Convocation series - Kiran, Pavan, Mousumi & Mahesh

Another post in the series.

Kiran

Where do I start with Kiran? We were always cordial to each other, but never really great friends especially in the first semester. He was also quite busy with some interesting women at that point of time. I guess his hospitalization during DCC bought a lot of us together, especially Sanjeev, Divya and me. There is a lot about him that I don’t know, and can’t think of asking as well (some rumors, some facts and some outright lies). Anyway, by the time we finished our final semester on campus, he had become one of my best friends, if not the closest. He gives a lot to a relationship and that puts him par with a lot of people. I can easily depend on him and ask him for favors (something I hate to do otherwise).

Pavan

The first time I saw him, all I wished for was that he shouldn’t be my room-mate! And bingo, I find him in my room a few days later. Mahesh and me were already there and had taken the side beds. However, things changed dramatically over the next few months and we became much closer, quite literally and publicly as well! Hahaha! I remember getting phone calls about heavy weight championships in my common room between Mahesh and Pavan and that kept a lot of fun in our listless lives! Pavan is one tough looking guy, with a very soft heart. He is one person who would really go out of his way to help you out!

Mousumi

She is the first girl on campus I tried hitting on, and this was during the Studio tests. I got no bhaav and went back to Bangalore dejected. But we immediately became friends after college started, even took walks in the back-field back then and had long talks. Got to know a lot about Auroville and its night life from her during this phase. I was also a witness to the blossoming young romance between Mosh and Lov in the months to follow, again in the back-fields. We used to pull her leg a lot over her habit of collecting things and keeping them in her room, which she shared with Snehal and Muz. Guwahati and North-East Yatra (partially with her) was one of the most satisfying trips for me. I made her life difficult by insisting on eating vegetarian food at her place! However, it was the daaru we (mosh, muz and me) had in my room after 4th semester jury that I would remember the most (Bhavana actually caught us drunk also). We still remember and laugh about it. But with Mosh there is lots which is gray, things we don’t know.

Mahesh

Well well well! I always found it impossible to handle Mahesh! We always argued and argued over the smallest of the things, over almost everything. I think it was sometimes just for the sake for arguments, rather unfortunate I would say. I remember the argument we had in the last semester about India’s history when we argued for hours without food or water (missed tea, dinner and so on), it was so comical that Pavan also recorded it on his camera (or was it his phone?). Anyway, Mahesh is one person who is obsessed, about work, about love, about friends and this is the most amazing quality about him, something that I don’t see amongst anyone of us. He loves what he does and it shows. Maybe sometimes he takes just too much strain, but I admire him for that. He is an Aquarian like me, and I always felt a bond between us. Always ready to help, his innocence also makes him rather gullible.

Read about Vijay, Snehal & Vivek, Abhishek, Divya & Bhavin and Sanjeev, Shweta & Devesh.

Convocation series - Vijay, Snehal & Vivek

I had written the next series of posts a long time back (way back before convocation happened, sometime around October 2008), but somehow never ever published. I can't even remember why. Anyway its due and am posting these old posts now.

p.s. I am not editing anything at all here.

Vijay

If there is one person from our class that I actually thought I should become friends with, then its Vijay. The fact that I knew close to nothing about him, bugged me a lot. He was almost like a Phantom. Whatever little I knew was from Snehal, who was his junior from Architecture College. And for two years he remained almost like that, a great person to talk to and unburden yourself but very little of the ‘conventional’ friendship developed between us. We hardly worked on any project together while we were in NID (something which did upset Pavan also) and I guess that was unfortunate. However, I always look forward to meeting this super guy! I have tremendous belief that he would do something extraordinary in life and it would be smart to be close to him, so that when limelight comes his way, I can also bask in it!

Snehal

Snehal was a perfect classmate. I remember she actually gave me a gift for my birthday – a chocolate smelling candle which I initially thought was a cake, and was quite surprised when it wasn’t (unfortunately I didn’t give her anything on her birthday and she discontinued this rather nice tradition). Apart from that I was always welcome in her room (when they were in A hostel) and it was rather necessary also as we did so many projects together. She along with her daughter (Muzayun, of course) always kept a close eye on any of my physical contacts with the opposite sex (even an innocent hug would not be spared) and would then pull my leg over it for months! I always wanted to visit her home in “Nashik’ as I somehow think that the food there would be really amazing, but could never manage it during NID days. I know that she disapproved of a lot of things, but ignored most of them most of the time. Oh and yes, she always frowned upon my flirting with her daughter!

