A One Day Affair.....

 There was a huge void which was left to be filled in us after the exceptional Rajasthan trip ended last December. And that’s when this unexpected one day affair came up. And while it was not even within a miles radius of the fun we had in Jaipur, it was satisfying and enthralling in more ways than one. Not all girls in our class are allowed for a trip which has a clause which is tantamount to ‘overnight stay’. And the girls who fall under this category are our best friends in college. So it was naturally a joy to be able to spend quality time with all in a group which we are often deprived off. Secondly the trip was not at all mediocre in any terms even though it was meant to be an educational visit. And so, the trip happened on the 30^th of November; on a cold Friday.

We were asked to assemble at the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus at sharp 6 am in the morning. And before your brain dismisses the previous sentence as a cakewalk let me ask you to try it out yourself before coming to that conclusion. Though I should mention that I was overjoyed by the prospect of having to travel alone to CST at a time when most of the city would be fast asleep under their blankets cursing the unbearable cold. I got up at 3.15 in the morning and spent 10 minutes trying to shut down all the sleep inducers in my biological system. Lazily, I performed all the morning rituals and got ready in the nick of time. I put on my bag packed with a set of clothes and my camera and put my wallet were it belonged and set off like the great Marco Polo on a travel adventure. I checked the time and it was around 4 am. I dropped a message to my friends whom I was supposed to meet at Bandra station. I stepped out of my building gates enthusiastically and I saw a half packed BEST bus go past me. Yeah all the Marco Polo feeling oozed out!

Reaching the bustop I hired an auto-rickshaw to take me to Andheri station. Since it was before 5am in the morning, the driver charged me under the midnight plan and it cost me a bomb to reach my destination. Proceeding towards the booking counter I observed that there were a lot more people than I expected there to be. Even the train I took to Bandra was almost occupied and it was just 4.30 in the morning! Well the say it right… Mumbai – The city that never sleeps!

I gave a call to Mohammed after an earlier failed attempt. He picked up the call fresh from sleep and sounded like a drunkard. He was the one expected to arrive late and I was sure he was going to stand true to our expectations this time too! I reached Bandra and emerged out of the station premises. Paper vendors were busy beginning their day. Loads of newspapers with that ‘just off the machine’ smell arrived in packages and they sorted it out like trained robots. I got myself a copy of my newspaper and in no time Mukul, Mahendra and Mohammed arrived and we started of to CST. We were accompanied by some other of our friends on our short journey. Unain and Amina were coming together and Neha was with Suchandra Ma’am.

All the students surprisingly arrived on time except Vivek who cancelled the trip sighting a headache. Mohammed was the chief ‘ticket obtainer’ and he rushed to the windows atleast thrice to get new tickets for the new arrivals, everytime arousing the attention of the onlookers. All the faculty members where present unlike Rajasthan where Vibha ma’am abstained from coming.

All arrived and the tickets acquired, we embarked on the 6.45 am Karjat local and sat in a peaceful corner confined to our very own group far away from the notoriously noisy First Years. It was a hour and a half long journey and like any other one of its kind, it began with a bang; all making fun of each other and pulling each others legs. Half hour into the journey, Mukul slipped into his pensive moods, Unain immersed herself in her earphones, Mohammed was perhaps thinking of some new poems to write, Amina chatting with Neha; and Mahendra was you know what! Sitting in the corner, I was patiently reading the newspaper (nothing gives me more joy than doing that on a morning!) with the winds blowing along my face.

After what seemed like an eternity, Neral arrived and we all got off the train. It was very cold for 8.30 in the morning. It was perhaps around 18-19^o C and that was not an ordinary Mumbaikar experiences. The Saguna Baug was a good 5km away from the station. The girls were stuffed into a minibus and they set off. The boys got to travel in or on (whatever preposition you want to use!) a tempo completely open furnished with metal benches at the sides. The rest had to stand and it was bad considering the pathetic road conditions. It instantly reminded us of the Tiger safari in Ranthambore!

