Episode 4: The journalism interviews
Really great. Students report... it was really great! Especially the one who told us about the cabbage and the cauliflower and the dentist :P Then they showed a debate, and they used their editing skillzzz to do various things!!! At the ahmedabad center there were just two people... there were more ads of airtel scholarhunt than the people present there :P Finally the interviews... they again used their excellent editin skilllzzzz... and made the students do things they hadn't in mind (I know ur wondering what editing im talking about... heres an example: a student just shakes her head left and right to convey a "no". But NDTV slows down that part of the video... making it seem like shes fed up of everything!!) And then they showed a bit about the behind the scenes. Saw many familiar faces in that part... and even the cameraman (with moustaches) who constantly peered into the cam even though nothing was being shot!!

But I couldnt record either video. Reason being, Kanpur. No electricity. No computer. And I just somehow managed to watch the two shows.

Episode 3: The Biomedical exam/interviews
Fun filled episode. And they even changed the waiting area during the interview. Not fair... we sat in that corner... while they sat under fans right in front of the main door to the "hall". It seems that the NDTV people had some grudge against us Engineering people. We had nothing... no fun... :( The students even gave awards to the interview panel... and now I know exactly what type of sound is recorded if its recorded without a "personal collar microphone".

I wasn't there at the biomed interview... so i didn't know anything about what actually happened there... so the show seemed quite good to me. I guess the engineering part must have been interesting to other as well... but they definitely missed out a lot of stuff that happened during my interview days.

And I still don't understand how they'll show 35 episodes... they'll spend 6 for the interview... now what do they show in remaining 29 episodes :O

Finally was able to record my clips on NDTV :D

I've got the .avi files, but now I'm unable to capture of stills. 8-|

Missed a few minutes in the middle, voltage fluctuation and dataone connection reset :(

Airtel Scholar Hunt: Episode 2

The second episode was telecasted today. These people are compressing a LOT into 30 minutes. Things that occurred over a span of 2 days, covered in just 15 minutes, maybe even less than that. The subject exam was given more time, even though it took place on just once day.

Lots of clips of people at the subject exam center "before the result was to be declared". But they made up for my missing vids of the subject exam... they put a clip they shot at the interview... "I'm really very very nervous". I wasn't nervous at the subject exam... you do 37 questions out of 40.. and still be nervous? Never.

And then the results were announced. And these people, snipped my name off the subject exam qualified list... just because I was at another center, and they didn't have any footage of me. 8-| And that too is their fault, no cams at my center, what can I do...? And Abhimanyu is getting lots of screen time :P

Harmeet, Surya Mahajan and the Jharkhand candidate got lots of screen time :) Not me. :(

They didn't even put a single clip of me at the interview. I guess I was just good enough... no "spicy footage" of me... like getting nervous, etc. :D

And then, when the results of the interview were about to be declared, I was shown... quite a bit... :) Actually... I let them shoot that... "Be serious guys" sat right in front of me at the stairs and kept his cam on for like... 5 minutes... I tried my best to act as realistically as I could... I was laughing underneath... and I guess I acted quite well :)

And I couldn't record today's episode. Neither could I record yesterday's initial part that I had missed. :(

Deductions:
1) They've compressed it all... maybe thats how it happens in Indian Idol and The Apprentice too... But they shot each candidate's entrance and exit, lots of pre-post interviews, etc etc, and all that compressed into 15 minutes... 8-|

2) Directors are always good actors, they can beat the best of actors. Trust me. I've seen them.

3) NDTV people directly capture all video/audio content to hard disks on their van (with a generator :P ).

4) Reality shows are actually programs, made using normal people who are made to act. Thats the Truth.

