How I ended up in a police station...

Well... for all those ignorant indians who dunno what the title is... its the name of a very famous book(famous for gandhi fans :) ) written by the father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

And I have rightly chosen it as my blog title.

It's a simple story that might be common for some, obscure for others, truth for me.

Long long time ago....

Once upon a time.....

Two days ago to be precise....

I had a normal day at the office... like any other day....

I got up from my chair, looked at my computer screen, waited for it to show "Windows is shutting down"....

I sat down. I drank water from the bottle.

I got up. I signed in the register my 'out time'. I got down. I got down to the cellar. (thats where i park my car - b2)

As far as i think there was nothing unusual till here. Normal crap story.

Well it all began when I was driving back home...

I had a very bad accident. The experience was even worse than the accident.

Please check the image.

[ from right "me in car" , from down "the guy on bike"]

It was one of the worst day (night) of my life...

12:05 AM , Out of nowhere did a bike come at full speed right in front of my car only to get dashed by my car.

I have got a good habit of seat-belt so i was saved from any kind of injury.

But the guy on bike was not so lucky... He ended by flying in the air and breaking quite a few bones in the accident.

But that was when the story began...

Since I was safe... I came out of my car and immediately checked for the health of the bike guy...

Thats where i got a shock... as the guy was struggling to get up... people gathered around and started asking me questions...

I was the "guy in car" who had hit the "poor guy on bike"...

The guy on bike was loosing blood and people were worried about how will he pay money and why was i driving on the road! Some took the liberty to ask me for money to keep quiet. While all this was happening the guy on the bike was still bleeding.

I somehow pushed the guys and asked the injured guy whether he was hurt anywhere. He was.

He had a fractured leg. And he needed immediate medical attention.

I shouted at the mob ready to engulf me because I was the "guy in the car". I said whoever wants to thrash me can sit in the car and thrash me after I get this guy to hospital.

I was worried, but I was right. Finally, the people now turned there attention to the guy who by now had lost enough blood. He was picked up by a few people and made to sit in the rear of my car.

Thank god. As he sat,he immediately spoke to me and told sorry since he realized that he came too sudden on to the road and had caused accident. He asked me to leave him there with his bike and go home. I couldnt as he was bleeding. I said I will leave you till the hospital, but he insisted on going home rather than a hospital.

I took him to his sisters home which was nearby.

As if the mob thing was not enough, the guys sister came out and started scolding him for getting another accident, followed by her mother-in-law who repeated the same things.

All these was happening when the guy was seriously bleeding. The sister took a mere 15 mins to change clothes apart from 10-15 mins of drama outside her house and get in car to take him to hospital. His husband was out and not lifting phone throughout this.

12:35AM. Finally he was admitted to the hospital. I felt relieved as nothing serious happened to him when he was with me. I waited for some time, gave the guys sister my details and went home.

But throughout this I felt ashamed at the way the guy's family treated the matter. They were more interested in scolding him than treating him for injuries.

But that was not enough trouble for a night, was it?

For being a good person, one has to pay the price.

I went home and told my father the complete thing. He called up the doctor who was taking care of the guy and confirmed the status. He got up and got ready for the drama which was to come.

Now comes the shocking part,

We went to the police station to find that I was accused in hit-and-run case of a poor painter boy.

I was to be arrested immediately. The case has been booked and the victim was seriously bleeding in ICU.

The victim's jija who had been missing throughout the drama had lodged the complaint.

According to the police, the case was very clear, I was the rich guy in car who hit the poor guy on the bike.


Shocked. Surprised. Jolted. Hit with lighting bolt.

The invisible jija knew exactly what had happened. I rammed the car into the bike breaking his bones.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

That was what exactly how I felt.

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The victim was not even asked whether it was his mistake or not,

The victim's sister was not even asked whether there was anyone who had helped them,

The victim's sister's mother-in-law informed that he was admitted to hospital after being run-over-by-a-car.

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We went to complain about the accident so that I could claim insurance for the damaged car.

I ended up as a criminal who had brutally run-over-a-poor-guy and dissappeared after the heinous act.
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So this is how I ended up in police station. First police case filed against me, in my whole family I guess, in three generations, I guess.

