Fake CSE'A' Student - What happened during EXAMS

EJJJAMMSS

Ok. To the despair of my classmates and other few people who end up in this page, I am sorry, this is another piece of scribbling that you need to put up with. Ppl who aint my classmates are lucky in a way that they might opt not to read this even if they end up here. But, my classmates’ curiosity is my best friend at the moment! I pity my classmates who got no option but to go through this crap.

So, ya. Exams! One word, that struck terror in the minds of some. For some, though, it was fun. Some had to be reminded of it on the previous day to come to college while some had to be reminded not to come!!! Our approach to exams was totally different. Probably, a story which would help Chetan Bhagat make yet another best-seller, “16972 ways hw not to prep for an exam” or other bullshit. All that said, let me carry on with the Fake CSE A student style! Just to brush you through the characters again-

• Bengali Tiger
• SuperStar
• Sleeping Beauty
• Buttocks
• Gym
• UlagaNayagan
• Music
• Little Master
• Chiranjeevi
• Court
• Pookutty

The exam mood would usually set in our minds 2 weeks before the practical exams. That is the time when the less-respected lecturers, the asst. lecturers, and even the asstnts of the asstnt lecturers feel they are the bosses of the world! Those two weeks is probably a consolation gift for all they had to bear with us throughout the semester. They rule over the students setting deadlines which are hardly adhered to. That is also exactly the time when the rapidly burgeoned Xerox shops in Otteri would be busier than the biggest CEOs of the world. And now, coming to things relevant to our topic.

Basically, I wanted to write about the cycle tests and the semester exams.

Cycle tests

The cycle test scenario can probably be divided into 2 scenarios. One, being the first half of Engineering life. And then the latter half of it. Lemme start with the first half.

Phase I: How we were before a test

Those 2 years saw the nerd in us. Leave aside the first sem. We didn’t have fun at all. Second sem, hell yeah, was fun. The main reason being our beach babe was handling Chemistry for us. We would dare others to scribble the famous dialogs of hers on the test paper(like, ‘donkey maybe’. Our LM once wrote ‘donkey’ on the 3^rd page in a 2 mark question and ‘maybe’ on the 12^th page in a 10 mark question and was arguing he won the bet!). Our beach babe would always threaten us to take us to the HOD or the Principal if we did something wrong. One thing that I have still not understood is why teachers take us to the principal! Cant they handle the issue themselves, or do they get some bonus or a pay hike if they bring students to the Principal. Ok, all that said, we once even had an enquiry session for bunking a test! It would always be a lazy hot afternoon, the gang assembling near the volleyball court or the auditorium garden near the ladies hostel, over-ambitiously hoping for some nice hot chick to pass by. But hell, dumb us, we used to forget that we were in Crescent! Ok, the point being that, the gang is trying to prepare for the afternoon’s test. Music is as usual trying to convince ppl to bunk the test. LM is one guy to whom cycle tests mean more than IIT screenings. You just can’t find him anywhere before the tests. He has his own hideouts and sometimes even takes Buttocks with him and even switches off his phone to have a peaceful hour of study. But ya he changed in the later stages of college. The change, however merely being that, he decided to put his phone on silent mode, cos LM had a caller tune, which he wanted ppl to listen to!! SS and Gym are busy discussing about the Chelsea-ManU game they’d watched the previous night. Buttocks, as usual, the guy who is under high demand. Our herbivore, UN, wants him to accompany him to Sangeetha. Music wants Buttocks to bunk the test, he even promises to pay the fine for him ‘’later’’ in the sem (worth noting: Buttocks has a very very very bad memory! :P). SS and Gym want Buttocks to while away time in the canteen. BT would want Buttocks as he was the only guy who’d used to lend an ear to all his classey jokes! . LM wants to have him in his hideout to discuss the PTA and other questions that might NOT probably come for the exam. Chiru wanted Butocks to teach him the PTA questions. Chiru was one guy who was fascinated by PTAs. He even has a collection of all the PTAs that were issued till date. Those PTAs and a solved previous years’ question-answer bank were the Bible for Chiru. One good thing about Chiru is that he never thinks twice to teach others whatever little he knew. I even remember he once taught me to connect the Truth-Table to the Circuit Diagram in a DSP test. I still remember being blasted by the teacher when she gave out the answer sheets!! Court’s character was very similar to Chiru’s; only difference being his confidence. You can call it OVERconfidence(a long over with a lot of no-balls and wides :P). The assuredness he brought in his teaching, even when he knew what he was teaching was completely wrong, was incredible. Tests!, so you had no chance of finding Pookutty anywhere near the gang. Clever Pookutty knew ways to score well. First, and probably the only, secret- Stay away from the gang!