5) The crew members are "bahut tez". Ask Chintan Dev Handa. ;)

Airtel Scholar Hunt: Destination UK, Episode 1

I've just stopped the recording of Airtel Scholar Hunt Destination UK on my PC and started writing this blog. Hope I remember everything :)

The show was about to start, and there was no electricity. True India. One reason to go to the UK. I had already started recording NDTV's channel about 5 minutes before the show actually started, it was some red line, yellow line, blue line bus issue in Delhi. NDTV people... if u ever read this, i wont upload those vids to youtube... copyright and things ;) Anyway, the show started and the recording was going fine. But suddenly... power was restored. That reset my dataone connection... immediately stopping the streaming video. Within 1 minute the connection was up again, and started the recording as soon as possible. I missed the initial 4-5 minutes of the show.. but i'll record them tonight ;)

The show was good enough, but over dramatic. We now know how they'll stretch up till November 10th. And, these NDTV people are really good videographers. We were made to sit for hours, doing nothing. And that was shot as being "tense", "scared", etc. THAT is what a reality show is :)

I saw some familiar engineering "scholars" on screen. Not me though, they weren't at my center during the subject exam. :( But they surely missed some BIG TRPs... I could have done magic for them. Lets see if they show me in the next episode. Because, thats the only place where I was filmed well... several prepre, pre, post interview, the interview, and plain shots at many points of time.

Its not confirmed if I'll go for the next round, its conflicting with another important date, and i'm in the waitlist (but i'm sure some people wont come :) ).

Lets see what happens... literally :)

Airtel Scholar Hunt: Interviews, Day 2

My father and I were at a relative's place till about 3:30pm in Delhi. We started off for Laksmhi Video Studio, Filmcity, Sector 16A, Noida :D My uncle wanted to come with us, but we hadnt told them about the show... so we couldn't let him come!! So umm... [edited] :P

Saw some yoyo-nigro people on the way... they really look the same in real life too ;)

The auto we hired took us through the shorter route to Noida... though we had to pay for it (literally... a toll bridge). Finally, again at the studio at 4:30pm. They were, as usual, far behind their schedule. The results had been *scheduled* to be announced at 6pm.. but *sigh*.. tv shoots are... forget it ;)

We walked into the main "hall". Lots of my friends were already there, Saurabh, Pankaj, Arnab, etc. I got to know that interviews were still going on. And I could see lots of people sitting in the "waiting area".

We explored more of the "store room" at the studio... it looked more like a fighting set to me. Found a sofa there.. big one! And lots of posters too!!

But then my father and I went to a nearby market... we had to get the admit card photocopied. And the astonishing thing was... there was NO photocopy shop in that area. We left the studio at around 5:15pm... roamed there for one hour just to find a photocopy shop. Finally we did. Meanwhile, Arnab too was at the same market, though we never met. Once we had the photocopy, we got some orange juice at centerstage mall.

And then we returned to the studio. Only a few interviews were left now. I think just one was left. Once that was done, we were all instructed to sit again in the waiting area. Lights had already been setup. They were switched on. The light which they were "bouncing" the previous day... a reflector (nothing... just a thermocol board) had been "cellotaped" on the wall. So it illuminated a lot better. The "glarecutter" was also in place!!!

So we little children, sitting without an AC, or fan, with 1200W lights beaming on us (deja vu?), and we're supposed not to talk. And they film us every now and then. "Be serious guys" was what we were instructed, though it took a lot of self control to stop from laughing out loud!!

And there were some ladies who went through the waiting area *ahem* *ahem*. Some of the boys laughed loudly after they had left. Ian replied... "Whats there to stop laughing" :P

So we sat there, again. The person who said.. "Be serious guys" told me to sit at another place. Umm... i went there. But returned after sometime, when sardarji [Harmeet] was giving his interview!!

But the "Be serious guys" person was adamant on shooting me... so he came right in front of me and sat on the stairs... with the cam staring at me. And I tried my best to act and look like I was so tense and "glum". Then they interviewed a group of 5 people... though they were unable to decide if they wanted to keep 3, or 4, or 5. 8-|

And then there were many instances when we were told by the Kolkata guy and Ian... "the results are gonna be out in 10 minutes"... most probably to intimidate us even more... and then we were again told the same thing after 30 mins... and then again after 30 mins... it was the worst part...