But like all stories, this story too had a happy ending, the victim got consciousness and immediately stated that he was at fault and i was not negligent. I guess any indian couldnot lie on Gandhi Jayanti.

Case withdrawn with mutual settlement.

Had hickups when police personnel started demanding money for the whole case and when we found out that guy had no license when he was driving and insurance money for damage to car and guy will not be easily available if the guy had no license...

But thanks to senior police personnel who intervened in the case, explained to me and my family the full case at the end of the day, how it would not effect anything for me in future since the case was filed in haste by a relative, and how i need not pay a single penny to any police personel for the services renedered.

In the end, a good and bad example for me to learn and how to be more careful in future.

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Tips for you:

1) In case of accident, make sure your first priority is saving lives.

2) In case people harass you, dont lose calm, stand tall, even if you are at fault be humble and accept it, and emphasis on saving life of the guy at all costs.

3) Please make sure you get contact details of atleast two-three witnesses on the spot of accident.(which I failed and hence the drama)

4) Try your best to be polite when talking to people in hospital, they take care of thousands of patients and you are no special god-gifted super-duper being to get special treatment. Be patient when in hospital. Those guys know what they are doing.

5) Dont believe the words of others in case of accident and try to get direct information from patient/victim. (As in my case, the victims mother was telling everyone in hospital that a rich guy had run over a poor guy)

6) Be polite to police personel, however harsh they appear to begin with, they will melt down and be more helpful.

In short, never lie, have failt in truth, its the harder way, but surely the rewards for standing by what is right will give strength to tackle any problem in future.

To finish off,

Gandhi: Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always.

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Also, please pray for the healthy recovery of the guy-on-the-bike.

The Whithered Flower....

The Withered flower…

3… 2… 1… Process Activated….. ! Error! System Overload! Unhandled Exception!

“Not Again!” This was my thirteenth fruitless attempt… and the system had crashed yet again.

I was tired of this way of life. I was tired of the way things go around here. I was tired of getting no results after years of study, research and hard work. I was tired! I was tired of this stupid “teleporting machine”, which refused to work. I was tired of consoling myself that it would work one day. I was tired of trying and failing and replenishing my weakened hope of making this damn thing work.

I was feeling down and decided to call it a day. Now the next task was to find the right key to this lab from that bunch. I always wondered why they didn’t give me the master key. I decided I would not return to this place for some time now. So many years of effort going down the drain, can never lift your morale to continue as zealously as you began with! I needed a break. I needed a holiday… yes that’s what I wanted.

Walking along the corridors, I slowly started moving down the lanes of past…. Thinking about how it all began on that wonderful and remorseful day…

I would not have been here if it wasn’t for that wacky scientist, whose chalk talk had thrilled my veins for answers, answers to questions which were weird to imagine in first place. I despise myself partially, for being such a fool to fall in his trap and agreeing to pour life into his crazy idea; without thinking about how it would eventually change my life to that of a hardcore nerd unaware of the happenings of the world around me.

Walking along, I knew I had plenty of options back then, but this was something which would drive you mad, if it were ever to succeed… It was such a lame idea, and yet so enchanting to ears, to teleport stuff at the click of a button. It was worth having a shot at. And now when I think of it, all I am left with is this old office room, an age-old siemens mobile with inbuilt library of viruses, and a laptop which is more exhausted in life, than me, by running thousands of simulations.

Leaving all this behind, I wanted a change! A change in life that would make me merrier and jaunty like it was in the golden olden days. Yes! It’s been nearly ten years since I took up this goofy dream project.

I remember those days, when I used to decorate my desktop with bikini-clad actresses and models, just like any other human kid. Partying, flirting, and hanging out with friends, with only one motto in life “live life jumbo size” And I still wonder how I could leave all that behind me and become such an extinct member of society; into an extremely dull and unhappy person in all these years.

But what is the point in regretting about something which you know was wonderful and cherishing, and yet cannot be retained; unless someone gives me another freaky idea, to make a time machine, to go back and revive my youth like I fancy it to be…

Wondering about all this didn’t make me realize that there was something weird about my room, what was that on my desk?

