Himalayana Academy School, Soreng: An institution above all

'Chito khana khanu aija....8 baji sakyo!!' Exactly the words of my mother everyday and I busy multitasking, i.e brushing and doing my other business in the loo. A journey of 4 KM to the school with a 3kg bag on the shoulder didn't seem to matter much as the thought of friends and fun in the school would overpower them. 

As I enter the school compound, little beautiful kids in red sweator would be seen running around the corridors and in the ground making the school look full of life and vibrant.

As soon as I kept my bag in the classroom, someone would ask me, 'Amir, did you do the homework given by D.D. Maam?' 'Lah.....!!' My mouth wide open with fear and I literally start shaking. He would keep his hand in my shoulder and calm me down, 'Aich.... Dont worry... Even I haven't done it.' and gives me a cheeky smile. 'I am glad I wont get punishment alone....' he would add. :)

'Lets go have some lal pathar* instead....' (also known as dhunga mithai or rashta ka pathar). As worse as it looked but Uttam daju's shop had the best lal pathar I have tasted till now. We would stuff our mouth with a black/brown colored gross looking thing and then walk towards our class yet again to see if we get more company for the punishment.

HAS, is a place which is more like a family than school. Teachers more like parents. Everyday we learnt something that wasn't written in books or wouldn't come in the exams. 

As I look back now, I realize that those lessons were equally important. I dont remember who is Akbar or Babar, whether Akbar is Babar's son or Babar is Akbar's son, when was battle of Panipat fought? or formula of (a+b) whole cube, or sin theta or anything.... 

But I clearly remember those pleasant classes of Keshav Sir, Sanjeev Sir, Nima Tshering sir, how we longed to attend their classes again. I remember how Nursery Miss nurtured and fostered the nursery students (which she does till now), those inspiring talks and classes of Geeta Maam, I remember those punishments of Hemant Sir, those comics and tinkles at the school library, those friendship, those little crushes, those debates, singing competition, house quiz, games period, momo and aalu dam at Yogen Sir's canteen, murai ko dalla at the old factory shop, those children day celebration at Jau Tar or Sribadam, those funny dances of teachers at many happy occasions and many little big things.

I understood now that life is not all about the lessons that we learn in classes, not about how much percentage we bring, how much attendance we keep, how good our handwriting is, how many certificates of excellence we receive but many more than that.... 

Life is about learning the secret of enjoying the little big things in life, of knowing the difference between good and bad, how we react to things, being compassionate with the elders and tender with the young, being empathetic with the striving and tolerant with the fool....

In my point of view, education and literacy are completely different. All educated person are literate but all literate person are not educated. Himalayan Academy School gives us education and not just literacy. As its motto says, "Abide in Truth', it teaches us to be good from the inside out.

I am preety sure that if you have spent even a day at this institution you will remember it for a long time. And how lucky are you if you are a part of this school, luckiest if you are a #Himadrian.

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Epic Proposal....

Love is indeed a strange thing and when someone is suffering from this deadly disease they exhibit strange behaviours. This post is all about madness and stupidity of a person falling in love.

My friend (un)luckily fell in love with a colleague. He wanted to propose her in a different way. Not with the common methods like sending friend request in FB and flirting on chats, or with whatsapp, or kneeling before her with a bunch of flowers.... Instead, he wanted to make it epic and classic.

After thinking for a couple of days and spending some sleepless nights, he came with an idea of proposing her  through a poem (height of EPICness). It was already a bad idea and to top it all, he asked me to write a proposal poem. Can it get any worse? :) I don’t think so.....

So, I came up with the poem below.

प्रिये,

तिम्रो लागि हिँजो आज अफिसमा

जोड़ उकालो ओरालो धाँउदैछु

कविता लेख्न नआएपनि आफुलाई

मेरो साथिलाई लेख्न लाँउदैछु....

पहिलो नजरमा नै कुन्नि किन

मलाई तिमी नै मन पर्यो

हुनु त तिम्रो साथीपनि च्वाँक थियो

तर यो मनले तिमीलाई नै रोज्यो

बख्खुमा देखे तिमीलाई पहिलो चोटि

भुटानकी रानी झैं राम्री

मलाई पनि राजा झैं देख्यौ के तिमीले ?

आँखा मन परेको हो कि

तिम्रो गाला मन परेको

कि तिम्रो नाक ?

होइन, होइन मलाई त

सोलो-डोलो तिमी नै मन परेको....

तिमीले बोलेको हरेक शब्द

कानैमा गुनुनुनु गुंजिन्छ सधैं

खै घरि घरि म त

मच्छर भनि झुकिन्छु....

हिँजो आज त झन,

सपनिबाट पनि जुरुक-जुरुक व्युझन्छु

कुनै भट्टुले प्रपोज पो गर्छ कि तिमीलाई

भनि झसंग-झसंग तर्सन्छु....

ठुलो चाहाना के नै पो छ र

सानो सपना सजाएको छु

तिमीसंग अंगेटीमा आलु पोली खाने

फेरि मकैको सीजनमा मकै

भटमासको सीजनमा भटमास

यसरी सीजन-सीजनमा नानाथरी पोलेर खाँउ

संगै मिलेर हाम्रो सानो संसार सजाँऊ....

मैले त नानीको नामपनि सोंचि सके

केवल तिमीबाट ‘Response’ पर्खदैछु

सानो परिवार सुखि परिवार  भन्छन भन्नेले

तर 3-4 वटा त निकाल्नु पर्छ सोंच्दैछु....

