The Incident
Prologue
May 7. It started as any other day. I got up late as usual. I wanted to play around with the components I had bought for my project. So I called up my project partner and told him to come to the college. Just then I realised that there was a hartal on that day and the college probably would not be open. I cancelled my plans and was sitting at in my room going through the pages of the new ACD textbook that I had bought just a few days ago. That was when my roommate told me that the labs at the college were open. So I called up my friend again and we met at the college. After fiddling with the components in the lab for about half an hour, it was time for lunch. My partner and I left the college and went to the Green Park hotel behind the college which was open. I had half of a vegetable biriyani (I was not feeling hungry) and a Maa (for which I still haven’t paid for. The guy didn’t have any change so I told him that I would pay for it in the night). After that I went to my partner’s house which is located near the Kingani hotel. I sat there till about 3pm after which I left for home alone via the MH road.
Just Before
It was about 3:15(I found out about the time later); I had crossed the MH ground and was near the new Comp. Sc. Building, where a mud road goes to the right. I saw a bike with two people approaching me from the main road. The driver saw me and told something to the pillion rider. He looked at least 30-35 years old. I thought that they were about to ask for directions, so I slowed down and turned around to see them stop behind me. That’s when it all began. The gut sitting behind got down and pulled out a stick as big as a tube light and called out “EDA”. I knew then that I was in trouble and started running towards the main road. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, I tripped on something and fell.
The Assault
The guy followed and started whacking me with the stick. Initially I shouted out, asking him not to hit me, telling them that I was a nobody (at that time I thought that this was because of the hartal). This was like a reflex action, since on thinking back on these events I never felt my brain giving the commands for me to shout and scream. I had probably got two or three hits then including the one which broke my left forearm. Doctors say that the first instinct when you are about to be hit is to raise the arm which you use for everything up for self protection. I being left handed raised my left arm. I was rolling on the ground when I got my first hit in my face, on my right cheekbone. I fell silent at that point. I could only hear a ringing sound. I stopped feeling pain. Even though I was fully conscious, I didn’t feel any of the subsequent hits. The attackers left me on the road.
The Aftermath
I was able to get up though I was very unsteady, I started to walk towards the main road hoping to reach the Emmaus hostel to get help. I was bleeding heavily through my nose. I called up my roommate who I knew was in the college. I told him that two people had beaten me up and asked him to get some vehicle from somewhere to take me to the hospital. He asked me whether I was telling the truth to which I replied affirmatively with a couple of abuses. I reached the main road. I was holding my handkerchief to my nose to stop the bleeding. I saw a man standing in front of the Meter Testing Office there. I asked him if he could help me. He said that he could try stopping any cars on the way. Knowing that cars would be few it being a hartal I left him and ran inside the Emmaus hostel and went towards the first room I saw shouting for help. I told them what had happened and asked them to do something. The pain had not set in yet. I sat on a railing and looked at my hang. It felt broken. I thought that this was the end for my exams. I then went to a bathroom and got the first look at my face. It was really gruesome. My first reaction was “WOW”. The right side of my face had bloated up and was almost like a football. I was bleeding through my nose and from a cut above my eye. My jeans were soaking in blood and so were my hair and feet. My shirt was deep blue so there was nothing much to see. I washed my face and went back to sit on the railings. I told one of my friends there to take a photo of mine. But unfortunately or fortunately for me, he was more cared for my health and got busy elsewhere. I was then moved inside a room and sat on a chair. Someone got a huge piece of ice which I put on my face to stop the bleeding. I told someone to call my father up and tell him about the incident. I talked to him but thanks to the amazing luck I was having, the reception was not clear and he understood very little. My friend had been playing Mafia Wars on Facebook, it was on the computer beside me. My roommates had reached by then. Some others had got bikes. But I felt that I could not get on a bike and reach the hospital in one piece. Then luckily someone got an auto and climbed into it with two of my friends and was rushed into the Casualty wing of the medical college. The pain was starting to grow while I was in the auto.
Medical College
Getting to the casualty wing requires us to go round the statue of a mother and a baby. I was thinking that more serious cases would probably end up dead by the time they reach the place. Finally on reaching the place I went in and sat on a wheelchair, while my friends completed the formalities. It was really an unlucky day for me as the wheelchair I was sitting on didn’t work. I grumbled and uttered some more abuses. My friends pushed me inside and I was taken one by one to various places where some different type of doctor would check on me. They gave me some glucose drips through a needle stuck on my right hand. Some other friends had arrived by then too. I asked one doctor who checked my hand to tell me that it was not broken and I had an exam to write. But he was silent. Once they took of the drips, I started to shiver violently, and it took some persons to hold me down. I was telling everyone I saw to give me some anaesthetic or drug to remove the pain, but it seems that everyone thought that I was a superman of sorts and could endure any amount of pain. I was then taken to another doctor who put stitches on my face. The nurse told me that I would feel the sting of the needle going into me. This made me laugh, of course I was going to feel a needle and thread going into my face. An X-ray revealed that my hand was indeed broken. My ulna bone was in two pieces. A person put a huge cast around my arm which made it almost impossible for me to move. I was shifted onto a stretcher and was being pushed around everywhere. My local guardian, my aunt was called and she had arrived by then. The medical college police had also come and they took a statement. I told them the entire story in detail which they took down.
They told me that there was some scuffle between the MHites and some locals previously on that day. The attackers probably thought I was an MHite since I was walking down that road. I put a sign in the FIR with my right hand which came out really goofy. A lot of my friends came to see me though I remember very little. My staff advisor had also come. After some more X-Rays, a CT-Scan and more pushing about in the stretcher, I was finally admitted into the Casualty ward where I fell asleep. I was being given oxygen and fluids were being pumped into me. I couldn’t open my jaw completely and the movements of my right eye were restricted though I could see properly. There were multiple fractures on the right side of my face. The ophthalmologist felt that fragments of my skull were probably in the muscles and nerves of my eye which were restricting its movements. An orbital CT-Scan was required to get a more accurate picture. I slept rather uneasily that night, making friends with some cockroaches which were
I woke up the next day and found two of my aunts there. I was told that my father would be arriving from Ahmadabad that evening. I was being attended to by my friends and relatives. I was told not to eat as I had another scan that afternoon. I was still being filled with medicines and stuff intravenously. I probably had more visitors that day than the rest of the patients of the ward combined. I talked to some of them and also sent a few messages. I was able to sit up and look around. One person was screaming out in pain. My bad luck had still not left me, I was taken in a wheel chair for a scan only to find out that due to some problem all scanning had been pushed to the evening. My dad arrived in the evening and I told him the story too.
SP Fort Hospital
Finally that night I was taken to the SP Fort hospital by my father and two of my classmates where a Faciomaxilliary Surgeon came to have a look at me. On seeing the scans he said that there were multiple fractures on my face. I had probably got two impacts on my face and because of that my cheekbone had got flattened inwards and was resting against my eyeball because of which I couldn’t move my eye completely. There was a blue spot on my eye which was due to a lot of blood. I was told to get a 3D CT-Scan and an MRI scan. The MRI scan took almost half an hour to complete and it was really noisy. I was told that my forearm would be operated upon the next day, while the one my face would take time since it was still the size of a watermelon.
The Operations
The operation on my hand was done under general anaesthesia. It was given via a mask. It works really fast. Before I knew what was going on, I was out. The fixed a metal plate inside my arm. By the time I woke up I was being taken back to my bed. I had a crepe bandage on my arm.
The operation on my face took place on the 13th of May. It was a complicated surgery. I went into the operation theatre at about 10:30am and came out at about 4pm. It took about 6 hours. The anaesthetist gave me an injection. It took a few seconds to take effect. My eyes went blurry and slowly I lost consciousness. I had 3 plates fixed inside my face. There were some more sets of stitches. One was right under my eye, another beside it and one inside my mouth. The doctor had to push out the cheekbone from the inside and use screws and plates to hold the thing in place. It was a complete success and my eye was functioning completely. The blue spot had reduced into a red spot.
Epilogue
I was discharged on Saturday the 16th of May. I went with my parents to stay at my aunt’s place. I had spent 10 days total in two hospitals and couldn’t do more. I was told to come on another day to remove the stitches on my arm of which I took a photo when the attender had removed the bandage. I had one giant scar on it. I also had to cut my hair. I was forced to cut it since it was caked in blood and full of all the crap from the medical college ward.

