Singrauli: Mining-IIT KGP Field Trip' 09

You know you are a student of mining engineering at IIT Kharagpur, when you go places like Singrauli and get warm reception from senior officials and stalwarts of mining and related fields. Apart from that the field trip had an overwhelming impact on our lives and we all will remember this trip for years to come.



Singrauli, the energy capital of India doesn’t have a metropolitan environment and is pretty sleepy but as far as the mining projects and power plants are concerned it would leave you awestruck. According to Singrauli’s website its total installed capacity of all power plants is around ten percent of total installed capacity of India and aptly it is known as “urjanchal”.



We stayed at Nigahi Project Township. The quality of food needs a special mention as it was a pleasant experience to have feast for 5 days and never did we have to make faces and unusual expressions because of it. In fact, we all ate well above our normal intake and calorie count was irrelevant.



One of the other things was that we realized that you cannot take KGP out of a KGPian after meeting the alumnus over there. They arranged everything for us and it was all very smooth and at times adventurous too. The Draglines, shovels, dumpers and the ubiquitous use of Hindi are the things which perfectly describe Singrauli. The Hindi phrases which were used everywhere must have been for educating people who come from places where Hindi is not the mother tongue. This reminds me of another brief meeting with two management-trainees from which I’m tempted to conclude that whenever you meet 2 engineers from pan-India 1 would be a Gult; for the uninitiated “Gult” are people from Andhra Pradesh and yes it includes Telengana too. I’m sorry for being racist.

In short, we had a helluva time there with the whole batch. We climbed on to shovels, draglines, posed for too many photographs, actually too many. The photographers [read as guys with camera] clicked photos of anything and everything under the sun and the sun too. This might support the exaggerations of Thomas L. Friedman that the surge of technology “has empowered individuals to become authors of their own content” in his book, “The World is Flat”. If you need proof, combining the photos of only two such guys it crosses 4 GB, and that is hell lot of information clicked.



The fun part was that the whole department for the first time got together and enjoyed like never before. We previously had made many plans for department picnics and treats which failed but this really brought us together, and for the first time we enjoyed college life at least I did. There was a time when I struggled to remember the names of all the 32 people. And very recently, one of our batch-mate didn’t know “who is who” but not anymore, am I right?

This field trip will go down our memory lanes and we all will remember this for a long time. This trip likely marked the end of the field trips for one of our grand old professors of mining. We are nostalgic sir!
It’s all words and words I can type maybe some photos here and there but I cannot do full justice to the amount of fun we had and what impact it had in all our lives.

Yo Singrauli!

Yo Mining!

“KGP ka tempo hiiiiiiiiiigh hai!!!”

"Jab We Met" Century

I've seen this movie for more than 100 times and still I watch it whenever I feel like a Despo,or I'm Frustrated or just not in a good mood. You'll know why after watching this short video.



The above video has all the funny scenes compiled together but it is much more than just this it has emotions of all kind. No, I'm not going to give any review about this movie.

Jab We Met is a type of movie which falls in the category of "Kal Ho Naa Ho", "Dil Chahta Hai", "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" and "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" to name a few. These movies though not the best works of writers and directors are loved by the common audience like me.

The common link in all these movies is that they are realistic and with a tinge of fantasy together wrapped like "hide n seek biscuits". Talking about realistic movies, "Jab We Met" doesn't happen often quite often in real life but it has some really good fundae(I know it's not a word) about life.



Yeah, I too agree that if we do everything as our whims and fancies it may lead to disastrous consequences but we would be aware it was us who did this and we won't blame anybody for it.

The Climax is just superb and it always gives me the hope that stories do have a happy ending. The "train-chutt-rahi-hai" wala feeling is like it happens to most of us, does this makes sense?


I'm still waiting for the Geet of my Life. Actually, for me Geet of my life is SHEEEE who changed the course of my life, I'm indebted to her for this precious gift.

The Nostalgic Indian Wedding


There are only two kinds of people, one who have got the chance to enjoy Indian wedding and the other kind who wish to enjoy, dance and sing in an Indian wedding.



Switch off your mobile for a week (not quite literally), get away from internet and be offline for 6-7 days (literally), and attend an Indian wedding. This will truly give you more entertainment, knowledge and warmth of friends and relatives than reading this blog or twittering/Facebooking.
Last week my youngest uncle got married and I enjoyed the wedding as described in the above lines. As soon as exams got over, packed my baggage, rushed to my maternal place and guess what? It was a walk down the memory lane, as I experienced many things once again after 5-6 yrs.
Maternal uncles and aunties made my trip worth remembering and nostalgic.
One thing which I love is the craze of an IIT student outside IIT. It is as if you are a local celebrity radiating orgasmic IIT waves all around yourself. I was introduced to every notable person in the wedding with much delight.
A typical introduction would follow like this:
Uncle/Aunt: Hey Ashish! Come here… he is my eldest sister’s eldest son, studies at IIT Kharagpur.
Third person: Wow! Gives an “Aww! You are from IIT” Look and asks if I know his friend’s cousin sister’s daughter’s friend there.

The kids! I don’t know whether to love them, adore them or hate them!
I was with 12 first cousins who were all under 10 and I had to look after them. At times, it was hell but there were moments you simply want to remember for a long time. It feels nice when a kid comes and asks for a hug when scolded by his/her parents. I love them. I was the only matured of all the cousins as other cousins of my age-group had exams and didn’t turn up.

Yeah, the wedding was fantabulous. I was made the photographer by the groom (my uncle) and I messed it all, crap!




I was pampered and given unprecedented importance and even teased that,”I’m next in the queue of eligible bachelors *blushes*”
The thing which you look forward to in such functions is the food and what better than a week of full-relief from stinking hostel mess food. I was fed by my masi (aunty) not once but twice and I ate thrice my tummy ordered for.Her hands added special masalas which were tasted when I was a kid.

"Masi jab apne haathon se khana khilaye toh mazaa hi aaa jata hai!"

The cuisines were hand-licking awesome.
However, I missed out on starting any kind of conversation with few hot girls. The kids kept me busy and the rest of the time was spend helping out my newlywed uncle and aunty as they were to be escorted to various places. I must say my new aunty is a fun-loving girl, I don’t wish to use lady or woman she looks a girl only 4-5 years elder to me.



I have a huge family with 5 maternal uncles and 3 aunties and their kids; more about first cousins in other posts.
I really loved the visit as many old memories got refreshed and I was trapped by nostalgia.