My Videos.Part 2.College Days



Everyone likes his/her college days.So do I.I had some memorable moments both with my college mates and my friends during the 4 years I spent in Hyderabad. Here are some videos I made during those 4 years.

 

1.The below video was taken during our college Freshers day.Thanks to our seniors we had lots of fun on that day and got to know many of our classmates and seniors.One guy named Ehatareen nearly made mincemeat of my feet when he accidentally stepped on them during his dance.



 





2.A trip to the historic city of Bidar was done in the second year.APSRTC buses,autos,donkey driven carts we used them all in this trip.Not to forget one wonderful Andhra meals we had in a roadside dhaba.

 

3.Then followed a trip to Bijapur where we saw the mighty Gol Gumbaz.One of the rare times when I acted crazy in public.My friend Ameen and myself shoted random meaningless stuff when we were in the whispering alley at the top of the Gol Gumbaz.

'Master ji papaji ki patloon do bilang choti kardo' was the most repeated one.

 

3.Another trip to Bhongir Fort.Sitting at the top of the hill overlooking the town of bhongir,my friend Rahmath and I had a thoughtful conversation parts of which I still remember.

 

 

4.'Adsophos' was our college fest and it was 2 days of full fun.When I was in second year I was a volunteer for an event and when Adsophos came again in fourth year I organized that same event.It felt quite good.





 

5.All good things come to an end.In the last days of our fourth year we had a wonderful party at Alankrita Resorts.The cricket match and dip in the pool were the highlights.

 

 

The following videos are about the trips I had with my childhood friends during my college days.

 

1.Nearby our colony in Aswapuram we have this wonderfully secluded lake called Tummalacheruvu. We visited it once and this video is a personal favorite. 



 

2.In my second year I visited suryapet where three of my close friends were doing their engineering.

This video is a compilation of that trip and another trip we did.



 

3.In my second year I visited my friend's place in karimnagar where he was doing his engineering. I visited the mallangoor fort there.One of the toughest climbs I did before Roopkund happened.

 

6.This was perhaps the best trip our gang of friends had till date.8 out of 9 were present and we had some serious fun in vizag.

 

7.This was about Ananthagiri Hills near Hyderabad.Of all the videos I have made till date this has the highest views on Youtube.

 

 



I made a number of other videos during this time about our school and other stuff.I will post them in the next part.If my videos remind you of any memorable incidents please I implore you to either comment below or maybe message me.

My videos.Part 1.School Days.

In my 12th class my brother bought a Digital camera.My brother is a lover of technology in general and photography in particular.So keeping in view his interest with photography he wanted a digital camera having gotten bored with Dad's Yashica and his own Kodak.As for me I was interested in other things.But this digital camera caught my fancy like no other at that time.In addition to taking pics I loved its video taking capability.I took many videos with it.Then I edited them,added some music and made a complete product.These videos of my friends that I made back then remain my best help whenever I feel nostalgic about those times.

Here in this post I present to you some of my earliest videos.

1.Back in my 12th my friends and I hit upon the idea of making a short movie.This was long before the short movie craze took over the entire country.We shot many scenes but ultimately had to abandon the whole thing because we simply couldn't control our laughter whenever the camera rolled.From whatever videos we did have I made this trailer for our movie.This was the first edited video I made and uploaded on my channel in YouTube. This was uploaded in August of 2008.

2.My friends and I formed a gang back in our 9th class but we only started hanging out together and doing stuff in our 11th and 12th class.In connection with the above movie we were to make I thought we will be needing a cool intro for the movie.Even though the movie idea was abandoned I made an intro video nevertheless.Here it is.

3.The below video was made in the spur of the moment.We shot some really good videos of us riding our bikes around the colony and I felt the need to compile them together with a nice song in the background.The result is below.

4.In our 12th class we had a little picnic in the surrounding hills of our colony.This video is about it.

I have since those days made many other videos.Most of them have been about travel and a few were about college.I will be posting them in the following posts.