Once all this media circus was done, lights switched off. The little CFLs were turned on, though they hardly illumiated the place. And we little children... finally priviliged to be in the dark, with fans :) But it was a LOOOOOONNNNG time before the results were to be declared. We just kept sitting there. The subject exam was much better... atleast we got _something_ to eat... here we got nothing. :(

While we were sitting there, in the dark (but with fans :) ), starving... they constantly told us, "the results will be out in 10 minutes guys" 8-|

So... after waiting for time that seemed like eternity, at around 8:00pm, we were told to line up. HUH. It was total confusion. After a few seconds, we got to know that we were going into the studio... Finally, the results were *actually* going to be declared. Though I still had some doubt.

We were shot going into the studio.

Once inside, the "indoor director" instructed us. We had to walk across the ramp once our name was announced and "form a formation" around the interview panel. And then there was a testing of the microphone. We were made to shout... and he talked to the person in the control room to check if the audio input was ok. It was okay. And we were also instructed to shout, howl or do whatever when we get selected... reality show... 8-| :)

There were cams, and cameramen were looking into them. Without moving a bit. We stood under the group of blue lights to the left of the ramp.

We were then instructed to look at the cam to the right of the set, and then as the cam moved over to "look" at the main set, we had to turn towards them too.

The media circus started. The cam was towards us. And it moved on the tracks towards the main set. The cam and its operator were standing on a platform, and another person "pulled" that platform!!!

Then, Arun Thapar spoke something, don't remember it right now!! I noticed Thapar had a paper in his hand. Similar to the one we had seen at the center in Delhi (during the subject exam), with a few yellow rows (just as in the subject exam :) )

He announced that he would declare the names in alphabetical order, and I'm thinking... uff U toh last mein hoga. So I was under "suspension" till the last name was called. He started... Abhimanyu Lamba, and went on... no sign of U... the second last name was T. 8-| Me still under tension. And he looked straight in my direction, and said, "There is just one person from there, who makes it to the next round". And I'm thinking "Oh great.. me!!!" And then he said.. "And that lucky person is..." *pointing in my direction with his hand* "... you Vaishnavi". Uhh.. She was standing right in front of me. Uhh.... ok, so I didn't get thru into the next round.

And then the interview panel and he discussed... "Oh yes, the competition was really tough, we ourselves were so confused", said Mr. Story. 8-| I know what competition we had. 8-| Reality show ki reality :D

And then another announcement, "And still, theres hope for you" pointing at the unselected candidates. And then waitlisted peopel were called up. I was called up too. Atleast there was still chance for me... and I am quite sure, people won't come!! I walked up the ramp, and joined the people already standing there. And then there was more media circus. Thapar said some more things once all had been called up. And the director said we'd have to do the last part again. Thapar said... "Pura phir se kar lete hain" :P

But finally only the last dialog piece was redone. And then we started moving back, out to the "hall". And Mr. Story shook hands with me... I'll see you Mr. Story, just wait for 10 years... ;) I think this part was shot too.

Finally we came out, and the cam was on outside too... "come on guys, no reaction" 8-| This was at around 8:30pm.

And I started leaving the place disappointed. But suddenly we were called... all selected and waitlisted candidates had to come back. We started returning to the main hall. There was a camera (with a camman, of course) and was recording all, "How the candidates were going back disappointed", though i came right up to the camera, smiling, facing it all the time :P

Once I was there, just the selected candidated were "interviewed" by Ian and the Kolkata guy. And all of them were instructed, "shake hands and congratulate each other yaar" and "Arre someone hug each other too". REALITY TV :D

So, finally we it was all over at around 9pm. Ian said.. "Sorry for the long day guys"... uhh... right... 8-|

Once that circus was over, we started going home [arnab sitting on the "pavement" outside the gate].

And I forgot to take pics on the second day. :(

And finally, we started towards the Centerstage mall to get some auto, though that auto quite bugged us... it didnt have the "pick up".

But ultimately we reached Rail Yatri Niwas, and we left the room [attendent misinterpreted the date]. We had "dinner" at a strange place... we didnt have the time... we had a train in 1 hour. Finally, on the train... with strange people in my compartment.

