The best week of my life!!

Okay so last Sunday I was a calm and content individual with not much to look forward to in the future. If you know me, calm and content almost never happens with me. But it was so, because we had just finished ACME 2013 – my college’s annual commerce fest. Since I am in 2nd year BCom, I got to play a major role and the entire month of January was wonderful for me as I got to bunk classes, do research, meet new people, interact with my seniors, organize mock rounds, get sponsors and a lot more. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and it was supposed to be the best time of my life (and it was at that time, as this week hadn’t happened). It all came to an end on 2nd February (which was last Saturday) and so Sunday morning I sat at home – calm and content – with nothing much to look forward to. There was something I dreaded and that was my CA IPCC results. It was practically my first attempt (since I didn’t study last time) and that was supposed to come out somewhere around the 8th of February. Now I wasn’t too sure of passing and as the result date came closer, there was a sinking feeling in my stomach. But last Sunday I didn’t think about it much; I only thought about the vast expanse of unplanned time ahead of me and what I could do with it. As I sat thinking, I got a call from the Secretary of Commerce Association of my college. Wondering if I had left anything unfinished from the post-ACME work, I picked up his call. But what he had called to tell me was, that I had been selected for Samanvaya 2013 – the commerce fest of the reputed Jain University, Bangalore. Now this was my first outstation fest and Samanvaya is known to be one of the toughest fests in the state. And since I had just finished one whole month of preparing for our own fest, I didn’t really have the energy to go for one more fest. But since it was an opportunity to go for an outstation fest, I knew I couldn’t say no. So I said yes, and went online to hunt for the fest’s site and its prelims. But what did I find instead? That my IPCC results would be out on 5th February! And as the fest was on 6th and 7th, I would be leaving then! The next day was spent entirely in turmoil as I fretted about what shoes I would wear, how I would fare in the fest, what my results would be, etc. I also didn’t have a laptop and as I was tired of borrowing, I decided to go buy a laptop. My parents agreed and I went to the DELL showroom. But since the model I was looking for wasn’t in stock, I was told that the best I could do was to take a smaller alternative model with me and collect it when I came back. So I got a second-hand laptop with me and when I went back to college – voila! We were supposed to leave that very night, instead of the next night. If you’re wondering why the plan got changed suddenly – it didn’t; everyone just conveniently forgot to tell me about it! Feeling very welcomed in the group, I set off to Bangalore that night prepared to meet my doom the next day. When we reached Bangalore, I got a very confusing prelim and just as I began to get a direction for my prelim report – I realized I didn’t have my IPCC hall ticket with me. When I called up home, my mom said she couldn’t find it. To make matters worse, the CA institute in my city was having a national conference that day and hence was closed. If it hadn’t been I could have retrieved my hall ticket number from them. So I called the regional head – the Chennai Institute. But after a  non-cooperative response from there, I gave up. I figured I would find out my results only when the marks card came home 2 weeks later. After sitting dejectedly for a while, I decided to give it one last shot. I called the Board of Studies - Center for CA Exams in Delhi and – tadaa! they happened to have it! After giving them a few details I got my hall ticket number and I was so relived. I knew I had a lot of work to do but I decided to take a nap just about then. My brain just didn’t seem to function when my results were about to be announced. Unfortunately I overslept and was woken up only when my phone rang – which happened to be a call telling me that my results were out. As I switched on my laptop and went to the site, my hands were shaking and I had to repeat the entry of  details a couple of times. When the page finally loaded, there was a moment of silence and then everyone was screaming all at once because – yes – I had passed!! But the happiness was short lived as we all had to submit our prelim reports for the fest that night. In the sudden rush of happiness that followed, I completed my overnight amidst all the calls from my family and friends. After very little sleep I got up to face the fest which led on to another two days filled with reports and presentations, fun and stress, challenges and excitement – basically the whole experience of festing. I am not going into the details of those days, but after two days of lack of sleep and hunger – I actually won my individual event!! I secured first place in my very first outstation fest – one that I wasn’t even willing to attend in the first place. After one extra day of pure majja we got back home, where I had my brand new laptop waiting for me. A few other things happened on my last day in Bangalore which I am not comfortable disclosing on this blog, but all in all – it was a perfect week!! Winning my first outstation fest, clearing IPCC and getting my first laptop – has got to qualify for the best week of my life!