That’s unusual and scary for someone to drop a courier on a Sunday. I shook myself to come back to this horrifying reality, where cases of parcel bombs were not so uncommon. My mind was now totally revolving around the box with hundreds of scary ideas of what could be in the box. Gathering all the courage and reminding myself that all you need to do is to open it and find out what is there in it… I bent forward to open the box….

But wait a minute… Hey!! What’s that symbol on the box? No… It cannot be that. Can it be?? But what is it doing here on this Pandora’s Box?

It was similar, no, exactly same as the symbol of our secret society of guys in college, “the withered flower”, designed exclusively by me in my second year to officially mark the existence of our now-extinct society. It was once as sacred, secret and important to us, as the Priory of Sion was to decipher the Da Vinci code.

Suddenly a thunder struck me, after all these years, what was this symbol doing on the parcel bomb? What could it be…? And how could it get into my room?

I could not control the anxiety anymore and opened the box.

I was wrong, when for a moment I imagined that it would be a college re-union or something.

I was wrong, when I thought it would be an invitation to the past.

I was wrong when I thought that I was finally gonna meet my old friends and old memories will be replenished and cherished.

I was wrong when I thought I would be able to meet her finally...

I was wrong... I was always wrong...

…….

……

…..

….

…

..

It was the damn parcel bomb. Shit!

It wasn't another happy ending....

Reviews:

Uday: good story :)

Initially felt like one of my literature & life class... :P

Abheek: Fairly boring commentary from an oversensitive, emotionally demanding computer nerd

Yogi: ABSURD

Atul: Corroborated theories of a time machine wherein a fledgling scientist finds himself in despair and tries to recover. A prevaricated ending which probably happens in past!

Beep: Chunda max… *yawn*

Jim: the story begins well and grasps the interest of the reader. The character seems rather young for a scientist. As the plot thickens, that you tend to feel it’s the same old cliched story by an amateur… but the twist in the story is rather impressive and imaginative. Good story.

Crazy... But true... I just wrote a Letter to the Presindent Of India...

Welll I got up.... AAAAAahhhhh I missed B slot again....

why is it that noone wakes me up..... welll anyways this is somewhat related to the topic i wanted to blog about...

k. I got pained when I realised that I missed a class yet again... opened the damned newspaper.... And started reading about this Afzal guy who wanted to bomb the parliament....

When It sounded interesting to me... bombing a parliament ... why would someone do such a thing.... unless he was crazy like me... :D

Anyways I started searching for some more news of what this guy was like and why did he went over the board to this.... well... as usual I got some news.... nothing solid in them....

So I decided its good to hang him ... And through the journey I reached the President Of India homepage....

Now ther was a very cute symbol... "write a letter to the President" :D it made me go wild... :D

I clicked.... started writing.... And Holy Shit... I couldnt believe what I had written... well anyways... judge it urself...

THE LETTER....

"Well as an Indian, I would love to see to a person who spreads violence in my country hanged.... But wouldnt it be much more wonderful to give him life and see the pain in his eyes for what he did was wrong.

I know, It was the Parliament Of India, But I think when it comes to people of Kashmir its totally different. They have used violence in the past to show their unhappiness and distress they have been suffering.

This may have been one of their biggest mistakes... but someone has to tell them... that violence cannot bring happiness or recognition.

I, personally felt that Afzal should have been hanged, But then I realised that I want him alive to show him after his attack the situations hasnt improved at all....

Dont make him a martyr triggering off a blaze among the 'youth' of Kashmir.... which I consider will be the biggest asset in bringing kashmir back to normal after decades of violence.

India should set an example that punishment of crime should not always be death or torture... I know it will make India look weak... But it will only make us more stronger from heart... that we were able to punish a man by pardoning his crime, for attacking the country's most important building, The Parliament.

Instead I believe 'you' can reach out to the people of Kashmir... through a nation wide press conference... And do the most unexpected.... making the people of kashmir comfortable that their voices are being heard... but making it clear at the same time that if you continue harboring violence you will be further and further considered as aliens and enemies in your own country.

I salute to the Army of India for their great work in stabilising Kashmir.
But people of kashmir still feel that there is a wall between Indians and themselves. Its time to lift the barrier and move towards a unified thought, working for the progress of the country.

