The journey will go on...

It all started in May 2006.One day when Shru was busy blogging, and I pinged her to chat. She was like, Chappli don't disturb me, I am blogging. The chamathu, innocent, ignorant little kid I was then, I asked her what blogging was, and from there began the journey. The voyage was born, and has been bon through out. Ups and downs have never deterred the blogger in me. There is hardly anything about me which has gone unnoticed in my blog. Cribbing about even KK Sir ( http://vigneshdaboss.blogspot.com/2006/06/disappointin-start.html ), quite a few philosophical posts (a sample here, http://vigneshdaboss.blogspot.com/2007/02/philosophical.html ), the brief break from blogging in between May 16,2007 and April 13,2008 when I decided to concentrate on JEE preparation for a year, The Lastbenchers farewell post ( http://vigneshdaboss.blogspot.com/2008/07/farewell-lastbenchers.html ), certain revolutionary thoughts ( http://vigneshdaboss.blogspot.com/2008/11/random-thoughts.html ), the obvious year end posts, (http://vigneshdaboss.blogspot.com/2006/12/chariot-coming-to-rest.html), (http://vigneshdaboss.blogspot.com/2008/12/to-end.html), my favourite Salt-in-the-river post (http://vigneshdaboss.blogspot.com/2009/01/salt-in-river.html), Unga Ammava "wait for it" Naa Epdi Sandichen (http://vigneshdaboss.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-new-megaserial.html), the making of SMART Day post (http://vigneshdaboss.blogspot.com/2009/06/smart-day-making-video.html),(http://vigneshdaboss.blogspot.com/2009/07/cycle-reopens.html), Bon Voyage has been with me through everything in my last five years. Clearing a major engineering entrance examination, missing on the Indian IMO team thrice, once very very closely, making friends like Shre, regaining friends like KP & Ki, two periods of ultra depression, periods of great learning, periods of extreme happiness, getting my first major project done, institute life, school life, everything clearly. I just describe the experience as exhilirating. It's been a very very enjoyable experience, and I thank everyone for have given me this joy. Ok, so for all those of you who think this guy is drunk and is blabbering on New Years Day, sorry pa, I'm doing all this blabber shit coz it's my 100th post on Bon Voyage and so I thought I'd like to make it kinda special. :) So what I did was got a few random good friends from various regions of my life, to put in a write up onto Bon Voyage. So, let's move on.

Firstly, the person who got me started with blogging and Bon Voyage, Shru

Perhaps a doorway to your mind, and perhaps a mind to share your thoughts with - writing has come far and writing has come closer to the heart. I started writing years ago, in silent journals that spoke not of wisdom, but of love for words. And today, I continue to write, on a web woven by many an intelligent mind, and accessible to many more. The happiness is self-contained, but leaps to greet the world when a friend, who took to blogging and writing, perhaps from you, celebrates his 100th post. Here's to you and our friendship and all the woeful posts you despised and the sarcastic posts you enjoyed, Chapps.

I've seen life in a way that I hope you never have to see. Going to the US to study was, in many ways, both the best and the worst decision I've made in my life. Amazing, because I met wonderful people, formed wonderful relationships, learnt wonderful lessons and got a chance to explore creativity and passion for what it was. Terrifying, because there's no one to hug when you feel lonely and no one to hug when you're jumping in happiness. But despite all the ups and downs and highs and lows of life, there was one thing that stood out. I made many new friends, some closer than the others. But the friends I made during my "IIT" days were a class apart and closer than anyone else I'd ever befriend, simply because they were with me during a time when I was at one of the most life-changing times. Stress, anxiety, emotional drama, forged friendships, battle of the wits - whatever you might call it, there was someone behind me through it. Not always, yes, but usually. And for that pillar of support and backbone of love - a dedication to the few friends who gave me a new life and the lesser few who became life.

Love you guys a lot. :)


That was a nice, and melancholic in typical Shru style, post. Next lets have a look at what my dear friend from school, Vasu had to say. Vasundara goes on like...


Chappli, a man on a mission. He set out, 40 years ago to make the perfect movie about love,friendship and iit. his travails knew no bounds and while fighting against shortage of film rolls and lack of budget, he met me while he was still of younger years. experts say i play a part in influencing his style of work, scripting skills and character design in his earlier works. after all,i did hear and comment on the film outlines from his green and salad days.he learnt true hardship in the chemistry lab when the evil monster strike asst used to torture us,but thanks to our joint efforts and bravery,he could get thro those tough times. through various trials and tribulations like these emerged the chappli i know today.i proudly tell people that i know chappli,one of the greater minds on this undeserving planet, and the upcoming film maker/director/producer/script writer/etc and also upcoming iyer mama whom i will meet one day in mylapore market buying vegetables and will stop and chat with.


Ok, that was funny, and funny in Vasu style. So if you found that mokka, NTF.. :P Next, CJR had something to say, and what was that..