कमि केहि छ भने भन मेरोमा

ह्याण्डसममा ह्याण्डसम छु

बडी-सडी बनाउनलाई जिम धाँउदैछु

फेरि भएन हरेक दिन नुहाँउदैछु

तिमीलाई कोरियन लुक्स मन पर्छ रे

जबरजस्ती कता-कता कोरियन जस्तो केश काट्दैछु....

फेरि सोँच्दैछु फिक्शेसन भए पश्चात

एउटा सेकेण्ड ह्याण्ड स्कुटी पनि किन्छु

तर फेरि तिम्रो लोड स्कुटीले थाम्छ के

तिमी बस्ने साथ स्कुटी नै भुँईमा

बस्ने पो हो कि ?

म चैं एसो तिमीलाई हेर्ने निहुँले

तिम्रो तिर धाँउदा

तिमी चैं सुत्तै, सुट्टुकै भागि जाँदा

यो मन कति रुन्छ तिमीलाई के थाहा

मैले साइट खेल्दै तिमीलाई हेरि मुसुक्क हाँस्दा

तिमीले उता मेरो साथीलाई हेरि मुस्कुराउँदा

यो आत्मा कति रुन्छ तिमीलाई के थाहा....?

अब त कलमपनि थाक्यो

म त झन लख्तरान भए,

यसै कविताको माध्यमबाट

‘I Love You’ भन्दैछु

भन्छौ भने ‘I Love You Too’ भनिदेउ

नत्र भने तिम्रो साथीको नम्बर देउ

नत्र भने तिम्रो साथीको नम्बर देउ….॥

 After I handed over this poem to my friend, he read it twice and then dropped the entire idea of proposing her. I don’t think the poem was that bad, was it? No… I think he dropped the idea because of some other reasons and I am thinking, I should help my friend and give this letter to the girl without his knowledge. After all, ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed….’ Isn’t it?? J  

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Love letter that never reached the girl....

I still remember that day, the day when as usual I was 10 minutes early for the tuition. The tutor, Mr. Singh Sir was strict about punctuality so I didn't wanted to give him a chance to scold me.

Not a single minute had passed after 8AM and students of the batch previous to us started coming out from his room. Singh Sir lived in a rented apartment at Soreng Bazaar, West Sikkim. His apartment was on the ground floor of the famous Dimcos building. 

Everyday, the stairway and the little passage/verandah in the ground floor of that building used to get flooded with the students of class 10 and 12 coming for tuition. He was a renowned tutor of the locality of those days.

As the students of the previous batch left, we entered inside and took our favourite seats.... Mine being the farthest at the corner.  The first room was the tuition room with two beds and a big table in the middle. Each batch had exactly 10 students and the two beds would comfortably hold 10 asses (some big and some smaller ones... :P). Singh Sir would sit in the chair at one end of the table like the head of the family.

So, as usual we were seated, sir went inside to take a tea break and the tuition room was filled with the aroma of samosas or aalu chops maybe. Since the kitchen was attached with the tuition room, so it was impossible for them to keep their dish secret. I wondered whether the dish was as tasty as it smelt and unknowingly I gulped.... as my saliva glands went crazy.

Meanwhile, two beautiful (or cute would be better word) girls (one among them is the female protagonist of this article) entered the tuition room. Since our batch already had 10 students and adding two more was out of question and also there was no place for them to sit, I wondered why were they here!

Sir came out patting his stomach and had a discussion with them. We came to know that they were students of present class 10 from TNA, Gangtok and were on their winter vacation to their ancestral home at Soreng. Their parents had arranged tuition for them so they could utilise some amount of their vacation time. Since they were present 10, tuition classes were not as important to them as it was to us. Our exams were starting after a couple of months.

One of the girl among the two was the cutest and most importantly her height also matched mine.... Since I was hardly 4.9 back then(though I have hardly managed to grow some inches more now). Her name according to unreliable sources was Sadhana. 

Sadhana.... what a cute name! Ain't it? The tuition was never so lively before. Trigonometry was never so interesting before. I never took so much time in grooming myself for the tuition before. I even changed my seat, from my favourite place in the corner to the one close to sir (actually close to her.... :P).

In that one month, we hardly exchanged glances. Obviously I was too introvert and for her I was invisible.... sigh!!

But suddenly one day, I had a realisation. hehehe.... I knew that it was now or never. I decided to write a love letter, first love letter of my life. Though I had written a couple of letters on behalf of others and obviously they were never accepted. There must be some other reasons.... or was it because of my letter writing talent? Only god and the girls know!!

Trying in cursive font this time, I tried to write as slowly and elegantly as possible. Even managed to add a couple of dialogues like 'Rose is red, sky is blue.....' blah blah.... And finally giving it a classic touch, burnt the edges of the paper. So it was perfect. My first love letter. :P

Next day, I surprised my mom by taking a bath early in the morning. Little excited and little afraid I went for tuition. The girls came late everyday and that day too it was already 8:10 when they entered. Today I was not interested in the probability that Singh Sir was trying to teach us. I was thinking about how and where should I give the letter to her? Should I put it inside her copy when she is looking elsewhere? Ambho... how can I? I will look like a thief. Should I give her the letter and run away? Or should I act cool and try talking with her? Should I give it as soon as we leave the tuition? Or wait till we reach the market? What if she throws it away? Should I go and fetch that or leave it and pretend as if nothing happened? Should I wait till she reads it? I didn't know a thing!!

My mind was completely out of my control and I felt I was going to freak out soon.... The hour went by so fast. and by each passing minute, the pace of my heart increased.... I could literally see my hands shaking and hear my heart pounding. It was 9AM and as usual we left the room. I was still unable to decide what to do and they in a hurry went their way.

