TIME TO REKINDLE THE FIRE

Guys I logged in after a long time into my blogger account and notice that this blog dedicated to Chankur has been lying dormant for a while. It's time to light the fires again!

Ankur Saxena has again gone into hiding - a sort of self imposed exile. However, this time we do not need a poll to determine whether it's a girl that is keeping our friend away from us. Infact let's be fair to the lady. It's not her who is keeping Chankur way from us but Ankur himself has withdrawn from our circle. 

There is only way to bring him back on track. Yes guys it's time to be creative (Ashok, Abhay , Anshuman - really counting on you guys!) again. Let's give this lazy bum a taste of some old medicine.

RELIVING THE GOLDEN DAYS WITH ANKUR

Ankur and I have been extremely close friends since fate decided to dump us together in NIT Jamshedpur. After four incredible years there both of us got busy in our jobs. Though we regularly stay in touch, meeting each other and spending much leisure time with each other had remained more of a wish than a tangible reality. So when Ankur told me in mid June that he would be coming to Dehradun for a week starting 3rd July, I immediately agreed to be in Dehradun during that period. I even got the tickets booked and was impatiently waiting for the time to arrive when Ankur called me up just 4 days before the D Day and rather sheepishly told me that he had forgotten to apply for leave. Ankur over the years has changed but it's really difficult to go against one's grain and so Ankur remains purposefully forgetful. Remembering to do stuff he is supposed to do is just not his deal. Also it is never his fault. The fault always lies in the friends who forget to remind him. So after I profusely apologized to him for my forgetfulness we decided to reach Dehradun on the next weekend. I got the old tickets canceled and booked new ones. Ankur also managed to get his leave request approved. It was decided that we would meet each other on the night of 10th July at the Nizamuddin Railway Station.

I managed to reached Nizamuddin station at about 11 pm on the 10th. The train was at 11:55 so there was sufficient time to have dinner together. It must be noted that in the 30 minutes I took to reach Nizamuddin Ankur called me 6 times to ask how long I was going to take. When I finally reached there I was not surprised at all to find him waiting at the other entrance of the Railway Station. After all Ankur is supposed to do all this stuff. Jokes apart it was nice to see him after so long. He has managed to put on some weight and so have I. We grabbed a burger each and settlled down in the train.

Something unprecedented happened in the train. Despite all the distractions [:D] we were just listening and talking to ech other. And our topics were different too. We talked about our jobs, our offices, professional lives and if this wasn't enough discussed business challenges that our respective clients were facing and how we were helping them overcome the challenges. We even discussed stuff like cloud computing. For the first time we were behaving like grown up people and discussing the kind of stuff that we had only heard our parents discuss. We ran out of intellectual juices at about 2 am and went off to sleep.

When we woke up at about 6:30 am the train was already at the platform in Dehradun. We left for our homes promising to meet later in the day. When I reached home my parents informed me that Ankur and his parents would be visiting us for lunch today. Ankur arrived with aunty and uncle for lunch and after enduring some leg pulling by our parents over lunch we decided to go out on our own. Btw i noticed that parents derive a lot of pleasure in pulling legs of their kids when their kids grow up. I had seen this happen to my cousins before and now it had also happened to Ankur and I. As we were leaving Mom asked me to visit a temple also as "Sawan" had started. Being the nice and dutiful son I am [:D] I said yes. Ankur suggested that we visit the Shiv temple that is 19 km from Dehradun on the Doon-Mussoorie road.

We were lucky to find a immediatley and soon reached our destination. Ankur remarked that maybe this was some form of divine intervention that had ensured such a comfortable journey for us. After visiting the temple we walked to a road side Dhaba and had some Maggie. There was a board by the road side that read "Rajpur-3km". We had decided to go to Rapur from there as see a popular park there. Since it was just 3 km from there we decided to walk the distance. After walking for some distance there was another sign post by the road that read "Rajpur - 4km". We were so busy in our chats that we decided to ignore the implications of the board and ignored it. Also I must mention that we were NOT going in the oppsite direction.