Thoughts

• Thinking back on all that had happened, it was truly a terrible but great and somewhat weird experience.
  
• I was beaten up by accident due to mistaken identity.Some MHite was supposed to get what I had received. But this is CETlife. Probably not the CETlife we imagine but this is one thing about the four years in college I would never forget...The attackers only had the intention to hit.
  
• They came, They whacked, They went. Thankfully they didn’t steal anything. I still hope a coconut falls on their head and they die.
• The pain was not that immense and even though I had a bunch of broken bones and whatnot, I was still able to stand up and run to safety. I got a bunch of scars and now I have metal on my skull \m/. Due to some twisted luck, there was no damage to my brain(no way of finding out!) or my eye.
• I only missed one exam, it was a choice between one suppli or writing 12 exams together in the next semester, which would have probably given me a whole set of supplies. Writing with a broken hand is not easy.
• It put a certain things in perspective. Like pain. And the times we laugh when we see on TV people crashing in cars and bikes doing stunts and breaking a bunch of bones.
• My hair was among the big losses I faced. Not to forget the medical costs which came to more than Rs.1.15 lakh!
• A broken right ulna and a tripod fracture on the right side of my skull with a large segment of bone depressed inwards. I have a total of 4 metal plates in me with a bunch of screws. Who would have thought I would have recovered in just 20 days!

