26/11 - The Black Day

It was like any other normal day- 26/11/2008 - but had something very brutal in store. I had my semester examinations going on and so, was busy studying for the next day's paper. At exactly 22:00 hrs, my relatives rang us up and told us to tune into any news channel, for there had been a shocking incident. No one told us what had happened. So I switched on the TV and started to surf various news channels only to see one of the most shocking "Breaking News" of my life  - Mumbai had been attacked by terrorsits. The whole nation was in a huge chaos. The famous landmarks of our city - The Taj Hotel, The Oberoi and The Trident - burning in flames. The starting point of the attacks was the CST railway station which is a major station of the Central Railways and the Cama Hospital and the battle ended at the Nariman House, South Mumbai. News reporters said that there had been 10 terrorists who gained an entry in the city via the Arabian Sea. Everyone was shocked and helpless. Hundreds of innocent people were killed, and many more injured. The commandos and all the other forces were stormed in at those sites and the battle began.
The saga continued for almost 60 hours. And our brave soldiers managed to wipe out the terrorists. Some remained to celebrate the victory of this battle while some achieved martyrdom. The whole nation stood together during this crisis and the saying, "United we stand, Divided we fall" had become more than just a saying.
An year later, today, on 26/11/2009 we all remeber our true Heroes who fought against these deadly terrorists and salute them for their brave deeds. Its happening all across the media. Various ceremonies and memorials have been held in their honours. There are numerous debates all over the news channels regarding the matter and many of them potrayed the thoughts of the people who witnessed the incident very closely. These people have either lost thier loved ones or have been a helping hand to the others who were suffering at that very moment. They say times have changed , but their feelings still are the same.
Most of the people I see ( including myself ) now show a strong feeling- a feeling of Anger against the terrorists ( and the government too, for its poor infrastructure ), a feeling of Determination to wipe out these evil forces, a feeling of Unity to stand together and face the enemy, a feeling of Power to act...
We all do feel terribly bad for the people who lost thier loved ones; but we did not let this feeling overpower the others. No, we did not Forgive... and we definitely can never Forget.

Revisiting Childhood on Children's Day..

A month ago, I came to know from my schoolmates that our batch was planning  a reunion and this time it was going to happen  for real ( it was a flop plan for so many times before).  And so all the preparations and contributions began. the date was finalized to be 14th November ( just a day after my exams ended , thank God ). According to me, there's no better way to celebrating the Childern's Day than having a school reunion with all your childhood friends and enemies ( who surprisingly turn into the best of friends with the course of time ).
So here we were planning about the enjoyment that we were going to have at this very event alongwith other girly things. The event organisers, who were our friends, did a very great job. A couple of my friends and I decided to meet at a common place so that we could all go together. Many of our friends had to unwillingly miss the party because of their approaching exams.
When we reached the venue, we saw a cool Welcome sign, which was decorated with our class pictures which were taken when we passed out of school. after a good 5 minutes spent in spotting ourselves in those picures and also the others, we entered inside. We saw many faces some familiar and some which were supposed to be familiar ( people do change alot with time ).  Everyone started clicking each other's pictures - in all funny poses and remembering the things we used to do at school.  Then one of our friends came with a mic and told everyone to give their introduction ( name, college, field etc. ). Here too everyone was busy remembering their high-school crushes and link-ups. After this was over, we had  a very good dancing time when the DJ started to rock us. The boys started b-boying and the girls started funny garba steps. Musical chairs was next in line. We decided to have an inter-division competition as we used to have during our school's annual sports events. And I'm glad to say that our class won ( we're still the best ). We danced like hell throughout the evening ( even during dinner time ). And before we knew it, the party ended. No one was ready to go home as this night was indeed the most special one ever. We all gathered for our group pics, exchanged contact details and promised to have another reunion- by calling this our 1st reunion.
I have no words to express how much happy I was after meeting my gang again. We may have contributed some nice amount of money for this to happen, but the outcome that we got was indeed priceless!!

Exam Fever!!!

I am back (finally) after a series of the most horrific event  in our education - EXAMS!! Exams are supposed to for our own good ( as said by my parents and teachers ) since they tell us know how much we really have gained in our brains and where do we stand after those endless hours of getting tortured at college.
A few days before my exams started, I got an sms from a friend which stated :
"Q. Woh kaunsi baat hai jo Students hamesha se kehte the, aaj bhi kehte hai aur qayamat tak kahenge???
A. Bas yaar, kal se padhai pakka shuru :P"
This indeed is the truth ( don't know whether its bitter or not ). As for me, my great college had given us a 20 day long study leave and that too, during Diwali. And thus, my so-called study leave was spent in making rangolis, eating sweets and attending family functions. Studies weren't  a part of it anyways, and even if I wished to study, I couldn't (we all know how noiseless Diwali is, don't we? ).

The real fear started when we got our hall-tickets 4 days prior to our exams. That's when we realized that we had to mug up those fat books no matter what. We started to pray to every God that exists and began buttering up our lecturers to give us the list of the important questions ( which was of no use as the list contained everything that we had to study ).

 And thankfully, the papers weren't as bad as we had expected them to be ( effect of our good karma :P ). Now the only hope remains that the results should be as good as our exams ( please, God!! ).

And That's A Typical Sunday

Its the most awaited day of the week for everyone and after a long tired week, its finally here. But for us students, its just like any other day spent in studying for an upcoming test or completing the huge heap of assignments to be submitted the next day. For me, I have long forgotten the meaning of the term "Vaccation" since I finished school.
The first thing I look for in the morning is Sunday's newspapers which is full of additional happenings going on around the world. As I start digging deep into it, Mom says its time to study and so i have to return to my books again. After sometime, I read the paper again ( this time the leisure section ) and think of the times when I too will get the time to try out all that stuff.  So I plan to watch a good movie on T.V. which I eventually end up missing due to the ( very expected ) unexpected powercuts. The plan's flopped again. I return to completing my assignments only to find that an important book is still inside the drawer of my study table. I go to fetch it and get a novel ( that I had stopped reading long ago) instead. And start reading it endlessly ( surprisingly falling in love with the story ). Suddenly I look at the clock and realize its almost evening time. I go out and breathe the fresh air and roam around the crowded market place. I come home late in the evening and then watch T.V. again. And I remember I have to complete my college work as well ; so I rush to my study table to do it. But this time, my computer grabs my attention and I go to meet my virtual friends. After an hour of tweeting/ orkutting/ facebook/ chatting , it's dinner time.
Almost the end of the day and at the 11th hour I finally start completing my work ( don't ask when I end it ). This is how I never end up sleeping on a Sunday night ; preparing for the week ahead and yet another Sunday's gone.....