THE THREE MUSKETEERS

The Three Musketeers, hunnnn seems as if you have read this title some where, actually it is the name of the book written by Dumas in 1844-45. But it has nothing to do with the book and neither have i read it. The Three Musketeers here are (i guess its too early to reveal the secret,,,but any how i am not writing an epic, nd as if the secret will be revealed after five six days,,,ek minute bhi nahi lage ga mera post padhne me,,so i better give up:D),,Deepak, Gaurav and the very me Sumeet (in alphabetical order). Must be guessing by now who these people are (i hope i m not included in that list,,,he he he). These people are one of my near and dear ones (frnds). Who actually have been instrumental in getting me a place where i am today. I got a call from Deepak, and what he told moved my heart into full of joy and emotions. As if i was egarly waiting for this day to come and hear from him what i wanted to hear since the last year when Gaurav and i both left him (the city) alone to pursue our dreams.

The story begins in the early july of 2006. I had recently finished my graduation and taken one of the toughest decisions of my life,, with great support from my sis and finally from my parents. The decision was to forgo the job that i had got in final placement and invest another year in the preparation for CAT. The dilemma was, "what if i get the same percentile or even worse as i got in my first attempt,, i will not be having either the job or the colleg...", it seems so easy to state the fact now, but the amount of stress it gave me to decide was in fact too strong at that time. The only thing that haunted my mind was "is baar ya to aar ya to paar". I felt as to how rude the life can be, but my determination and an intuition that God has actually formed a way for me gave me enough strength to carry on with my preparation. The two of them (Deepak and Gaurav), never let me loose that strength either we actually became the supporting pillars for each other.
When I joined ICC, an MBA coaching institute in Kanpur, with the july batch I didnt even knew who Gaurav or Deepak were. A day passed in the coaching and no friend made,, yet another day passed,,without much difference. One day when i was standing at the entrance of the coaching after the classes were over I saw this fat and a bit over weighed guy coming from behind. He stopped by me and asked me as to where i lived, as my house was not too far i used to walk back home every day. I introduced myself and told him about my place of lazying around errr my home. He offerd me a ride back home as his house was, though a bit far, but on the way of my house. We became friends and slowly and steadily i got used to riding back with him on his second hand motorcycle (second hand doesn't mean it was bad or something ,, it actually moved very smoothly). While going to the coaching he would pick me from my house,, and subsequently drop me back also. I loved those free ride :P (Deepak if u read this ,,,its for u). Deepak was at time doing BCom. and he had to also go to the college.
In the mean while he introduced me to his friend Gaurav, who at that time was doing graduation in Biotechnology from a different college. So I being a friend of Deepak also became a good friend of Gaurav. We used to do a lot of masti in the coaching and also outside the coaching. To be frank, our coaching was not a very good one from where one cant expect placements like IIMs and all and for that matter even IMI (and you wont believe if i tell that we 3 once actually went on to the extent to give a dhamki to the director Rajiv sir if he didnt improve the quality and the quantity of the classes that were held there). One of the most popular things we used to do was to ask Rajiv sir to let us have samose and tea,, which we bought from his money and enjoyed almost EVERY DAY...The three of us started to share a certain kind of bond which gave us the strength to be united together always.
Besides masti and bird watching (a usual thing for us,,,he he he,, yes i did that also nd for u Gaurav: We used to threaten him for that as he had a gf :P),,, so where i was,, yaa,, besides masti we used to study together in the coaching and used to solve caselets and questions etc after the classes were over. Had we not worked together i believe i would not have been where i am today,,

