Nihar Ashish - A chronicle...

This being my first personal page, I was really dithery of what to start with. I guess, me being a Gemini (twin personality), has something to do with it. Anyways, I thought what better than to start off with myself. So, here goes the story so far.

The Early days - Pure puerility

Nihar - Quite a unique name (going by the compliments that I get for the same), means "The morning's dew" which is known for its purity. I really can't comment on the aptness of the title but am sure that I'm proud to have it & thank my parents for chosing this one for me.

Born to a middle class family (Which went on to become an upper-middle class in the due years), my initial years were just the same as any other guy. I am told that I started attending school before I turned 3 (So I could pardon myself for wetting my pants twice on the long ride back home after school). I am also told that I was an ardent fan of Mr. Bachchan (I still am). One peculiar incident was when I stepped over a pebble and fell on the road, the eyes brimmed with tears, but pat came a song, straight from the heart - Accident ho gaya rabba rabba. For one - it goes to show the ability of a 3 yr. old to find the lighter side under adverse conditions. But more importantly, it reflects the effect of movies on immature minds. The only other few things that I could remember of those times are that I used to travel a long route to my school (This bit hasn't changed till date, I still do the same, the only difference being - its called office now). I also remeber that I was very assertive - I liked a particular brand (Mr. Pop if I'm correct) of chocolate lollipops but I always insisted on getting the one that's perfect round in shape else I never thought twice before spurning it (Even if that meant not having it al all).

Boarding Experience - A must, in my recommendations

Due to dad's frequent transfers, I was sent to boarding in Std. 7th and this is where the ball started rolling. The initial years in boarding were one helluva experience. We (3 of us joined together from the same place) used to cry every alternate day. And not that it was unjustified. There were reasons galore. From pathetic food to dirty toilets, from regular caning by seniors to the hostile classmates, everything was very different from the comfort of our homes. But this was the transition period which had lots in store for us. Slowly & unsteadily, we began to GROW. Not just in physique but in understanding, intellect, stature an most importantly - pragmatism (This may sound a fancy word here but believe me, I've learnt it the hard way). Slowly, we started making friends, & getting involved with them in the thick n thin of their lives. Not to mention it was always mutual. Gradually, we began taking interest in the activities. Food started tasting better, we learnt how to shit over shit n manage with the least amout of water. We also learnt the tricks to escape caning or at least how to reduce its effect. The food pipe experienced vegetables it had never seen before and later suffered the self cooked concoctions which, to put simply, were out-of-the-world stuff.

Coming back to pragmatism, we learnt to be 'real'. We learnt only (and only) the 'practical' aspects of the world. When we used to eat, quality failed to matter. All that mattered was the quantity that you can ram in. When we used to study for the exams, the focus was never on learning, it was on scoring more & more marks. When we played cricket, it was not about playing the short better/perfectly, it was always about making as many runs as you can. I am not preaching here that its the correct methodology, it was just our way of doing things (Which, sadly enough, has not changed much, till date). This also explains the title of this post :-).

Besides being a boarding school, it was also a "Boys's" school, which makes the subject more interesting. Recently, I saw a movie called RockFord and what more can I quote than this - "I see myself being portrayed as the lead protagonist in the movie". Nagesh Kukunoor has hit the bulls eye in the way he has portrayed the growth of the character. Also, it contains all the elements of an all-boys boarding school. Be it the attraction towards the junior lady teachers, the bullying classmate turning buddy, girls in the 'sister concern' or learning about the birds & the bees, its exactly the same as the portrayal.

Another realization was - A feeling of certitude. This feeling started gripping me once I started doing well in the academic front. And after I topped the charts in the pre-boards, I started dreaming about my name being the next in the "Founder's Medalists" list. And not to mention, it eventually taught me a lesson which I wont forget in my life time. In the final merit lists after the board exams, I was placed 9th. It was a moment of shock for me, the only consolation was that my closest buddy - Hemant, stood 2nd. I'm glad that this happened to me early in my life and since then, my feet have never (& most probably will never) leave the ground.

From what I still consider as my most memorable days, it was a time to grow up. Though the basic nature never changed. The timid lad could never become a bully, but what was satisfying was that henceforth he could never be intimidated. We finished our boards and bade a tearful farewell to each other. I forgot to tell you, the two others that joined with me, dropped out of boarding within the first 2 yrs. I'm sure they must be having their own reasons but I see it as a lack of living up to the challenge that life had offered them so early in their age.

Adolescence - Increasing the cognizance

In the boarding days, we realised a couple of things (I still stand by the second one). Firstly, our growth/exposure to the real world was limited because of the environs that we were situated (Ranchi - A part of Bihar in those days, wasn't really a metropolis, and that left us yearning for more exposure). Secondly, we decided, in order to be successful, one has to be 'different'. I told Dad that I wanted to continue my further studies outside Bihar. Experient as always, he smiled, and offered something which was in the same lines of Anupam Kher in DDLJ. Just as Kher asks his spoilt brat - Jaa aur mere hisse ki zindagi ji ke aa, Dad asked me to travel places and get the hang of things out there. I was sure feeling like a Shahrukh, the only difference between that father-son duo and us was that we didn't had a O koki O lola kinda cheer :-). The destination was pre-decided. It was Delhi - The capital city.

If one was lonesome, two were always a company. Accompanying me in my trip, was my closest buddy from school days - Hemant. Quite similar to me in terms of the attitude & opinion about life. So we went ahead on a 15 day all-expense-paid trip (Thanks to our parents). I can write a book about the experiences in that trip. From girls-for-entertainment being offered in the hotel to falling down from a running bus, from being literally shooed away from DPS RK Puram to getting selected in DPS Mathura road, from 25p per glass water vendors under the sun to hot kababs with rumali rotis under the moon we had a diverse experience. Nice that we had seen all these @ 16, which unarguably helped us in becoming the kind of people we are today. The outcome of the tour was - we realized all that glitters is not gold and thought of settling down into our very own local DAV's & DPS's. Laut ke buddhu ghar ko aaye can be the other way of looking into things but both of us still maintain that we enjoyed that trip more than any other trip till date.

