Instant Karma : Feel Good factors...

16th of February, 2008

            It was a sunny Saturday morning, so cheerful as to coax even the laziest among people to wake up early, go for a walk and indulge in a workout. Even I couldn't act otherwise. At noon, I decided to go to the college Society to buy record books as we had to submit records on Monday...

            As I paid for the record books and left that place, the young, silent fellow with a lost expression who manages the place suddenly jumped to life! He said, "ಫ್ರೆಂಡ್.. ಸಕ್ಕತಾಗ್ ಕಾಣ್ತಾ ಇದ್ದೀರಾ ! ನಿಮ್ ಸ್ಟೈಲ್ ಗೆ ನಿಮ್ ಗೆಟ್ ಅಪ್ಉ ಪರ್ಫೆಕ್ಟ್ ಆಗಿದೆ... ಡೈಲಿ ಹಿಂಗೆ ಬನ್ನಿ ಕಾಲೇಜ್ ಗೆ.. " ("Friend, You are lookin' awesome! Your get up complements your style so well.. Come to college like this everyday!") 

            I was wearing heavy cargo pants with a body hugging white sleeveless, with my biceps, triceps in good shape. I was instantly happy. There was someone out there who openly and honestly complemented me for whatever I am and there are others who just can't wait to tear me down and claw at me. For the same reasons... :-)

           On some other day in the 5th semester, on the day before AMP 3rd internals, when the Prof. said that the portions for the test were the whole of bus interface part, I asked a fellow who went to coaching classes as to how the chapter was. He was regarded by guys as a topper or something to that effect. He asked if i go to XYZ coaching class. I replied in negative. He said its so tough that,"Scene-e-illa" (impossible) to read it in one day, and scoffed at me.

          Without realising it, I took that up as a challenge and studied hard. On the next day, I performed better than most people. Even Paddy, another topper, copied from me! No one among the guys knew all the topics that would be tested. I maxed it. I also got a 25/25 in every test I took.

          Now I know that the best thing that gives you a high in life is the well deserved praise for your accomplishments. It catalyzes your efforts like nothing else. Its the ultimate ecstacy, far more potent than Cocaine.

The MENTOS moment of my life !

            You might have laughed whenever you watched that Mentos Ad where that young college guy is thrown out of the class by his professor for coming late. But Ye he AAM Zindagi. And then he pops a mentos and walks back into the class, in a reverse manner, and the moment the professor sees him coming in, he pretends to be walking out of the class, and is asked to take his seat in the class! He gets the attention of the prized female of the class.. Ye he Mentos zindagi !


            I too had a similar experience, where, following the protocol would have screwed my grades. I did just the opposite and no one was any wiser about it ! I'l narrate it to you....


10th of December, 2007


           It was the lab exam for System Software, wherein we are tested to demonstrate our skills in the LEX and YACC programs dealing with lexical analysis of strings and the corresponding action concerning them. There were 6 programs in LEX and 7 in YACC and we had to pick 2 chits, one for each. This lab was supposed to be a simple one, because the programs we had to learn were very short. But among them, there was one particularly irritating program. It came under YACC and dealt with IF-ELSE looping constructs...


           I was thorough with all programs except that one. Even on the day before the exam when I called up my friends, I couldn't find a solution for it. You might ask me what I was doing during the regular lab classes when we practised the programs; I would say that we hardly bothered abt it ! Once inside the wonderful lab with new SOLARIS machines and a high speed 10Mbps internet connection, adorned by lazy, nondescript, careless lab attenders who hardly bothered about what we did there, we had loads of fun there !


            I had to take a decision.
Even in previous semesters, I had gone to the lab exams reading all the programs minus one or two, and had managed to comeout well. I had luck on my side. Talking in terms of Probability, the odds of me getting that very program were very small. Nothing could go wrong. Been there, done that I thought. But I had a vision or something of a disaster and I thought of a PLAN B, in case of a worst case scenario. I decided I would do what I thought I would, in case the worse came to worst.


            The D-day dawned and I entered the lab. Mine was 1st day 1st show. It has its pros and cons. Pros being that the equipment is fine tuned and is not tampered by the previous batch of students and you can be sure about your output. And the external examiner would be new to the lab and he wont know everyone there and incase he is a tyrant of some kind, he Cannot exercise his complete powers. The cons are that the ppl coming in the next batch will already know the viva-voce questions [ which we had no sources of knowing ] and are likely to answer better, in case they know the right answers !
The external examiner was a placid old man, pretty happy sitting there and letting our profs do all the work.


            I picked up two chits. I invoked Ajji-Punya [ i'm not going to reveal the secret details.... it always works ! ] and sent a silent prayer heavenwards. The lex program was a simple one. I was saved I thought. Then I picked the Yacc chit. I was shocked. It was that program. I was doomed.
I had second-thoughts about returning the chit, picking another one , and losing 10 marks out of 50 just like that. But then, with steely resolve I decided to do what I thought I would, in the worst case scenario. I never thought I would have to do it, but the time had come. The MENTOS moment of my life. It was either AAR ya PAAR. Do or Die.

And I did it.



here's what i did- -


            When you pick the chit, the examiner writes down the program no. on your answer booklet. So there is no way one can change the number of the program one has got. But I had observed that once they write the program no. on our booklet, and we submit our written programs for their scrutiny, they never verify if the program on the booklet was same as that asked in the question. They just sign whatever we write provided its right and send us to execute it on the PC.

