7th sem diary - God is a great equaliser!!

I was soon to see something which i had never ever seen before.The trader dude kept on refusing to pay the money to the chakka..Even after being threatened by them he didn't bow in front of them..Then finally the "chakkas" gave up and returned to sit close to where i was standing and started counting their "aaj ki kamaai .."..Boy they made an amazing 479 bucks in one single go..The trader dude finally stepped in the scene and offered to give the less aggressive "chakka" 10 bucks..She refused to take it..There was something very girlish in the way she rejected his offer..Probably that turned the trader on..And soon i was to witness for the first time a normal man openly flirting with "chakka"..This is how it went :
Trader (in typical dehaati tone):"Tere chehre se nazar nahin hat tee..nazaarein hum kya dekhein."(remember one of the all time hits..)
Chakka (Blushing beyond words.):"Jaa rey bahut dekhein hai tere jaise.." (with a teasing tone..)..
Trader :"Bechain hai meri nazar , hai pyaar ka aisaa asar,kuch to kaho,itna kaho ,hum aapke ,aapke hain kaun.."..
Then the chakka rose and stood face-to-face with that trader..All the while i was closely observing them , standing just adjacent to them..Then i saw the chakka make some very aggressive "intimate" moves on the trader and boy wasn't he blushing like a girl who has just been proposed by the man of her dreams..I stood there shocked and later laughing..Soon she/he turned her attention towards me and my throat turned dry..
Chakka :"Aur hero kahaan jaa raha hai??"
Me :"Chakradharpur..".
Chakks :"Wahaan itne raat mein..wahaan se toi bus bhi nayee milegi abhi.."
Me :"Mere papa lene aayenge mujhe.."
Chakka:"Oh gaadi mein.."
Me:" Haan.."
Chakka:"Motorcycle mein.."
Me:"Nahin car mein.."

Soon we were approaching Chakradharpur.When the train stopped at the station,the chakka did something which i would like to forget that it ever happened..When the chakka was leaving,she looked in my eyes and i smiled back at her..And the next thing i knew that she was touching my ***** and looking in my eyes..I was embarrassed and tried to forget that it ever happened..I stepped down the train along with my luggage and when the train was about to leave i saw the chakka and the trader "looking straight into the eyes" of each other..And when i was about to leave , i looked at both of them and for a moment i could feel that quite surprisingly they had "connected"..On my way back home i kept on thinking weird things :Is it possible for chakkas to fall in love?? Was it love at first sight for that chakka and trader??And why did she/he do what she/he should have never done with me??..Soon i realised something..The bitterness of my screwed-up trip had somehow evaporated thanks to the small little cameo act by chakkas and the trader and had been instead replaced by the thought of great things ahead..



So,this is how officially my 7th sem ended.Full of masti,pain,lessons and more importantly memories,something that i would cherish throughout my life..The sem was indeed eventful and has transformed me into a much better and equipped person to handle every situation of life head-on.

7th sem diary-Final nail in the coffin!!

The "Geetanjali Express" arrived on time at 3:50 pm.I was soon running with all my might to secure a place in the general bogie.But when i entered the bogie, i very soon realised that i didn't have enough breathing space,leave alone the place to seat.The bogie was jampacked and was smelling of shit , to say the least..As expected i got some space near the toilet..I had a smelly trader and a poor naked kid to accompany me there..The wet floor didn't help my situation..I in constant fear of losing my luggage,placed it near me and that didn't impress the trader much..Finally i agreed to put my stuff elsewhere..Now that trader had kept some of his trade stuff , that he was taking to Mumbai,in one of the toilets and had locked it..He had put the remaining stuff near the toilet region thus completely restricting any moment watsoever..I felt like kicking him in the balls but i was just conserving my energy to somehow tolerate this disgusting situation..And it was just the beginning!!The basin was leaking water on the floor and every now and then someone or the other would come to spit there and that made the situation worse..The watery floor was irritating me but i just held on..The trader tried his level best to get nominated for the maximum beedis smoked in a single train journey..The smoke was killing me..And that shameless guy would spit openly near me every now and then..And soon he became the co-ordinator for the only functional toilet and the movements in the already jampacked region made it unbearable..Soon i was to find that these toilet trips were just an excuse to smoke inside the closed quarters..But there were some shameless creatures who didn't even bother to do that..Since the door were closed due to the cold,i was virtually suffocating in there..And to add on to that there was a "moonfalli waala" who was doing some brisk business and the people too were maintaining the high-standards of general class by throwing the groundnut-covers to every nook and corner of the bogie..And if that was enough there were a bunch of jokers besides me who were contributing some of the worst pj's i had ever heard..And then came the big one!!

Two "chakkas" appeared in the train..I immediately checked my purse and my heart skipped a beat when i saw that i had a 500,50 note and 3 rs as spare.."Koi saala dus rupaye se kam nahin degaa..".I was initially thinking that the "chakkas" are just showing some "dadagiri" or shall i say "chakkagiri" to scare us..But when the more aggressive "chakka" lifted her saree to scare a kid and started doing some unmentionable gestures to a middle-aged kid who refused to pay,i understood the gravity of the situation..Luckily i got the less aggressive chakka."Aur smarty paise dheele kar..".."Arey yeh kya sirf 3 rupey..".."I have only this much..."..After a stare."Wooh..Tum sab saale aisey hi kanjoos ho.."..And when finally the more aggressive chakka passed me , i had a sigh of relief..

7th sem diary-Goodbye 7th sem!!

The exams were a painful experience as i didn't perform well in any of the exams apart from AI and Parallel Architecture.Well somehow they got over and we all guys headed for our destinations.I was with the bong group on the train and had one of the best train journeys of my life.Be it the reading of the novel "A thousand splendid suns",bakr with the group or the late night discussion between me,dada and mayank that irritated our immediate nieghbours , it was a truly enjoyable experience..But the best part of the journey was the "post-late-night talk" with mayank when we both poured our hearts out..My respect for this guy has just kept on exponentially increasing ever since we came close in second year and that day it truly reached the zenith..He is truly an amazing person and i am glad i have had the opportunity to meet him!!

