The G-experience...

My humble journey for a 700+ in GMAT was precisely an example of the way i have taken things in life, the way i have aspired, the way i have fought and the stupid last-minute shocks i have always given to myself... :) Not to mention, the way i have always felt - "i could have done better!!!"

The G-date i had selected was Tuesday June 27th, 2006. I wanted to take it on Monday 26th, but there were no seats available and so i had to opt for Tuesday... And frankly speaking, this proved to be a blessing in disguise... :)

After a 750 in PowerPrep -2 followed by 700 in GMATPrep -2, there were hundreds of 'ifs' and 'buts' which ran through my mind.... Although i tried to avoid the GMAT thought as much as possible on 26th, i was just not able to... I tried watching some movie on the television, but while doing that, i was not at all interested in the story of the movie... I was only interested in pointing out grammatical errors in the dialogues and in thinking better ways to present them... :) Sentence Correction was getting over me!!!!

As Monday progressed, i was trying to accumulate the different rules and exceptions in a piece of paper... I would refer to the list that i had prepared after every 2 hours... And surprisingly, on the last day before GMAT, i found that my SC accuracy while practising 1000SCs was closing 100%... :) This was such a relief, it helped me boost my confidence and probably, also saved me from drowning below 700...

I dont know what was wrong with my roomies Monday night!! :) Neither were they interested in sleeping, nor were they ready to let me sleep... :) The jesting continued till 12:30 in the night... As i was about to close my eyes, i realised that the day i was waiting since last few months had started... It was the day when i was going to take the longest and the costliest of all the exams i ever took... :)

Somehow i feel surprisingly chilled before every major exam i take... I do crazy things which i dont do daily, and those things keep me relaxed... :) Nways, lets not dig into the crazy things i did in the morning, and lets straight away move to the examination center...

"Pearson Professional Center", followed by some crap thought on 'future' - was what the board read... After reaching the center at 8, i learnt that the gates were to be opened only at 8:30... So, i had no option but to watch the stray dogs performing their morning exercises... :) The watchman at the gates was quite an interesting character.. I got some statistical updates related to the number of students that come up to give GMAT and more interestingly their reactions after the exam... :)

The lady admin officer arrived around 8:20, in her white saree... She reminded me of one my high school teachers whom i feared like anything... But on the contrary, with a beautiful smile on her face, she politely called me in and commented that i was before time.. :) She then asked me to read 2-3 rules which were written in a frame hanging on a distant wall... Here was the catch... It was then that i realized this --> i was not carrying my spectacles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes.. i am dumb, a jerk or whatever you wanna call... Though i dont wear glasses usually, i am advised to keep them on while in front of that stupid box... I had them on, in all my practice CATs... I knew without having them on, my eyes were gonna water when i enter the crunch minutes in Verbal... But... but.. but.. i had no option... It would have taken me an hour to go home and come back... I checked with the admin officer, on whether i could start my test a bit late.. But she politely denied my request, saying that though she would have wanted to allow me, the company policies do not allow her to do so... The mighty Righty was down and shattered... :( That was such a crime to be committed...

I went to the rest room, sprinkled water on eyes, looked into the mirror and said to myself... "If you think about your spectacles and crib, you will waste all the money and time you have invested... But if you dont think about it, there is a chance that you might still reach the score you are here for..."

I then tried to divert my mind by talking to the fellow aspirants... We were 4 and two amongst us had glasses on their eyes... :) I tried not to look at those two, so that i could keep my mind off that thought and chatted more with the person without specs... :):)

All four of us were asked to place everything from our pockets into the respective lockers... I found this very idiotic... You cant even carry your hankerchief inside!!!! What the hell!!! I asked the admin officer whether i could carry a tissue.. And she again denied very courteously...
I was alloted the system number 2... The gentle man besides me on system 3 was taking his GMAT for the second time and was only 32 years old!!! :) Kudos to him and his attempt!!!

The test started smoothly, with a very simple argument. I had thought of a structure for the argument and i think i have done well there... Then came the issue.... And my Goddd!!! I was blank!! I was literally blank!! Dont know was it the anxiety of the examination or the absurdness of the issue, but i was finding it very difficult to accumulate the thoughts... This was very unusual for me as i have done well with respect to my writing skills in the past... Still managed to type around 30 lines stuff... Dont exactly know how well i will score in AWA... :(

Break number 1: Had some water sprinkled on my eyes, a sip of Tropicana for my dry throat, few smiles for the admin officer:) and off i was!!

