Those Big Evenings

Its been more than four years since i was awarded the Aditya Birla Scholarship. Two days back, i received an email from Corporate Communications at The Aditya Birla Group, asking if i could be present for an Alumni meet at Mumbai. I remembered this person because she was extremely sweet and one of the very few people who did not show the "Oh poor bitisian things - why did they even come? these JEE top rank prodigies will jus squash you" attitude.
It all began with this little chit of paper slipped under my door sometime in Aug 2001. Stated that i must meet "gsu" regarding these scholarships. I never went because i was mortally scared of him and i was sure that it was some mistake. Indu dragged me along the next time, and we figured that this was something BIG. The forms came and the essays were written. I spoke about the olympiads, IGCAR and what i wanted to do. And then it was forgotten;totally cast aside. I wasnteven supposed to be eligible because it was meant for toppers and the professors decided to send all the state toppers. They had to have 20 and it so happened that there were only 17. They decided to pick the highest rank in Chemical, Civil and Mechanical Engineering and i happened to be the one in chemical engg. Until then i was damn confused with the decision i had taken because i knew i could have done a EEE if i wanted to. I dont think i gave it a second thought ever since. After about a month, three girls from BITS were chosen for the next round. Our warden so happy that she almost hugged us.
We had tickets on the Rajdhaani to Bombay and lived in a three star hotel. Our interviews took place in a room at the Taj, overlooking the beach and the Gateway of India. Grandeur is what i lived in, for two days. The delineation between us and the rest was distinctly seen. For some reason, we were less endowed ( ahem! no pun intended) and were cast aside. The schedules said IIT and IIM .....they were not modified to include the fact that BITS was participating. We felt stupid to say the least. The interview itself was one of its kind. Illustrious people...not one not two, four of them. Director general CSIR, Director BARC and two others. I was pissing in my pants. The woman who escorted me was the person representing the Birla Group and was just making sure that things werent going too technical. Twenty minutes later I walked out dazed. I had talked about Brain Drain, the quit india movement, Cloning and the united states preventing a lot of it from happening, Stem Cells, Darwins theory and giraffes with long necks, Entropy, what was common and different between a scientist and an artist, if i would be able to balance a family and a career and kalpakkam. Two hours later, when all three of our names were called, we felt like kicking every other person's behind. The dinner was a strain and so were all the formalities the next day. But a wonderful experience.
All notice boards in pilani had a copy of our photograph in the newspapers, and i got to meet the Director in person thanks to this. Some bastard claimed i sweet talked my way through it. Fuck him...and four and a half years later i remember every microsecond of those 36 hours....I went back two years later for an alumni meet and this was more fun. I stayed at the Taj just after the blasts at the Gateway of India. Lavish is the only word i can think of. The best moment was when my dad called up and said that the Director BARC spoke to him and congradulated him on my winning the scholarship....and of course the fact that it lifted a HUGE financial burden off his head......The Fulton Fellowship thing that i received at ASU seemed quite similar and was thoroughly an enjoyable experience as well. And oh...i still hold a four year ole grudge against a person whom i claim was too egoistic to acknowledge my presence on the day of the interviews in Bombay.