Rant 98: Born in the wrong country

Identity
I’m not the first person who when asked “where are you from?” falls down a mental black hole of uncertainty and insecurity. I’m also sure I’m not the first person who feels their identity is in a constant flux.

And so the question raises itself again: Where am I truly from?

To clear the basics: I was, I am told, born in the state of Orissa in the south eastern part of India. I am told it was in the summer. I remember growing up in Jamshedpur, in the state of Bihar (now Jharkhand) in eastern India. So, surely, I must identify with that place?

However, a mixture of insecurity during childhood, peer pressure, social embarrassment, bullying, failure to achieve expectations, and a general desire to see the wider world forced me to reject the place I grew up in. Jamshedpur is still the place that I know best - geographically speaking - and it is still the place where I have spent the most amount of time at a single stretch. But I am not from Jamshedpur.

To continue the basics: I did my basic bachelor’s degree in Manipal, in the coastal belt of south west India. I rejected an opportunity to study in the United States and packed off to a university known more for its party scene than its academic prowess. I spent three years doing a degree I had supposedly wanted to do. I made some friends, had some adventures, and eventually scraped through with a degree. However, among the many regrets was the fact that I had wasted three years of my life indulging in forms of excess I had not expected of myself. Add to that more social exclusion, being generally bullied, and rejected in areas of love. All of these add up to more bad memories, more regrets, and more feelings of shame when remembering the past. I am not from Manipal.

I spent the next two-and-a-half years working out of Mangalore, which was just an hour away from Manipal - again on the coast. Here, I found myself professionally. I became good at what I did. I made two very good friends, had some amazing experiences, found love, then lost it, then indulged in excess and then found my future wife. And yet, I do not identify myself as being from Mangalore. This one I am at a loss to explain why.

My then-girlfriend-now-wife had been visiting from England. We fell in love and I eventually came over to the UK to do my Master’s degree. There was a great deal of excitement about being in a totally new country. And an equally exciting prospect was leaving India behind. Not just the land, but all my bad memories. I had resolved to change myself. I had resolved to run away from all that I hated about India, all that I hated about my association with India. I was of the opinion, that if I separated myself by vast oceans and thousands of miles, India would never catch up with me. My past, I hoped, would never resurface. And thankfully, there has never been a major occurrence of that so far.

And so I resolved to change myself. I tried, and I still am trying, to become British. It’s a weird moment in my life when I admit to myself, that I need to begin a new identity. Secret agents perhaps have it easy when changing identities, as it’s part of the job. They don’t necessarily choose having to become someone else. They are required to. I’m choosing to change my identity.

Since late 2011, in fact, I have consciously tried to change my habits, my way of speaking, my way of communicating, my way of cracking jokes, my way of watching television, heck even my way of drinking water.

I do not know if what I am doing is correct. It’s difficult to integrate into a culture that is so vastly different from the one you grew up in. Even in the multicultural world of 2015, there are some things I can just never hope to be; or some things that you just can’t choose into being. On a day-to-day basis, "being British" - or whatever I am doing is called - isn’t easy. I’m sure there are many Brits who say the same thing.

It’s difficult. But I am trying.

I am not from England. But from November 2015 onwards, a part of me has officially staked claim to being from England. A part of my identity has been reborn. And this time, I get the feeling it's the right country.

Rant 72: Flashbacks

Sometimes...

when I forget what a beautiful morning looks like...

When I forget what it's like to walk through fields in twilight...
When I forget what a sparkling night looks like...
...Manipal always takes me back.