Meanwhile i was introduced to a 4th character in my life,,,Vikas sir (now a fulltime faculty at TIME coaching,,, Pujju knows about him through TIME). It so happened that Rajiv sir was not able to cope up with the stress of us asking for a good Maths teacher mainly for the arithmetic part... so he suggested us to meet Vikas sir, and we started going to his house to study maths, at that time he was not a full time faculty,, so he taught us at home. He is such a bubbly person and so dedicated ,,, also he was and is like a best friend to us. Indeed he was a great teacher but along with that he was a great friend too. We were free to discuss any thing and every thing with him from "the most dreadest maths questions" to "how is ur gf doing" to "is every thing fine at home?"...
(I am very happy that i got such amazing people in my life who were not only good human beings but also a true friend).
So the life kept moving for me and when ever i doubted my potential (ie, what if,, i dont clear exam?)i was scolded and sent back to work. The D day was nearing and we all were together solving mock tests, fighting with Rajiv sir to get our scores updated on the website so that we can get an overall ranking compared with other students at ICC lucknow (where i studied during the final year of my graduation) and doing what not,,,
In the midst of all this we never missed those samosas, chai,, or even the cold drinks. We all appeared for CAT and talked to each other as to who attempted 10 or 15 or 17 questions per section, and every one was having apprehensions in mind,,"now what?". Two days passed and various coachings released the score cards,,,we three matched the scores with various scorecards from different coachings. I and Gaurav had a decent score based on that but,,,somehow Deepak's score was not coming up to the mark...Gaurav and I were sure to get decent enough score but,,,God .. why isnt Deepak geting a decent score. He still remained strong and took other entrance exams. In the mean time Rajiv sir decided to send me to Lucknow to prepare for GD and PI. Gaurav joined Future Academy in Knapur itself to improve his speaking skills. (I dont know how Rajiv sir was so patient even after we three having so many fights with him and still like he is sending me to Lucknow on his personal relation with the ICC in Lko.,, man he is too professional..).
I reached lucknow and stayed in the house i used to during my graduation.. there were few juniors also with me. I some times visited my college but then mostly devoted my time in coaching classes. Here i met another set of people who later become one of my never say die friends.
During weekends I visited Kanpur sometimes and then we three had a great time with Rajiv sir or sometimes with Vikas sir,, enjoying and of course having those unforgettable samose and chai. During all this, Deepak's mom was undergoing an operation (which included the most critical part -head) and we used to visit her in the hospital. Deepak used to pick me from my home and we together went to see her. I wished strongly from God that she be fine as soon as possible. The operation was successful.
(year 2007 MAY) I returned to lucknow and as usual started with my usual work of going to coaching for GD preparation. Every thing was going smooth when one night i got an SMS from Deepak, stating something which moved me from head to toe and i was stuck to my place, unable to respond as to what had happened. His mom was not with him anymore, as there were some complications that developed a few days after the operation. I was all drenched in tears and thought as to how my friend will cope with the situation.
This guy is actually so pious and calm (which i think he got the traits from his mom) unlike his dad who is in police (Though from inside he might also be soft but i dont know..).That night Gaurav called me and we were not knowing what to do and what not to do,, absolutely clue less. That weekend i went to kanpur, and it was Sunday,,, this person was so strong that he was going to take tha MAT exam that day,, so we planned to meet. I reached to the main road at least ten minutes earlier. He was to come there as he used to usually come and pick me up... but this time the situation was absolutely different. For those 10 min, i was thinking as to how am i going to face him (this situation was absolutely terrible). From a distance i saw his bike nearing me. And as he slowed down near me, I, without thinking any thing, grabbed him in my arms as if trying to take care of a crying child . That innocent and abrupt hug was an ice breaker for us. This time it was silence that was speaking and not the words. Without a word i sat on our very own bike and on the way to the examination centre i asked him whther he had food or not and etc etc.
At the centre also i was not wanting to let him go and stayed there till the exam started, though i was not allowed but i went with him to the room where he was to sit and wandered around till the invigilators came in.
From that night till this night things have changed, its been more than an year since then, he has learned to live life as it comes to him.

During that time I got thru IMI, and Gaurav got through ITM Navi Mumbai...Deepak had been preparing for MAT and CAT for the past one year,, and for the last one one year we both were not with him. Still he got a 96 plus %ile in MAT and got through Singhad Institute, in Lonavala this year(one hours distance from where Gaurav is studying).
(continued after the first para...)And he,Deepak, called me to tell that he has got through the college. Vikas sir is now a full time maths faculty in TIME and Rajive sir is having a flourishing coaching business after we left and also because of the brand image that we developed for his coaching. Though in our free time we used to educated students outside the coaching (who seemed to be sincere) to not to join ICC if they really cared to crack CAT :P.
I am and will always remain one of the most happiest person on earth as i know i have some really good people around me and whom i , in any case, can not afford to loose,,,
What life has in store for THE THREE MUSKETEERS, i dont know,, but one thing is for sure God has made some beautiful plan for all of us... and we will surely achieve success some time in our lives.