Saguna baug was perhaps an ordinary piece of land which was converted into useful areas of agriculture, animal husbandry, pisciculture and other such accompanying activities. They made a fortune by showing around people all their work and explaining it to them. After a good breakfast of missal pav we were divided into groups and taken around the area on a study tour. Our guides were your usual village guys; not fluent in English and Hindi but profound in knowledge of what they do. He was able to explain us well even though Vijender sir interrupted him frequently to share his knowledge.  We were shown around white onion fields, rice fields, medicinal plants, plants with historical and geographical significances etc. There were other things of our interest like the vermiculture pits. No one was listening to what the guide had to say. All were interested in sighting those wriggling creatures who we knew were under those pits. The biogas plant was another very interesting venue. When Vijender sir informed us that a city as huge as Hannover got 30% of its fuel expenses from a biogas plant system, I was just amazed! If a city like Hannover could do it, Mumbai could accomplish it too in a very short time! Afterall we have no shortage of faecal matter do we?! After some one hour of walking we reached a spot where we were offered fresh lemonade and it indeed was really tasty and soothing considering the scorching heat.

What followed was some display of dragnet fishing. An artificially created pond was were the fishes and turtles were grown. After all the groups had gathered at the spot, all the guides got into the water and literally dragged the fish net on to the coast. People were cheering at every fish that was jumping up and down valiantly to escape from the nets. The guides caught the still writhing fishes and turtles and went about showing it to the people assembled over there. All were clicking pictures of those poor things. Some morons even asked the guide to hold turtle upside down to which the guide happily obliged. Its one thing when you hunt and kill animals too eat on them and a totally another thing to just shove them around for mere entertainment. This part for me was cheap and sadistic! Our group along with sir moved away from this mess and found solace in the hammock swings which were tied below the serene shades of the huge trees that stood there. Occasionally we could see stallions being rode by what seemed like expert jockeys. Being a Rajput, sir had obviously received training in horse riding and he was discussing the subtle nuances involved in handling an aggressive stallion.

After some time we were asked to change ourselves to get into the river! And that’s exactly what we had come for. The river was our main temptation to get to this place. Even though I was a little tentative initially in getting into the waters because of a soaring headache, I couldn’t handle myself and got ready at the last moment! When we reached the river banks, we saw people were already there enjoying themselves. Unain was busy clicking pictures while Neha and Amina were just wetting their feet. We directly went in without wasting much time. Mukul new swimming among us so he swimmed like he was Michael Phelps and we stayed put in one place for some time. Girls like always were shy getting into the water understandably and that’s when I hear things from a certain girl’s mouth which was outright disgusting. We moved away further into the river and spent about an hour and a half to doing all sorts of things you can do except swimming! There was this water buffalo ride which again fell into the category I mentioned above – cheap and sadistic. Akshay, the image of a macho man on land, stood stiff like a kitten when he entered the water. Mohammed was busy wooing someone who spat venom on his face; the wounds of which he is nursing till now! I was happy in my own way though I wished someone had entered the river with us!

After two hours of quality water time we headed back for lunch which was good though not excellent. We spent the rest of the time playing lawn tennis (not exactly) and then lazying on the hammock swings, gazing at the sky above us and almost falling into deep sleep. It was time to pack our belongings and rush home and I didn’t want to get out of these ultra comfy swings! Lazily, we changed ourselves hurriedly and headed onto the same open tempo waiting for us. We reached Neral station and waited for the train headed to Karjat.

The plan was to occupy the train seats as it would return back to its journey towards CST. Well, the train arrived and all started crowding the doors. And before all could climb, the train left. I looked around and was pretty much surprised when I saw the people who missed out where all form our own group! It’s a headache to travel with girls in a train and its even worse when the girls whom you are travelling with rarely take to trains! Half the time was spent in calming one of them that everything was alright and that we would catch the same train when it returned. And so after much convincing we caught another train. The teachers were obviously scared and were frequently calling us to inquire about the situation. We got seats soon and seated ourselves comfortably. Cramps were setting in as I waited for my station to arrive. Me and Neha got off at Ghatkopar while the rest went on till Dadar. We reached out homes by 8 pm with some great memories. Trust me you can never describe fun and adventure as it happened in writing! Let alone in a paltry blog!

