Remembering Gandhi

He was not one of the faces in the crowd. He was different.A man whose statue will be the first to be placed in NIT Jamshedpur's Hall of Fame- Mr. Ankit Gandhi aka Dangs aka Gands aka ....(fill in with all the names you know :P). This article is dedidcated to him from one of his fans.Ok!! Let's start.
Gandhi-a guy whose mere thought would bring a smile on anybody's face who would have studied with him,Gandhi-a living example of what all can happen with you if you dont adapt & change yourself to circumstances.I remember when I met him for the first time in college ,he seemed a self-assured man who could spin your head with his computer knowledge & exuded confidence .Then IT STARTED..& by IT STARTED I mean IT STARTED..It started all with his participation in a play -an adaptation of Ramayana in which he had taken up the role of Jatayau-the eagle..That play proved to be a turning point in the way the people used to look at him.He became instant famous.That play & especially Gandhi's role was so appreciated by folks that they started doing "quack quack" wherever they used to see him.Now,not only our batchmates but even the mess-boys knew who Gandhi was!!Entering the mess with him used to leave you self-conscious as all heads used to turn to the star Gandhi & soon the mess used to reverberate with a cacophony of human beings becoming Jatayus & doing "quack quack"..
This play became the DEFINING POINT of the cult which got developed around Gandhi or rather Gandhi developed around himself -though unintentionally .Like celebrities, his every move used to be grabbed by the paparazzi(the people present at a particular moment with him)who then used to provide the fuel for gossip-mongers who,in turn, used to take the "Brand Gandhi" to the next level.Thanks to the incessant power cuts,those nights,those nights when for hours end our muse or rather topic of discussion used to be Gandhi, Gandhi & Gandhi..We could never have enough of discussing him-his fights,the recent scribblings on his grafitti decorated door,the recent victims of his computer crashing spree, the new songs/aartis made on him & the list goes on & on & on. Even a single sentence uttered by him used to be spread like wildfire ."Brand Gandhi" had become like teenage infatuation in which we-the infatuated lot wanted more of him !!
I guess if any of you would just think of Gandhi anytime the first image that will hit your mind is a Gandhi in shorts & his famous black vest with a Mickey Mouse on it,with a face as cross a pair of scissors,hurling absues at literally evryone with Prajapti,Nikhil Sood being the prime victims.The brand Gandhi was so exciting then nobody used to miss the revellery so even people with whom Gandhi used to have a violent verbal fight used to come back after some days to say sorry & again start their JOB.Sometimes in the night when you were fast asleep in your room,all of a sudden at 1 am a violent & deafning banging of door used to leave you startled but then instead of getting pissed off you used to find yourself laughing in the half asleep state with Gandhi's S.O.S cries after he used to come to know that somebody has locked him from outside.
The biggest problem with him was not that he used to "take load"(a phrase from our lingo)on anything & everything but he really believed that it's natural to take load as you cant avoid it & that's what exactly used to fuel the other people also. One scene had become very common every evening. Somebody used to piss him off big-time & then there used to be a police-culprit chase with Gandhi throwing stones at the culprit who had pissed him off & this scene- with Gandhi running round & hurling stones used to make people sitting on the slabs having their evening tea go mad with laughter!!
People celebrated their birthdays once a year but Gandhi was so special for us that we used to celebrate his birthday round the year. The clock used to strike 12.The crowd used to give solid GPL to the bday boy & then to the other perenially availble birthday boy-Gandhi.Somebody used to quietly sneak behing Gandhi then catch him off-guard then the GPL hungry wolves used to have enjoy the prey.
This guy became such a great part of our lives that you may take most of the persons from our batch then also the memories would be the same but if you take Gandhi then YOU HAVE NO MEMORIES AT ALL .

Oh my God!! I have written so much but still feels like I havent done full justice to the life & times of this great man in NIT,Jamshedpur.There's so much to write about him that I could probably end-up writing a best-selling short-story on this amazing creation of God.
When the real Gandhi i mean Mahatma Gandhi died Nehru said -"God sends such great personality like him only once in the course of humanity.He has left a void in our hearts.."

For our Gandhi who's but well still alive & entertaining the world I a a similar homage to pay "God sends people like YOU once in the course of humanity.You have left a void in the hearts & minds of all those who had the great opportunity to spend some really great years with you "
I hope the pic reminds you of the day when we told Gandhi that we are gonna make you famous & Gandhi said how & we explained him "How?" The G-spot err.G-stall posters made Juke-box a runaway success.But I remember the last day of Utkarsh & I hope this thing will make you (including Gandhi)mad with laughter.I bet!!
On the last day of Utkarsh when Juke Box & the G-stall(which never really existed) were the center of attraction a bunch of Biharis -absolutely hung-over saw G-stall poster on the Basketball board,.Then suddenly what transpired between them they got on top of the basketball board & started hitting the G-stall poster with their chappals & instead of stopping them people were provoking them to continue with their stupid deed.

HAPPY "DANGI" JAYANTI