A Kazha Mootha Adventure

May 02, 2009: This was today four of us, KMG, TGT, TVT and myself N5 decided to explore the darkness that lay beyond the much heard but little known region called Alathara. We began our journey following the road not much travelled by CETians, going towards Alathara. On the way we passed big towers that were coming up, tall in defiance of the countryside, great structures looking out to the sea. Onward we walked, without a target, following the same worn out road, leaving behind the hills which had great castles and palaces of the rich and famous lying in between the shacks and hovels of the downtrodden. A lot more of them were coming up here, leaving us amazed at how crass capitalism was destroying our countryside.

Then as we turned around a bend in the road, we caught our first sight of the great Akkulam Lake, glistening in the sunlight in all its majesty. Alas, for we were at a junction with two choices, to go either left or right. We searched for any signs which would tell us the way forward. But then the blistering heat of the high noon took over our mnds with the help of our kazha and we took the beaten road to the right. We advanced forward, ambling along the shores of the stately Akkulam Lake passing by many wonders, natural and manmade alike.

Soon we found our beaten track merging into the great NH Bypass. The road that carried vast amount of traffic at high speeds which left us amazed. We satiated our thirst at a wayside shop with lemon juice and soda and rested our feet. The keeper of the shop was amazed to hear of our journey till now but we told him that it was just the beginning leaving him dumbstruck. Others bid us good luck for our adventure. We bid them goodbye and turning south walked along the Bypass till we reached the bridge crossing the Akkulam Lake. A long bridge was this, spanning over 369 metres and built over six years, the construction being led by a woman chef engineer. We traversed the bridge slowly, marvelling at the beauty of the mighty Akkulam Lake. And slowly and steadily we had finally crossed. We looked back and the beginning of the bridge gleamed far away in the distance. We rested a little in the shade of a mango tree. Its branches were teasing us with bunches of its fruits hanging just out of reach. With the heave kotor traffic of the NH Bypass road to give us company and protection, we strolled ahead, viewing the many factories, car showrooms and other sights alongside the dusty road. We had a small lunch at a decrepit hotel offering only rice meals after which we walked till we reached another junction. 5

But there was a road sign here which read:

Kovalam 19 k.m.

Veli tourist village 2 k.m.

We were well aware of the limits of our kazha and with a sea wind cooling our minds, we turned west again, walking towards the other greater lake, Veli. We first reached the Kochuveli Railway Station. This was from where many long distance trains started. We found the Kochuveli-Bikaner Express lying at the first platform. We were now walking right on the railway tracks, filling our eyes with the majesty of the grand Indian Railways. We crossed the tracks and after a right turn and then a left turn we stumbled upon Veli. We entered the park and saw the various carvings and sculptures it had on display. With a little more rest we moved towards the beach and stood facing the wide open Arabian Sea. We strained our eyes hoping to catch a glimpse of any big ship but to no avail.

Our Kazha took us further south as we walked towards the beach of Shankumugham. We ambled along the beach with our pants folded up to our knees and our footwear in our hands. Befriending the dogs basking in the beach we moved forward, sometimes sighting crabs and other creatures in the beach. Littered along the beach were many bottles of alcohol which we tossed into the sea. Regrefully, we also found a few persons depositing their feaces in the sea. Inspite of al these distractions, we were progressing slower than we expected since the sand obstructed our speed. But we walked onward, crossing small creeks that joined with the sea. Finally we were close to our destination. We had reached within viewing distance of the Indian Coffee House building at Shankumugham. We found a bottle of red paint which we used to mark our presence and of our college’s on the new seawall constructed to protect in face of anther tsunami.

Crossing the beach we entered the ICH and ate and drank to our fill. We then walked towards the sculptures, one of the man resting on his back ever gazing at the sky and the stars and the other one of a beautiful mermaid sun bathing, basking in the glory of all nature. And so we came to the end of our journey with our kazha now diminished. We took a bus back to the hustle and bustle of the city and back to our daily lives.

My first attempt at a song

This one's about the recent case of death caused due to corporal punishment in a school



Welcome to my place
Take your seat
Don't you even dare to speak

I am the king here
You do as I say
This is the only way

Dont move from your seat
Dont utter a single word
You just have to do as you are told

I an here to teach
Your A B C D
Repeat it after me

I love my students
So innocent and young
Abusing them is so much fun

I can slap them and kick them
I do as I care
I am their teacher and its all fair

Beat them, thrash them
Then they'll learn
I am the best teacher in this world

Don't you see that
This is what they need
They'll grow to be strong like me

Come and recite your A B C
Dont you know what comes after D
Akick in the stomach is what you need

Respect me fear me
I am your God
Without me, what chance have you got?