Night was settling in and we were walking along the road that goes through a heavily forested area. To add spice to our situation, Ankur deemed it appropriate to tell me that a leopard had been sighted in the area very recently. I decided to use Google latitude on my phone to estimate our current position. The map that came up had Mussoorie on it and Dehradun was completely missing from it. However the sign posts by the road did indicate that we were closer to Dehradun. After walking for some more time I again tried to locate us on Latitude and the results this time around were actually encouraging. We were on the Rajpur road that goes right through the Malasi Reserve Forest. Dehraun was there on the map and Mussoorie was no where to be seen. After some more time our parents called us and we explained to them our situation and Ankur's parents decided to come and get us. We were told to wait at Rajpur and they would pick us up from there. Finally after walking for a long time and covering a total of 7 km on road that goes through a forest we reached Rajpur. After some time Ankur's parents came and picked us up. Needless to say that some more leg pulling followed. Two adults getting lost in their hometown is unheard of but we managed to do it.

It had been an incredible , a day that I would not forget for a long long time. It was one of those days that took us back to college days when we used to set out to Dimna and Chandil on roads that went through thick Sal forests. It was also one of those days when the boundations of time and the responsibilities of work had just melted away for some time. It was just like the days in college. I felt free and liberated after a long time.

Thanks a lot for this Ankur.

Chain , Hunter, Diuretic & Monument

I'll start this post with an apology to Ankur who’ll be surely infuriated by the usage of first two words in the title of this post..Here goes my try to refresh memories of all of you who are familiar with this foolish fancy of our great one:
A long time back in room 119,Hostel A ,a Pahari boy once expressed his desire to have something quite weird (and wild) thereby amazing/terrorising all his friends .Powerless to protest,when asked to try the same fancy i offered my nod (a bet though!!) to experiment but not with mine...Pahari still deny this bet with somewhat undimmed "jealousy"?? or lets call it pahar ka asar simply!! I'll end this event description abruptly here without giving any further bit of info...interested people may directly trouble our Pahari boy..

Pahari has been a great entertainer at NIT and our college life would have surely been dull had Pahari not fit in the only Prod/Pahari seat at NIT Jsr...On one of our happening evening at down hostel in NIT, a Chankur bomb was
dropped ( though with no intention to explode!!) by our Production Hero while great guns of powerless NIT were utilising their time at the Great wall of "new" Cafeteria on the borders of Kabeela Basti...Dehradun - where number of ghost stories rival number of people living in is so into DNA of our Chankur that he often found secluded places "perplexing??" and that he obliged a gutter with a title "Monument"..And when showered with compliments on this, Pahari defended his claim like a Honey Badger.. making even the mighty Pelu almost tumble and hurt his brains (physically his knees,ankles )..From then onwards people referred the wall & gutter besides Cafeteria as "Pahari's Monument:..


And at Hall G, Chankur under the able observation/guidance of Sheik Zarq and the legend Vijay Deenanath Chauhan (urf VL) developed in himself a liking for carom .With Pelu, the mad physicist as his carom partner he was destined tochoke!!they had lost many games playing together..Undeterred by their loosing spree, one lazy morning he along with Pelu challanged 2 not so good carom players..but nothing unexpected happened Pelu-Pahari,the deadly duo did loose again..what i will never forget is the invitation dialogue from physicist Pelu
"aao...din ki shuruwaat hum jeet ke karenge!! " and the minuteness with which laws of reflection were applied on a poor deadwood carom board..


And who else can forget Diuretic sessions of a stoneman cum Pahari!! The fervour with which Pahari, the baba took the liquid down his throat is surely the mother of T shirts with "Save water drink beer" caption on 'em..
Our forgetful Stoneman nearly murdered a Kandra Ghamariya lady in one of Jsr's pathalogy for his reports and in 2nd half of the day he turned himself into a saint thereby gifting the same report to a Juice stall and an additional trip for me to TMH to nullify the generosity shown which i reckon'd as heat of the moment. Anyway that was how our incredible Pahari was in college..


Hell.. i wanted to write a single dedicated post to describe each of the above events ,but i am upto my neck in an alligator called job..may be i'll try to take some time off my busy worthless schedule to post ,revisit and chuckle
myself & all you guys up with few more chapters of Chankurnama!!

