22 Crossroads

Hello KGP In all probability this is the last blog written/posted from KGP. I started blogging after I came to KGP, and it’s been five years of rambling for me, and just somehow as I get ready to pack my computer for one last time, this turns out to be the 50th post on 22 Crossroads. Five Years. Five years can do a lot to you. They can make you well up at a stupid farewell ceremony holding a stupid cup in your hand trying to make sense of some stupid words while kids around you chant 'speech speech'. Well, goodbyes are full of clichés -- it’s the end of an era, life will never be the same. And as Myth pointed out in his blog ( link ) , Life outside Puri gate is a bitch . Five Years. I started writing this blog on the day Sanjay Da, while serving, in the mess said, 'Aaj mere haath ka akhiri fish hai. Fir na aap rahiyega, na hum rahenge'. He always used to save a good (if not the best) piece of fish for me, and well, so the sento nerve was struck. Thank You Sanjay Da and ...

Top 2 ON. Baby ON !! 4 years. 7 events. It’s been a long journey ... one filled with roadblocks, preconceived notions, mindsets and apprehensions. For you I have been a long haired devil, a fat bare-chested cannibal, a camouflage-trousered terrorist and a bald megalomaniac. In these 7 events I have probably managed a total of 7 different expression at max (you know where I tilt my head a little, open my eyes big, then rotate the head in a plane and them smell something weird :P (watch 6:10 to 6:20 of this video for reference) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9BvDtiD7gg ). A loudspeaker in my vocal chords and my audacious experiments with hair has been my saving grace as an actor. I have been as lethargic a director (Mythun will vouch for that) as I have been whimsical -- cracking jokes and shouting at people within 5 minutes of each other. But, I have dreamt and fortunately seen some of them come true (we pulled off a f***ing MUSICAL dude). Yes, in 2006 Patel Drams was a dream -- 1 Bron...

1. JEE counseling brochure 2. Morrison and Boyd 3. Constitution of the Patel Hall 4. Half a bottle of Kahlua 5. Manuscript of two 13 year old poems (written in 97-98) 6. Script of "The Pie and the Tart" and "Me Against Myself" 7. Secretary election funda diary 8. A half written ____-letter ish thingy [;)] 9. A bottle of hair oil (yes from those times) 10. Load Runner Quarter Final Result Sheet 11. This photograph Top-10(+1) things found while cleaning the room.

If you thought that the CTE wing write up would be about heaving praises on its occupants .... Before we go any further, acquaint yourself with the following diagram. You would have to come back to it a lot. Anuj Anuj’s room is the party hub. Be it new years, be it birthdays, be it placements, and be it scholarships. If there is a reason to celebrate, it is being celebrated and it is being celebrated in his room. There is always enough stockpile of non-spurious alcohol for everyone. There is always enough music. And of course there’s his group of alcoholic anonymous (refer Fig. 1). They come, they see and they conquer all the potable water in the wing. (Aside: The author does not mind that as long as they support United). While we have never seen him do anything even remotely academic, he had somehow kept a sub-7 CG but accumulated a string of scholarships and internships for himself. Of course if your area of interest is lalaland, then he is the authority to talk to. This small man h...

Classroom Girl by ~ ritwik-mango on deviant ART What started as a doodle in a classroom [link] ended up becoming this. This is my first attempt at coloring in Photoshop. Had to refer to quite a few tutorials. Not great, I knw ... but I hope it is not that bad for a first attempt. #1: My sincerest apologies to the girl. Firstly for sketching her without her permission. Secondly, for doing a bad job of it. #2: also for getting the clip wrong. Since i could not draw a clutcher, I replaced it with a back clip. #3: and the hair color is wrong as well. Cos i could not get proper shades in black.

An Open Letter to the Scholar’s Avenue Team (In Response to your cover article in Feb 24 Issue) since an e-copy was not available I could not post a link Let me begin by saying that, on the face of it, I am both saddened and upset by this article. Upset by the twisted interpretation of the facts. Saddened because the article portrays the Soc-n-Cult GC as demon that it certainly isn’t. LOST IN SPIRIT – the title of the article offends me – both as a participant and as (perhaps) the most hated face in gymkhana sub-coms. As a participant I have seen examples of this very spirit being upheld on many occasions. I have seen the entire Netaji Auditorium applaud a performance, not once – but twice. I have seen actors and performers being the first ones to go out and congratulate their opponents after a good show. I do not disagree with the fact that the GC is witness to its fair share of chaos. What is baffling is that the author has assumed a moral high ground without checking the facts. You...

Impulsive blogs are a bad idea -- I know that, still ..... First of all this is not a Choreo blog ... this is not a GC 2009 blog ... this blog is about "Patel and Me" " Patel and Me " -- is naam pe Sandy aur main dono hi book likhne waale the. Book ka to pata nahi ... All I know is one thing: In my first year, jab mujhe Patel allot hua tha .... then many people (non patelian) said "Patel is a sports hall. Wahan Soc-Cult ka kuchh nahi ... baas bamboo kar ke tere se sports karwayenge" .... and I somehow believed that. It's been 3 years since then. And today, perhaps only a handful of people know WHAT A CHOREO GOLD FEELS LIKE??? (Yo Bish for that ... i seriosly dint beleive that you could pull it off ... You dont know how grateful I am at being proven wrong for once.) This blog is not for comments ... this is not for poetry .... this is not for compliments .... this is not for awesomeness. This blog is for Sandy. and to my partners in crime over the last...