**And then it strikes again**
It was indeed a wonderful journey.I was wondering how on the earth did i ever manage to have a perfect journey.My sixth sense was suggesting me that something bad was about to happen to me.I reached Kharagpur .I hugged my friends and started walking towards the entrance.I had never imagined what was about to follow:
TT:"Ticket please..".
Me:"Sir i had a combined ticket with my friends who are going to howrah."
TT:"That's none of my business.Until unless you produce the ticket you are an offender".
Me:"Ok sir i will get the ticket for your consideration".
I ran to my coach and saw Nahata.I told him about the situation and asked him to come with the ticket .He told that the ticket was with another friend,Jalan.He assured me that on telling the TT that i am a student and that we had a combined ticket the TT will surely agree.And at that moment the train started running.I didn't know what to do!!For a moment i thought of catching the same train and go all the way to Howrah along with my friends.But i didn't follow my sixth sense,something i would repent for sure.I confidently started walking towards the entrance,only to be caught by that TT again.
TT:"Hello Mr. ticket..".
Me:"Sir,i had a combined ticket with my friends and they have left for Howrah just a couple of minutes back."
TT:"That's not my problem.You are without ticket and an offender and thus have to pay the fine."
Me:"Sir believe me i have come with a proper ticket.If you want you can talk to my friends on the train.See sir this is my i-card .I am coming all the way from Trichy.Sir why will i lie to you??I am a student sir.."
TT:"See its your mistake .If you had a combined ticket you should have kept a xerox of it and get it signed by the TT for our consideration.Now you will have to pay the fine.."
Me:"Sir i understand its my fault , but sir believe me i am not lying.."
I kept waiting for that time and then i started walking back , when he started shouting at me and called his "hungry" friends too to have their share of me..
TT:"Hey Mr. where are you leaving..You come to the office with me.."
I kept pleading all the time,but never did i allow myself to cry..I kept pleading but to no avail..
Finally ,knowing what they exactly wanted i asked "Sir how much do i have to pay??"
TT:"You will have to pat Rs.434".
Me:"Sir i don't have that much money.Sir please reduce it.."
TT:"Ok how much do you have??"
Me(Luckily i had spent considerable money during the journey..):"Sir i have only 260 Rs.Sir i need to reach Chaibasa from here that will cost around 165-170..And sir i haven eaten anything today ..That will cost me another 35-40 Rs.I can only give you 60 Rs. sir.."
TT : "No-no that won't do.Ok show me your purse.Do you have any cards??"
Me:"Sir see my purse i have only 260Rs.Sir i have a SBI card but its empty because i totally exhausted it in the semester.That's why i am going to my home to get money from my parents."(I never knew i was so gifted at lying:)..)
TT:"No no 60 won't do".
Me:"Ok sir i will not eat and remain without food till the evening..Ok you take Rs.100 from me"

That finally settled the matter and he let me go after giving some "advice".I was so hurt by this incident.It was not the fine that was hurting me.It was the greed of that TT and the corruption in general that was hurting me.That guy knew pretty well that i was not lying but he won't let go because for him this was an opportunity of the lifetime".I wanted to leave that place at once.On my father's request i booked a ticket of "Geetanjali express" and had no option but to take the ticket of general class.What was i to know that i hadn't seen the worst yet!!

7th sem diary-And now the sad part!!

My life was never perfect.Not that i ever expected it to be.And the same happened in the 7th sem also.I was having the time of my life.But then somebody nipped in the bud.Guess who?? My internals.Boy i was performing really badly in the exams-at least two of them.Not that i didn't study for the exam.Its just that this time i too adopted the "cool college strategy" of starting to study one night before the exam,something i'm not pretty comfortable with.I did very well in four subjects,which were pretty theoretical in nature but the other two subjects were pretty application oriented and one needed sufficient practice to crack those exams.But unfortunately that was not to be.I was really embarrassed to be in the bottom twenty of the class in compilers and graph theory.And my "critics" did not lose one such opportunity to question my credentials in the so-called "fundoo compksee" subjects.Be it mayank,dikvaa,madu ..they all had the time of their life mocking me in front of the entire class.It hurt me but as cyber said,"You have nobody to complain to but yourself coz you are solely responsible for the entire mess".Ya he was probably true,but i didn't care.I knew i could have still comeback very strongly and shown that "good-for-nothing" dikvaa who i really was!!But was it worth it??No.I had done the same thing repeatedly for the past three years and now i had achieved my goal.I had lived enough for my dreams.It was time to live for myself.I wanted to do all the things that i had sacrificed in the past three years.But still somewhere in the corner of my heart it hurt me!!

And then it got worse!!
It was our compilers lab exam.I was one of the few guys who had done the lab assignments on their own,thanks to guidance from satya and cyber.But still i was not pretty confident of cracking the lab exam.I had heard from mayank how he had fooled the lab assistant the previous day.Considering the kinda dumbo lab assistants we have i thought it would be easy for me too in case the need arose.When we got the question in the lab exam,i immediately completed the theory part , thus ensuring that i would at least pass.Then i started coding and boy that "shift-reduce conflict" error really started pissing me off.I knew that i had coded correctly.I was so close to the answer yet so far.Only one guy among the 35 guys had shown.I had a master plan.I knew the output that was supposed to come.I wrote a simple C code containing the solution and compiled it to get the executable "a.out".Now i deleted the C source code that contained the answer.Now since my initial lex and yacc code were not compiling and hence they were not giving the "a.out".So , this is what i planned to do:
**I would write a shell script that would run the lex and yacc files and then clear any error or warning message that would pop because of the mistake in my source code.
**Then i would run my cleverly-generated "a.out" and get the output.
The method was foolproof and luckily i knew the lab assistant pretty well.I thought i will take the risk.And then i did something which i will repent through out my life.I called the lab assistant to show the demo.And since these guys are so dumb and have no idea about any compskee stuff,he called "Leela" mam.I froze.My temperature started soaring up.And then things got worse!!"Hey check whether he has hard-coded anywhere...These guys generally do such things.".The only thing that i remember was me praying to the God to rewind my life by five minutes.I was shivering and every goddamn eye in the lab was on me.I started seeing the public embarrassment i would have to undergo.And then she appeared.And this is what happened ::
Leela madam :"Show me your code".
Myself(shivering):"Yes mam!".
Leela madam :"Check if he has hardcoded anywhere.K no hardcoding.Ok run your code".
Myself(thought of impressing with some technical jargons..):"Mam i have written a shell script that compiles the lex and yacc code and finally gives the executable a.out".
Leela madam :"Ok run".
Myself:"Yes mam..".
Leela madam (after analysing the output for some time):"Ok change the variable name from 'a' to 'z' in the output and show me the output".
Myself(shivering..shellshocked..totally lost):"Yessssssssssssssss mammmmm..".(I was in such a state of shock that i couldn't even locate 'z' in the keyboard.Finally the lab assistant helped me with the search and i made the desired modification.I ran the output and as madam expected the output didn't change.)
Leela madam:"How come the output hasn't changed..we changed only one variable name right??".
Myself :"Madam let me correct it and then i will let you know."
Leela madam:"Ok do it immediately".
Myself(I fiddled around with the keyboard for sometime and then along with others slowly pushed my answer sheet to madam and left the lab).