The end for now.

Airtel Scholar Hunt: My Interview, Day 1

Warning: This post is **HUGE**. Patience and courage needed.
Warning 2: Most of this might sound like fiction, but you can ask any other participant to "attest" this.

Slept for 5 hours in the train... I turned off the alarm in my mobile, after learning a lesson from my last trip :) One surprising thing was that the train had actually arrived BEFORE time, at 5:54am. Good for me :) We immediately headed for, guess!!!, Rail Yatri :D Got a room there. We were on a tight schedule.

We had to reach Laxmi Video Studio, in Filmcity Noida. Noida itself was about 1 hour away from the railway station. So it was decided that we'll leave at 7:30. My father and I just had some coffee, "fruitcafe" and biscuits. I didn't want to be late there... or else the waiting list people would take my place.

Once in the auto, I again started "revising" my "speech", thinking that that would be the only part I'd have to speak in front of the camera. I also thought of some possible questions, and their answers.

We reached Noida quite quickly. We were at the gates of the studio in 40 minutes!! We were at the studio at 8:10am, much earlier than the reporting time (8:45am).

But we hadn't thought of this - shootings are never on time. In this case (the interviews), never ever.

We sat at the studio. They had setup a weird, narrow place for participants to sit. No fans, ACs, etc (remember, no fans, ACs etc, this is important for later events). When we arrived, there were just 4 participants. Slowly, by 9:15am all 10 participants were present at the studio, but *sigh* shootings.

A friend had earlier described these shooting as a "media circus". I'll have to agree. It was a completely chaotic circus of camera men, lights, "lightmen", and directors.

The directors for the were Ian and a Kolkata person (don't rememebr the name). Both of them great! But *sigh* :)

Both of them introduced themselves, and told us, "Please cooperate with us. If theres no show, theres no scholarship". True. But if theres no show, u'll be fired :P They also told us to have "better emotions" and not "cold ones".

I saw a British person enter the studio. I wasnt sure if he'd be a judge. And then came in the host of the show, Arun Thapar. For those who don't know who he is, Arun Thapar was the host of "Chuppa Rustam".

And the circus began. Lights started coming. HUGE lights, with HUGE plugs. And then thermocol boards started coming, they were to be used as reflectors. And then there was "glare" the banners of the scholarship... so "glarecutters" came in. And places where they wouldn't place the reflectors, they "bounced the light" using the walls. It was a complete circus. Enjoyed watching it.

The lights were finally setup and were switched on. These 1200Wx3 lights were too hot. We were all sweating. It was 10:30am by now. Nothing major had happened. Not even the registration, which was supposed to happen at 8:45am.

While sitting in the waiting area, I got a few glimpses of the set. It was great!! Hexagons, with TV screens, and nice looking lights :) But we were still sweating. The lights were just too intense, and no fans or ACs.

And then the "pre pre-interviews" started. Again, the "media circus". A camera person, a boom mic person and a director. All three would corner you, and ask you _the_ _most_ __obvious__ questions, like "How are you feeling right now", "What have you done to prepare for this", etc. I thought the Media was much more creative... :-\ But I guess these are some standard questions written in the "Book Of Reality Show Questions".

I was the second one to face the camera during this "pre preinterview" session. The super hairy mic was placed right below me, next to my feet. The camera was focussed on me. It feels really strange when you look at the lens of a camera when it is being zoomed. I was instructed to look at the director, who was standing next to the camera. I'm still thinking, why not look into the camera itself.

Anyway, the question/answer session started. And I answered him. Once that was done, the person next to me was about to be prepreinterviewed. But something happened and he wasnt interviewed, atleast not in front of me. So we were again sitting there, with the bright lights sweating us with no fans or ACs.

Got bored again. And then they started interviewing the parents.