Now the second half of the Engineering phase-

PhaseII:Us before a test! Spot a textbook if u can!!

This was the phase when the cricket fever had gotten on us. UN was in charge of getting the ball everyday to college so that we could play catches in the break between the tests. Apparently he hated this job. So, clever UN used to put the ball into Buttocks bag without his knowledge! Eventually the game of Catches changed into Squash due to more demand. And there were even times when we got caught by B.Lal, and our brave BT had to boldly affront B.Lal, fight for us and rescue us. Yes, BT was really very brave. He didn’t know fear. So probably he was searching for it when ppl like B.Lals caught us!! So ya, this was the phase when Music had to pay 600 bucks every semester as he never attended the morning test. A phase when Buttocks took resolutions every cycle test to do well in the next cycle test! A phase when Gym started studying only in the bus. A phase when SS knew about the test only when he reached Trisulam. A phase when Chiru had new friends who accompanied him in the car who would discuss the PTA with him. A phase when BT had mastered the art of Acronym-based-remembering technique. And yet another phase when LM remained sincere J.

Semester exams

Another very interesting trait of LM is that he always asks us a few so-called important questions which are not even remotely connected to the test. I mean, to us, it was just a way of assuring that those questions wouldn appear for the test. I once even remember, our LM was asking some topics from Physics-I on a day when we had English-II. We had all sorts of characters in the gang. Ppl who never studied, ppl who could answer topics even outta d syllabus, ppl who could answer topics ONLY outta the syllabus, ppl who studied but never showed it out, ppl who didn’t study but tght they’d studied! Semester exams, and the first person who comes to my mind is SB. SB is not this sincere typova guy. But cometh the exams, cometh his super sincere preparations. SB is one guy whom u shudn call before the exams, especially when u have not studied all that well. His preparations will scare you to hell for sure. I don’t remember one single exam when SB hadn’t finished his preparations (3 revisions and 7 model question papers inclusive!!) 2-3 days before the test! And the other end of the spectrum is our Buttocks. Buttocks, had this regular routine of falling sick before the exams. Such absent minded was buttocks that sometimes only the sickness reminded Buttocks that he had tests the next day!! So 3 hours before the test, Buttocks would have 6 units to cover, though we had only 5 units for every test! And then, (the suspense BGM plays) our SuperStar!!! Oh ya, I can hear the whistling (esp from Gym when he s reading this :P). He was one guy who remained supercool before exams. I still remembered he once, on the eve of the test, told UN that he had finished 12.58% of the portions!! I am still wondering how he managed to calculate that!! Such a genius was our SS. Gym, on the other hand, was famous for his planning and the schedules he made. However, I wish he followed them, which he never seemed to. I remember, we guys took a photocopy of his schedule and did really well!(LM was given the responsibility to get the photocopies as he knew places where the rates arent cheap, and he wanted us to get it only there). Buttocks would have still not forgotten the fine day in the 1^st semester, when LM took us to a never-seen-before and never-seen-after hotel, and told us it was Noor and was really good and was really cheap. And yes, it wasn’t Noor, It wasn’t good, It wasn’t cheap. Damn it wasn’t a hotel at all! Then came our Chiru. Chiru is a guy who adds that fun element into your last minute preparations. He would voluntarily come and teach us something we were damn thorough in and waste half n hr of our precious time! Damnit, the worst part was, he used to teach us everything wrong!! When I talk about last-minute-preps, 2 characters immediately flash in mind and question me how dare I forget them! They are Pookutty and BT. Pookutty’s favorite time is just the last half hr or so before the test. Wooww, he comes up with super special doubts that even the Newtons and the Einsteins could not have thought of! Physics-II, and we would be studying Newton’s laws, Pookutty would suddenly get hyper and ask us, what if Newton was sitting under a Jackfruit tree instead of an Apple tree!! He also believed a lot in luck and other sentiments. So he wore the same shirt to every test!! ATCOBT. HHASWOPFTT. Oh yes, this is how BT prepares for the tests. N what I meant in the acronym was, 'And Then Comes Our Bengal Tiger. He Has A Supercool Way Of Preparing For The Tests!' However huge, a 16 mark question is, he could fit it into the first row of his handkerchief. He used to memorize the answers by making acronyms out of them. Buttocks would still remember the Software Engg test when BT could just remember the acronym but not the expansion of it!! Music and BT had this customary practice of saying ‘Onnum Prachana Ille’ before every test. Blind superstition; but it worked!! UN always comes to college to join the gang only a few minutes the test and asks Music the important questions. (So, basically UN is in a state which SB was, a month ago!) Music thinks all what he has learnt is important and tries to teach UN. Poor UN thinks he is thorough with all the important topics and now everyone is confident of clearing the test!