I felt sad. I became like a Devdas. I made up my mind that no matter what happens, I am giving this letter to her. Since, only some days were left for our tuition. Next day, with sheer determination and courage, I went early. I waited and waited but she didn't come. Same with the next day and the day after the next day. One day, one girl enquired about them and we came to know that their class is over. They wont be coming.

I became like Devdas++. The tuition was so boring without them. I hated going. Some days later, I too left the tuition. Days went by, slowly I forgot about her. Examination came, I got busy preparing for that. Then the tension of result, and life moved on.She was completely erased from my mind.

Couple of days back, when I was checking some of my older books and copies, I found that letter, kept neatly inside the Class 10 Mathematics book. Ignoring the little amount of fade, it was the same as I wrote it.

The memories rolled in my mind. The letter started with 

Dear S...... 

          Blah Blah Blah....

............................................         (Some dialogues)

...........................................          (Some other dialogues)

With love,

A.....

Why didn't I write Sadhana instead of S...... Maybe because I wasn't sure about her spelling or actually name hehe..... Anyways while I was reading the letter, I felt as if I was reading some funny article. The letter made me laugh so hard and I felt embarrased as it was one of the funniest thing I had ever read and the fact that it was my first love letter made it worse. I was so much glad the letter is still with me and was undelivered.

At first I thought to keep it as a memory, but suddenly I thought about my brother's reaction after reading it. I would be the laughing stock and a joke material for months or years to come. While tearing it into pieces, I smiled and tried remembering her face but I couldn't.... I wondered how did she look like... 

She was my first crush(or maybe 5th) hehe.... 

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Saraswati Puja 2014 - A glimpse!!

Like 2013, this year too, students of Malbasey were enthusiastic about celebrating Saraswati Puja in a grand manner at Sarva Dharma Mandir (Sai Mandir), Malbasey, West Sikkim. Within a very short time, plannings were made and executed in a excellent manner.

These two days had everything like fun, devotion, spirituality, team work, management and everything.

As they say, 'Picture speaks more than a thousand words...' I present here a glimpse of the Saraswati Puja celebrated at our place by the students:

Rally by the students.

Drawing competition where kids showcased their hidden talents.

Munch Munch Munch..... Its prasadam time....

Spirituality coming a moment before fun....

And there.... last glimpse of Saraswati.

Prabhakar.... The victim of the mob water asault.

Unsensored Pose...!!

Finally... all drenched and wet in the chilling water!!

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"Going Green 2013" Mass Plantation Drive

Inspired from the programme of Govt. of Sikkim, 'Sikkim Paryavaran Mahotsav', we decided to give some of our time to the nature too. We decided to do a mass plantation drive of 1 Hour under the banner of 'Sikkim Students Facebook Family' on 30th June 2013.

Coming out of our comfort zone was indeed a bigger challenge. Who wants to come out of the house when you can sit in the room and relish on hot aaludam & tea? But we were stunned by the enthusiasm of the students who didn't care the unending rain.

Our program began at 10 AM on the scheduled day when Mr. Ganesh Bhandari, a senior teacher, Upper Pakkigaon School planted a sapling and kickstarted our programme.

Ganesh Kr. Bhandari, planting a sapling.

Our plantation began from Subba Gaon turning point to VK Golai, Apatan Road, Malbasey where we planted saplings of Rhododendrons and other flowering plants. The programme which was meant for 1 hour went on for more than 3 hours amidst mass enthusiasm and fun.

Following are some glimpse of our programme:

Students busy on their work.

Getting their hands dirty on a noble cause.

Mul girl (Manure Girl).... All the time she was busy with manure in her hand..... :P

Posing like a maruni dancer!! :P

At the end of the programme, tired and exhausted we came back to my place. We could literally see faces glowing (including mine) when they saw Kopila and Sabina preparing tea and snacks....

Promising to do more of similar tasks in the near future, everyone left with a feeling of pride.

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Love Story of Vishal....

"Abey saaley.... mar gaya kya?" I banged his door every morning at around 11 A.M. (It is still morning, isn't it?). And a faint voice from inside, "jinda hoon bey!!"

This was a routine that we followed every morning.... Our flat was never silent if both of us were awake and together, always pulling each others legs and fighting! "Tujhe kisney bhej diya saale engineering karney?" "Mere sath rehkar itna toh tamiz sikh ley bey." 

I never knew that the jolly and fun loving guy had a poet inside and so many hidden stories. "Chal aaj tujhe mein apna love story batata hoon!" he said in a serious tone one day. I couldn't control my laughter and fell of my bed laughing to make fun of his poetry.... As I knew he would do the same if I would say that to him!!

In a serious tone he said, "Ye maine apne us girlfriend k liye likha tha jo mar gayi...". Unoffended by me laughing till my last breath. My face changed the reaction as if I was caught with a Kingfisher and a cigarette in my hand by my mom! 

"Sach mein?" I asked and waited impatiently for his reply. He narrated his first serious love story to me. And it goes like this: He was madly in love with one girl and they were in relationship. They used to chat whole night and their talks never seemed to finish. With each passing day, they fell more in love with each other.

Then..... this incident happened. Their love was at its peak at that time. It had become their routine to talk over phone till morning, sacrificing their sleep, call it love or the cheap call rates at night. One similar morning, my friend Vishal received a call at around 7 AM from his girl friend. They had talked till 5:30 AM that morning and Vishal had just been able to get a sleep. His girl suddenly wanted a break up. He was startled because they had talked fine a couple of hour ago. They had no problem in their relationship, but she suddenly wanted a breakup and she had no reason, she simple wanted breakup.