Throughout this act of the circus, if someone said something... he'd be shouted at by Ian... "SILENCE!!!!!" :)

And then again, we were prepreinterviewed. :-\ Again the same questions. And, they made me do one really dumb thing. I just hope they don't telecast it :((((((((((

After all this circusiry, registrations started. Finally. At around _12 noon_. Registrations were finally over. And the actual interviews started. The first candidate, a sardarji (umm...), was preinterviewed. I was sure the questions must have been the same __obvious__ questions. "You are just about to go in, what are your feelings", etc.

And then he went in and came out after about 10 minutes, and was postinterviewed. This time, I think, some good enough questions were asked (not the __obvious__ ones :) ).

Next it was me. Someone came and put a collar microphone on me. This too was shot. I don't know why they shot that part... :-\

The Kolkata director person asked me to reach the "green carpet" which led to the door. He straight away asked me... "You are just going to go in". And I thought... won't I be preinterviewed? So I just turned and started moving towards the door... And he repeated, "You are just going to go in... what are your feelings?". I thought, "Oh no not again...". Gave a few answers, don't remember much about that.

Once that was over, I finaly opened the first door towards Studio A. There were two doors in front of me. The front one led into some kind of "control room". The door to the left led to the actual set. The "indoor director", "briefed" me about what I had to do. And throughout the briefing process, he was talking to someone else too... over his headphones. Most probably some person in the control room. He asked them to increase the cooling!!!

The director told me that I had to stand next to the third "Airtel Scholar Hunt" banner, at the end of a "ramp" that led to the actual interview place. And he told that he would do a motion with his hands (a really strange one... really...), and that would be the cue for me to walk down the ramp. I understood everything, and stood next to the third banner. Then I was instructed to step up on the ramp. Umm u'd have to be there to understand what I mean.

Again the media circusry started. Arun Thapar (the host) said... "This is the Airtel Schollaaaar Hunt, Destination UUUUkkkkkkkaaaaaayyyyy. And this is interview time. The candidates have already faced two examinations, one was an online exam and the other was at their respective centers. And now we meet them face to face. Our interview panel consists of Mr. Story, the Computer science professor of Warwick, and name-not-remembered, an alumnus of Warwick." He forgot his lines many times, and did the thing about 3-4 times.

All this while, I was looking at the set. There were hundreds of lights on the ceiling.. literally. About 10-15 were directed towards the interview panel. I'm not sure but 5 must have been towards me. And there were red and blue moving type lights too... just like in KBC. There was also a group of blue lights just above and left of the ramp. The control room could be seen through the glass. There were three cameras. One was directed at the interviewee's seat, another at the interviewers, and the third was on a moveable track. Each of them was controlled by someone, who continuously looked into the camera even though nothing was being shot!!

While looking at all this, i lost track of the cue. When I suddenly looked at the director again, he was already doing it. So I walked down the ramp, with the red and blue KBC lights lighting up the ramp, and took my seat.

The interview started. I was a lot less nervous than the last interview I had faced. Especially with all the cameras and lights!

The interview started, went on, etc, etc. You watch all that on the TV. :P

During the interview, while I was answering a question, Mr. Thapar... took out his handkerchief and started wiping his face!!! I "laughed" at that! :P The NDTV people have no useable footage for that part of the interview... the host is wiping his face, and the interviewee is smiling like a fanatic!! Lets see how they edit that part!!

Finally the interview ended. Walked down the ramp, to the third-airtel-scholar-hunt-banner. This time, I noticed that the ramp itself had lots of lights. They were small lights... must have been around 50 lights. 8-| Lots of electricity was being consumed :)

Once off the ramp, the collar mic I was wearing was immediately removed, for the next candidate. And walked into the "common area" with the three doors. There, the Kolkata person was waiting for me... and he told me that he'd give me the signal to come out through the door, only then will I have to come.

Waited for the signal. I watched through the small glass "window" on the door as he setup the camera and the mic.

He did a motion similar to that of the indoor director. I came out, and was post interviewed. The questions weren't obvious this time. So I could have answered them well. But I felt I had been brainwashed inside... didn't remember a thing at that moment. I was asked several questions about the interview, but I just answered them... most of them weren't even correct (I think...).

Finally it was over.

