Education and similar inconsequetial stuff...

my education has seen a constant state of decline... my schooling was done at a 120 year old institution called Colvin Taluqdars' College. heritage, traditions, you name it the place had it in exuberant abundance. quite a start for your academic career. anyway, the rot started right from the moment i entered a new college... hardly 7-8 years old. forget about traditions... the college did not even have well defined rules. Kumaun engineering College... that was what it was called. nestled snugly in a remote Himalayan Valley, the college kept away most of the world's capitalist tendencies... in other words basically that meant no placements, no amazing salaries and sometimes a seriously unambitious crowd. what it had in abundance was beauty and lethargy. i am yet to meet a KECian who has not been super lazy at least in part.
chilly mornings to sunny afternoons to breezy evenings.... you name it we had it at KEC. classes, well yeah they were also there... amongst other things; like enoromous spiders, brawls with local villagers, RAGGING, stale samosas and an annual Sialdah Mela.
to me kec would always remain the place that took away my fear of speaking in public... and to some extent singing.
KEC also meant friendships... wonderful, beautiful, enduring friendships...

that was my college... then for my PG i entered an institute which was hardly a year old... SCMHRD nasik. the rate of this perpetual decline of educational standards suggests that i should do my PhD as the first batch of some institute in Bihar!!!
SCMHRD... well more about it some other time...

A dusty old City... Kebabs and Henna tipped fingers

i was born in allahabad, an ancient town at the confluence of two of the mightiest rivers in northern india... the Ganges and the Yamuna. however, i was brought up in one of the last bastions of Nawabi culture in India... Lucknow.
Lucknow... the name itself invokes memories of lanes and bylanes. shops piled high with fruits... crowded market places and evenings filled with the smell of spices and flowers. Lucknow...a city that forgot to move ahead with time. Dusty and grimy... and so totally laidback.
to me the most exciting aspect of Lucknow had always been the eateries... and there had been so many in number. till date i am yet to get over my facination for Seekh Kebabs glistening in coal fires, Golden Parathas, steaming Kormas and aromatic Pulaos.

Shopping in Lucknow is not a routine activity... in fact it is one of the major sources of cheap entertainment. Muslim women in hijabs of various shades of Blue, Black and white can be seen haggling with Pujabi shopkeepers. only their eyes visible through the veil..... agitated, angry bright with passion. occasionally, a hand with henna tipped fingers would emerge from the swathes of cloth and examine the ware.
Lucknow... its been 6 years since i left the city for my studies. yet, i yearn for the relaxed lifestyle so common in that city

There is always a first time...

there is always a first time dont you think? something as romantic as a first kiss....or as mudane as the first haircut. Mundane did i say? well "First" of anything is never unaccompanied by excitement.
Halt!! think of something that you did for the first time and were not excited by the thought... or maybe just a bit nervous. whatever it was... it could just never be mundane.
so here i am... a bit excited and a bit nervous... with my first ever attempt at a Blog.
I am Ashish... a consultant in one of India's leading IT companies (anyway there are too many of them floating around now).

just felt like talking a bit...... hence this blog.
some great guy said.... The coolest things in life are what others say you cannot do... i think writing stuff which someone will wanna read is one of them. till next time tata