The TimePass of India

6:30 a.m. in the morning…The waiter knocks our door,I open the door(as usual…since Deepak,Chetan and Umesh used to sleep ghoda bech ke!) “Tea for you sir!”..Actually it is one damn good excuse to knock at someones door early in the morn and make sure he is alive and kickin(kickin the waiter in this case…)
Next followed the bathroom brawls…I won almost everytime.Along with the 4 guys in our room,Navin and Kunal too used to use our Bathrooms,with Hiren thrown in for good measure!Navin and Kunal were helpless coz,Siddhant took over 137 mins to get ready(statistics courtesy:navin)
I wondered how the girls managed?There were about 5 girls in one room!
Enough of Bathroom statistics…How about some sight-seeing…We visited the fort which was in the heart of the city…Actually there was an entire city inside the heart of the fort…We also saw the jain temple,the patwah haveli etc.
The best part was when we visited the Sand dunes in the evening…After having our nuts squashed in the camel ride,it was time for Gravity…And as most of us experienced,sand mein gravity deneka alag hi maza hai!
Also the biggest gravity in the history of SPCE happened here!I mean Navin’s gravity…About 20 guys(or was it 21?)decided to take on Navin!
Yeah 20 vs 1…Navin still managed to keep them away for about 35 mins…I pity Rajeev’s planning skills(Rajeev planned this one)…Rajeev,man you should learn from me how to give Navin gravity…The other night Chetan and me(just 2 guys) gave Navin the gravity of his life…Its another story tht we got gravity from him too…cant help if this is making Navin sound like a Hero(what to do….the guy has a insatiable desire to fight back)…

Btw,after the gravity,the sunset and all,we got hungry,Helped ourselves to Sev puri made by the organisers(Vanraj travels…You Rock!)….

Imagine eating sevpuri under the maroon sky which would soon turn black!The only source of light being the stars and your mobile phones!(The explaination would have been easy,had I been a poet…but I am not,not even close,so bear with me)

Next day we set out for Jaisalmer…Umaid Bhavan was on the way.Its one of the most romantic places in India they say(who the heck are ‘they’?)…Btw,’they’ are damn correct…

Update: View the photo here

What we experinced on the way to Jaisalmer made the trip total paisa vasool…We were caught in a sand storm!!It was amazing…You couldnt even see the road…and if you put your hand outside the window,you would feel raindrops on your hand…I bet you thought it never rained in Rajasthan…not your mistake…its J P Dutta’s mistake,never did he show us any rain in his movies….Dutta-You Suck!

There was one more thing tht made the Trip paisa vasool…We had lunch at a Dhaba…The waiter would clean the table and within mins a new layer of sand would reappear on the table.I ingested 27 gms of sand(dont ask me how I measured it!) along with the food.Along with the food were Abhijit Deshpande’s brand of PJs(Parla Joke)..e.g.-”After lunch pls have some ‘desert‘(pointing to the sandy terrain)”..heh heh..
When we reached the Hotel(a 3-star),it was raining and it was cold…
The best part was tht there was a Swimming Pool there…cold weather not withstanding we jumped in with our Bermudas(no,not the country)and some of us like navin and bibin jumped in with their underwears(on).
To say tht the water was cold would be an understatement…The liquid in my statoreceptors(ears) frooze and I was unable to balance myself….I was so cold thtI had to spend the next two hours in the Blanket(actually two blankets) drinking tea and soup…
The least I can say is most of us were alive…Glad tht Deepak did not take the plunge,…we would have a lost a sincere student.
In the night,for a change,we slept…

We had to assemble at Bandra Terminus.
Our sir Prof.Bhiwapurkar and his wife accompanied us on the Trip.And if he thought it was going to be easy,he was mistaken…Within 10 mins of the journey,the first complaint reached him.There were passengers with us who did not like our way of giving GRAVITY…

Now what is GRAVITY? You are not a true SPCE student if u dont know this term..
For the uninitiated,GRAVITY is when a number of guys throw themselves on a single guy(who is assumed to be the centre of gravity!).Gravity can be given to anyone in the group(except the Prof.)

Back to the topic,these co-passengers didnot like this gravity concept of ours and they complained to the prof.
We had to sobre down a bit…spent time playing Blackjack,7 hearts and mendi kot(What is it called in English?)

