My "belated bday" at MDI

(As typed on 20 June, 2005)

Easily my best day in MDI so far. These guys proved that having a birthday during summers cannot be an excuse for not celebrating. My room-mate, Shubham has been plotting this for quite some time now and today was the day as all of us wanted a break and at around 8:30, we headed to Solitaire, a restaurant near MDI for my "belated birthday" treat.

The team had many of my good friends here.

Animesh, oldest of all of us is an extremely lovable chap, a die-hard movie fan is from Bihar. Nick: Bhudda

Arpan, a Rajastani who knows tamil very well, is an avid reader and a ardent critic. Nick:Arpan

(Arpan on the left and Himanshu on the right)

Himanshu, an IITian who loves food and food only is from Delhi. Nick: "Golu"

Kedar, my neighbour is the soft, nice and very popular guy among girls and comes from Bombay. Nick: Kedu, King

Tamanna, known for her hysterical and uncontrollable laughter is from Jammu. Nick: Queen

Mohit, a CA, is our class representative known for his secret outings with batch-mates. Nick: Mo-Ja

Rahul, the dancer from Assam, is our studious and food-loving guy, known for his dirty dancing expertise. Nick: Partner

Shubhi, our chubby little friend, known for her geared laughter is from Delhi. Nick: Scuby Doo

Shubham, my roomie, a brilliant engineer (read gold medalist) is from Haryana. Nick: Lamba

(above picture taken in our room)

Sowmya, a BITS engineer is the best singer we have here in campus and is from Hyderabad. Nick: Sowmya

After a fabulous time at the restaurant, which included birthday song singing, teasing, and photo-clicking, we had a good walk back to reach our campus at 11:40. Shubham and others had planned a birthday party, which usually starts by sending a batch mail informing of the event. Following was the trigger puller by Kedar:

Subject:Don't be late for this belated birthday

He's learnt Hindi

Be it

"Sarkailo Khatiya jada lage"

Or

"Dhoom kala kala kala kala kala Hu ha hu ha"

The Madrasi has charmed us all for one year

Let's be there to show our warmth and strength and how fond are we of him

And of course

His beloved roomie - Lambu dada


Belated Happy Birthday Arvind T (May 4)
tonite i.e 20th june and time ofcourse 12 midnight

And Kedar did the good job of personally calling as many people as possible to hit me. The rest too must have done this conspiracy without my knowledge. Had a beating of my lifetime, the hardest one being my room-mate Shubham's. The best part of birthday parties, as I now realize, is that their roomies are also hit on their back. Seizing the opportunity of a "friendly" return of pleasantries, I kicked him my best. The rest too joined and it looked like he got lot more heavy foots on his back than me.

We proceeded to the traditional cake-smacking and believe me, one full cake on the face and head didn't feel very good. Though I put back the cake on the people around me, I still was beyond easy recognition. Then the cake for eating arrived and as usual it was snatched from all quarters before even the bday song managed to finish.

Rahul had to give us a lot of entertainment today. He was late for the party by about 15 minutes and the reason was that he was on the rounds with a good friend who is Rahul's dance partner on all discos held here. We kicked him enough for the same. As we were posing for a group photo, we found Rahul trying to force some cake on another good friend of mine who just arrived there. People, seeing this went crazy laughing, esp when Animesh aired a timely comment, "Birthday kiska hai?"

After all the commotion and a bath, we settled on my room and we were waiting for Rahul who said he will come to the room to offer us an "explanation" for his absence during midnight. Poor guy, he had to face so much of comment which actually entertained the group here. The fun went to extremes when Shubham and Kedar imitated Rahul's favourite dancing moves with his dance partner in my room. I fell laughing, so did others. Animesh made the heroic entry with his handicam and got all of us on video. Bowing is an act of respect for people who make significant advances in life, invented by Animesh. The day ended at 2am by bowing to mark our respects to Rahul, the hero for the day and then we were back to square one thinking of our immediate problems:
1. What to do regarding the numerous pre-readings and an assignment due for tomorrow?
2. How to sleep amidst terrible heat wave conditions here (max of 46 C)

And then the days went on, as usual...