Rant 70: MONO with a DASH of colour

Been doing some reading up on post-production techniques...effects etc. Not that I wasn't doing any before but those were mostly related to basic ones like Brightness/Contrast, Shadow/highlights..
But ever since I acquired the Adobe CS5 Master Collection (a total of 17 applications), the post-production bug has well and truly bitten me...
plus I've also started adding my watermark to my pics, so all you leechers can stuff it from here on...
So here's the first few of many experiments to come...
This one was taken way back in 2008, when I was still in college (Manipal) and working for our student-run news website The Manipal Journal.
I was on the outskirts of Mangalore with one of our reporters, covering a very sad incident. A bus full of children going to school had drowned in the river seen here, with just a few survivors. After a whole morning spent among them, I was quite depressed by the whole thing. As we walked across a bridge, en route to the bus stop, I spotted this boat and (who I assume was) its owner. Completely represented what I was going through at that point, mainly, sad, but looking out for some hope.
This second one, was taken in my native state of Orissa, in a city called Cuttack. The person on the top left is my cousin, who is now a full-fledged under-19 Ranji player for the state. And I was lucky to catch him during his morning practice. The cricket ball in the foreground was nearly brand new at the start of the session, and its current state clearly shows the rigours with which he practices. And in what seems like a rare case among the Indian middle class, his parents have allowed him to study a non-sciencey field in senior school, so that his time can be best devoted to the game.
Since that day, he has already played several professional games for the state and it just goes to show how much practice can make perfect.
Next up we have the famous Kuwait Towers. As you can read from its history, this landmark of Kuwait was ravaged by forces during the invasion period 1990-1992. It has since been restored to its former glory and is now considered the pride of the nation. Not to sound like a tour guide, but it is definitely a wonderful visit to this place, and completely worth going up to the bottom dome seen in the picture. It contains a rotating platform, which gives you amazing views of the entire city. A must-see if you're ever down in this country.
Coming back to mera bharat mahan, the next one came in New Delhi, specifically in the forest area adjacent to the Qutab Minar.
I had been clicking away - trees etc - and in this huge natural expanse, it was easy to feel a little alone, especially as 99% of traffic noise is blocked out, and all you can hear are birds, crickets, an occasional peacock (they're really hard to photograph!). So when I was a bit overwhelmed by the nature-ness of it all, I sat down on a piece of concrete for a breather. Lo and behold, one of the first things I see is this dude walking away and, of course, once again captured what I was feeling, a huge sense of solitude...well almost I suppose (two is company isn't it?).
And finally, we take the holy route. This gargantuan statue of Hindu deity Shiva is located in Murudeswar (for an earlier post on this place, click here). And for the uninitiated ones, this deity's favourite animal is the snake. I'll try not to wet myself here, but snakes, for me, are QUITE scary. I try and conquer my fears, though, by watching discovery channel type shows about these creatures, and have been fortunate not to be confronted by live, uncaged one yet (not that dead ones are any prettier). Anyway, this one on the left was obviously quite daunting for me to see, but became another way to fight fear I think. The deity himself is largely characterised as the destroyer, and he too brings up childhood memories of bearded sadhus on TV who - in loud booming voices - proclaimed how Shiva could destroy the whole universe with his dancing.

And as a bonus for going through this whole post, I give you my thanks and a shot of a typical action performed by most tourists (Indian ones anyway), vandalism. This one's taken at Ullalla beach just a few kms outside of Mangalore.
It put me in a cheerier mood writing this post (after all that snake talk), and I hope it gives you a few laughs as well.
Cheers!

Rant 60: School of Rock

The real spirit of Rock and Roll lies in the people who give the Respect and Reco'nize

(images taken at Campus Rock Idols 2009 held in Manipal University grounds 

For those about to Rock....

We salute you!

Let the heads bang

Rise you spirits

Rant 19: Street focus # P2

Its almost like a trend now here in Manipal. On the one hand, the University supposedly has a Green Policy (posters can be found in all MIT hostels, half torn half the time of course!) These posters tell the students a lot about what can be done to save water through your morning ablutions. It's detail is good esp when you consider they built the damn hostels...

hhhanyway!

the other side of the story unfolds here....

the trend of tree trimming or tree pruning or tree felling...whatever the heck you wanna call it. It seems, MU doesn't care how many trees they cut down either to build new buildings, hostels or simply cos it "looks good"

Warning...pictures may be too graphic for avid nature lovers...viewer discretion is advised!

timber!!!...and how

that's how and all for this

i guess this one's for the waste basket

If you're thinking that MU at least got a building out of this and thus it's justified etc etc then wait...

the next story

is about a few more fallen trees

deep in the heart of MIT Hostels

apparently, doing things like this, makes our place look better

Now I ask you

for better or worse?

In the spirit of our fantastic 24X7 news channels

Co-CONSPIRATOR NUMBER ONE Co-CONSPIRATOR NUMBER TWO

the men behind it...MU staff

Joke of the Day...a ONE rupee fine

Rant 18: Street Focus # P1

So to begin my long desired series on street photography, here we go.
We begin at my college, the Manipal Institute of Communication.
oh and i have also lost my phone so there is no better excuse than this to indulge in some shutter-buggery.
Aim to cover all of Manipal and surrounding areas, right from the Entrance via the State Highway-4 right up to...well...end point! and I also include some pics from other friends who loved the scenes in and around this beautiful town.

