05 July 2020, Sunday morning, 8 AM.
I was in a middle of a dream as I woke up. I had a dream of meeting one of my School teacher whose name is ‘Peter’ sir. In my dream: “He still looked the same, with same old fun and smile. He was checking on me regarding my well-being, and we both discussed about various events of our life.” In between those happy talks, I suddenly woke up.

The first thing I did was to pick up my phone and sent a text message to my very old friend ‘Venky’ asking about his well-being. ‘Venky’ used to be more in touch with ‘Peter’ sir, and I just hoped that I can find about his whereabouts. Though there is a very less-likely chance, I just hoped. Now, this is the strange thing. I then opened 'Twitter' to check on latest happenings. I was amazingly surprised when I saw “Guru Purnima” in top trending. “Guru Purnima” is a day dedicated to spiritual and academic Gurus in Hindu culture. I felt amazed to see ‘Peter’ sir in my dream on a special day dedicated to teachers, and this actually forced me to quickly create a wish in my heart i.e. "to meet him".

Glimpse of my flashback...
It was year 2000, and I was in Year 8 doing my schooling. Right from the days when Algebra was introduced in to my academics, I had struggle with Mathematics. So, it continued even that year in my mid-term exams. I was back home after writing Maths exam and told my Mom that I might fail. She asked me not to worry and then my Sister introduced me to ‘Peter’ sir who then was teaching to Year 10. It was a new beginning from there on. I went to him for tuition classes walking almost 3kms back and forth (quite common maybe). He taught me all the basics... the effort he has put in to explain me "finding factors of an Algebraic expression" has itched so deeply in my mind. The first big thing he did to me was to make Maths an easy subject and removed the fear. That year, in my final exams, I remember I scored around 80 marks (out of 100). Starting from Year 9, he started teaching us in School and I also continued my tuition classes. From then on, I never scored less than 95 in Maths.

I thought of Thanking him as part of this write-up. But doesn't it look small? especially after some special power has brought him into my dreams (maybe for a reason) on an auspicious divinely day dedicated to teachers. So, I'm making a very positive wish today - Peter Sir, I will find you and sincerely convey my thanks to you in person.

P.S. Time 10:10 AM. I am still on my bed as I end up writing this on a “Google Notes” app.

Cricket, it’s always connected to me since my childhood. I still remember, I was in my fifth standard when I asked my parents to allow me for playing in a nearby park named Bhagat Singh Park. They agreed to it, but that was a tough decision for my parents to make as I never stepped out of my building premises to play Cricket. Thanks to them, for giving me the freedom to play that day as it helped me to meet many of my friends later on.

Cricket is a game that connects people so easily. We can just go to the ground, sit near any cricket playing guys, and there is a high possibility that we will be offered to play along with them. And if we start playing with them once, we’ll so often hear ‘kal bhi aaja na…’. I have so many Cricket playing friends who were never related to me with schooling or college. We are just friends because of Cricket. Whenever I used to go to play Cricket or I watched a match on Television, my dad always used to ask me a question. “Does Cricket gives you food?” and I could never reply him back with a proper answer.
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Days passed, and playing Cricket has become a rare part of my life. Though I’m connected to the game by watching few crucial matches on Television, but I stopped playing these days. Recently, I thought I would go to nearest ground from my living place in Sydney and see if I can join any guys to play. So, I went to the ground and found few guys playing. I sat bit far under the tree and was watching them play. After they had one match, to my surprise, they called me to "Join". While I was running towards them, I felt Cricket is still connecting so many unknowns. I had little bit of Cricket that day, and when I was saying good byes before leaving the ground, a guy named Ashish has asked me for my number and said we will meet again next week if possible. During my walk back to my house, I felt I found an answer to my dad’s question. So, next time, if my dad asks me “Does Cricket gives you food?” I would reply to him - Cricket never gave me food, but it gave me friends and memories.

It was year 1991, and those were my early schooling days. I don't exactly remember whether my mom used to come to pick me up from school or I used to go by other means, but one frame that is registered in my memories is that - “after coming back from school, I used to sit on the bed and mom used to ask me what all happened in the day while removing my shoes... and I think I used to answer to all her questions happily.”

