Oct 30 : Bhimanapati Ganesh Rahul

"Hi, I am BG Rahul. You can call me BG" these were the first words BG spoke to me when we first met in 2005. It was a typical 'I am Rahul.. Naam tho suna Hoga' style entry for him into our lives. A curious smile, confident approach and everlasting enthusiasm to be with people made BG an integral part of 2009 pass outs for Chemical engineering at CBIT. I still remember him telling many tales from his inter days - how he was mischievous with friends, mad with cricket and adorably shy with girls. Well his amusement for such happy days only grew stronger as we all spent the next four years exploring uninterrupted adventure called 'Freedom'. One of the best conversation only we both had was about a girl who we feared had gone to another college through second counselling until BG enquired and passed on the good news that she dint. And from that day BG for me was the guy who always enjoyed sharing good news with everyone. From first year results to the best news of the college, BG always had some information on everything we had to be updated on. Never really understood how he had so many contacts but that's what he was really good at - Having a real social network. Where ever we went in college, which ever block we stepped into - BG was well known to many of them. At first I assumed that it could be his sheer modesty to let go of even those who made fun of him behind his back but later on I realised that the reason he never kept any hard feelings against anyone was because he wanted them to be happy even if it meant him being the punch line of a silly joke.I can proudly agree that its this behaviour of his that later inspired me in cracking some insane jokes upon myself when I started making you tube videos to spread laughter.

Apart from his own conscience, two more important aspects in life for BG are very near and dear - Friendship and Cricket. This selfless maestro would go to any extent to lend a helping hand for a friend in need and it never bothered whether BG was in good terms with them. 'once a friend - Always a friend' was his selfish motto. And when it comes to cricket, passion for the game grew with him over time - 'We play to win - plain and simple' When I heard these words I thought he was being mean but after watching him play I really got know why he loved cricket so much. More than the game, he enjoyed being a part of the team. Politics were never his cup of tea so he knew that the only way to stay in the team was to make sure he be the best lefty in squad. Our friends were more than happy to have him on their side once and for all. He knew our strength, also surprisingly knew opponents weakness, as I said - he is BG. He always gave credit to that gentlemen's game which made him passionate towards fitness and sports but trust me buddy cricket is truly honoured to have a reverent player like you who not only loved the game but lived every moment on field inspiring many of us to respect the game. 

I was truly delighted to meet him few years back when he came on a vacation during his masters. He spoke very well about his program and shared his curiosity on the subject. It gives me immense happiness to know that one of my classmates will soon have a  Ph.d degree in nano technology. I don't know about US but future has a lot of hope on people like you buddy, Make sure that you put your dedicated efforts in bringing the best out of this growing technology. You must have had many reasons for pursuing Ph.d in the finest universities with some of the best funding but please be assured that what ever your ideas are, they are lot better than many of ours who have inconsistent imagination. You always believed in people more than your belief in reality which I frankly envied for a long time until I got to learn after years of practice.

If there was one thing I really admired in you was your undying will to never give up what ever the circumstances were. You were the first one to stop a fight, the first one to bring peace, the first one to implement a plan, the first one to encourage any of us who came up with a ridiculous idea, you saw in us what we were never able to see in our own selves and for that we will always be glad to have someone like you in our lives. Yet there was this one moment where you were deeply hurt. For the first time I saw that even a jovial guy like you could be so upset. I didn't know how to console you, tried to brush it off saying 'Leave it buddy, you don't have to care' that's when you said something which I can never forget 'Its not about what I care ra, You saw those looks didn't you, as if I am nothing. I don't deserve that. definitely not me. I only wanted them to have a good time with us'. I am sorry BG and I mean it because deep down I knew that I, like many others, was a reason for putting you in that position. We never really gave a thought that our unintended puns would actually make someone who knew very little about you judge you. Even though its their ignorance but that can never be an excuse since we gave them a chance to judge you. Not only an apology but its our promise that we will never let you down ever again because no matter how many jokes we cracked, no matter how many arguments we had to go through, it was you who made us realise what it is to be a team, a pact, a group of idiots who just loved being ruthless rebels.You were the bond who kept us intact.

Lord Ganesha with a twist :

Truly you are an avatar of Lord Ganesha blessed with a humble smile, a witty sense of humour, a curious mind and a wise character amongst us leading a happy life concealing the real pain so that we never get demotivated. What else can we ask for than a friend who can always be our guide, our hope and our philosopher of 'Chaltha Attitude'. The reason why I manifest every person in my life to a God is because I see God in everyone and for me you are Lord Ganesha who must have wished to lead a mortal life witnessing how easy it is to be happy and teach everyone on what it really means to have knowledge which matters. It is my firm belief that any person who comes across you in their life will always have good memories when they hear you name 'Bheemanapati Ganesh Rahul'. It's not just an impression of who you are but an impact in the longer journey of finding our own selves.

Take it easy Policy :

It is this crazy song that pops up in our mind often when we think of BG. Casual, cool and always on a lighter note, BG continues to spread many smiles by either being a perfect gentlemen or a stand up expert on wits and puns. You truly are an amazing person my friend and always keep reminding us that no matter how hard things become, no matter how difficult it is to keep our cool, the best way to cheer up is to take things easy and chill with no fear of failure as being upset or sad all the time is indeed waste of precious life span.  

Happy Birthday Buddy,
Keep Smiling,
Stay Awesome

October 12 : Vamshi Krishna Reddy Regalla

This is what my friend Ravi Teja vedula wrote about me on my 26th Birthday. I never really took time to thank him or appreciate his efforts but I did understand that it's not easy being my friend. Happy to be a part of your life buddy. May God be crazy enough to keep this friendship intact for as long as we exist on this earth.