The world is cruel
And I am too
What I do is for your own good

Tough love is what I show
A ruptured ear drum, a bloody nose
That means I love you the most

-NitishN5

The Handshake

What do you do if a friende shows you his hand for a handshake before parting? Obviously you would take it. But what if that friend was of the opposite sex? And would a person of the opposite sex even offer to do that?

The following is a real experience that I had not some long time ago. There were five of us there, talking about somethings. Then one of us a boy had to leave. He offered his hand to each of us boys in turn and each of us returned a hearty handshake. But when he turned to the girl, instead of offering his hand, he just gave her a wave. He then said goodbye and left. 

Why the double standards? Why the handshake for the boys and nothing to the girl? Personally if i were in the girls place, I would have been offended. Here is one guy who I consider to be a friend who shook hands with everyone else but me. Why would he do that? The girl didn't seem to mind. She just smiled at him and said goodbye. 

I was pondering on this and then I realized where I was.  This was Trivandrum, Kerala. Touching girls is probably taboo here. Nattukaar enthu parayum?

These conservative notions are surely outdated if even a simple handshake is out of place!

The Grand Holiday

This is the I.V. rap in reply to Schrei Warduhnn : 
"http://ae10-friends.blogspot.com/2008/10/nitish-kottakkal-and-our-final-hope.html"
On the massage bed I lay,
Thinking of what to say,
Without the tour the class was glum,
Right then the hot nurse lady smacked my bum!

Thats when I sat up and thought,
Here's an idea for the tour I've got,
But there was one thing left to do,
The nurse and I had a job to do!

I wore my pants and left the room,
I promised the girl I'll come back soon,
Straight for the college I went,
And for the tour "committee" I sent!

Though they were feeling very sad,
I told them not to feel so bad,
A novel idea is what I have to say,
Its something all the boys will crave!

We'll pack bags and go to Kottakkal,
On the way we can drink, smoke and yell,
There we'll get a massage, ayurvedic,
from a really nice hot chick!

Its not just massages that they do,t
hey offer a lot of other 'things' too,
Flexible and bendy is what they are,
In any position they can spar!

The girls need not worry either,
Male nurses may also be there,
If not there are 50 of us too,
We'll start in the bus, it'll be cool!

Some in the class are quite horny you see,
They would like to be set free,
This is the perfect opportunity,
It will also remove any disunity!

I request the tour committee to think over this
,Give us a chance to get some bliss,
Any groupism will melt away,
In this perfect holiday!!!

The niTiShn5 PlayliST

This is the list of songs I love the most. I have also added the reason they are my favorite. This list is not exhaustive and neither is it an any order. But I can safely say that the ones at the top will remain at the top.

1. Holy Wars…The Punishment Due - MEGADETH This is my most favorite song of all time. It is a truly awesome combination of an intro, riffs, lyrics, drums, a superb guitar solo and everything else. It was this track which brought out the thrash metal part of me out. Anyone who has even a bit of thrash metal in him would like this song just coz of its amazing intro. This is a thrash metal masterpiece.
2. Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying - MEGADETH Another great song by my favorite band. The opening bass solo is awesome. This one is for all the headbangers. It also has great guitar solos. The lyrics are deep. The anger in Dave Mustaine’s voice says it all.
3. Enter Sandman - METALLICA This is one great combination of thrash and heavy metal. It opens slowly and grows into a spectacular mix of riffs, solos and drums. James Hetfield’s guttural snarl makes this a perfect thrash metal lullaby. Also the guitar solo is mindblowing.
4. Californication - RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS Amazing lyrics to a great track. The lyrics to this song are damn good, quite poetic with a lot of allegories and metaphors and stuff. The riff is also quite catchy. It is great to listen to.
5. Hanger 18 - MEGADETH This track is could be on this list just for the sheer number of guitar solos it has. It is a great song for headbanging. It also has matching lyrics. The way in which the solo after solo come is really cool and it can make anyone want to rattle their goddamn heads!!!!!
6. Summer of 69 - BRYAN ADAMS A nostalgic track for probably all rockers in India. This has great lyrics to remind us of younger carefree days. The music is quite catchy and hummable. Another quality is that this track is easy to understand i.e. we can get the words in one hearing.
7. Rust In Peace Polaris - MEGADETH This track has a mindblowing drums+guitar intro which would get anyone to start banging. It is damn fast too. Another thrash metal great.
8. Mechanix - MEGADETH There is normal speed then fast paced then there is Mechanix. One of the fastest Thrash/Speed metal songs I’ve heard. This has really cool lyrics though some may not get it all at the same time and also a good riff . It is the faster (and for me better) version of The Four Horsemen by Metallica albeit with different lyrics.
9. Highway Star - Deep Purple This is a song for our generation though it may be really old. This song is about Cars, Girls and getting high. It has a cool intro and a couple of great solos. A song for the rock loving masses.
10. Losing My Religion - R.E.M. This song has amazing deep lyrics which makes us think. The music is really cool. This is a great track. The music video for this song is quite cool too, a bit different than the others. The lyrics are full of deeper meanings. Poetic stuff.
11. 99 Problems - JAY-Z This is my favorite rap song. This is really a hard-hitting track, telling us about all the shit a black dude faces. The lyrics can apply to anyone though. The chorus says it all : “99 Problems…but a bitch ain’t one.
12. All good Things (Come to an End) - Nelly Furtado This is the saddest song I’ve heard. Really a senti-fest. This is my favorite desp song. Nelly Furtado’s voice does justice to the song and its somber mood.

