It was about two and a half years back, when the 2** of OBH E block in IIIT Hyderabad took shape into ug2k7-tel@googlegroups.com, thanks to Rajesh Chowdary, for creating this group. He is always at the forefront for such ideas and you’ll for sure thank him for what he does. We were a bunch of 48 Telugu speaking unbranded mavericks of the UG2k7 batch of IIIT Hyderabad that stayed on the second floor of the E-block, OBH. Joining together after having been dispersed across hostels for the first year, the E-block experience was simply superb. Incessant gaming with new laptops, countless volleyball matches in the corridors, outdoor dinners every weekend, the introduction to Hitech Bawarchi, birthday bumps and parties that evolved from the college cafeteria to canteen and further to movies and restaurants, and ofcourse combined assignments and exam preparations, we lived the same thought, wrote the same answer and breathed the same air. In spite of all this oneness, every guy found his interests, explored the undiscovered and made his mark on the group. It was a perfect example of the fact that every one of us had a unique sparklle that shone differently from the others.
From the Mr. Punctual Bala Murali(from Las Vegas),the first customer to the First Floor mess every meal, to the perpetually late Mr. Sai Gurudatt(a.k.a. TomTom), you go with him, you are sure to miss your appointment,
from the embodiment of clarity Gowtham Kurri, to the totally confused Sai Rahul, Damn man! how can you even imagine doing two things at one time??!! :P,
from the metrosexual stylish icon Prudhvi Kosaraju(Prud$),who always has a comb and a mirror in his two hands, to an introvert Gattupalli Aditya, whose unkempt hair perfectly symbolizes the freedom of thought, expression and appearance,
from the abashment of a reticent Nithin Maams, to the celebrated conspicuousness of Chandrakanth Reddy(Chandu) who stood lionized across batches,
from the sanctimonious orthodoxy of an immaculate Kumar Sadhu(Brahmi S/W), to the filthyness of Veera Reddy,
from the football penalties of Gautham Ambati, to the smashes of Srinivas Reddy, both on and off the court of which I was a victim,
from the FIFA gaming of a soft spoken Bharadwaj, you got to use amplifiers to hear him talk, to the CS sniping of Abhimanyu,
I could find every hue of human behaviour and talent in one or the other guy.
Have you ever used random number generators to select courses in your semester? Then let me introduce a coding freak, Madhava Rao, someone greater than Sachin Tendulkar(Sachin doesn't know to code), you can reach him at python.c.madhav@gmail.com.
Be it the mastermind behind the success(:P) of Vayu House, Thati Satya Aditya(likes this!), or a cryptic conundrum in himself, Pandiri Srikanth, who can solve a Rubik's cube in less than a minute,
the mysterious director Subba Rao, who captured the audacity of dogs on campus, or a stunning photographer Kashyap Kompella, who speaks the language of SLRs,
an ambitious Kalyan Mohan, whose self-confidence supersedes everything else, or the commitment and perseverance of a tenacious Vaddepally Srikanth(Puli), even a quarter of which can transform my life,
a stingy Rajkamal, who worships the almighty dollar, your dollars are his dimes, or the silence and modesty of Ramakrishna, or the feminine obsession of Allu Vivek,
the robotic behaviour of Nagakartheek(Chitti),whose bowling I will always dread to face, or an epitome of simplicity, Bharath Ganta, an ultimate panacea to all your technical problems, you'll be totally humbled by the magnitude of his knowledge,
I could find some noteworthy quality to imbibe or a lesson to learn from each of them.
From the King of e-Commerce, Ronanki Srikanth(Galeez), he probably has an account on every online shopping website, to the acme of lethargy, Kaleem Bhai(Josh), who uses speech-to-text translation softwares to use his computer,
from the all-knowing Aditya Kiran Nori(Akon), who can tell you about anything, from the nadir to the zenith, to the GK yearbook in flesh and blood, Nikhil(Seth),
from the butter fingers of KG Pavan(Budugu), anything comes down to rubble in less than a minute in his hands, to the inseparable duo of Varun K and Anil Krishna(Deadman), who keep fighting against each other,
from the innocence of a Lovely Ganga Prasad, to the candidness of a blatantly open Manoj Narra(Pacman), who first speaks and then thinks,
from the rocking euphoria of Bandi Chaitanya(Buttekhan), to the personification of peace and tranquillity, Anil(Dootha),
from the tenacity and perseverance of Sunil Kumar, to the studiousness of Baji Babu,
from the poor jokes of Sreekanth Reddy(Kasikanth), who hates people that do not like his jokes, to Sreekanth(Brahmi H/W), a living database(bmdb) of movies,
from the all-pervasiveness of an elderly Galla Vinod, a numero uno in every sport, to the versatile dexterity of Rajesh Chowdary at art, painting, drawing, photography, drama and music,
there was a hidden marvel capturing golden moments all along the last four years.
And finally, five amazing guys, who defined friendship and stood by me in the toughest of times, my first and best friend on campus, Bhargav(Gundu), who pulled me up when I fell and was nothing less than a perfect mate, an allrounder Abhishek(Chabby), who albeit all this talent was a humble, noble and trustworthy companion, a hardcore Michael Jackson fan, Abhilash Reddy(nvar), who stood by me in the toughest of my times, cried with me when I cried and laughed with me when I laughed, a Lite! Bharath V(Brat), who, though made his mark, whether at SIGMOD or GSOC, was a wholehearted supporter, and last but not the least, my alter ego, the notorious Vignesh(Dumbo), with whom I had countless experiences, each of which was not just fun, but lessons for a lifetime, and every one of his childish pranks that I enjoyed completely.
Exploring the brighter side of each of them, I wonder where I fit in. I wonder if I am just a dark new moon(Amavasyapu chandrudu), much ado about nothing among you twinkling stars shining and illuminating my life too. When I now sit back to retrospect all our fond memories, be it the fights with Kalyan and Abhilash in my room(room lo kottukovadam :P), or the unending mockery by The ABC Gang, the chases of Vignesh or the projects with Rajesh, the bumps I got for every birthday or the comments on facebook with every post or video, tears trickle down when it seems that it has come to an end. You guys were responsible for a transformation of my self, from what I was, to what I am. Today, I have to go home and this is the first time in 16 years of my hostel life that I do not want to go home. I'll miss every one of you and it would be a great void that cannot be replaced. Let the fervour and spirit of ug2k7-tel prevail eternally wherever we are and whatever we are.
