Ah! Cold-Coffee!!

Everyone has that special hang-out at college. The place where you can sit and unwind, talk for hours or just plain go-and-meet up. For me that special place was AFJ.

It was not the serenity or calmness of the place that drew me to it (in fact, AFJ was the exact opposite of those things, being situated right on the side of a busy road!!). It was not even the seating space it provided (There were random chairs put about a footpath!). It was the heavenly cold-coffee.

AFJ... or 'All Fruit Juice' (for the uninitiated) had the absolutely the BEST cold-coffee that I've ever tasted! (It was way better than the cold-coffee at CCD, which was just 10 steps down from it!) And me, being a major cold-coffee addict, the place acted like a magnet. I would stop there on my way back from the hospital. I'd stop on my way to the library. Or sometimes, just come all the way from the hostel for a nice glass of coffee!!

Whenever we had time left after postings,it was a routine for us to collect there. SMSes were sent, phones rung: and the message was passed on, so that whenever whichever batch got free, they'd start coming over. And after an ice-cold drink and sharing the 'happenings' at the postings, we'd move for further classes. It was a well deserved break.

Then there were evenings, when there was the matter of a 'treat'.. for parents' anniversary, siblings' pass in exam, new bike, newborn cousin, winning a bet, getting a new goldfish, random meet up...and what not!!

Seasons were not a issue! The coffee was always ice-cold and refreshing. It was a retreat in summers and a time-out in exam-filled winters!

Then we all had our own specifications for the coffee. I'm sure bhaiya knew them by heart by our fourth visit there. ( Heck! at the volume we shouted, I bet even the pados-wala panwalla knew them too!). But then, the ritual was never complete without each one ahouting out his own type. It was always a chilled, kam meethi, ekdum strong coffee for me :)

Why am I getting all senti and writing a post about it?? Well coz, the shop got shut down about a year back. The bhaiya there moved to Jaipur, in search of greener pastures, to open another shop (not a juice shop this time--infact he's opened a toy showroom there). Well good for him. But I'm left here all sad & whining everytime I have craving for a cold-coffee (which is atleast twice a day!!). Though I found a minor substitute for it, but still

nothing has been able to replace that special chilled, kam mithi cold coffee at AFJ!!!

Part 2- My Verry Happy Birthday

. . . Finally Part-2 of ‘My Verry Happy Birthday’. . .

A bit of jolting from a stranger on the blogging world, an unexpected stretch of peace (thanks to the awesome mausam) & ‘Friendship Day’- a day when I’m really happy & thankful for the best-est friends I could’ve asked for in College - All these have gotten me back in the mood for finishing the long forgotten post abt my birthday.


Lets see.. I’d left off at the point where I found these two "blank" scrolls of papers at AFJ.

Now this was the kaminiyat part… that these guys had planned. On those two scrolls, I was supposed to write a “thank you” note to ANY TWO of the pple. Now of course, it was hard to choose from 10!! & whichever two I chose, the other 8 were bound to kill me with senti-dialogues & what not about how I love those two more than the others! & the worst part was , that I had to do it BEFORE I got my next clue…. :(
So, back at the hostel, I wrote down two names (don’t remember which ones I decided to oblige..) & had to hear a lot of “Oh..you like her more than us!!” & “Ahh… So I’m not a favourite!Sigh!” . It was fultoo melodrama plus meri taang kheechna!

Now, after this, I was given the next Clue. Clue #4.
Here it is:
“Gehra pyaar hai issse
Utpatang hain kaam hamare
Din mein do baar
Saptah mein saat baar
Karta hai CARRY throughout YEAR”
Now this riddle was one of the toughest ones. Took me a looong time to figure it out. I finally got CARRY-YEAR…. CARRIER by myself… But something was missing… I kept lookin & BANG! It hit me:
It was : “GUDS CARRIER”… that’s what they call my Activa sometimes… (Guds is my nickname, for the uninitiated)
I ran to the Activa… But there was nothing there.. Ran back to my room to get the keys.. But of course, I couldn’t find them. That was the hardest part. Again got some help from Anks, while the others were having a good time teasing me! After looking EVERYWHERE, I finally found the keys in Navy’s room (who was either pretending to, or had very conveniently gone to sleep in there!!)…
Getting to the Activa I found my next gift..but no clue..