When my article got published in 'The Hindu' (School days)

King Solomon's Mines is one of my all time favorites.It was one of the books responsible for starting in me a desire for travel.I wrote a brief review about it back in by Intermediate days.The actual article was largely edited and the result was considerably different from what I wrote.But nonetheless I was and still am happy that my article got published in 'The Hindu'

5 Changes I would like to see in Indian railways.

Here are Five changes that I would like to see in Indian railways.


1-There should be a complete overhaul of the classes that exist in our Railways.I think that there is a huge gap between a sleeper class and 3A.Indian Railways should introduce a new class between Sleeper and 3A.Something which is more comfortable and has bit more amenities.No need of AC just basics.

2-The maintenance of toilets of all classes should be improved dramatically.The trains already have a rocking motion ,add to that the unclean toilets and the lack of basic facilities like a proper jug,a faucet and hooks to hang stuff on,the task of going to an train toilet is the stuff of nightmares.

3-More number of Chair car and 2s bogies should be added in most of the trains.Personally I think Indian Railways underestimates the potential of Chair cars and 2s classes.

4-Food quality has to be improved.I have seen tea vendors selling tea in makeshift vessels.I have even seen one guy with a half cut bisleri bottle using it as a funnel.One look and you are no more hungry.

5-Start another system of booking tickets between the normal booking and tatkal.Maybe at double the price and at a weeks advance.

Bonus-Introduce a host for every train.Someone along the lines of a Airhostess.Someone who would help the people with any minor problems like getting their blankets,food, or any other needs.

There is never a perfect time for doing anything!

Just do it!

This has to be one of the best advice ever!

Before you read further let me just put this-Whatever I say here is my opinion and though I am a rookie part time traveller I have travelled quite a bit.

Quite a few people have asked me how I manage time between my work and travelling.I always say the same thing.I prioritize things and when I make a goal I try to execute it as soon as possible.I have consciously tried to remove the word 'dekhenge' from my word.If I want to visit a particular place I immediately make a tentative plan regarding it.I don't say to myself ' zindagi bakhi hai.dekhte hai'  

My advice to all those people who have a passion to do anything is - Just do it.Don't make excuses.You like sketching.Do it once in a while atleast. Don't blame 'time'.You like photography but don't have a good camera? No problem at least start with your camera phone.Just don't sit around and make poor excuses saying you would have surely been a good photographer if you had a good camera.

And remember in life something or the other comes up everytime.Do it regardless.There never will be a perfect time for doing the things you like.You have to make compromises and start doing.If you wait for the perfect time,you will never actually get to do the things you like.

In case of unavoidable circumstances may be you can back off for the time being.Step back and try later.Lose the battle but try to win the war.

One of my friends has been thinking of buying a bike for a long time now.Two years to be exact.And he gives the same standard replies if queried about this bike.''I am confused between two models''.''I am confused about the price''.''I am confused about this''.''I am in doubt about that''.''Something has come up''.It goes on.Two major things lacking in people, that I have observed, are 

1.Resolve

2.A plan 

If you wish to do something be determined to do it and make a plan about it.People underestimate the process of making a plan.I mentioned in a previous post about planning.You can read it here.

Personally I make plans for even the smallest of things.Like I made a plan last month about writing this post.And here I am.That goal is accomplished.

This post was inspired by two reasons

1-The number of questions people were asking me about my juggling of my hobbies and work

2-Two individuals in my friend circle who frustrate me the most.They have the talent and the mindset to do wonderful things and all they do is make excuses about why they don't DO the stuff that they only TALK about.This post is for them.

Maa,meri maa,mamma!

              My mom sat on the floor .I rested my head on her lap.The warm sunlight overhead was streaming in falling on us.My mother started telling me a story.The kind of stories that only mothers know.The comfortable place of my head on her lap,the soothing kind of way she was telling the story and the warm sunlight overhead combined to lull me into a sort of dreamy sleep. As I drifted into sleep I could half consciously hear her words slowly disappearing into oblivion.I slept,in that space and time,like I had no care in the world.

               That was in my childhood when my whole family lived at one place in one home.Those were the best days of my life.

              I now live some 1000 km away from home,away from mom.Sometimes I get dreams where I am back in home, back with mom.Awaking from such kind of dreams is the hardest.Though I go home to mom every 3 or 4 months I still find it difficult to adjust to a life without my family.