Quant: Hmm... My strong point, right? It was only the second question, which made me ponder for a while and that too because of the terms that were used in it... All the other questions were like pieces of cake... I had 2 probability questions, and both of them were very simple... I was getting into my rhythm and it was such a good feeling to have... Its like you start realizing that you are clicking the correct option... I was initially rechecking every answer twice before i clicked the next button, but later i found it to be very boring... and so with all the trust that i have developed in my rhythm, i sailed through the section with more than 9 minutes to spare.... And i knew, i had done well!!

Break number 2: Eyes were paining by now!! There was this burning sensation i was able to feel!!! I just repeated the same procedure of sprinkling, sipping and smiling :) and went inside the test room..

Verbal: Something that i did then, saved my verbal section... I reduced the brightness of the monitor and placed it a bit away from its usual position... And this did work!! I found that my eyes were not burning, and i was not missing my glasses... :) My confidence in Sentence Correction was sky high, and when i started with one of the SCs, it only added to my confidence.. The RCs were ok... 4 of them, with around 15 questions in all... What did me, i feel, were the CRs.. In most of the questions, i was only able to eliminate 1 or 2 and for spotting the correct answer from the rest, i had to rely on my guessing abilities... Though i dint guess in the first 15, i had to do so in the CRs after 15, as i thought i was going to run short of time other wise... Finished just in the nick of time, with 4 seconds left... And the battle called GMAT, for me, was over!!!

You just feel like kicking that Dell monitor in front of you, which asks hundreds of questions you already answered while registering... While i was reading them just for the sake of reading, i heard scores like 650, 670 from the people who started the test with me... And then came the most stupid question of all times... "Will you like to see your score?" I wonder if there are any GMATters who click a No here.. With no one else in the room, and just the admin officer and a office boy viewing me from the security glasses, I clicked Yes with all the zeal i could gather... It tool exactly 4 and a half seconds for it to calculate my score... I had placed my right hand on the screen and was hiding the score for a while, in order to give myself the feeling of a dramatic end... :) I pushed my hand slightly to the left and saw a Zero at the last.. :):) This was very obvious... I shifted my hand to the right now... and ... and.... there you go!! There was a seven (7)!!! I was least interested in the middle number now and so i took my hand off the screen and had a close look at the score '710', the scaled scores '50' and '35' and the percentiles '95' and '75'...

I thought i could have done better in Verbal, especially after a damn good Quant... But nevertheless, i was happy...

The admin lady gave me the prints of my score and escorted me off the PPC.... The watchman too was happy to know my score.. :)

So, this was it... My date with GMAT... Though this was the end of the test, this was just the beginning of a great journey and hopefully, a great success story!!! :)

Now, I just need to save this world a couple of times, get an olympic gold or two and get few promotions in my office.. and then i stand a 50% chance at Harvard!!!! :):):):):)

Yes.... M into the 700 club!!! :)

Hi folks...

The mighty Righty is into the 700 club... :):):)
Scored a decent 710, with Q:50 and V:35...

Could have done better though in Verbal... :(

@inblue: Yes mam... I got a 3 question RC in the last 5 and all that i could remember after seeing that RC was your advice... :)

@iday: Yes mate... Our last two test scores were indeed similar... And another similarity was the schedule that we followed... Sat -> PowerPrep, Sun -> GMATPrep, Mon -> break and Tues -> the GMAT... Couldnt match you with respect to the Verbal score though... Nways, thanks a lot... Your advices were very helpful....

@juggler, marina and leoaueb: Thanks a lot for your wishes....

@889: That was an excellent attempt mate... :) The answer to that question would be: "Mein achhaa hoon"... :)

@ankush: Thanks for your wishes dear.... But you are supposed to perform better than me... All the best for your preps...

Got to complete a lot of work today, as i was on leave for two days...
Will come up with a detailed description of the GMAT experience very soon...

C yao...

My final mock - GMATPrep test 2!!!