Though nothing "disastrous" happened , even though madam knew that i had hardcoded the output but she couldn't figure out how??But at that moment i felt so low.I realized that i had lost something in the last ten minutes.No,not the grade,but my self-respect.Others would have thought it as being cool,going the "college way " attitude and all that crap.But i knew that this is not who i am.I hung my head in shame to think that i had degraded to that extent , just for a worthless grade.I wanted to trade all my happiness of 7th sem for those ten minutes because that experience made me feel the way i had never felt before..I was hurt by my actions,tormented by my deeds for the next week..But that's life!!"To err is human ,to learn from your mistakes is divine".I hope i have learnt my lesson!!

7th sem diary-It's party time guys!!

After i got placed it was party time through out the semester.I have lost count of how many treats we had over the course of next 3 months..Every day we will get some bakraa, we would butcher him and then the bakraa will give us the treat..Every alternate day we were going to some restaurant in the city..So much so that the restaurant guys had started recognizing us..
Finally my time had come,when i could do whatever i liked..I asked myself what i liked the most..And the first thing that came to my mind was movies..Boy over the course of the coming months,i saw a hell lot of movies,as if that was the only motive of my life now..I made it a plan to watch at least three movies everyday..In between i also watched some sitcoms..The ones that really attracted me were - "The Wonder Years" and "How i met your mother??"..Boy i just love watching movies and sitcoms!!Meanwhile i had also started participating in some of the activities in college...

**CRY CLASSES**
After much persuasion by Mayank and Kastu i finally agreed for the CRY CLASSES..I was very nervous to start with..But as i started taking classes i really fell in love with it..It was a challenge to stand up in front of those bright kids and to answer their questions..I was screwed on more than one occasion by my students..But i took it positively and tried to teach them to the best of my ability..In the process,i also overcome my stage fear to an extent and developed the confidence to speak in public..I took only 5-6 classes but i can never forget the impact they had on me...

**WISDOM CUP**
I always had a burning desire to prove my critics wrong who always questioned my non-academic abilities..I gave a fitting reply to them by giving consistent sterling performances throughout the tournament and emerged as one of the best performers of the tournament..I will always cherish the memories of that tournament and will try to carry on the confidence that it has imparted to me..

**DRIVING SCHOOL**
Meanwhile i had also enrolled for the DRIVING SCHOOL.We were supposed to report at 6 in the morning every day.Boy for a college student that's a himalayan task!!Anyways somehow i and dada managed to do that on a regular basis for the next 25 days.It was fun learning driving on our famous "NITT Tracker".Boy i had a really hard time locating the neutral on its screwed-up gear system.We were nearing the end of our driving course and after a dozen of trips outside college had become quite comfortable driving four-wheeler vehicles.Next in line for us was the "two-wheeler" and our instructor made us believe that it's a matter of just half an hour.And that's how it turned out to be!!
So we bunked classes and headed to get our driving license in our "tracker" and "god-knows-which-model-scooter-cum-bike".We had a painful wait of two hours before we finally arrived at the test center.Surprisingly the test went as well as i could have ever hoped for.The whole exercise looked pretty simple , but the corruption that i had to see both inside and outside the institute during these classes seemed a bit disturbing.But all that was lost when we realized that we had got the "license to explore"..The thought of the great things that lied ahead was amazing!!


**BAKR SESSIONS**
Whenever you think of masti in NITT,you can't leave BAKR far behind..I still remember the endless BAKR sessions i had with dada,sid,cyber,ghati,vishal,daa,mayank,madu..It really gave me an opportunity to understand my friends better..I came pretty close to cyber this sem..I had a rare privilege to see the non-academic side of this fundoo..I got to see what a wonderful and down-to-earth this guy is!!I also got the chance to know dada better..Had loads of fun with him in our BANGALORE-CUM-CAT trip..But the one guy who really impressed me this sem was my own roomie..I was really amazed to see such delightful changes in him..This sem gave us an opportunity to bridge our differences of the past one year and emerge stronger and closer than ever before..Sometimes i think what will i do without them in the future when none of them will be around me in Hyderabad??..But things can't always be the way you want them to be!!That's life for you!!

Be it the "Six sixes in an over challenge",the morning gym sessions,the late night volleyball sessions,bathing in cauveri,trip to th temple city , we had loads of fun this sem...

7th sem diary-And then DESHAW happened!!

I was fighting a race against time because AURIGO was coming to the campus soon and i needed to get a company before that!!My senior had informed me that DESHAW was coming to the campus on 8th.So i had already started preparing for it..I knew this was my best chance because DESHAW is the only company that gives importance to CGPA and boy i had loads of that!!Boy DESHAW proved to be a tough nut to crack..As opposed to previous year papers,this time DESHAW was much-much tougher ..Thus they were testing us on many fronts simultaneously..It was one hell of an exam!!I was not that hopeful of clearing the written but luckily i did and in fact i topped that test!!So my interview was the first next morning..And boy they lived up to the expectation!!They screwed me all-round up for the next 90 minutes..Two of the interviewers were pretty cool , but the third one was really testing me and trying to create enormous stress during the interview!!Boy i was so dejected after the interview..I thought that i had given away the best opportunity that i had..At around 7 in the night they called us to fill one form and then after they were supposed to announce the results..In the meantime i had told my dad that i had DESHAW interview today and i didn't perform that well..I was so low that time that when they were about to announce the result , i almost broke down..And then finally it happened ..

I had been selected for DESHAW..I was shouting at the top of my voice as i headed out of T&P..As i reached the hostel , i informed the near and dear ones..Boy but the night had just begun!!..My friends were all waiting for me and i could see that they had the same look in their eyes as a butcher has before it "butchers"..And boy i can never forget what happened that night!!They hit me mercilessly as if there was no tommorrow..I lost count of how many times my ass was smacked but whatever it was , was surely not a pleasing number :)...Then i was taken to gate where i was given a "kela-andaa-mixture-cold drink" bath..Boy i still remember i had developed such a big bump on my ass that i couldn't sleep the whole night..Thus i turned upside down and kept watching movies whole night long..It was so painful that my situation became very bad next day..I had to take a heavy dose of painkillers to ease my pain..The pain finally subsided after a week and it was not two days after i got placed that i realized that i had finally accomplished my dream!!And the real party was just about to begin,baby!!

