Ring My Bell

Monday, 12th Dec 2011

11.00 PM

I’m woken up by the distinct vibration of my cell. I fish around for my cell. Find it under the pillow. The bright screen Saying  “DO”. Me thinking (in half awake, half asleep state): What should I DO?

Why had I set a reminder for DO?

After numerous recall attempts it finally dawns upon me that DO was a recursive acronym. DOS- Distibuted Operating Systems. Mistakenly DO.  I had set the reminder so that I would remember to get the text book (DOS)  from Mandeep Singh that morning, but the fool I am, I set it at 11 PM instead of 11 AM & type it DO.

Note to self: You’ve got to be fastidious while setting reminders henceforth.

11.15 PM

Went back to sleep.

12.00 AM

My ears again register that distinct vibrating sound of my cell. I again search for my cell. This time I find it on top of the book besides my pillow. Yeah! it is replaced by books during exam times in the hope that some of that incomprehensible stuff from the books percolates into my head.

Remember that law of Osmosis – When two bodies are kept in contact separated by a semi permeable membrane, the ions (or whatever) move from the region of high concentration to that of low concentration. No prizes for guessing the region of low concentration in my case.

Or in case god took pity on me (the chances of which are as rare as those of) KKR winning IPL, Indian Football team winning in any Worldcup.( I wish I could add Roger Fedrer losing his No.1 Ranking - After that impressive win on clay last week, I pray that he soon gets back his invincible position.  All the best Roger for Ronald Garros.) SRK getting an Oscar, BJP coming to power, Junior Bachchan delivering a hit movie.

Note to self: You’ve struck oil, stop drilling! You must really get rid of this habit.

Where was I ? Hmm…..Okay, so in case the god decided to help me I wanted to spare him the trouble of finding my coursebooks). Coming back to the main point- the cell. The little screen was delightfully glowing and announcing the birthday of my collegemate.

Note to self: Check the time before setting birthday reminders on cell. The Nokia 7210 cells by default schedule the reminders to 12 AM.

Now that I had woken up, I decided to wish her. Thus began my quest for finding a birthday message. I’m halfway through the inbox, but no success. I wish I could apply all those searching and sorting algorithms I had studied in Data Structure this year.

Note to self:  If I ever work as a computer engineer  first thing to design is software for cell phones that would allow searching the inbox with given keywords.

I finally found one birthday message. I sent it after doing a few modifications. It occurred to me that I could have composed the message myself and not taken all this trouble- too late I guess.

Note to self: Save time by self composing the messages next time onwards.

12.17 AM

Went back to sleep.

12.30 AM

Entry of  Vishal Tyagi (A sincere & responsible friend of my mine). Deep are you sleeping??? After pending 5 mins getting a single smoke he went away.

1.55 AM

Me in my dream world. Dreaming about an adventure trip in Shimla. (Wondering why of all places on earth I was dreaming of Shimla-Manali, read this). Thanks to my over zealous reading of adventure novels in childhood. The dream had us facing many obstacles like freezing cold temperatures, rocky mountains, rivers with no bridges, wild animals and yeah there were villains too. A group of greedy local businessmen who wanted to sell off that feather to foreign dealers. And the patriotic three of us trying to save our national Treasure.

Scene:

Me, the lady and military uncle sitting on ground. The map of the region spread in front of us. Military uncle explaining us our next strategy. The lady suggesting some corrections. Me admiring the beauty of the woods. Suddenly I hear my roomie asking me to wake up. I woke up startled. My first thought was that I had overslept. I desperately searched for my cell. I heave a huge sigh of relief when I see the time Its only 1.55 AM. Apparently my roomie couldn’t sleep because of the tension. So he woke up before the alarm rang. Me thinking: Look at him! How devoted and dedicated he is towards studies & Look at you! You’re dreaming of adventure trips!!!!

2.05 AM

Me studying in my room having an e-book of Tanenbum.