Startled and little angry over her action, Vishal thought she is just being childish and she would be fine after a couple of days. But after couple of days he heard the news that she committed suicide and left no suicide note.... No one knew why she ended her life, what her real problem was, why she sacrificed her golden days to come!

At that time, he wrote this poem to her then-dead girl friend. As he was reading that poem to me, it touched my heart. For the first time in my life I was listening to a poem with a hidden story behind it. If I would read it unaware of circumstances under which it was written, the poem may not be that interesting and touching but after knowing the truth behind it, it surely touched my heart.

"Na jane kyu maine ye moti us ke liye baha diye,
Jise shok mera dil todne ka tha....
Is kadar tootkar chaha unhe humne,
Jinhe itminaan mere tootne ka tha....
Kis kadar koi apna sa lagne lagta hai,
Kis kadar koi apna sa hone lagta hai,
Ye wo kya janenge kabhi,
Jinhe to sukoon bewafayi Se milta hai....
Hum sath unke chalne ke sapne sanjote rahe,
Magar unhe to sath chuda ke jana tha....
Kyu aaye meri zindgi ko tabaah kerne tum,
Kyu muje chahat ka aayina dikhaya,
Hum jis aaiyne ke aakhs me jinhe dhoondte rahe,
Unhe toota hua kaanch acha lagta tha....
Ja hi rahe the to kamsE kam mere pyar ka mazak to na yu banate tum,
Magar uhne to pyar me rota hua koi aasik acha lagta tha....
Mere aansuo ki keemat itni bhi to sasti nhi thi,
Jo unhe aankhe bhi na naseeb huyi,
Basa liya unhe hi aapni aakho me,
Jinhe shauk aakho me aansu dekhney ka tha....."

It was hard for him to spend a couple of days, weeks or months maybe... But life goes on!! We move on!! We cannot simply sit back and live with the past. 

Now he is a happy man, happily married to a wonderful women, loving each other madly again. But the pain that resides in the heart sometime surfaces to his heart.... mostly when he takes a couple of shots or some Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher!!

About Vishal:
Vishal Tomer is a Civil Engineer who did his engineering from KITE, UPTU. (Un)Fortunately he shared the flat with us at Indrapuram where I stayed. A good friend who never knew saying "No" to anything.... 

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Three years of DVSIET.....

For the last time I was there at college, looking at all the faces that I had fun with. Some I teased, some I flirted with and some I didn't even speak a word to.

Last day of my college, I was waiting for my turn for my project presentation. Staring at my computer, I can see tabs of the browser holding content of some job sites, blogger and ofcourse facebook!

Suddenly one of my classmate comes to me and sits on the chair by my side, the chair that has one missing stand and he can fall anytime. He utters, 'bhai ab kya plan hai?'. I look at him, then the computer, then the examiner and then smile and say 'dekhte hey bhai.... kuch plan wan nahi hai abhi toh...'

Then I start thinking about how the three years has gone by. I try to remember the moments that I have spent here at DVSIET as there was nothing to search in google, nothing to post in my blog and nothing to comment or like in Facebook.

What comes in my mind is not the lectures that I had in the class, not the assignments that I copied in the last moments, not the lab files that I completed whole night staying awake, not the projects that I gave 101% to, not the marks that I scored in the internal, not even the vivas where I acted smart, not the presentation that I gave in the seminars, not the notes that I xeroxed in the library, not the doubts that I cleared in the cabin of my favourite teacher, not even the guest lectures that I had in the laboratory.

Seriously what comes in my mind about my three years in B.Tech is the treat that our Microprocessor lecturer gave, how I bunked the boring lectures and sat in the shed at the so called Mughal Garden of DVSIET watching the love birds and wishing I had my gf here too, the songs I sang in the class, the North East program that we organised when we were in the second year, the way I jumped off the wall of the hostel and went to the Satguru Dhaba at the highway when the guard was snoring, how we were there in the market at 11 PM searching for Cornetto Ice Cream, how we organised meetings of the MLM at our favourite Yogi Farms, how we went to some 5 star hotel in Ghaziabad to attend a meeting but had bananas at the thelawala outside the hotel, how we traveled in the train without ticket from Delhi to Meerut so many times and never got caught, how we went to the 'Bhole ki jhal' to have a bath in the muddy water and many other stuffs.....

I suddenly realise, though I have learnt so many new things during this three years, so many new technologies, so many new languages, new experiences, but what I will cherish my whole life is the fun that I had.

I had heard that Engineering is all about learning 'JUGAAD'. I actually don't know what jugaad is, but all I know is that the experience that I had here in these three years is something that would take decades to learn, the various types of people I met is something I can tell to my child or my grand child.

Reading some dosage of crimes every morning in the local news paper, I had doubts that will I survive here? But luckily I did and with all ups and downs, the three years has passed by and made me an Engineer.

Best of luck to all to all my classmates... Hope to meet you someday, somewhere!!

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Oppa Gangnam Style......

Many times I had seen my brother running around our house shouting 'Gangnam Style.....' and posing like a monkey and I thought this guy seriously needs treatment. For me Gangnam Style was like 'kun chara ko naam ho?' as I had never heard of it before.

One fine day, I was there on the road trying to take pictures of two dogs making out... ;) And suddenly they stuck... And I was there with a camera in hand laughing like anything over the condition of those two dogs. And I didn't realize an aunt was coming behind me. I turned around, on seeing her felt very guilty and hastily pretended to be taking the pics of the hills and skies.... 