3...2...1...HELIX!!!!!

Well, the last year our then Second Years organized a wonderful annual intercollegiate biotechnology festival – Helix. We the First Years provided the man power required on the day of the event. Me and my friends were even part of the Treasure Hunt event which attracted the biggest crowd. (An intercollegiate event without a treasure hunt is lame.)

Now, today its almost exactly a year since Helix 2011 and we are on the threshold of venturing into Helix 2012. Some where in between this one year, the baton of Helix had been passed onto us unofficially and imaginarily.  Back then, being just mere volunteers, we had no idea what it takes to organize an event as big as Helix with very limited number of students. We never thought our batch had the capability and resilience to pull of such a feat. But as the wise men said, “Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man”. Well, in this case, it is more women than men! My friends who didn’t even turn an eye accidentally towards Helix last year are the ones who are working as hard as the ploughing farmer, hoping to reap an excellent yield. Some are even holding the whole monopoly of Helix (even the main coordinators!)

Building upto the final days in the countdown, our beloved biotechnology lab resembles nothing less than a Dharavi warehouse. The usually slick and clean lab floors and tables are now messy and untidy. Chart papers from posters, ribbons, box boards for the props, sketch pens, pencils all lie on the floor like dead soldiers after a war. People work and move in a pace unknown to mankind! Almost as if the relative pace inside the laboratory is more than the outside world. Almost feels like Einstein’s theory of relativity can be tossed out of the window any time! Though in these final days I am sitting at home (I have a suspected case of leptospyrosis; by the time you read this I will know my condition) am not having a easy life either.  Since the Mumbai clouds unleashed a catastrophe three days back in the form of unexpected heavy showers,  I injured my leg wading through the waters. Nevertheless the water was no Holy thing and I got a swelling big enough to scare kids. Two days later, I started developing fever symptoms and my doctor advised me to undergo a test for leptospyrosis. As if I wasn’t scared to hear about this thing, my teacher at college told me he had a friend in school who died of this disease!

So I had to work from home and that was the auspicious time my computer crashed. So I had to shuttle between the internet café and home with the injured leg! So no one can say I sat at home and enjoyed while others slogged it out at the lab! Coming back to things at the lab, everything and everyone from different events are racing to finish all the preparations in time! Amina and Unain are the main coordinators as well as the pillar support of the Retroquest (Treasure Hunt). They spend their entire day shouting at the top of their voice explaining the First Years all the work they have to do. Besides they have to attend calls from participants who have their own fair share of doubts. They are also answerable to Sahir Sir (of course all are) regarding queries about the event’s progress. Both Sahir Sir and Vijender Sir make abrupt entries into the lab; sometimes with orders, sometimes with some or the other piece of information. They are the main coordinators of the event among the faculty members and have provided great leadership and support to us students.

Moving further, Mahendra and Mukul are the ones who did and are still doing most of the computer work. They are always busy in these end days; Mahendra with the T-shirts and Mukul with the banners. Besides they are also part of Retroquest so that means they make a mad scramble to get the event ready in time. The Scrab de crypté, which is a unique event and purely our own find is one event which is expected to garner great attention among the participants. It is a combination of Dumb charades and scrabble in the theme of biology. Our initial trials have assured us that this is one game the participants will take away with them when they leave! Creation of props for scrabble is a very hard thing and my team mates Nikhil, Hemani , Farheen and Saylee have worked very hard to accomplish it. Even the First Years did a wonderful job in making beautiful and creative posters.

Mohsin and me are very busy with the proceedings of the quiz competition. Especially since I am working from home, we are having a tough time communicating with each other. People belonging to Zooming Bandra- our photography event; have the least work to do. But even they are super busy with all the work that comes with the ending days! AD-here is another event of which Mohsin is again a part of! He and Neha along with the M.Sc students are preparing an excellent script for the skit and all are excited about that! Mohammed is the common factor in all the events. He is there wherever people need him (I mean shifting their work to him) and is seen roaming about the lab always. People involved in Pipette your Thoughts also have their hands full with all the other work. Besides all these, there is always some or the other work coming your way which you have to do. Things like designing coupons, taking minor printouts, being a mediator between students and teachers etc. are jobs all do at some or the other point of time.

