SUMMER'10

Prologue: Reminiscence of best 5 moments of summer’10 which has been a memorable experience with unparallel joy. It was impossible for me to arrange them in order of magnitude of enjoyment as each one is laden with unique sacred significance. List below is in order of date.

1.Siddhu and Prudhvi’s birthday treat (June 7th-8th): I along with Kishan and Raguvar were set to go for Kites movie. As I parked my car we got a call from Prudhvi regarding birthday treat. Next second I was revving up my car and we were on our way. I was slightly apprehensive in the beginning but that night at the end turned out to be a special one.

We reached on time and invitees were slowly trickling in. Messages, phone calls were being exchanged and no sooner all ‘24’ were present. A treat of this humongous was unique for me. Though I knew few of them but the blissful environ eclipsed the weird emotion of anxiousness of being an outsider in me. I wouldn’t proclaim my-self as a boozer but I’m not a teetotaler either. As the tables were served, glasses were being filled with whisky, beer, vodka, breezer, aerated beverages. Everyone was set, glasses were raised and words cheer & cheers came out obliviously from 24 as the restaurant was engulfed in rather hoarse tinkling sound by glasses as they were struck against every possible near glass.

Those sounds still resonate within me when I look back at that night. And I made new friends and one who names himself Rocky stands-out in particular as it was a blithe getting high along with him. I would also remember that day for my first late mid-night biryani and also my first night-out in Hyderabad that to on a friend’s home terrace.

Before summer began I was rather nervous but my school friends made sure I was wrong. Special thanks to Prudhvi, Abhilash, Sreekanth, Raguvar, Siddharth, Kishan. (Soccer match at Extreme Sports Bar and my summer vacation vale dinner were in contention but that treat was special)

2. Wheel of Time (mid June-ongoing): I feel like a ta’averan writing this. That’s the impact book had on me. Somehow one day I still don’t know really why? I quizzed Pradeep regarding the book. Rest was history for me. I read the book in beginning rather patiently than passionately. It took few days for patience to metamorphose into passion. I began to read it during last month of my holidays. It’s all of 14 parts, 12 parts have been already published and remaining 2 will be published in this and next November respectively. When I started to read I thought of reaching book no.13 by the time it’s published but now my deadline is extended with condition being almost same except its 14 instead of 13.

Keeping that in mind I read about 4-5 hours a day. Now by 4-5 hours I mean appropriate reading hours. In fact my whole curriculum for last month has been evolving and revolving around Wheel of Time. It was as if my thread was weaving forcibly around the wheel of Wheel of Time.

Now and then I feel like quarry being chased down by WOT to read it. It’s an intimidating task especially for a sluggish reader like me. This book might leave in shambles or make me feel like a folly lummox with the amount of time I’m about to invest in coming weeks. That skeptic apart I feel privileged to be part of the pattern.

Special thanks to Pradeep Kalipatnapu for his recommendation.

3. Two day Marathon chats with Pramod (June 23rd-24th): I remember during summer’09 obviously got addicted to chatting. I used to brazenly buzz and chat with random people. On that realization I took measures for not repeating it all over again.

June 23rd was different. Around 8 in the night I ping Pramod regarding the marathon tennis match between Mahut & Isner which was being unveiling at SW’19. Score was about 33-34 final set. From then till the match was called off we had vivacious discussion on match, records, statistics especially ace count and most importantly about the incredibly grueling torture the lady on radio was going through as she hasn’t been to loo for 12 hours. One could feel the pain through her wail voice. In between of the match the score board stopped working and it added to the spice. And the slam-tracker wasn’t equipped to accommodate for no. 51. At 51-50 it began to show 1-0. All those e-cups did bind us to continue chatting.

At the end of that night I was tired of chatting for 1st time probably. When the day was called off at 59-59 final set I felt happy for the poor lady and relieved for myself. We even discussed soccer details but the lady on radio was grabbing our limelight.

Next afternoon when match resumed we both were set for our continuing from where we left previous night. Pramod used to pick out Infostrada twitters and then I used to set up new deadlines for match to end. Somehow it broke all of them. It was during point number ‘911’ I was rooting for it to cross ‘1000’ mark. For everything there is an end. So was for this epic humongous encounter. And match ended on point no. 980 as Isner won it 70-68 final set.

