2014 - Time And Place - Part 4

Anonymous 7

It was a year of uncountable firsts for me. And this was evident from the word go i.e. 1st Jan, 2014. Ushering the New Year with close friends, all suited up, braving the winter chill of Delhi, getting a little tipsy and in general having a blast of a time was the perfect beginning to 2014.

The next few months passed by rather too quickly and soon it was time for my internship. A small point to be noted here is that in my entire 20 years of existence, this was to be my first time away from home and that too for a period of 2 months. So I left Delhi with some apprehension, a hint of nervousness and a tinge of excitement. It was my first solo airplane flight. A few hours later, after being ripped off by the cabbie and some frantic last minute direction-seeking, I reached the place where I was to spend the next two months. My flatmates who were all senior to me by a couple of years were a huge help and welcomed me to their apartment by giving me a room to myself. With these guys; a cook in the house to cook breakfast and dinner; a maid who came every alternate day and the washer man/woman couple, I didn’t really miss my home (except for the times when I had to do the dishes, wash my clothes and purchase the grocery which thanks again to the seniors, I didn’t need to buy much). In the initial few days, the disappearance of some foodstuff I had brought with me prompted me to keep the remainder under lock and key. On the work front, everything was chilled out as all the interns had light workloads. My manager was a cool guy who was always teasing me. Besides him, my project team was also very co-operative in giving me the time I needed to get clear with all the basics. The evenings post work was the time when I utilized my new found freedom the most by catching late movie shows, wandering in the malls and attending karaoke nights at a nearby ‘cafe’. Besides that, weekends were meant for discovering new places in the city and visiting nearby monuments. I became friends with my fellow interns and we visited Anandgiri Hills in my first few weekends in Hyderabad. But the best was yet to come- The highlight of the internship: THE TRIP TO GOA. We travelled by an overnight bus soaking in the sights presented by Mother Nature on the way. The next 3 days were a hoot and a half. Thanks to the FIFA World Cup, the atmosphere there was electric. We visited the beaches in the day and I somehow managed to get drenched every single time by the treacherous waves. It was on the second night that I visited a club and got drunk (and pole danced if my friends are to be believed). Puked twice (once on the beach, gross, I know), got escorted by friends back to our place and slept soundly. Thankfully there was no hangover the next morning. All in all, it was a great first trip and all the sweeter because it was self-financed. The other stipend usage was for a Nexus 5 which is a pretty decent phone except for its battery issues. In the final days of the internship, our team went out for a team lunch which was a grand 6-course finger-licking affair. And on my final day, the icing on top of the cake was literally a cake my team got me as a farewell. In short, in the 2 months I was in Hyderabad, I got to know the city better than I know Delhi even after living 20 years in it.

Cut to August and it was time for the 4th and final year of college to begin and with that also commenced the placement season. After not clearing the written tests of the few companies that I sat for, I happily accepted the PPO. A few days later I turned 21 and celebrated the day by having lunch with school friends. They got me ‘The Game of Thrones Box Set’ (along with a delicious cake) which I have only now had the chance to open (and read).

Academically it has been a good year. The 5th semester saw me crossing 75% for the 1st time and with an identical 78% in the 6th semester, I finally crossed the elusive 70% mark. After a debacle in the initial few semesters, this was nothing short of a miracle. To my utter delight, I found my name in the scholarship list for the 2nd year. This was also the year where I prepared and appeared for The Common Admission Test. The pattern of CAT was tweaked midway with the number of Qs being increased to 100. I did give a lot of practice tests, both in Delhi and Hyderabad, which in hindsight were a lot more difficult than the actual test. The result came out a couple of days earlier and I scored a percentile which was frankly not up to my expectations. But then again, having not given your 100%, you can’t expect things to go exactly the way you want them to. Let’s see what the future has in store for me. Fingers crossed.

Anonymous 8

So I've been asked by my friend to recap my whole year. I'll try... Where do I begin?

Well, to be frank, my year or in fact, my life, isn't all that interesting, but it's not too bad either. I started the year with the customary bonfire party at midnight at the Theosophical society. That's always a great way to start the new year.

Next day, I slipped back into the same old routine of office-to-home. The charm of working in an interesting job was wearing off with the increasing workload.

There would be occasional jam sessions with the ever changing band line-up, but that wasn't really going anywhere.

I made significant progress at work by managing to single-handedly close a project within the deadline. I got a pay hike in spite of the company policy of no pay hikes for trainees, and an outrageous one considering the percentage increase: 50%... although the CTC is still pretty low.

The months passed by and my routine remained the same, so I decided to take a break and travel somewhere. I went to kochi for a three-day conference related to the Theosophical society with my mom. It's a nice place to chill out. There's a lot of street art on the building walls there, plenty of cats and the odd goat fight. I tried to be adventurous and drank a chilly lemon. It was horrible. Utterly.

Then next month I went to Bangalore to meet my friend after a long time. It was the first time I saw him since we finished school. We checked out lots of 'books' in the malls, shared anecdotes and I got heavily, breath-stinkingly drunk for the first time. From that day on, rum was incorporated into my name. That was a fun trip.

Then, for the first time in five years, I fell in love. She had been a friend for a while, but I got to know her properly only recently. I asked her out but she didn't feel the same about me. We still remained friends. In fact, after a while, we became best friends. I can honestly say she's the best 'best friend' I've had till date. She had told me about the job I'm currently in.. She helped me out of my depression and she's just so much fun. Also pretty sophisticated.

Anyway, let me continue with the rest of the year. I went to Delhi to empty the house and bring all the furniture back to chennai. My mom had decided to move there permanently. It was a bittersweet trip, because I loved that house. The customary smoke-up/beer-up with one of my other best friends was short-lived because I had too much work to do. I did try weed for the first time, but I guess I didn't do it properly or something. The high lasted less than 10 minutes.

In October I resumed blogging after more than a year. This time I used a completely different style of writing. Simple and non-doctored - just bare-boned expression of my thoughts, and the occasional sketch.

I went on an 'official' trip to Pondicherry with a bunch of colleagues and collapsed wasted on the beach, met a hot Swedish babe, among other things.

The next couple of months were bland in comparison, and now I'm on my way to Bangalore to spend new year's eve with one of my best friends.

Cheers.

Anonymous 9

thanks for the book anant bhaiya, ye sal mujhe 2014 ke remembrance deta hai .2015 me mein har kam time se karunga .2014 mujhe bahaut se chije yad dilata hai . pichle sal 2014 me peeyush ayush aye milkar holi khele sab ne. summer vacations me bahaut enjoy kara . me 6 class me bhi promote hua bahaut se prizes mile.international olympisd of science me school rank 3,state rank-12 aur international rank-145 ek medal bhi mila is sal bahaut maje kare. bahaut se festivals bhi manaye bahut maje kare.WISHING YOU A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR ANANT BHAIYA 2015-2016