The Greatest Artists

This is my list of my favorite music artists. These are the ones who have influenced me the most. It is in alphabetical order after Megadeth which is me most favorite

• Megadeth - This is my favorite band. It is one of the best thrash metal bands ever. It was founded by Dave Mustaine after he got kicked out of Metallica. This band has released mindblowing tracks over the years. It has combined all the aspects of thrash, speed and heavy metal into an awesome mix of sound. The best thing about this band is that its songs are for normal headbangers and it is not full of screaming. It can be sung by us. Though it has been pluaged by a lot of lineup changes I feel that as long as Dave Mustaine is there Megadeth will rule.
• AC/DC - One of the fathers of hard rock and metal. Their album “Black in Black” is one of the greatest albums ever. Every track on it was great. They have cool lyrics hard, rocking music and great vocals.
• Deep Purple - The gods of heavy metal. They along with others like Iron Maiden and Motorhead invented Heavy Metal and inspired bands like Metallica. Though their songs may not fit the Heavy Metal genre now but they are still one of the best songs ever.
• The Doors - One of the first English songs I heard were of these guys. I was about 6-7 years old and they are the ones who paved the way for my metal addiction. Their slow melodious rock is just great.
• Eminem - An excellent rapper with great lyrics and cool beats. Unlike most other rappers whose songs are about either cars or babes or money, etc. this guy has released a number of great tracks with exceptional lyrics and wordplay. He also has a lot of funny rap songs which are hilarious.
• Gwen Stefani - This ex-lead of the band No Doubt is a great singer. She has an amazing voice and can make a variety of sounds(pitches and notes and stuff). She has a wide vocal range which one can see in almost all her songs.
• Jay-Z - Just like he says he is the best rapper alive. He has a lot of hard-hitting songs which would get anyone up and into the mood. The lyrics in his songs are cool too with a lot of double meanings and other wordplays. The music is also sometimes different than the mainstream ones.
• Korn - One of the best Nu-Metal/Heavy bands there. It is one of the ’Against the system’ band with a lot of songs in that style. The music is really cool with a lot of effects.
• Limp Bizkit - This may not be among my most favorite bands but it is one that has brought me into metal music early on. Limp Bizkit also has a lot of the against the system songs which are really great. The rap+rock mix has come off better here than in bands like Linkin Park. Though its lyrics are littered with a number of fucks here and there it is qiute cool still it is a children’s band.
• Metallica - Another Thrash Metal legend. Metallica has a number of exceptional songs with great lyrics and awesome riffs. James Hetfield’s angry voice and Kirk Hammett’s superb guitar solos are just great. Though it can be compared with Megadeth, I feel that Metallica has some exceptional songs and Megadeth has many good and some great ones.
• Nelly Furtado - This is another exceptional singer with an amazing voice. She has a lot of cool folksy and funky tracks to her name. Though she recently acquired a more glamorous image, the quality of her music has not changed.
• Outkast - This is a great rap group which has a lot of different songs in the sense that they don’t match the existing stereotypes. They are really great to listen to.
• Shaggy - The reggae master. This is one cool dude. His song are all upbeat and great to listen to. Though many times we may think that all he says in his songs is a couple of “uh-uh’s”.
• Travis - This was a band I listened to a long tome ago when I was probably 10-12 years old. It used to be on MTV all the time. I used to like all their songs. They had an eclectic mix of music and poetic lyrics.

Train Journeys You Have to Experience.

This is a list of train journeys that I have experienced in my short life till now. The descriptions are of the time I last went on one of them. I don’t know whether they have changed now. The descriptions are rather short for want of space otherwise I could go on and on for pages about each one.

