Friday, April 06, 2007

Road Map

Hi, This was a post to groups before the IETL alumni meet scheduled for 11thFeb 2007

All roads lead to Mohan Nagar on 11th. Especially the ones whereon the houses of IETian are located. Those lead to a Cricket Ground rhyming with one of the greatest, MMCG-the Mohan Maekins Cricket Ground. (One M less, it could have unfolded to Melbourne Cricket Ground.)

The Road to MMCG is in fact the road to Lucknow-the NH-24. The very road whereon the Lambu Ka dhaba and incidentally IET too is located. A 1/2K milestones more and it is back to yesterday. See, it is not serendipity that has made us congregate at this place.

For those living in any part of non- East Delhi including GGN, just drive down the Lucknow highway (NH-24)! You would find the stopover.

For that cross the River via Nizamuddin-the sufi- flyover. Cross Akshardham too. All roads lead to the ONE. Go east till you find the famous and busy crossroads of Ghazipur. Cross it too at green. Keep straight. Fly over the 8-lane flyover to the land of IET. You would see the pearly gates (they officially as well as colloquially call it the UP Gate) right at the descent of your flight. Enter those. Welcome. You are there, almost. Turn left toward Dabur. This stretch of road is called NH-58 and joins the NH-24 Bypass with the GT Road. Cross the Rail lines going to Lucknow (well, lines are going nowhere, only trains on them) via Mohan Nagar Overbridge. This overbridge is under expansion as more and more IETians are heading across it. Soon it will be able to let through all of them without hassles. Beyond this you will find yourself teeing on to the GT Road, which is the NH-24 at this point. All roads want to go to Lucknow it seems! Not agaaaain, roads are not going, it is we who are doing so. Don't. This time round. Take a U-turn after turning right. Because we are still not going to Lucknow. We are making do with the MMCG. You need not be guided any further. Travel beyond this is self guiding. The place would smell, sight and sound of IET.

It would smell of Lambus' Daal Fry, of the first rain on the hostel lawns, of the band(bun) samosa of Gupta, of the highway fumes of Sitapur Road, of the roses in the tiny rose garden beside the corridor between director office and Electrical Engg department, of the poisoned glue of the hard bound books of the Library, of ammonia of Chemistry lab (you could also hear the chants of Alka Pandey going Shake..Shake..), of the soil of the soil mechanics lab, of silicon in the instrumentation lab, of grease and paint in the workshops, of the dry cool stale air in the computer labs, of the chameli ka tel your neighbour used, of the sweet sweat of the gym…

The few chosen ones would also be able to smell fragrance of THE element that used to be prominently in the air in the second week of February. Can hear the brutal tearing of cards and the see the first blush that the successful cards generated. Many could hear the whispered thanks. Some would hear beautiful excuses. They would sing latter in the hostel Har kisi ko… The RDLA would be there to take them into its fold! All would be there. Keep your senses on alert.

You could spot SRPS singing Mukesh, Bhoomla taking on Ataullah Khan, Kishore kumar in one song, Devesh Chandra in his baritone Ghazals, Yatendra Bhushan with his harmonium, Sarlin War beating IITians at Culfest, Sangal Sisters mesmerizing the ietiens with their songs, Deepika and how-wish-I-remembered-who singing Huzoor-e-wala, Kartikey pant Yodeling away making Kishore proud up there, Ajay Saxena singing Jindagi ki na toote Lari, Manish Srivastava composing his group song:Sooraj ki garmi with attention to the last pause.
Wait…Who are these professional Rock band? They are The Olios- The Rock Opera doing nth encore of the Final Countdown…
You would see the Vineet Sethis and Anamika Bhatias(Jains) scorching the ramp. As they bear the lineage of the seniors who beat IITians on their turf. And lot more…

That is Vikrant Saraswat debating fierce. So are Nilesh and Himanshu. Saket Verma walking his peculiar gait with nails duly being chewed. Pondering over yet another six. And the next ISAAC Event. The Panja Group is trying best not to let the GP cross 5. Divyaman and Dhirendra have again got a Dassa. Many girls are below 9. And quite a few have got 10ers.

You would see the quartet of Gurnani, Balyan, Anurag and Manoj sharing the exploits of 100m sprint. Babu Shivmohan Singh has thrown the discus to Madiyaon and people are busy retrieving it. Rahul Gupta is trying his brave hand at Hammer Throw. Nitu is not impressed yet. Parikshit has knocked out the opponent yet. Naqvi is very happy. Happier is Anuradha.

IK Bhatt is asking Maisha, Bolo bolo, breakfast nahin kya kya? Kitne parathe khaye? Paliwal is not happy with the shawl-clad girls and ordered them to come a bit under-dressed.. Jawahar Singh (Hope he is smiling down from heaven, was indeed a good man at heart) is not happy with the folded cuffs of boys sleeves. Cut them or button them was the dictate. Onkar Singh is at his cutest best. Sanjay Mishra is philosophizing yet again. Virendra Mishra is narrating his good man and better man anecdote nth time round. Dabba is coming rolling down the corridors to teach numerical analysis. Khare Saab has again effortlessly driven down the theories of Kinematics. Bhiku is again getting a zero solution below the bottom of black board. He would try again with assurance to class that definitely it won't end up in zilch this time. SK Srivastava is being nice. His was the polished face at the counseling desk that brought many to IET. This was where the story begun from.

And it still continues…

Those coming from the ISBT Shahdara side will have to cross the T point and will be subjected to the above.

As would be the ones coming from the city side of the Ghaziabad main. They will have to cross the Hindon River and head to the Mohan Nagar T Point and the above will catch them just upstream the T point.

People coming from NOIDA, Indirapuram etc, will have to reach the Mohan Nagar T point to be sucked into the sights, sounds and smells. They are expected to know how to reach the threshold.

1 comment:

NoPretense said...

No one read this so far?