Well I am not so grown up to give my thoughts on a sensitive political issue..
But I felt this would be the best solution to this situation.. not because he did a crime.. but because its time to erase factors which can lead to crimes like this in future.

People will have their own opinions, But a leader like you should be able to predict what can happen if we take only the past into account and forget how much it can harm us in future...

"Forgiveness is almost a selfish act because of its immense benefits to the one who forgives"

The END.

I know its a crazy little blog.... but it makes me wonder... "did i write it???"

Journey through the streets of ubuntu...

It was nice Sunday morning when I decided that this would be last time I play on windows XP....

I realize now... I was (not) a fool...

Well, Like someone(I) say "There are two sides of a coin.... ", there are both advantages and disadvantages of having Ubuntu....

Now first let me get you people know what is Ubuntu.... it as an old afrikan tribe name... and type Linux operating systems...

you must have heard of fedora core, red hat, mandrake, Debian, etc etc... but this is considered the easiest of all and the best choice a beginner can opt to get into the world of open source environment....

now I am a total game freak..... until I realized it becomes boring if there is no proper competition.... I used to play AOC to begin with... got pained by two better aoc players putting fart all the time ... and discussing it 24*7 in front of my room.... Then I shifted to quake...quake3... one of the best fundo game i have ever played... it itself has a hell lot of commands much more than Linux i think... [:D]

But now i feel lot better while using Linux!! it doesn't suck like windows.... no virus!! Thousands of possibilities and ideas can be developed.... no restrictions!! Learn from basics!!

And best thousands of forums for each and every problem u get...

And writing about Ubuntu, i totally forgot that its one hell of a boring subject if you don't love computers... :)

So now when I think of it.... I decide that this will be my shortest blog!

But it has already exceeded my first one... so now I decide !!!

Wait a minute... where am I going... This blog was supposed to be about Ubuntu and me!!

hmm.... its too boring... lets call it a day for this blog...

read some nice stuff....

(this blog contains fundaes in general about the IIT brand, how one can use it and urges IITM junta to look above - what has unfortunately become - the fatally low standards of ambition. If you think you are beyond this or if you are cynical enough that you are laughing already... then please ignore this mail. You might realise the gravity of the situation later, or be permanently blissfully ignorant.)

Hi all,

For those who came to the app meeting, you might remember that I was the guy urging junta to app and putting 'fact of life' fundaes. In any case, that is of little consequence. The reason I am writing this mail is because of the shock I received throughout the app meeting about the - I will not put it in a politically correct manner - absolute naivete (please look up the word if you dont know it... it is a GRE standard word) of most people concerning research, the IIT brand and the reason why IITs are what they are. I am appalled to find most of the students coming to IITs because (and ONLY because) they were forced into it or some other such external reason. What seems even more appaling is that no one seems to be reading anything (magazines, journals, newspapers or even on the internet).

Let me say that I truly believe in the superiority of IIT students because they have cleared the JEE (in whatever way)... at least in the limited realm of science and math. But IIT grads over the years have not just dominated the tech scene, but also achived success to different degrees in diverse fields like music (remember guitar prasanna?), management (too many to name), startups (25% of silicon valley) and even movies (remember mihir mysore in yuva?).

I will give you some information to start with in this mail. The rest is up to you. Whether you choose to be a true-blue IITian carving out a niche for himself/herself, or CHOOSE to become yet another statistic by joining an IT job or equivalent is a matter of personal choice, and everyone will tolerate that, if not respect that.

1. Attend classes outside your department taken by some of the best profs in the institute . Some specific suggestions are: Balki (physics), Suresh govindarajan (physics), arul lakshminarayanan (quantum mech), TS (mech), GS (OR), Veera raghavan (HS), T Pradeep (chemistry), mangal sunder (chemistry), Panchapakesan (Flu mech/App mech), MS Sivakumar (micro mechanics/app mech), Karmalkar (MEMS/microfluids - and dont be surprised... he is in elec, he is also an IITM B.Tech).