Few years later, I guess I was in Year 3 of my schooling. That day I went to medical shop to buy a sachet of cough syrup. The cost of it was 1 rupee 25 paise. I also bought a chocolate and quickly ate it before going back home. After reaching home, due to my innocence and without anyone asking me, I told my parents that “the cost mentioned on the sachet was "1.25", but the shop owner took 1.75 paisa from me.” That statement made a huge impact on my life's next one hour. My father easily understood that I was lying and asked me few questions which I didn't had answers to bluff. So he pulled out tape-recorder's wire and had hit me. I cried for long time, and then my mom took me into her hands, smiled and said “You should have kept quiet. What is the need to say when you have already eaten it??”

I was very innocent during my childhood days. But when I got aware of many things in school, I started bringing out my mom's innocence. I still remember, one day I asked her a question “Which is bigger? India or Andhra Pradesh?” and the reply was her innocent smile (maybe she thought there is a twist in the question). When we are kids, we learn from our mom, but when we grow up we make fun of her innocence. And I'm sure, at that point of time, every mom starts feeling happy as her kids are turning out to be smarter than her.

Starting from Year 6 of my schooling, I always had a trouble with Mathematics. I somehow used to manage in every exam. It was in my 8th standard, I had done with my half-yearly Maths exam and came back home with a disappointing look. My mom sensed it, and asked me “Didn't do well?” Before I could answer her, I started crying and told her “I will fail this time for sure.” She smiled and said “These are just mid-term exams. It is not a problem even though if you fail”. I got my energy back for Science :)

Till the completion of my schooling, I was always a mom's pet. I used to share most of my life's happenings with her. But when I entered college and I got exposed to outside world, I slowly changed my way. I have seen few ups and downs, but I used to share only the things which make her happy. She always know me as a winner but she doesn't know me as a loser. Day by day, I had shown a change in myself, but she managed to show the same level of love irrespective of my change. I think this is where a mom's love differs from all other's love :)

Now, after started working, I got used to work. I started eating less due to so called "time management". And slowly I got used to it. She understood it, and so everyday she stays awake till I reach home from office, and feeds me with her hand so that I will eat more. I seriously can't give the same love back to her, all I could do is make her happy. If making her happy can be defined as showing love, then I can hide many things (that upset her) to show my love. Thank you is a meaningless word if I had to use it for my mom :)

Respect women. Help Orphans. Happy mother's day to all mothers :)

On 22nd December, 9:20pm, I hurriedly started from office to lingampalli railway station as I don't wanted to miss 9:40 train. I was in time, but the train made me to wait. I was so tired that day, couldn't even reply to cell messages and felt like sleeping immediately. I have this habit of getting frustrated when something keeps me waiting. Every time, when this frustration hits me, I just go back to my past times to live the present. That day, in my thoughts, I just wondered about my wonderful times in 2010. The thought suggested me to write a blog..and it goes this way..

January 19th, at the end of the day, I joined pinku and co (this is how I write in my diary :P) at KPHB. We had been to airport for Vinush's sendoff. From airport, we started to Ravi Teja's hostel as that day was his birthday. We reached hostel after 12 without any cake. We atleast thought of having an ice cream in that cold weather. So we started walking towards the main road expecting a Kwality Wall's light near by. I still remember, during our walk, we saw two people on a motorbike coming towards us. We couldn't see any part of their face as they covered it totally to protect themselves from cold weather and they were also holding a gun. As they came even nearer, I couldn't control myself and spelled “evarra veellu.. terrorists la??”. Immediately, yash shouted “melliga bey.. police lu..”. I stood mouth opened. Wonderful time :)

March 3rd, in the afternoon, I was sleeping when I received a call from Sneha. As soon as my “Hello”, I heard “Saakiii.. humara joining date aagaya..”. For a moment, I felt “huff.. the wait ended finally..”. We had a 2 minute happy talk about joining date, training location, etc. Later, I shared the news with mom showing her my joining letter. Wonderful time :)

