A Semester In IISC (6) - Crows' blessings

(It has nothing to do with the crow that we saved in the previous incident) Its very difficult to stay in IISc for 2 years and not have crow's droppings fall on you even once..

So the seniors started a legend, saying that the crows in IISc are professors from the past and the droppings are their blessings.. If it falls directly on your head, then the legend goes that you are likely to publish a paper..

One day aliyaar and me were coming back from dept to hostel.. aliyaar was behind me .. suddenly i head a noise and stopped my cycle and looked back.. aliyaar was in the gutter holding his cycle.. now, aliyaar is an expert when it comes to cycling.. he has somehow managed not to fall off..it looked as if he was driving in the gutter.. What happened was, aliyaar when he got on the cycle had a suspicion that there were dropping on his seat.. and the expert that he is, he stood up.. and looked down on to his seat, all the while driving the cycle.. and next moment realised that there was no dropping on his seat and that he was in the gutter...

amby has largely been blessed by the crows in IISc.. Whenever he takes his bike and goes out, crows somehow find a way to drop em on to his shirts.. he tried taking different routes, but some how they'll find a way to not miss him.. He's guaranteed to publish 3-4 papers atleast, probably one journal too..

I somehow managed to stay away from all this for 2-3 months.. but for the past one month, i have been getting dropped at, at the most unlikeliest of places.. like in the pathway to mess.. our starry road(coz at night if you look at the road, its like looking at the sky with stars shining so bright..) even in front of the main building (but i still believe it was a fruit.. though anzu made it a point to let all the guys passing us, when they were cleaning my hair, that it was a crow's dropping and there's nothing to worry.. )

There's also this story, i dunno if its true.. it was told to us by navneeth chettan.. There was this guy, a friend of navneeth, who was making fun of his friends by telling how the crows shit on them but never on him.. he was animatedly pointing it out by pointing his finger.. Now the crows being past professors, were so precise that they dropped it right on to the finger he was pointing.. (Could be true.. coz navneeth was taking "vratham" to go to sabarimala.. so he couldn't lie..)

A Semester In IISC (5) - Mission Impossible- The Crow Protocol

It was a saturday and as usual , i came to the discussion session but i was alone today.. none of the other came.. So i texted anjoor "its naveen today.. doing some excellent problems.." and he replied "naa.. not coming.." . So i sent "aliyaa.. i am alone.. nee vaa.. " and he replied.. "ok... coming.."..

So we sat through the discussion session and was out by 1pm. When we were leaving, we saw couple of seniors standing outside and looking up into the trees.. Obviously, we too looked to see what they were looking at.. (i had a fear, if it was a practical joke.. but it was not..).. There was crow trapped in the trees.. its wing got tangled in some thread and was trying its best to escape somehow...

Now, anjoor is an animal lover.. i didn't know that yet.. Now, i looked around, and honestly didn't think we could save the crow.. so i was insisting we should go for lunch.. finally anjoor agreed.. He decided to go have lunch and come back and try to save it.. and i knew that amby , anzu and safdar would all be up for an adventure like this.. so  when anjoor told them about this, they all agreed without a second thought.. seeing this me and nikri also decided to go, to see what'll happen.. by the time we reached the place, we were some 15- 20 guys, with amby, anjoor and safdar taking the lead..

A few tree climbs, later they decided, they need to cut the branch to save the crow.. anzu was controlling the traffic mean while..  in between amby went and brought a guy who works near our swimming pool.. He brought with him a long rod with a sickle like thing tied at the end.. half an hour's hard work later, they managed to set the crow free.. (there was us cutting the wrong branch, us realising that the thread was a plastic one, us fearing the branch would fall over the electric line and would earn us all suspensions.. ) ..

It just got me wondering.. what if anjoor was like me, and decided there was no hope for the crow??? what if amby and others didn't join the rescue mission? I just realised.. You should always try, even if you see no hope.. coz there might always be someone who would come for help, with a better idea than yours.. 

A Semester In IISC (4) - Emily Rose at 3 am

We have a small study group in IISc, with amby, anjooraan, aliyaar and nikri being the main stars.. We have certain routines which we do every week.. like movies every friday night, cycling every satuday night and dinner every sunday night..

It is one fine friday and, ambi and nikri are in tvm coz we got some 5 straight holidays.. Since i get too sad when i come back if i go home, and that it takes me around a week to get over it, i decided not to go.. It was anjooran who came up with the idea, i think.. he suggested we could watch a movie in aliyaar's room.. his roommate is currently in delhi having dropped out from IISc.. but that was something the hostel authorities are still unaware of.. so we had the room for ourselves.. now we have to decide which movie.. So i suggested "Exorcism of Emily Rose" .. its a nice horror thriller, which argues the spiritual side and the medical side of possession... There's a suggestion in the movie that 3 am is the hour of the devil.. being the exact opposite of 3 pm, when christ was said to be crucified...