By the time she crossed, the dogs also vanished from sight and I sat there looking at those photos.... Suddenly I hear 'Oppa.... Gangnam Style....' and I thought alas my brother is ill again and glanced down. There he was, on our courtyard, seeing me, started dancing again cause he knew that I would be taking his monkey-pose pics too.

I came back to my room, wondering is my brother really getting ill or am I too backward to know what is Gangnam Style.... Then I googled it and then I realized what it actually was. Soon, I was watching it on youtube (though waiting for about half an hour to get it buffered). Later, two voices were heard around our house, 'Oppa Gangnam Style....' and two figures dancing, now my parents are thinking that we both need treatment.

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An evening at partapur

Gagol Road, Partapur Market at night.

Evening, the most crowded hours in the Partapur Market. And I was there to buy some vegetables which I could prepare salad with for the dinner tonight. Should I say, Partapur effect or what, I am habituated to eating onions & khira [cucumber] with a pinch of salt and squeezed lemon on top with dinner/lunch everyday.

So, here was I, like everyday, protecting myself from the speeding vehicles and cycles, looking for a roadside vegetable vendor who had the most fresh cucumber of the whole market. Selecting and rejecting as if freshness matters a lot, just a showoff, because I know that finding fresh vegetables in this market is like finding a needle in a hay.

The main market, both side of the road is filled with thelas of different kinds. You can find everything here... recently a new momo stall has also come up, though it is completely different thing that I will never eat momo there. There are lots of chowmin thelas and people waiting with their hungry eyes for the chowmin maker to finish making their order. Similar is the condition with the juice thela, burger, jalebis and others.

Some boys are doing stunts in the center of the market just in front of the egg thela. It looks really funny to see someone doing wheelie in a Splendor Bike but they are unaware. Oh... there are a couple of girls drinking juice and that must be the reason for the stunts, the girls, class 10 or 11 maybe and their copy in their hands tell me that they are returning from their tuition  The juice shop and the egg shop nearby are crowded today, hope you now know the reason. ;)

There I am, waiting to cross the road, because I see that the shop on the other side has fresh khiras, or is it that 'the grass always looks greener the other side' funda? I don't know but I must check. So many people have already crossed the road and I am still there waiting for that last auto to pass. Meanwhile a bike passes by me, three persons seated comfortably on it, one sees me and shouts 'abey Chinese, kya haal hai?' And I say 'Mast hai Behenc***'. One thing is sure, nowadays I have learnt to swear in their language. And I swear often, because it makes me feel I am one among them and not a chinese.

With some additional efforts, I am on the other side of the road, unhurt, unhit by the cycles and autos, lucky I guess. There is this old aunt on the shop. I check the cucumbers and find it perfect, or atleast I tell that to myself. After asking a couple of time 'khira kaisey diya(this is how you ask the rate here)?', she replies 'haanji... 20 rupee kilo'. I get my necessary stuffs, pay her and am on my way back.

On my way, there is this shop with a big board 'Theka Desi Sarab'. The most unhygenic place I have seen in the entire market, smelling like someone has just now puked or maybe had a loo somewhere there. I curse myself for not carrying the mask. I look towards the theka, the shop is fully protected by the iron grill and a small window at the center from where only one bottle can be passed at one time. I don't know what this protection is for!! So many people near the small window with their money in their hand waiting for their turn and thirsty as hell I guess. Meanwhile, I nearly get hit by a cycle as I lost my concentration and loosing concentration in the market can be very costly. 'Arrey bhai dekh k chaliyo....' I shout pretending that it wasn't my fault. This is what this place has taught me, to never accept your fault. ;)

Little ahead, there is this computer cafe with a board 'Sai Computer Salution(not solution).... seller and purchuse(not purchase) of old computers'. I smile, wondering  who did that flex printing. And not to forget there is this saloon from where I most of the time take the risk of having my hair cut and allow the barbers there to experiment on my hair. The board of the saloon reads, 'Fashon Saloon... Mail & Femail'. You may wonder how brave I am to go to the saloon, the only reason is the bhaiya out there is very friendly....

Little futher, there is this tent on the roadside where this large family lives. I remember clearly some days ago there was only two tents and now there is long series of tents, 5 or 6 maybe and seems one more family is added tonight because some people are busy making a tent on the only space available. Now I have started recognizing the face of some of the people living on that tent. One aunt specially because once she pointed towards me and said to her husband, 'Nepali... dekh!' and I felt happy, atleast someone calls me Nepali(who I really am). Today also as I pass through the series of tent, my eyes are searching for that aunt and there she is busy making chapatis for her family... a dirty shawl wrapped across her body, her legs seems uncleaned for ages, hair full of dust, sweats dripping down her chin[probably due to the heat of the fire) but still some glow in her face, happy face indeed... I wonder how she can cook and eat in this dusty place... But it is all about your needs and circumstances.

Then finally comes my favorite sugarcane juice shop but today I ignore the sound of the motor or juice extractor whatever they call that thing, because my throat has been paining recently.

A girl passes me by, and we exchange glances, how can she manage to be on the street at this time of the night? Its too dark already... But she is born and raised in this place, maybe for her its totally safe or normal, I guess! But still, she has to be inside her home, isn't it? Then suddenly I realize that I too have started to think like a person of this place. Pity me....

Now I start wondering what would I be doing at this time if O was at home? This time I would either be watching football with my father or helping my mom in the kitchen(thinking to marry soon so that my mom has company) or the most interesting thing, I would be karaoking with my brother in my room with full volume of my woofer(so much fun). By the time, I am back in the room and writing this post, I would have probably had the food cooked by the best cook of the world (my mom) and already on bed or having a sip of red wine hiding from my parents!!