All these hectic works mentioned above happen inside the four walls of the M.sc lab from morning 10 am to evening 5.30 pm between about fifty people. Imagine the chaos! Imagine excitement! Imagine the ecstasy! Imagine the anxiety of all the students and teachers working towards this one common goal – HELIX 2012! Ofcourse such dedication and hardwork never go unrewarded and we shall; God willing reap the benefits on the 8^th of September, 2012. We hope to succeed in providing a happy and fun time combined with great knowledge to all the participants! We hope to provide the participants with moments they can treasure for a long time in the future! We hope to make the participants leave with the intention of coming back the next year! We hope to finish with a successful and all achieving HELIX 2012!
The Countdown Begins!

Because they did it for you....

 It was the third day after my uncle's funeral at my native place in Kerala. All of my uncle's siblings (there were nine of then) were at home and had planned to be there for 10 days or so. There was melancholy everywhere. I remember the last time the whole huge family had gathered together was for the wedding of my uncle's son in the same house. That was about six months ago. But now after half a year we were back again mourning the death of a man who was dear and near to the people of the village. I was sitting outside on the porch with my brother and two other cousins, fiddling with two rabbits caged in the outhouse. They provided momentary and temporary deviation to our grief stricken minds.

I heard the gate open and an old man limped in with great gusto (you don't enter a house in Kerala without knocking at the gates). I wondered who this man could be. I had never seen him before nor did he resemble anyone in the house. So I could not conclude whether he was any distant relative of ours.

He sat in one of the chairs which was laid on the house front and started taking deep breaths. After calming himself down, he looked up at us and started calling out my aunt's name -'Hamida!, Hamida!'

We were obviously dumbstruck. Suddenly an old man comes out of nowhere and starts calling out my aunt with an unpolished, hard-line authority. My aunt came out from the kitchen. I could tell even she was taken aback by this abrupt entry. As she came closer, I noticed her facial expression change drastically and she clutched her face as if in utter disbelief and tears rolled down her cheeks. She stamerringly addressed him as 'Thangam Sir'. I realized then that this old man must have been an old teacher of hers. She signaled me to call out dad from inside. I went in and told him that an old man by the name of Thangam was waiting outside and that I thought he was an old teacher of his. My dad looked at me with a bee-stung face for a few seconds and fastly paced outside to the porch. He normally never emoted much like my aunt but now it was evident that even he too was surprised by this sudden arrival.

He immediately lent his hand to the old man and helped him climb those few steps to the couch at the porch. By this time my aunt had learned to take control over her expressive ways and had regained her composure. One by one, all my aunts and uncles embarked. Even my grandma welcomed him heartily. Here, I got a slight hint that the relationship this man had with my family transcended way beyond a simple teacher-pupil relationship. Perhaps the bonding was with the whole family.

Over the next one hour all of them sat and discussed and remembered the old days bit by bit. Some memories were good and nostalgic and others were grim and tragic. His narration reflected the many moods and times my dad's family underwent during his early days. We, the second generation of the family simply stood their in awe as we calculated the amount of depth that was present in the childhoods of our mothers and fathers!

Like the state of many other Muslim women in our country, even the women in our village were not allowed to pursue higher education. The same would have happened with my aunts if not for the staunch opposition that was raised by Thangam sir with my grandfather. On his advice and guidance, my aunts became the first Muslim women to join the polytechnic college in Amaravilla. 

The interaction continued and moved onto grim topics like poverty and the accompanying tough times. Well, I knew that my dad's family had a fluctuating financial status but what I learned from Thangam Sir's narration just blew my minds out. He narrated the incident from his perspective. I would shorten it and narrate it in second person.

