Hachiko

DEDICATED TO HACHI (28th September 2014 - 4th April 2015).

Reading the title above, you will definitely be reminded of the movie, which had the same name. It was a heart touching story of a dog, who was adopted by a really awesome man, and grew very close to him. The man died while at work and this dog waited at the train station for many years, and eventually died there. I cried watching that movie, and I thought to myself, what have I been doing for so long? I should've seen this a long time ago!

Around 2 days after I saw the movie, my roommates, who are my fellow students at SRM University rescued a pup from the streets. I was sleeping then, and they woke me up and said, "Hey, Ayush, we got a surprise for you!" I woke up, and went outside my room. There was a small box in the balcony, and when I glanced inside, a small black ball of fur was curled up inside. The fur was shining! A healthy pup had indeed come into the house. I immediately said, "Let's name her Hachi!", as a tribute to the dog legend! My senior had assured us that he'll take care of the dog when we leave college as he had a job in Chennai itself, and so I agreed to keep the dog!

Hachi was a very difficult dog to manage. She was much different than most other dogs. Training her was possible, and we made significant progress on that front, but it was very tough. I still remember when she actually sat when I said, "Hachi, sit!". I even asked one of my roommates to take a video of that historic moment when she started listening to what I said to her! Eventually, Hachi learnt fetch, and to stand on two legs for food. She also was pretty violent. If no one was around watching, she was sure to destroy something from the house. Inspite of telling her not to do so, she would take stuff from the tables and destroy them. My phone charger, my roommate's laptop charger, my roommate's spectacles, another roommate's spectacles, one guy's laptops, my roommate's girlfriend's sandals and my roommate's flip flops are some of the things which were her victims. She also loved infiltrating the kitchen and look around for something to eat (She was always hungry)! And she hated almost every other dog.

But inspite of everything, the dog loved everyone and loved cuddling. She would sometimes run into my room, when I would be sleeping and cuddle around and sleep with her head on my arm. And the welcome I used to get whenever I returned back from my classes was something which I will always miss about her. She was so innocent, so soft, with curled up black ears, with a white patch extending from her forehead, down to her muzzle and mouth. She feet had a white patch around the paws, and some white at the tip of her tail. The black used to shine brightly. She eventually grew, with her muzzle extending, which signified the end of her puppy look and the start of a doggie look! She looked cute even then and it was a joy to hug that warm fur bundle!

My senior got transferred and he said that he'll come for the dog once he has settled and when he came for his convocation, a few months later. So we kept the dog. The problem was that the convocation happened, and he severed all ties with us. Never picked up calls, never called back, never replied to messages. We were concerned! None of our parents would allow this dog into the house, and she had nowhere to go! We realized that we had made a terrible mistake by keeping this dog for our amusement! But then again she was hungry and had a defect in her feet, and we gave her life.

Once I had a window of opportunity to return to my home, and see my parents, my brother, my sister and my grandparents. Oh! And there was my other dog too, the cutest dog in the whole world, a pomeranian named Coco. Days went by, my brother and I recorded songs, I had lots of stuff to eat, made by my grandmother daily, we played games, and took part in the renovation which was going on over there. One day, I was sending out links to a recording of ours, which I uploaded on YouTube. This girl was responding by saying that it is very nice. And suddenly, she said, "Ayush Sinha", with the crying emoji! On asking what was wrong, she only texted back one word... "Hachi...."

I frantically sent her texts, asking what happened to the dog... And after a while, she replied, "Hachi met with an accident, she is dead!"

My hands worked on their own, I was calling people here and there.. It was April, and I was hoping that this was all a joke. Many people confirmed this and then came my mom, who asked me what was wrong. I broke down, and hugged her, and started crying loudly, muttering "Hachi" all the time. "My baby is dead, maa, my small little baby!" I cried. It took my family, and Coco, who was licking my tears, a full day to calm me down. I eventually returned to Chennai the next day and my house was dead silent. Nobody spoke to nobody. There was an unfinished bowl of Pedigree dog food lying around with a bowl of water next to it. A new packet of the dog food had just been bought. I received no welcome. And because of this gloomy atmosphere at home, I decided to spend some time at my friend's place, only to return at night. I heard the full story later on.

