Chapter 2 - Rebirth

12:20 PM August 12th, 2007, Darshan Heights, Borivali
"Mom, I will miss my train! Can you please get this done quickly?". Why does the Indian household have to be dramatic? My train leaves in exactly two hours and I have to stop by my friend Vivek's place. Mom, as you can guess isn't aware of the mini detour however. Finally, the wait is over, mom comes out with a bag, the size of my suitcase, but hey, this one contains food and more food. "Bye mom, will give you a call when I reach Mumbai Central".

Life definitely has changed a lot, I still feel that Pune was better. Working at Infosys was fun indeed, given that we seldom used to. However, here I am now, getting into Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad. Ghaziabad isn't your ideal dream of a peaceful locale, but what the heck, it is indeed a great college right there with the creme-de-la-creme of India's b-school landscape.

CAT 2007 was a blessing in disguise, absolutely unprepared, I managed to score a 98.46 percentile, but the verbal section ensured that my dream of an IIM remains so. Hmmm, but IMT is also a great place... Piyush told me so. Piyush is my neighbour whose friend's uncle's son in law's brother's friend's paternal cousin had done his MBA from IMT a couple of years ago. My mom indeed does her bit of research about every place I am going to.

"Bhau, aajoon kiti vel? Pochnaar naahi tumhi". "Ho yetoy, don minute dyaa". Cabbies in Mumbai I say. I am happy to converse with this guy though, this may just be the last time I get to talk in Marathi for two years from now, or may be for the rest of my life.

1:50 PM,  August 12th, 2007,  Mumbai Central Station
"Chal yaar, chalta hoon, thanks for dropping me". You guessed it right, the cabbie grumpily dropped me off at Piyush's place two blocks away from my place, and Piyush drove me down to Central, one more of my money saving strategies. I glance through the crowd and see the beautiful red train standing on platform number 6.

"Nayi Dilli jaanewali Mumbai Rajdhani 10 minute mein platform number 6 se chootegi". Nice, have never been to Delhi in my life before, for that matter, haven't been to any place north of Pune, I can't remember how college life used to be, I have never had any hostel experience earlier, but college life too is a distant memory for me. Having graduated in 2004, 34 months of work experience has played tricks with my memory.

 8:30 AM, August 13th, 2007, New Delhi Railway Station
"Bhaiyya, Ghaziabad chaloge?". "Nahi, peeche wali taxi mein pooch lena". What's wrong with the cabbies in Delhi? Or better put, whats wrong with cabbies in India? They forget that a meter on your ride makes it your duty to service every customer that asks you to. Guess my stint at IMT will teach me how to tackle these people.

10:30 AM, August 13th, 2007, IMT Ghaziabad
"Mom, reached campus, now, waiting in the queue for registration, will call you once I am allotted my hostel room". Well, guess I have got to get used to long queues now, that my institute has a hell lot of students like myself to cater to.

I feel cheated, cheated by my intelligence. I always wanted to do a general management course, thanks to my indecisiveness, and a full time course being offered by IMT along with the likes of Finance, HR, IT and International Business made me happy. But the guy standing behind me in the queue has given me a shocker of a news.

10 minutes ago
Random Guy: "Dude, you've taken Marketing?"
Me: "They don't offer marketing bro, I have taken Full Time"
        Yeah, you loser, you are in a part time course, am sure of it!
Random Guy: "Dude, I am sure you had done your research before applying, Full Time is marketing majors"
        What the heck? Nobody told me that. The panel in IMT Nagpur where I gave my GD PI were all smiles, but nobody clarified, on second thoughts, I never asked. I'd be damned!!!!!
Me:  "Ummm, yes, I know that, was just talking about the semantics"
        Had to somehow wriggle myself out of the conversation, job not done well... :(


12:10 PM, August 13th, 2007, IMT Ghaziabad
"Keshav Raman". "Thats me sir". "Sign here, and take this, this is your ID cum Library Card. Welcome to IMT". Nice way to welcome a guy, after he has stood in a queue for an hour..... Keshav Raman likes this.

12:45 PM, August 12th 2007, IMT Ghaziabad
"Will you shut the fuck up? I hear so much as another word from you, and I swear by God that I am allotting the room that is right next to the stinkiest loo on campus". Whoa, now that's some attitude to be strutting in front of juniors, especially in front of his parents. "FT-0798". "Thats me sir, Keshav Raman". I so hate calling this guy sir, for god's sake, he looks like a freaking fresher, should be at least 2 years younger to me. "J-109, get your ass moving, and be at the mess by 1:00 PM, finish your lunch by 1:15, seniors will be there after that and you don't wanna rub them off the wrong way". Wokay! As you say chieftan.

Chapter 1 - The Mourning Raaga

10:30 AM, 28th February, 2014 - Bedroom, Darshan Heights, Borivali

"Hey champ, its me Pranav, got some disturbing news, can't tell that on the phone, do gimme a call, m putting up at Leela Kempenski, will give you the details, gimme a call on my Delhi number when you reach Leela". Time of the voice message reads 8:45 AM. I say WTF! It is not natural of Pranav to be calling me at 8:45, for god's freaking sake, this is way too early for me to wake up, and for Nav as we call him, its still an hour before he used to go to bed.

I get my lazy ass off the bed, walk towards the mirror. "I know Nav's vanity, he must have had his gazillionth breakup with his new found love, this shit can wait.... What crap! I gotta get a freaking haircut". So what if I am working in the capacity of an account planner in one of the world's leading advertising agencies, you still need to look different from one of those hippie creative guys around or you'll be kicked out of the company. Damn, this thing can wait, its a Sunday after all.

11:45 AM, 28th February, 2014 - Parking Lot, Darshan Heights, Borivali

I can't believe I am doing all this to meet Nav! I mean it isn't like I haven't met him in the past 5 years since our days back at campus, it was a couple of months back that we met up on a similar 'disturbing' news of his, and ended up spending 5 hours at Mondegar, created a barroom brawl, and realized the next day that my Boss played audience to the scene, and had my ass nearly fired from the company. 

I fumble in my pockets and manage to pull out the keys of my Tata Nano. Ok, I don't have a flamboyant lifestyle, but am happy the way I am. Cars are machines meant to facilitate transportation, and my baby does a fabulous job at it. Alright, 18km, should be there by 12:15, and a bit of speeding can get me there by 12:10... cool!

12:45 PM, 28th February, 2014 - Pathanwadi, Malad East

"Arre teri maa ki, tempo road ke beech mein lagake traffic ki kyon maa behen ek kar raha hai mad@#ch%d". All these unruly truckers, cabbies, auto-drivers should be banned in Mumbai, who the hell do they think they are, they drive as if they own this place! And fuck this city man, how will a common man commute amidst this piled up traffic?

1:45 PM, 28th February, 2014 - Chakala, Andheri

"Hey dude, reached Chakala, will be there in another 10 minutes". "Cool hai, am waiting at the lobby". Damn this traffic.

2:20 PM, 28th February, 2014 - Lobby, Leela Kempenski, Andheri

Me: "Damn Andheri man, damn this traffic, you have to own a private jet to commute in this city, but wait, then where will you land? arrrgggggghhhhhhhh"

Pranav: Smiles reluctantly "Dude, sit down, I want you to take this slowly"

Me: "What? What the fuck is wrong bro? Broke up with your current muse? hahaha"

Pranav: "This is not funny dude, Vivek left his job........ he was fired"