After 3 hours- everyone comes out in different moods, ppl who did well are happy, ppl who did the okay-types are even happier, ppl who flopped are elated!! Oh ya tats how we were. Never worried abt the tests !!!

Fake CSE'A' Student - CRICKET

CIRIIICKAAET!!

Well, I wanted to write abt our coll life. We had soooo many interesting things that happnd..but wat struck me first was our cricketing sessions everyday aftr coll. Lemme tell u tell u one thing. Exaggeration and this article are gonna be synonymous. So don’t expect me to apologize for exaggeration. Probably I might apologize if there s anything true here! College life, so iam gonna use the funky word usage style and all the abbreviations (to be honest, I dunno to write professional style!)

So, the characters:

• Bengali Tiger
• SuperStar
• Sleeping Beauty
• Buttocks
• Gym
• UlagaNayagan
• Music
• Little Master
• NRC(Non Resident Chennaite!(like NRI))
• Chiranjeevi
• Pavillion
• Court
• Rooney
• Duckworth
• Lewis
• Hygiene
• Pookutty

Pre-Match Scene:

Ok, lemme start . Music, Bengali Tiger are mad abt cricket. They don’t even care abt their project. They even mesmerise Sleeping Beauty and are all set to play aftr coll. Now, the thing with SuperStar and Gym is that, they are ready to bunk proj work but they would wanna play soccer and not cricket. They are backed by Pavilion and Buttocks. It is a challenge for Music and Bengali Tiger to convince the other guys. They are let down by Sleeping Beauty as he is over the phone half of the time! Gym, SuperStar, Court, NRC, Pav, Buttocks, Chiru, Hygiene and LittleMaster!! Convincing them luks tuf right? But there is no problem with Buttocks as Bengali Tiger knows hw to put him off haha..all it needs to put Buttocks off is 5 mins of talk wid Bengali Tiger! Hygiene stayed at Chromepet. The thing with Hygiene is that he is not sure with anything! He is half hearted in everything. So convincing him is just a cake walk! The main concern now is Gym, SuperStar and Pavilion. Pavillion, especially never wanted to play cricket. But he was forced to play every single day as the ground where we played is right next to his house. So he draws the sympathy of Gym and Superstar. Both being Chelsea fanatics, they too are interested in soccer. On the prev night, SS, Gym, Buttocks, Hygiene n Pav plan to play soccer and come ready with the ball. Pav is in charge of getting the ball. Wat poor Pav forgets is to fill air in the ball everytime haaha..So now, Music and BT get a nice excuse to convince ppl to play crick! N now comes the introduction of the other characters. The NRC is never enthusiastic about staying back aftr coll. Poor him, its understandable on his part as it takes about 187 mins and 34 secs fr him to reach home. But Music and BT want him also to join the play. So they try calling him over phone. Thy call him ovr phone cos, he tries to escape from the scene and already is in otteri! So, he sees the call n decides not to pick up, probably cos he s roaming now, he s not a Chennaite u see, so incoming calls might cost him! But somehow he is also convinced to stay back. Then comes our Chiranjeevi. This Chiru of ours has got 182 cousin brothers and 128 cousin sisters. So, invariably he s busy attending their weddings and receptions. 182+128=310..the remaining 55 days, he s busy representing his colony in basketball finals/tt finals/badminton finals and all other shit. But what poor Chiru forgets is that his team had already lost the semis!!! BT n Music remember that and catch Chiru red handed! Aah by now, SS n Gym’s minds are again angling towards soccer. But BT n Music have got 2 more ppl to support them! So BT, Music, Chiru and NRC talk to SS n Gym. SS, stealthily looks at Gym and Pav. Pav is desperate for soccer! Our Chiru betrays us and starts supporting soccer! But what BT and Music forget is that they have left out Court and Ulaganayagan. These two ppl are a different species. Lemme tell u abt Court. He stays at Tambaram. Nothing annoys him as his bro! he wants to play everyday, but doesn wanna show that. BT n Music know this trick and pretend begging n pleading him to come to play. Exactly the 3 rd time we plead, he says okay! And, UN is a fan of 70A. He ll come to play if he doesn see a 70A ptc bus on the way! If at all one catches his eye, that’s the end of the story! So we are extra careful with UN’s case. Court has got this ability to convince ppl. So BT and Music use Court to convince SS and Gym. You must know about Duckworth and Lewis. D and L are best friends. They stay at Pallavaram and Sanatorium respectively. As their names suggest, they are two ppl who are not enthusiastic about cricket. Just to justify their names, D/L dont come into play every day. N when they come, its fun! All they know about cricket is that, to play cricket, you need a cue stick, goal keeper, a table, a hockey bat, a basketball net and a referee! That s their knowledge about cricket. Yet, they are compelled to play cricket. So they too join! Now comes Pookutty. When Pookutty was born, God decided, Pookutty and Questions are gonna be synonymous. Recently, I even heard, talks are going on in Anna University to rename 2 mark questions and 16 mark questions as 2 mark Pookuttys and 16 mark Pookuttys! Now, back to the topic, Pookutty is game for anything. He s a kinda guy who can play Cricket in Soccer and Soccer in Cricket. That is unique talent that he has got! so he himself volunteers into whatever we decide to play! Now, every one but Pav is convinced and are all set to play. Now Music goes to Pav and consoles him, “macha, tomo sure soccer!” Poor Pav has no other go but to play cricket! So the gang is all set now to leave to the ground! Music and BT silently exchange a look, a proud look of achievement!

