188!shouted ravi in a triumphant tone.194! i said with a mischievous smile signalling his end.this is the game of the cricket trump cards.here,everyone is distributed these cards which carry the details of a player and u try to get others' cards by shouting a field which u suppose was the best among all the face cards of the other players.the magic numbers above were the highest odi scores of gary kirsten and saeed anwar. ravi,i and 2 others used to be the naughty backbenchers in class 4 playing these sort of silly games!!there is not a single day when we were not caught playing this stuff and thrown out of the class.but little did this help the teachers in setting us alright!but then these events HELPED us to get into the bad books of the head master.one day i left the class on the pretext of drinking water.i was lingering at the drinking place chatting with few other friends not willing to go back to the classes.here came a shock my dear fellows!the hm(headmaster) was on rounds and we were spotted unaware.the next thing he did was to take us with him and ask us to stand with hands raised in front of his room.this,i say was THE most embarrssing moment of my life.people would pass around with a smile that was enough to humiliate me very badly.meanwhile one BACKBENCHER friend of mine came to know this.he felt so bad that he came to the entrance of the room and stood there with his hands raised!!the hm couldnt make this out for he was deeply involved in some gossip in the next room.here,i say,my dear readers came 2 powerful truths onto me.one-that my insincerity towards acads would do me no good.second- i realised what good frends i ve.this very moment i promised to myself that i wud grow sincere.i started working very hard and also convinced my friends to do away with those silly games.now,there was one teacher who had observed this change in mine.one day he was teaching us some fundamentals abt prepositions.currently,i was so intent in studies that i read all that for myself frm the textbook.not only that ,i started reading abt conjunctions frm the book.the teacher spotted me and admonished me instead of doing otherwise.i grew sad.it seems the world is always against me no matter what i do.i was lost in all these thoughts when a unison shout of the class "GOOD MORNING SIR" shook me.ohh!!my god!!!it is the same hm again,this time here to on a surprise checkup.i avoided eye contact with him for i knew the embarrasment that will come up in me as soon as i do it.he asked the master to put some questions to the class.to my surprise,the first question was fired by my master towards me!what is even more surprising was that he asked abt conjunctions!!the topic still being afresh in my mind,i answered it very well even giving some examples.hahahahahah!!!now the hm was happy and asked if anybody else can repeat the answer. nobody cud.the hm praised me very much for my brilliant reply!after posing some other questions to which i was the first volunteer,left the class advising us to work hard.i cud hardly keep myself calm after the class and erupted with joy.the master later said he has asked me the question deliberately.it was,he said, to show me what good memory and intelligence i possessed and how it feels to be the only person in the entire class answering questions!!this i say,my dear fellows is the best feeling that i could ever enjoy.this very incentive was sufficient to make me work hard for the rest of my classes.little wonder,it helped me place myself in ,what the hm called when i was leaving the school,"UNSHAKABLE FIRST POSITION".i kept my work with years and finally, my friends,i recollect my old,fond memories from the position that was gifted to me by this very incentive which i described above-----"IITIAN!!"

so,i'm finally here with a bang!bad to start off my first blog this way!
ohh!! my god!! I 've been thrown out of SURGE program!!!!this basically is a summer undergrad research program open for 2nd ,3rd year undergrads. we needed to propose a research problem that can be completed in a period of abt 8weeks.10 grants are to be given.it was probably thought that there will be a flood of applications for the program.so,it was initially proposed to ve selection in 2stages.but as fate would ve it been,very few applications were received and the profs decided to ve one round.now,my dear readers,comes the twist.the date has been preponed suddenly by a fortnight.!ohohoh!!! to be frank enough with u, i was not quite involved in some work in any particular field.i was harping all my hopes on this particular gap to prepare better in my topic --"speech recognition" .2 days to go now!! i ve literally no knowledge on this.on top of that i have to prepare for my midsems which r fast approaching.i ran to my prof,some phd students for some help.but i tell u my dear fellows,somewhere in my heart,the expected outcome is clear(hahahah!!)but then i gave my best shot and made a ppt presentation.now ,i had to present it infront of a half a dozen profs who ll be banging me with questions. the sheer imagination of the scene i m going me to be in is sending a shudder down my spine.the dday has arrived.i presented myself in front of them.they looked less interested than i expected them to be.as a kid,i used to be very nervous when it came to the question of speaking.but then i gradually lost all my fear as i grew up probably becoz i was forced to speak on many a occasion!i was quite comfortable as i was making my presentation.but then i thought,as the presentation progressed that my topic is not FOCUSSED enough to convince them.here and there,i was bombed with some questions(for which i had no answers,of course!!hahahah!!)i had to but give a sheepish look on those occasions!here and there i heard them giggling amongst themselves.it only reminded me of a story i ve read in literature course.there it was a policeofficer talking to a guilty minded,nervous murderer.the murderer,hears his own heartbeat and fancies it to be the murdered fellow whose body he has hid in the same room.he thinks that even the policeman knows the truth but he was only making a mockery out of him by smiling and chatting and waiting for the murderer to confess.am i in the same situation??did the profs already decided to throw me out and making a mockery out of me???god knows.but then i felt,after coming out of the room that i made reasonably good presentation exept for the tangible fact that the problem statement is not convincing enough and my knowledge was shallow!!ohh i felt sick!i knew for sure that i m not going to make it unless some miracle happens!but i tell u my dear readers,the world is not a place of magics and miracles.it's only reason that prevails.the results are out and the obvious thing happened!(hahaha!!) i was surprised to see only 8 grants as against the promised 10.i was pained to receive the result but then i said to myself that life is all abt accepting defeats and successes!
so,my dear fellows,iit is a place that gives ample opportunities for self improvement in all fields.it is as gruel to those who dont tap the opportunities as it is so friendly to those who do it.i m not at all broken!this defeat has only incresed my resolve.i m goin to stand up and fight hard to do something better than wat i would ve done in surge!yes! i would!!i would!!!