Love and Physics is a lethel combination, I tell you...

My mom always remembered her friends' birthdays. But my dad anyways never assigned so much importance to birthdays and his parents didn't remember his exact date either. And in my childhood, my friends maintained a red diary on birthdays and checked it every week for the birthdays falling in that week. I never did because I was inspired by my dad. It was my girlfriend (Yes I have had that honour, only to be revoked later) who drummed the value of a birthday into my head.

"You would always remain a Ganwar. How the hell would a girl bear with you all her life !" she would say. And this was one sentence that really freaked me out. I tried to be my smartest self with her and she would so blatantly mock my efforts at smartness.

"What a birthday really marks is an integral number of rounds around the sun. What the hell special about completing a circle around the sun ! And anyway it reduces your life expectancy every time it comes !" I argued.

"You IITians are real idiots !" another sentence to freak me to the hell's limit. In those moments, I hated those idiot IITians who don't know how to talk to a girl and bring bad name to all their brethren. I worked so hard to show her that I didn't give a damn to studies (Which I am paying for badly till date ! ).

"But tell me what the hell is wrong here !"

"In the entire year, this day is yours Mr. Idiot !"

And that day it was her birthday when we were sitting in the stadium after being chased from everywhere we tried to find some solitude and she was checking her mobile for any new birthday wishes from friends. It was about 8.30 night and just 3.30 hours left of her birthday.

"All are bad. 7 of my bestest friends ( ??? Girls' jargon for a friend whom they haven't fought with in the past week, I found out) haven't wished me. Last time too 5 of them recalled it only the next morning. How mean they all are ! "

Man ! When you are in love, the tears of your girlfriend are the hardest thing to bear.

"Hey cheer up dear. Let me tell you something. Look at it this way. You were born in Feb 1984 and that was a leap year. Now this year is 2004 and is again a leap year. The last leap year was 2000. Now between Feb 2000 and Feb 2004, the lag in calender has been one full day for which the correction would be made with one extra day in this month this year. So that means if you look at it from cosmological point of view, your Birthday is not today. It's closer to tomorrow ! And all those friends who have wished you today have, in fact, wished you on the wrong day. The real friends would be the ones who would wish you tomorrow. " Of course, before saying all this 'logic' I had mentally checked my calender for the next day to see if I would be available to wish her the next day too.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that ?" I asked, bewildered and apprehended of something terrible coming my way.
"Hey where are you going. Listen !"

It was a tough, trying day of my life and the last time when I argued about it before I started believing in Birthdays.

My birthday is my day of the year !

So all you morons who wouldn't wish me today, can still do so more accurately. I was dispatched to earth in 1982. 2 years later was the leap year. Now 2008 is leap year. And since 4 years constitute a lag of one day in a human calendar year in S.I. system, the lag in actual 25 rounds of mine around the burning ball has been a little less than half a day now. Next year is a leap year. My 25th round would actually be completed sometime tomorrow.

Hey who's that ! Now who called me an idiot here !

At 25 ...

A man of 25 or a boy of 25 !
Whatever.
It's official now. Sodium is 25 !

It feels different from different angles. At office, I feel young. At my home, a bachelor's room, I feel old. In Gym, I feel young. Alone in malls where couples hang all around, I feel old.

But when I think about it, I realize that perhaps I am in the most beautiful phase of my life. In the most comfortable part of the life's journey. I should be living this day to it's value. This is something I am gonna remember tomorrow.

Thank you life. For making me what I am. For giving me what I have. I may complain about what I miss but all the time I am aware of what I have got.

If you were to grant me one wish as a Birthday gift today, please show me the way to enjoy every moment. Thanks :)

One fine evening...(an idiot speaks rationally !)

I saw him first in my visitors file
when in innocent arrogance
I wandered carelessly to his profile
perhaps to find there one new idiot
checking people's profiles and living in rut

but awestruck I saw him,

such handsome, tall, and sturdily built
giving committed girls a sharp pang of guilt
here I talk to him but look at my fate
no feelings man.. I am straight !!

hidden in the clutter was that awesome treasure
which I spent perusing through at my night's leisure
the blog had words
but never had the words rhymed to so much of thought
a serenity of senses which hitherto only a legend brought
some people seem to get it all
they don't intend to but you feel small

and guess what's more
the guy even has a 750 GMAT score

It's all in the timing, as I say, some people get it all
unlike my case when the God's printer was perhaps off for an overhaul !

The shopper's syndrome

When in a clothes store
u see numerous shelves
and find that for each design you choose
your size is not available
then that's what's called the shopper's syndrome

for if you stand out of your body
and observe that mysterious creature
you would find him going through the heaps of designs
to see if each of them contains his own size
and if one is unavailable for his own
then subconsciously for him, that was the one he wouldn't have missed otherwise !

This social set up is flawed ! huh...

She started dating someone else when I could not speak to her when she sat before me on my table in the office canteen, leaving about 50 vacant tables around. Hell...if only I had spoken to her that day. 'The R-Factor' is happily married now.

