Guns n Roses..

Disclaimer:

"In this post.. the whole applying process for graduate studies in US is compared to a warlike situation where getting shot by someone signifies a reject and getting a rose from a beautiful lady means an admit..(time frame doesn't matter). I have quoted my experience, what I felt and observed about the whole after-appin period.. This post might be more appreciated by ppl who have experienced the appin process, n more by bitsian mechites.. "

Past few months were like a battlefield, with students from EEE EnI Mech  n CHEM were on the field surrounded by the soldiers from different universities. We had our turn, and now exhausted with all the ammunition were busy in dodging the back firing from the opponents. 

It was a total chaotic situation. We could see the gun shot coming but can't really judge for whom it was meant for. Before we identified and lamented on the loss of one, we received a news of another and another n it went on... There were some instances when suddenly an apsara came and gave a rose to a student. That night generally passed in revelry, and if that apsara was an high ranked apsar

a.. then that student would generally leave the battlefield with good memories of apping!!

This continued, and till feb end all the EEE EnI guys were either dead or satisfied with one or more apsaras. Some lucky ppl also got additional cash with roses (funding).. a way to lure them to accept the proposal.  I had got one rose from Clemson, but I was still on the field. Majority of Mech ppl were still waiting for their apsaras to come. It was really frustrating for us that we waiting n waiting n waiting.. n all other guys had already finalized the university they desired to go to.  

We started hearing in the month of March. All gun shots :(.. Irrespective of the rank of the university.. if the student is from Mech... he was fired. We were all very scared. Words like.."yaar kya hoga!, Mech walon ki to lagi padi hai bey!!... etc etc could be heard everywhere. I could see a Skirmisher coming towards me. I recognised it was from MIT. It came and wounded me on my legs... But I had expected that, as I knew I was not adequately equipped to defend myself to MIT, still had taken a chance. My legs were hurt, but I had the instinct to

 fight more. But then, it followed by my worst nightmare, I had never imagined this to be happening.. A cavalry archer from Stan came and fired a straight Head Shot.. I was dejected, thought everything is over, we have lost the battle.. 

Soon I realised that Stan had shown no mercy on any Bitsian Mechite, rejecting all the ppl irrespective of their Cg, Projects, internships and publications. This massacre continued with we getting mauled by the battalions from UTA, Ohio State, UIUC and even Purdue. But then after this vendetta, we saw some apsaras at the horizon. Hurray!! we shouted.. "Mech walon ke admits ane lage". 

Soon an apsara came near with loads of cash with her. She came and proposed not one, but three Mechites.. Vinay, Rahul and Daniel. Yes, she was from Minnesota and these three of my friends readily accepted her with her cash. Then it was Vikram's turn. He was proposed by  apsaras from Arizona and NCSU. Wow.. now that was an happy dilemma, whether to go to technically advanced NCSU or to the "land of apsaras"--Arizona!! Pagal hai ye banda.. saale ne Arizona ko reject maara!!

I was still wondering about my fate when I saw one from Purdue coming towards me. But she was accompanied by her bodyguard. I was confused, what does that mean?? The guard approached me and said, she likes you, but the king (graduate officer) has told that he would agree only if someone from his kingdom (Purdue) would recommend my name to him.(I was on waiting list!!) Now this was tough, muze aur ek fight marni padne wali thi. But I liked her, and I accepted the challenge (started mailing the profs@purdue) Meri khyati itni fial chuki thi ki muze kafi saare replies aa gaye and I could see Purdue doors opening for me.

But soon I realised, there was more for me. My dream gal was still not seen anywhere. The battlefield was nearly empty now and I could clearly see a Ford racing towards me.(Yes, Ford on a battlefield.. see how advanced they were!!). It came straight from Detroit, the Auto hub of this world. The nitro-boosters were switched off, it gradually decelerated and came to halt just few yards in front of me, after a breath taking drift. The doors slid up. Someone got down. The atmosphere was dusty and I could only figure out that it was a female figure. I was relieved. Not a gun shot again. She came closer and offered me a rose. I was overjoyed, I couldn't really express what that meant to me. It was a dream come true. Now I was not eager to hear from UTA, GATECH etc. I readily accepted the offer and left the field with her, straight to University of Michigan- Ann Arbor. 

([1] ye chitra daniel ke blog se churaya gaya hai!!)