My first 'chalan', and other news.

Yes, me, Dhruv, Dhruv Chopra, (methead), got (most probably) a 'chalan'.

I was on my way to Ansal Plaza, taking a right turn under the Panchsheel flyover. As most of you aren't aware, and I wasn't either, the right turn opens for less than 10 seconds. On top of that, there was a Tata Sumo in front of me, which, in accordace with its name, doesn't let you see anything beyond it, including a red signal.

This traffic policeman sprang out of no where and asked me to stop since it was a red light. I hadn't really jumped it by then, I had merely bent my knees and clutched my fists. I reversed back to the zebra crossing line, however I saw him note down my license plate number. #@#@!@%#$@.

In other news, India won the test match. Yay! After a long long time I followed a test match closely. There were a lot of factors which helped us, the seamers finally getting their line and length right, the openers giving us a good start, Kumble destroying their tail-end, but the fact that I followed it closely is crucial.

Will I follow more matches in future? I'll think about it.

Also, Sanjay Dutt has been sentenced for 6 years in prison, under the Arms Act for his role in the 93 Mumbai blasts. I have no sympathy for him, even though Munnabhai is amongst the only two hindi movies I've enjoyed in the past few years (the other is mentioned at the bottom of the past, do NOT scroll down though!!). I just hope that him being a celebrity doesn't work against him.

Our news channels are rutheless, one of them is constantly playing the ironic song by Sanjay Dutt "Main nayak nahin, khalnayak hoon main". I know it perfectly fits the situation, but come on. This other channel is playing the song "Yeh hain meri kahani", showing footage of him going to the jail.

*Note to self - I need to be careful of what songs I decide to figure in.

On that note (lamest no pun), I'll leave.


Cheers,
Dhruv

PS - I asked you NOT to scroll down, didn't I? Control yourself buddy.

PPS - Oh you didn't scroll down? Good. But you thought of it, didn't you?

PPS - The other movie was Rang De Basanti.

Shocking concert, car accident, and tyre poker.

Phew! What a weekend!

Saturday saw me bidding goodbye to Bengaluru. I had been living there for two months, and had the time of my life. I totally fell in love with the weather, and the Infosys campus. Also the food. Infact, if I had cut myself a week ago, I would have bled sambhar.

However, this post is not about Bangalore.

Its not about sambhar either.

Its about the weekend I spent in Delhi right after returning from Bangalore.

I reached Delhi around 1:30 PM, after watching two hours of Great Indian Laughter Challenge onboard my Kingfisher flight, and Raju Shrivastav has definitely not lost his touch. I came by a morning flight because I wanted to go to Channel [V] Launchpad final, being held at Pragati Maidan on the same evening. I reached the venue around 4:30 with my school friends, just in time for the rain to start pouring, and hence we were drenched even before the first chord was strummed.

Dhruv's advice of the month - Rain + Large sound system + Moshing + Leaning on the railing = ELECTRIC SCHOCK!

I learnt it the hard way.

The concert wasn't the best I've been to, but still it was nice meeting friends again. However the electric shock wasn't the only thing that happened that day. If you read the title properly, there was a car accident as well.

So we had a car accident as well.
A friend of mine was dropping me off when someone tried to overtake us from the right while we were turning right. Not the 'right' thing to do. Specially when we gave the indicator around 200mtrs before the turn. They got all the sympathy since there was a lady and a child in the car. I had to call my parents, and so did my friend who was driving. It all ended fine, since those people were the patients of my friend's parents who were doctors. Yes, definitely, phew!

Sunday saw me all geared up for the European grand prix. And the greatest thing in sports happened, TYRE POKER (actually the second greatest, first is 6 red cards in one half of a soccer game, thats always fun).

For the un-formula1-ated, tyre poker is a term given to the state of the teams in F1 when they are unsure about the weather, basically what tyres to put on since it all depends on how wet the track is, and it makes for spectacular viewing. Around 7 cars went off track in the first few laps due to aqua plating of the track, and the race had to be restarted with a safety car in front. It was one awesome race, and I'm happy that Alonso won, and I'm sad that Hamilton lost. Nevermind, still. We still are kicking some crimson-arse.

Saw Parry Horter and the Porder of the Ohenix today. Pretty crappy. I'm glad I never fell for whole hype surrounding HP.

Touching wood,
Dhruv

Huddo!