7th sem diary-Placement kelas!!

**Placement season kicks-initial nervousness**
I had been doing summer internship in Bangalore for two months in Aurigo and due to my and subbu's remarkable performance there , we had been awarded with a PPO in Aurigo.Thus,there was less pressure on us to get jobs in the college.But i knew that i didn't want to get into this company.The work there was amazing but it was just a start-up and i didn't want to start my career with a start-up , especially when i had much better options back in the college.Thus i knew that i have to secure a job in college before Aurigo arrives at the campus.Thus , there was a lot of pressure on me coz neither was i well prepared for the companies that were about to storm the campus , neither did i have much time before Aurigo turned up to the campus.I had to make the most of the limited opportunites that would have come my way before 24th Aug,when Aurigo was scheduled to come and at the same time i had to prepare a hell lot..I was in a panic mode!!

**Google arrives**
The first company to come to our campus was Google.I was supposed to attend a telephonic interview and luckily that was being taken by our college senior,Sundarajan.My interview went decently,though i could have performed better.I was surprised when i wasn't selected for the second round.Kela No. 1!!I was not that dejected coz i knew that i wasn't a Google kinda guy!!


**Microsoft ka kela**
The next company was Microsoft.They had an initial written round where they had asked three DS questions.I cracked all three and was quite hopeful of being called for interview.When i was entering the mess then i suddenly realized that i had made one blunder in the first question.I froze there,my heart stopped beating,my hunger died,my eyes swelled with tears..I ran to my room and cried for sometime beneath my pillow..My friends didn't help my situation by teasing me with the tag of "Microsoft guy" constantly..I was acting madly..I still remember how i was lying
along the metallic rods outside my room as if i'm dead and had no reason , no motivation to live any more..I remember satya coming to me and consoling me..I calmed down myself and somehow motivated myself to prepare for the next company..Then at 4 all of a sudden i got a call from Vivek that my interview was supposed to start in another 10 minutes..Boy i was shocked..I was not expecting the call and thus had made no arrangements..I hurriedly collected stuff from friends and rushed to T&P..As i look back now,i think the thing that saved me was that i used to always write logic first and then code as suggested by my seniors..And boy that did prove very crucial..Once in T&P,we were seated for another round of test..Three questions were given to us and i quickly did the first two but didn't do the third one that well..Anyways out of the 24 guys , 10 guys were eliminated and i was lucky to be still there in the final 14..As luck would have had it,my interview was the first and it was supposed to be taken by a lady..Boy she was mid-age and beautiful:)..Anyways my interview started with she analyzing my written papers..She immediately asked me to point out the error in my first DS solution..I immediately told her my mistake and the she popped the question, how would you improve this solution?? I kept on beating around the bush and she grew tired of giving me so many chances for that question..In the end she said that you are pretty close to the solution.."give me the exact word im looking for"..and boy i still couldn't figure it out..Then she asked some other questions which i didn't answer satisfactorily..The irony of this whole experience is that all the while when she was screwing me all ends up , i wanted to think of the solution but quite surprisingly all i could think at that time was how beautiful was she and how beautiful her eyes were!!..Boy i still can't believe my mind was doing such dirty stuff amidst the most important interview of my life!!Finally my interview ended and immediately the HR called me to inform me that i have been eliminated!!Boy i was hurt but i knew i had only me to blame..

The eventful 7th sem..

Well, i have finally completed the 7th sem of my college life and arguably the most exciting and happening sem of my college life.I did lots of things that i had always wanted to do but could never do in pursuit of my goal.I still remember those days when everyone around me used to do all kinds of crazy stuff and i used to silently study in one corner of my room...But i knew that "No pains,no gains..".So i acted the only way i know - perseverance to achieve my cherished goal.And i did finally achieve it and boy that was the best feeling in the world-to have accomplished an Himalayan task and to prove myself among the very best in India.And what does one do once the goal is achieved - its party time.That was what i did in 7th sem , but between these i did some really crazy things that i could have avoided.Lets go through "the best semester of my college life " in detail...

A tribute to beauty....

Here is a beautiful song by James Blunt dedicated to the five most beautiful girls in my life..





























James Blunt - You're Beautiful


My life is brilliant.

My life is brilliant
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

Yes, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Fucking high,
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last 'till the end.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

La la la la la la la la la

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

A day worth forgetting...

Yesterday,that is Nov 8,was a day that brought joy to millions of indians across every nook and corner of the country.And why not?It was Diwali..The festival of lights,the festival of joy..I am pretty sure everyone would have had the time of their lives yesterday..But sadly god had written a different script for the hundred odd final year students of NIT,Trichy..And the script surely did an excellent job of adding salt to their fresh wounds...

The final year is supposed to be fun in engineering colleges all over India..With everyone placed,people generally take it easy in the final year,make it a point to enjoy the life to the fullest before again plunging in that world of high expectations,hectic life etc..And more than the students the college faculty know more about this because they have seen this trend for decades now..And that's why they generally tend to be very lenient about most of the final year issues..be it attendance,grades,marks,passing students,reducing classes and assignments..u just name it,they do everything in our favour in return for the three years of sincerity that we show to them..They look like god-send angels ..But ,and here is the big question what can one do when someone's luck is so rotten as ours,who unlike other previous batches have been made guinea pig right from the first year,have been targetted by the teachers coz of being "the fundoo AIEEE batch"..We all people had just one consolation all the way through ..Probably the fun in final year will compensate for all the previous injustices..That is what we thought!!But,naa..this is our batch..And this is their last chance..They won't leave us before giving us one last punch..And that was it!!

So how is our final year different from our seniors? The amount of classes we had in this semester was much-much more than any senior batches could have thought of in their wildest dreams..The assignments dished out to us are much tougher..The teachers still want to screw us in lab exams..And they are very strict about the attendance,more than ever..Unlike the previous batches where teachers used to help students with less attendance,the current set wants to punish the students for every goddamn reason they can find on earth..They have banned netlab during the nights,which used to be the key hours for final years coz the rest of the day is fully occupied by the remaining years..Give us a break,teachers..Now the million dollar question is how are the above arguments related to my topic in first place?

