Last post of 2008.

I write this post in the last hours of an amazing year. Elation fills my heart as I recap the events of 2008 and make the joyride through memory lane. A lot has happened, enough to fill pages and pages, with more of good and less of bad times! And I’m glad that it is such. Life could’ve been a hell lot better than it were in the year but I’m very happy to have formed a baseline of sorts to base my future on.

A brief list of what happened:
1. Ru (though it began a lot earlier, the last few pages were written in 2008)
2. Maiden U.S. Trip (Just in time)
3. Preparing for exams…
4. Pre-professional exam (1.5 months!)
5. Professional exam (1 month)
6. Results out… Now a doctor… what??? YES! a DOCTOR.
7. And yes, a lot of parties!!!!
8. Oh! and, the blog reached 10000, 20000, and 30000 visitors marks in 2008.

Hope all of you have an exciting, amazing, hope and fun-filled, and prosperous new year!
Love,
Arpit

Dr. WHO?

December 30, 2008: 3:15 PM

Results are out.

I passed.

Now a doctor.

Dr. Arpit Rao

AIIMS UG (MBBS) Entrance 2008 Results out!

Related content: AIIMS – The Best? An insider’s perspective!

Updated: AIIMS MBBS ENTRANCE 2009 RESULTS DECLARED!!!

The results of the AIIMS MBBS Entrance Exam conducted on June 1, 2008 are out as of July 15, 2008. The quotas have been implemented and the total no. of seats are reported to be seventy-two this year, up from the usual forty-five.

RESULTS are available at this address: CLICK HERE!

Good wishes to all those who qualified. I extend my warmest welcome into our coveted community. For those who could not make it this year, I wish all the best for the next year.

We are all looking forward to talking to our beloved ‘fucchas’ (fresher guys) and ‘fucchis’ (fresher girls) over the internet (Orkut etc). Any of your concerns may also be addressed to this e-mail address. Also, if you are one of the lucky seventy-two, leave a comment including your name, e-mail address, city, and rank!

To know more about the college of your dreams, click these links: AIIMS and Student Union.

Forget not to visit my blog: NTB :: BLOG BY ARPIT RAO
See you soon!

**Edited on July 30, 2008: Freshers arrived today. Batch looks quite chilled out but 72 is a huge number. I don’t know how they are going to adjust with us. Lets hope we do. Btw, ragging has been eradicated!!! Now on, it’s only an INTERACTION!!!

Kingfisher n RSJ Indian Rock Fest 2008 Kicks off in Style!

Note of Caution:

• If you don’t listen to rock, this might seem a hard post to understand.
• The language is classified: ‘Informal with Slangs‘. Keep your kids away.

As a rock devotee (yeah, fans are a lil’ down in d hierarchy!), you always look for any gig (an art event basically, music, dance, theatre etc) that’s happening in your city. So, when I read about HT City, Kingfisher, and RSJ Indian Rock Fest 2008, I was already jumping up and down, shouting “oh mfkr… it’s back!!!” and my friends had a hard time figuring out what was wrong with me!

The story goes like this – last year, I attended this event and I was left wanting for more since it was the last gig in my city. So, to quench my thirst, I decided not to miss out on any action this time!

For those of you who haven’t got a grip yet, Rock Fest is an annual event consisting of a series of gigs by lesser known rock bands across many clubs, lounges, and pubs in different cities! Sounds gala, believe me, it is!!

Now, the underground scene for rock in India is pretty naive and the mecca can be considered either Bangalore or Mumbai. It’s not your usual Godsmack, Iron Maiden, GNR, LP, Creed like music, it’s lesser known artists who are relatively unexploited in the industry, trying to up their popularity and give the crowd a bang for their buck! Mostly, these artists don’t hesitate to experiment with various genres of music and that’s what is this the fest’s USP! Like just yesterday, I was at this gig where ‘Aurora Jane’ was playing fusion of blues and rock. Must say, it was refreshingly awesome!

Enough said. Few advises though:

1. If you think you are a rock ‘devotee’ (or above!), DON’T YOU FKIN DARE MISS IT!!!
2. While you are there, keep you mind open to entirely new music. You might not like some of it, but as a whole, you won’t be disappointed.
3. The entry is only 100-150 bucks. I don’t think that’s a bad deal for a few hours at a lounge listening to good music!
4. If you have any concerns or need more info, MAIL ME or LEAVE A COMMENT

Yeah, btw, I was at Opus Lounge (Basant Lok, PVR Priya Complex) last night with my friend Jerome. It was the opening gig of Rock Fest ’08. Lane 9 and Aurora Jane were performing. Frankly, Opus SUCKED. It was hardly the size of my bathroom (actually, just double… that’s it!), crowded, with no place to sit. LANE 9 should have just better fkin killed ‘emselves. Except for the two good tracks, all they did was to literally THROW shit at us! But all the shit was offset by the awesome music by AURORA JANE (Australian Band of International repute in the scene). They showed these miserable fuckers how to do it! Especially the drummer who was a cute hottie wearing full length skirt and banging those drums in style! Oh what an awesome exp that was! I returned a happy joe after all that!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for the schedule of Rock Fest 08. Coming soon only on NTB!

Love to all metalheads!

International Book Fair 2008

YES!!! After making me wait for sooooo long, the International Book Fair 2008 is finally here. It’s on from 2nd of Feb till 10th of Feb at Pragati Maidan, New-Delhi.

I must say, it keeps getting better and better each year. This time around, there is an increased no. of stalls with an amazing variety of books on display. Of course, the big names are all there.. Penguin, Oxford, Cambridge, Orient-Longman and a lot more.. But what I also liked were stalls from organizations like International Labor Organization (ILO), UNESCO, World Bank etc which can be categorized as unusual yet totally engrossing.

The stalls have a huge collection of the world’s finest literature of authors like Kafka, Toni Morrison, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Anita Desai, Kushwant Singh, John Grisham and hundreds of such great names. There also is a myriad of classics by Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway etc and practically a million other books by lesser known writers. Also, there are stalls from several countries like Russia, Canada, Japan, Spain etc featuring their most famous works.

Overall,  I must say, for book lovers there can be no better place to hang-out this week except the book-fair. Believe me, you’ll thank me that you went!  But if you don’t follow my advice, I’m sure you’ll be sorry for missing out on such an awesome event!!!

- Arpit