SIMPLY ANKUR

Hmmmm so this place is already wearing a deserted look. No posts from anyone [:(]. I was expecting one from everyone...most of all from Ankur. The one good thing is Ankur is back in the loop and does take some time off to call me and complain about the contents of this blog. Joking...he was actually very gracious about the whole thing and took it completely like a man.(Tough to argue against facts , eh? :D)

I don't know why but today I was reminded of an incident that occurred in the very first year of our college life, the date being 14th of February, 2004. I woke up in the morning without the slightest realization that this was our first V Day of our college life. Frankly speaking, there was precious little in our college that would have made me enthusiastic about V Day in college (apologies NIT gals :D). I spent the first one hour in the morning reading the newspaper and waiting for Ankur to wake up. Ankur and I ALWAYS went for breakfast together even if it meant us missing classes. So i waited till 9:30 and when I could not control my hunger any longer I walked into Ankur's room to wake him up.

Upon entering the room I was pleasantly surprised to find Ankur's bed vacant and I felt may be this was the day in the week when he had decided to take a bath. I came back and sat in my room waiting for Ankur to return. Time ticked by but Ankur was no where to be seen. I was beginning to get a little worried. Had Ankur fallen asleep under the shower? I asked his room mates about his whereabouts but they were as clueless and perplexed as I was. This was the first time Ankur had woken up by himself and what was even more worrying he was absconding. A search was launched...people checked neighboring rooms. Some went as far as the common room and the hostel mess but all returned with no luck.

By now my hunger had disappeared and anxiety had taken over. After two tense hours, I saw a familiar face smiling ear to ear entering the hostel. As the figure drew nearer it was evident that this was none other than our very own Ankur. But he had undergone a complete makeover. Dressed in a crisply ironed green Kurta worn atop blue denim jeans, and with a walk that smacked of George Clooney's famous swagger Ankur was ready to set several hearts aflutter(Some of them in the boys' hostel too :P). Ankur was clearly in violation of the NIT dress code and he was looking extremely neat and handsome(razor sharp too :P). Top that with his innocent smile and he would have floored many that day.

Immediately I pulled him in my room and the investigation started. I had not even started asking any questions and he was already blushing. I told him to spill the beans. The story goes as follows:
Mr. Saxena had woken up at 7 am that morning and taken great pains to dress up and get the 'right look'. Then at exactly 8 am he had set off for the forbidden fortress, aka, girls' hostel. Upon reaching there he had called up Shreyashi Shukla and told her he wanted to meet her. Being Ankur's technical mom (one year senior in the same branch and from the same state) she quite willingly obliged. As soon as they were face to face Ankur said something that goes like this, "Ma'm will you go on a date with me?". Boy isn't this the smartest pick up line ever[:D]. Taken aback by this unexpected question she politely told Ankur that she was busy with selections for the Girls' team for the athletics meet and hence would not be able to oblige Ankur even though she really wanted to. She said that they could go for a dinner some other evening. This my friends was the reason for his ear to ear smile that day.

Needless to say that the dinner never materialized and from the next V Day onwards it was Kunal Khashu who gave her company. But it was a bold move on Ankur's part. I am sure he had spent several evenings planning this and he had managed to hide all this from us. He did not even hint to me that he had a thing for Shreyashi. It was only on this day that I realised that whenever I said that amongst our immediate seniors Pranati was prettier than Shreyashi, he made a long face. To this day I feel if there was ever a day in his life that he could have made a girl fall for him just by his smile it was that day...but Ankur being Ankur managed to go to the wrong girl :D.

If you would like to share any of your favourite Ankur incidents please feel free to do so. This place is all about him,isn't it?

ANALYZING THE POLL RESULTS

Before I start off with this piece, I must acknowledge that there have been quite a few concerns raised regarding my last post. I have tried to allay all those concerns to the best of my ability. Come on people a man (even of my fortitude :D) will let emotions over power him sometimes. And when its about one of your best pals, it's kind of sweet. Yeah I know you guys get me, and I can see you nodding in agreement and flashing wide grins. Before you start commenting let us get going with the job at hand.

Hmmm so the poll results have been quite interesting. Since the sample size was quite small we cannot call them definitive by any stretch of imagination. However one thing clearly stands out. No one believes that Ankur is getting a cold shoulder from a girl he is trying to pursue. That's quite an achievement!!! The other big belief emerging from the poll is that Ankur has finally found a female companion. I am still reluctant to use the phrase "girl friend". Considering Ankur's past track record, he has never even come close to having a girl friend[:D], such faith in his abilities is heartening. At least 3 people believe that Ankur might have managed it. I am sure Ankur is not amongst the 3.