3.00 AM

I’m still studying *Applause* (It’s quite an accomplishment for me – usually I doze off on the table within 15 mins)  Another roomie (Anand) comes with some difficulty in a physics problem.  After struggling to study cryptography,  physics was the last thing I could ask for. I’m frustrated. I feign a smile to hide it. The problem ain’t easy. It takes me good 15 minutes in solving that problem. And another 15 minutes in explaining the solution to him. He gives me satisfied smug look. He goes back. I’m relieved. He comes back within 2 minutes with all his books. I look at him with a question mark. He asks a few more difficulties. My precious 1 hour is wasted. He feels offended when I tell him that I’m not gonna solve any more of his difficulties. I don’t care. I had an exam too.

4.15 AM

Me still studying. * Louder applause* All of a sudden it starts thundering and lightening and then comes the first shower of the season. I’m totally ecstatic. Tiny droplets of water falling on my hands through the balcony.

Cool breeze caressing my face. You’re getting the drift, don’t you?  But university electricity dept. decided to play a spoiler. They cut the power supply. The whole of the university is immersed in darkness.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - -- - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - -- - -

Poor me! I had lost the argument. I reluctantly get off my chair. And set out to en’lighten’ myself. We both resume studying.

4.45 AM

Power is restored back. I decide to take a short nap. I set the alarm. I go to sleep, hoping to continue my adventure trip. No longer had I slept, there was power failure again. All my dreams were shattered. (Sounds clichéd, but who cares, I wanted to dramatize the whole incident) I decide to study. I try some make-shift arrangement of newspapers. It crumbles down within 2 mins. I start thinking of other alternatives. Bingo! That very moment the current came back. Whoa! Finally the communication path between me and god has been restored back. But alas! Some supernatural force put a NOT gate in between. God hears the opposite of what I pray. Anyways, I start studying. I had 2 more modules to finish.

8.15 AM

Breakfast table. After having breakfast went to sleep again.

10.00 PM

Again entry of Vishal Tyagi. Deep you are still sleeping. Being fustrated again he went away.

00.10 PM

Wakeup. About to leave for xam. Like a dutiful child I take the blessings of god and my parents. My mom reminds me of the things I have to take. I realize that I have not taken the I-card. The worst part is that I don’t even remember where I had kept it. All three of us start searching for it. We decide to follow the Divide and Conquer strategy. I search my locker. Anand searches the table. Kartik is searching other places. Kartik  endlessly commenting on how irresponsible I am, how careless I am, how I had misplaced a zillion things in the past.

Finally after an extensive search of the entire room I remember keeping the I-card in a pocket of my pant. I felt so happy- I bet even Columbus wouldn’t have been so elated on finding America.

01.20 PM

Reached college. I get a migraine attack. I had got one before the last paper too. Screw the Alchemist. (Remember that proverb, everything that happens once, can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.) If something has to happen twice it got to happen once before – I guess this proverb is most probably invented by Paulo Coelho himself. (I didn’t even have the tablets last time and I had to answer my paper with that terrible headache – no wonder I screwed it.)

01.30 PM

The paper started. Till then the headache had subsided and it was just a mild pain.

04.10 PM

The paper is a bit lengthy. I am yet to solve two questions. Both of 5 marks each. I start with the easier one. Half way through it and my memory fails me. I just can’t remember the remaining answer. Before I could start the next question, the bell rings. Me trying my best to write every single letter I could. The supervisor (Hate her) snatches the answer booklet from my hands.

04.30 PM

The paper is over. Me feeling a bit sad for the paper. Wait Not a bit – a hell lot sad. The headache starts again. I was still feeling happy somewhere that the paper got over.

04.45 PM

Came hostel. Caught a movie on Lapy. Movie is : The Village. I had earlier Watched Sixth Sense and had liked it. Thought it would be good too. Turns out crap.

07.30 PM

I’m supposed to be studying for next paper Multimedia. Somehow I’m not feeling like studying. That explains why I have been writing this post for the past two hour.

PS: I had written this post on Tuesday  night, but the net wasn't working, so couldn't t post it.

PS: The format of the post is inspired by this post. A bit of copyright infringement chalta hai :)