The elders in our society don't like us walking dogs in the society and they always send us outside on the national highway to walk the dog. On that fateful day, my roommate did just that. Except, Hachi suddenly struggled and her collar came off. She ran onto the highway, and crossed a side. And jumed across to cross to the other side. But then she stopped to look at my roommate, and in a flash of a second, a bus hit her. And just to make sure she stayed dead, God sent some three or four more cars, which flattened her to the asphalt. He could not even recover the body in that heavy traffic.

We have moved on since then. I assume that this was all planned by God, as the poor baby had nowhere to go. She now stays by His side. He also made sure I was away when this happened. I was with my family. I really don't know what would've become of me if I was here in Chennai when it happened. It still pains me a lot, when somebody who doesn't know about it asks about her,  or when I see something torn and realize that this was her doing. We all sorely miss her, and her cuddling, her massages, her bathing time, her tricks, and most of all, her welcoming ceremony. I hope she is happy wherever she is and I wanted you to know about her. Hope you too remember her as your own, and remember her through my words. Rest in Peace, dear friend, you shall be missed!

GRE and TOEFL

The month of September was one of the most hectic months of my life. It was one of those times when the song 'Wake me up when September Ends' by Green Day started making sense in my case. I, an Indian student, have decided that I have to pursue my areas of interest in Engineering by getting an MS degree from any reputed college abroad, in the United States preferably, because, GOD, I love that country.

Coming back to India from my visit back in June this year, I was convinced that this is where I want my studies to flourish. The amount of exposure students get over there is astounding and the facilities are top class. But the main reason is the welcoming nature of the people over there. They want you to learn, they want to make sure you lead a happy life as they lead. Be happy, make happy. Their respect for rules and decorum and other people's privacy is something I don't usually see in India, at the same time, they become fast friends and are often so kind to everybody. I really think that those people who hate the United States, should go there atleast once, and I can guarantee that their opinion changes,

Anyway, to apply for colleges I had to give two badass exams.
1. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
2. Test of English as a Foreign Language (ToEFL).

Many people give the two exams, and I have often seen them get frightened or hopelessly nervous before the two exams. I am here to tell you the key to cracking the two exams is having the calm mind. Of course, hardwork and persistence matters. But being the face of procrastination, I want to appeal to those who are scared about the two exams and need some guidance.

SELECTION OF DATES:

This is probably the most important time when it comes to giving the two exams. It is best to get done with the exams as soon as possible, yes, but if you feel that you are not ready for it, then DO NOT BOOK IT EARLY. It is best to book the dates of the two exam well apart from each other. You will need sufficient rest time after each exam and sufficient study time for each exam as well. Another thing to be sure of is not to be influenced by friends. Just because your friends are giving the exams on a particular day, does not, and I repeat, DOES NOT, mean that you book it on the same day. Some things obviously can't be helped, if you're in a committed relationship, your special someone may want to give it on the same day. That, I'm afraid, is none of my business. Anyway, I booked by TOEFL first, because I was more confident of my verbal knowledge than I was of my Quantitative Skills, and I wanted to be done with it.

TOEFL:

Personally, booking of the TOEFL before the GRE is a better option, contrary to what everybody else does. Many believe that: Oh! GRE is tougher, I will concentrate on it first and then give TOEFL, which is only based on language, a part of which I can do in GRE as well. It happens, of course. It happened to me too. Fortunately, I did not get the date or a desired centre to give the TOEFL after the GRE. So I had to book it before the GRE. Now, this was one of the best decisions of my life. Many were like, TOEFL ain't that important, why are you doing this? But I booked anyway. Going to give TOEFL before familiarized me with the centre, knew how the Prometric centre works and since TOEFL is comparatively easier, I enjoyed the test and was mentally prepared for the GRE.

