Our trip to Heaven...

Never before have I experienced such a blend of excitement and enjoyment.

Last weekend I, along with my 8 other colleagues went to Mussoorie on a 2 day trip. This, I would say, was the most memorable trip after my Lansdowne trip 2 years ago.

Ready for Departure

Friday,16^th July 2010: Everybody was surprised to find me in the office even after the office timings. Later only did they came to know that we were supposed to depart from the office itself.Lolz.

At around 2230 hours, our cab arrived and we started our journey with such high levels of excitement that could not be defined. Manoj sir, Rajesh sir, Vineet sir and me boarded the cab from the office, rest others were supposed to be picked up in the way. After an hour or so we had reached Ghaziabad and that’s where the actual journey started.Nobody was left to be picked up and everybody was full of excitement. Drowsiness was given a bang on its face by all of us. Leg pulling, ’Antakshadi’, Anecdotes and joking is all what we did during the drive to Mussoorie.We reached Dehradun around 0530 hours and guess what, there was a huge spell of rain to welcome us and escort us to Mussoorie. Stopped at a road side restaurant near IMS college, alma mater of Veena Ma’am, for a light breakfast. Continued the journey then amidst the heavy rains and finally reached Mussoorie at around 0830 hours. Hotel Gulmarg is what we opted for our stay there. A typical budget hotel.

We all thought that our trip will be spoiled by the rains as there were no signs of weather turning to our favour. But luckily, the weather cleared after an hour and a half .The plan was to first go to Kempty Falls and to Lal Tibba from there and return back in the evening so as to check out the famous Mall Road.

Day 1,Destination 1: Kempty Falls

So according to the plan, we left for Kempty Falls at 1030 hours. Stopped at two or three places on the way to take some nice pictures of the nature’s splendid beauty bestowed to us.We were at Kempty Falls at around 1200 hours. Five of us i.e. me,Rajesh sir,Vineet sir,Manoj sir and Anand sir enjoyed the Falls and had some nice photographs there. Then had a very nice lunch and left for Lal Tibba.

Day 1 ,Destination 2 : Lal Tibba

Everybody was tired by this time and eventually fell asleep.Woke up when we had already reached Lal Tibba.Kudos to Driver Uncle that he could drive for so long when even the guys riding pillion were aslept.Lal Tibba was just opposite to what I had imagined.It was known to me that it is the highest place here and one can seeMussoorie on one side and China Border on the other.So I thought it would be a scenic place with lots of open space.But it went against my imagination.All we could see there was a double storey building with a small shop on the ground floor. A lady was sitting there and she said there’s a large binocular on the Terrace through which we can see Mussoorie and China border.But there was some charge for going upstairs.Not much just 10/- per head.Initially we were not in the mood to go as the entire valley was covered with thick fog and there’s nothing we could see.But after much persuasion from the lady,we finally went to the terrace.There was thick fog everywhere round and so nothing was visible through the binocular.Everybody then started cursing me that why did I recommended this place.Especially….

But still the Fog covered mountains were looking very beautiful from there.So for the time being when we were hoping for the fog to clear,we had some really good snaps.

Slowly fog started to clear and we could see Mussoorie with bare eyes.Looking at it through the binocular gave a very amazing view. We spotted Gun Hill and Camel’s back Road. The scenic beauty of the place was slowly becoming spellbinding.The other good news was that the fog started to shed away on the opposite side also where it was said that we can see China Border.China border did not become visible but what we spotted was truly a picturesque view.Guess what? The Snow Clad Himalayas. Amazement rushed through everybody to have a look at the Mighty Whites through the binocular.By this time we had ordered coffee as it was really cold out there.The coffee arrived,I must say it was a nice one. We spent some of the best moments of our life there.

How much do you expect the price of the coffee that we had there?Guys,it was worth 40 bucks!!!But we never mind paying for it when we had such a wonderful experience.

Day1, Destination 3:Mall Road

Our next destination was Mall Road.Reached back to the hotel around 7:30PM and left for Mall Road after almost half an hour.The main reason behind checking out Mall Road was that we guys,specially Manoj sir, wanted the  justification behind its name. We wanted to see why it is named “Maal Road”.The reason was quite obvious;there were lots of maal we could trace there.Lolz.

Loitered in the market for an hour almost.Now it was the time for dinner.I had heard about MyShop which serves very good veg and non-veg delicacies. But unluckily it was fully occupied and hence too long waiting time was given. We finally gave up the idea of  having the dinner there and chose Hotel Clark for the supper.The reason behind choosing it was very clear ,it was the nearest restaurant serving both veg and non-veg meals, and I was in full mood to have hot,spicy chicken.The Food was OK.Not so good and not so bad.So after  a heavy dinner we directed our steps towards the hotel.After reaching there,we enjoyed the game of Court Piece, a card game. Retired on the bed at  0200 hours.