Apart from the usual sights you see around college, under trees, shady areas, etc. here are some off-road sights one may see less often...

the more visible of the creatures we look after. and yet all they do is sleep and eat....lazy dogs!

see?


this one's called a disco-fry...simply briliant
courtesy, Samudra restaurant


chill maadi yaar...now you know why we like saying it!
cos it's the first thing you see when you enter Manipal


no pain...no gain...also no motor (seen at Manipal entrance)


the middle class dilema...in the information age


college common room...to find common ground amongst constantly arguing persons
...namely...us!
(taken by http://invalidsearch.blogspot.com)

To be Continued...

Rant 16: UNDERSTANDING love in Manipal

We were returning from our weekly visit to the great alcohol dispensary called THALLOORS, a bar/restaurant (not to be confused with the new and improved Thalloors, which is basically an Open Bar) and lost in our own trips of bliss. Out of nowhere, came this theory which caught us all quite off guard.
His perspective (seconded by another equally in the realms of alcholic ecstacy) was based on one single concept: Understanding. The sermon began something like this:-
"Dude...love in manipal is all about understanding. The guy and the girl understand each other, then it's love. for example an ugly guy and an ugly girl. what do they have in common?" I muttered a meek, "Understanding." "exactly!" came the strong reply.
Whoa! rather a Zen thing isn't it? anyway, I decided to ponder on it later and listened on as the speech continued: "Sexy guy, sexy girl...what do they have in common?...understanding. It's very obvious. Based on the financial capacity of the male partner, the sum of love shared between two people is directly proportional to the square of understanding between them.
OKAY! now considering that this noble soul had sporadically managed passable marks in mathematics, it was hard to grasp the sense in the formula that he rattled off. He realised that the latter part had skillfully evaded our heads and proceeded to explain in detail. this time he used a pen and a paper (which just happened to be the bill of our binging spree)
"Check this, i'll write it down so it makes sense"

L=k(U^2)+M

i guess this is what's implied. though i'm not much of a mathematician either. he explained that L stood for Love, U for Understanding and M for the all important binding factor...Money!

At this point, your's truly applied some magical mathematical sense and said, "wait, isn't the variable M given as a constant. Are you saying money is constant in any relationship?"

"No, the actual amount of money spent during a relationship may be different for different couples, but essentially, they revolve around a constant factor."

"Which is?"

"How much whipping the good boy is willing to endure and of course how much of a "return on Investment" he can expect after the actual spending etc is done. He will naturally spend depending on that."

"makes sense i guess..."

" you'e damn right it does. and wait, it's not over, there's more...see if you differentiate on both sides, then you end up with an equation that...."

At this point me and 2 other mates shut his mouth and dragged him back to Thalloors!

Rant 13 (contd): the un-LUCKY ones part 3 # Third Time Lucky

And so it had to be this way...after two years of enduring maddeningly humiliating defeats, not to mention constant reminders of THAT and of how pathetic our college was in sports, I guess it was to be right at the very end that we got our chance to give something back to the college and a kick up Mr. Mallya-and-his-MIT-goons backsides.

Of course Shazzy and I had already given Mallya a taste of MIC's potential at the Tennis in 'o7, but I am actually very very glad that we suffered in football for another year before this year, oh the sweetest of them all. It is so much more worth it than it would be for a college with 4000 students used to winning largely owing to Mallya's devilish operating methods, but only wins one football trophy in 6 years. (not to take credit away from the team that did it...they are pretty good).
If any of the current football team members are reading this then please remember that we have lost way worse than you can ever imagine. I feel like a world war 2 veteran when i say that but that is the truth. We are at a point where we can challenge any damn team in the Manipal region. But we have grown from virtually a garbage dump to reach that point, through some really bad losses, not just in terms of scores I should say...so think about that the next time any of you decide you've had a "bad" game!