I had been shot enough for the day :)

A friend and I of mine just roamed about the entire studio. We found a "store room" for the studio too. But I'm sure they use it as a set too. It was HUGE room, with lots of HUGE streetlight-type-lights. Even then the room was dark. At first sight, you would think that this room was used for sight scenes :) We explored the entire room and found some really strange things in there... HUGE tablas, lots of broken CDs, and some "religious" things (The studio was of T-series... and there were photos of a "religious singer"). There were lots of pillars too!!! I'm sure they shoot those religious songs in that area!! There were even some banners of Cardiff University. We also found a few boxes of the lights that were being used at the set. I checked its power rating... it was (as usual) HUGE... 1200W/light. And they had so many lights... their meter must have been running like a space craft. 8-|

Got bored of all this... so my father and I left. We tried the "amma ki rasoi" canteen at the studio... but didnt like it :)

Then a bit of photography.

And we left the studio.

Spent a lot of time at the Centrestage mall. Its very near to Laxmi Video Studio.

And, returned to Rail Yatri Niwas at night :)

Day one over. Slept nicely that day... was very tired.

Airtel Scholar Hunt: Before the Interview

So, I was at Kanpur... Thinking what would happen over the next two days. I had no idea about the interview, how the shooting would go about, etc. No one had appeared for it earlier. I spent the day, trying to mug up the speech. I had been thinking that we'd have to speak it out in front of a camera, and then the interview would go on as normal. But that was what I -thought-. NDTV had planned something very different for the Airtel Scholar Hunt.

Time that day passed very quickly. Learning and getting the documents. The NDTV people also wanted that we get the documents attested. Now... to me it seems illogical... to ask for BOTH, the original and an attested copy. Why not check it themselves if the photocopy is legitimate.

Another document the NDTV people asked for was the "Call Letter" for the interview. On their website, it said that "the letters are being dispatched individually to the contestants by courier". But I had not yet received it, and tomorrow was my interview. :S So I sent an email to them, asking what to do, hoping they'd reply in an hour or so. And they did :) They instructed me to get a printout of the "email call letter" and bring that. I converted the emails to PDFs and gave the CDRW to my father... and he left to get it printed.

But strangely, he returned after 2-3 mins, with the call letter in his hand. He told us that on his way down, he asked a "resident" if some courierperson had come... the "resident" suddenly shouted, "Oye oye idhar aao"... and the courierperson came... with the ndtv call letter for the interview round. :) And this happened at 6:30pm... quite close to the actual interview itself. :)

So, finally.. I had the whole speech learned up. We packed up, documents, "formal" clothes, and whatever else we could think of. Finally we boarded the train at around 11:30pm. It was supposed to reach Delhi at 6am. And we had to reach the venue at 8:45am the next day. I just hoped that this -Indian- train would not be late :((((

We reached our seats and the blankets came. One old person in our group-of-8-seats-in-the-train spread the sheet on his upper berth and displayed to us his atheletic skills. You'd should have been there to see it :P

There was another interesting person on the train... He spoke "Raadhe Raadhe" after each sentence. :-w It was strange.

Finally, the train moved. And I somehow managed to sleep at 12:30am. After all, I had an interview the next day.. umm... the same day.

The day of the test

Finally, we were at the center, a Manipal Learning Center. But we reached earlier, at 11:45am. And the entry was supposed to start at 12:30pm. So we waited at "Laziz fast food", which was a van :-w. "Woh van hai, wahin par hai" :-ww.

Finally, the entry started. Our documents were checked. Some were without the originals, some were without the photocopies. But the center was good, the entire building was AC. ;)

Once the docs were checked, we were told to sit in a waiting room. Made a few friends there. And we passed time... donno how. It was 1.5 hours before they actually started the registration process. Our documents were checked again, and photocopies were taken. The admit card was stamped and returned.

Finally, we were told to enter Lab 3. It was good. Lots of TFT monitors, and webcams. But then... we were told to goto Lab 4. It was ok... umm... the CPUs were a bit strange... they looked like servers, at least to me.