Day 2,Destination 1

While we were returning to the hotel, I had told everybody, specially girls, that we all should be ready to leave for Dhanaulti before 0900 hours so as to get maximum time to enjoy there.I myself woke up at 8 AM only when Sandhya Ma’am came to wake us up.She was all ready for departure and among boys-everybody just woke up.We all  got ready within an hour and checked out of the hotel at 1000 hours.Left for Dhanaulti,high on spirits,intoxicated with excitement. Had Omelettes and Paranthas on the way and we were at Dhanaulti at 1300 hours .

Let the suspense remain.Wait for me to get time for continuing it………..

Board Calling........

Hi all,

Writing this one after a long gap. Actually don’t get enough time after coming back from office. Oh I forgot to tell you that I have joined an IT firm in Okhla as a QA Trainee. Joined there on March 22^nd ,2010.Nothing much to cheer as I am on probation and no Stipend is being offered right now. Other series of events have also happened during past few months.

Our new house was inaugurated in the first week of February, immediately after my Semestral exams concluded. Had a great bash that week as all relatives were there to cheer, laugh, shout and dance .Lolz. The next three/four days after the inauguration were really really tiring. Most of the guests went back the same day or the next morning.

The next day we had to shift to our new house.Ahh…completely exhausting the entire day was! Everything was in its place after three days of hardship that everyone in the family did.

Finally it was 11^th Feb when everything looked settled in our new house but I was still thinking about making it look more beautiful.But there was something to worry about amidst all this .On 14^th I was supposed to appear for the Combined Defense Services (CDS) exam. I was really worried as this could be the only chance for me to get into the Armed Forces since I was rejected in the 19^th UES and talk about TGC,just 5 seats for CS students. But I did not prepared for this test.First the Semestral exams followed by the inauguration, there wasn’t much time and energy left to prepare for it.The day before exam I just revised all the mathematical formulas studied in the lower classes(9^th,10^th and 11^th) and for English part, I was confident enough of doing well in all the sections but one i.e. the Vocabulary Section. So I took out Norman Lewis and learned some common words of usage which I thought may come in the exam.And for the General Awareness section nothing could be done. You never know from where the question may come.But a little bit of preparation was still required from my side. History of India is too vast, and Current affairs required going through last three month’s newspapers.So the only section left was Geography.So I took out the Atlas and tried to study the geography of India-rivers,mountains,National Highways etc.That was all.Nothing else did I prepared for this test.

DATE 14^TH FEBRUARY 2010: Fine Sunday morning that was,SMSs coming from friends to wish me;not all the best crazy people but Happy Valentines Day.Ha Ha Ha.

The centre for the exam was in New Delhi(S.N.Puri),so there was no chance of enjoying the evening as the exam itself would end somewhere around 6:00 in the evening.Appeared for the exam.First the paper looked difficult and then a thorough go through of the questions provided some way to analyze the answer.The most difficult part in the English paper was as expected The Vocabulary section.Not even a single word looked familiar.So was able to answer only a few questions in this section.After an hour’s gap appeared for the Genaral Awareness paper.The most difficult one.History History and History.Current affairs section appeared to be easy.Might have been for me as I regularly read newspaper.General awareness was also bit easier as there were some questions related to Computer Science. So not a problem for me.But most of the questions were from India’s independence struggle which I did not studied at all.Could not even make a guess as negative marking was applicable for wrong answers.

So answered questions of which I was confident about.still I think I had answered more than 50% of all the questions.

The last one was Maths exam.This test was not for OTA candidates and hence there was not a single girl to be seen at the centre after GA exam as girls could apply only for OTA,Chennai. Maths exam also passed fairly well.Most of the questions were answered but a few from either HCF,LCM or Quadratic Equations were those which I could not answer.After appearing for the exam I felt that I really had the capability to attempt it in a more better way,had I got the time for preparation.But still I was satisfied with my attempt.

Next month I joined an IT firm in Okhla and bid goodbye to the last semester. I was really missing my college friends.I felt like my college life was over now when my friends still had 3 more months to enjoy the same.But this spirit rose again when I met all my batchmates during sessional exams.The month of May and June were entirely for the academics.Second sessionals and then Seminar,Project Presentation,Practical and finally the semester exams.The PLs were very long for few exams.So went all the way to Rishikesh and then to Kotdwar from there .Had a great time there.Was back to appear for the last exam which was postponed from 12^th June to 17^th June.

On June 18^th I was back to the office.Now the training is going fine and guess what my CDS results are out and I am among the successful candidates who will be facing the SSB board for training at IMA,Dehradun.Hope I make it up there too.

Bye.