In the bus:

Now, D, L and Hygiene fight over who s gonna ride pillion in L's bike. Somehow, D always emerges as the winner and Hygiene is left disappointed!! So, D/L come to the ground in L's bike. The rest of the gang take a bus. BT is reminded to call Rooney. We rarely met Rooney at coll, as Rooney happened to study ECE. Rooney also had a bike and stayed at Perungalathur. So he cud easily make it there with late notice! Meanwhile, there is a big chaos as to who ll get the ticket. SS, NRC, UN, Gym, Pookutty and Court have got their bus passes. NRC has got a bus pass with which he can even go to Andhra!!, so vandalur to perungalathur is just a joke for him. Buttocks has also got a bus pass which he bought when he was in his second yaer and forgot to renew it hence! He thinks its still valid and doesn bother getn a ticket fr himself. Chiru is a guy who comes to coll in his friend's car! So he has no other go but to get tickets. But here is where chiru proves he is clever. He knows he is gonna be compelled to stay back almost everyday. So he has a bus pass anyway! Court has got a default place in PTC buses, no don’t mistake him for a driver or a conductor! Even in an empty bus, he prefers the footboard. In this short span of time, Pookutty asks about 129 doubts to the gang, abt what bus are we in, who all are in the bus, hw long does a driver drive at a stretch, what would be the driver's daily pay, where does the driver have lunch, where the conductor stays and other doubts that are not even remotely connected to Cricket! And by the time Hygiene, BT n Music decide to get tickets, the bus is already at Perungalathur and the gang gets down. Pav disappointedly murmurs to Gym which Music overhears "soccer a adirklam ”!!hahah

At The Ground:

After all the lemon juice/rosemilk/burgers/sandwich/water packets, the gang reach the ground.Reminder: Rooney hasn’t arrived yet. Here is the introduction scene of the comedian of the story, Our Little Master! By The Way, Our BT’s phone is considered to be a really high tech phone!!!!! It has the option of setting up different ringtones for differ people. When a gal calls, it is some jaane tu song, when some othr gal calls, its some othr romantic song, When Arun or Balaji calls it is some 'munnaal munaal munaal vaada, unnal mudiyum thozha', and When we guys call, it is the same old monotonous nokia tune(tananananananananannn!!) tats wat I meant by high tech. The phone knows exactly whether BT wants to pick up the phone or not! However, BT has got a soft corner for Lil Master. So there is some special Atif Aslam song or some other crap but whats important is Lil Master is calling. The funniest thing abt LM(aah hw did ur initials turn up here..but I meant Lil Master! :P) is, he doesn need a cell phone. U can hear him on the other end anyways. Tats hw loudly he speaks. So ya, he s d person who calls, he says he s busy wid Head Of Dept. oops sorry tats nt Head Of Dept, its HOD! But the reality being, he s at perungalathur bus stop angry on us that we forgot to call him! BT asks him to join too and LM says he ll come aftr he gets done with his work. BT cuts the call, turns around to see LM already there! The irony with Rooney and LM is that LM says he ll be late, but ll be early. Rooney says he would be early, but would be very late. Reminder: Rooney hasn’t arrived yet. And now, its time to decide the teams. Here is where u need Sleeping Beauty! If you are in SB’s team, you are sure to win. Not that he is a match winner, but that he ensures that all the match winners are in his side!!! So ppl desperately wanna get into SB’s team. Pookutty silently but cautiously monitors all the happenings! One thing that makes Pookutty interesting is, he thinks his main role in the team is to watch if the opponents are counting the score properly. He turns out to be the first and the only person to find out any discrepancies in the score! More often than not, its Music who does all this stuff, and gets caught 11/10 times! So Music is extra careful if Pookutty is his opponent! But the irony being that Pookutty gets Music caught even if they are in the same team! "Justice means Justice", thinks Pookutty! Meanwhile, Hygiene gives some suggestions about the toss and the game plan to his captain and the captain ensures that none of it is executed! That s Hygiene's contribution to the team! D and L were always opponents to even out the teams's strength. Dunno why, but it always happened that BT and Buttocks were opponents. That paved way to all the sledging fun. Eventually, the match gets heated up, the tempo raises. Music gets pissed off when some1 drops a catch, BT gets pissed off when asked to bowl slow, NRC gets pissed off when some passer-by talks in Telugu, he gets homesick(aftr all he comes to coll from deep interior Andhra you see)!, Gym gets pissed off when he is run-out(esp when Music made the wrong call!!, which is always the case), SB gets pissed off for hmm almost everything!, Hygiene gets pissed off when asked to get the ball from the dirty ditches or the bushes surrounding the ground, Chiru and UN always wanna keep wickets and have a fight and eventually get pissed off too! LM gets pissed off every time he drops a catch, Pookutty gets pissed off when the opponent utters the wrong score, even if not on purpose!, SS gets pissed off if some1 refuses giving Pav the first over, n Pav's pissing off begun long back when we decided to play cricket itself. So there s no question of him getting pissed off here. Disputes begin. Reminder Again: Rooney hasn’t arrived. Ppl get to feel the tension around! This is where every gang needs Buttocks!(well no pun intended).. Buttocks is one guy who can easily calm situations down, I cant tell u how, cos there have been innumerous instances! However, one incident worth mentioning is this, SS and Buttocks are batting in the middle, BT and Music are almost always in the same team. Music is keeping wickets, BT is at his fiery best(not surprising? Well ya I know, but wait il make it up in the second phrase :P), and '''Buttocks is playing quite well today'''(nw, this is surprising fr sure! :P)! NRC is at long on. Buttocks drives it to NRC, SS settles for a single, Buttocks thinks a second is on, but is not sure what to do. Music senses this and calls Buttocks for the second! Poor Buttocks mistakes SS for the call, returns for the second and gets run out! And suddenly the gang bursts into laughter and the tension is forgotten! N eventually, we decide to stop playing(not cos of the disputes but cos of reasons like bad light, Gym hits the ball into the bushes, BT's pace has broken the ball, Chiru has to accompany his mom to temple, SS has to get clothes!,NRC remembers he has CAT classes, Court hears the sound of the some goods train passing by and he remembers he is late(tats exactly y we dont even listen to 'Chayya Chayya' or 'Chikku Bukku Raile' in frnt of him, the train sound pisses him off mightily :P)!, Gym has to buy a new monitor for his desktop!, or attend driving classes, Pav has .net class, or other similar weird reasons!). But the most important thing is that s the end of day's play. Breaking news: Rooney arrives!!!