The reason i suggest is these profs is that you need to see them in action to realise that good profs teach, but great profs INSPIRE. the saddest thing in IITs is the quality (and quantity) of faculty is not adequate. In fact, please don't think that this is only my personal prejudice. I can easily quote Prof. CNR Rao (for those ignorant even about him, I can only say you have completely lost touch with Indian science) who said "IITs were always known for first rate students, but second rate faculty". So you HAVE to absolutely stop thinking that the average profs in IIT represent the best the country or the world has to offer. Please take some time and attend classes by good professors and in subjects you like... it may hurt your grade a bit, but i urge you to look beyond that.

2. Enough names are thrown around about the famous IITians. I can easily copy/paste from some forward the names... but i will not do it. I will give you the link to a page where the IITs had a pan-IIT conference in the US. Just have a look at this: http://www.iit2005.org/speakers/speakers.shtm

I am quite sure even the most ignorant can make out what MIT, Harvard and CEO. What folks don't realise is that Harvard etc were founded in the 17th century... and their alumni have accumulated their vast resources behind the brand. IITs are a 50 year old phenomenon in a 3rd world country, and in such a short time we are recognised are an institution of excellence by the 227th resolution of the US congress ( http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/apr/28iit.htm). Just consider the numbers: IIT Madras has produced on the order of 25,000 thousand B.Techs throughout its ENTIRE lifetime, Harvard's unergraduate intake is 10,000 PER YEAR. I assume you can do the math. The ony institution which has such low intake and such a huge impact is Caltech.

3. On MBAs - I heard the tone of people wanting to make money and talk as if there is no money in technology... well, my friends you are adly mistaken. most of the negativity you come across in the media is about the AVERAGE PhD and especially those in fields like humanities, where it is certain that finding a job is tough. But an IIT grad is a precious commodity, whether you realise it or not... he/she is NOT "average". read this ( http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/articles/brief/gbengcareers_brief.php) BTW, for those lazy enough to skip a page, page 2 in that article has info on mech. I am sure if an average graduate degree (MS) holder in US makes about $60,000 which in itself is a good amount... an IITian putting a little fight can surely make more.

But I totally respect those people wanting to go for an MBA... after all, not everyone will like technology, and not everyone should. the point i am trying to make is that a significant number of juniors (and even seniors) seem to be taking it as a "safe" route or making an MBA decision without even knowing what real research is!!! well, let me assure you...an IIM MBA is neither a "safe" route, nor a decision you can make when you are completely ignorant about your other options. After all, you can always do an MS or even a PhDand then an MBA... and be paid insanely more than MBAs after B.Techs. (have you read about the background of the guy with the highest salary from IIM this year? check it)

4. What is real research? trust me - it is NOT what is done in IITs (for the most part) . IISc comes closest to world class research, and if you get a chance, do check it out. but here i will give you some links to check out:

Prof. Sriram Ramanathan (IITM B.Tech, now at Harvard division of engineering and applied science... read this especially because he got into academics after working at intel): http://www.deas.harvard.edu/shriram/
Prof. L. Mahadevan (IITM B.Tech in MECH, now doing excellent research on applied mathematics (!!) at harvard DEAS): http://deas.harvard.edu/directory/professionalbio/index.html?id=3364
Prof. Subra Suresh (IITM B.tech, now head of MIT materials science. excellent research on cellural mechanics and materials): http://www-dmse.mit.edu/faculty/faculty/ssuresh/
Prof. Arunava Majumdar (B.Tech IITB, now in Berkeley mech. a leader in nanotech):http://www.nano.me.berkeley.edu/research.html
Prof. Vinayak Dravid (B.Tech IITB, now in northwestern a # 2program in materials science): http://vpd.ms.northwestern.edu/research.asp

There are deans of graduate schools and others who are too numerous to mention here. also, for enterpreneurs, google for gururaj "desh" deshpande (IITM B.Tech). he is funding the deshpande center at MIT media lab... you can'te get a better example of enterpreneurship.

I will not even attempt to tell you how dominant we are in research labs of all sizes... if you still aren't convinced, check out the profiles of indian names occuring in this list of HP research labs: http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/

And please stop thinking that mech is about lathes and grinding machines. the first course on manufacturing in MIT frequently deal with laser microfabrication. if you still dont trust me, go here and check... it is also an excellent resourse in general. + it is free! The MIT open courseware project: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

try to get hold of the 'pan-IIT technology review' (PITech) sometimes it appears in the HOD's office. it summarizes the research activities of IITians globally. and needless to say, even a lay man will be impressed with the impact (and the brands).