OK, the title of this post has a very unique and suttle pronunciation, more commonly known as the Mallu Hello. Its most commonly used by people from the state of Kerala who speak Malayalam and spell out Malayalam as Yem-Yay-Yel-Yay-Why-Yay-Yel-Yay-Yem. How does Dhruv know all this, you might ask. How does Dhruv know all this, I shall tell.

I went to Cochin for the weekend.

The great mighty global Infy had sponsored a trip for all the interns to Kerala for the weekend, which also happened to be my last weekend in South India land. We stayed at Taj Malabar, the good point. We travelled by overnight trains, the bad point. But nevertheless, it was a lot of fun spending time with people from all around the globe and learning quite a few new (drinking) games.

What was terrible on Infy's part was to make all of work on the Monday, when we just returned at 5 AM in the morning on the same day. This has lead me to non-drug induced drugged state. Add to this the fact that today was probably the longest day in office over the period of my internship. Add to this another fact that I would probably break this record tomorrow. My internship ends this Friday and I would be flying back to Delhi on Saturday, just in time to catch the finals of Channel [V] Launchpad. I'm definitely looking forward to it. Been ages since I went to a gig in India, apart from Aerosmith (which deserves another post in itself).

I still remember my first few days at Infy, everything was so disorganized, crazy and tough. In three days, I started to love it. It definitely has been one of the best experiences of my life and I have no regrets at all, though now I kind of want to go back to my shiny new car and the ultra shiny new Sony Xplode music system.

Right now I'm in Catch 22 situation, that is, I'm reading the book Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. Been fun so far.

Also right now, my Dominoe's Gourmet pizza with extra topping of spicy chicken and garlic bread sticks with cheesy dip are staring at me, waiting to be gulped. I can't disappoint them, can I?

Yours truly,
Dhruv

Ramblin' Wreck

Ramblin' Wreck is Georgia Tech's fight song, and is played every time the Yellow Jackets score in a Football game and frequently during time-outs in Basketball games. I absolutely love this song and it gives me a great sense of pride whenever I listen to/sing it.

To make a few things clear, our official colors are White and Gold, and our main rivals are University of Georgia (called UGA, or Georgia, or Bull Dogs). 'To Hell With Georgia' is one of our most famous slogans, and no, it doesn't mean that we hate our state.

Here are the lyrics:

I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech, and a hell of an Engineer
A Helluva, Helluva, Helluva, Helluva, Helluva Engineer
Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear.
I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an Engineer

Oh, if I had a daughter, sir,
I'd dress her in white and gold,
And put her on the campus
To cheer the brave and bold.
But if I had a son, sir,
I'll tell you what he'd do--
He'd yell: 'TO HELL WITH GEORGIA!'
Like his daddy used to do.

Oh, I wish I had a barrel of rum,
and Sugar three thousand pounds
A college bell to put it in,
And a clapper to stir it round.
I'd drink to all the good fellows,
who come from far and near.
I'm a Ramblin', Gamblin', HELL OF AN ENGINEER!

Over the years, the line 'To cheer the brave and bold' has been replaced by 'To increase the ratio' by frustrated students like me :)

At the conclusion of the song there is a call of 'Go Jackets!' responded to with 'Bust their ass!'. Following 3 of these calls and responses, the song is ended with a call of 'Go Jackets! Fight!'. Recently, however, the student body has yelled 'Fight! Win! Drink! Get Naked!'. A Georgia Tech football game is the only place where 40,000 people yelling 'Fight! Win! Drink! Get Naked!' doesn't seem odd at all.

Signing off,
Dhruv

Introduction

I'm back.

For those of you who don't know me, go and kill yourself. No seriously, please do.

For those of you who do know me, you don't need an introduction.

For everyone else, my name is Dhruv Chopra, and I'm awesome. I just finished my freshmen year at Georgia Institute of Technology (hence the title, had you been wondering). I'm originally from the greatest city in South of North India, New Delhi.

I previously used to blog at methead.blogspot.com, however I stopped blogging after India lost the World Cup (the two events might not be related). I've made the blog private, but I wouldn't mind adding you to the privileged list of awesome people who are allowed to view the blog if you request me. And pay me.

This is my new blog. I would post about the (stressed out) life of a proud Yellow Jacket and all that goes along being one. As I'm in India right now, you will have to wait till I tell you about all ATL secrets. Till then you get to know all BNGLR and NDLHI secrets. Congrats.

Cold Regards,
Dhruv