Being a Traffic Volunteer

I received a call from the NCC Unit saying I had to be detailed regarding Traffic Volunteering Activity for the Ganpati Visarjan Procession in the city and also given the team I was to lead... We were a group of 13 including me and a total of 4 groups. We had to divert all incoming traffic.

It was really fun as people actually listened us... We were in our NCC Uniform and the people gave us due respect. But then there are various kinds of people. I must have diverted nothing less than a hundred people. Some of them were good, some of them troubled. Atleast I got to know what kind of people are around us. Some like troubling just for the sake of it. I remember an old man on cycle who had to go a very long way because of the diversion, but a rule is a rule, and it is the same for everyone.

I really admire Maharashtra Police for having arranged excellent food facilities and other snacks. It was more than sufficient. Infact there were a lot of food packets left untouched. I wanted to distribute the food among the beggars nearby but was a little hesitant to put forward the plan at first. But I was amazed at its response from junior cadets at the time of final dispersion when all the 4 groups had come together... The next moment I was on my way with a few volunteers distributing the food packets to the beggars around. It really feels nice to be doing such a thing. They look upon you as a god.

The biggest shock came to me when I asked my juniors whether they wanted to volunteer more and they gave me a very enthusiastic and JOSHFUL yes !!! I thought by the end of a long tiring day, they all must be dead tired because it was actually tiring. Sometimes juniors' josh pumps you to the hilt. But I had to give them the bad news of our departure...

In the end it was great working with my colleagues and juniors all day but there is always an end to all good stories. Our's was no exception !

A Salute to Our Great TEACHERS !!!

The oldest nice teacher I can remember is Mrs Dagar... She taught meArt in junior school and Hindi when I grew up. She was a very kind andpolite teacher and I used to love interacting with her.

Next comes Mrs Julka, who taught me English in 5th grade. I had a verygood impression on her and used to love her lectures.

There was one Saroj Singh mam who taught us Geography in 10th grade. Iused to ask her millions of questions, not to trouble her, but out ofcuriosity, and she was fed up of me. But one fine day, she told theclass that I am ready to teach Rushal alone as a class when Irequested her to take our Games period for completion of syllabus andwas terribly opposed by the rest of my class !! My proudest moment...

In college, it has to be Prof Mrs Paygude, who taught us 2 semesters.I had her in one of my counseling panels (troop counseling). Thats wenI came to know how good a human being she is. My best and all time favourite teacher...

I found Prof Mrs Suja and Pranali also kind as they used to understandmy extra curricular activities with the troop and always used to guideme accordingly.

I take this opportunity to thank all my beautiful teachers a lot and wish them the Happiest Teachers Day !!!

Gandhigiri...

Vidhu Vinod Chopra has done it once again !!! Well, if you have seen Lage Raho Munna Bhai, u' ll easily guess what I am talking about... I really found the movie out of this world. If you have not seen the movie yet, I'd highly rcommend you to watch it... Its a superb blend of laughter and a beautiful message... GandhiGiri

Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi - Absolutely majestic

The pension scene was an absolute hair raiser... Next was the one in which Sanjay Dutt hits back the watchman saying, "Jab donon gaal per mare to kya karne ka... Ye toh nahin bataya Bapu ne". Arshad Warsi was brilliant at conversing with the virtual Bapu. He called that bald professor a "bina cover ki notebook, full moon and what not..." Arshad-Sanjay patch up had a good emotional touch. Boman Irani was once again at his acting best. Finally, Abhishek Bachchan added the remaining flavour. Diya Mirza was as usual a visual treat...

All in all, I'd say, "Tension nahin lene ka... Vinamra rehne ka aur asbr rakhne ka... Aur haan, koi 1 gaal pe mare toh dusra gaal age karne ka... Isse samnewale ka gussa kam hota hai aur hamare liye izzat badhti hai... Jhapaaaak !!!"

The movie is a tribute to 9/11 1906, when Bapu actually started his Satyagrah, the finding of the truth !!!

Meet the Commanders

Every 15th Aug and 26th Jan, the cadets of MIT College perform Rifle Drill and salute the National Flag with pride!!! They are the brave soldiers of the MIT NCC TROOP (MNT for short), headed by ANO Flg Offr S Y Deshmukh Sir, who is also a professor with the Petrochemical Dept of MIT College.

Thats the commanding team for 15th Aug '06. This time the parade was a major success and the cadets were appreciated by one and all... May the tradition continue !!!

Seen in picture are Cdt Cpl Paris Deshmukh, Cdt JUO Monika Jagtap and Cdt Cpl Rushal Thaker (thats me) from Left to Right.

Me and the DROP !!!

The occassion was the Blood Donation Drive organised by the MIT NCC Troop... And the message was "Blood In Need is Blood Indeed !"

We, at MIT NCC Troop conduct such big scale Blood Donation Drives once every semester. A total of around 350-400 units of Blood is collected which is distributed among 2 Blood Banks.