a new life.. and perhaps a new beginning!! :)

i sort of began a new life today. i started a ten day crash course for my upcoming cpt exam and i am also beginning college soon. imagine!! college – me!! it doesn’t feel like i am big enough to go to college. but, apparently i am. for a long time i was scared about this new life that i was going to enter. i knew this was going to be less fun and more hard work. i knew i would have to seriously study for the next 4 to 5 years (by which time i hope to finish my C.A.) and i knew that i would have to cut back on a lot of things that i love. right up to today morning, i was scared. but – i loved it!! i freaking loved it!! Cpt students are the types who study seriously; who work at a fast pace and who don’t need to be taught things step by step. we are known to have a pretty good I.Q. and it felt so good to be in a class full of people just like me. in fact, at some points of the lecture i actually felt quite dumb compared to the other students!! i know its weird that i like being dumb, but its just such a refreshing change!! also the topics were really interesting and i didn’t even realize how the time flew by. it was a four hour lecture and i listened for more than three hours!! the last part i didn’t listen to because i was hungry i can’t think when i’m hungry or sleepy or if i have to pee (no, seriously – i can’t) and yeah, there will be some cutbacks, but i think they will be worth it. instead of those things i have new things in my life now. it feels very good to be taken seriously, to be treated as more than a kid – to be treated as a responsible person. (hey – maybe i am growing up!! ) God!! i am really obsessed with smilies!! and exclamatory marks!! but more on that later. its just that – for the past two months or so i was feeling a bit down – i was in a funk maybe. and it seems like all those depressing feelings have been washed off with last night’s rain. i like what i am doing right now and i hope i am able to maintain this and to be able to strike a balance between all the things i want to do. i still have to figure my life out, but for now – i know that i am happy with the direction that it is taking. and i am super excited to start college. i have no idea what its going to be like. i don’t know what to wear, what to take, whether or not to take my phone along, etc etc. but like i said – i’m yet to figure all that out. but like every year the monsoon has again lifted my spirits and i hope that this time i am able to keep it that way

F.A.L.T.U

produced by : Vashu Bhagnani

directed by : Remo D’Souza

starring : Jackky Bhagnani, Puja Gupta, Ritesh Deshmukh and Arshad Warsi

initially i thought that this would be a movie for youngsters which the older generation wouldn’t understand or like. but my dad liked it, i liked it and turns out everyone else liked it too!!

it is based on three teenagers who don’t do very well in their boards and don’t get into any colleges. and as they don’t want to get fried by their parents they make a fake college. they think of it all – a fake name, a fake admission letter, a fake website, a fake ad in the paper, a fake premises(an old abandoned bulding which they polish), a fake principal and even fake students. but unfortunately the students turn out to be real. people very much like them who have no where else to go because of their low grades. they finally decide to keep the college open because none of them can go anywhere else. its a story of how poeple who are rejected by the world, come together, find themselves and prove to the world that they too can achieve a lot!!

this movie was not only touching but it was also fun and very real. it showed me that we do not have to follow the rules set by society. we can make our own rules and our own lives!! we can think out of the box and choose any career we want to. even though we have developed so much in matters of education and career opportunities, we are still compelled to go by the norms of society. a change in  our lifestyles and our thinking is very much needed and this movie proves it very well. not to mention the dance and the speech in the climax. that dance was probably one of Remo’s best work to date!! the songs too are a fresh change from what we have been hearing for the past few months this year. acting – well not that impressive. of course Arshad Warsi and Riteish Deshmukh were good and Jackky Bhagnani was not bad. but it is the movie as a whole that blows your mind. a great directorial debut by Remo and one you should definitely not miss!!

going out with a bang!! :)

my p.u. college farewell happened yesterday, and all through the two years that we have been there, my friends and me wanted to do something different. anything, which was memorable and we could remember and laugh at it when we were 50 years old. we finally found that moment yesterday!!! though it isn’t something i would laugh at, it is definitely something that made me feel proud of myself!!

we were all given ice-creams after the formal program and then we went out for lunch. we had to come back to college and wait for a few friends. as they happened to be late, we waited for them in the parking lot. the college was almost empty by then and as we were talking we realized that the campus was really dirty because of the empty ice cream cups. since none of us had had any ice-cream we started complaining about how inconsiderate the other people were and how they had absolutely no civic sense which they proved by strewing the cups all over.  then i realized that thats all we ever do. we complain, but  never do anything. so then in the spur of a moment, we got up and started picking up the cups. it was a tedious task, but we managed to clear more than 3/4 of the cups before the attenders came and begged us to go away they had never seen any students do their work, and they didnt know how to react!! after giving us a watery smile and a thank you, they got back to their work. as it was around 2 in the afternoon then, we were really tired as the sun had spared us no mercy. but we went out with a smile that day because we were proud to have actually taken a step towards improving a cause we believed in!!

we managed to kill two birds at one time. (not exactly the phrase i am looking for in the current context ). because we helped our college and our city as well as left our mark in a place we love so much!!!

i hope this isn’t the last time we make an effort to do something good and also hope that a lot of people also help us in keeping our respective cities clean.