My dad was around 15 at that time when this incident happened. Thangam Sir lived in the house opposite to my dad's house. It was late morning and cooking for the afternoon lunch was about to begin. My first aunt discovered that there was no rice at home and also no money to buy some. So she sent my dad to get it from the nearby ration store at loan like they were buying for quite some time now. Thangam Sir saw my dad move out of the house but never saw him return back. After about an hour, he went into the house and asked for dad. My aunt was in the kitchen and she confirmed Thangam sir's notion. He also observed that the utensils kept on the stove for cooking lunch lay idle for lack of ingredients. He immediately rushed out of the house and walked to the ration store only to find my dad sitting there under a tree with a sullen face. On inquiry he learnt that the shopkeeper had declined to give him rice on loan as they failed to repay the amount of the earlier ones. My dad, immature and at teenage at that time could not find the strength to face his sisters and mother with no rice and had dreaded the possibility of having to see them sad and in a state of self pity!

Thangam Sir finished the narration and everyone where in tears. I saw my dad's eyes go wet too. Though I had a lump in my throat I didn’t cry. Having said that, they cried because they had experienced it and memories were still fresh in their minds.

Thangam Sir looked at us and said, “You people are lucky. You will not experience the poverty and shortage your fathers and mothers experienced. Because they have experienced it for you. God is great. He sees everything and knows everything. And He will take you to high places." And Thangam Sir's statement was true in this case. Now, all of them are financially well off. Atleast none of them suffered from shortage of food, one of the basic needs of life!

'They Have Experienced It For You'... Golden words by a wise man. Though my religious credentials do not allow me to believe that phrase, but still those few words epitomize and signify the fact that life is full of hardships and you have to struggle and have faith in the Almighty so that He helps you to endure those hardships. It rightly projects the truth of life and propagated a ray of hope for all of us! After all they say, "Night is the Darkest before Dawn." Yes it is indeed!

As Thangam Sir walked away I looked at him and thanked him from my heart for making me practically realize such an important lesson in life!

The Heartbreak.....

 I was never like this before and my friends are testimony to that. I was just this normal college going guy who would mind his own business, scum around with his friends, watch Messi flick a goal over Casillas or Sachin screw up the bowlers and retire back to bed after each lazy day. But since the day I saw you, my world had turned upside down and I mean it.

That was a Wednesday when I noticed you among all the other girls. I don’t know, but I think it was the grace with which you filled your feminity or the serenity in your actions that injected a viral and desperate sense of tranquility in my mind. And I myself stand witness to the fact that not a day has gone past since then when I have not thought about you before going to sleep. Don’t think I am ranting like Shahrukh Khan in his usual romantic flicks, but when I close my eyes, the first thing that comes to my mind is your smiling face. And I had tried to get over that feeling initially by using many means but none of them worked. But I must admit, that unknown to me, the uncontrollable teenager in myself who was waiting for the slightest initializations to go astray and wander like a cursed soul, had started to love this amazing occurrence. How blessed is your face! Rosy cheeks, gleaming eyes with intensity and feminine determination, the most warming smile revealing what looks like a set of the worlds most shiny and silvery pearls, your voice is like a masterpiece of eloquently stitched symphonies that would put even the great Beethoven to shame. It gives me the strength to challenge the world’s most potent atheist who disbelieves in the sheer existence of God!

Sometimes my friends believe that I have metamorphosed into a pathological lunatic from a normally quiet and understandable individual. Of course I have revealed to them about your identity since I had the sole belief that this would not go out of bounds. That would surely be an unpardonable breach of confidence on their part.

Are you aware that my grades have started to stoop low and you are the only reason behind it? I come early everyday and stand besides the college gates hoping to meet you and take the walk to the classroom in your companionship. Each day I try to muster the courage needed for that priceless walk to eternity. But sadly my already mediocre confidence diminishes with every passing millisecond. So much so that I feel like a fool standing there expecting your timely arrival. I feel synonymous with the young child who thinks he can gulp up whole of the vast oceanic expanse in a mere tumbler. Sad and dejected I give up my try with a resolve to make it the next day. My experiments in the laboratory frequently go wrong. Thats because my gaze is fixed at your ethereal charm rather than the apparatus. Even though I cuss myself and bring back the concentration, my ever wandering eyes let me down.

