Boredom is a B*tch

I'm livin' the dream!

God it's been a difficult couple of weeks. 

Before I start bitching like a girl about the stagnation that has engulfed my life, I'd just like to wish everyone a belated but very happy 65th Indian Independence Day. It's been an up-and-down journey for our glorious country and it's going to be so for a while. We just have to keep our spirits up as always. 

Now, since my last post, nothing has happened that would make a person on a summer break particularly happy. On the contrary, more harm has come of this damn exile. So please don't get your hopes up. For starters, my Xbox has broken down like 92,000 times and I'm almost considering giving it to good will. A broken down Xbox for good will! How's that for irony? The Xbox customer support staff has itself acknowledged the fact that this is one crazy son of Microsoft. Well as far as my opinion matters, I believe it's because it's an out-of-region console and just can't get the hang of the electric supply in India. Anyway, that's that. Moreover, all my friends have left for college and there's seriously no one here to provide me company. Indian colleges start a bit too early as compared to their American counterparts. So what do I do? I just sit on my ass rear at home all day. Augh. Aren't summer breaks supposed to score kinda high on the fun meter? To be honest, I have watched almost 20+ movies and half a dozen TV shows in the last couple of weeks and my eyes look like red popsicles about to explode. And please don't forget my books which are being read as if they were a two-page article in a local newspaper. Give it another week and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go on a psychotic rampage. You'll read it in the news, don't worry!

The only thing that I've done that classifies for serious work is apply for my departmental scholarship. A scholarship would just be the icing on the cherry cake that is my first year of college. Most of the CSE scholarships are offered in summer, so keep your fingers crossed however clichéd that may sound. I mean aren't clichés out there for a reason? I believe clichés exist because they're classics. They grow on you. Well, let's keep the literature lesson for later. 

This post is gonna be closely followed by another post recapping my previous year as promised to you guys earlier. And you better read all that I gotta say otherwise...... Well I think the psychotic rampage is motivation enough. Haha. And I apologize for the language. I've been frustrated for a while. Unlike me, you guys keep your spirits up. Hope you find the post stress-relieving in the least. For now, arrivederci.

A Long String of Events

Hola people. Hope you've been in the best of spirits. It's been a while since my last post and I won't be exaggerating the truth when I say that I had fairly forgotten all about my blog amidst all that's been happening around me. Well at least something is happening as I've been immersed in ennui for a month or so. Let's go through all that has happened in the past fortnight.

If some of my readers are unaware, it was my birthday last week i.e. August 9. That particular day is inscribed into my memory in stone. Why? Well first of all, my three particular friends were with me the whole time. We had loads of fun at home and at the restaurant where we went for dinner in the evening. Acknowledging the fact that everyone would be off to their respective colleges shortly, this was our last get-together which made the day extra special. Also thanks to my ubiquitous family for its wishes and support.

What was next in the long string of events? My mom's birthday which fell on the auspicious occasion of Rakshabandhan i.e. August 13. To be true, I forgot to wish mum until late in the afternoon when I realized that I had to do something to make it appear as if done on purpose. What would be better than a quickly arranged, small birthday party? I got mum a greeting card, a small cake and got together the whole family to wish her 'happy birthday'. It felt very fulfilling. Also as it was Rakshabandhan, I had a whole bunch of rakhis tied to my wrist as my sisters ripped me off of my whole goddamn money. Lol. Just kidding about the latter part!

What comes next? Well it was India’s 65th Independence Day during which I did nothing great except updating my Facebook status. And please don't argue about the fact whether it was the 65th or the 64th. Just google the damn thing (especially the boneheads who argued the whole day, some claiming it to be the 63rd). Once again, a very Happy Independence Day to all proud Indians.

Lastly, the ETD for college is less than 20 days. The anxiety is constantly on the rise.

Here are some of my birthday pics.

Killing time at my place

Went on this ride a lot in the old days

Another of the dozen pics on this ride

Inside the restaurant being formal :P

That’s all for now.

Till my next post, this is Twoccer signing off.

Abschied.

Sheer Exuberance

A very prosperous day to you all. Thanks for giving my last post a thought. I highly appreciate it.

