As Robert Frost said - ‘Nothing gold can stay’, after six months, it was time to say goodbye. We both were staring at the fumes rising from the cups in the cafe and it started drizzling. Raindrops were falling in the cup of tea but I didn’t move in an effort to pause those last few hours with him, in India. On our way back home, he told me about his past and now I understood the reason why he said ‘yes’ to Everest. .....Read more

I can still recollect Gokul's last day when I was feeling dejected & you took notice of me. For cheering me up, the next day you asked me to attend a Kerala wedding function. Our friendship started with a road trip and your last day at office was also concluded by a road trip. Although, given your seniority level, I should be addressing you as a boss but you have .. Read more

I chocked in the farewell function due to the overwhelming emotions. This is the right moment to write my unspoken words.

' When in my college I touched the football for the first time, I was enthralled by it that the day never came when I missed to play. Still I never was good at it, but one thing that I could attribute to myself is the relentlessness. When I was on ground I'd always made striker's life miserable. '

When in ISRO I touched the igniter card for the first time.... Read More

Still sometimes when these memories flashes in the back of mind, a flooding smile envelopes my whole face which lingers on more than usual.

I can still recollect sitting in the chair throughout the whole night staring the PC. Never heard of the programming till then, being an introvert couldn’t even ask for help. I was all alone in an alien world, where everyone other than me happened to know everything. There was a sound, echoed in the corner of my crumpled heart – “Welcome to the realm of Magicians”.

I can still recall waiting to get MTL answer script, sweaty palms, pumping heart were amplifying the fear of unknown... Read More

In fifteen minutes, I took bath and was out of the hostel in a black suit and a tie dangling from my collar, black file folder in my hand containing my CV, because there were no cab outside so I found myself sprinting at my fullest to the interview venue, LHC. I was profusely sweating while a long queue in front of LHC gave me an excuse to catch my breath & to put a knot in my tie. I was feeling nauseating, my whole body was shivering. When you need proper sleep to be more creative, I didn't even sleep and haven't had proper dinner and breakfast. I started laughing in my mind, telling myself that 'Bro! you are fucked up. You let your dream slip away. Suddenly there was a big smile on my face...

I could remember that my face was burning up, I was feeling so light and wanted to jump around the room. I stand on the table and felt like flying. In the placement time many people were getting jobs, so it should not have been a big deal. But I was not able to bridle my euphoria. All I wanted to do is to go to the top of a very tall building and scream out of my wits...Read More

I have always been fascinated by science to such an extent that even my early childhood memories contains an element of science. I used to ruminate for hours about any phenomena & try to come up with a scientific hypothesis. But I was very bad at holding multiple pieces of the information in my mind especially if I am not able imagine them vividly. This caused a lot of problem in my college. The courses in IITD were too turgid, every professor wanted to infuse us with a huge amount of information in order to make us fail-proof engineer. Their incessant monologues would have a soporific effect... Read More

I am an introvert person. Just to give you an idea - when I took admission in 9th class my nearest town, on the very first day I cried on the stairs just because I couldn't find my classroom and didn't want to ask anyone. The fact is, I don't settle easily anywhere. That was the pretty much case with the IIT Delhi also. On the first day, my Uncle dropped me here and didn't even stay for Registration with the excuse that he was not well educated, so he would not be able to help. Fortunately, my roommate's father helped me through the registration process while he helped me with the classes and labs.

Classes started. Soon I realized that Professors are...Read More

"A man fettered by former fame cannot lead a full-filled life." — A lesson I learned from my father's struggle to retain prestige. My family used to be a prominent one, if you sit with any elderly person for a while, you may hear many versions of stories claiming the possibility of the treasure buried in our house. Due to the unfortunate and untimely demise of my grandfathers, my father became the successor of the prestige, and being the caretaker of our joint family, he chose not to finish the college education. He is brilliant, good with numbers. By just looking at a farm he could tell you its perimeter with accuracy in feet. But then things started going downhill & I witnessed the great descend with my own eyes.

In the times when other children were busy watching Doraemon, I was busy fortifying my resolve. I told my father - " don't you worry, you just wait & watch, I'll grow up & fix everything, I'll surpass the former prestige by manyfold." Little did I know that life would bring me down to my knees. Nevertheless, it was a venturesome journey. Even at an early age, I knew that the greatest enemy of my master plan is going to be complacency. For this reason, wherever things became easy I moved out. I spent 2 years in the nearest town, decided to move to Kota for 2 years, and was in IIT for 4 years. All my calculations were right, everything was going on as I planned. I became a scientist at ISRO at the age of 19, after this life got hard. I have made one miscalculation— I had underestimated the money & interest, in every three years our loss would be double of today. I had two choices — "fix everything and put at the stake all the beautiful things that await or pick up the phone and tell my father that I failed." I did the latter. After the line was disconnected I told to myself —"Well Done! You are a man now, you just took the boldest decision in your life."

By the way, you still remember the other half of the promise, right?

Me no mae ni tachi-hadakaru, takai takai kabe.

In front of me, a tall, tall wall looms.

Sono mukou wa, donna nagame darou ka?

What’s the view on the other side?

...

Head down, with a slow and controlled breath, I climbed the stairs, there was no turning back. I positioned myself in the center, brought the mic to chest level, and lifted my head up. There, four hundred pair of eyes looking at me, with pin-drop silence. After imbibing the knowledge from several communication and social skills books, I was a percipient observer of the non-verbal. Too much amount of information influx from the hall made my temples burning. Those three seconds felt like, I was controlling the rhythm of the hall.

On the fourth second, the silence turned into Boos. Suddenly, my mind was crystal clear, I smiled down, took a deep breath and the words came out of my mouth — "What if I told you that I am acquainted with every fourth person in this room, Would you still call me an introvert ?" There it was, the intent silence engulfed the room again. Every syllable, the tone, the posture, felt perfect. I took a pause, glanced at those hundreds of eyes, and repeated "What if I told you..."

To a person sitting in the room, it may not be conspicuous but in those few seconds, a massive personality transformation took place in me.

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