Back in 2005 ...

Those were the good ol'days when our ass froze when we stepped out of the car to eat sizzling hot kebabs. Back in 2005, just graduated from high school, feeling all pumped up, we could do anything! Nothing seemed impossible, someone wanted to be an Engineer, Doctor, Businessman. I, on the other hand wanted to enjoy that moment, no more studies for a bit. While others were busy making important decisions of their life, I was getting drunk and eating kebabs all night long with my friends.

I had my scooter, my alcohol and my headphones, that's all I needed. Everyone was too scared to ride with me cause I used to ride with headphones on and without a rear view mirror, riding at speeds upto 115 km/h. Yes, I know what you are thinking, it's insane, I know it is!

Me and my friends would pull up our car in one of the hotspots where we got served food and drinks in the car. Sitting there in the car, high on alcohol, to think of it, at that stage in life I wasn't introduced to the legendary weed, I wonder if it was a good thing back then!!

My gang, Nikhil, Aman, Rohit and myself, religiously would catch up in the evening and decide the plan for the night. We had no stress on our minds, I was not bothered where I was going to land up so decided to make the most of the current situation, Nikhil was going to go to a college in Delhi, he's the intelligent bastard in our group. Then it was Aman, who had gotten in DU for bachelors in Commerce, he was happy while Rohit was just not sure what he wanted to do in life, be with Nalin or do his engineering.

Then I had the breakthrough, I got admission into a college in Punjab. I was happy and upset at the same time, its a weird feeling. I was nervous as I had never stayed away from home. Was not sure what to expect so was just taking it easy till the time I could.
Next thing I realize, I'm in Punjab, totally lost, not sure what I was doing, got an asshole roomie in the hostel who didn't wanna talk. I figured right then, it wasn't going to be good. Eventually I made more friends, the beginning of a new phase of life. A whole new level of being high was encountered by all, mind you, weed is still not in the picture. Being the guy from the metropolitan city, I was full of stories that everyone wanted to hear. People would listen to me as if they were kids listening to bed time stories, I bullshitted whatever I wanted .. no one really questioned me on anything.

Then came the time which everyone dreaded, ragging! Seniors barged into the room, lined us up against the wall and made us do the most random shit. I'm contemplating whether I should go into details here, I'd rather not. (Don't wanna be banned by blogger for writing wierd stuff.)
After a while I realized my potential of acting as a senior and ragging them, take my word I exploited it to the limit. Ragged every kid who walked through the doors of the college. Later on I figured that I wasn't the only one doing that, I was apparently ragged by a junior. I still feel like a jackass thinking about that moment.

Slogged our ass all day in the college, sweating in those burning rooms trying to learn chemistry and physics, till date the lecturers don't realise that no one cares what they teach! They go on like a recorded tape, on and on, for hours together. We couldn't wait to get out of those rooms for a sip of water or to grab a bite to eat, and once we were out, that was our chance to skip the classes for the rest of the day, even though all of us knew that we would have to answer the lecturer next morning. We would get back to our rooms in the evening, the walk to the dorms seemed endless. Someone would take a shortcut while someone would ride the three-wheeler vehicle to the hostel. On the way, we enjoyed the view of the girls hostel, well that was the only good part of the walk anyway.
We all knew that our 'real' life was back in the hostel, every evening we would get together and have drinks, eat dinner and not care about studies. We got high, drunk, wasted, possibly every level we could get to. I was tagged as 'the tank' by my friends once they realized I would not get drunk very easily. I have a great capacity of alcohol consumption, I would easily gulp down a beer in 4 seconds, that's my record. We occasionally ordered food from the near-by 'dhaba' (we all were the cheap people in the hostel), hot food with butter on it, my mouth still waters when I remember that food. Sharing is caring is something that we didn't believe in, everyone was a selfish bastard back then, :P well everyone had all the reasons to be one.

Time went by as I didn't realize we were 4 months into the semester already. I got tensed by the coursework I had to catch up for due to my daily drinking sessions. But then next thing I realize, my student visa for Australia got accepted and I was to fly to Melbourne in less than a months time. I was so excited, not cause I was going to Melbourne, but cause I was not to give any exams for that semester. While others were studying, I would listen to music and enjoy my drinks, it was an awesome feeling!

Soon after I was back in Delhi and realized I had a huge task ahead of me. Packing, shopping, preparing, paperwork .. phew! I was already tired, even the list wasn't complete as yet. Eventually we got all that done and I bid my friends good bye and left for the airport. When I departed from Delhi, I realized I had crossed the point of no return, there was no turning back now. I could not hijack the plane and force the pilot to fly me back cause I was too scared to go to a new country. That's when I figured, good days were gone, but hopefully more were to come in the next chapter of my life.

High school recollections

Most of what I remember from my schooling in India is getting late for school and shitty homework that we were loaded with every evening ..

Here are some of the pictures that I digg'd out from my computer, each of them is a slice of time captured with a history to it!

I don't remember what grade this was, but all of us were very excited to get this photo clicked. It was to mark the end of year so to say!

This is a picture from the end of schooling party at a club in New Delhi.
L-R : Sid, Rishabh, me

"My Gang" (with one less member)
L-R: Rohit (Patthar), Nikhil (any swear word that pops into your head), me (TD), Aman (Sardar)


Our driving experiences, I'm the qualified serial killer driver (Right), next in Line is Aman(left) and Rohit(Center) doesn't qualify to drive the car with us because he used to fantasize himself doing a car whenever he saw a Honda Accord pass by.