GRE:

GRE is the tougher exam, no doubt. But with smart preparation and good mental awareness, freshness of mind and readiness, it is not that tough. I didn't really do the exams that well, but it wasn't that bad either. 166/170 in Quants and 152/170 in Verbal, yeah I know, I blog and stuff, but my verbal sucked! Anyway, the key to studying in GRE is not cramming books all the time. Testing yourself is one good method. But do not waste time on those tests given out by those classes. They give out challenging questions no doubt, but are seriously a waste of time. What you would want to do is solve the tests given out by ETS themselves. Now for the studying part. If you are taking classes for GRE, like I did, you'd notice that many techniques which they have suggested work only for their own questions, and you end up wasting time blindly following their techniques on new problems. I was lazy in my preparation, until their was only a week left to give the exams. Then I frantically googled 'HOW TO STUDY FOR GRE IN A WEEK'. And the answer came to me.
Day1: Give an ETS test.
Day2; Work on problems you had in the test.
Day3: Test yourself on those kind of problems by timing yourself.
Day4: Give Test no 2.
Day5: Work on problems you had on the test.
Day6: RELAX! You've worked your ass out in the previous week. Tomorrow is your GRE, meditate, and read the Magoosh book, things to keep in mind before giving the test.
Day7: Avoid too much reading before the exams. You can read the Magoosh book. Be confident and all shall be good!

In the end, I would like to say, is that I am so sorry that I have not been writing that much in recent history, as I have been busy with my final year in College. All the best to everybody. You shall hear from me soon!

Who is a Blogger?

Ayush Sinha. I am a blogger. I frankly am really bad at putting forth my thoughts by word of mouth and I know this is a really serious problem and soon I will have to sort this problem out on my own. The best part is, I am not alone. People like me number in the millions. I think what I can write can be read and understood by the young and the old alike, yet if I sit in front of a mirror and look at myself, I cannot convince myself to do much, by just talking. So, yeah, I am a blogger. I believe in writing down what I think. Writing not only gives me immense pleasure but also gives me a platform to open my valve of thoughts in a laminar flow. As of now, dear reader, I can only hope that the speech writer shall one day become a good speaker himself. Till then, keep reading. I will tell you what I like, what I don't like, what I aspire to become and the reasons behind it. Be a part, and you will know, this guy may look dumb on the outside, but overclocks on the inside. Any help from others is appreciated. You could comment on the post, which I presume could be done on blogspot (:P) and until then, I hope I myself look at this seriously, following my passion to write and well, maybe come with something funny sometime instead of this serious mess. Hope I get better posts later. I wish you a good day. :)

Sport or Business? Dedicated to my friend, my roomate!

"Dude, my FIFA game is getting f!@#$% up! I started my career as a Head manager at Manchester United FC and FC Barcelona bid for Robin Van Persie, and they were paying only 41 million euros for it so I asked for 78 million.. And they ACCEPTED, and the player sold. Holy Shit, What do I do? F!@#$%^ Vidic wants to leave now, Madrid, Barca and Juventus is bidding for them, I mean, what's up with these Spaniards???" said my friend, who was tensed, very tensed. He lost his star player and was actually quite depressed about it. "I'll f!@# them, like real bad, I'll buy Neymar, I'l buy Pedro, I'll buy Sanchez, I'll f!@#$%^ buy Messi, I'll buy Thomas Muller." The guy was absolute nuts and frantically started buying players and was getting increasingly happy as Muller, Sanchez and Pedro joined the fine squad of Manchester United.

I realized one thing. What about the real guys out there, who can get the pink slip from the board of directors if they mess up, and lose their job. The immense pressure felt by the greatest of managers in the world, including Sir Alex, Jose Mourinho, Pep Gardiola and one of my favourites, Roberto Di Matteo, the legend who got Chelsea to win the Champions Cup but was controversially sacked from the team. Please the fans, keep a suitable ticket pricing, buy and sell players, make sure there aren't any personal problems arising between the players and the staff. It is a tough job.