It has been 8 successive weekends that i have envied my roomies as i saw them watching movies & football, playing cricket and doing all kinds of stuff... :) I have made this very office building to be my destination for weekend freak-outs since last 2 months... And today was the final Sunday i was here before the G-day...

After yesterday's 750, obviously the hopes were high... GMATPrep test2, people say, gives you an approximate idea of your standing and a glimpse of your final performance... I took the same GMATPrep test2 today and was presented with a score of 700, Q:48 and V:35....

Quant:

The quality of questions this time was better... Probably i needed a break, which i duely got, from those boring OG 11 questions that kept coming in PowerPrep 1 & 2... I was having fun solving them, without realizing that i might run short of time... I thought my pace in the initial 15 questions was ok... But what did me was that i assumed the difficulty level to subside a bit after 20th question, so that i could pace up with my answers... But this assumption, proved costly... There were more complex DS questions in the later half of quant and that meant i had to give more time to each of them... And as a result, i had to randomly mark questions 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37 and i got just one correct in them... I even had no time to do a "Akkad Bakkad Bumbai Bo"... :) Questions i got wrong were: 8, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36 and 37... In all, 9 incorrect, 28 correct and you would say - boy, how did you still score 48??? :)

Verbal:

Started with a CR this time... Followed by another CR and then a RC... First SC was only the 11th question in the flow... The idea of a bad quant, was hauting me throughout this section... This made me unnecessarily speed up through verbal questions... I was on 11 question after 20 minutes... And on 40th after 65 minutes... This means i did 30 quesions in 35 minutes, which makes me wonder how i did that!!! Ended up with 10 minutes to spare for 1 last question, only to find in the review that i clicked the wrong option there as well... :) Questions i got wrong were: 3, 6, 10, 12, 21, 23, 25, 26, 29, 32, 36 and 41... 12 incorrect, 29 correct... verbal:35 was nothing but an unexpected gift!!!

Learnings:
1. Never assume or guess the difficulty level in quant - the last few questions could be the toughest and yes, they do carry some importance if not more!!!
2. Never let the aftershocks of a bad section, affect other sections... Bad quant does not mean you will be hanged!!
3. Do not unnecessarily spead up through RCs... Concentrate more!!!
4. Guessing in first 15 questions in verbal is an unforgivable crime!

Summing up, this was an ideal case of what shouldnt be done on your G-day...

With less than 45 hours to go before kick-off, i now know one way you can screw yourself up...
And i am sure... my today's test experience will not only help me, but also all the GMAT aspirants who read this post...

There is a usual tradition following which people thank everyone who helped them in their preparation, after they are done with their exam... :) But not abiding by this tradition, i would just like to thank everyone who helped me, before i actually take my GMAT... :)

And as far as my last thoughts on my score are concerned - 700 is what, i feel, i deserve.... Anything above that will just be a bonus... Anything below that will be a similar goof-up!!

Wish me luck people!!! :):):)

Was that me???

I am amazed, stunned, shocked, astonished, bewildered, astounded, perplexed and ... and... and...

So what if most of the questions in Quant as well as in Verbal were a copy-paste from OG 11? :) :) :) I have scored my highest so far, and it gives me immense pleasure in presenting b4 you the score card for ETS PowerPrep - 2, which i took today in the morning:
















The reason for all the adjectives used above is:

750, i know is not my potential... Its not that i am underestimating myself, but frankly speaking, i dont deserve to be in the 99th percentile category... Yes, when it comes to GMAT quant, if i keep my eyes wide open and do not misread any of the question stems, than i can score a decent 49 or even more... But when it comes to GMAT verbal, i cant help myself to 90+ percentile, even if i keep my eyes, nose, ears, head everything open.... :)

So, with 2 more days to go before the G-day, i shouldnt get carried away with the score i have today and shouldnt get over-confident, but should stay focused on the major weakpoint that i have: Sentence Correction!!!

