One of the most profound quotes I've ever come across.

"Tere jaane ka asar kuch aisa hua mujh par,
 Tujhe dhoondte dhoondte, maine khud ko paa lia.."

Anonymous.

A Glowing Tribute..

Ankit,

I just wanted to thank you for your hard work and efforts for WSP CRC, especially since the start of the Base project. You have definitely been one of the most outstanding Engineers working on the project and you will be missed.

I’d like to take this opportunity to say good luck and good bye, please don’t forget us, and please get in touch if you would like to return to WSP India one day, or WSP Middle East for that matter.

You will always be welcome back during your university holidays if you want some paid work experience.

Unfortunately I will miss you this week, as I am not arriving in India until 26^th, but I’m sure I will see you again.

Take care and good luck with your studies.

All the best.

Scott

Regards,

Scott Sigsworth
ME MEP CRC Coordinator

Principal Engineer - Mechanical

WSP Middle East

And the Reply:-

Scott,

I can’t thank you enough for your kind words. They really mean a lot to me and I will cherish them for times to come.

I must stress that the success of the Base project was also due to the incredible support from the Middle East, our team received throughout. You guys were a pleasure to work with. Nice, approachable, honest and straightforward.

It will be my pleasure if I work something out in the future to work with WSP and you people again. Forgetting this place and people is just out of the question J

Leaving the company was a very hard decision for me and I spent countless nights mulling over my decision. But I guess sometimes in life you need to act in accordance to the expectations your loved ones have for you. It just felt like the right thing to do.

To be honest, I’ll walk away happily knowing that people were very appreciative of my work here, and sometime in the future, WSP’s doors will be open for me. This is really a great feeling to go out with and I’m thankful to people like you who have made me feel this way. Thanks a lot for this. Really.

Till we meet again.

Thanks & Regards

Ankit Ramanand Dubey
Graduate Engineer - Public Health

Integrated CRC- Middle East

WSP Consultants India Ltd.

First Company. Last Email. Till We Meet Again.

Dear All,

They say that saying good bye and moving on is one of the hardest things you will ever do. As I sit down to compose this one final mail, I realise those words couldn’t be more true.

Today is my last working day with WSP. I joined here straight out of college in July last year. Although the transformation from campus to corporate was a little tough to absorb in the initial few weeks, I slowly came to terms with how the things are and how you ought to be.

I shall always remain indebted to the company for shepherding me through my first steps in the ‘Real’ world and for providing me with friends for life. It is for the same reasons that this place will forever hold a special place in my heart. I shall always consider my 11 months at WSP as an education, not a job.

A special thanks to my colleagues in the ME and my Managers, for being incredibly cooperative and supportive throughout. I hope that somewhere down the line, our paths cross and I get the chance to work with you again.

I will be relocating to my hometown, Roorkee, for the duration of my preparation for higher studies. My personal email id is: dubey.ankit3@gmail.com and I can also be reached on: +919458128516. Please stay in touch.

Till we meet again.

Remembering Kurukshetra..

"the chaos has come to a standstill..and i do not like it much..this could've had a better ending or none at all(don't we all wish that. #sigh).but deep within, i know, this isn't it.there is more.a lot more.and we will be there..together..again, on the rooftop clinking the glasses,lost in the smoke.."

"you can get yourself out of college but not vice versa..."

"The problem with having an awesome time in college is that all your following life seems to pale in comparison.."

These are just some of the status updates (well to be honest, the most 'Liked' ones) that my friends and me put up on Facebook after graduating from NIT-Kkr. The 4 years of our lives, we can exchange any dream job for.

Today we step into the swankiest of offices located in the most posh areas, sip free coffee and drink beer after beer in bars. Probably living the lives we all wanted to, after entering our final year. In a way, it is a very naive attempt on our part to make up for one thing which we will never be able to relive. 4 years in that dusty old town of Haryana.

I often log in to my Facebook, after having lunch in office, to see the pictures we all got clicked, in the madness that was the last month of college. Its amazing to see the radiance in each of the faces. And why not! We were all about to graduate from one of the best engineering institutes of the country, with jobs in world renowned companies. We had the world at our feet. Or so we thought.