His Original title :

orey vedavaa....."oye, vasthunna"

Vamshi 'Krishna' Reddy....One of the very few people whose names were assigned almost perfectly to what they are. He remains to be one from whom lots of unexpected outcomes are seen:

A relief: During the initial days of my engineering at CBIT, I used to take RTC bus to reach college. However, my mother out of her worry managed to get a slot for me in the college bus where I had the chance to meet this IDIOT. Having said that, due to a consistent habit of waking up late in the morning, I many times missed the college bus due to which still took RTC bus to reach college. It was during these times when my immature character couldn't bare ragging from 'sirs' and 'madams.' Now I get a smile on my face thinking of the whole concept of gaining respect from 'juniors' by asking for one. Nevertheless, after the most adventurous task of getting rid of seniors, I used to look for someone to chat for relief. I don't remember if Vamshi was the one that I ended up speaking mostly with during these times. But whenever I (successfully) took the college bus, I used to look for a seat available next to him. Of course, used to get annoyed many times when I didn't find the window seat and lot more times when he used to wear his headphones all the time. Irrespective of whether we talked in the bus or not, I used to go to canteen during break time to see if I can find him there. Many times I ate breakfast twice (first one at home) as he mostly had his breakfast in the canteen.....Now this sounds too cinematic right! Well, sometimes to eat along with him and sometimes just to eat (which I love to do then). 

A dancer: The days were passing by with my punch dialogues hitting him (who received something that sounded "hit me hard ya!") and with our creative rotten jokes and rejoicing comedy chats. But one day, I saw this STUPID dancing in front of the crowd (Chemical Engineering Event) with his smooth yet scintillating moves that included moon-walk for "O ham dam Suniyore" song from movie Saathiya and Ganesh Hegde's "Main deewana." I was totally looking at a different Vamshi from what I knew till then. After some time, I came to know that he is crazy about dancing since his school days. We have a pretty much most awaiting dance performer Vivek Chaitanya in my class, however, I was more looking for dance videos from Vamshi and also tried to persuade him in teaching me (which did not happen though!).

An actor: As a part of our college's annual cultural event, we tried to make a skit on 'Tenali Ramakrishna' with my friend/competitor Amit Kumar in the lead role. However, due to some reason, that skit got cancelled and we unexpectedly ended up in Dilip's team who played a parody skit on '75 yrs - Vajrothsavam.' Vamshi played the role of Mahesh Babu while I was the fire-raising Mohan Babu. We used to rehearse for this skit staying late in the college and took RTC buses (2 or sometimes 3) as the college bus leaves at 4:15 PM. These were those few days of my undergrad when I spent most of my time talking/ making jokes with him. It was my first ever stage performance as an actor (I sang before on a stage competition) in my life and it came out so well that the team was awarded Rs 500/- (Dilip managed to spend that amount by taking us to a nearby restaurant). 

A techie/motivator: Among the people whom I know, he was the only one who participated/presented in many IIT's and other institution's technical events. His way of planning (ahead or last minute submissions) and participating in these events made me to think about participating in one. After individually researching for upcoming/ongoing events with an external motivator in my mind, Gopi Krishna and I could manage to participate in IIT Madras's national technical event and I gave a poster presentation in SNIST, Keesaragutta. Whether he likes it or not, or in the future whether I like it or not! I will always give 'some' credit to Vamshi when someone appreciates my SOP that I used to apply for my Master's program. 

A writer/director: While I was completing my Master's in Virginia, I opened a link that he sent and it turns out that he was writing a blog on a fictional journey that we thought of before to walk from our college to home (just about 30 km). This was when I started developing the art of imagining and writing dialogues while I was co-authoring the blog. One fine afternoon while I was at my apartment, I got a call from from this VEDAVA saying that he was planning to prepare a trailer, and a video in future, on this blog. So we spent a couple of hours on phone in audio recording for the trailer. Although may sound as a silly video, this was one of the first videos made my Vamshi who added me as a co-founder for our short films production "Forced Singles." After starting this production, he made few awesome videos that received critical acclaims from many but I (not as a co-founder) used to enjoy almost all the videos he sent to me while commenting few things about every video. Here is his videos' youtube page.

http://www.youtube.com/user/vamshiregalla/videos?view=0&shelf_index=1&sort=dd

An editor: For some, Vamshi is a good director but for others (including himself) he is a good editor. He edits his short films with the adept and fresh choice of background scores and music which makes his videos so attractive to the viewers. His editing skills are so influencing that he sometimes do editing for short films made by other productions. 

His other unexpected characters at unexpected times include a mind-wanderer, egoist, and an unexpected character! I ll try to expand about these when I know more about them. You may have observed that I was calling him IDIOT, STUPID etc. because he is the only one in my life whom I would scold or tease wholeheartedly. Well, that was the case until recently when he might not be taking them with the same "hit me hard ya!" attitude anymore.  I don't know, I may be wrong but at the same time I may be right! 

Nevertheless, I have mentioned this earlier but again I am glad that I met him in my life especially well before he became famous as an editor, director, writer or dancer. Last but may be the least :-P 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VAMSHI

My notes for Ravi :
Buddy, For all the tough times you had to go through because of me I will never be able to ask you forgiveness but as long as I am your friend I will remember you as that one guy who never stopped believing in me. The beauty of sharing this video is that we played both the roles in each of our lives for which I will always be proud to be known as 'Friend of Ravi Teja'