I present here my bestest digital art creation ever. Its a poster made for Robotix 2009. Inspired by a lot of grunge artwork, the background alone took more than 4 hours in the making. The background was made from scratch using just 4 stock images (that can be seen on the 4 corners). Once the background was done, the 09 (yellow/orange) part took the maximum time -- close to 1.5 hours. It is my most detailed work ever with a lot of time spent in getting proper text shadow for maximum legibility. And finally it is among the very few artwork that looks better in print than on screen (usually it is the other way round). Grunge by ~ ritwik-mango on deviant ART The background alone looks something like this Grunge Poster background by ~ ritwik-mango on deviant ART

Won my first individual event ever in college. Since no one else was blowing my horn, decided to do that myself. So here is my gold winning speech :) Since you might get bored half way through the speech, let me thank the people who need to be thanked right now itself: Apurva, Myth, Zoo, Xar, Kamra, Harsha and even Bishnoi :) Motion: Increasing national security and surveillance is a cosmetic response to any extremist activity in a democratic and tolerant society . :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Let me start with a very clichéd “Picture this”. I am a 7 year old boy and I behave like any 7 year old does. I hate milk and I throw a tantrum when I see a glass full of that filthy white thing. As a seven year old I probably don’t know the words tantrum and filthy, but this ignorance does not save me from the wrath of my father. He takes less than 45 seconds to get that milk down my throat. I certainly don’t like it. Thankfully, sometime later my mother explains to me why I need that milk if ...

What is it guys and their idea of expression? No wonder cell phone and greeting card companies have to turn to women when they want to say, “Express yourself.” The older a boy gets the more he becomes aware of the fact that other humans of the same gender are not to be spoken of in an affectionate way. There were times when we too had best friends . These were the boys like us with whom we shared our lunch at school. These were the boys who helped us with our homework, and these were the very same boys who picked up fights for you in the playground when you were not strong enough to stand for yourself. As we got to our early teens, these boys were the confidantes who were the first to learn of our secret crushes. And at times these boys were the pigeons carrying mush-infested paper balls to and from these secret crushes. They were our best friends. Then through some freak of nature these boys became men. And then somehow there were no best friends . Girls still have their best fr...

Another Magazine Cover This time for the 2008 edition of the Hall Magazine .. I dont know why I did it ... when I was not supposed to. Maybe this is what my friends call in their own language, My Unexplainable Love for Photoshop. Patelian Cover I by ~ ritwik-mango on deviant ART Photo Courtesy : Abhinav Sarkar [ Flickr Link ]

Continuing with the graphics thing ... a few posters i did in the last 4-5 days for our Hall Day - PATEL UTSAV and associated event Rang Barse. Utsav - Poster I by ~ ritwik-mango on deviant ART Rang Barse - Poster by ~ ritwik-mango on deviant ART Utsav - Poster II by ~ ritwik-mango on deviant ART Comments anticipated :D

My message to the team ..... “If I need a cause for celebration Or a comfort I can use to ease my mind I rely on my imagination And I dream of an imaginary time.” That imaginary time has become real … When everything's been said and done.... When words run out ... and so does your ability to invent new ones to suit the moment To honor it ... to savor it What do you say ... it’s not the first time that I have been in this situation That night u guys asked for one line ... well keeda never speaks a single line ... and again well as i said I just write my blog So, what do I say about such an astonishing fest and such a great group of people ... well for one ... it was more than about just a fest ... more than about 546 teams and 1500 participants ....more than about 2 odd lakhs spent on it ... more than 4 dog tiring days and nights ... much much more than that. It was about self belief ... it was about a dream ... a dream come true in much bigger proport...

I expect the DC++ hoggers already know about "Three KGPians day out", well here is a new version of it. Four days before the end sem exams, and on the eve of the day which has three tests in store for them, three KGPians, decided to go out for a late night snack. Actually there wasnt much decision involved except for the place where they would be willing to hog down stuff. The local canteen won on the grounds that being the nearest, they would be WASTING much lesser time if they went there. The guftagu began, after the initial rite of ordering your stuff. Two Bread Butters, one beg sandwich, and a cup of tea. No maggie, no chowmein -- seriosly these people were low on budget. Before we get any further into their actual conversation, lets name the three dramatis personae. On account of confidentiality, they have requested that they be known by aliases. So lets call them MyTh, Quark and manGO. As the three waited for the food to arrive, manGO being in a counter reflective mood ...

The following text contains material that may be unsuited for certain audiences. Reader discretion is recommended. Language in itself has been one of the most elusive subjects of this world. The language being a prerequisite for its own study makes it very interesting as well tricky. Tracking the growth of a language, its formations, changes, adaptations over the ages is many-a-time more difficult than say tracking the evolution chart of a species. Language evolves by itself, not necessarily by Darwinian principle of natural selection. Even local dialects develop and reform words to suit their usage in modified contexts. In other cases, a localized centre, which may be secluded as an entity, starts using words in varying connotations. Normal words take on different meaning when you cross the social boundary of such a centre. At times, whole new words are invented, with their meanings being ingenious and weird and sometimes outrageous. It is here, at one of such social islands that l...

Hmmm.... well I am just back from the exam hall. Usually I choose to say as little about these two or three hours as possible. But today I have got a few things to say. Now I am one of those who take pride in not having any Examination blues. There nothing to worry man.If you've prepared (and that may include all kind of preparation) ... well then you will do more or less well, otherwise not. So I welcome my exams with a sense of humor. The concept of exam is more or less lost on me. Perhaps the only fathomable reason I can come up with is that if there were no exams, people would not stop their AOEs, CSs, Orkuts, FIFAs and some other things which I better not mention here. So this is kind of fasting from our regular passions that we observe during this apparently loaded and morose period. Okay, so much for my general musing. So what happened today that has got me spurting all this nonsense? Well, here's an advice for your next exam. Stay away from girls. Don't sit beside t...