Vivek

He would be by far the smartest in our class if only he would lose those extra kilos. He was in the class but always away from it as well. His outlook to friendship was extremely cosmopolitan and he had friends everywhere. He was one of the few from our class who was equally great friends with the GDPD junta from our batch as well. I saw little of him, especially in the trips we planned as a class. I guess rather than being indifferent, he was more detached to our idea of ‘dosti’! But he was always helpful in all possible ways. I remember actually asking to be a part of the only project we did together in NID – Space Ergonomics, though it didn’t turn out the way I thought it would. I guess I know little about him, but enough to like him a lot.

Read about Abhishek, Divya & Bhavin, Sanjeev, Shweta & Devesh, and Kiran, Pavan, Mousumi & Mahesh.

Read more posts on Convocation Series here.

Convocation series (an old post) - My first birthday again!

This one has a lot of Hulla Gulla especially with Divya in it :)

It was one of my best birthdays, all because of the people around me. The actual celebrations were even more grand...about 5 birthdays together! There was Kiwi cake for me...and most of it ended up on my face and hair!

It all seems to be so far away...however this daily journey to the studio through the Pigeon path can never be forgotten. Everyone will have good, bad and ugly memories (ya, I have them all) associated. Things have changed so much...for all of us in the video. We have all come so far away, something that will go on for the rest of our lives.

Its such an irrelevant video for most of us, except for those who feature in it.

P.S. this was an old post, saved last year even before convocation. Found it today...

Convocation series - Random collection again!

Well some more old videos...

Especially interesting is Shweta's first semester jury. Well you can't really see here (due to constant camera movement), but her voice is clear! This is from my old camera days when 256 MB card was huge :)




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Convocation series - Random collection!

Well convocation happened about six months back, and so these videos make no sense right now!

Anyway found them yesterday and I feel there is no harm in sharing them now, even if its a little late :)

Enjoy!

On the way to Diu!

DVC during Alias learning days...

Convocation series - Convocation 2008!

We were already in the twilight zone, and looking up I could see huge wings flying towards their homes, making a lot of noise. That beautiful noise, it could always tingle our senses in the endless evenings in NID. I could look at myself quite unlike those birds, not flying towards home but getting convocated to leave the home and go outside...

Anyway enough philosophy. I just got back after a jiggling a leg or two at the mess party (yes a 'mess party' after a long time) and saying a goodbye to an almost drunk, dancing Mosh. In fact dancing on the small collection of tables was rather challenging...with Vijay and Mahesh jumping on both the sides! I could remember dancing in the first mess party and I wanted to finish NID with one last dance, and am extremely glad that I could. In fact everything I did today was a profound act...even peeing in the loo near the thinking tree. Ah...that brings me back (is it?) to the actual event...Convocation 2008!

I could never imagine how wonderful it would feel to be sit there in those red cushioned chairs in front of everyone. All the ceremony that I earlier found fanciful, made quite an impact on me (well..lets just ignore the speeches for now) and I felt damn important (despite the absence of a Chief Guest or our own ED). No matter how much I try, I will never ever able to describe it.

Of course, it feels great to be a certified (hahahahaha) designer...and who wouldn't want to be a 'young' designer at 28!

Its late and my office starts early, so I got to sleep now! Will write much more tomorrow...

The series shall continue for a while in retrospect...

some more pics here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52799&l=6b99c&id=649116157

Convocation series - Almost there!

Its a new dawn, and everyone at the home is sleeping. I just got back from the NID and now am wondering what to do next. It was quite a day...amma dna papa came from home in the morning as well as almost all the classmates (except Muzayun and Devesh who are currently in Milan). We had our shoot, dress rehearsal for the big day followed by Convocation dinner with everyone and then a long night ahead which included sitting in the back fields for a long time, taking rounds on the design street, cups of chai in the mess, super-duper adult talks, some funny pics, some maska bun at 4 am in the main lawns on the convocation chairs, and finally Kiran singing some exceptionally demented songs at 5:30 am! We were a big part with Snehal, Mousumi, Bhavin, Vivek, Sanjeev, Vijay, Kiran, Pavan (nano) and me and by the time we dispersed it was only Snehal, Sanjeev, Bhavin, Vijay, Kiran and me.

Of course we all missed Muzayun and she has always been such an important part of all such class gatherings...her loud laughter and her even louder (and wilder) comments. Devesh was also duly missed. There was Vivek with us after a long time and I enjoyed his extremely corny jokes...

