Back To College .. Graduate now

“You can take students out of IIIT but you cannot take IIIT out of students”.
– PJN at farewell

The quote was upgraded to Indians and India by the CSIR director yesterday, who happened to be the Chief guest at the Convocation. His speech was the high point of the function, and after a long time I spent half an hour, listening to a 60 year old , talk about Indian economy and brain drain and the new definition for IT – “Indian Talent”. The other high point ( ok .. I know that there is supposed to be just one high point .. but this is worth mentioning ) was the time I went up to recieve my degree, shook hands with diro and posed for the camera. Of course I wanted to finish all this as soon as possible. Not that I was very eager to get my degree, but posing for cameras just is’nt my USP. But apparently, the cameraman had other ideas. I always thought that the Nike Catch Line “Just Do It” was cool, but somehow it made more sense that moment ( on a personel note .. the word “please ..” after the catch line would have been more appropriate at that moment). I am pretty sure even the diro was uncomfortable with the company he had, and the cameraman took full 10 seconds to do something that requires one single motion of his index finger – “Click” .. yeah .. thatz it .. “Thank You” ( meant more for the cameraman than our diro) .. I am pretty sure diro felt the same.
We were paraded twice before the audience, once for recieving the degre and once for formally granting the degree. Aneway, the good thing about this audience was, there were a few enthus amongst them, who needed a seconds’ silence to start clapping. So the seconds’ silence after my name was being called, or the silence after diro said “You students deserve this degree was the four years of hard work that you have put in” ( Hard Word ?? .. we hardly worked ..) and after chief guests’ ” IT should stand for Indian Talent” ( Good one .. ) gave them enough oppertunities to exercise their hands. Some of us thought that may be some people were paid to clap at every given oppertunity and the more you clap, the more you earn. Whatever it was, the noise was deafening at some points.
Back to friends after a long time, and we had enough time to catch up with the what’s going on in their lives. I am having trouble, not naming people here .. so let me just use the following nicks – Person O ( working in Oracle ), person M ( doing MS ) and person V ( working in Verizon ..hey .. I am not V ). Ok as the story goes, O has found a certain Ms. W ( yeah .. you got it .. Wipro ), he says he is not senti about her, but he is’nt the not-senti type. I am pertty sure, he is in love which is pretty evident from his face everytime I talk about W. Mr. M has found a certain Ms. F ( F stands for doing MS in Unoversity of Florida ), and he is very senti about her. So senti that all he can talk about is F. Our conversation on Convo went like this ..
Me- Hi M
M – Hey khare .. wish me good luck man ..
ME – abe you are not graduating .. what do you need luck for
M – are not about graduating .. about F
Me- ok ok .. ohh yeah .. all the best
M – It feels great man .. to be in Love
Me – Yeah .. I know .. must feel great
M – I wish I was with her .. all the time
Me – Yeah …I know .. must feel great
M – You know I love her Sooooooo much
Me – Yeah .. i know .. must feel great
M – I think I should continue my MS from Florida .. if I don’t get through .. i don’t know how I can live without her ..
Me – yeah .. i know ..Must feel great ..
M – What ?? what great .. I am sad .. she is leaving for Florida ..
Me – .. oohh ok ok .. yeah I know .. must feel sad ..
M – Yeah I am .. but I am happy for her .. she will do well there
Me – yeah I know .. must feel sad ..
M – What sad ?? Are you even listening ..
Me – Hey M .. V is calling .I got to go man .. will talk to u later ..
M – ok ok .. it’s fine . but get in touch man ..
Me- .. Yeah .. sure .. ( and almost .. somehow .. these words fell out of my mouth ) yeah I know .. must feel sad ..
M left looking at me as though he was looking at F’s future husband.

Aneway .. back to mainstream .. Mr. V has found someone in Chennai ( I did’nt know that because V is’nt living with us) . Let’s call her Ms. C ( No idea what her name/location/age is . so C is Chennai ). Apparently C is total V-type, and those of you who know V would understand what that means ;)).

With all this I have come to a decisive conclusion. My Son’s name has to start with R. If you are wondering why .. you need to know the real names of these O, M, and V .. which I can’t disclose. But apparently, R Rocks. I wish I was Ruthkarsh .. :))