August 13th, 11:30pm, I was feeling sleepy, and even my mom was ordering me to sleep as the next day morning I had a plan of going to village for my friend's wedding. At that very moment, I got a call from an unknown number. Though I was not interested in taking the call, I lifted it sensing it as an important call. As soon as I lifted, I got to know that it was Harsha, and I asked him “what's the matter?”. He said “I'll be there in 20 minutes, Don't sleep, I have a small work..”. In that 20minutes break, I just sat wondering what this idiot gonna say. He reached my place very soon and I got a “Come out” call as usual. When I'm getting down stairs, I could see him and I kept on asking him “what happened??”. Reached him, he said “nothing, come this way”, and he made me to walk a bit where I saw another Btech friend Vivek who came from UK all of a sudden. I was totally shocked with his visit. Within no time, I started with them to roam all the night. My sleep disappeared. It should disappear. We reached Gachibowli DLF building, and we had a hot masala dosa followed by a cup of tea. Wonderful time :)

November 5th, at around 1pm in the afternoon, I was in auto with my friend. I got a call from venky which I was expecting as that day was his birthday. He asked me “Did you like it?”. I said “What?”. He then asked me whether Vivek met me the day before. I said No. Then he said “I have sent you a black Jacket with vivek as it is winter. I asked him to give you today. I think he has forgot. Call him and ask for it”. Happy call. Wonderful Time :)

Cjay.. this is how I address my friend Chitra Jadhav. Many days ago, she once messaged me “birthday surprises are special and sweet. I feel everyone deserves a nice birthday. Happy times..”. The day before her birthday, I felt she expects a gift from me. So that will not be a surprise. So that day, I somehow managed to get a permission to leave office at 5pm, and I started to Sainikpuri with google map route running in my mind. I lost my way in old bowenpally and I could say nothing other than “Google maps cheated me”. I started trails to find my way, and to my surprise, the second person whom I have met wanted to go to same place and he asked me whether I can drop him. During our journey, I seriously felt as if God is sitting with me that day. However, I dropped him at his point and I reached her place. Called her mom. Met her. Gave her the gifts. I told her what to do :P. I started back within very less time. Stopped my bike by the side of the road. Gave a reply to Cjay's one hour back “Whats up?” message as “I was busy with work, didn't see your message”. Everything went fine. After two days, she was into a situation to reveal the truth. She said “Saaki.. that day, I got a call from my mom as soon as you called her. Hmmm.. But the 2nd gift was a real surprise”. I stood speechless. Kept on smiling by imagining her thought process when she read my reply that day. Wonderful time :). I felt innocent aunt did not trust me :P, or else it would not have been my wonderful time :)

There are many more wonderful times to describe. My first salary, my first birthday treat, receiving sachin autograph logo T-Shirt from yash's mom,'Hello Hug' exchanges with Ramki after 7 years, cellphone gift to my sister on Rakhi, small gift from my new friend, 5 friends telephonic conference, Harry's visit, with pinku @airport.. and at the end, the time when I got a thought of putting down my wonderful times of twenty ten is also a wonderful time :)

Few days ago, it was around 8pm when I was eagerly waiting for a train in lingampally railway station. I was fortunate to meet one of my school friend veena. It is always a gifted shock when we meet our old friends. Anyways, a minute after our shocking smile, we went busy with our talks related to our jobs and her husband. I was happy that day to meet her unexpectedly.

Exactly two days after our meet, I was returning home from office and I got down the train in my stop. It was around 8:30 in the night and I decided to eat chat as there was no one at my home. When I was eating, I got a call from one of my friend satish. I was struggling hard to implement multitasking of cell talking and chat eating. During my struggle, an excited “hi” pinged my ears which triggered my neck to take a back turn. It was veena again. I thanked God immediately and told satish that I'll be calling back and pressed red button of my cell phone with great force.

I started walking with her. It is just 2 minutes walk to her place and in that short time she came to know that I'm going to skip my dinner. The next moment, she invited me to her place and I was really shocked to hear. I really didn't had words to say and she didn't give me chance to skip the deal. In order to share even more happyness, I forced her to call Anusha, other school friend of ours. She agreed to come and I left to my home for refreshment.

We three used to go to one tution during our 10th class and they know all levels of myself. Though we stay at one place, we never met anytime to share our talks. Only cell phones did that job. So I was really excited to meet them both at a time. After 15 minutes, we met and shared loads of fun for nearly one hour. When I was eating, suddenly one thing striked my mind and it was- I didn't pay for my samosa chat :P. I told the same thing to both of them and anusha replied- “nuvvu happy khadha??”.. hehe happyness unexpected.!!