I decided to exploit this loop-hole.


            I coolly went over to my desk, and wrote down the lex program and after that, wrote a yacc program which  I knew  instead of that damned program. Even as I was doing so, I saw some of my friends get that damned program, and lose 10 marks after getting it changed. It was too late to backout. I handed my booklet to the examiner. The old man religiously looked out for mistakes in it.
There were none.

He scanned the paper once. But nothing happened. As I said, no one ever knew about it ! It was a calculated risk.


I won.

What I say about life is that, the possibilty of making your wildest dreams and thoughts come true makes life interesting and worth the time spent... !






WARNING: DO NOT try this at your College !! 
[ rather , dont get busted doing this :-) ]

Choushen & Ushen

           The material available to a writer in India is limitless. Endless variations are possible on the account of inherited cultures; every individual differs from every other individual not only economically, but also in habits, outlook and day-to-day philosophy. Under such conditions, a writer has to only look out of his window to pickup a character... and thereby a story! I start my blog by dedicating the first post to a girl- Ushen, about whom I wrote looking outside my bedroom window.

~~*~~

Prologue
1st of October, 2007

            It was time to attend the 1:30 UNIX class. As I set out from home and passed by her place of dwelling, I saw it was gone. Razed to the ground. The walls were originally brick red, which was hard to tell as it was all rubble now. For a moment that lasted like many years, I stood there, unable to believe my eyes.

Bare Beginnings

            I remember them staying there from the August of 2006. Our first contact was an interesting one. I remember how ecstatic I had been that day, when I laid my hands on my brand new red-bodied Discover-125. It was 10 o'clock that night when I took my bike for a spin much against my Dad's advice to wait for daylight. The ride was a thrilling one. But, a mongrel pup suddenly appeared out of nowhere and I had to slam the brakes as the pup was about to go under the wheel. I fell down from my new bike in front of their abode. I was bruised and my brand new bike got dented after the very first time I rode it. Her father, who saw what happened came outside running and helped me up. I yelled at the mongrel, who put his tail between his legs and whimpered into the darkness.

That was when I saw Ushen, hiding behind her door and peeping at the bizarre incident with an expression of shock in her innocent round eyes...

          Ushen, a 9 yr old girl, was the eldest among the 4 kids of the Watchman of a house under construction in our neighbourhood. She was the ultimate caring creature for her siblings, always keeping her sisters and kid brother amused when her parents were out for work; or even otherwise. She had a long braid and wore some dress which looked like a Salwar Kameez several sizes short. She always held her infant brother Choushen on her waist and walked around, even (until recently) when he was all heavy and walking! They lived in a temporary shack made of red brick walls plastered with mud, covered with an Asbestos roof. Though it looked desolate on the outside, they kept it spotlessly clean inside.

             Choushen was the youngest, and also the only male child. He was a cute and cuddly infant, and quite fair, unlike his parents whose complexion was of a darker shade. I saw him being pampered all the time by all his sisters and his parents. He always wore nice and colourful woolen clothes, a beautiful monkey cap and shoes which made a whooshing sound when pressed on the ground, while his sisters wore ragged and used clothes with no footware to spare. Could it be that Choushen got pampered so much just because he was a male child? Or was it because he was the youngest? I couldn't tell. I would spend hours at my room window looking at them walk around on the street in front of my house and play their childish games.

            The second one, a clever and business minded girl aged 6 or 7 had a very cunning attitude, always wanting a bigger and better share of anything that they were meant to share equally. She was always hatching some shrewd schemes, nothing evil though! She attended a state run school nearby. The third one was a small girl aged about 3, not cared for enough by her parents, unlike her baby brother. They spoke beautiful Urdu.

The Gift

          At first, I hardly looked at them. Then, I was on good terms with them. Soon, I was asking them to help me clean the garden, handsomely rewarding them afterwards. One day, when I asked her what she would do with the money I gave her, she said, "I'll buy note-books for myself". I was moved.

         Any other kid would've immediately spent the cash on candy and goodies, but not her. I liked her attitude so much that I gave her some of the most prized possessions of my childhood; Special toys I was very attached to, my school bag which I discontinued using just because I wanted a new one, several drawing books and lots of stationery, crayons, sketch pens and drawing material. And of course, my attention and friendship. Then on, I saw a glowing shine of admiration in their eyes whenever I met them.

Will I Make it?

           During the time when my semester exams were going on, She came with a sad, desolate look and told me that they would be leaving on that Sunday. The owners of the newly built house were moving in, and they no longer needed the Watchman. I sensed the gravity of the matter and started mobilizing whatever resources I could manage. I even thought of photographing them and giving them the prints.

But the Sunday came and they were still there.

          The post-exam vacations came, and I became complacent. They were an assured addition to my environment. I couldn't imagine them going away and took their presence for granted. I felt they were permanent. They were always a constant source of Joy to me throughout their time here. But before I could realise, they left.

One Year Later..

             Now, I feel a strange emptiness inside me. Rhetorical questions swarm my mind. Who is going to play around my house all evening, late into the night and create those beautiful noise they made when they frolicked? I can't accept the fact that they are gone and I hope to see them one day...

             I had great plans for them. Alas; I learnt an important lesson in life and I want to share it with all the people who have a helping hand and a philanthropic bent of mind - -

" If ever you want to do a good turn in Life,

DON'T WAIT FOR TOMORROW.. "