Tests = No Sweat!

It finally happened to me. Any fear of tests I had left is now gone!!! Gone are the days when I used to be tense, uptight and a downright big pricking arse when it came to tests. Let me tell you how I know...

Over the past few days, I've had Artificial Intelligence tests clashing with every other test I had. I think yesterday was the fifth occasion this semester when I gave two tests in a day. The crowning glory was yesterday when I had an SPM test and an AI test on the same day.

Well, the SPM test was normal enough - prepared, sat, wrote - the usual cycle (whether it was the usual performance remains to be seen ;-) ) Then I went for the AI test, thinking it was an open book test - the lack of preparation was proportionate. When I did find out it was a closed book test, what did I do? I took the news in my stride, was as dispassionate as things go, and then I wrote the test and came out.

Performance on the test is another matter, but aside from that, the day and age when tests used to lord over me seem truly over.

(P.S. Seems like I've fallen into a rut that many regular bloggers fall into, which is describing mundane, day-to-day matters. Whatever missing insights I made are strangely missing. Wonder what this indicates...)

Me, Myself and More of Meself

Every cloud has a silver lining, they say...But then again, what about the clouds that crowd the sky at night, empty themselves of all forms of water and disappear even before the night it up? Bad attempt at humour, I know...but still...

PS-I (Practice School-I) lists were out today. Got allotted to Central Electronics and Electrical Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani, which essentially means that you will be hearing from yours truly throughout the summer from the midst of this desert (not technically, but rather figuratively). It's going to be a very interesting experience, with the campus bereft of most of its population; but then again, I am not a very people person, so probably won't matter that much to me anyway.

Have been feeling under the weather a bit lately - what with late working hours and precious little sleep to accompany them. My appearance has been likened to a 'drug addict' on more than one occasion over the past two days, which is strange actually, since I do not know any drug addicts.

Have been listening to re-runs of the soundtrack of The Lord of the Rings. Evenstar is a track that has been particularly growing on me - it contains that pain, the sense of lost hope and the feeling of losing a precious thing that tears at your heart and makes you want to surrender to the waves of your despair.

For me, that is what music is about - making you feel. Of course, to each, there is his own interpretation. For some, music might be stuff you can bang your head to...for some, it might be the soothing melody of a singer's voice taking over...for me, it comprises of those simple tunes which on one hand, can uplift you; which on the other, can make you despair and cry; above all, music is the thing which can make you feel something you aren't remotely associated with at a given point of time - pain, sorrow, joy, hope and despair.

Sometimes, when you have these uncertain phases, when the chips are down; when you think you are trying hard enough to accomplish what you set out to do, but still feel that something is missing, that you can do better; sometimes when you set out to compose a post and even though you are a stickler for proper grammar and grammatically correct expressions, you simply don't care to correct your own erroneous sentences - it is in these times when you realize that you cannot let the rut affect you so, you can't let it get to your head, you can't let it play around with your mind.

It is in these times that you realize that you are afforded with an opportunity to distinguish yourself from others...to rise above the crowd...to be someone who not only does what he has to or what he wants to...to be someone who dares to dream, accomplish and follow this cycle without stopping to count his achievements...it is in these times that you realize that this is just the beginning of a journey - one which you will see to its end.

All Fools' Day

The April Fools' Day syndrome is back again...The eve of the POM quiz was spent in deliberately planning pranks and setting them into action - all that was ruined though by the multiple allegiance switches of one of the people involved in the prank. So, with all attempts at an elaborately constructed prank getting botched up, I was left marvelling at the simplicity of the PS prank, which fooled hundreds of my batch-mates (In case you wondered, I was saved by Harshad, who regaled me with the story of the PS prank having been played on him.)

Of course, it seems as if the weather gods were trying to play a prank on the Pilani residents as well. In the middle of days which leave you roasted - it's that hot, and worse still, it is going to get hotter - we got some well-earned respite in the form of a thunderstorm that really shook up things - especially our attempts at trying to 'GHOT' POM (Let me tell you there is nothing so uninteresting as studying management.) The first light didn't really appear as it usually does...in fact, it was more a question of 'Is it evening already?' with the clouds giving the appearance of a cloudy dusk setting its stall out in the sky. And then, there was rain - quiet little drops raining down from the sky - not really soaking anyone but still giving that lovely, rainy feel to the day.

This was two hours ago...Two hours from then, it's already sunny, and it seems like it's going to be a pretty hot day. It is these moments that make you wonder if there is a God, and if there is, what kind of wicked sense of humour he/she has. Because regardless of all the pranks that were played and the ones that will see completion today, the prank played by the weather today shall remain the most lasting one.