I am oblivious to what the teacher preaches in the class as I steal glances to look at you without the knowledge of my friends or for that matter even you. Now since we have started talking to each other, every word that you speak and every smile that you emanate feels specially propagated towards me and only for me. There is elegance in your talk, hypnotism in your smile and an sense of mysticism in your methods. It all made my imbecile mind believe that you reciprocate my feelings the same way I do. Thats the fault of my logic starved brain which believes that a movement in any direction is a sign of progress. How insane!  I have gone so mad for you that I can’t bear to see you talk to any one, even for the most professional reasons. But having said that these are the moments which make realize the hard truth of the misery I am facing. It comes as a slap to my face as I realize that I mean nothing to you, that you probably even don’t have the slightest clue that you have made life a living hell for me. This whole love thing is crumbling up my insides and with great pain I have declared to myself that I want you to pass out of my life just as a mere tree in the long road through the journey of life.
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Its been eight months of infatuation trauma for me. I still remember the day when I discovered that you were in a relationship with someone. Whoever he is, I have all the belief that he is the luckiest guy on this planet. That day, enduring great scars to my heart I threw out all thoughts about you into the darkest corner of my mind from where I hoped your memories would never be retrievable. Invariably out of the blues a famous poem by Miguel Otero Silva echoed in my ears.

"I heard her feet walk away from me
 And sensed dusk in my face
 My heart swaying between her and the street,
 I dont know from where I found the strength
 to free myself from her eyes
 to slip from her arms
 I walked, crying through rain and glass
 clouded with grief and tears
 To the loneliness that awaited me."

The Rajasthan Express.......

So as I had mentioned earlier,  we the students of R.D.National College performed a   5 day excursion to Rajasthan, more precisely  to Jaipur and Ranthambore. Well I didn’t find any taste in the idea of describing a 5 day long event in a limited issue like a blog. But still some people wanted me to write it up though I am pretty confident that you won’t find it interesting at all. On my defence I warn you that this is like a documentary. Don’t blame me if you people don’t like it!!

THE FIRST DAY: We were asked to be present at the main reservation counter of Mumbai Central railway station at 5 pm sharp to board the Mumbai-Jaipur Superfast train at 6.30 pm. I was the second one to reach the spot preceded by Nandita. Others flowed in with the passing time. All of them especially girls were accompanied by their parents. Almost all students arrived on time and checked themselves against the name sheet. Ofcourse there were those eternal ‘laters’ like Hafsa and Vivek, but they weren’t late enough to miss the train. After ensuring that all the students had arrived we went on to the platform and boarded our train. We were 39 in total and were dispersed among 9 compartments- from S1 to S9. My friends were all in the adjacent compartments and I had only Vijendra Sir and some Second Years for company. After ensuring everyone had settled down Vijendra sir relayed between the bogies to make sure all were as close as possible. Even I helped him to some extent. As night fell and people started going to sleep, we were all still awake and well. The idea of sleep seemed like absolute absurdity to all of us. Sir was with Mohsin and group and they ofcourse had a great time. Me and Mukul indulged in watching movies on Mahendra’s I-pod. So insomniac were we that we didn’t close our eyelids until 3 am. We did sleep for an hour for the sake of it though.

