Lucky to Live

25th April 1988 .. Hospital X.. Guntur... waa waa waa... Congratulations.. Its a boy.. BPK is born...

The next task for my parents was to name me. According to my stars I was supposed to be called with a name starting from Ta, Te, Tu. They could hardly figure a word starting with those syllables.. forget a name. Finally my granpa thought screw the stars .. Name him praveen.

School Days.. Greatest ever. The teachers were the best. They always wanted me out of the class for some reason or the other. I always wondered why are they so biased towards me. Why don't they give this chance to others as well who were bored of the stupid classes. Anyways I guess I was just lucky to enjoy the privilege.

3rd Grade- I always wondered that whether I even exist in this class. Hardly anyone knows me. I am not even on the map. I prepared pretty well for the Mid term exams. At least I hoped to be in the top 25 out 50, though it never happened for quite some years from then. English exam. In an answer I had to write a date. say 24th July. OK. How do we spell it. J U L Y .. crap that's julie a girls name. That's not a month. After a lot of thinking I cracked the code it was 24th JULAI. But still to confirm I just peeped into another girls answer sheet. Bingo... I was caught. The first time I cheated. That to for July. Bull shit. wasn't so lucky or was I? I learnt how to spell July. +ve thinking.

IX Grade:- This is when I found a new character in myself. This was the belligerent me. Not to accept any sort of injustice. I was a revolutionary (naat). Well my school was crippled with a corrupt principal who would even promote a 3 yr old to 10th grade if the price was right. Along with him, was his puppy our physics teacher who would leak out the paper to students who would take tutions from him. That was it. I have had enough. Had a few arguments with them. They threatened me to screw me on my practical marks in 10th board. Scared, I moved to a different school in Hyderabad in JULY(:P), that year. Then it was the Good/Bad news. Our principal was murdered. His rule ended. Muhahahaha... That's wt happens when u mess with BPK or BPK messes with you.. wt ever. So I moved across states, to a different school for nothing? God damn it. I Should have waited for another month. Guss. Lets move on...

X Grade:- Wt a boarding school. No outside food allowed. i even did not need any. They fed us like pigs. We hardly ate. We hogged over the dining table. The mess was a temple. Breakfast ummmmm... 12-15 idliys, 10 vadas, 5 dosas wtever. double the number wt a normal human being would eat. We used to drink dal. It was God himself in the form of a cook. When I joined the school I played football.. when I left it I was the football. Who cares. idi anta matti ee ga. It was just, koncham ekkuva matti. Lucky I was. Great food. I did well in acads. topped class. All the confidence I needed. I was the king, the most intelligent student. A frog in the well. Soon as I left, the school went bankrupt probably because of the enormous food expenses our batch gave them. The school closed down. Lucky me.

Intermediate or +2- Gowtam Jnr Colloge. Rankers manufacturing Factory. 1600 students. Am I even worth competing with these ppl and the 2 lakh other out there. Who cares. I was worried about the food quality more. Limited breakfast. Queue for lunch. Stinky bathrooms. Packed up Dorms. Uncomfortable classes. No birds to watch. Ya this is what hell looks like. Luckily found great friends without whom this would have been a lot more painful. Life was compressed into Option A B C D. I could hardly answer anything unless given four options. Hard work( Read as torture) helped me get into BITS. Unluckily the college had a management crisis as soon as I left. Another college chain giant bought it.

Graduation:- Paradise. Forget less gals, desert, bad food, old hostels, heat , cold. Who cares. No ATTENDANCE. Yes you can say that again. No attendance. Wt else do prisoners from a Nazi concentration camp need more than no attendance. Surrounded by masayahs read seniors. Orey memu elago chadavaledu meeru anna chadavandi. Hippocracy. I hate it. We followed a different path. Memu chadavaledu .. maa juniors ni chadavanivvaledu. 4 yrs of hardly work. Lucky to be here. Clubs, fests, games, lachas, viddu and nandu. wt else do u want from your college life. It was a trend that the educational institute I study in gets hit by a problem soon after I leave. But this time it came early. Recession hits Bits Pilani. Lost all hopes to get placed. Companies which rarely asked even your last name before employing you. The same company now wants to know "What did the mother of the creator of the 8086 microP had for breakfast?". The ball was in their court. Crap. Not just the ball, they had the whole court for themselves. All of a sudden they did not want just employees, they wanted scientists. Screw you. we decided to go for satyagraha. Cricket, Lan Games, Cards, Tr8s. Yes we fought back with non violence. Thus we managed to pass out of bits in the specified duration of 4 yrs.

Present Day: Management happened to be my field of interest. CAT, XAT, NMAT wtever ends with AT. Hopes, plans, ambitions. In spite of a sub standard CAT test series I was lucky to have managed a decent score. missed IIM A n S though so far. Is the bad luck next? Who cares. I have a back up job to support me for another year. Hoping for the best and prepared for the worst. Hardly any disappointment. Happy for anything.

Now I wonder are these all ups and downs in life out of hard work, commitment, ignorance, laziness, good luck, bad luck. I guess not. Its none of these. I think its just LIFE. Face it, feel it, fight it, enjoy it, LIVE IT.