Convocation series - Muzayun ki Chai!

I completely love this video. Our best times together!

BMW ki chai, Muzayun ke haath...

I should mention here that it was Muzayun who got me hooked to this habit of drinking tea...and now I am rather helpless :)

Convocation series - Form II

There is little to be said, its obviously mad like me and most of the people in the video!

Divya, Sanjeev and me were in one team to make a complex ugly form and we managed to do just that. In fact our initial test piece had more grace than the final one!

Rani (now married, so Mrs. Rani) can also be seen trying to turn a football into a sleek beauty. I don't remember her final form (not her form), but I think she did use a lot more thermocol than any one of us for her magnificent football.

Also seen are Kiran (with his funny mustache) and Devesh (currently found in Milan). Sadly I don't have everyone in this video...

Convocation series - General

Convocation is fast approaching and this is one of the last few videos that I can post. Nothing specific about the content except the fact that its rather stupid and mad!

Convocation series - PD Babes

PD babes have traditionally been a rather dry category of students, strictly for the post-graduate course, though. The UG batches are a different story though, well quite different. However, our batch actually had some amazing PD 'females' (well there are many more names which should be held secret) and often they dominated with males with ease.

This is an attempt to cover them in some of their colors. One is married, and two are about to take the plunge. What has this world come to! The mother-daughter combination still flaunts their single status. Anyway their worlds would also come crashing down soon. But everyone is doing well in their careers – designing cars, furniture for hospitals, products for India and abroad and product interface (and more). One has even gone further and attending classes (as the oldest student in her class and possibly in her college as well) in videsh. Such is fate...

Convocation series - Alias

Well this was the first and the only 3D learning software taught in NID to us, and all we did was this. Pavan broke numerous chairs, Rani's phone got stolen (aha) and people faught over the silliest of things :) Truly a perfect PD course!

The video quality is terrible and movements abrupt and uncomfortable to the eye...completely my style :)

Convocation series - Bhavana & Aakash jury!

If not PD, I would've been in FVC! So it was natural for me to attend their classes (for a while in first semester), watch some interesting movies with them and attend their jury! This one is particularly interesting...this is Bhavana with hair and Akash as usual!

Both these people are very dear to me, espcially Bhavana...who became one of my closest friend in NID, somebody with whom I could really talk crap without really thinking much.

Convocation series - Singing Kiran

Kiran has never been a singer, which makes this a must-watch. But he is singing from his heart and that makes a lot of difference, especially with Muzayun giving me all the help he needs. And later even Snehal joins in (and by the way Shenal is a great singer).

Kiran looks happy but is actually depressed to the core, Muzayun seems to be eating food but is actually starving, Snehal seems to be helping Kiran but is actually solidifying her position as the best singer in the class and Rani seems to be upset but is extremely touched with so much love being showered from us all!

As usual the video quality is bad and it was recorded towards the end of January 2007.

Convocation series - My first birthday in NID!

This was my first Birthday celebration in NID and was organised by Manisha, Kushal and Shilpi on the eve. There was a mega bash later (at mid-night) on when four more of my classmates celebrated their birthdays with me!

In terms of the video quality there is much to desired and the length could certainly have been much shorter, but I didn't really want to edit it so its almost completely here. There is hardly anything visible and all thats audible is Shilpi making noises. Oh yes, this is the only birthday when she (Shilpi) actually wished me. The cake and the chocolates were yum and the video is fun!

Convocation series - Abhishek, Divya & Bhavin

Here is the next group of people. Quite an unusual mix but its intentional.

Abhishek Singh

Abhishek was my first friend in the class and I really don’t remember why or how. I guess it was Ramya, our common friend in the beginning of first semester. We three had some good time together, before the eventual fall-out. However, surprisingly this never affected my dosti with him. It was never a very deep or philosophical but more of a ‘fun’ dosti. Somehow, we had quite a few common friends over the next two years, some girls as well. Now that I look back at those years, I think there were plenty of reasons for us to fight, but it never happened (my roomies in first year were not so lucky though). He always had more friends outside the class than inside and became popular and sometimes even unpopular because of his antics with the females in NID. Abhi is in some ways only a kid, eternally seeking his soul-mate and his life-mate. He is the ‘Ranbir’ from ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’…but sometimes dangerously close to ‘Shahrukh’ from ‘Anjaam’ also. I am quite likely to be murdered for this one!