Post-Match Scene:

SS gets into his kalaai mood, n poor Rooney is the victim. Pookutty gets into his groove and starts questioning Rooney as to why he was late, what was he upto all this while and blah blah.. We make Rooney drop us at the station! We assure Pav abt playing soccer the next day(See hw kind hearted we are :))! D and L have left half hour back! We leave to the station, SS wants to catch the superfast train, But the Fast train doesn’t stop at SB’s place, so SS, with his famous reaction, half-heartedly agrees to wait for the next train. Music and Gym note SS's reaction and burst into uncontrollable laughter! The gang meanwhile munch on puffs, hot chappatis, bananas, buttermilk and burfi! Now, comes the scene of getting tickets. Music, SS, Gym are damn tired. So they never go n get tickets. Invariably, it is either Court, Chiru, BT or NRC. The thing with BT is that he doesn know how many tickets to get. So he ends up getting 3-4 tickets extra! Chiru and NRC think they know what to get and confidently go to the counter, but they give us a call when they reach the counter! SS explains them patiently, even without realizing that his burger is being eaten up by others! Yet, Chiru and NRC end up getn the wrong tickets! So, we work out all the permutations and combinations, distribute the tickets, decide to get down at Tambaram, get into another train and try to make a simple return journey as complicated as possible. And Pookutty has been silent for a while.So u know what he is gonna do, so am not gonna waste my space here, yes 'Questions' again!!! Music checks the time, the watch says, its 630. Rooney reaches home at 631. Pav would have reached at 620! Court reaches home at 7. Hygiene reaches at 720. SB reaches at 745. SS, Buttocks, UN reach home at 8. Music reaches at 830. Gym and BT reach at 845. Chiru raches at 850. LM and Pookutty reach at 9. NRC reaches at 1145!!!!! What is worth noting here is that, 1145, is time that poor Gym, Pav, SS, Hygiene and Buttocks are on conference over phone, overoptimistically planning for soccer the next day ;) ;) ;)

My Love Story

Ok. This is my first post and I didn’t even need to think of what would be my first piece of writing. I knew it had to be A.R.Rahman. You could call it craze, fanaticism, devotion, madness or whatever. I would even call it superstition! I would want to start with ARR in whatever I do! This genius with something indescribable inside the long curly hair has always been my inspiration. I still remember. It was 1993. The genius was 27 years old and 2 yrs old in the industry and one little yet big Rahmaniac was 5 years old. That was when the Rahmaniac got to listen to the first ever musical track in his life. And destiny had it that it would be Rahman’s Chikku Bukku Raile. No one knows what drew the Rahmaniac kid toward the song but what was important is, the love story began then! It was when the Rahmaniac’s uncle had brought home a brand new 2-in-1 player and a cassette of a movie named Gentleman! So, probably I owe all this Rahmanism to my uncle! The Rahmaniac gets addicted to the album and ppl around him even start thinking that he would become a musician! But then, their dreams were as short-lived as a moth’s life! And then comes the Aasai toffee advertisement on TV, and into the love story. It had the Chinna Chinna Aasai song of Roja as its background score. Little does the Rahmaniac know that the music was by ARR. He gets addicted to it too, and the Rahmaniac’s uncle now has to get the kid a cassette of Roja! The irony is that the Rahmaniac doesn’t even know that Rahman existed then. Time flies, the Rahmaniac does not realize he was a Rahmaniac for a long time. Yet, he keeps listening and dancing to Rangeela Re, Veerapandi Kotayile, Oorvasi, Pettarap, Humma Humma, Musthafa and many other masterpieces.

Then, one fine day, again destiny plays its role. It probably thought it was time that the 12 year old Rahmaniac actually realizes that he was one! And destiny also had it that the Rahmaniac’s uncle is the most fitting person to play the important role in this too! So, the Rahmaniac’s uncle takes him along to Sathyam theatre to watch Kandukondaen Kandukondaen. It was a time when all the guys were crazy about Aishwarya Rai and all the girls were crazy about Ajith. But, little did the Rahmaniac know about Ash! What impressed the boy was the music in the movie. He asks his uncle some random stuff about how do ppl compose music, why do they have songs in movies, and who is the music director of the film. And the Rahmaniac’s uncle utters a name which the 12 year old considers as God for the rest of his life! And now he learns that all the songs that he knew till then, were composed by the same genius!

Time flies again. It is 2003. The Rahmaniac is in class XI. He is addicted to Sa Re Ga Me, Girlfriend, Maro Maro and a few other tracks. He and a few of his friends decide to bunk class and go and watch Boys! The Rahmaniac comes home very excited that he has bunked classes for the first ever time!(Destiny ensures that Rahman had to play some role even in this!) Then comes Yuva, New and Swades, and the Rahman-fever grows in him. The Rahmaniac was probably the only person to listen to Vanthey Mataram for the first time, as late as, only in 2005! So, now, the Rahmaniac becomes a patriot!(Destiny agains ensures that Rahman has got a role to play in the boy’s patriotism!). 2005 was probably the year when the average Rahmaniac really became a crazy Rahmanic!