God... I miss my home. I miss my state!!

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Saraswati Puja 2013 at Malbasey

The first thing I did after reaching home this time was meet my coolest and closest fren Subash and discuss about my plan. My plan was to celebrate Saraswati Puja in Malbasey Sai Mandir involving only the students and youths of Malbasey, my village. As expected he was also excited and our work began.

After getting permission from the Sai Mandali Convenor of Malbasey Mr. K.B. Bhandari to use the Sai Mandir, we organised a meeting with the young and enthusiastic students of Malbasey. I didn't expect that much of co-operation from them at first but was completely surprised the way they cooperated. I felt that all they need is an idea and some motivation. Banner and everything was finalized and everybody came up with their creative and helpful ideas.

Banner that was placed at the turning point of Malbasey [most happening place]

Coupons were printed for the donation collection and responsibility was assigned to the members. It was too good a feeling to see young students giving so much of effort for the programme. Within 3 days we had collected a sum close to 17000/- and that was a big sum since we were only students.

The real task then began from 12th of february when we had to clean and decorate the Sai Mandir premise. Going to shopping, getting bamboo and pine from the nearby forest, collecting all necessary things like syntax, electric stuffs, water supply pipeline, etc were really tough and it wouldn't be complete without the help of those volunteers. It wouldn't be fair if I don't mention the names of those students and others (whom we called 'karmath yoddha') who gave their hundred percent and were present there from morning to evening for those 3 days. 

• Amir Bhandari [Host]
• Subash Bhandari [Host]
• Roomi Subba
• Anup Bhandari 
• Jyoti Bhandari
• Meena Subba
• Sandhya Basnett
• Amir Karki
• Sandesh Bhandari
• Amrita Chettri
• Anuraj bhandari
• Anusa Karki
• Deepsana basnett
• Divya Chettri
• Prajwal Subba
• Pranita Chettri
• Prasanna Subba
• Rojaling Subba
• Ronita bhandari
• Rozie Subba
• Sabina Basnett
• Sabnam Chettri
• Unisha Bhandari
• And many others whose name I may have left behind.

The most hectic day of all was 14th of Feb. Me, Subash and all the members (instead of celebrating Valentine Day) without proper lunch were working the whole day in support of just some samosas orange juice that had been ordered for the volunteers. But that wasn't sufficient if one has to run to forest several times to collect bamboos and pines and then use it in making some borders along the premise, cleaning the kitchen, toilet, cleaning the overall premise, then decorating the inside and out of the mandir. Ufff..... no time for lunch!

And meanwhile the bad news came, the profile [mat] that we had ordered was lost in the way!! The driver who was supposed to deliver it didn't knew where did the profile go? Amazing na? We were startled and panicked a little... :P cause that costed us around 1000/- and everything was planned accordingly.

Anyways, the work had to move on. At night we were busy writing in chart papers and pasting it around the mandir and also giving some final touch to the decoration work. The most interesting part of the night was that it was not only valentines day but also happened to be the birthday of one of our friend Roomi and a tasty cake was came on the display. I nearly jumped of my feet when I saw the cake.... :)

Birthday Celebration of Roomi Subba [She never revealed how old she turned on that day.... :)]

I seriously don't know what they were doing with candle in their hand.... haha.... I was only focusing on the cherry on the top of the cake and hoping to get the biggest piece of cake (luckily I did because the birthday girl knew that I was a big khaideo). Though we (guys only) had decided to spend the night at Mandir but it was impossible as we seriously needed a rest as a big day awaited.

The next day (i.e. 15th February and Saraswati Puja Day) was the most unluckiest day for me as I had to go to Geyzing for Aadhar Card registration. I was too sad because I had been working and waiting for this day from day 1 when the plan was just on our mind but in the end I was unable to be present on the puja. I thought it was god's wish & went to Geyzing early morning hoping to be back as early as possible.

The puja as I heard from my friends and family went very well and lots of people in and around had been present (lot more than expected). People really supported us and the students were really excited.

Glimpse of puja attendees during the day.

The two priests from Thakurbari Madir, Soreng (renowned priests) also praised the management, planning and organisation of the puja by the students. Everyone was heard saying that though this place has seen many puja and celebration but this was something different. So well planned and organised and most importantly by the young students. 

Meanwhile our volunteers also didn't forget to have some fun around:

Anup, Anuraj & Sandesh (Do they look like volunteers? I doubt!!)

Our beautiful sisters & volunteers taking some rest and making fun of each other in which they are expert.

Sandesh, Amir Karki, Subash... Those without whom this puja wouldn't be sucessful.

The most important part of our puja was the "Shanti Paat (Peace Prayer)" which I forgot to mention earlier. After the Saraswati Puja Paat,the priests performed Shanti Paat of the Malbasey, Soreng where the priests performed havans and prayed to god to maintain peace in the nearby areas. Then it was followed by delicious prasadam (though i missed the hot ones).

Centre of attraction of our puja was Mr. Asha Subba Sir from Soreng who attended the entire puja and also entertained the people and students of malbasey by sharing his personal stories, stories of inspiration and also by singing some bhajans. In the evening, it was 108 dip prajjwalan program where we started lighting dip (diyas) from the older people first and slowly in descending order to the students. Then it was followed by bhajans.

What good is a program is there sin't some dance to end it. So, our sudents and specially ladies knew it well... :) So, there went a hustle and bustle of dance in some romantic bhajans of Krishna. It was fun. Then the final touch was given by Mr. Asha Subba Sir when he danced on the famous song "nai nabhannu la...". People were smiling and enjoying at the same time.