So moving on with this fairy tale year...
There were three out of four major milestones that the MIC football team crossed:-
1) Scoring a goal.....EVER! check
2) Scoring a goal in a tournament check
3) Winning a match....EVER! check
4) Winning a match in a tournament

the first and third are an interesting story as they both happened in the same match. At this point, MIC football had crossed another small but significant milestone in terms of practices. We had now conducted the most number of practice sessions in our history with I might add, the highest ever average number of players per session.
the reason? our two fresh batches, BAJC 1st year and MS-COMM 1st year, gave us 9 of the most awesome players I have played with. I am proud to call them my team-mates.
Agnello, Narottam, Pratik, Yasin, Boppanna, Kevin, Awijit, Asim and Ankur have given our team the much needed players. To chalk one more up for the milestones section, we actually had a proper subs bench this time
So we practised and somehow I think all of us felt like we were waiting for a chance to play, because we were simply that good now. defensively, we had a rock solid line. Naim on the left, Narottam and Yasin in the center and Awijit on the right. Pratik, Gautam and Agi were our backups for defence. My mistake even at this point was to play Yasin back even though it was actually quite a big help. At least for the initial few games I'm glad he played back. This guy is probably the most cool-headed and gentlemanly player i have EVER played with or against. Having never seen him lose it on the field, it was actually surprising to see him push an opponent in a recent match. However, and this was the funny part about that incident. three mit guys close in on him, trying to show their anger and from my position it looks like this French lambu has three annoying kids looking up and begging for more candy!
Naim, the ever present, with extra build (I'm guessing from a life-time of roshogolla!!), spectacles notwithstanding, he goes on as if nothing as happened even if every other game, his lenses fly in two different trajectories! That's our strength right there for you!
and Palli, who has now earned the dreaded (for others that is) reputation of being a hard tackler. There is a yellow card in MAHE sports archive with his name on it that says : "Palli, hard-ass from the word Go!" His amazing defensive cababilities perhaps outshine his forays into the midfield...for the last time Palli...look up and pass! lol
Narottam, normally a very level headed defender, he too has his times of aggression. and Yet, his presence in the very heart of our defence is a sight wholly reassuring. I can't tell you how many set piece disasters have been avoided with that height and head of his.
Pratik, my heart goes in my mouth everytime he goes in for a risky tackle. the number of times he's been called up like that is only comparable to the number of times he's gotten the ball as far away from the goal as possible...that's his strength. Agi, who stands firmly, ever ready on the sidelines, just hoping that somewhere, in that huge field of 22 players, a small spark flies. and then its ON! but on the field, he rivals the best amongst us in his dedication to the game.
However, I have saved the best for the last. This is to say that the MOST dedicated member of the MIC team is Gautam. For the simple reason that he is there on the field for 99.9 % of the sessions and def, I find it hard to recall the last time he missed a match. "Playing time", as he calls it, nothwithstanding. I can see him working towards giving more to our team and I sincerely hope the next year's lineup will have his name on the starting 11.
The attacking lineup was def strengthened with the arrival of Bopi and Kevi from MS I section and Deepak from 2nd MS towards the end. Kevin had the legs and the stamina to out run us all. Bopi was the cool head in midfield, always looking to play his team-mates, more than himself. Deepak was an excellent asset in midfield as I found out, and I still wonder why we didn't see more of him in second year. We already had the three weirdos in Ashish, Ashwin and Vineeth from second year. Ashwin, the self-proclaimed (only later accepted!!!) Christiano Ronaldo of the team. Though he can be a prick at times, it's his sheer tenacity at playing that keeps the team going.
Ashish who despite Manipal ki hawa could run like hell all day on the field, shouting "ayee...what the fuck man!" all the way to all those who dared tackle him.
Vineeth, a player so skilled and yet one who trips over on his own (no tackles needed!) to earn a two month long injury. I'm still waiting for him to hit that top corner, but he needs no better description than crisp for the way in which his free kick flew in, at a moment very close to full time, when we most needed someone to shine.
Tenzin, the ever ebullient striker always looking for the sly opportunity to get in goal. This ability of his got us our first win against MIT.
and Ankur, the slightly lanky midfielder. Even though he mostly came on as sub this year, he can still hold his own and pass the ball well. Let's hope he builds up some muscles, those MITians ain't taking things lightly next year I can tell you that!
Shazzy, well what a story that is; became a little absent from the practices owing to too much education happening, but came back strongly and is now an invaluable asset in midfield. Also, I'm half scared everytime I lose my own mind on field, dreading Shazzy's verbal assault on me. I can still hear it from that Inter-Mahe game, "Dash shut the fuck up!!!"
And we have Asim, another striker cum midfielder. Dedicated and needless to say an amazing footballer, who's been at the core of many a victory in our repertoire.