Divya

The most extraordinary thing about Divya in the beginning was the fact that she was my Junior in Navarachna, Baroda (1996-98), though none of us were aware of that then. I first became friends with Sanjeev and through him with Divya as well. We had some good masti together, though my friendship with Divya was largely (and sadly) limited to these aspects only. I guess we knew much more about each other’s lives than we acknowledged, and this was certainly not good. But in a way the ups and downs in our life made our friendship solid. I remember a shoot we did for Bhavana in a temple for an ad. We had good fun during that. I have some pics and videos from that and I may put it up if possible. Somehow with Divya my friendship has always been dark and more about sorrows than smiles. I hope that changes in future.

Bhavin

It took a long time for me to become friends with Bhavin. I remember the walk we took (Mousumi, Muzayun, Bhavin & me) over the bridge very late in the night very early on in NID and that is when I discovered about his lightly concealed imagination and talents. He could really talk dirty, I mean really really dirty and that made the four of us a true foursome. We had tremendous fun and laughed like crazy. I think one of the things that shaped our friendships in the class was the people with whom we did our projects, with Bhavin I hardly ever worked. I started knowing him better towards the end of NID and particularly in Bangalore. Now he is my housemate and it’s only now that I appreciate him as a friend and companion fully. And we are similar in a lot of ways, sadly because of that our house hardly gets cleaned!


Read about Vijay, Snehal & Vivek, Sanjeev, Shweta & Devesh, and Kiran, Pavan, Mousumi & Mahesh.

Read more posts on Convocation Series here.

Convocation series - Muzayun laughing!

I guess we all know how good Muzayun is with bringing the house down with her notorious laughter! Well, this video isn't exactly the best but somehow captures the essesnse of madam's famous laugh...hahahahahahaha...

Convocation series - Famous dostis!

Well our class had many dostanas which all of us will remember for a long time to come…some of these started and ended with NID, other are still there. But they were all unique in many ways. Here is an attempt to cover a few of those; it would be great if anyone can remind me of one that I may have missed. I shall update it immediately. The order is random.

Kiran - Muzayun

They became famous as Hanthi-Cheenti! Well apparently the names are based purely based on size. Poor Kiran despite doing everything and more for his Cheenti, is always on the receiving end. But their friendship is one of the most fun-filled, especially for people around them!

Mousumi - Muzayun

They already had many things in common when they came to NID, so becoming friends was easy and natural. And they also looked good together. But there was something about them that still remains elusive, was it jealousy, mistrust or something else. I am quite likely to be murdered for this.

Sanjeev - Siddhartha

We became friends easily, because I realized that he could make folders really nicely, even for me! He was perhaps the only one in the class with whom I could share things from outside the class as well.

Devesh - Snehal

I guess Snehal was one person who could really understand Dhutappi well. While we all cribbed about his unavailability, these two could bond well. It was also a friendship which developed with slowly and strongly.

Sanjeev - Snehal

These two also became friends pretty fast. It was always interesting to overhear them have arguments over architecture. Both had actually promised to design my house way back in Semester one, though their views hardly match (except, of course, about Hafeez Contractor).

Muzayun - Siddhartha

We didn’t become friends immediately but I was very easily drawn to her laughing sessions. But once we became friends, there was no looking back. We spent most of our time in NID fighting over everything and worked on almost all the projects together, rubbing some people the wrong way in this process.

Kiran - Shweta

To me they always appeared to be fighting over the pettiest of things and I could never understand why! They were very close but hardly ever showed. Doing ‘Systems’ together was a phenomenal task; but we had the best of fun during those days.

Divya - Sanjeev

As friends they were perfect for each other. Both used to get up early in the morning, eat breakfast even before it was made in the mess and go to the studio to work. Their work was extremely symbiotic, both complimented each other well.

Bhavin - Mousumi

They have been superb friends for as long as I can remember. I was never a part of it, so I also know little. I have seen them fighting also, but I guess was affection strong enough to bring them back together always.

Devesh - Divya

The first so called ‘couple’ of the class. So much so that they were actually married and behaved like one, it was all done in a very funny way and added to our entertainment in the class! This almost disappeared with Sanjeev coming in later.

Muzayun - Snehal

These roomies actually behaved like ma-beti, with Muzayun as ma and snehal as her beti ( though father remains largely unknown, the fact that beti's surname is 'Joshi' must mean something)! But they always made a nice twosome. Fighting and cribbing but superb friends nevertheless.

