My stock of the run of the mill stories had come to an end and nothing insinuated that anything consequential would ensue immediately. Not at least something that i would like to exult or whoop about. Consequently the blogging got disrupted and the language blighted. So today i have coaxed myself to drilling into my last decade and find something ad rem to this blog.
On the vertex of the ad absurdum ( excuse the profuse use of Latin, this is what happens when i don't write for a long time, i forget English !!! ) were the " two nights spent on the pavements of Delhi in December". This dates back( the usage suggests it was quite a while back) to the time when I was learning German at the Goethe Institute New Delhi. The first two Semesters of learning German were very naive and jejune, we would grab on everything that would come out of the teacher's mouth and fervently jot down anything said with the slightest stress. The third Semester was the first most important Semester where we write the first International Exam known as "Zertifikat Deutsch". The number of seats were however reduced considerably. instead of running three batches only one batch was scheduled, and only early birds were going to catch the worm. There is no dearth of ingenious brains and someone came up with the dazzling idea of taking attendance every hour. Those who miss the attendance would have to start all over again. Fair enough ! the registration at GI would start at only nine in the morning and it was decided that the attendance would start at 1600 hours of the previous evening !!! This was December 2004 and we were almost a group of 50 students for vying for 20 to 25 seats.
In Economics all theories hold good when certain factors Remain Constant, here also the idea seemed enticing: weather, cold night, lack of a warm quilt and absence of food Not Considered( better defined as forgotten). I was staying at my mausi's ( aunt's) house and when i narrated her the plan she totally dismissed it as some scatterbrained scheme and refused me point blank. I was in no way going to spend the night on the pavement outside GI ( did i mention the Administration had completely refused to be a part of this adventure!!!). Some emotional speech and repeated assurances from classmates finally convinced her to allow me spending the night on the road.
The first few hours were quite delightful. We were thrilled at the audacity of our plan, the amazing chat shops of Connaught Circus were open and we devoured them every hour after attendance. As i said it was a very competent group and had come geared with cricket and badminton gear as well. By 2000 hours we were engaging curious looks of those passing the KG Road, some were not able to conceal their curiosity and even stopped their cars to ask, as to what we were agitating about !!! Regular police patrols were also there. So far so good.
The first signs of the dire straits kicked in when we the temperature started dropping and all over the place we could hear teeth chattering thats when we got the hang of the famous Delhi Winter. All desperate times call for desperate measures and it was definitely one one those frantic times. People started taking out the petrol out of their cars and started burning whatever they could find on the street. How were they planning to get back home was not a primary concern at that time. The most memorable was when a few of the guys even tried snatching a blanket from a beggar sleeping under a bus shelter. By this time hunger had also pitched in. Only one of us stayed in that neighborhood. One can easily imagine his mother's plight when asked to provide snacks for around fifty people.
As if this affliction was not enough. It started pouring down heavily and aggravated our miseries. the cars were scarce and we had nowhere to go. It was one of the longest night and just didn't seem to end. the dawn was even cooler, but we were by now so depleted that it had even stopped affecting us any more. At 0900 hours the registration office opened and by this time only 30 of us who had survived. The teacher smiled at my disheveled state and tried to finish off the registration in the shortest time possible. I reached home overwrought, bunked office slept the whole day long and joined the class the next day with the remaining 24 class mates:)))
I had to undergo this ordeal once more during the 6th Semester but after that the GI streamlined the Registration process,and there was no more need for an hourly attendance. well what can i say a lot of people who joined later just missed out on a lot of fun and adventure !!!It think its very rightly said that you never realize when you are making a memory, i think it was just one of those times.
Gruesse
suyasha
On the vertex of the ad absurdum ( excuse the profuse use of Latin, this is what happens when i don't write for a long time, i forget English !!! ) were the " two nights spent on the pavements of Delhi in December". This dates back( the usage suggests it was quite a while back) to the time when I was learning German at the Goethe Institute New Delhi. The first two Semesters of learning German were very naive and jejune, we would grab on everything that would come out of the teacher's mouth and fervently jot down anything said with the slightest stress. The third Semester was the first most important Semester where we write the first International Exam known as "Zertifikat Deutsch". The number of seats were however reduced considerably. instead of running three batches only one batch was scheduled, and only early birds were going to catch the worm. There is no dearth of ingenious brains and someone came up with the dazzling idea of taking attendance every hour. Those who miss the attendance would have to start all over again. Fair enough ! the registration at GI would start at only nine in the morning and it was decided that the attendance would start at 1600 hours of the previous evening !!! This was December 2004 and we were almost a group of 50 students for vying for 20 to 25 seats.
In Economics all theories hold good when certain factors Remain Constant, here also the idea seemed enticing: weather, cold night, lack of a warm quilt and absence of food Not Considered( better defined as forgotten). I was staying at my mausi's ( aunt's) house and when i narrated her the plan she totally dismissed it as some scatterbrained scheme and refused me point blank. I was in no way going to spend the night on the pavement outside GI ( did i mention the Administration had completely refused to be a part of this adventure!!!). Some emotional speech and repeated assurances from classmates finally convinced her to allow me spending the night on the road.
The first few hours were quite delightful. We were thrilled at the audacity of our plan, the amazing chat shops of Connaught Circus were open and we devoured them every hour after attendance. As i said it was a very competent group and had come geared with cricket and badminton gear as well. By 2000 hours we were engaging curious looks of those passing the KG Road, some were not able to conceal their curiosity and even stopped their cars to ask, as to what we were agitating about !!! Regular police patrols were also there. So far so good.
The first signs of the dire straits kicked in when we the temperature started dropping and all over the place we could hear teeth chattering thats when we got the hang of the famous Delhi Winter. All desperate times call for desperate measures and it was definitely one one those frantic times. People started taking out the petrol out of their cars and started burning whatever they could find on the street. How were they planning to get back home was not a primary concern at that time. The most memorable was when a few of the guys even tried snatching a blanket from a beggar sleeping under a bus shelter. By this time hunger had also pitched in. Only one of us stayed in that neighborhood. One can easily imagine his mother's plight when asked to provide snacks for around fifty people.
As if this affliction was not enough. It started pouring down heavily and aggravated our miseries. the cars were scarce and we had nowhere to go. It was one of the longest night and just didn't seem to end. the dawn was even cooler, but we were by now so depleted that it had even stopped affecting us any more. At 0900 hours the registration office opened and by this time only 30 of us who had survived. The teacher smiled at my disheveled state and tried to finish off the registration in the shortest time possible. I reached home overwrought, bunked office slept the whole day long and joined the class the next day with the remaining 24 class mates:)))
Gruesse
suyasha