5. Politics and sentiments: Do not be misled by arguments of brain drain etc... the same politicians are sending their (underqualified) kids to harvard law. You have a right to excellent higher education, and personal excellence is as important as the improvement of the "common good".

On the other hand, there are many boys who are apping to increase their dowry, and girls to decrease their dowry... which is even more pathetic.

The finalle: Please read up on at least the links and resources i have given here. only when you have the information will you make the right choice. where you go from here is your personal choice, but if you hate tech just because of what you have been through in these 3 years of your IIT life, then your choices will be based on very VERY distorted views. Attend lectures at EML and shaastra, read journals, magazines and tech review online like CNET, forbes or the MIT tech review. Talk to your friends, and use the internet for more than just email, massive multiplayer gaming and porn.

In the end I will leave you with a definitive proof of the impact we have had on the global minds. After all, if a technical institution is frequently mentioned (with full reference) in a comic strip like dilbert... you can only guess the popular perception.

I hope you make the right choices and i wish you best of luck in whatever you decide (job, app, MBA, IAS, GATE... whatever). i will be glad to answer any SPECIFIC (please note the stress on *specific*) questions (most of my details are on my webpage). If you think this mail is senti, it is... i just hope it makes a difference.

*** The ENd ***

By some guy.

Some serious Stuff..... LAN And Studies... are they related?

… I would have never regretted the coming of LAN, but to come to know that juniors are getting much deeply engrossed in LAN than ever... Beats me!

All they do is surf the Net and LAN throughout the day…. And the solution to it…(suggested by none other than our own DJ), closing LAN from 1 to 4 Am was kind of ridiculous…
It has been debated among us and that this solution of insti ppl was something that was made in desperation. Rather than putting a restriction, they should have created awareness of the situation.

“Every restriction insti puts, the students tend to do it more”.

I don’t know if that restriction has helped junta or helped people attend classes more… on the contrary, the professor should be asking why junta are not coming to classes.

I have got sick of hearing professors that “you should have more attendance”, rather than hearing “you should understand the subject thoroughly”. All my professors keep crying every third class that attendance is important, you should not bunk any classes, rather than thinking why are the students not coming.

It may look funny but many of my batch mates had given up in SEMESTER NO.1 simply because of teaching standards. And the system of making teaching assistants professors in due course of time… is what I would never have imagined from a institute like ours.

There is so much talent outside, but having research scholars and teaching assistants as professors of tomorrow is not that is expected. Most of them have no teaching qualities of a professor.

They just come deliver a speech with a tone which lacks the spirit of teaching, and they move on. The professors in IIT, I don’t know why, don’t like the students at all and lack the zeal and enthusiasm to impart knowledge in simple but effective ways.

Everything that is happening in the institute is a partially (mostly) a fault of Professors. Many of the professors I have encountered in my five semesters…. Began their lecture with “I don’t care if you come to class or not.” I totally gave up in first semester, since 4 out of 7 professors, did not care whether the students understand the subject or not. The instant reply by some professors was “You study on your own, you are brilliant, but I have to complete my syllabus in the class”.

It was worst day in my life, when the professor said that he had no time for doubts. I gave up from that day, and today I sleep(gaming*) 12 hours a day and keep dreaming of how my “after IIT” days would be. There have been cases in my class that the professor didn’t know or understand what he was teaching.

I would like to give an example…”My mathematics professor started writing solution of problem sheet on board. He was so busy copying from his paper that he wrote question no.4 and answer of q.no.14! It took him 15 mins to understand that the answer was of different question, even after raising our voices. (He was the HOD of mathematics department)”.[:))]

This semester, My Head of Department is taking a course…. He is trying to set an example for other professors by not giving attendance to people who come even a minute late… And I wasn’t given attendance for three continuous classes… Thanks to that I stopped going to his classes.

***My reason for being late was once I went to bathroom, twice I was waiting in the office for his signature on internship letter. But Alas I was late to class so it doesn’t matter whether I understand the subject or not…
I don’t go to his classes anymore…

------------------>heheheh to be updated soon<--------------------