PS: meeting old friends is always sweet. I hope everyone tastes it :)

Exactly 3 days before this date, early in the morning at 6 am, I received a call from my friend. I was asked to get ready soon in 15 minutes. My friend was in a hurry, so he didn't say me about his plan. However, I was ready in 15 minutes. Yash and Venky came to my place, picked me, and we started to KPHB. It was around 7am I guess when our car stopped at UCO bank. There were already few people standing in the line, and within no time I was asked to join the line. I didn't say you what we were actually trying to do. That day, our last 60 minute hurry-show was to buy tickets for India vs Australia Cricket match. Bank opened at 10.30am, and tickets are in our hand at around 12. No doubt.. we showed our extreme patience levels..!!

Two days passed...

The actual cricket feel had begun on November 5th, after the birthday celebration of venky. It was midnight when me andRaviteja went to balanagar to get vinyl prints which we ordered for the match. However, our midnight ride ended after one hour when we came back to venky's room to sleep. The worst part of that time was Harsha didn't allow me to sleep and we both had a long chat (not online.. its live :P) for two hours. That midnight chat troubled me which you'll come to know very soon.

Early morning, at around 6.30 am, I got up and started to my place. I was bit weak that day. May be due to fever which I had for the last 2 days or may be due to previous night's bike ride or may be due to that sleepless chat with Harsha. However, I didn't had any option of bunking that cricket match. Though if I had that option, I would have not opted for it because “Cricket ke liye.. anything.. in any situation.. :P”. All of us started at around 10.30am and we were at the stadium by 12pm. Actual excitement had begun then. It was very hot, and there are already thousands of people lined up. We had no option other than increasing the count of number of people standing in the line. However, after sometime, we entered in (Camera was not allowed.. very disappointed). Till that day, I had a wrong opinion that watching match live in a stadium is strainful, and I even thought that the players are not clearly visible. My opinion is true to some extent but not completely.

The match had started at 2.30pm with Australians occupying the pitch. The first thing which I felt was... “when we watch a match in television, 22yard pitch gets filled in our eyes.. whereas if we watch it in a stadium, the whole ground gets filled in our eyes..”. It was really a great feeling watching live in the stadium. But, we had a disappointing afternoon that day as Australians were in full swing. I slept for one hour due to my weakness, and also because of the soothing musical notes produced from Cameron White's bat. His exposure on that day helped Australia to reach 350 run mark.

In the 30minute session break, all of us gained some energy and we were ready with flags and banners. Our eager wait ended when Sachin came out looking up at the sky. As Sachin need 7 more runs to reach to his 17000run mark, for every run scored by him, the crowd showed their heights of vocal power. The moment he scored his 7th run, the crowd produced huge decibels of sound. I think “huge decibels of noise” is more apt. Let it be anything.. Sachin deserves everything. It was really a great feeling joining my hands to applaud the little master. The later part of the match was damn good as Sachin went on to score 175. Once imagine my level of excitement that day as I watched my Cricketing idol performing. Credit goes to my friend Venky for his Cricket match wish. Though India lost the match by 3 runs, we were really happy as we saw Sachin implementing his classic shots all around the ground. So, the date, 5th November 2009, was very memorable to us as we all experienced Sachin's master class that day..

P.S: Congrats to Sachin for his Double Century in ODIs. I thought of writing this blog after his 200 knock, but I was busy :P.

At every phase of our life, we are accompanied by our friends. It is always good to have friends by your side to tease, to hurt and to support. But sometimes, we are forced to move apart. It generally happens with school friends, as in those days we do not have any contact numbers to save or to distribute. Initially, We miss them. Slowly, time makes us to forget them.. and now they own the name Old Friends...

School days were the days during which the originality of ours play a major role. 10 years of schooling, and we know each other since childhood, so we never try to impress anyone, and thus the originality comes into picture. Years pass as seasons pass.. but memories stay with us to make us smile. Suddenly, one day, we may/will get a chance to meet our old friends to trigger those old beautiful memories.. and I'm sure.. that day is really a special day.