So thats the team I guess. There were many who came and went but i guess this is the bunch that stuck it out for this one glorious year.
our first victory and our first goal, came at a practice match against a lowly architecture team. i say lowly, because not only did we score our first goal thanks to an amazing low and hard shot by Pady, but we ended up scoring 5 more! for the first time, WE were the ones celebrating a 6-0 scoreline. From then on, we never looked back. Our defence slowly gained a useful reputation of being able to hold out against a veritable seige. Even MIT was finding it hard to break our defence down in the first half. Stamina problems meant we sometimes ended up giving away the odd goal in the dying minutes and hence lost. But there were moments aplenty for us at every game. Thus we never lost hope!
Finally comes the tournament, this time it was Revels first. I guess, we needed a platform to really show off our game. Our opponents, MIT B. Lets put aside the fact that MU technically doesnt permit two teams from one college under the same Gender category. Instead lets talk about the game itself. This was lets say the MIT reserve team. Their future players. the game itself was nerve wracking to say the least. They managed to score a scruffy goal in the first 20 mins, but we crossed our second milestone as we managed to equalise mere minutes after their success, with a brilliantly developed move. Vineeth and Ashish were at the heart of that as far as I remember. I also recall someone telling me that Atman, the MIT main team captain, had to actually get up from his bench as that happened, and control things from the lines. A quick image of a fiery scotsman doing the same in the Theatre of Dreams comes to mind, even though it hurts me to think of ever wishing against that king of managers.
The second half and just when it looked like we would be going into penalties, they pushed in yet another scruffy goal. I was much at fault for this one, as the ball slipped in from just under my arm. an unlucky 2-1 loss!
Inter-MAHE, and this time I don't think anyone felt not-ready. We'd taken up morning practice sessions once again after more than 2 years and it looked like paying off at last. Our attackers literally and pardon the expletive, Raped their defence. MCOAHS, the Allied Heatlh college wasn't exactly easy pickings, but we had no less than 8 chances, 3 of them, so cruelly missed, you wanted to take a bludgeon and smash your own head off (cos you were so far away from the guy who missed!). However, we were unable to break through in the first half. The second half turned the whole game upside down. A freak handball in our box but one of their players, yet the ref somehow missed that. In the ensuing confusion, a stuck out leg was enough to get them 1-0 up. We would def have equalised had it not been for this horrendous blunder on the part of the ref (he really sucked that day..honestly!). Three players, one of ours and 2 from them, were coming on as subs or were basically just coming on. In the middle of this their move began and before you knew it, one forward was almost at the D. I had little choice but to charge out as I was not sure if the defender was going to make it. A chip over my head and a relatively cool finish and it was 2-0.
tweet tweet tweet.....it was all over!

So that is the story of the final throw of the dice, at least for my batchmates and I.
I should however, also give a special thanks to the entire cheerleading squad of MIC. Truly, it is a treat in any game (good or bad) to hear custom made cheers for the team members being shouted out at the top of your voices. here are some of the choiciest examples:- 1) na na naa naa...na na naa naa...hey hey hey...take your shirt off!
2) MIC is what?...DYNAMITE (ma fav)
3) Hey *player name* you're so sexy...I wanna be just like you...SEX BOMMB!
SO, as huge a thanks as I can ever muster up goes out to you guys...you guys are the real dynamites.
And in the tradition of my earlier posts, enjoy the pics..

late as usual...even for the team photo

we're not always that lucky you know...
but that's why we have teammates


sometimes we point fingers...


...but win or lose, we are united as one...


...courtesy our cheerleaders and this slightly amnesia hit old man 's shop


3 emotions in one...Anger, Depression, and Frustration.
not to mention Ashwin and Naim!!!!


(sitting, right to left), Naimul; Tenzin; Ashwin; Ashish; Bopi
(top row, right to left) Awijit, Ankur, Deepak, Narottam, Agi, Shaz, Asim, Pratik, Yasin, Subu Sir, Gautam and myself)

so guys
WHAT ARE WE???

Rant 13 (contd): the un-LUCKY ones part 2 # a Second coming

So first year was probably not a lot to write home about in terms of football.
anyways, Second year and I could not wait to find out players from our junior batch. We got about 5.
Ashish, Ashwin, Naimul, Gautam, and Vineeth brought a ray of hope to our despairing team.
a further boost was the arrival of two German exchange students, Chris and Mark from Bremen.