I have got to find some explanation for all these tragedies to preserve my sanity (You wish I had prefixed that with -in ! Yeah ? Hold that pal. The Indian constitutions doesn't explicitly grant you the right to freedom of wish. And this wish of yours goes as far as to infringe upon my self respect. I could sue you for that in the court of justice to realise my right to constitutional remedies !) . Huh...Perhaps the printer was out of order or the toner ran out of ink when it was my turn to receive the paper of luck. And he dispatched me to earth with a blank sheet in hand. Sure da...do I have a choice against you!

But given a choice against this syndicate of humans who have formed a nonsensical social set up, I would make it a democracy. You should have a chance of voting your incumbent parents out of power when you are dissatisfied with the way you are being reared or when they start ignoring your teenage hu-'man' rights (!!!) ! Democracy and regular elections would not only give them an incentive to rear you better but would also let you elect the likes of Akshay Kumar for dad when you reach your teens so that you can learn the 101 ways of, you know, well...at least ask that gorgeous 'R-factor' out.

Eh...that argumentative Indian in me !

Know thy self

Destiny is the child of competency and capacity...

The better your competency and capacity complement each other, the more beautiful the child !

-- Sodium

CATastrophic moments

"Abe tu ullu ka patthha hai kya ?" prom pinged me on Gtalk.
"Kyun maine kya kiya jo gaali de raha hai?" I replied wryly.
"abe gali nahi yaar...puch raha hun" He immediately went into damage control mode.
"hahaha...kya tarika hai poochne ka !" I didn't make his life easy.
"yaar confusion mein hun isliye…" replied an embarrassed Prom.

Prom and I had known each other for just 3 days now and here he was, asking me such a question matter of factly.

I had logged onto the T.I.M.E. chat forum for CAT 2007 with a different name this time. 'Ullu ka Patthha' instead of my usual name 'Sodium'. And he had realized it within minutes, by seeing my scores and by the secrets of him that I had started spilling there. He was goaded into catching me privately on gtalk when I innocently asked him what had happened to 'crab' (F) he was talking to, the previous day, just when he started taking chances on Neha.
Poor Prom !

That was three days after CAT happened. We settled scores on gtalk and went back to the T.I.M.E. chat forum. Prez was telling Neha that with her scores she could safely expect 2-3 IIM calls and that she should start preparing for GD/PI. Man! I was awestruck by his amazing cognitive abilities because just about 10 minutes back he was asking Prom and me in desperation about his chances of getting a call. And guess what! The difference between his and Neha's scores was just 1 mark. So here he was, now prophesizing to the girls about their chances of making it. This world is a big chess board I tell you and every pawn is trying to con the other to its ends.

By the way, Prom's full name was Prometheus Unbound. We 'lovingly' called him Prom. And soon we had shared secrets, pertaining to our girlfriends you see. So what if I don't really have a girlfriend. How would he know online if I tell him I am a hunk, always surrounded by cool chicks!

I went for a tea and when I returned, Prom had gone. It would be known later that his boss had been standing behind him for about one and a half minutes while he had zeroed in on catty who had just logged in and wanted to know if it would be a sin to expect a NITIE call without a work-ex. Yeah, it was noon time and we were all in office making the most of our employment benefits. Poor Prom! I thought again.

Anyways, I resumed my chat with Ruthless. He was another geek scoring 136 and worrying if he would be able to secure an IIM A call. Gee, everybody has his own worries. Here we were, willing to flirt even a black hole to secure a single IIM call and there he was, worrying over IIM Ahamedabad. Ruthless assured me that at my scores, I could keep my fingers crossed for a couple of calls from the 'lower' IIMs.
A truck ran over my feelings trampling my most cherished dreams. Immediately afterwards, Ruthless logged out. It was a clear cut case of hit and run. Somebody forward him that mail which taught the reader never to scoff at other's possessions, for that could be all they had.

Prometheus Rebound logged in.

"Hey! Prometheus REBOUND!" I exclaimed. "Is that you my dear Prom"

"Haan sodium, main hi hoon" reminded me of that dialogue Amir Khan speaks to Kajol in Fanna, "haan Ruhana, main hi hoon"

"Hey, how do I believe you?" I started using logic.
"Remember Priya, Sodium? Yesterday?"
"Eh…!" And all my logical abilities were put to rest. The chat room was full of current opportunities and too much was at stake to show over smartness at this moment.

"My dear Prom, I love you!" and the matter was put to rest.

He would sometimes log in as Prometheus Unbound and sometimes as Prometheus Rebound. I tried to spot a pattern but was promptly reminded of my handicap when Catty asked me on the forum regarding my percentile last year in Logical Reasoning. I gave up. He still comes sometimes as Unbound and sometimes as Rebound.

"Prom, you read the previous few lines. Ruthless told me I stand a chance in the 'lower' IIMs"

Prom burst out laughing. My feelings were mercilessly trampled again. This is a mean world. My IIM was a lower IIM !

"Hey all! Can anyone tell me what are my chances of getting a call with QA 38, DI 52, VA 34" someone had logged on by the name of Anjali.

"Hey hiiiii Anjali!!! Congrats, you are getting 7 calls. Start preparing for GD/PI" the message took some time to display as Prom and I had hit the jackpot at the same time.