March 2005, and all class XII students are busy revising their portions on the morning of their board exams. And guess what, the Rahmaniac begins a tradition, he listens to a Rahman track before every single exam. The poor Rahmaniac of 2005 does not have a Apple, Creative or Sony or whatever mp3 player. All he has is a fm player and sincerely prays for a Rahman song to be played! He has a strong feeling that if he gets to listen to a Rahman track, he would do well in his tests! But his philosophy lets him down, he gets screwed in his tests, but he still doesnt get rid of the tradition!

Then comes the 4 years of college life! This is probably the phase when the Rahmaniac gets to know everything about Rahman. He probably knows Rahman’s music more than Rahman knows about it himself! 2006, and the Rahmaniac’s best friend plays a BGM of Rahman(I still remember it is from Indian, Manisha Koirala Intro!) and this is when he starts to collect all BGM of the genius! He gets to listen to Rang De Basanti, and thinks Roobaroo is the best ever song in the whole of the universe. Now, The Rahmaniac’s dad gets him a supercool cell phone with a mp3 player, and following the tradition on the morning of tests becomes easy for him! Roobaroo becomes the standard good-luck charm song! The Rahmaniac inspires or rather influences his other friends and they become Rahmaniacs too! So, now, all that the Rahmaniac talks about Music is Rahman, BGM, Interlude, Prelude, Flute, Guitar, Ads, Synthesizer, Accordion and other things that are only related to Rahman. He becomes very narrow-minded that Music means only Rahman to him! He just cant listen to any other Music, as he doesn’t consider it Music! Ok, what I forgot to tell you was, the Rahmaniac was a crazy fan of actor Vijay too till then! But then his taste gets better and realizes he is no more a fan of him, he regrets being a fan and decides not to watch any of his movies. But then Rahman scores for Azhagiya Tamil Magan, and the Rahmaniac is in the theatre watching it! And now, the opening song of the album becomes the inspiration for him before his exams!

2008, October 6, the Rahmaniac and one of his best friends (who is a Rahmaniac as well) have their GRE test at 1pm! They go to the test centre. People around them are busy discussing about the word lists, essay topics and other related shit, that would help them in their test. The Rahmaniac and his friend keep discussing about the next song that they need to listen to, to do well in their test! They still end up doing pretty well in their test! They are relieved.

The Rahmanism grows on the Rahmaniac exponentially now! He very badly wants to meet his God. So, he and his best friend (Rahmaniac as well) think about all possible ways to meet their God. They wait for hours outside their temple. 2008, Jan 16, God calls them in!!! They are elated! They spend two long yet short precious minutes with their God! They leave the temple with a sense of achievement! However, the Rahmaniac feels sad that one of his other best friend (Rahmaniac-the GRE partner) couldnt make it on that day! That inspires him to meet his God one more time with his friend believe it or not, he does meet him again, and this time, God offers them coffee, they fall at the feet of their God, take pics with him, his Oscars, and the keyboard that God used for Roja!

What happened in between the two meetings is worth mentioning. The Rahmaniac has got his Visa interview early morning at 7 o clock. He can do anything but getting up early! However, he has no other go on that day but to wake up and he hurries to the consulate and forgets to follow the tradition! The other friend now reminds him about the tradition, and the Rahamaniac doesn’t know what to do. Suddenly, to describe in a filmy style, a bulb glows above his head! He borrows a phone from a person next to him, calls his own number and listens to his Rahman caller tune! The Rahmaniac is mighty pleased and clears the interview!

2009, Aug 8, the Rahmaniac turns 21. He is at the airport ready to pursue his Master’s. His lovely friends come to send him off and present him a biography of Rahman and a ARR T-shirt! He feels these are auspicious signs before beginning a new phase of his life! He leaves his Swades, comes to a place where the Oscars got Rahman! The Rahmaniac is loaded with work, tests, assignments, projects, presentations, mid terms and all other scary terms which the Rahmaniac had never bothered about all these years! However, if at all the Rahmaniac gets all his things done, he has no doubts on who, and what is gonna inspire and motivate him!