'Just Dance' :P

One man equal to all the ladies dancing.

"Nai nabhannu la...." Some say he teared his suruwal while dancing!! Only god knows!! :P

This way our long awaited programme was over. We knew it was just a beginning of the many things that we will be doing in the future in our place. This, though being a small programme was the first of its kind when some students had taken the initiative and executed it surpassing every expectation. It has left lots of memories in our mind, the cute and happy ones, the bonding and supporting ones, the smiles and jokes that we shared, the memories of happiness.

Hope in the coming days, we will again do something like this and enjoy doing so!!
Missing those days...

Pictures Credit: Subash & Anup

They are subject to copyright and use without permission is prohibited.

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Confused and dazed.....

I stretched my fingers..... stretched my back..... took the pen in hand..... ready to flood the answer sheets with all that I knew as today was the exam of my favorite subject [or at least thats what I thought!]. Took a last look around the class as I knew that I wouldn't be getting time to look around because I had too much to write.....

The coordinator came distributing the question paper and I was eager to take it in my hand and just start.... And the moment came...... I took a deep breath and looked at the first question.

Q.1. Answer any four from the following.

a) What is controlling? Write down its features and methods?

hmmm?? controlling?? in Web Tech?? Did I miss this topic?? Thank god.... there are choices!! I look at the second question:

b) Explain briefly Six Sigma.

Six Sigma?? I scratch my head.... I know one statement about Six Sigma..... "Six Sigma is a business management strategy, originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1986." 

But what does this has to do with Web Tech? Where did the ASP, JSP, ASP.NET, AJAX, XML go?

Confused like hell, I gave a frightful look at the top of the question paper, in uppercase it was written INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT. I dont remember what kind of expression I gave but I am sure it wasn't normal.The coordinator thought I was going to pass out, came quickly towards me and asked, 'beta kya hua?'

'Sir, are you sure you have given us the correct question paper?'

'yes!! why..... what happened?'

'It is Web Tech exam today!' I boosted with confidence.

He smiled and went away.....

I remember somewhere I have read, being silent is sometimes the best way to win an argument, simply because you cannot argue with silence. I understood the meaning clearly today. He made me understand that I was wrong by simply remaining silent.

I looked around.... everyone was busy with their pens. Pravesh looking at me bewildered..... hiding his anger and frustration with a big smile.

'Juum?' he murmured....

Though there is literally no meaning to the above statement in Nepali but as usual I understood he was referring to 'lets go!'

But both of us knew that this process doesn't support backward compatibility, i.e. we couldn't leave. And we had to be there for the next 3 hours answering all the questions that seems like a distant cry.

Like the famous nepali proverb, 'kun chara ko naam ho?' meaning 'which birds name is it?'

The question indeed seem like a birds name to me....

I started performing random access to the address of my memory to see if the chunk of files saved in the unknown tracks and sectors of my brain could be restored. I tried all the recovery tools and techniques to recover and luckily some packets that weren't deleted from the memory though overwritten by other files could be restored.

Doing the maximum utilization of the available resources, I was able to fill up the answer sheet. But there was no need to do error checking as it would lead to the error in all the files, so I decided to leave the process of error detection and checking to our beloved sir.

Hoping he will be in good mood while checking the paper!!

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Me VS Onion........

Though scientists have their own theories and reasons why tears roll out of our eyes when we peel onions. But for me it was something different..... as I was deeply moved by a theory that I heard in my childhood days.

I remember a day when I was peeling onions... crying, as if I broke up with my first girl friend. My grandma yelled... 'pyaj sahanu nasakney le buri sahanu sakdaina hai keta....' [Boy! those who can't bear onions can't bear their wife]

That was the moment when I decided to be an 'ultimate onion peeler' no matter what, not taking any chances to ruin my relationship with my wifey.... :)

You call it my fate or anything, onions have become a part of my life now. In the flat where we stay [recently named as Reverie House], you'll probably see me cutting onions most of the time... 

There is this one person responsible for me turning into Onion-Man: Mr. Vinay Sir, just to give you a little idea, he is the man who needs 5 kilos of onion, 2 kilos of tomato, half kilos of lasun and half kilos of garlic... all this for 2 kilo chicken.

So, I have taken up the task of cutting onions and making everything ready for him while he prepares the dish. At first he used to get shocked on seeing us eating rice with chicken.... his favourite dialogue 'ap log chicken ke saath chawwwal kaise khate ho?' [How do you manage to eat rice with chicken?] OR 'bina roti k pet kaise bharta hoga?' [How do you get full on stomach without chapati?]

Though this Onion-Man peels and cuts lot of onion on a daily basis but still I haven't made myself capable enough to bear the prickling sensation in my eye.... I am afraid if all my efforts have gone in vain!!

OMG..... thats really frightening.... If I can't bear the onions, how can I bear my wife? huhuhu.......

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Engineers working on Project MOMO.

After we came to know that one of our junior had a moktu [* who doesn't know about the utensil used for making momos?], we went frenzy and decided to go for it as it was a week day and we wanted to have some fun.

Task was distributed and I along with one of my friend got a cockeyed task of fetching 2kgs of cabbage from the market in the clinchy heat. As someone had to go anyway, we went off.... complaining about the maladministration.

After our feeble efforts of bargaining had failed, we bought the 2kgs of cabbage in their original MRPs and were returning back when I remembered about the wizzing powder [*hucching powder as we say at our village].

'Arrey bhaiya, wizzing powder hai kya?'