A sport, which means a group of people getting together and playing with a ball. It is a reason of worry for one man, the manager. The sport is capable of making him turn to Narcotics full time and can drive him mad and give him a heart attack in the end. Cricket is no better either. Players sell themselves, there is match fixing and endorsements, there are ticket sales, leagues making profit out of the players. And so the old question remains, doesn't it? Jaago re! ;)

Festivals of Lights... And darkness!!

Diwali is here, people here in India are ready to celebrate the famous festival of lights, lighting deepaks (dias) and setting up rangolis in front of their house, preparing awesome food and buying firecrackers, cleaning the house and the ones who are not doing anything are sitting in front of a computer and are blogging and trying to do something with their writing and trying to spread their message... Oh sorry, I am getting carried away a bit. So anyway, Diwali yes, India's special festival of lights, where there is lighting and then so much smoke that the smoke glows orange and their is generally light everywhere!!! Well, of course, when there is day in India, there is night in the United States of America. To those readers in US, I wish them a very happy Halloween! I don't really know that well what Halloween is all about, but all I know is that you people dress up all scary and stuff and it's like a Zombie Apocalypse and then there are kid ghosts roaming around, asking for candy and there are cut up Pumpkins everywhere. Well, I am pretty sure that you can point out many faults from our festival as well, you are free to do that, of course!! Well, Here's a toast to both the festivals, and both the people celebrating festivals which seem to be quite opposite of each other... :D

PS: Can't wait to go there and celebrate Halloween someday!! Go Zombies! ;)

A Tale of Two Cities!

Well, I desperately wanted to write something in the past few days, and then, since I came back home from college, I decided to write this... A Tale of Two Cities... So I would like to share my life in two great cities of India.. One's called Mumbai, and the other is called Chennai. I happen to call them both my home. Mumbai is probably the greatest city in India, like, EVER... I frequently have a argument regarding this with many of my friends staying elsewhere in India. Well, some people (them) never learn. Chennai, well... It's developed, and quite cleaner. Well, this is totally personal, so here are a few pros and cons I feel about the two places:

Mumbai:
Pros: Modern, Frequent Local Trains, Cheap and readily available transport, super friendly crowd (well, that depends on the situation), hot girls everywhere (well, in south mumbai especially), multi cuisine food even at the road stalls, power at all times, tasty water (:P), Marine Drive.
Cons: Dirty, super fast, busy place, pothole covered roads.

Chennai:
Pros: Neater, Longest beach (Marina is just an attraction, I don't really like it that much, Besant Nagar is better), My College is there, Stormy Rains (something not in Mumbai but highly enjoyable), very smooth roads.
Cons: LANGUAGE PROBLEM, HEAT, Very less frequent Local trains, Extremely expensive autos, Extremely Expensive EVERYTHING ELSE, Gang mentality highly prevalent, My home is not there! :P

My first promotion!

"The next person I want to promote is, of the team Documentation. This guy is brilliant, he works very hard, just last night I had wanted something written, and I just told him, and he got it done in just 2 hours, I want you all to give a big applause to Ayush, manager of the documentation team!", said the co-convener of E-CELL. Well... Getting promoted is fun isn't it? Probably the first time you get promoted is one of the best feelings ever. Sure, many managers of our college's E-CELL were appointed jobs that day, but to be among those top 8 was a lovely feeling! When I had first come to the college, I had no idea writing could get me much ahead. But thanks to all those notices I wrote in my classes and showing them to my class representative, Ram, I got the wonderful opportunity to document meeting in the E-CELL of my college. And then, during the selection of managers, I was made one. Getting promoted is fun, it gives you a boost of cell confidence, it motivates you to work even harder and earns you respect in the community and makes your parents proud! It's just lovely when your facebook profile says, "Manager of Documentation at E CELL, SRM University", doesn't it, even when you have not completed your B.Tech? Well... The posts you are reading, they're all written from this Manager of Documentation. Let's hope, I go a long way (hehe) and I shall always continue writing, for now, it's a passion, not just a hobby anymore!