From that day, we started the friday night movie routine.. .. and the 3 am joke series.. the story goes that anjoor woke up at 3 am that night to take a piss and seeing that time was 3 am, controlled the urge and went back to sleep...  we still text eachother "one,two,three, four , five, six" if we are still up at 3 am... i dont think any of us will ever not think about emily rose, if we ever woke up at 3 am....  

A Semester In IISC (3) - IISc Swimming Pool Turns into Ambalakkulam..

It all started when amby had this desire to learn swimming.. The skeptics that we were, me and anzu dint join.. After all what is amby going to do in swimming pool? he will splash around in the water for a a few days, and will realise he cant swim and he will stop.. why waste time.. ??

So after a couple of weeks, me and anzu decided to go to the pool and see what was going on.. the journey was part of our cycle practice so that we could buy one soon.. being 25 year olds with very less experience on cycles, we decided it was better if we practiced a bit before went and bought one.. So one afternoon at around 3- 3:30 we went to the pool.. Amby was alone there, slogging it out all by himself.. And he was a "kulam kalakki" .. He said he could swim and he swam across the breadth 3 times to show us.. He was splashing the water all around.. This aint gonna work.. So we hung around for a while and then went back to our cycling.. A month went by like that and in between Doney also joined.. So after a month when amby said he learned swimming, i dint believe him.. I mean how far could he get will all the splashing? So when me and Nikri went to see him swim, we were astonished.. The water dint even ripple when he swam across the pool..  (along the length).. it was awesome.. So we spread the story.. Now hearing this, some 12-15 malayaalees registered for swimming.. We appointed Amby as our instructor.. So it was quite like the "ambalakkulam" during vacation.. Some 10- 12 guys in the pool, all making noise.. shouting, screaming.. trying to learn.. playing games.. it was all fun.. Problem was instructor just went one step further and started concentrating on his diving skills and us poor non-swimmers were left to slug it out ourselves.. We went for swimming for around 2-3 weeks.. It was getting nowhere and the water was getting colder and colder.. And the exam seasons were starting , we decided it best if did it next semester.. (Main reason was, we were lazy to do it)..

Though i dint learnit, it was really fun.. how we raced along the breadth, how we did the mushroom float that anzu learned from net.. And how anzu learned swimming from watching videos from net... It was all real fun... 

A Semester In IISC (2) - Rhythmica

The second Rhymica show , since our arrival was special because, two of us , Nikri and Subbu will be unveiled today.. infact this was a fresher's program, so all main songs will be sung by new comers.. so we, me, anzu, anjooraan, leo, subin and all reached the auditorium well before the whole thing started... and we found a cool seat..

I have long since held the view that Anzu and Amby doesn't fear a thing in the world.. probably due to their Loyola upbringing.. so to see them literally shout during show was something quite unsurprising for me... Now , people have this perception, that IISc is full of geeks.. well they were right.. but now that we have arrived, its all gonna change.. It was anzu who started the "Nikriiii.. Nikri!!" chant and "Subbooooo... subbu!!" chant.. Subbu sang the "thom thom thom " part of "oru murai" and Nikri sang "Nila.. Nila.." from Tournament.. Once the Malayalees made their presence felt, the hindi guys came out of their shell and did their bit too.. So it was all in all an awesome program.. So what did i do when these guys were not singing?? Well, i was watching a girl who was sitting to my left, two rows in front of me.. From where i was sitting she looked like 'nadia moythu'.. And a girl who looked like Mamta Mohandas was sitting at the back row , giving me reason to turn behind and talk to amby and all, all the time.. so it was all in all an engaging evening.... 

A Semester In IISC (1)

I landed in IISc on July 25th..  Got a room in the oldest hostel block in IISc (though amby and anzal would beg to differ). room was pleasant but quite old.. Dint have many mishaps with room.. (like anzal, on whose head the plaster on the roof fell , at night on a rainy day..) Room mate was one Himachal guy, Satendra Kumar (I would get to know him better as the semester goes on)..  Registration process was the first mishap.. I forgot to take my relieving letter from Onmobile , to college.. and now they wanted it.. so got provisionally admitted.. Also tried to beat the system by turning up at 7 for 9'o'clock start.. and realised i am indeed in a place of geeks.. i was the 38th in queue... anyways 38 is way better than 138 or 238, ryt? yeah , well, i thought so too.. but after one malfunctioning printer and one incompetent organizer later, i got served as the 125th guy, i suppose.. still better than 225..

Classes started on the second week.. I took 5 courses.. infact we malayaalees  all took the same5 courses.. each were taught by a variety of professors.. different teaching styles.. some shout, some never raise their voice, some creates symphonies.. and make us go to sleep.. some were like the express trains that forgot that they occassionally had to stop..

Before coming to college i always used to fear quizzes and discussion sessions.. But they turned out to be fine.. Quiz was after all, just like out class test of school times..Discussion sessions were just we people talking with eachother and finding answers..

So all in all IISc was no something i should fear.. or atleast yet...