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THE STORY SO FAR: Internet and web tehnology was one of the lab papers in our VIth sem. We had to submit a website at the end of the semester . We,ie me along with Rahul and Kaushal,
decided to make a website on the Indian Cricket team, meninblue.com, soaked as we were in pre-world cup fever. But progress of the website reflected that of our team in the world cup. It looked remotely presentable at the start, but didnt have any substance.I somehow coped till the client side scripting stage, but as we approached the server side scripting stage,I felt like Zaheer Khan batting against Muralidharan. But I tried. I tried copying codes from books and friends and modifying them to suit my site.Didnt work.Like Sehwag, these codes worked only in selective condtions.As the night before the submission arrived I gave up on server side scripting.We found some animation and quizzing pages which we conviniently used. Just when a respectable 'C' looked well within my reach fate dealt a cruel blow:I realised my lab file was nowhere to be found. It was while trying to recall where I had last thrown it that I fell asleep.
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8:00 a.m: I have searched everywhere. The file is gone. Here I am , having slept about 8 hours in last 3 days, head spinning and about to fail a paper.Thats wen I decide I wont go down without giving a fight. I start putting together the pages of the website..watever little I have.I Buy a new file for making a journal.And I start writing whole semester worth of codes again.Not for the first time in BIT my fate rests with GOD.
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LATER IN THE DAY: Patnayak looked somewhere in the distance the pen in his hand suspended over the index of Rahul's journal."What is your contribution to the project?"he asks.
"Sir, the Quizzing page!"Rahul says.'Great, that is the only thing worth telling in the whole site'I think'If he asks me the same thing,I wont have anything to say'.Luckily for me he doesnot.
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12:00 p.m - I go to the mess with Rahul to have lunch.I have caught with a few hours of sleep and my mind is surprisingly clear.Suddenly Manoj ,the guy who runs the mess, comes and says"Aapka file rakha hua hai . Le lijiye".I sprint down to the small room adjoining the kitchen ,spot the file and run back.It must have been there for over a week,to be found just in time. I just stand in front of Rahul, holding the file over my head,like Rahul Dravid would have held the World Cup.I realise that God is with me today.
3.30 p.m,In the lab- The last couple of hours have been unlike anything I had expected. Its not Vijay,the sadist screamer,who is evaluating the websites,but Patnayak,the know-nothing.Gathering all my courage,I go to Vijay and ask him for some help for the server side script.He gives me a program that he has written and even helps me to implement it on my site. Word gets around the lab that Patnayak is showering people with A's. We have a choice to make--show Patnayak a better than before but still hopeless site or improve the site within a week and take a risk with moody Vijay.We make a uncharacteristically agrresive decision to go to Patnayak and end the contest then and there.
4:20 P.M-------Patnak breaks his gaze to infinty to write "B+" on Rahul's file.I realise that this is the lowest grade that Patnayak has awarded today.I am sure that same is coming my way.He writes"A" on my file. And then in the biggest show of magnanamity by a BIT teacher ever, he changes Rahul's grade to "A" as well.We may get C in our final grade yet because in BIT ,as in life,its never over till the thing is finally flushed down. But who cares,I feel good . So good...so good....
