Marriages or for that matter any celebrations at home are fabulous times, You get to meet relatives you haven't met for a long time and also relatives you have no idea existed. The last 15 days have been such at my home. One of the disadvantages is that you hardly get to even watch television and it was at one such time when my 8 year old cousin Prateek was hogging the remote that I asked him to switch the channel to MTv and not to my surprise and huge disappointment the hugely “talented” Emraan Hashmi was dancing to one of the Himesh numbers. It was a few seconds before Emraan went on his usual smooching spree and prompt came this cry from my cousin, “ Cheeee, Aap gandi cheezein dekhte ho, main kaku(my mom) ko bataonga”. As I quickly changed the channel he went on to amaze me.This was his interpretation of Emraan Hashmi’s choice of lips or movies. Prateek said,” There are two theories why Emraan does what he does. The first is that Emraan is such a good actor that all directors select him to act in such “gande” roles or the second is that he is a BAD person and thus by choice selects such movies which involve this “gandagi”.” As I stood speechless as how to respond to this interesting theory I preferred to switch the channel to Hungama Tv and let the cartoons proceed. If this wasn’t enough Prateek’s sister Priyanka turned out to be a great soap opera buff and had the most interesting advice on how the bride and aunts should wear their sarees and the matching makeup. Trust me she seemed more equipped to run a beauty saloon than the professional who had turned up. As I wondered how the influx of media in our lives has changed the way kids think and behave and how they probably mature at an earlier stage than all of us of the Raj Comics and Archies generation I had to rush to Bareilly to get my passport. On my way back I stopped in Delhi and went to watch Cheeni Kum but more than the wonderful movie what left an imprint was a scene from the movie. The scene is where Amitabh goes to a medical store to buy a condom and as he asked the chemist a 7-8 year old sitting in the row behind us innocently asked his mother, ”Mummy condom kya hota hai?” The flustered mother was dumbfounded for the next few minutes before the kid questioned again and this time the mother could only reply that it’s a medicine while me and my friend died laughing. It was a very funny situation indeed but then it makes you think, how does one handle these questions?. While sex education still remains a taboo in schools, we as a culture never talk about “IT” at our home or with parents. It is not normal for us to see adults kissing as an expression of love and thus it is “bad” for the kids. Although the trends are changing and public display of affection is getting accepted but still you see police driving couples away and so we are in a transition stage. The only source of sex education perhaps remains some friends at school or some encyclopedia in the school library. The way the media has made inroads into our lives it's high time that this issue be tackled by parents especially in metros where you hear 12 year olds talking about girlfriends and boyfriends and 16 year olds are losing virginity. I guess we need to revise the age for "the birds and the bee talk”. What is the perfect way to do it and when it should be done is something that is debatable. Let the debate begin till then I guess we can stick with the medicine and gande scene routine.

It was finally the time when nostalgia rules your whole life...you are walking to the department and smack it hits you in the face, you go to UG and there are the memories and it was tough forgetting all the amazing times.Luckily for me as I was headed home there is my sister's marriage on the cards{ :D} and I guess it has meant that the last few days I haven't had the time to feel sad/bad about leaving Roorkee. So as I left a phase of my life and was preparing for another one I thought that this was the opportune time for me to learn the trades of the ladies of the house. Might help me understand the female psyche much better{ Havn't had great luck with that ;) } so here I was trying to help my mother with the washing machine, the peeling, cooking etc etc...It was in this piece of learning or training[:)] as my relatives are calling it I realized that this is one of the most tiring and unrewarding jobs one can ever do. Its amazing to see the amount of work that a mother performs in a day and how from the outside it seems all so easy.I guess we never truly understand the great feat that the mothers and wives of this country perform by ensuring that those mundane daily chores are performed to perfection.Its no space research or scientific breakthroughs they are making but they are making life so simple and easy for all of us and we never even care to appreciate it.Its a sad comment on the kind of sons and daughter we prove to be when rather than appreciating our mothers we end up criticizing one thing or the other.It really has been an amazing learning experience helping mom with her work and I hope anyone who reads this gives at least a week to their mothers and they will understand what I am talking about....In the meanwhile i can cook macroni, paranthas, pizaa etc etc so all of you may line up outside Golu's Diner :D

It seems like yesterday that I had seen my counseling result and found out that I had got production and industrial engineering at IIT Roorkee. Now I am sure after the results the period of excitement, preparation and sheer anticipation began for all of us but it somehow was a little different at my home. My Dad you see was a pass out of the 75' batch of industrial engineering of the then UOR. I am sure it was an emotional and a proud moment for him to see his son traverse his footsteps and he was more than eager to share his memories of his time at the place. Be it the late nights in ganga bhawan to the bakar sessions to the chapos to the dreaded Roorkee holi to the amazing friends he made. I was introduced to it all before even reaching the place and I was least interested in the stories. I as usual made fun of the place and his memories and wondered how even after 28 years dad had so fond memories of this place which I was seeing as some small town without any semblance of modernity. Its only now as I have reached the threshold of my own little story that I realize how insensitive it was of me to ridicule my dad’s memories (sorry Dad) and how I fight at home if anyone even dares to make fun of this place, I have grown to love and call home. Its been the most amazing 4 years of my life where I have had the great opportunity to understand the person I am and the person I want to be. I have met the most amazing people and it would be unfair to list names as I might miss out on a few but I would like to thank each and every individual who became a part of my life and gave me moments that I will treasure forever. I can see now how even after 28 years I would remember the night outs @ IMG, the bakar and movie session before the exams, the time spent at Nescafe and UG, The bun butter samosa of alpahar, the most amazing quizzes ever with litsec guys and almost everything about this place. I love every bit of this institute and its almost impossible to believe that come 2^nd June I would not be a part of IIT Roorkee or would I be.I don’t know what the future holds in store for me but one thing is for sure that the 4 years I have spent here and the friends I have made here will remain with me for my life. I would love to say that I would stay in touch with you all but one thing is for sure I would miss you all and would remember you all for the special ways in which you have touched my life. Thanks a lot.

And despite my ramblings about not letting my children do engineering I wonder how it would be if they too happen to enter this magical place and then be bored by my memories to later on rediscover their own….If history would repeat Itself!!!!!