THE SECOND DAY: But when we woke up it was very cold. It was so cold that Mahendra snatched Jaya’s bed sheet and covered himself from head to toe and dozed of again. Me and Mukul covered ourselves in Saylee’s huge blanket and were chatting with Jaya. Our talks were repeatedly interrupted by Mahendra’s snoring which sounded  like a F-16 fighter waiting for take off. In the far horizon, orange strips tore across the blue sky marking the onset of dawn. After our body maintained some homeostasis we both got up and moved on to the other bogies to perform formal goodmornings on those who were awake (and to wake up those who were asleep!!!). By four thirty Ratnam Station arrived and we got down to free our body and experience some real cold. We bought some tea after the train started ( it sucked) and I lost my appetite. When Sawai Madhopur arrived we saw  hawkers selling some really big perus. They were so big that each of them could qualify as a medium sized coconut. Only three of them fitted in a 1 kg range. Our generous sir bought them for all of us. Even though it was bright outside we couldn’t afford to open the windows due to the cold wind. Rest of the journey was uneventful apart from the occasional shivering when someone opened the doors or windows. We reached Jaipur by 12.30 pm. We dragged our bags and loaded it onto the bus which was waiting for us. The bus sucked in the first look itself. We reached the hotel in 15 minutes. Vijendra sir instructed us to get ready in 1 hr time and have lunch after which we had to visit places like the Sisodiya garden and the Monkey valley and an ethnic  restaurant called  Chokhi Dhani. Our hotel was superb  and the food was mind-blowing given the skimpy budget to which it was squeezed in. After having lunch we all departed for Sisodiya Garden- a 300 year old garden built by a certain Raja to please his wife. The garden was huge and marvelous and superbly maintained and was peculiarly full of Cycas plants. Photography was not allowed but nobody gave a damn! Our stay was limited and we soon drove of to the Monkey valley. As the name suggested it was a  valley kind of  thing swarmed by monkeys which were used to the human attention. After spending some time there we went to the last spot for the day- Chokhi Dhani.
It was essentially an ethnic fun  place meant to present the cultural and traditional diversity of Rajasthan. There were things like folk dance, rabri,elephant rides, camel rides, puppet shows, magic shows, boat rides etc. All of them wasted there time on camel rides and missed out on other stuff. Except some of us ofcourse. It was time for food at last. We found it hard to get accustomed to the Rajasthani food but it was very healthy to say a compliment. We reached hotel by 12 in the night. We needed to get up early the next day but sleep came by hard and we wasted our time making calls to the girls through the intercom present in the hotel room.

THE THIRD DAY: As usual, the alarm was ringing on 3 of our phones and we four (Myself, Mukul Mahendra and Vivek) were encouraging each other to get up. We got up late and hurriedly got ready and ran down for the breakfast. Boys came on time. Girls were never expected to arrive on time. After all they had things like nails, hair, eyelashes, lips, face, nose, ears etc to account for.
After breakfast we set of for the Jalamahal; a palace in between a lake, the name of which I can’t recollect. The water was very polluted a few years back, hence a committee of which Vijendra sir was a part planted plants like Fragmitis austrelis  and Cesbania as part of Phytoremediation. We saw the Pargota of Jaipur; a miniature version of the China Wall which surrounded Jaipur. It was built for securing the territory during the rule of Rajputs. We then proceeded to the Amber fort. It was classy and beautifully built and showcased architecture which was not influenced by the Mughals. It took around 2 hrs to roam the whole palace. The Diwaan-e-khaas was my favourite; for its scenic beauty and the glassy gloss. Though it was a fort it resembled a palace due to its architectural style.
Next up was the Jaigarh fort which was visible from the Amber fort. Jaigarh fort was nowhere close to the architectural grandeur its companion down the hill possessed. Yet it was strategically more important and viable for artillery strikes. The main attractions were the fire arm museum and ofcourse the Jaivana- world’s largest cannon on wheels. It was a structure weighing 250 tons, made of eight metals, had a range of 35 km and needed 4 elephants to change its direction. Interestingly there was a pit dug behind the cannon which had earlier been filled with water . It was made for the man who would light the cannon so that he could jump into the water and escape the recoil impact! Enough time was wasted and so Nahargarh was cancelled and we all returned to the hotel for lunch. We then went to Jantar Mantar but could not make it in time. We were taken to the Jawaharlal Art Gallery and allowed a shopping time of 1 hr after which we took a walk into the art building. Beautiful indeed but I didn’t understand anything of it! That was up for the day and we all retired back to our hotel for dinner and yea..something called sleep- which was again wasted by making useless calls to girls.

