break. I hate doing this. Now I've to start recollecting things. This is not possible. Fine, I'll give an account of things as I remember them, not necessarily adhering to a temporal sense. Why not start with this excellent dance competition ? All we had was a bunch of highly enthusiastic people who at any cost were willing to dance to a vernacular song this Synapse. To be honest, I realised the amount of input that was necessary to make them shake their legs around properly and the task was alarmingly close to a behemoth. It looked like no one even tried a move or two prior to this prestigious decision. I'm no professional dancer, neither was I supposed to command there, but perhaps my reputation earned me that authority. (Yet another prerogative for being a senior, both at dancing and at the institution) I was not trying to boss around though. I told them I'm not any better than each of these which is why everyone would have to contribute to the team effort that was expected to deliver things. At a point of time Naveen (the best male dancer of our batch) and me were adjudicating everyone's performance individually and strongly felt that the size of group should go down by three people. It was a very tough decision to make because I did not want to convey this to those who were very keen on being a part of all the fun. With some afterthought it was decided that we'd be patient enough and give everyone a chance to refine themselves, no matter how much time it would consume, if we were supposed to be on stage, all of us would go together. Except for a bad patch of three days when we had no significant practice due to all the confusion created by room allocation, all else went smooth and as desired. Before the preliminary round we told ourselves not to bother whether we made it to the final round or not, though deep down we all knew we would make it. The best part came when I knew only ten teams would be shortlisted out of the eighteen odd teams that appeared. I kept wondering at a stage whether the judges would comprehend what we were trying to exhibit considering what we were perfoming was a medley of Telugu songs. The arena was ready. Some teams looked equally good and the others obviously did not do their homework. Teams came and teams went. When it was our turn, we were called by the organizer. Trust me, I had no idea about the rate at which my heart was pounding. I was not nervous. Instead I reached that peak of enthusiasm when the team was walking towards the front. And to support us were all our juniors (who played a great role in our success) who roared and cheered as we did so. The music started and for about the next five minutes, the response was mindblowing. Each of us was dancing like no one watched and that was the best part of it. Very less did we falter and to every rhythmic beat we were dancing away to glory. Five minutes were up in a rush. We were happy with the way we did it. Very soon, Naresh told me the good news.
Before final, we spent a lot of time improvising our synchronization. Naresh had to leave to Korea on behalf of his dad and he would join us again only on the day the event was scheduled. Naveen joined us again on the night before the event and found the final part of the song badly composed. All hell broke loose when he said we had do that final few seconds all over again. We started at around 0030 hrs in the night and ended our final practice at about 0500 hrs. We bent our backs like Trojans because each of us was committed. The contest would start at around 1730 hrs. So we decided to sleep and meet at around 1400 hrs. We were fifth on the order. We were watching other performances from backstage and felt pretty comfortable realising we did enough homework. The first group to perform also chose a Telugu song - Girlfriend from the movie Boys and did quite well from where I saw it. The judges were professionals and were for some dance coaching institute. Again when our turn came we were greeted by that enormous cheering crowds (let me mention that the response wasn't this high for the other teams). I was smiling throughout the dance. Whenever there was a special beat, the crowds hooted in rhythm. We needed nothing else. We were pretty happy with this mass complement. After we were done with it, there was a team from Bhopal. The lead dancer rocked. The moment he started his initial moves I was sure he would do the moonwalk. My wait got over and the entire crowd went mad over him when he started sliding from one edge of the stage to another. He was absolutely awesome, graceful and probably all he missed was Michael Jackson's face. Now we knew what we were up against. They were the strong contenders now. While announcing the prizes, they were declared third in position and now my hopes were lit with my eyes wide open. I expected this team to indubitably sweep the first place; possibly the only thing that kept them away from it was the series of faults one of their member's committed. Then the second prize was announced and we joyously jumped high and rushed towards the stage when he said Mass. Half of us were outside the auditorium and having their dinner when this took place. This must give you a fair idea of how much we expected the prize. We were totally overwhelmed by this prize, these compliments. When the video of the dance was released on the local network, I had a perfect idea of the response we generated and the magic we created. In the end, sincere thanks to everyone who made this possible (so many names to mention).
I warned you. No cursing will be accepted. I have this habit of narrating stories like one of those incurable daily soaps. Regarding whatever happened during the rest of the season, I'll meet you gain to tell more about other seminal deeds and abortive operations.
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