'Bleaching powder? kitna packet?'

'nahi nahi..... wizzing powder!'

'Ab wo kya hota hai bhai?' :P

I became fretful as it was impossible to make him understand what hucching powder was, we decided to have our momos without one.

Work started, someone making chapatis [*roti sounds better than chapati right?], someone making kima[now don't tell me that you dont know about kima.... its the thing that you put inside momo... you dumbo], some playing loud music and that too of simple plan's and Jay Z. I urging them to play some hindi numbers so that the people around our flats would also enjoy.

With some interruptions in the electricity and some other minor problems,  we had cooked three sets of fashionable momos[30 in each].

Thats when our aunty[aunty... not aunt...] arrives, getting startled and amused at first when seeing young engineers busy at work. 

'Ye kya bana rahey ho?'

'Momo hai aunty'

Aunty was happy as she need not cook food for us for the evening. After reducing some numbers of momo from our cooker, she left praising us.

Meanwhile, some of our friends arrive... whom we had called to taste the dish of our place. 

I knew now it was obligatory to fetch some more cabbage and flour[maida] from the market. As my plea didn't work, I had to offer four momos before somebody agreed.

At around 8pm, we had our last set of momo placed on the moktu and everyone was tired and full on stomach too. Thats when someone called 'pakyo hai pakyo...'[Its cooked....] from inside.

We went rushing towards the kitchen.... though full on stomach.... we knew that this was the last set and god knows when we are going to have this type of day again.

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The day I recorded a song.....

A piece of paper fell from my copy.... a friend of mine picked it up and started reading it.... said that this can be a good song, if provided with good music and voice. I didn't cared and thought he was bluffing. He again said, he has some contacts with people of music industry. I became excited! "Why not give a try?" I thought to myself.

After some time we were in the home of one of the music director of the locality. My friend showed the poem cum song to the music director and introduced me to him. He looked me in disbelief, shrunk back his nose, narrowed his eyes, gazed at me from toe to hair..... And my condition was real bizarre.... I hate when people look at me like that! As if he was judging me for his daughter!

He read the song and thought for a while.... again looked at me and then the song... started mummbling in a low voice. After some time he smiled and sang the song completely in a nice tone. He then wrote the scales for the song and handed me the paper and said me to give a try. I sang in the same scale that he had sung. He made some calls... and gave me the address of the recording studio and told me to do some kinda voice test and send me a record. Everything was happening in a flash....

After a while we were in a recording studio. I was inside the recording room.... for the first time in life.... I saw the mic in front of me... got little nervous.... the song and scale paper in my hand was shaking.... A man came inside and said "Be calm! Take the oppurtunity" I took a deep breath and nodded my head.

I looked at the scale of the song and oops.... i forgot the scale.... I couldn't understand the signs.... The person fom outside the room signalled me to sing.... a big disc started revolving... they put their headphones in head! Thank god i was not giving an audition for the Indian Idol. But i had forgotten the scle of the song completely. I gave a last sincere look to the paper and started blushing.... Someone said... "Tato pani lyaidinuhos na..... kukhura ko masu ek plate!!" What?? what was that sound and where is it soming from?? I am inside a sound proof room.... But i didn't gave a second thought as i was so much nervous and i was doing a voice test recording....

Then i decided to sing it in my own music.... I tried to pull the mic towards me but couldn't.... Again i heard some voices... "oye pokhincha!! natana!" Who the hell is teasing me? I am gonna teach that bastar* a lesson after i finish those recording.. i assured myself. I started singing.... trying to sound as good as possible.... trying to sing from my heart! I could feel the words coming right from my heart.... so soothing voice.... I became fan of myself!

Gradually my fear dissapeared and the sentimental tone changed to rock beat..... then after sometime I thought about how i used to sing the black metal songs while taking a bath.... then i decided to sing in a black metal voice.... screaming... stressing in every word i could.... singing from throat... I gave a glance at the people outside the room and they seemed to be liking it because they were smiling honestly. As if they were ready to applause and were waiting for me to finish. I became so much happy and excited that I closed my eyes and started singing in the deepest and loudest voice possible as i was nearing the climax of the song....

But before i could finish and hear the applause.... someone started shaking me and said... "oye matis ki kya ho?" "what??" I said opening my eyes and saw i was not in recording room.... I was in mailey's bhatti... some friends around.... with kodo ko tongba in front of me... People staring at me in astonishment. "Gosh! haven't heard metal songs or what?" I thought to myself trying to act as cool as possible...."tato pani lyaidinuhos na..... kukhura ko masu ek plate!" someone said. I took a long sip from the tongba and got out of the bhatti... and realised that i had drunk enough.... and my recording day was over. I swear I have not been to that bhatti since then!!

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Biggest match....

A fine sunny day, we headed towards the place where the TT Board was constructed. A cemented TT board... almost two and a half KM away from home. All the matches were in my favor..... believe it or not. Except the last one which i lost knowingly because my brother Anup signalled me to do so as there was a preety girl of my bother's age in the spectator.

All the way I teased and irritated him. And then lightning started striking the sky and he started taking big breath...... SWA............ SWA.......... and he spoke "Lets have a Do or Die match this December..."

I was afraid at first...... but then how could I not accept the challenge?? I said "Ok bro.... you gonna see your bajey's marriage ceremony then!!" So, in this way a match is scheduled on this coming December when I will be back home..... Till then I wanna tell my bro to get prepared for the biggest defeat in TT match that I am going to give him.......

Match Details:
Champion: Dfina Amir
Challenger: An Merz
Venue: School Ground
Date: Not Fixed / December

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