Special thanks to lady on radio (for her commentary); infostrada (for stats); Isner-Mahut (for providing bountiful drama and action) and Pramod for sticking it out for two days.

4. Auto Re-union (July 3rd): Whenever I used to reminisce about school life 3 things used stand out. 7th class ugly & obnoxious brawls, 9th class resume of talks between boys & girls after a year of exile and finally animated atmosphere in my auto by which I used to go Sharma tutorials.

Unfortunately after 10th I haven’t been in touch with any of them. In fact due to my bleak memory I couldn’t even remember most of the names. But in last week of June Sneha found me on facebook and sent me a friend request. As a gentleman I accepted her request oblivion to fact she was my auto-mate. And within 24 hours we rummaged Rohan & Geetika’s profiles. Since I was already in contact with Sandeep, Roopa & Sushma through orkut I decided we would be meeting on Saturday, July 3rd.

We recollected our evenings to and fro trips, quarrels in the auto for cushion-seat, about each-other antics, teachers, and endless other topics. Out of the expected 5, four had turned up (Geetika didn’t turn up; Rohan, Sneha, Sandeep did come). Re-union was a special for me, I thought they would remain a memory but faith had something else for us.

Again after couple of weeks we met again. Somehow we never had a sober atmosphere in each other’s company. Now, I’m in contact each one of them. Special thanks to facebook without which our grand regal would have been implausible.

5. World Cup Final at Koushik Home (July 11th-12th): I have been known for rather well organized plans and meetings. I always tried everything to be perfect. In those futile attempts I have let my instinct take a back-seat. That night was a change. Mainly because it was driven by instinct of Koushik, guy who backs his omniscient instincts which at the end lead him to trouble. Did it lead trouble that night? It did, but that’s latter.

I wanted finale to be special irrespective of teams which would be present. That was one of my want-to-do lists at the start of summer. Due to some extraordinarily weird circumstances I was at my Grand Mother’s house near Kompally that night (Kompally is nearly 15 K.M. away from Hyderabad City). Unexpectedly I got a call from Koushik around 10 in the night. Koushik had formally invited me and Netaditya to his house for World Cup final bash. First I took out a smirked giggle. Surely, he was kidding? How could someone invite to home with parents being there for late-night match? As out of habit, innumerable thoughts ran through my mind. But I had to hold myself and it certainly took more than a minute when realization set in me that Koushik was indeed serious about it. His invitation was just the beginning of the action pack late night for me.

Till that night I never rode alone unless I was starting from my home. I was used to one’s gags on my ill-knowledge regarding road-routes of Hyderabad. Neither did I ever ride a two wheeler vehicle late night (As car was my preference). I was cooed to find just a two wheeler vehicle at Grand Mother’s home. But I was lured to do that impeccable drive, bliss of watching the match along with friends was too lucrative compared with risks.

After 2-3 phone calls for confirming my route I was there finally at Koushik’s house at 11:45 P.M. Netaditya arrived about 10 minutes before. As we three finally took our seats on new cream colored wool laden cushioned sofa and in front of us was a 36 inch TV set fixed against a wall. It was ostensibly home-lounge. Our beverages were coca-cola, starters were potato-chips and desert was home-made chocolate rich cake. Add to this we had to watch the match in DD with Hindi commentary for few minutes in between. I wouldn’t like to comment on match because of despondent result (Netaditya was jolly, Koushik was thinking for an excuse and I was dejected as the final whistle blew).

At 2:45 A.M. in the morning after consoling handshakes I left for my Grand Mother’s home on a dust, rusted two-wheeler. I was about a 1 K.M. away from Home. I began to speed up the vehicle. Instead I was quivering and shaking tremulously. To my aghast I realized back tire was punctured. Somehow inconspicuously I reached home unscathed by 3:45 A.M (At the time of puncture I was overtaking a lorry; fortunately my vehicle didn’t skid off).

Special thanks to Koushik’s Mom for her permission.

P.S. Netaditya’s birthday night, Ramiah get together (Nipun, Bharat & Karthik), my 1st Dhoti experience in Nizamabad and others were in contention too. But five I have listed were unexpected and been a perfect experience.