                My mom is the epitome of patience.I have seen no other person with the kind of patience that she has.I have never seen her lose her temper at housemaids even after their worst behavior.And sometimes when we have some some minor arguments,no matter how angry she is, she still comes back before sleeping and asks if we had enough food.

                 During our school days she used to walk all the way from our home to school to give us our lunch.She was always the one to buy us expensive toys.I remember my visits to our local shopping center to buy stuff.We always came back with lots of things to eat.And sometimes when she went alone I used to wait in home,along with my siblings, for the goodies.She never failed in bringing them. Even these days whenever I visit home she is the first one to go out to the nearby market to bring goodies for me.She doesn't wait for my brother or father to do so.Like my dad says she is an ocean of love.

                    In one Korean drama that I saw it was said that if you love someone one of the best things that you can do for them is cook something for them with love.A mother does this everyday.She cooks delicious dishes with love and care and we ungrateful kids whine and complain.In Islam we have this principle that one shouldn't say even an 'uf' in front of one's parents.

                    As an aside here is an interesting incident that happened with my uncle.One time my uncle ( my mom's brother) was at home in Hyderabad.He works in Saudi Arabia and sends money home to my grandma.One day some guy made a  snide remark at my uncle saying that his mother is wasting his money here in India while he works hard in Saudi. My uncle replied with the quote of the century.He said ''she is my mother.She can literally burn the notes if she wants to''

I have engraved these lines on the slate of my brain and I keep reminding myself about them from time to time.

No amount of words can ever be sufficient for the praise my mom rightly deserves.

Sometimes I wonder 'For such a good mom am I a good son?'

AECS 10th 2006 Graduates.Part 2-High School (6th,7th and 8th class)

High School days

6th Class

               After my 5th class was completed I was very excited about going to High School.It felt good.It felt like I was a big kid now.Compared to my 5th I remember a lot of things about 6th class.There were a total of 6 sections starting from 6A to 6F. We had to choose between two optional languages Telugu or Sanskrit.I chose Telugu as my parents believed it would be useful in our day to day life.In retrospect I am quite happy with that decision.Section A was for all the students who chose Sanskrit and Section B was a mix of half Sanskrit and half Telugu students.The rest of the sections were all Telugu.I was placed in section B.Early roots of our gang FC grew here in this class.

               I met abhishek,swatchithlal,raviteja and deepanjan in this class.We all were in the same section. Abhishek was the chubby kid who was famous for his cute looks.In fact his pet name was Tin tin and he even resembled the famous fictional character. Swatchithlal was the jolly kid in the class always up for a good laugh.And deepanjan was the hyper excited kid always looking for some fun or the other. P. Raviteja whom we used to and still call just 'p' was a quiet and soft spoken kid who was obsessed about buses.His one passion was buses.He used to draw buses everywhere ,in books,on boards and even on benches. We all knew each other pretty well but got closer only later in 10th class and afterwards.

                I had two bench mates in this class.One was N. Rakesh. We had one major thing in common.It was our height.We were short in height and that is how we both got to to share a bench in the first row.Then the other person with whom I shared a bench was Yamini. She was very talkative and I was a very quiet kid but I got along with her fine.Our class leader was Pratyusha Karnati.For most of us the word 'leader' is synonymous with Pratyusha even now.Other people I met in this class are KrishnaVeni,Bharath,S.Sowmya,Sachin Giri (Sachin was the one who introduced to me the game of 'Half Life'.It was one of the best games I have ever played.We both, along with our respective elder brothers used to share a lot of stuff related to computers and games)Himaja,Deepti,Meghana,Sindhu,Sheena Patel,Swetha,Nitin,Raghuvamsi,Pramod,Ravi chaitanya,Lavanya,Ravi Teja,Alisha.

                Our English teacher was Mrs Hema Malini ma'am.She was everything I looked in a teacher back then.She was,kind and understanding.And she taught very well.She is one of my favorites teachers ever.Best thing about her teaching was that she never really confined her teaching to just the school stuff.She used to give us general advice and used to solve our problems.Some incidents that she told us from her personal life spring to mind whenever something similar happens to me.Even after 8 years of leaving school I still sometimes get dreams wherein I am sitting in a class and Hema ma'am is explaining a lesson.She was one of the earliest persons in my life who made a lasting impression.There were other teachers.Some were good like Vasu sir and Joshi sir,Some were quite the opposite.Not going to mention the names here.