THE FOURTH DAY: As usual hurried waking ups were followed by hurried baths and getting ready for the day. Today was going to be educational. Breakfast as by custom was great. 12 noon was the official checkout time. So we loaded our bags in the bus in the morning itself. We were first taken to an area of land consisting of 56 acres which was basically a bio-diesel project of which Vijendra sir was a part earlier. We learnt of plants like the Jatropha and Acacia tortalis. A project on 56 acres of land! My projects hardly cross 5 pages! We then went to a nature park exclusively botanical which hosted a large number of plants and trees which we use in our day to day life. Names were too scientific to be remembered and written here. There were also exotic plants from countries like Israel, Argentina, Spain, Peru etc. Lot of studies already though it was quite interesting. Especially when u get showered with knowledge by your faculty. Again due to lack of time we cancelled more engrossing ventures like a Bio-gas plant and a Water treatment plant. We went straight to the Central Park- which if I am not wrong is the largest public park in India. It had a 10 km long track! The high point is that it has India’s tallest national flag at a height of 207 ft with a flag which is 78 ft long and 48 ft wide. Huge indeed. After heading back to the hotel and having lunch we proceeded to Sawai Madhopur or precisely Ranthambore. It was a 4 hr long journey which was further added to 6 hrs thanks to our driver who lost his way and then to 8 hrs due to the catastrophic road and some unfortunate events which need a special mention later. We reached by 12 am. Ranthambore was even more cooler than Jaipur All of them were shivering from head to toe. Tempertaures hovered around 5-6 C. We arranged our bags and had dinner in the new hotel and dozed off. We had to depart at 7 am for the safari. All of us set alarms on our phones and went to sleep hoping we will get up early.

THE FIFTH DAY: Again we woke up late at 6.30 am. Bathing was not an option thanks to the blistering cold.We finished the toiletries and went out for the safari. Coffee and tea were served which was a temperory relief. Me and Mukul ran around the hotel to generate heat and also did push-ups but to little relief. It was time for the safari. We were divided in two batches; each one in an open air van(colldd!!). We were lucky to have Sir sitting besides us. He gave regular inputs and seemed to know more than the guide himself. We were unlucky to spot the tiger but we did see his pug marks. We spotted the sloth bear which is a singularity in itself. Jackals, Nilgais, Mongooses, Sambar deer, Spotted deer and the Tree Pie were the main attractions. We returned back all thrilled and elevated and had our breakfast. After that there was a gap of about 4 hrs during which we had lunch and did some shopping. Then we departed for the Hammir fort. The driver of our bus; Mr.Rahis Alam was a Sanctuary Award recipient- One of India’s most prestigious awards- for maximum number of tiger spottings! His eyes were so trained that he could see and identify all the birds perched on any damn tree; all this while driving. We also had hopes of seeing a tiger when people coming out said they spotted one. But the necessity to go to the fort ruined it. We tried when we returned but to no avail. We got an insight into Mr.Alam’s capability when while returning( it was around 7pm and dark) he spotted an owl which was on top of a tree which was on top of a considerably high hillock. We were seriously amazed. Suchandra Mam was all jaws on the floor! We returned back with complete excitement. The thrill of a safari never dies! After some time we had dinner at around 9.30pm and then there was the camp fire. A group of tribal people performed the Rajasthani folk dance and there was also some brilliant fire show performance by the dancer. The dancer also encouraged others to join him and many burst into impromptu dances. Almost all of the students joined him. I didn't. Dance was never my thing. I have never danced even in the bathroom! The camp fire dance was like a farewell gift that Rajasthan gave us. It was really the curtain closer. After some time we departed for Sawai Madhopur station to get back to Mumbai. There was this unhappy feeling about this journey coming to an end especially thinking about the time we spent with sir. All of them developed an instant bond with Vijendra sir. He came out as a superb entertainer and was a like a father figure to the students.; caring for them at all moments and even picking up fights for them with bad  men in the train. A special thanks to him.
The Train arrived at Bandra Terminus the next afternoon and we all parted ways with New Year wishes to all. A wonderful and treasurable journey had come to an end. I don’t know why but goodbyes to friends felt like farewell parties. All went their separate ways. I took the train to my home all the way thinking about this wonderful trip of ours!!!