What's in a name

Every year when we were in school there used to be a Tech quiz conducted by TCS. The Mutli-Billion Dollar IT behemoth had plenty of money to shell out(as it was private those days) and was really keen to enhance the interest in IT among us children. I ,like hundreds of other children, went religiously for this quiz every year to try our luck and make it to the final round. Finalists normally got instant fame in trivandrum school-going student circles and there were plenty of prizes on offer too (like i said TCS splashed a lot of money back then). As a result making a decision to take part in the quiz was a no-brainer. I had contested form ninth standard onwards..and as expected got nothing for all my efforts for the first three attempts. It was in my final year that i got a shot at glory .....

I had gone for the quiz with my trusted partner in crime Ajay (who is screwing his life in med school as we speak). As they gave prizes for the 'Best Team Name' i felt there was an oppurtunity to take something home...and thus spent a good week thinking about a good name. When D-Day arrived (no not 06-06-42) it took a brain-wave (which rarely occurs) for me to think of the name that i finally thought about...and to be honest it was good quite(very good actually)...the name was simple but smart...
'V R two Penguins having Apples and Chips by the Window'

not bad huh! remember it was an IT quiz so we had to go with the flow.When we sat for the quiz there was a certain silent confidence in the both of us that we will do well as we did prepare for the quiz. Once the curtains were pulled up and the formal intros were made...they had announced the prizes that the finalists and the winners and so on would take home..generally this was the time where we would go all 'whoaaaaaaaaa' and 'oh my' but this year all these goodies really didn't surprise us..and hence didn't join the chorus. The prelim test went quite well...with us getting quite a few answers. We also were confident about a few of the ...how do u put it....oh yeah intelligent guesses.

After the short recess we got back into the hall and the presenter announced the finalists....we held our fingers crossed and prayed to hear our names...first team was called and it was not us....the second team was called...and no it was not us...like that all the six teams were announced and we did not make it to the main stage...we swallowed the brief disappointment and soon joined the festivities. Anyone who attended this quiz would know how the atmosphere was...simply electrifying.

As we reached the end of the quiz we were all spent shouting and howling and making faces at the finalists...It was time for them to announce the winners of other prizes...such as the best team name and so on....the second prize for the best team name went to couple of girls whose name went something like "cyrus and virus" (quite dull and repititve if u ask me)...for the winners...well let me leave it to the presenter to tell u that...

"And now the winners for the best team name...this would have to be one of the most imaginative names i have ever come across...full of jargons and terms from the IT feild...The winning name is 'V R two Penguins having Apples and Chips by the Window'.....". He did announce the names of the students and school..but who cared about all that...both Ajay and me were jumping all the way to the stage...shouting with whatever reserves we had. As we got on the stage the presenter repeated once again the name of the team and handed us the prizes. While doing so he said the words that i may not ever forget ...." Dear friends ....this is also the team that lost out in the inbulit tie0breaker question to decide who allt he finalists are....so what we have here is the 7th best team in TCS Quiz '03..A mistake in the in-built tie breaker question has cost them the finalist spot....a mistake they may never forget"($%^&*&# presenter... had to rub it in)

There comes a time when u feel light inside...when u think that the clear sky has given way to gloom and everything around is dark. Well this was one of those moments for me...I could see a tear coming from Ajay's eye as he sat there shoulders drooped. I felt more sorry for him than for myself...coz whatever said and done that was the big prize...that was glory...this was just 15 seconds of fame...and also it was I who came up with the name...he did not really contribute to it.We really didn't care about the rest of the quiz as we both were quite shattered....actually i kinda got over it....i was milking it for the sympathy from the girls...yes that's rt....i am a sorry soul.


The flip side was that we were the only people to get somethin out of the quiz from my school...and we did get a few cool gifts...including a free lunch at Somatheeram ( my next post will be about that) . And i had the undivided attention and sympathy of my friends (screw them) and the girls. For a few days we were treated like martyrs and that was quite cool....and at the end of the year i walked home witht the 'Best in Quiz' award from school....(sigh) those were some days...

Where were we...

Dunno if u noticed but i haven't posted anything for quite sometime. Before i do explain why that is..lemme first tell u the very reason for which i started tHiNk! I am a kinda guy who likes to keep himself busy with things that really do not have any use to anyone (myself included). I believe that people spend way too much time worrying and getting stressed that every once in a while u have got to ask urself, "Is all this really worth it?" I promise u most of the time it isn't. We as students worry about marks, placements(if u are in engineering), how ur girlfriend is today(not a problem for me though..i don't have one) and so on. I recently got a suppliment in a lab exam and i was quite down about it. Although i may have presented a pretty dire picture about my aptitude in academics, i am not very used to failing...so it was a bit of a disappointment for me. It was for this reason, and the fact that univs were around the corner, that i stayed away from the tube and the blog for so long...trust me it was tough.
The whole point of starting this blog was to de-stress. To spend time on something that u like doing..and not worry about the things that happen around us. If there was ever any advice i can give anyone..it is.. GET BUSY. Never give ur mind too much to think about, coz when it does start thinking then the worrying starts. Blogging has been my way of telling my brain to 'shove it' and as a result i find that i am far more composed than most of my friends. True i flunked and i hate myself for getting into this situation...but that's how things work...failure is part and parcel of life and u have to move on. If anything i hope this will give me a stronger resolve for things ahead. As Henry Ford once said," A plane always takes-off against the wind".

P.S:I do apologize for being very dull and philosphical in this post....but i have been in that kinda mood offlate. Hope to shake-off the blues soon...