As I put in more and more hours each day at my job, trying to make sense of what good I am doing,I can't help but be thankful to the people who made those 4 years of my engineering, a dream lived. I'm glad that as I sip coffee with my colleagues, I have a story to tell about the 'next door' theka that thrived just because it had an NIT crowd to cater to, about the Aunty, whose door we used to knock at 4 in the night (after a walk from H-7) for a 'choti gold flake', about the compartment I got in the 8th semester (in a ONE CREDIT lab course), which nearly cost me the 2 jobs i landed on campus!

There are three sets of people I want to specifically mention and thank, apart from my seniors, for giving me a lifetime of memories.

• My Gang :-D

          Put all of us in a graveyard together and we will make sure that even the corpses come alive. That's how we all were. And thankfully, still are. No use of listing each and every one, because they themselves know who they are. And I swear to the success of my current project (:P) that they are grinning from ear to ear as they read this. The countless bakar sessions live long in the memory. 7 months after graduation, and most of us talk to each other almost every other day. Although the days of 'bashing your behind with my chappal on your bday' are over, we manage to stay awake till 12 to wish each other. And any working professional will tell you this is an achievement in itself ;-)

• My Classmates

          Section C-1, Civil of 2K8-12, is the most notorious group of bastards I've ever hung around with, till now. We bunked classes for weeks together, our Professors hated us for our attendance records, and famously, we were the FIRST section of the Civil batch to get fully placed! :P 

That we had no girls in this section helped a great deal towards organizing those Mass Bunks. The 'not even one girl' phenomena also helped dispel any sense of decency in our conversations.

• My Juniors

         Apart from the customary thanks that this article is about (:P), a word of advice. The positions of Pressi, Secy and PACy stand nowhere in comparison to your CAT, GATE or GRE score. The priorities of Final Year students at NIT-Kkr is messed up. Think straight. My batchmates have realized it after nearly 7 months at thankless jobs, that just getting placed in your Final year counts for nothing. Apply for foreign internships, go to lengths to expand your skills, join a coaching class. Don't waste your final year in petty politics. You have got your whole corporate life ahead if that is what you want to do!!

And most importantly, create memories. Memories with your gang, memories with your classmates, memories with your girl. Yes, there are a few good ones in college too :-). Just look properly :-)

The quote couldn't be more congruous at this time, 

“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching.”

I embraced the pandemonium that was NIT-Kkr and I want you to do the same. Because one day or the other, you, like me, will figure out what's the best for you. Till then, have the time of your lives.

Cheers to NIT-Kkr. My home away from home. 9th April is the convocation date isn't it? I am counting the days.

The lesser favored children of destiny.

We all have read in abundance about the poetic success stories, about the 'phoenix' like rise from the ashes, about how a certain someone defied the odds to achieve a certain something, about how a guy pursued his 'loved one' for long, expressed his feelings and they lived all too happily ever after (its all poetic, remember!) and all the 'feel good' anecdotes that makes you go "aww" (girls) and "thats the shit" (guys) ;-). I'm talking about the tales with happy endings. Yours truly hasn't seen one(on a personal level) so far, so I guess that this piece of work should be endearing to the average human.

The lack of reading material on lets say "How I fucked it up" just amuses me sometimes. So here I am. The torchbearer for all those who just can't get it right, just cant get that girl to like you or for that matter worked your ass for your 'dream' company that came to visit on campus and you could not even clear the GD (:P). So they think only the winners can write. Screw them. The 'would be' winners can tell a tale or two!

The people who smile at the twists of the destiny which seem to be reserved in abundance only for them. The people who smile at the vagaries. The people who move on. The people who wait for the next chance. This is for you.

The greatest tragedy is not the rejection of love. Its being with a girl, whom you know, you cant 'be' with. Its when you hold her hand, and she does not hold it back. Its when you hug her and she does not hug you back. Its when you are lost in her eyes, and she just wont look into yours. And we the 9 out of 10 are too all too familiar with this right? And what do we do?
We smile at the twist of the destiny. At the vagaries .We move on. We Wait.