Actually our classes got over on Nov.2 and our final exams start on 22nd...so what would any college student do in such a case??Rush to his home..More so because this is the festive season..So why didn't you go,shishir?Coz i have a borderline attendance in one subject and that teacher still plans to take 3-4 classes,missing which my attendance will really go for a "toss" and boy these people make u beg badly and embarrass badly in such situations..I din't want to go through that pain..Shishir,why don't you take the risk,like few of your friends who too were in the same situation?Good question..I did go and approach this teacher once regarding attendance stating that sir i should be given attendance for the classes that i missed due to placement and what he said next confirmed one thing to me-these teachers never went to college and hence they can never understand our mentality.."You have to decide whether your placement is more important to you or my class..You should understand one thing..You can work in a company only if you have a b.tech degree,for a b.tech degree you have to pass all subjects,for passing you should have proper attendance..So you should think about your current before thinking about future..."..There was nothing more to say or listen..Because of this i thought i will stay along with few of my friends and we will enjoy among us..But god can be evil somedays and boy i got the proof yesterday!!

So here it goes..It started at the dinner yesterday..Diwali is associated with mouth-watering dishes and sweets..So we were expecting something decent by NITT standards..And the next thing we knew that we had been offered the famous DOG RICE on the eve of Diwali..We were determined to somehow eat enough to fill our stomach and then retire in our rooms..But there was another twist to the tale..To start with,the food was DOG RICE and to our surprise it was the worst we had in four years with an excessive "meerchaa.." topping..Boy i was sweating!!After battling for forty-five minutes we gave up..The thought of going out came to my mind,but then it struck that on the eve of diwali every goddammn eating place is closed here..Disappointed at the way we were in "The festival of joy" , i went to my room..Thought that India's win will neutralise the pain of DIWALI SPECIAL DOG RICE..But TEAM INDIA or as i once famously called them in gururaj sir's class in first year "The team of chokers and jokers",proved them right why they are a bunch of suckers!!I am pretty sure Indian players can write a best-seller named "101 ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of certain victory!!".."Screw the Indian team..i will watch a movie and then go to sleep and forget about this forgettable diwali.."..I should stress on a point here that two other factors were irritating me all the while..First one was my cold and the second one was that i was missing my family so much because i knew that this was probably the last opportunity for the next one year to ever meet them together..Nor only i had been deprived a chance to meet them,i was starving and disgusted..And then came the perfect icing on the cake!!On the eve of "The Festival of Lights" , it went pitch dark at 1 in the night..We were helpless ,we could have done nothing..Tried gossipping for a couple of hours ..Tried my level best to sleep but the flies who were feasting on us had some other masterplan for us..Submitted myself to the flies and kept on thinking about those glorious days when we spent the "diwali" back at home with our families..Coz i know they will never ever come back..Sad that the last diwali which i could have possibly spent with my family had to end on such a disappointing note.."Last"..ya once into the corporate sector life is uncertain!!Miss you all!!

Sweet revenge...

Ever since i came to this prestigious college,NITT,my only concern was my academics..Right from the moment i woke up to the moment when i retired for bed,everything was somehow related to studies..I toiled hard for three years,didn't commit to anything else but only my studies..My friends would always engage themselves in extra-curricular activities and win lots of prizes..I kept sticking to my plan and followed it day and night..Eventually i was awarded for my dogged determination..I got a dream job,amazing academic record,enviable projects..I was happy...But deep down inside i knew i was kidding myself..I knew that my life was not supposed to be that unidirectional.My friends used to tease me "That anyone who can toil as hard as shishir can have a good academic record..so he is not a big deal.." blah-blah..I knew that these guys are stupifying themselves by having such a notion..They used to tell me that "Shishir you can just study..you can't do anything else.."..I knew they were wrong..Because i knew i was much more than that and not only that , i had in me to perform much better than them in their chosen field...Its just that i gave up everything i was ever good at to do well academically right after class IXth..I used to tell that i used to be very good at sports at school and still i am very good,they would laugh at me and make comments on my ever-increasing belly..I remember those days when i used to be so good at quizzes and sports..I remember those days when i was the undisputed king in Table Tennis and Cricket..So i had a burning desire to prove all these people wrong..I wanted to win the events at college level just as they were..And i knew it that i will pull it off!!!

I came pretty close to achieving it in last year "Wisdom Cup".But it was not to be.What on the earth can one do if the best bowler in college(Manish Chaudhary) gets smacked for a last-ball six to knock us out from the semi-finals..Bad luck-thats all!! We got one final shot at it this year..This year the wisdom cup saw the participation of 40 teams in a complete knock-out format..Boy and it was one hell of a tournament!!

Match 1 :
Our first match was against PG Gultis.Well that was the easiest match of the tournament for us .We had a rollicking start with Vivek blazing his way with a quick fire 50 odd..We ended up scoring 88 of 10 overs.I didn't get a chance to bat.But i did do what i am very good at.I bowled two overs for five runs and had two prized scalps.

Match 2 :
We started the match with a distinct disadvantage.Our captain,Manish, and Ronnie both had gone to their homes .So we played a depleted side against the second year Oriya team.We had a disastrous start when vivek got for a golden duck.Pati somehow steadied the team and i scored 8 crucial runs to take our team total to 69 of 10 overs.In bowling,i bowled my heart out.I got hit for a six in my second over.Boy that pissed me off!!And the next ball i bowled a scorching yorker to shatter the woodwork.We bundled out the team for 61 and i ended up with match-winning figures of 3-14 of 3 overs.

Quarterfinal:
This match was against Giri,the college opener's team.We batted well to score 78 with pada hitting some lusty blows.I got out to a golden duck.My first over was a bowler's nightmare.I bowled 5 fulltosses in the first over.Though i got the prized wicket of Giri and conceded just one run in the over,i was very disappointed.I more than compensated for it in the next over when i bowled the dream maiden over and got another wicket.Bad light stopped the play and we won the match next day in my absence, as i had committed to CRY class,but not without some pathetic performance.

Semi-final:
This was the big one.It was against our boycott second year juniors.It was supposed to be the match of the tournament and as they had claimed ,"They had come to hand-out the most embarrassing defeat we will ever have".Our batting flopped again with the exception of pada and we somehow managed to score a respectable 67 of 10 overs.The first over was again horrible.I sent down four full-tosses , but conceded just one run and got the key wicket of "Tiwari" , brilliantly caught by pada behind the wickets.But then my bowled the best two overs my life , cleaned up my own "pota" all ends up and ended up with the proud figures of 3-13 of 3 overs.The match was marred by a small fight between pada and one junior named rana.That shameless junior was making such dirty comments on the seniors that pada lost his patience and had it not for us that junior would have got a beating of the lifetime .They were bundled out for 47 but it was much closer than that.The kind of support that they got and the hooting made it really challenging for us.But eventually we overcame them .