I have few friends in my life whom I missed. I thought I would never meet them again because it has been around 7 years after our schooling. But i'm fortunate to meet 2 of my old friends after 7 years. Recently, I somehow got my friend Rama Krishna's number and we both talked to each other but never thought of meeting due to our busy schedule :P. Anyways, even laziness has its limits.. right?? so we planned to meet each other. On march 16th 2010, I met my friend RamaKrishna finally. During our school days, I was very short and I used to be the third person standing in line during our prayer time. And now when I met RK, of course after our tight hug, he said “you are comparatively tall now..” and I experienced unconditional proud. We spent nearly 3 hours and recollected our memories. A bench in Krishna Kanth park should thank us as we made her to bear friends instead of lovers..!!

Around 5 days later, I received a call from the same guy RK, and the callsummary was that he talked to Durga (other school friend), and they are planning to meet the next sunday. I was ready for this meet too. But we thought of making it somemore special. So we spoked to few other school friends who are in touch with us and we planned a small get together. We made sure of hiding this plan from Durga. On march 28th 2010, we reached Birla Mandir, and we were waiting for Durga's call. She made uswait for longtime, and finally called RKafter her class (I don't know the details of her course). Atlast, after few call processings, our ex-Leader Durga reached birla mandir. We all were ready to surprise her. As planned, RK met her. He made her to walk towards us. The moment she saw us.. she was speechless (but mouth opened). Once imagine, a girl who was prepared to meet only one friend.. and all of a sudden, she was forced to meet 7 other friends that too after 7 years.. Great feeling.. isn't it?? The initial hours of our meet were really tough as silence played its part. But as I already said school friends are friends with whom we never implement shy. We started our recollecting session and the later hours were so special for us as we travelled back to our school days.Felt really happy to see Vinay Teja, Sandeep (Mowgli), Anusha (topper), Sarojini (Jini), Sravanthi (she hates the name Sravs), RK (the actor) and Durga Venu (the leader, angry young girl). I can proudly say.. we all forced a note of an emotional joy in to our voice..

P.S: I have two more friends whom I'm willing to meet in my life. They are Preethi and Vidya Sagar. Hope I meet them one day.

Few years back, before I had internet connection in my PC, I used to raise a question- “Though friends meet daily, and when cellphones are available, how can people chat killing most of their time??”. After some days, internet was available on my PC and I started chatting with my friends. I never thought of my killing time question again. My initial chatting days were really tough as I used to switch between different chatting windows with rapid speed. The first thing I felt was “it provides good exercise to fingers”. Also, it keeps your mind fresh provided you use limited version of chatting.

Chatting is the best way to share. I feel the best time to chat is during college days. No matter how meaningless the topic is.. it always provides excitement and fun when discussed. It makes you share about yourself which tongue cannot share. It can be used to discuss about many things like friends, movies, old memories, news, gossips and sometimes subject topics, of course we rarely go with the last one. No doubt after chatting, your mind gets refreshed. College days chatting is the first phase in chatting which everyone enjoys by sharing fun.

Times change. College days turn into college memories. Friends become bit busy with their careers and further studies. There are few friends who stayed connected to us for few years and we rarely used to chat with them. And now, they go abroad for their studies and within no time we add their Ids to our messenger list. Previously, we rarely used to chat with them and now we regularly chat with them to stay connected. This is the second phase in chatting. First phase deals with fun, and second deals with fun and also pain of missing them. Anyways, life goes on, and we get habituated to every phase.

After many days, I came across my killing time question again. But this time, I was able to answer it. The answer is- “Chatting gives you chance to share which tongue cannot share, of course not in all cases. Also, it keeps you connected with your old friends”. Life also means.. .3 old friends, 3 separate cities, 3 coffee mugs.. and 1 internet messenger.

P.S: Avoid long hours of chatting. You can chat regularly to stay connected but use limited time chatting. Happy Chatting :).

In my first year of Engineering, I was called out of the class for cricket selections. Ground was already occupied by many seniors of my branch, and without any hesitancy, I questioned myself-”Did I commit a mistake by raising hand when seniors asked for guys who knew cricket??”. Before I could answer to my self made question, I was called by a senior with whom I can surely win Heavy Weight Competition. He asked me to bowl for sometime as I told him that I'm a bowler. After my break-less bowling for nearly an hour, he came to me and told that I got selected. He also told sweetly that you are not going to play in the match as the team got already filled. As a junior, I didn't had any words that day, but I was dare enough to ask him for his name. He simply said “I'm mango”. I thought he was hiding his actual name as seniors generally do.