Rajdhani Express (AC 2 Tier) - The Rajdhani Express is the name of the set of fully air conditioned trains connecting various parts of the country with the capital New Delhi. Food is included in the fare and this train has a higher priority over other trains which means it rarely runs late. Now this is one amazing experience where you do nothing but eat, sleep and watch the scenery outside. Try going on a long journey such as Delhi to Trivandrum/Chennai/Guwahati. This way you can stuff yourself with all the food they serve. Food is served at: Breakfast, Midday, Lunch, Evening Tea/Soup, Dinner. The quality of food is quite good too unlike in other trains.

Shatabdi Express (AC Chair Car) - The Shatabdi express is the fastest train in this country and it is surely a thrill going in one of them. Now keep in mind that this is not the JanShatabdi that I’m talking about which is poor guy’s Shatabdi. The Shatabdi Express is a fully air conditioned train for shot journeys of usually less than 12 hours. In one word this train can be described as ‘posh‘. It is just like traveling in an airplane. With the speed, smoothness and the good food(unlike in planes) helping the journey to be quite enjoyable.

Mangala Express (2nd Sleeper) - Earlier before the Konkan Rail Route, the Mangala Express took the long route going through Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, etc. Now the Kerala Express may provide a similar experience if you are lucky not to be stuck with a bunch of Malayalees. The great thing about his trip is the sheer amount of distance it covers. And you can also meet people from different parts of our country, people of different cultures, religions, etc. If you are anything like Gandhiji you could probably learn half the languages used in this country in the space of the journey. If it is spring then the scenery is spectacular. Concerning food you can get different things from each state. It’s an amazing treat.

Footboard Travel - This is to be done in a reserved compartment maybe with a waitlisted or RAC ticket. This is actually not legal and very dangerous, but on the other hand is quite an experience. It is even more fun when you are with a friend. You can feel the wind in your air and see some amazing things outside that you would surely miss when inside. You should get down at each and every station and buy something different to eat. Make sure your legs are safe.

Mumbai Local Train - A ride in this during the rush hours is something you will never forget for the rest of your life. It is the extreme rush, the crushing feeling and if you are standing near the door the fear of falling of. You can see crazy Mumbaikars fighting for every inch of space. There are unwritten rules about traveling on the local that every Mumbaikar knows. If you are being stared at, you’ve probably done something wrong. Also,women are not far behind men, you can find women, young and old shoving, pushing, abusing ad jostling for place. Some times you can be lucky enough to be the last one to enter and get about 10 sq. cm of space to one of your feet and on to the pipe-thing that keeps the rainwater away. A similar journey in a local train in Delhi or Chennai would not be the same.etiquette.

Parasuram Express (General) - Travel from Mangalore to anyplace after Ernakulam. This journey was once described by my friend as ‘Hell on Earth’. You can listen to all the different dialects of Malayalam and learn quite a number of new abuses. You can experience a variety of different smells ranging from the flowery mullapoo smell to extreme nauseating pungent smell of some guy who has not taken bath for a week. You should also empty your bowels before boarding since you may never get a chance once the train has started. This would not exactly be fun but is something you would remember.

Delhi-Patna (2nd Sleeper) - Except maybe for the general class, this is quite probably the most unsafe journey. If your ticket is not reserved you can always bribe the TTE. Just make sure you get to him first. And most probably you will find a person sleeping on the floor in each cabin. You would probably have to keep an eye on your luggage all the time.

Konkan Railway (2nd Sleeper) - Make this journey in the daytime to see some of the most awesome scenery in India. And if it has rained, the land would be all green and beautiful. With countless bridges, tunnels and many rivers, streams, waterfalls and more, you will never get bored. You can also get to eat a lot of vada pavs and bhel puri on this trip and if the season is right a variety of fruits too.

Discovery of India by Pt. Nehru

The book 'Discovery of India' is an amazing book by Jawaharlal Nehru. In this book Nehru describes the country he loves and the development of its cultures and religions. He has filled it with a lot of interesting titbits about our country. This is a book which would make any Indian who reads it proud to be an Indian. Unlike books by other freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi which give us a way of leading our lives so that we serve our country, or fight opression, etc., this is a book which gives the Indian reader a sense of nationalism and respect for his country. After reading this book one admires India and her long and glorious histry spanning over 4500years. We can learn a lot from this book which helps us to shape our mind about our country. This book is a must read for all Indians.

Two People.

Consider the following two types of people, we would always want to be like one of these type ourselves but which on should it be???

The first is a person who does not do anything wrong, he does not hurt anybody, follows all the rules of his religion, follows all the laws and does as he is told to do by others(as long as its not against the law), even though some of the things he does may be not what he intends to do but is forced to do so due to pressure from say the govt./religoin/etc., i.e. this is a person who tries his best to make everyone happy even though he himself may not be getting a good deal out of this.

The second is a person who would rather try to change the world when he feels something is not right. This person would stand up for what he feels is right and fight for it. This person wouldn't care if anybody else is hurt or discomforted by his views. This person would keep fighting till he gets what he wants.