Guys, but how would have Ankur managed (if it all :D) this feat? From what I know about Ankur, if a girl ever approached Ankur, our dear friend would start acting like Lord Snooty. He will treat the girl as if she were an alien...somebody who is in the wrong place at the wrong time. If this does not deter the enterprising lady, Ankur would be cold and reserved. 99% of girls will give up by this stage. However if she is a really brave girl and willing to fight the cocoon that Ankur weaves around himself upon being approached by a girl he would be chauvinistic. In fact Ankur is like a firewall. The only problem is that the wrong ports are open :P. My heart is filled with a lot of respect for the lady(whose existence I seriously doubt). I mean how many girls today have the patience to get to Ankur's warm core that is approachable only if you are a guy(talk about the wrong ports being open!).

There was a particular gentleman/lady who thinks Ankur is planning for world domination. I do not know who he/she is but I really want to know. How can a super lazy bum like Ankur plan such a thing? The only thing that I have ever seen Ankur planning for is a trip to home from college and some other activities which can't be mentioned here [Btw the Nikita escapade seemed so spontaneous :P]. Talk about domination reminds be of Ankur's attempts to dominate the cold and the darkness that winter inevitably brings. Or was it "bite the cold, demolish the dark" :D ? But that is another story and will be told another time. Gosh! writing "Ankurnama" would take ages, wouldn't it?

And then there is this one person who thinks Ankur is studying. But Ankur has always been a Pappu. He has always been studious yet he always found time for us. So why would books turn him away from us now? If you happen to be that person kindly let us know why you feel that way.

Finally here's my take on this[all of the above can't be ascribed to me as I didn't vote :D]. Ankur has gotten sick and tired of this "new" life. Those of you who heard the golden words "kasht badhta ja raha hai" will understand what I mean. My solution to the problem-Ankur needs a female companion who can really cheer him up, somebody who is willing to work hard with him(It's not easy when it is with Ankur), somebody who can shake him up when he begins to show signs of social sloppiness. That would be the ideal girl for him. Tell me what do you feel about this.

P.S: By the way, are my posts too boring? No comments on them by anyone. Let me know if they are a drag but don't be too vocal about it :D.

TO ANKUR...DIRECT DIL SE

This is for Ankur...just for him.
Friend just wanted to say I miss you a lot. I know it sounds a little cliche but that's exactly what I feel. I miss the moments we spent together.When I am alone and feel like taking a quiet, leisurely walk I sometimes wish that you were with me. When I am down and out and when I need reassurance that I haven't lost yet and there is hope still, I yearn for your words. When I feel like wanting to speak my heart and crave for a listening ear that filters all the crap that my mind churns out(I know not much is left after applying the filter),I miss you.

So when you disappear or when I lose contact with you I feel like I have lost something substantial. Something really meaningful. When I have an achievement to share and need somebody in front of whom I can praise my efforts without fear of being judged I miss you. I miss you every time I have something exciting to share. All the posts in this blog were an effort to relive those golden days. Every morning I wait for a post from you that pulls my leg. I wait for witty retorts, the kind only you can make. This place like my life is not complete without your presence.

So if not for your own self but just for me, be a little more responsible and come out of this "self sentenced hibernation". Don't lose your spark yet friend, the world needs it.

P.S: I am NOT in LOVE with Ankur. Any conspiracy theories being floated with content that hints like wise shall be greeted with a similar blog for the source of such theories.

On Abhigya's last Post

Dear Abhigya,
Ankur is one of my best friends and you don't have any rights to make fun of him in public like this OK. Yeah I know that he is weird and his thought process is very different from rest of us but do you remember Einstein he was also misunderstood by his teachers, but later he emerged as the most beautiful thinkers in Science. And also, you can not deny the fact that despite being a man he became pregnant five fetuses (3 in left kidney and 2 in right). So this is enough to prove that he is not an ordinary person like us ( hindi: tuchchh) he is very very different (like Mithun in bollywood, Altaf in Music industry, Rajni Da in Tollywood, Sylvester from Hollywood). We should not behave like this with him. He deserves respect like all these great personalities. So next time please take care while writing anything about Him. I am A great fan Ankur,
I get inspiration from him when he sings Atif's and Altaf's songs he sings their song better then they sing.