This fellow wants my contribution to his 100th blog it seems, crazy fellow. Anyways, I am writing this else he will kill me by trying to put mokkai( note the emphasis on trying). Guess 2009 la dhaan we became good friends, so in that way 2009 was lucky for him :P . Possibly one of the most sensitive guys I have met, puts way too much emphasis on friendship and bonding. Guess it was the famous SOE :D which made us real close. That’s probably cos, both of us came out of that with an experience of a lifetime :D . There are two more people who will be very glad of our getting close, namely the guys who run Basera and Tiffs. We two together gave him his business last sem. Apart from sharing a love for terror mokkais, tamil cinema, it is perhaps our support of tr, that borders on reverence that made us good friends. Wat amazes me is that despite having so much in common, we dint become friends in twelfth itself. Well anyways 2009 saw that happen. You have got to appreciate the fellow, he s the one who appreciates my mokka max :D . That needs talent, believe me. Anyways, think I will wind up now, else I might end up mentioning some of the haazar stud qualities he has.( I def don’t want to do that J ). Thanks for askin me to write on this blog da. You rock. Let me end with a line from ‘The man in the iron mask’. “one for all and all for one” . Remember that next time I ask u for a treat.

So, that was konjam damaging.. So pack that! :P But yea, I got ore feelings.. :P
Next is my wingie, Midhun Unnikrishnan... Nice chappo, my hostel companion of my third sem, had a few things to say..

Vignesh and I met in the beginning of first semester, when we had the same GCU counsellor neither of us had any use for. The first thing that struck most people in the hostel about Vignesh was his hyper-enthusiastic public rapporte. Being a semi-day-scholar didn't stop him from socializing freely with his wingmates. It soon transpired that in class Vignesh was a fabulous fight-putter: assaulting the professors with no regard for the fact that there were around 200 people in the lecture hall who tended to get unequivocally annoyed by the interruptions. For instance, once in class a prof mentioned that work is PdV, illustrating a piston arrangement. Now for Vignesh things aren't as simple as that - he began an argument about how that formula wouldnt hold if the piston didn't have constant area of cross section. He had doubts on everything. He would jump up and bite the head off our digi professor. His definition of the Laplace Transform is world famous.
When he isn't being a muggu his interests include cricket and quizzing. I have written a short film script with Vignesh. He tells me he's a stage actor too. He is from this particular genre of tambrahms - unusal attention on academics, professional knowledge of carnatic music, saying things like "Whaar is the lecture" etc, but he doesn't fit the stereotype in some respects. He is a Rajnikanth fan. He's a mathematician. My backbone ruptures everytime he 'pats' me in the back. Trust me, you will be hard pressed to find a stranger melee of characteristics in any person.

Ok that was sweet. And finally I'd like to finish the post with what Shre had to say. Before I put that up, thanks to everyone who has been with me through this, and with my other blogs, I just hope you continue to be with me through this. :) Wishing you a very happy new year 2010! :)

Daytime train journeys seldom evoke much enthusiasm. Even if they are from Bangalore to Chennai, even if you have your best friend sitting next to you, even if some random girl (on the other side) keeps jabbering away incessantly. Train No:2640 was no different. “Dei, agreed that ARR is a wizard but I don’t think he’s that great a singer”, I opened my mouth to argue as New York Nagaram ran in the background. “No way. There are certain songs which only he can sing da”, pat came the counter. “Look, think about it. People like Shaan or Sonu Nigam could have done this song much better”. “I don’t agree. ARR is the best guy for songs which require frequency varying across the entire gamut”, he said in a tone symbolic of finality. Eager to change the topic, I mooted, “Speaking of frequency, let us finish all the filters in Matlab as soon as possible”. Like a hound waiting for the sound of a rabbit’s feet, she sprung up, “Wow, you guys must be big time geeks talking about Matlab in a train journey. Which IIT are you from?”. Never the one to not accept a challenge he shot back, “Hey What do you know about us. We host….” Oh! My god, here we go again!
One of the few memories I cherish from my JEE days was the late night phone calls. Invariably either of the two phones used to ring at exactly 1:00 PM, and everyone under the moon, from Archibald MacLeish to Amit.M.Agarwal would soon be bashed up. “And that is the story of Pattikanth”, Script Shre beamed. “EKS da, seri listen, I’ve got a proper story”, Iyakkunar Selvam Chappli started. So began one of the many cute puppy romance scripts about a talented guy falling in love with a girl at school but never
summing up the courage to propose. Like many other tamil movies this one too ended in a melancholy tone with the heroine marrying some bigshot and the hero living happily in her memory ever after. That this story would never go on to see the light of the day is one thing. From that, how we ended up discussing the role of talent in the selection of students to IMOTC is a completely different story.
Some things change all the time. Some never!

It’s not an easy task to pick a few grains of sand from the beach, but that is not to say that they are any more valuable than the rest. Congrats da, and hope this blog goes on to reach many more milestones.