I have been very happy the last week or so. Jeez, I love this energetic feeling which was missing for a long time. Previously, you were told that I went for my visa interview which turned out to be a dream come true. Even though the visa officers say that visa has been approved, people feel hexed for a moment and can't decide for sure whether the paramount word was 'APPROVED' or .......'REJECTED'. Exiting the consulate, I had a somewhat similar feeling till I looked into the leaflet that had been given to me. The first statement was 'Your visa has been approved'. The statement was cemented into the corner of my mind. I know most of you must be thinking that I am obsessing you with the details but for a moment, put yourself in my shoes. 

Well I came back home and waited for the passport to be fully processed so that I could finally fetch it. But as it happens, the next couple of days were holidays which delayed my visa. Finally an email came on the 7th that the shipment had reached the requested location and it can be collected. We made a 3-hour long journey to the HAL (Hold-at-Location) just to be told that all the shipments had been shifted to some other depot w.e.f from 7th July '11. We kept our patience, noted down the address and left. This other building seemed a much better place than the one we had just been to. The attendant asked for my identity for verification. Once he realized that everything was in order, the package was handed over to me.

I looked at it for a minute going over all the effort I had put in for this small yet huge envelope in my hand. Once in the car, my hands themselves started working upon the package, loosening the stapler pins and ripping apart the glued paper strip. As I turned it upside down, the contents swished down onto my lap. If seen with a pedestrian eye, nothing was out of the ordinary among the contents. The documents that I had deposited during the interview had been returned to me in a very seemingly untouched state except for one thing. A page of the passport was occupied by a simple yet elegant piece of paper. My eyes were fixed at it for I don't know how long! 

It was sheer exuberance.

Here are some of the pics of the package which may seem banal to some. Please don't hide the feeling :-P

The envelope 

You know...just in case! LOL

Hope you enjoyed reading my train of thought.

Will keep you posted on further updates.

Till then, this is Twoccer signing off.
Abschied!

The Right Way

Hey guys! Hope you've been in the best of spirits. Well I've been feeling this way lately and I should say, it does feel good. You would remember I told you in my last post that I was having fun even though life had been downhill for me. When I returned home after my vacation, whiling away time became very difficult. Why? 'Cause there was nothing to do. I don't think a sound Homo sapien has the capacity to amuse himself the whole time by Facebook, movies, soaps, music, video games etcetera. In the end, everyone gets fed up one way or the other. For me, it was the same story until a new development took place.

Well, the new development was my visa process which kept me equipped with chores. I had to file for my visa interview which took a significant amount of time. Almost 5-6 days later, I had my visa interview. It was an interesting yet shaking experience. I mean, this was my last chance to prove my worth. So I was a bit disturbed. Although most of my friends had already gotten their visa approved, you don't feel confident till you yourself stand shoulder to shoulder with them. As is with all major things, you do a lot of introspecting and planning as to how will things work out during the final play. Documents and testimonials are a crucial part of the visa process. It took me a lot of time collecting all the needed credentials and I was amazed to see the countless archives in my grasp.

The time had come for the final showdown and I arrived at the consulate for the interview. The security officials outside checked my passport and interview letter and asked me to go inside. Inside, I had to pass through a thorough security check followed by document verification. After all this, I had to wait for my token number to be called for further processing. Never-ending time later, it was my turn to be in the battlefront. The first counter was for digitally authorizing my documents. The lady behind the counter was a sweet Indian lady with a nice sense of humor. Next was fingerprinting which was done by an American guy. All this was pretty easy. Here came the hard part! The interview. It was a little over 5 minutes when my number was called. The visa interviewer was a nice-looking American lady. She asked me a few questions to assert my confidence and fluency. Finally, I heard the words that I had so longed to hear. I mean I had dreamed every night about this day and its outcome. What were the words? And I quote, "So Dhruv, your visa has been approved. You can collect it after a few days." I couldn't realize what had just happened until I left the building. That was when I envisaged my moment of total triumph. It felt tremendously satisfying. All those days of  running here and there preparing for the damn thing had finally earned me everlasting happiness. I don't care if people found it a normal thing because visa approval is an everyday process for them. For me, it meant everything during that split second.

But after a day or two, I was back to my everyday routine again. Trying to loiter away time was again getting difficult. To top it all, my session was supposedly in mid-September. Can you imagine spending two months at home doing nothing when everyone else around you seems to be busy with their own agendas. That's my routine for you, my friends! But every once in a while, thinking about those beautiful words proves helpful.

I hope you find my thoughts worth reading.

Will keep you posted.

This is Twoccer signing off.
Arrivederci.