Pavan - Vivek

Well the one of the most famous 'dosti' in the whole of NID is reserved for the end. They became friends quite early on. And they looked good together as friends, their stature matched. Also it was nice to seem them together hanging out with their girl friends. Of late there appears to be some storm brewing up, but they continue to remain friends.

Read more on convocation series here.

Convocation series - My roommates!

I am really tempted to write about a few more of my classmates, but I will rein in the temptation and write about something else today. It’s about my hostel room in first year and more so about its occupants – Pavan, Mahesh and me.

Well let’s just say that our friendship as a threesome was always on the edge. I was, very reluctantly, the moderator to these two very aggressive roomies! Not that they didn’t have their shared moments together…well there were actually many such occasions. Anyway one of the most talked about stories about the three of us was Pavan’s habit of stretching out on the beds (his and mine) while sleeping at nights. One such famous incident happened, when Pavan was sleeping in his famous yellow T-shirt and without warning for some reason decided that I was Neha (Pavan is now happily married to her though). My cries woke Mahesh up and he came to my rescue and helped move Pavan. However, this whole exercise failed to rouse Pavan still and he continued to dream about Neha. Mahesh still remembers and recounts this incident with much happiness (I should be happy too, as he saved me that night), though somehow I wish he didn’t.

This picture was taken near the end of Second semester and we are happy as ever! Hahaha…maybe the joy was also because it was almost the end of our stay together!

The room, however, had many more memories. Our room was directly below the Mousumi, Snehal and Muzayun’s and I had taken the habit of waking up Muzayun almost regularly in the most insane way possible, and I guess that was also the beginning of attempted flirting sessions with her back then. Once I woke Japneet up instead and got a major dressing down from her (she, of course, still remained a good friend). I guess everyone in A hostel knew about this almost daily hungama and am convinced that secretly even Muzayun enjoyed my calls to her!

There are so many more things, but they are more about the hostel so will jot them down later. It would be really great to have Pavan’s and Mahesh’s take on this. I am sure they will also have many stories on me, especially Pavan!

The video is close to my heart! One of the few surving ones from those days. You can see Pavan stretched out on both the beds in his famous 'yellow' T-shirt!

This video is the last that I made in my room, we are almost done with the packing and the room looks stormed (though even otherwise it hardly looked different). Mahes and pavan blabbering along with me in the background!

Convocation series - Sanjeev, Shweta & Devesh

My second post here is about my dear class! I intend to pick three people (randomly) and write something about them. I shall try and be frank about it, lets see how it goes...

The first three in the series are Sanjeev, Shweta and Devesh!

Sanjeev

Saw him for the first time during our interviews, and immediately became a fan. His work was not just enormous, but phenomenal too! He became my first close friend in NID and in some ways the only one as well. There was a time when we used to go to the mess early in the morning when only a few would be there, and drink coffee and chat for hours. We became distant over the period of three years but I guess the affection always remains. We’ve both seen the highs and lows in each other’s lives and I guess that still binds us together.

Shweta aka rani

I met Rani when she was still learning to walk properly during the ‘Design Overview’ course with her mom. And I guess for a long time we hardly talked much. I really started liking her when I realized that she was as bad in sketching as I was. This was during ‘Design Drawing’ and we started to jell well. However, I think we really became good friends in the last year. Doing ‘systems’ together was a boon, despite all our fights. She has many names - Shweta, Rani, UT and so on…I prefer Rani because I gave her that name. Rani can talk for hours and hours and make you smile all the while. And she also has her mood swings, thankfully I never had to face them, but those who do go into depression for days altogether. She is gonna be married soon…God bless her!

Devesh

I shall never forgive him for never ever inviting me to his home in Ahmadabad! Hahaha, of course am just kidding. There is only a little I know about him for sure, the rest of it is all rumours. Some information about him - he is the fairest of all in the class and hates to tuck-in his shirts (both facts), he likes to fly in the night and suck blood (unconfirmed rumour), he talks the maximum with you on phone and ignores you in person (fact), he likes pink (fact again), he is getting married in Milan (rumour) and he likes to mix cow’s milk with goat’s milk before drinking (rumour). We’ve celebrated his birthday about a zillion times, though, he is the youngest in the class.


Read about Vijay, Snehal & Vivek, Abhishek, Divya & Bhavin, and Kiran, Pavan, Mousumi & Mahesh.

Read more posts on Convocation Series here.