Chris, alongside Shaz

Mark was this bulky forward who despite that could handle the ball damn well. Chris was a defender and a pretty good one at that.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but we actually managed to conduct a good number of practice sessions. Manipal's ever faithful rainfall made sure that we were well entertained by sights of a bulky german slipping in Indian mud.
From the MS section, we got Tenzin and Deepak, the former was aptly named Monkey Boy for his extraordinary antics beyond the field.

cometh the hour...cometh the fool
for the match, yours truly decided that he wanted to play outfield as opposed to something more useful like...oh i dont know...Goalkeeping. Hence, a self-proclaimed goalkeeper was put in place of me and I lined up alongside Chris in central defence for our first Inter-Mahe match. We actually played well for parts of the first half, making the odd half chance at times. however, KMC Mangalore drew first blood off a corner and from then on they managed to score two more before half time. One of those two, well...the less said about the keeper's effort, i guess the better it is.
second half and I had to take on the gloves, which didnt actually help our cause too much. we still conceded another. I managed to save a few, but I guess it was too little too late by then. 4-0 the final score.
We didnt fare too well at the Revels cup either, 6-0 i think we managed to lose. Either way, I chose not to remember much from that game. We started with 9 players, went up to 11 as the game began, then came back to 9 owing to too much alcohol in one and a fly in another's eye.

That's it...we lost...end of story.

to be continued of course!

Rant 13: the Un-LUCKY ones, Part 1 # our first steps

I guess the universally unlucky number had to be the one that told of My football team. I'm sorry if i sound a tad selfish when I say that. In my final year, i found a totally new outlook on football here, (sports itself) which is very indicative of the power of mind over body.
First year:-
we were 5 of us,

Shaz (an excellent Tennis player as well, he and i have our own "hollywood" script about that sport),

Akhilesh (I called him Crazy Legs , like a frikin roadrunner!),

Norten (awesome guitarist as well as footballer, still cant forget that first five a side),

Pady (another awesome striker, he scored mic's first competitive goal ever)

and me from our batch. There were others who tried playing. And try they did, from the cultural rep of our class to others with really strong "capacities".

our first practice with the seniors was quite impresssive for us. we were beating them at 5 a side quite easily i guess. We were warned countless times about prior performances, mostly from Captain, Tamal, who was then in 3rd year. A chill goes down my spine hearing numbers like 10, 12.
Nevertheless, the five i mentioned stuck it out for the better part of our first year, and we had some great times.
Minor ones include the precious few practice sessions in the morning. Manipal in the Odd sem is all Rain and no gain, however, the mornings are quite pleasant in that respect. Slush and mud made up those practices but we definitely honed our long ball and trapping skills to the fullest. Even Tamal joined us for a couple of sessions.
One glorious match that comes to mind is the first five a side that we played on the 10th Block basketball court. I played goalie in that and i got my fair share of knocks on the face! The whole game as such is a bit of a blur, but we were trailing 3-1 towards the end. It's about ten mins per half, and just when i had lost all hope, Norten came up with two of the sweetest struck goals in street football i had seen. both in the top corner meant we were into penalties. I remember running up to celebrate like mad when we were finally level, everyone was jumping and hugging norten like crazy.
the penalty shootout(which was basically shooting from one end of the court to another into goal). All the euphoria and relief that we felt from equalising was washed down as none of us were able to score. the good thing was, only one from the opposing team was able to score. still it was a crushing end to such a brilliant performance...unlucky!

Sadly, we were unable to carry the good bit of that into the Inter-MAHE and Revels tournaments in 06-07. 6-0, and 5-0 i think were the resepective scores. Our defence was a testamemt to the word "patched". I got badly scratched as the ground was pretty fucked and they made a helluva lot of attacks on goal. our midfield and attack did a fair job considering what practice we'd done.

I guess thats the story of first year.

to be continued...

Rant 9: holi shit!!

There's always been two sides to every coin right?
So as i slept away the summer heat on a day they call Holi , one side of the coin was literally being played out at a campus hangout area called KC.
Fortunately, we live in a world with digicams and one video from that morning session kinda looked like one of those Goa rave videos with just about everybody going nuts in single spot, if thats even possible.
Your's truly woke up at the ungodly hour of 12:30 pm under bright sunshine and explored the area thus ravaged.
warning: graphic content, viewer discretion is advised


..and in between (the mayhem) were caught the doors.


on they fought...the 300, err..30!

birds? planes?

no...its vests, on phone lines


battlefield Manipal


enjoying the spoils of war...cheeky bastards!


the immortal holi-war soldier.....adi