You worked your ass off for that that branch slide. For that 'dream' job. For that cherished position. And you missed it by a whisker. Why? Because the criteria went by .06. You are not 'best-fit' for that company and your fellow colleague licked ass better than you worked. And what do you do?
Smile at the twist of the destiny. At the vagaries. Move on. Wait.

So you will ask the inevitable question. What's so special about these kind of people? I'll tell you what's so special.

Getting something you want, at exactly the time you want it, may seem like the best thing to happen. Its NOT! The seeds of arrogance are laid then and there. Even more interesting is the fact that these people are less (or for that matter not at all) apt at handling failures than those those who have been on the symbolic 'roller coaster'.

The other good thing about the 'lesser favored children of destiny.' They know the value of a thing when they get it, more than the ones who got it at the first short or the ones who 'just got lucky'. Rest assured, their girl will be loved like she couldn't have dreamed about and their employers stand to benefit more from their unflinching devotion.

And the best part. Their humility. No matter how much they go on to achieve and irrespective of the ever increasing digits in their bank balance, they'll always smile when they pass you by. They'll always be first ones to extend their hand to greet you. Its the little things like these that makes a person special. These people are. They are rare too.

So to the ones who always seem to be 'nearly there'. Never curse your luck. Its all happening for the better.

Smile at the twists of destiny. At the vagaries. Move on. Wait.

Invictus..

"Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul. "

-William Ernest Henley

My 'About Me' On Orkut

After a long time, I found the time to do justice to the 'About Me' space on Orkut. Here goes-

Knowing oneself completely is a process which I believe, will carry on till we are on our deathbed. But yes,if you are getting to know yourself better by the day, you're doing one hell of a job. I try to keep up. So, its the 'deciphered' part of myself, which I write about. I'll let time 'unravel'[:P], the rest of me.

"I'm an engineering student" has been repeated so many times in the orkut About Me folklore that it certainly qualifies as a cliche. But however "common" this stream might be, I've enjoyed each and every moment(almost) of it so far. Seriously people, if you haven't lived in a hostel full of jobless people(by that, I mean undergrad. engg students), there's something major missing in your life ;)

I'm a bit of an old timer. They love to ride their bikes, I'd rather chug along on my '1947' scooter. They love to flash their wi-fi, bluetooth, camera and what not enabled cellphones, I'm happy with my black and white nokia. I'd prefer Coldplay over any other band every day of my life and I'd rather go on a walk rather than attend some social do. Boring? Well, the more literally inclined will rather say "Head in the clouds romantic". I don't mind either.

My beliefs of being Sincere and not Serious, has earned me a lot of names I'd never mention to my parents(well, some of them are mentioned in my testimonials) and owing to the same, I end up being the "Preacher Papa" to people close to me. If only they listened.

Staying grounded is a virtue is I rate the highest. And thanks to the eccentric people I've met so far and the many "nearly there" experiences I've had, I've managed to remain humble. I guess when you have gone through apparently extreme circumstances, you can figure things out more easily than people who haven't.
I used to be a sceptic not long ago but reflecting on the transpired events one cold and foggy morning in my hostel balcony(with booze egging on the nearly extinct 'believer' in me), I came to the conclusion that there's someone up there joining the dots. All may seem incongrous at this time, but surely one day it'll all make sense. I just need to play my part. Sincerely.

Among other things, I find being rude to anyone harder than I found living in Kota. I abhor manipulation of people and emotions. I'm not a big speaker. I feel the urge to open my mouth only when the confusion arounds me turns into a pandemonium. I love writing. Long story short, I'm passionate about it.

And if you ever managed to upset me, no, I won't break your nose, instead there's something very seriously wrong with the way you are wired up. And that my friend, is an alternative you should fear more.

That's all what I know about myself. Till now. And if you managed to read all of this and not skipped to this part directly(seriously, that'd be lame), I'd say, I like you. Thanks for bearing with me :)