Which person would you want to be???
The first is a person who leads a perfect life from every ones point of view. He has hurt no one, broken no law, done nothing wrong.
The second is a person with an identity of his own. He wouldn't care about the rest of the world's viewpoint, as long as what he feels is correct. Mahatma Gandhi was a person of the second type. So were Hitler and any other murderous killers.

Something Cool

This is an interesting passage from the Chhandogya Upanishad. Here he refers to the sun.

"The sun never sets or rises. When people think to themselves the sun is setting, he only changes about after reaching the end of the day, and makes night below and day to what is on the other side. Then when people think he rises in the morning, he only shifts himself about after reaching the end of the night, and makes day below and night to what is on the other side. In fact he never sets at all."

The Satan In Me

-Nitish N5

Everything in my mind,
Is a mystery,
Happiness, joy, sadness are just simple things,
I know nothing of what is deep within.

I always thought that I had angels in my soul,
Making me happy and good was their goal.
But I started to feel when I committed the sin,
That there is something else that my mind has deep within.

It makes me feel that I am somebody else,
It tells me to think of myself and nobody else,
My life is not to be wasted on lesser mortals,
Says it, I should strive to make myself immortal.

It tries to remove any compassion from me,
It strives to make my anger go free.
It aims to make me lust for more,
It works so that I have a conscience no more.

But it also brings the fire in my eyes,
It gives me determination to take on the world,
It makes my dreams go to infinity,
It ensures that my greed has no finity.

It gives me the reason for my existence,
For this I can give it no resistance.
Even the perfect man also has a bit,
Even the Creator wouldn't say there's no one without it.

It is the same thing the people have in their lives,
Which makes them determined to change other's lives.
It made sure Hitler never said sorry,
It got Mike Tyson to achieve world glory.

I know for sure that I'm nobody without it in me
For it is, The Satan In Me.

-Nitish N5

This is in reply to Sriwardhans post on the "ae10-friends" blog

RE - U may or may not believe in God. If you do, you are free to look upon God in any form u like. You are allowed to define God......

Which God do we choose for making such a definition? For we would always like to chose one among the existing religions so we can just modify the philosophy rather than create our own God with our own definition.And most inportantly our definition of God may not match with the existing notions of God.This has caused so much of problems such as:-

1)M.F. Hussian and Laxmi/Saraswati
2)Baba RamRahim Singh and Guru Gobind Singh
3)Protestant and Catholic Christianity
4)Taslima Nasreen and Salmaan Rushdie and Islam
5)Yesudas and Guruvayoorappan
6)Judaism-Christianity-Islam

Our definitions of God must bewithin the existing constraints of the religion we follow or the one we wish to follow. New definitions of existing gods will never work. And starting our own personal religion is not as easy since we are not obliged to do anything good for anyone but ourselves.

Ponder on This

This is a story by Jalal-ud-din Rumi a Sufi. Many of us would have read this but it is what follows from this story that is important.

There was a country where there was a city entirely inhabited by blind people. One day the news came that an elephant was passing outside the walls of the city. The citizens held a meeting and decided to send a delegation of three men outside the gates so that they could report back to the city what an elephant was. The three men left the town, found the elephant and felt the animal with their hands. Then they all returned back to their town to report what they had felt.

The first man said:"The elephant is like a snake, but it can stand vertically upright in the air!"

The second man said:"The elephant is like a pillar. It is firm and round and solid. No matter how much you push you cannot knock it over."

The third man said:"The elephant is like a broad pankah (a fan). It is wide flat and leathery. "

All the three men stuck to their story and argued with each other till they vowed to never speak to each other. Each professed that they and they alone knew the whole truth.But we know that each person had felt only a part of the elephant. The first had felt the tail, the second the leg and the third the ear. All had a part of the truth, but none of them had begun to grasp the totality or the greatness of the beast. If they had listened to each other, they might have realized the true nature of the beast. But they were too proud and instead they preferred to keep to their half truths.
So it is with religion. Muslims see Allah in one way, Hindus have a different conception, and the Christians have a third. To us, all our different conceptions seem incompatible and irreconcilable. But what we forget is that to God we are like blind men stumbling around in total darkness.

Where is the CET ki Jai??????

Our college is said to be the best college in Kerala. It is among the top 40 colleges in India. But apart from these numbers, what else is there that makes our college stand out from the rest?? If we ask anyone from Calicut about NIT, we will be hearing a really long story about how NIT is so big, how its fests are so awesome and so on. But we dont get the same response from any Trivandrumite.

CETians are divided into the MH, the DayScis, and the nonMH-nondayscis and not to forget the hostel girls(whom we dont see anywhere for any programme outside this college). The MH have their MH pride, the DayScis whith their pride, the rest have the pride for surviving without any help from either the MH or Dayscis. The best example in our college of this divide is the ISTE+LnD(which is full of dayscis) and the SFI(full of MH). Each has a puppet member representing the otherside.