                 My Reading habit also started from this class.I started reading tinkle comics given by my dad and later in large numbers by my aunt.My reading was confided to comics in 6th.The school library was very good.And the Librarian Mr Azagappan sir was a nice person.I later formed a good bond with him.

                I used to go to AK Das sir's tuition during this period.Here along with me there was Himaja and Chimayee Jena.Myself along with K.Vinay used to go out and pluck mangoes from the trees nearby and bring them back to the tuition.Aunty with assistance from Himaja  used to cut those mangoes and sprinkled with pepper and salt, used to distribute in the whole class.Those were all wonderful days.

                   
7th class
               7th class was also a good year for me.Initially there were to be six sections and I was placed in the sixth but soon because of less number of students in the sixth section,all the students of the sixth section were distributed and accommodated in the other sections.I was then shifted to C section.Here I met Mujahid who warned me that I came to the wrong class.On asking why he replied that C section had one teacher who was not popular among the students.I came to know about her later but I personally didn't have any problems with her.It was here in this class that I formed one of my earliest 'gang'.It comprised of three boys- K.Vinay,(whom I met in 6th class) BK Chaitanya aka kittu and myself. Vinay was the soft spoken handsome boy in the class. Kittu was excellent in sports and was a big fan of Telugu movies.We three were inseparable back then.We used to hang out together and play together.It was during this time that I first got the feeling of being in a group and someone having your back in case something unpleasant happened. I used to go to Vinay's house a lot.The other person whom I met was Shoaib Rashid.He was a tall and lanky kid who mostly kept to himself.We got acquainted but weren't much of friends.Of all the members of FC I have the most in common with shoaib.
            I remember one time we had a combined class with 7D( I was in 7C).Here I first listened Amulya ma'am's class.Since it was a combined class , Ma'am chose to tell a horror story to entertain the kids.She narrated the story in such a manner that students talked about it years later.The fact that I still remember that episode is testimony to the kind of effect it had on the students.As an aside a strange coincidence happened that time.When Amulya ma'am first narrated the story in that combined class a girl started crying at the end.The next time she narrated the story to another set of combined class,another girl cried.Eerily both the girls were similar in many aspects.Both had specs.Both's seating position in the class was the same.And both started crying at the very same point in the story.Call it childhood imaginations but this incident was fodder for gossip for a long time to come.Though Amulya ma'am never taught me full time she became one of my favorite teachers later.I still try to visit her whenever I am in colony.

8th class
                    This period was a very forgettable one for me.Again I remember much from this period except the fact that my grades dropped dramatically during this period.From 80% in 7th class it dropped to 60% in eight.But apart from that I remember one incident very vividly.It is the only thing that comes to mind when I think of 8th class.Mr Tiwari was our Hindi teacher and I hated him.He was uncivilized,rough and very harsh with the students.One time he was checking the books of all the students.When he came to my bench I showed him my book and it was incomplete.I was absent for a few days before and so my book had a number of blank pages showing my incomplete work.He asked me 'kaha hai work'?
I replied with 'incomplete hai sir'
And out came his strong sturdy palm on my cheek. He slapped me with so much force that my cheek turned red.I sat down and muttered my first expletive in front of anyone.It did that in front of none other than akram. I carried the imprint of Mr Tiwary's five fingers on my cheek for the rest of the day.It caused many curious glances at me when i walked the corridors and went to the water cooler to drink.Thankfully by the time I went home those marks disappeared.

        I changed tutions from Das sir to Mahapatra sir.Here I formed a close friendship with Harsha Vardhan who used to call himself Army man because he had only one goal in his life back then ,to become an army man.We used to go to tuition together and come back together.In my whole childhood two persons gave me lifts on their cycle more than anyone else.One was bhanu during my primary school days and Harsha during my 8th class.I will always be indebted to them for this.

9th and 10th Class in my next post.
Previous post on Primary Class.Part 1- Click here