Many days later, in my 2nd year, I met mango again for the same reason Cricket. During our match practising, our Physical Trainer (named asPitapuram by Mango) came to us and talked to us. In between talks, he addressed Mango with the same name Mango. Then I came to a conclusion that Mango is not just the name used by students. That day, I eagerly asked mango for his actual name, and he said- “my name is Rajesh, but most of them call me mango”.

Later, in my 3rd year 2nd semester, mango joined our batch as he got detained due to lack of attendance. As I was already familiar to this guy, I never felt him as a new face. With in few days, we were turned in to good friends. One fine day, I eagerly asked him about the story behind his name mango.

He said- “In my first year, I used to be bit weird towards seniors. One day, in bus, one of my senior asked me for mango fruit. I told him “as it is winter, we wont get those fruits now”. Senior took my words as a chance and asked me to bring mangoes the next day. I took that as a funny deal and didn't think of it. That evening, when I was out, to my surprise I found mangoes. As a junior, I thought of fooling that senior and bought those mangoes immediately. Next day, the mango lover asked me for mangoes, and within no time I kept those unripened mangoes in his hands. He was speechless. I think the news of mangoes spread like wildfire in his class. The same evening, when I came out of our block, I saw seniors sitting on the lawn. One girl from my seniors, who knew the story of mangoes called me-“Oye”. Though I knew that she was calling me, I didn't respond. After trying twice, she called me- “Mango”, and I looked at her. That's it, my name Mango started that way”. I was continuously laughing in the bus after hearing to his story as I never heard this sort of story behind a nickname. 


Later on, I enjoyed his company every time. I still remember, one day when I asked him an unanswerable question, mango's reply was a song- “ee ushakiranaaluu...” (a starting song in ETV channel). I was shocked in happiness and gave him a tight hug when he came to my place in the night on my birthday. We used to enjoy sitting in Ramu dhaba. It was because of him, my cell phone's speaker got repaired as he always used to listen my phone songs with maximum volume. I couldn't forget the day when I got eliminated in one of the interview, as this guy made me feel much better. Though I'm missing those days with him, my days with mango will be stored forever in my heart..

Back in my college tour days, we were in hotel at Munnar, a hill station in kerala. It was early in the morning, few of my friends were already getting ready and few of them were still enjoying their sleep. We were asked to step into bus by 7.30, and everyone was ready by that time. Bus started as soon as everyone stepped in. It was very cold, and a drizzle accompanied us all the way. Everyone was eagerly waiting for the bus to stop as we knew that we are going to visit the best part of Munnar. All the way, it was a cool journey with tea plants on either side of the road and fine drops of rain made the place more scenic.

After few hours, we were at the base of a hill. We boarded other bus, and in no time we were above sea level by some thousands of feet. We could see nothing from the place we stood as fog covered the place completely. Almost everyone was freezing but I bet everyone enjoyed it. Cameras were busy taking pictures. When we were returning back from the top, Sharan's finger was bleeding. He was shocked as he did not knew when he actually received a friendly hello from a leech. Sometime later, we were off the hill.

From that place, we were taken to echo-point, the place where all boys showed their power of vocal cords. Spent sometime there before we reached a shopping spot. It was around 6 pm in the evening, few of us stepped out of bus for shopping and the bus started to hotel with the remaining. It was raining still, and we gave no importance to it. When we were busy roaming, Yash received a call. I don't know who was at the other side but the call summary was to buy a cake for my birthday. Yash had no chance to make it as a surprise for me, so he bought the cake and candles, and I stood there watching my cake getting packed in a box.

It was already very late, and a sandwich in a bakery made us wait even more. Atlast, we started back to hotel and when we reached our hotel, our sir welcomed us with anger as we expected. Sometime later, the time was reserved for my cakecut. Though it was not a surprise to me, I was very happy as I experienced my first cake cut in my life. I thank all my friends who were part of it. I din't had an habit of writing diary in those days, otherwise, a day before my birthday would have been the colourfull page of the diary.