Final :
The final of the tournament was a complete "paisa-vasool" encounter.We batted first and were in a very disturbing position after having lost the three key players of our team with hardly 20 on the board.Then pada made a bold decision and sent me in.I knew if i can do well,its this role only.In all the previous matches i was sent at such a position where i was supposed to hit every ball.Unfortunately,i am not pretty good at hitting.I combined well with jv and we had a decent partnership before jv got out.I stayed a bit longer but just when i was planning to cut-lose i was decived of a slower ball.I scored crucial 16 runs.Thanks to a decent performance by the tailenders we managed a score of 76 in 15 overs.Our batting had disappointed us one again.It was now left to our bowling to make amends.But it was always going to be a very tough task.I opened the bowling.First three balls were dot balls.I erred by bowling a full-toss of the fourth ball and was smacked for four with arrogance.I was fuming.I sent down a scorching beamer and was hit for two runs.With this i had already bowled the most expensive over by me of the tournament-7 runs.But i was not ready to give up that easily.The next ball i put all my effort , amazed him with my face and shattered his stumps.It was a sweet revenge that was made a bit dirty by me when i showed him the middle finger on his way back.The match was evenly poised,then tilted in our favour before they hit two sixes in two overs.We were down and out.Meanwhile i bowled two very economical overs.In the last three overs,they needed 14 .I bowled the 13th over.Gave away three runs but got one much-needed wicket.Pati bowled the next over and gave away 4 runs but took two crucial wickets ,including that of the danger man.So it boiled down to 6 balls 7 runs and 2 wickets.Pada bowled the first ball as dot ball.Next ball the batsman ran crazily after touching the ball.I sent the ball to pada and he was run-out.5 balls,7 runs,1 wicket.The next ball again the batsman touched the ball and set away straight for single.Pada removed bails in time to seal the victory for us.We all went crazy .We were dancing,shouting and having the time of our life.

For others,it was just another victory.But for me it meant much-much more than that.It was a dream come true for me.It was a signal to all those who doubted my non-academic capabilities,it was a re-inforcement of the faith in my abilities .I don't think people will ever doubt me after my wisdom cup performance(15 overs,12 wickets,52 runs)..But the quest doesn't stop here.I am hungry for more!!

Transformation inside the four walls of a room..(3)

Then something happened last week that has forced me to see myself in a new light.Suddenly the daemons have shrunk in appearence,suddenly the pain,anxiety has reduced..So here it goes..

I am a member of CRY Club of NIT,Trichy.Every year we held c,cpp classes for the juniors to help them improve in the respective subjects.But this year it was different.Due to an unfortunate ragging issue,the first years were not allowed to join the course offered by us.To add onto that ,the second years were being taught the most important compskee subject "Data Structures" by none other than Mohan itself..Mohan i must let you know is the dumbest teacher to have ever stepped in compskee department..even a tenth grader will be knowing more than him in the field of computer science..And then there was a rumour that this year CPC might not be conducted by seniors..These set of circumstances motivated us to do a course on "Data Structures" itself..Now that the topic of the classes was decided,the real problem kicked in..All the fundoo compskeees had prior commitments in the form of GRE,AGRE and what not..Still somehow four teachers were arranged for the four batches of second and third year...Everything was going well..Then something happened..Abhishek "Cyber" Verma,decided to withdraw from taking the classes due to some unforeseeable reasons..And that was it!! That set the panic button ON!!..Mayank and kastu were desperately looking for teachers and there were none apart from me,capable enough to handle the advanced batch of second year..But there lied the problem..I, who had an enormous stage fear,was approached for the job..I declined the offer plainly ,not because i was not capable enough to teach them , but because of my stage fear..But after repeated plea by mayank and kastu , i had to give in..So i was assigned the task of handling advanced batch of second year..

So after giving a nervous,but decent presentation for the Network lab in the afternoon , I left for the CRY Class in the evening..My first day topic was "SORTING IN LINEAR TIME"..I entered the class and introduced myself and asked for their brief intro too..I felt guilty for showing off a little during the introductory session when i proudly said that i am currently placed in "D E Shaw"..But i did that only so that just in case they didn't know who i was , they will be impressed with my achievement and won't keep on crying on the replacement teacher who had come in place of the great "Kastu"..Well after the initial formalities, i went about my task smoothly..I explained them the three important algorithms and even cleared all their doubts..When the class finally got over,i felt so happy..As i was about to sleep that night i suddenly realized that i really enjoyed teaching the juniors that day and after a few initial hiccups,i fared pretty well..Over the period of next three-four days i really became very comfortable with them and enjoyed answering their questions and clearing their doubts..Not only was i growing in confidence,i was becoming more dramatic in the class..I would do all sorts of hand movements to show my enthusiasm for the subject and seeing their response i assume they were also appreciating my lectures and taking keen interest in the problems that i was dishing out to them..I too on my part was giving my best effort to use all my experience and expose them to the best problems in all topics..I was in a way working harder than them because i seriously wanted it to be a very fruitful learning experience for them..In between they too asked me a few doubts,gave some test cases that nullified my proposed algorithms..But i would make sure that i find the answer for each of their questions and give them the answer in the next class..I wanted to teach them more , but my prior commitments like my wisdom cup matches forced me to cancel the remaining classes..I was more than satisfied after taking this course..but just one thing bothered me..made me doubt myself for a moment or two..I remember throughout the classes a girl named , Ramya , kept on smiling and laughing behind my back..By the way,just in case you guys don't know about her, she is an amazingly beautiful girl and has a very refreshing smile!!..Ok thats not the point..And she is the highest ranker in her batch..So was the course just too easy for her that she didn't bother to concentrate or was there something funny about me...Thought of asking her sometimes..But then i realized how the teachers feel when he laugh behind their backs..This course also gave me a chance to see teaching in a different light and the issues related to it..And must confess that it is indeed a very demanding job...