Boyz II Men

As they say, the show must go on, so be it. I joined the most reputed High School in the state for my +2. The justification of the above statement can be the fact that despite getting 89.6 % marks in my boards, I got a seat in the 'Afternoon Shift' and that too after a 2 week apprehensive wait in the 'Waiting Lists' of the final selection. Life in +2 was monotonous though the good part was that I met some of the most intellectual people in that region of earth. Apart from that, I also experienced my first crush. Divya Sinha was the name of the lady & Divya if you're reading this, I can walk away from my baraat if you're ready to marry me. Saying this, all I ever talked to this lady was twice & a friendship card was the only exchange between us (Who counts the looks :-) ?). I guess I have already mentioned the only interesting moments in those two years. So live pushes on. I earned a decent 79% in high school & entered the big bad world of professionalism.

After a 3 month short stint in Delhi, I landed in an unheard of place called Tumkur. It's 70 odd kms. away from Bangalore and I could never have realised the importance of this distance had I not spent 4 precious years here. The 70 kms. renders the township to be quite in contrast to Bangalore. The only happening place here was our college (The Boys' hostel - to be more specific). SIT (Siddaganga Institute of Technology) is considered to be one of the best engineering colleges in Karnataka 'outside Bangalore'. this was the single important reason why all of our parents chose this college. The initial year was the same as in any other engg. college where we went through our share of raggings. I enjoyed it but guess that was not the opinion of others (who'd been out of home for the first time). Perhaps that was the reason for me being a favourite amongst my seniors. We got used to wearing formals as it was the dress code during the ragging period.

Our first encounter with 'South India' has its own share of botherations and pleasings. What we appreciated was the warmth and innocence of the local folks (I'd been a witness to how the North Indians used to treat the Southies in their campuses, but this was not the case to be, over here) and what we detested was the food. Curries never tasted close, Littis, Dhoklas & Lassis were unheard of, Non-Veg was a strict no-no & noone was aware of an excellent milk product called Paneer. Anyways, guess cribbing about food is a part of bachelor life (this is one of the many reasons for me to want to marry soon). Years kept passing, we got used to the daily routine of classes, assignments, labs & exams. The so-called 'beatiues' in the campus failed to gather even the slightest of attraction from us. Inter association fights, gossips, occasional Cricket matches, late night TT games, trips to Bangalore & rouds of local theatres were the events that kept us busy. From freshers, to sophomores to seniors, we underwent a smooth transition from raw high school pass outs to being Techies. Throughout this while we cursed & imprecated about the campus & the town but all of us agree that 'Those were the days'.

Within no time, came 5th semester and companies started flooding in the campus. All of us got our offers within a matter of a few months. Life changed after placement. Classes began to lose importance (Not that much importance was associated with them anyways !), the attendance graph was on a descent, we began to lose track of the exam dates (and missed a few in turn), babes in the campus started looking appealing & juniors started bothering us for 'hot tips'. All of us lived life king size in the final year (As if there was no tomorrow). Then came the time to depart. Somehow, people were not emotional at all (Unlike the ones in boarding school). Remember - pragmatism, we all had perfected it.  A few contact nos. & addresses were exchanged, but all in all it was very casual. Probably most of us getting placed in Bangalore and nearby places had something to do with it, for we always knew that we're going to come back & remain in touch.

Beginning of a new era - The Corporate life

All of us went home after completing the degree and enjoyed the next month. It was a long & deserving break after an exile called 'Engineering'. Most of us joined within the next month into our respective companies. Around 40 odd (From the 55 selected initially) joined Infy Mysore on 9th August, 2004. A date which marked the beginning of a new epoch. Being in a campus like Infosys Mysore is a feeling which just cannot be described in words so I'm not going to trouble myself too much with it. Just the fact that its the second biggest Corporate Campus after Microsoft, tells everything about it. In the first 10 days, we were made to stay outside the campus. It was a deluxe hotel & we were treated like kings. Rides to the campus were the most entertaining (read - Crazy) experiences. Imagine 30 intellectuals in a bus - what follows next can only be experienced. The All-Boys' environment made it a deadly atmosphere for discussing fresh crushes, pulling each other's legs & satirical mockeries. Though the best thing was - Everything was exchanged in a positive note.

After the initial period, we shifted into the campus. Everything in here was bigger & better than the 'Deluxe Hotels'. It was a true 5 * treatment. Then started the detested classroom sessions. It was more like the 9th semester (Continuing engineering). The only new experience was - Having a monitor in front of us while attending the lectures. Soon, most of us were busy breaking new records in 'Copter' or trying our wits in a gueess-the-movie kinda game (This means I don't remember the actual name-of-the-game),while the lecture was on. Naturally, it meant that we'd to work extra hard to make up to it, but as always - WHO CARES :-) We had exams every 3rd day (Which also meant - We partied every 3rd night :-) ). At the end of the session, it was back to burning the midnight oils. We had to slog out our asses to pass the finals. But as usual - We did it.

After 3 months of paid-vacation (This was the preferred name for Infy-Training amongst us), we all headed towards our postings. Most of us, to our surprise and delight, were posted in Bangalore itself. While it's the best possible city to live in, there're umpteen hassles involved in looking for a house for rent. The places which seem ideal to live in (Keeping the proximity from the office in mind) are the ones which're the most peopled. Moreover, the 10 months advance is an incumbrance in itself.