What is missing here is the all important College pride. Whenever our college wins something over in another college, we usually hear from some friends, and we just shrug and probably say 'ok there's one guy who is doin something.' Its more like that guy won it for himself instead for our college.

We need to make our presence felt in the state in the students scenario. And we need to make our presence felt as a College united, without any Mh or dayscis, etc.

Out with the Old and In with the New

We all have feelings of attachment to things, people or places. It may be some toy or the city we grew up in or friends or a real close friend. But when we move on to newer places or start with another leg of our journey of life, should we still carry these feelings of attachment with us?

It would be best if we rather forget the old and open our minds for fresh ideas, different people, new places or even a new boy/girl friend. When it is said that it is this attachment to the old that hampers development and slows down progress of the society, the same also works for the individual life too. We must learn to respect the old and learn from it and not drag it along with us into the future.
If you had any great experience when in school, leave it there. If you had any friend with whom you talked to daily then but don't talk to now, forget him. that friend is probably better off without you and you are better off without him. Unless you are going to go back to where you started with, what is the point of harbouring such feelings? It is nothing but a waste of our time, mind and energy.

N	Noisy
I	Insane
T	Tough
I	Irresistible
S	Silky
H	Handsome

Why is N5 so Fucked Up?????

Why is it that it seems that N5 always seems to complain and complain and do nothing but complain about why much his life has been so fucked up after coming to Trivandrum and this college????
The City or should I say the town sucks, the markets suck, the classes are a big bore, the teachers suck, the girls suck, no one enjoys life, etc, etc, these are the common complaints of N5 about his life. It was all so wonderfull in New Delhi, with all the weirdness and craziness which is missing in this city. N5 had cool friends, did crazy things like walking miles on end in the hot sun to filming attempts to suicide(that was real fun). Eating weird food, doing crazy stuff was all life in Delhi was about and it was really great fun for N5.

The answer to the question is TV. And more specifically Star World, Zee Cafe, Vh1 and the english movie channels. By seeing nothing Indian and only the 'hip' firangi serials like Friends, one gets a false idea of how life actually should be like and what life in India actually is. We always try to emulate what we see on TV. We all try to get together a gang of boys and girls who would stick together and eat daily from the same place(this being the school/college canteen) just like it was on friends. We try to start our own Rock bands like the garage bands all the americans in the TV had when they were just 12. We put together a bunch of big babol tattoos together to get a cool and punk rock tattoo on our body. Not forgetting all the Mohawks, spikes, and attempted rockstar style nose length hair.

It is this lifestyle that seems to have destroyed all the kids from the city. They have no idea what really India is. But of course N5 is not completely an attempted american. He knows where his roots lie. Its in the streets of New Delhi that he grew up in, with all the baoli's and chat shops around. But it is in Trivandrum that N5 is gonna stay for some years and he has to learn to adjust here. But of course it would take some time for N5 to come to terms with the sheer absence of anything interesting to do.

And N5 promises to tone down his bitching about Trivandrum.

Democracy

Democracy is where for the 51% majority, the 49% are sacrificed.

What say???? Any Comments????

What the problem with democracy, according to me, is that nobody seems to actually understand it. Everywhere in the newspaper and the media we find people bashing the politicians of our country. "The govt. doesn't do this, the govt. doesn't do that, the govt. if full of criminals, etc, etc." Why is it that it never occurs to anyone that we the people are the ones who vote for these so called criminals.
THE GOVERNMENT SUCKS BECAUSE WE, THE PEOPLE, SUCK.
Keeping the govt. in good shape and free from corruption is our responsibility. Instead of blaming our beloved MP's and MLA's whom we voted into power we should blame ourselves for voting for them in the first place. Now think
Is Democracy something that would actually work???

Hope and Faith

Is there any difference between Hope and Faith??? A person who believes in god or higher powers has this faith that helps him during tough times. that person would always pray whenever in trouble. But what would a nonbeliever do? He/She would be hoping for something good to happen. Personally I am do not believe in god and I do not follow any religion. But whenever anything troubles me, I find myself hoping for the best, hoping that whatever it is that is troublling me would pass. But after reading the first few sentences I'm sure that we would all feel there is not much difference between hope and faith. It is just two different forms of the same thing. In one we draw power from everything around us, and in another we do the same from a supernatural being. A true athiest would be one who would neither hope or pray, but base himself on reality and not look for any out of the way support. But to me that seems impossible to do. Unless a person's upbringing has been such as to expel thoughts of this kind from the mind, that person will always resort to prayer or hope when the situation is bad. So the question arises again, Is there any difference between Hope and Faith???