How I got my first motorbike.

(The only significant thing in this post today, is, whats written in the title. Most of you would think, its a totally mismatched title for this post.) Today I met some of my engineering college friends. It was great fun. We discussed everything from people, cars, jobs, home loans etc. It kind of reminded me of my engineering college days (Just like everybody. People are reminded of 'those days' when they meet old friends !!). For me engineering college life was torrid. Most people would enjoy the college days. They are most memorable. Of course, I wouldnt say that, I didnt enjoy my college days. Its more like, I never had 'memorable' time. I dont think I would ever remember them as a happy memory. It was a point in my life, when I felt things couldnt be worse and believe me, i was right. I was suffering disappointments on all fronts. I was the worst student in class, I had a lot of KTs, all at different times. I was never used to seeing a 'pass' on the notice board where the results were put up plus I had a lot of run ins with teachers all throughout my engineering life. I once told a teacher in a viva that a question she asked was not from the syllabus. I was right about the syllabus, but no one is stupid enough to tell an external examiner that she is asking an invalid question, that too 'on her face'. Also, I was known to be an 'editor' .....A person who could make a 12 page assignment into a 6 page one, by the method of insystematic editing. Anyone, who was low on time to meet the assignment deadline would have my assignment to copy from. This was something which made me proud, people recognized me for something, atleast. If not a first class in studies at least I had a dubious distinction !!! As we approached our final year of engineering, I was buoyed up by one factor. Our college days were coming to an end. I hadnt performed well in my studies and I would certainly get a relief once education was over. The future looked bleak, but atleast the worst was coming to an end. My dad was worried about my future. He wasnt pressurizing me, but it was evident that he did not like the way things were going. With last year started the campus placements. Given my marks, I did not get any placements. In fact I didnt meet the cutoff marks criteria for most of the companies. My dad gave it a last shot, and told me that if I got a first class in my final year exams, he would buy me a motorbike. There are somethings in life which you never get. I thought that dad buying me a motorbike would be one of them !! Indeed, when I got my final year first term results (a 56% passing), I thought that I would never get a first class. That was because it wasnt possible for me to score a 64% in the final term to round the final year marks to a 60%, which is a first class. After that, I simply gave up hope. I studied like I wanted to, I went out to play when I wanted to and basically went all out on this 'I-dont-give-a-damn' attitude. In the last term exams, somehow, I managed to write my papers pretty well, gave my vivas without any incidents and enjoyed the final year farewell party, happily rejoicing, for those days would never come again while people cried for those days would never come again. I wasnt in anticipation of final term results. I knew they would be bad, even though, by my standards, the papers had gone off pretty well. In fact, I would be glad if I had passed all subjects. One day, one of my best friends, abhilash, called me and told me the results were out. I asked him, whether he saw them (he used to live near the college and usually was the first one to check the results.) He told me, yes. My folks were there with me watching while I talked to him. They looked more tense than I did and the anticipation on their part was intense. I coolly asked him about my results. He told me, I had got a first class in final year !!! I was so shocked to hear this that I didnt speak for a moment. Then when A said hello again, I came to and asked him how the others had fared. Later on I came to know that I had managed to get a 9 grace marks for a first class. Call it whatever you want, but I would call it, god given great luck !! I got my motorbike from dad, after all.