I grew in confidence during these classes..I won't say that i am very comfortable on the stage even now , but surely these classes have given me the confidence that "I can and i will overcome my stage fears.."..I have the courage now to stand before a crowd and voice my opinion..I guess thats the reason why i have again volunteered to actively involve myself in CPC-Software section..This will again give me a chance to reach the crowd..Ya there will be occasional hiccups on the way..I might be sometimes embarrassed not to clarify simple doubts of students,but i know "someday i will become the person i always wanted to become...."..Indeed those 8 hours spent with 20 odd juniors inside those four walls have transformed me!!

Transformation inside the four walls of a room..(2)

So as i said i was a very well-known guy back at school..Especially in the teachers' circle,i was quite popular..And unfortunately,a little too well-known to our principal ..It was the beginning of class XIth.Our school was planning to introduce Information Practices in the school curriculum for the first time in its long history..So our school had arranged for a guest lecture from "ARENA MULTIMEDIA" to encourage students to let them know the sea of opportunities that IT/IP open for you..The lecture was as usual boring and i watched and looked at the guest with the least interest..I was all the time just thinking about my entrance preparation..Nothing more,nothing less..Finally the lecture ended.I was happy that i could go to my home now and continue with my prep rather than wasting my time on such useless matters.But then it happened..A bolt from the sky and that too when i least expected it..Our principal sir called for me and asked me to give the vote of thanks..I was shell-shocked..I was sweating..But i had no options..If at least he had given me five minutes,i could have thought of some lines and vomitted that on the stage..I don't like to be on stage even when i am fully prepared..But here i was on the stage ,in front of all my juniors and teachers,and with no clue of what to say..But had to blabber something for at least two minutes..I stood up and went to the stage.."Good afternoon everybody..We just now had a guest lecture from ARENA MULTIMEDIA..It was very informative..I would like to thank them on the school's behalf..It was really very informative.."..blah blah..I don't remember how many times did i use "very informative" in that short vote of thanks,which was so full of broken sentences..The way i was speaking at that time was really embarrassing me,but had to somehow pull it off!!Finally two minutes got over and i slipped away from the auditorium,took my bag and ran as fast as possible to my home..If at all i have to rate the most embarrassing moments of my life,boy that will be the among top three for sure!!I had only thought in my mind for the rest of the day..What will be the ARENA guys thinking?? "If this is the state of arguably the best student in the school..(believe it or not the quality of the best student is often used to define the maximum potential of any school)..does it deserve to be called a proper English medium school??"..

The second one was also equally embarrassing.At this point i must tell you that our principal was very much interested in giving all "fundaas" and philosophies all the time..So one day as usual we were having the chaat morning assembly..And then i don know what happened to him , he took a stanza from our prayer and said that "You have been reciting this poem for ages now..Can anyone explain to me the meaning of it??"..And the very next moment he was staring at us twelfth graders..No one volunteered..And he started his morning tamaashaa.."Shame on you twelfth graders..blah blah".I thought probably guys will raise their hands and along with them i too will raise my hand.."I raised mine"..And then in the state of utter miscalculation and to my shock no one else did..everyone was looking towards me as their saviour..What next?? I was asked to explain this "enlightening concept" in the next assembly."Holy cow..!!"...But thankfully , our principal just like me forgot about the entire issue and life was back to normal again..Until one day , "Hitler's wife" made it a point to live upto her husband's words..So there i was ..least prepared ,sweating like a pig..And unlike other situations in the past i had no clue what to speak here..Just blabbered something about god and his greatness and embarrassed myself to the brink..

That was it...No further "accidents" at school.Then i joined NIT ,Trichy..The ragging opened me up a bit..But i was as expected very cool when in my friend circle,but the same frightened kid on the stage..Kept myself away from any stage appearence what so ever for the first three years,with occasional microsecond stage cameos..One that obviously stands out is my first year "SECTION DHAMAAKA" skit performance - "The Modern Sholay."..Though the skit was a blunder,i had fun and i contributed to the skit in ways more than one-be it background singing or playing the villager...Group activity on stage was never a problem..I did a couple of english skits back at school also..It were the individual performances that bothered me..It was after third year that i got ample oppurtunities to be on the stage..

The first one was our presentation at Aurigo..I still remember how sincerely i prepared for that..But the presentation was a catastrophe to say the least..But my partner "Subbu" handled the situation pretty well..Then came the RFC presenation for our network lab ...I would say it was a decent performance , though i never looked towards the audience..But things were soon to take a positive turn and i was game for it...Keep reading for the concluding part of the series!!

Transformation inside the four walls of a room..(1)

Well i am generally a very stage-shy fellow.I don't remember why,but that is how i have always been.I remember back at school how nervous i used to be before any presentation in the school morning assembly.The situation was much pathetic in Barmana,where i did my initial schooling till class IX.I still vividly remember my first major stage performance back in class VIIth.I was supposed to make a speech on some topic.The speech was supposed to be completed in 3 minutes . And the next thing i knew and before anyone else had a chance to realize,i had created the new world record by completing the speech in one minute flat.Nicknaming me "Rocket" seemed to be the obvious choice for the event coordinator,Hussain sir.I used to have sleepless nights whenever i had to give a stage performance.I still remember how my dad used to motivate me in plain terms to evade the stage fear ."Jyaada se jyaadsa kya ho jayegaa..koi tumhe maar thodee hi degaa agar tum achaaa nahee bol paaye to..".Well does look a reasonable argument to get rid of the butterflies in my stomach..I would repeat these words and all the philosophies of the gurus like "Dale Carnegie" which i read a lot..But the moment i used to step on the stage all these motivational quotes used to go for a "toss" and my only concern for the next five minutes used to be to blabber something at the rate of knots and then run away from the public,friends and family as far as possible..I used to motivate myself by saying that "shishir somehow pull this one..life will be back to normal after this nightmare..".

Then i moved to my hometown , Jhinkpani (Jharkhand),in class Xth.Now i should stress on a very important point here.I was always the school topper right from class VIth.And as is always the case , the entire school looks up at us as guys who are supposed to be good at each and everything.So for these obvious reasons my teacher will force me to participate in all the speech,debate competitions.I used to come up with every goddamn excuse in the world to save myself from the nightmare.I remember vividly how in class Xth i was thrusted with the task of competing with the big guns at district level in speech competition.And since it was handed over to me by Padhi sir,whom i respected a lot,i had no options but to give in..So i prepared for one complete week on the topic that was given to me-"Impact of Divide and rule policy on Indian history"..or something like that ..don remember exactly..So i sat and planned to write the entire speech myself because its easier to memorise and "vomit" something that is your own brainchild..Once the speech was ready the next task was practice sessions after the school everyday..And here lied the "real" problem..The very thought of stage kicked the dormant "stage daemons" back to life..The major cause of worry was that my guide used to always ask me to maintain eye contact with the audience to reach out to them with your words and do all sort of weird hand movements..But deep down inside i knew that the moment i saw into someone's eyes i would forget each and everything that i had mugged for weeks..Then i came with a strategy-comical,embarrassing but highly effective..I invented a special body movement for all my stage performances..Start from the extreme left of the audience ,keep on rotating your neck away from the left section of the crowd towards the right again and then back to the left again.All the while keep on blabbering something..The key point to be noted is that the neck should move at a constant rate , so that you cannot maintain eye-contact with anyone watsoever..And one more thing..Keep your hands stretched out all the time,one for each direction and occasionally both , as if you want to "reach out to the audience"..Well with the strategy chalked out , i was ready to rock our district level debate competition..

