First Time @ XLRI ....

I was into the second day in Dhanbad express, looking very much forward for the XL Xperiance. In Jharkhand and Bihar, the people have the habit of stopping the train and getting into it where ever they like. Some friends will board the train at the previous station and pull the chain to stop the train and take their friends . As we had some guys to talk with, we felt ok. Otherwise the condition would have been different. Coupled with an hour's delay at Roukela, we landed at TataNagar(jamshedpurs' Railway station) with a huge delay of 4 hours. Well into the afternoon Jamshedpur was at his hottest self, crowd cramming up the railway station and Jharkhand was there for all of us to Enjoy. Porters spoke an incomprehendable language and we all decided to move on ourselves. Sun was scroching on us and we were in a mess. We had no breakfast as there was no good station on our way and lunch was delayed till 1 PM. we also had to walk around with the Luggages. Saaji and CM went to collect the bike that saaji had parcelled along with the train. Two others went with their parents to the hotel and other 4 of us began to bargain for some taxi. We never got any good deal, burnt by heat, we decided to pay anything to reach XLRI. After all this was much better than the stressful interviews and those painful days waiting for the Waitlist to convert in. We all landed in XL. The Place of Jamshedpur may not be the most beautiful, but it was not definitely one of the those Bihari cities. The city is not great around TataNagar. But once you start exploring into the city, It is at its architectural best. The city was getting beautiful as we were coming close to XLRI. Our college is at the heart of the TATA kingdom with all the main Places surrounding it. I rate it as one of the Hippest place i had been to. We all were gasping for our breath which was worsened by downloading our lugagges from the Taxi. I was surprised when i saw that CM was my Roomie. I was jumping with joy. Never do they let two south indians share a room. CM was from Chennai and he worked at delhi. Probably that did the trick. Being happy with the fact that I can speak freely in tamil with a roomie for 2 more years, I walked into the hostel.

After the lunch, we all came back to the room and had a nice sleep till 5 PM. Waking up at 5 PM, we had bath and purchased the Bed from the Local Matress-wala. On having set everything in place, we wanted to go to the City. we all went to Bistupur(equivalent of Mount Road of chennai). we shopped for some bed-covers, pillow, hangers and all other accsories required for the hostel life. We all had a great time in a Magazine shop, all of us were shouting when we saw a copy of "Ananda Vigadan" and "Kumutham Reporter" in the shop. There is nothing like listening to your language or seeing your native things in a land far off.... After some great shopping, we all went to a chinese Restaurant and the food was acceptable. But the service in this part of the country is very poor. A typical chennai bearer may render a lot of service with a smiling face. Here the waiter may respond with angry gestures and you will even have to pour water into glasses yourself. Later, we came back to the hostel and had some long hours of chat.

Day 2 @ Jamshedpur

I had a great sleep till 9 AM . The climate in Jamshedpur was the only sour issue. The temperature the last night was as much as 38 Celcius and it was sweating like hell. All the guys felt that I would not be having issues as i am from chennai. But chennai climate is definitely better as it gets cold at chennai after 9 PM. Early morning 5:30 AM in Jamshedpur would be like 9 AM in chennai. That will explain how bad the climate is ...

The day was very dull and it went on into the afternoon where all of us had a nice sleep and also had a bath. Taking bath in the evening has become a habit for me. Later we all went to Coffee Day for a party meet.Cafe Coffee day may not have seen a similar crowd anytime in the recent past. we were more than 50 of us and we occupied the entire ground floor. We were shouting for orders and it was fun. we had as many drinks as possible and everybody got to taste almost all variants in CCD. All of us walked back from CCD to XLRI(4 Kms). The place is just great. There are not lot of places that you can enjoy. Probably after some time we may exhaust all the places and have no more place to visit. After the dinner, I found myself at the Computer center absoluely jobless to script in the entire thing.

More adventures in Shibu Soren's Land will follow soon.

Chennai Se Jamshedpur thak

Embarking into the train, I really felt alone .Leaving chennai was haunting me like hell. I was expecting three others to join me and it was only then i saw that there were surprices in store for me. I was joined by 4 new friends.Now, we had a small gang with 8 of us. Very friendly faces that were waiting to accept people so easily. Now I realised XL had also put in some pychological profiling into the whole bunch which made them choose such a friendly and affable junta.

As the train began its journey 20 minutes late, I was already into the group and the feeling was great with all of us greeting each other and the atmosphere was fantastic. As we began the journey of XL(as we all call it), we all started grouping and talking about our interview experiances, freshers party and all that made sense. We all were in the same compartment, but the summer family crowd played havoc to our fun. Due to a peak season and what i would call a fate's play with our destiny, we all got seats which was spread across the compartment. This made our get-togethers very difficult, we had to use all our marketing skills to get the people in our place relocate so that we have place for all 8 of us to sit and chat. The first night of travel saw a mere introduction of the members and all of us went back to sleep immediately.