As I ran back up, got my next Clue in there. Clue #5 was another music clue. As Ritu played the song “Hips Don’t Lie” on her cell, I guessed it was something to do with MG Hospital. As it was almost 11.00, we had to go to the Medicine posting at the hosp. I was told to leave the clue at the moment.
When we got to the Hospital, I saw Navy & Aditi already there. They were waiting at the parking lot for us & grinning. I looked around for a clue or gift- But nopes, nothing in there. Rushed to MM I- nothing in there too! Went to the Medicine office- nothing in there!! Then I decided to go on with the proceedings of the posting, & look for the gift later. Ab finally, when we were winding up with things at the posting, we decided to look for the clue again. Aha.. Hinting time again. I was asked to go & look in the Seminar room once again. I went in there &, Voila! There were two scrolls (once again) near the Podium. And sitting innocently, right next to the sheets was my next clue!

Here it is:
Clue #6:
“Sum of today’s date _____
Arps comes in class ______
Our grp is number _______
Govinda is Hero No. ______
The time you’ll get your next gift _____”
‘Aha! Pretty simple this time’, I thought. Of course, it was all ‘ONE’…
But waitaminnit, as I had calculated, the sum of today’s date was NOT ‘one’!! (1+5+0+3+2+0+0+8 =19; 1+9=10) It was ‘TEN’! & as I pointed this out to the others, *smug at the thought that I’d found an error in their riddle*, I was hit in the head & asked what the sum of 1+0 was…
Oops, I’d been an ass!!! It WAS ‘one’ alright!!! (They were all lauging at my well known maths skills by now!!) ;)

Next was the Paeds Tutorial at Ummed Hosp. We reached there, at about 12.30. Waiting for the tut to start, it was already ‘one’ o clock! I was handed my next gift. These were strips of really cute stickers! Wow! Plus of course, there was the next clue!

This clue #7 was a ‘maths test’! This one might be hard for you to understand, but I figured it out pretty soon (faster than all of these guys had expected! ;))
Here goes:
“Location of ur gift = Your score in exam/ Total amount we’re spending on your gifts”
This one actually is a brilliant puzzle!!! Lemme explain. My overall score in 2nd year exams was 420 marks. Everyone remembers this coz of the sheer interesting-ness of the number ‘chaar sau bees’.
For the next bit: Since 3-4 days before my b’day Navy had been bugging me with her PJs about getting me gifts worth Rs.10… She had decided that they would get me 5 gifts of 2 rupees each… It was supposed to be a shampoo sachet, some toffees, a 2 rupee pen etc. So basically, she had been working to get me ready for this clue.
Now basic maths, 420/10=42. So there it was Room No.42!!!!! Yay!! Although, at that point I was confused whose room it is, but later, it turned out to be Avina’s!!
When we got to the hostel, (after the sad tutorial,) I went to Avina’s room. But there, I was told to wait. Coz the hunt had been put on hold till evening, when Ritz would come to the dorm! So then, I was assured that my guess was correct & my next gift would be in Avi’s room.

So after a fun-lunch, I went to sleep. Shit! I was so exhausted that I woke up right at 5 in the evening. As I went to find the others, I found everyone, including Ritz waiting in Avi’s room. & there were these really pretty balloons all over the place!!! :) :)
To burst my balloon of happiness, there I saw 2 more blank sheets!
It was then that I remembered that I had two more unfilled sheets lying around. Hmmm..This looked like a good prospect. I could fill in all the 4 gals’ names in those. (coz there were none of the guys around!). I was about to start filling in, when I was told that the sheets were to be filled in preference order in front of everyone!! Damn!!
So then again, I was verbally assaulted for thanking pple!

Okay that done with..It was time for the next clue. It was another musical clue.
Clue #8:
“Gudiya humse roothi rohogi,
kab tak na hasogi
Dekho ji kiran si lehar aayi
Aayi re aayi re hansi aayi…”
Instant answer! It had to be with my mom!
You see, this is one song that my Mum used to sing whenever I was mad at her. This would make me smile at once!!

These guys had done ALL their homework. The clues had been spread out all over the place!!!

So post-conformation, I went home.
There on the dining table was the ‘gift’- A pepsi bottle filled with water, with a shampoo sachet & 2 rupee pen floating in it! See, Navy had been true to her promise. I did get my 10 rupee gifts!!! I laughed heartily at it!!
As I went back to the hostel, there was my next riddle.

Clue #9:
“ They all point to one place:
1. Page no.616
2. Your hangout place
3. @^!’s louuu-uuuu”

Okay, I had to LOL at this!!! U won’t really understand it, but it’s an amazing riddle. Page 616 of Park’s PSM book is “Sulabh Shauchalaya”, which had been a butt of a lot of jokes during our stint of studying PSM. (Yes Shruti, we even have to study the sewage system & toilets!! One more point to my course! ;)). My ‘hangout place’: well, I love to spend a lot of time in the bathroom.
I ran to the bathroom & there they were (you guessed it), two more blank sheets & my next riddle.