We were told to start internet explorer. And we were shows instructions on IE itself... I thought wow, I'll get 100% score in this one. But then, alas, they instructed us to click a button, and that launched an exe file, that was much more secure :(

The test started. It was similar to BITSAT, but the BITSAT had a better interface. Indian software is much much better ;).

The questions were easy. I was able to answer around 36/40 questions. Completed t he test at the end of 1 hour, and had 30 minutes to go through the questions again. :-w I was thinking this is so easy... i'd never get into the top 40. But once the test was over, it was out of the head.

We were given a sheet with all formulae and constants. At the end of the test we submitted it back. And once candidate (kandidate?) got to know that everyone else had got a sheet of formulae, and was sad abt not getting it. If you ever read this blog, take my word... that sheet was useless... unless of course you don't know what the half life of radioactive things does not depend on the amount of substance taken, and other simple things.

The test had started at 2:30pm and ended at 4. And again, we had to wait for 2 hours... for the results. We got some "snacks", a sandwich, chocolate covered "doughnut" and jaljeera. And then there were discussions about PEC, NITs, etc. And a round of jokes (erm... Indians waale jokes ;)) I too took out my deck of cards, and the people were causing pandemonium. Showed a self levitation to everyone, even a teacher there... and strange silence followed :)

Finally the results were out. Somehow, I got an AIR 4. Couldn't believe it myself at first. But thats the truth ;). Finally all of us started leaving. All of us took each others' email/phone no. Lets see who all make it through the next round, the Interview.

Finally, we again reached rail yatri... I was exhausted completely. Stayed a bit there, and then we were again off to CP, searching for a good enough restaurant. But found none. I think we traveled the complete outer circle, but still found none. So we decided to go into the next restaurant/bar we saw. The man at the gate thought we would be drinking, and told us... go up. It was fun, eating normal Indian food while others drank and drank :P

Now with a bit of energy, we headed back. We had a train at 11pm.

We reached the station, and it was FILLED with people. Some more people and it would have started overflowing like water. :-w

Got onto the train, again two sardarjis. One old, one small :) Slept well that night, and reached home at around 8am the next day :)

Reaching Delhi for NDTV Scholar hunt

Okay, so I did qualify the Preliminary Online Test (POT). It was very very easy, but I still took a bit of help from Google and , well, completed the test in 18 mins. After the test was over, I just forgot about it... for WEEKS... until one day, I was fed up of the "Study for JEE 2008". Checked www.ndtvscholar.com and I had passed the POT. I was in the top 400 of India. But still, it wasnt much of an achievement. The achievement was yet to come.

Having passed the POT (no pun intended, please), I had to appear for a subject exam. My centre was Delhi. I had no idea what the exam would be about... would it be about general things, or would it be about making things (engineering) or would it be about *sigh* PCM. I decided to work for the worst case, PCM ;). Glanced through Brilliant's YG File, revising all major concepts and even doing some questions.

There was a lot of photocopying that day and hunting for photographs. And by the evening my father an I were ready to leave for New Delhi. It was a "tough" way to the railway station. You don't want to know that :).

Finally I was in the AC sleeper. And as always, there was also a sardarji. :) As usual, very talkative, his 2 mobiles were continuously being used until the train started. And there was another person, continuously talking on the phone... for... 3 hours... in a very "hushed" tone. ;)

Finally, everyone went off to sleep, at around 12:30. I needed some rest... I had an exam the other day. I don't remember a thing. But I remember Mr. Walia and Mr Deb (Kasam se watchers know them reeeaaallllly well!!!). Mr Walia's phone was vibrating, and Deb could feel it. Both were staring at each other. And suddenly I woke up, my phone was vibrating... I had setup an alarm... long time back... and it had to vibrate today... when I had an exam and I had had just 4 hours of sleep. :-w

Tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. Slowly everyone woke up. Finally, we were at New delhi railway station. We went, as usual, to Rail Yatri Niwaas :D. Got a room there. Both of us got ready and got a bit of sleep. And then we were off to the center. It took 45 minutes to reach there.

to be continued