So we arrived at SJDAV ,the school that was soon to witness history in the making..So after patiently waiting for an hour and a half the competition was about to start..In the meanwhile,my "pre-stage" fears had taken backstage amidst the raining of beautiful chics from every nook and corner of Singhbhum(W)..I must confess i am not a despo , but for us guys from remote regions where "chic" scarcity has been a problem for ages , seeing "haryaali" once in a while is God's way of compensating for all the injustice he has done to us in the first place..And boy are we fools to miss out on such a once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity??..ha ha ha..Ok getting back to the competition,it started on a dull note with boring speeches from every "tom-dick-harry" in Chaibasa..Then the real competition started..And guess what?? I was given the first slot among 20 odd participants there..Suddenly the "daemons" kicked in again..I was sweating profusely..And then the moment came.."Our first contender for the evening is Shishir Prasad from DAV Public School,Jhinkpani.."..For a moment i thought i will faint..But somehow the thought of Padhi sir came in my mind and i thought "this one is for you , sir..."..And then i stepped onto the stage..And without any formalities just started blabbering on the stage..I myself had no idea what i was doing..Thankfully , my speech was stopped mid-way through due to some problem in the crowd..Then padhi sir came to me and said.."What are you doing shishir??Zaraa dheere bolo..i know u can do it..!!"..Something happened..it was not what he said , but the manner in which he said that really propelled me to give my level best..And much to the shock of everyone ,and above all me i topped that competition..I don't know how i did it,but i did it..One year down the line my speech photo was published on the cover page of DAV Ranchi zone magazine..But that was it ..I had made a promise to myself..."Shishir ye stage sabke chakkar mein mat padna..its not worth it!!.."...But the school had some other plans for me..

As i said i was the school topper.To add onto that i was always very good in sports ..I guess that made me the obvious choice for leading the school in virtually each and everything..I was made the school captain,house captain and had a major say in sports..When you are given such responsibilities ,stage becomes a close friend of yours and you tend to spend lots of time on it..But i as usual would always come up with my academic commitments and avoid it..Over the next two years i did numerous quizzes and morning assembly sessions to improve my comfort level on the stage..But all this happened long after i had the two most embarrassing stage moments of my life..Wanna know about it..Keep reading!!!

Wonder years..Indeed those were!!

I always had a special liking for sitcoms . I remember the first one -"Desperate Housewives" created such a spell on me that i screwed up my lab exams the next day because i was up all night watching this very exciting serial.Following that i watched a couple of my sitcoms like "The 70's show" and "How i met your mother".But in the last five days i saw a sitcom that will remain etched in my memory forever - "The Wonder Years..".

The very concept of this serial is that it will touch each and every viewer's heart and create a whirlpool of emotions inside him/her."The Wonder Years" is an Emmy-Award winning television drama that captures the life of the lead character "Kevin Arnold" - his childhood , his adolescence.But watching it,it feels like that its not just a story of "Kevin" , but in some way its the story of each and every one.Each and every event in the serial takes you down the memory lane and you just can't help but see yourself in the character of "Kevin"..It takes you to that sweet phase of your life called "Adolescence"..You are reminded of everything - be it the childhood friends,those carefree days,fun at school,hanging out with friends in the evening,running after girls,the "teacher" you had crush on,the fights with friends,the scoldings of your parents,how you felt that your parents were always harsh on you and never understood you,teen issues,secretive sex talks among friends and much more.. The serial was just showing the life of "Kevin" , but i felt that i re-lived my adolescence once again as i saw the lead protagonist of the serial living his teen years and how each experience then taught and shaped him into the person he is today.

The serial has some very interesting characters.Paul,Kevin's best friend,is the type of friend you would die to have .He was there with Paul through each and every phase ,be it good or bad.They fought with each other so many times ,but each time it made their bond stronger.Norma,Kevin's mom,is an ideal woman,wife and more importantly an ideal person.She cheers up the family during all the tough times they faced ,leaves no stone-unturned in the upbringing of her family.She is very understanding and understands each character in the family in-and-out.Jack,Kevin's father,is a person who is a bit embittered with his life because he ended up doing something which he never wanted to do.He is shown as a strict person , but deep down inside he is a wonderful person who loves his family more than his life and whenever any member of his family was in trouble,he was always there to bail them out.Wayne,Kevin's brother,is a kind of brother you would hate to have because of the way he torments him right through the serial.You would be forced to hate his character,but in the end it is shown that he is good at heart and how he acts beyond his years and takes control of the family when Jack dies.Winnie,Kevin's childhood sweetheart,is the perfect girl next door.She is beautiful,innocent and madly in love with Kevin , but for some reason their feelings for each other always remain dormant for the first couple of years, before they actually get together.She is also shown to be a bit "confused" as she keeps on dumping Kevin , even though for him she is the only girl in his life.

The most interesting character is ,of course,of Kevin.The best part of this entire serial is that unlike other serials they don't show the lead protagonist to be "ideal","perfect".Kevin is not perfect.He commits mistakes and that too lots of them.He is sometimes jealous of Paul ,for him making into Basketball team when he couldn't,he sometimes says mean things about Paul and Winnie,he fights with his dad and resents him,he is often disrespectful to teachers,he sometimes does crazy things that brings shame to the family . But unlike others ,he learns from his mistakes and grows and matures from each experience in life.He does lots of things he shouldn't have done , but then he does make amends at the right time.He is a man with no ego.He is not afraid of apologizing when he is wrong,he is not afraid to voice his opinion if he believes in what he says.

This sitcom has indeed brought back the sweet memories of the days gone by,"the wonder years" that will forever be in our hearts and the ones that will never come back!!Watch it out guys!!