Clue #10 is my favourite of the lot!!! It actually shows what brilliant brains these guys are. Here’s how it goes:
“You have ‘peritonitis’,
On your tummy, doctor gave a sign;
With ‘Hagrid’ lies your Rx (read:Treatment),
Can’t think of the last line.”

I had to think for a really long time to get this! But amazingly I managed to find the ans all by myself!
The answer was ‘Bhaiya’ ie the guard outside the hostel.
See, ‘the sign of peritonitis on tummy’ is guarding. The ‘Hagrid’ IS a guard. So my next gift was with Bhaiya downstairs. It was another really cute strip of stickers..!!

By the time I was done with it, it was already time for the party. So we got dressed & headed-off. I thought the clues were over, but nahi, there was more to come. . .
There were more clues at the party too!!!

..To be contd..

( Am getting sleepy now. It’s a really long typing session for a notebook-pen kinda person like me!*Yawn!*)

PS: A biiii-iiiiig HUG to all u guys for the awesome budday! Btw come to think of it, all my birthdays at college have been different (in a great way!!). All thanks to you guys!

My Verry Happy Birthday.... :)

My birthday this year was something special &kind of a brain racking experience… with a whole trail of clues laid down for me to crack, to find my gifts of course!! These guys.. (ref: D,Ank,Avi,Atul,Navy,Ravi,Kaushik,Ritz,Sattu & Saurabh…).. had a full day treasure hunt planned out for me!
Well, I’d been itching to narrate the story to Shruti or one of the others, when y’day Shruti pointed out that I could put it up on the blog. Bright idea!! & here I am writing an account of the day…

So, after the midnight party on the terrace, we all were in my room, when my series of surprises began! There was this ABSOLUTELY YUMMY pudding, thanks to chef Divya et al.

Then there was also this nice card with my Piscean qualities.. :) While we were talking and all, Ritz asked me to turn on bluetooth on my cell. I complied, thinking she must be sending in some sort of birthday graphic. As the message transfer ended, Ritu announced that the job was done, & if anyone wanted to give any instructions, they could do so. Okay. Now I was confused.. what was going on?? As, I saw the message, I realized it was some sort of a riddle that I had to solve, coz it was a music clip titled

"Clue 1":
As I listened to the song, I was told that this was a clue to find my first gift.. & I had to find it before the song ended!!! It took me some time to grasp what was going on, but as I listened to the song, it dawned on me! I ran to %@^$#!% ‘s room..!! & voila, there it was a b’ful rose lying on the bed!! But there was a catch… the next clue was lying next to it!

Clue #2:

This one was a riddle (ala HP).. Here’s how it went :
“Arjun ne dekhi the macchli ki aankh,
Tujhe dekhna hai mendak ka dil..”

Well, sounds tacky…doesn’t it?? But it’s a very well framed riddle…. There were a million things that I could think of, which were frog shaped… a key chain, a soft toy… But then, it struk me… OUR COLLEGE!!! Of course, our colg is shaped like a frog ("mendhak ka dil", indeed)!!! I put up the suggestion to the others, but then..no one was in the mood to help me out!! They were enjoying this! Navy even tried to confuse me with her stupid ideas! But then Ank helped out by telling me to go to sleep & think abt it the next morning…
So the next day, we had to run to class..coz we were very late! So I had no time to think over the clue. But when the class ended, I found a gift in the college corridor!! Yay!! I was right!! But the next clue was missing…

As we went outside, Ritz again started sending something in… This time it was damn simple!!!!!!!

Clue#3: was the song, “tere sang, ek simple si coffee bhi…” This was something I could solve in my sleep! I picked up my activa & rushed off to AFJ…. The shop was closed, but there it was.. I could see two scrolls of paper wrapped in ribbons… :)….. Butt… these turned out to be blank sheets!!

Contd:

I'll Be There For Youuu....

The pulling each others' legs o'er each small thing,

The lifting up spirits when one is down,

The going together for a shake or a coffee,

& trying to wipe off each others' frown.

The begging for treats on every occasion,

The planning to go on morning walks.

The "detailed discussions" of the future,

All the while sitting around in .....................!!

The notions to do something different,

The writing applications to the Dean.

The decisions to watch a movie,

Over the long list of movies already seen!!

The unlimited hours of gossip,

The kind words of encouragement.

The long talks over the phone,

& ALL the messages that are sent...!!

All these things--& more,

May seem to last just a while.

But the moments are PRICELESS,

& that's bein' FRIENDS FOR LIFE..!!!!

fOR.... adi,avi,ankita,navy,kaushik & ritz!!!!!