Then it was pet pooja time…Kunal had brought some 25 parathas…Deepak had brought 10…They were finishe off in 25+10=35 mins.
In the night after we had crossed Ahmedabad,uniformed personnel entered the Train..It was a sensitive area,we were told..we were asked to roll out our beds and sleep…But boys will be boys,we didnt really pay much heed to their demands,kept talking all night.That night,I remember,Hitesh was really scared!I guess he thought Pakistanis would enter the train and we would be held as PoW…lol…
Hitesh Joshi was the local boy(Jaipur is his native)..He got very senti after reaching Jodhpur station…”4 saal baad aa raha hoon yahan”…

I guess my trip started on 8th,in my room where my sister gave a presentation(with laptop,projector etc.) on how to travel safe…
-Don’t take your hand out of the window of the train/bus/camel…
-Don’t talk to strangers on the train/bus/camel…
-Make a list of all your belongings…detailed list
-Don’t make fun of the Pakistanis at the border…They might shoot you…
-Make sure you don’t lose your footwear in the train…etc.etc.
-Buy stuff for me from every shop in Rajasthan…heres the list(actually she handed me a book)You dont buy the stuff yourself,ask Rucha and Supriya to help.(Rucha and Supriya are girls in my class)

F.Y.I. my sister is 16 yrs old…

My sis’ presentation was followed,my mom’s presentation,followed by my dad…
After all these wise words,I guess I was ready for my trip to Rajasthan…

Its been a loooong time since I posted…The reasons for this delay are
1.Our BE(mech) trip to Rajasthan from 9th to 16th of march.
2.My computer was in the ICU…it used to restart whenever it wanted to…!Even today,after a lot of dawa-daru(more of dawa and less of daru),its not in the best of shape…
3.The college network is down(like tht reliance ad..always down,never up!)
4.Happy days are over,with only 4 weeks of college to go,profs are trying hard tht we dont feel sorry tht college life is over.

Well now I am back…I hope..

“Sorry Sir,but the flight is full…”,the lady over the counter said.

“Comeeon ma’am!I have to get on that flight,all my friends are on that plane.Please ma’am you have to let me onboard.”I said.

I guess she was abit amused by an asian talking to her in an
British-Canadian accent.But she took pity on me and granted me a seat next to the toilet.These are probably the worst seats in the plane.You can actually hear the sound of the flush every time someone does the dew!

By the way,there was still sometime for the flight to take off.I engaged myself in looking at pretty girls boarding the plane.What else do you expect from an engineer(I did my mechanical engg from Univ. of Warwick,UK).

There was this really pretty airhostess who caught my eye.At the training centre where I was for the last 3 months,there were no girls.Even the cooks there were male!

Then a good looking (Punjabi,I guess) girl boarded the flight.She was dressed in a white salwar.Indian girls are extremely attractive,I thought.

She came to me and said,”I guess you are on my seat…”
I sure was.”I..I..am sorry”,I muttered as I tried to shift to the adjacent seat.

I have seen many testosterone driven guys who go crazy at the thought of a pretty girl occupying the adjacent seat.But mate,its not like she was dying to sit beside you.Its just that the Indian Airlines guys gave that seat to her!

I tried to strike a conversation with her.
“Hi! So you got the toilet seat too?You must have checked in really late?”,I said.
“Yeah!Actually my grandma took ill suddenly .So I have to meet her in New Delhi”
“Oh,so you are going to Delhi?”
“Obviously! Thats where the flight is going,right?!”,she said,giving me the ‘duh?’ look.
“Dont be so sure…”,I said.
She looked at me,half jokingly,half suspiciously.

I guess the height(33000 feet above sea level)was affecting the flow of blood to my brain.The last sentence that I said could have spoiled ‘The flight of the millenium‘.I was feeling giddy.I always feel giddy at heights.All this even after I got my CPL(Commercial Pilot’s License)just 4
months ago.
I got my CPL from Canada.The course requires 500 hrs of flying in 8 months.This was before I joined the Training Centre.

“Veg or Non-veg?”,the airhostess asked.(The same one who had caught my eye)

“Veg.”,I said.I guess I was too bored with the non-veg fare they served at the Training Centre.

“Are you alright?”,the girl who was seated beside me asked.I think her name was Trupti,because she had a pen on which the words TRUPTI were inscribed.

“Yeah,why?”I asked.

“You seem to be uncomfortable.Why are you looking at your watch all the time?”,she asked.

“You will know at 4:53!”,I said.

“What will happen at 4:53?”

“You will see!!”

Now it was her turn to be uncomfortable.

My casio sounded the alarm at 4:53.My Friends got up from their respective seats.Shahid(doctor) got up from 15B,Sunny Ahmed(Burger) from 5C,Mistri Ibrahim(Bhola) from 16C,Shakir(Shankar)from 12A and I got up from my seat at 28C.I removed the monkey cap from my pocket and put it on.I took out a knife from my sock and waved it in the air

“Stay calm! Everybody place your head between your knees…Your plane has been HIJACKED.Next stop-Kandhar!”

PS-
*The Training Centre that I was talking about is in Islamabad,Pakistan.
**I had acquired the CPL so that I could fly IC814 to Kandhar(just in case)….
**The names doctor,burger,Bhola,shankar were code words we used instead of names
***And yes, I forgot to add,my name is Ibrahim Akhtar(chief)