Mine was a side lower berth. It was very uncomfortable and I was trying all possible positions of sleep which would minimise my back pain. At last after I have settled down in what was the most comfortable position for me, the baby in the near by seat started crying. The Mother made some wierd sound in order to keep the baby quiet and it made the baby cry with a higher volume. I began sleeping after the baby had calmed down after drowning itself into a bottle of milk. I woke up in the middle of the night by some Heavy snoring all around. All those co-passengers of mine was some Big-Time Snorers. Trying very hard to sleep, I slowly went back into slumber.

I got up in the morning as the train stopped at Vijaywada. I got some coffee and a newspaper to read as all my new friends were asleep. Back at my place, I started reading the "deccan cronicle" which i had purchased some moments back. It was a typical translation of our own Dhina Malar. After some time Saaji (sebastian chandy), one of the guys got up and we went around and awakened all others. After some time we asked one family members to move to a different place and we gather around 9:30 AM and started continuing from where we left. Then we were joined by a Guy called ALI(Mr. Fundae), who was not there with us the last night. The conversation has extended on and on till 1 PM. The Idly's that chandraMohan(CM) has brought from home had all of us on our senses. When some of us began feeling hungry(idly's power got drained out), we ordered the Lunch and to say the least it was Pathetic.

We wanted to talk more after lunch, but the family which had left the place was back and they wanted to have an afternoon nap. we too decided to take a break and we split off and had some chat in groups and then went for sleep. After a nap which had exptended to 2 hours, I got up at Vishakapatnam. It was damn Hot at 4 in the evening. After getting some polo and chewing gum to eat, I came back and again woke up all the guys. We gathered again and went on and on and on. Our chat contuinued till we reached a place called Rayagada at 7 PM. We got some great food to eat there. Despite ordering the food at the pantry, we all began swallowing a lot of Idlys, Vadas and Samosas. We were all lavishly buying them and after some time were all full still our throat. After drowning another glass of coffee(the last coffee i had for the next four days), we all got into the train. After that it was some more chat and another round of pathetic ordered dinner(we wasted most of it). More sleep continued after that. I had a vey bad sleep that night and I woke up and got down from the train at every station(every two hours). The stations were deserted in this part of the country and they were all guared by well armed Army people. When I got down at a place called Sambalpur, Some of the men out there looked very much like robbers. They were all staring at me. I was a bit frightened and I got back into the train and locked the doors. Later in the morning, tony was telling me that they were indeed robbers and the TT has asked them not to open the doors from 10 PM till they reach Rourkela. After more hours of sleep, I woke up at Roukela. Many of the guys also had woken up and I had Tea in Kulhar(remember Lalu introcucing these mud pots in railways) at Roukela with Anuroop. Later Tony and Chandy also Joined us. And what followed was the most pathetic jouney that i ever had in my life. From Rourkela to TATANAGAR, It was a three hour travel and our train took 5 hours stopping at every bloody place that it came across.

Leaving Chennai

A sense of fear gripped my minds as i was setting out for my first ever trip away from home. Moving to XLRI, Jamshedpur seemed to be a real achievement. But the feeling of living away from chennai was not so acceptable. Not so far away , yet traveling to and staying at Jamshedpur seemed to worry me a lot. Being a most pampered kid of my family, I have hardly had an experience of living alone. The fact that i was the only child for my parents made the matters worse. I was fortified (read protected) till this day. I always had to look upto my dad for help for most of my activities. Now I will have to learn not just to live alone but also to survive alone.
Chennai has always been a great place to live. I have been here for the past 11 years. Never have i regretted for that. Never have a place been so peaceful and also a great joint for national and international foods. To a person like me with a lot of friends and a unbelievable craze for movies, chennai has virtually been a heaven on earth. One can get anything he like in a matter of one hour. There can be nothing like roaming around at Spencers, Gathering for a movie at satyam, driving late at night in Adyar, Getting a quick walk across the maddening crowd in Usman Road, Getting a fresh morning jog in G.N.Chetty Road where u cannot even walk during busy hours, etc .... Driving my bike in mount road or my car in ECR has always given a feel of eternal bliss. Chennai is neither a small nor a lifeless place which is easy to forget and forgo. Agony and pain has already began flooding my heart for leaving chennai. Its just heaven on earth for people who had been here for quite some time.

More Emotions will f(ol)low ...