I remember the time when i used to go for AIMCATs last year.... Those 2 mark Sentence Corrections were quite easy pickings for me... In fact, those were the times when i hardly used to open a grammar book and refer any grammar related stuffs.... And today, after having done tons of practice, i find that my accuracy percentage has only deteriorated... Nways, enough of cribbing, here is the flow of the test:

AWA:

Pretty simple argument.. Mentioned 4 assumptions on which the argument was based... I havent prepared a template for the same, just wonder if it proves useful??? Any idea over this folks??
Even simpler issue... Listed the pros and cons of the approaches, and finally described the basis on which i agreed with one of them... Was not able to end the way i would have liked to... :(

Quant:

I was not calculating the answers here, but was trying to remember the page number in OG 11 from where the questions were picked... :) Completed the section with over 14 minutes to spare...

Verbal:

First question was SC as per my expectations... Followed by another SC, followed by two successive RCs... Some of the questions here, were again from OG 11 but unlike in Quant, in Verbal i was not very confident before clicking on an answer... The only odd thing in the Verbal Section was that i was given a CR only after the 14th question!!! I felt I was kind of hurrying through the questions, and it was then that i noticed that i was on 35th question with 25 minutes to spare.... Got through the remaining 6 questions in another 10 minutes...

The score:

As seen above, quant was ok... I probably got over confident and in the meanwhile clicked 14th, 35th and 36th incorrect... 3 incorrect, 33 correct... Scaled score: 50

U maaaaaaaaaaa.... Verbal:41!!! Just crossed the '40' mark i dreamt... :) But SCs again were the enemies... 5 SCs, 2 RCs and 1 CR incorrect... The question numbers i got incorrect were: 2, 20, 21, 25, 33, 34, 37 and 40... Hmmm... it pays more to do better in the top half of the Verbal section than in the bottom half!!!

All in all, taking ETS Powerprep - 2 after doing OG 11 certainly boosts your confidence... :) But you got to understand that the questions in the actual GMAT, wont be from your tamed OG 11...
68 hours to go before kick off!!!!!!

Where am i going wrong??

Huh!!!!!!! All the motivation and excitement was botched after i saw a '30' in verbal..... Could you believe this? I have just broken all bounds and have touched a score which is just equal to the very first Kaplan that i gave... Given that ETS -1 had most of its questions from OG 11, i am just speechless about my preparations... :(

The statistics were as seen below:
















The probable reason, i guess for such a pathetic verbal score could be that i did 4 wrong in the top 10, inlcuding question 2 & 3.... And to supplement to this debacle, i again did 12 & 13 wrong... Though the accuracy improved after question 13, it was too late and i was already stamped a score in the lower 30s...

Yes, i know that i should keep my cool...
Yes, i know that i shouldnt get frustrated....
Yes, i know that i should be more positive...
Yes, i know that i have some more days to go...
Yes, i know that i have done all the hard work...

The only thing i dont know is - Where am i going wrong????
The least i deserve is 700!!!!

The day is nearing and where m i heading????

A mixed day from every aspect. The most satisfactory thing of the day was that I was able to stretch my limits and was able to take 2 full length tests in a day. Wow!! And the worst thing that happened today was when i found that the hard disk on which i had kept my GMAT material was formatted.... :(:(:( I had transfered most of the material to my new system, but some of it, which i had stored in C drive was all gone... But the best part of it is that i dont remember what all i had with me, and so i dont regret so much as time left with me, is just sufficient to cover the remaining material i have... :)

It was a Kaplan morning today... The last of the four tests... Just when i started taking the test, i was confronted by a pop-up which said "Due to lack of questions in the database, take this test as a practice test and do not consider the scores". Hmmm... interesting i thought.... Started with quant, was in no mood to write AWA.. Fount all the questions very new for my eyes.. Dont know that message meant? The performance: 4 incorrect, scaled score: 45 (low probably coz i got the 1st question wrong) Coming further down to Verbal, found a few questions familiar... Good performance this time... 12 incorrect, scaled score: 36

The overall satisfaction rating of the test was 4 out of 5, but the low quant score brought the overall total to 650.... Too low, but characteristically good for Kaplan.... Nways, time to bid a farewell to the Kaplan 2006 CD... It has been a real eye-opener at times, not only becuase of its level of toughness but also because of its minuscale fonts... :):)

That hard disk format problem also meant that i had to give my GMATPrep - 1 again to have newer questions in GMATPrep - 2. Started with quant.. and was confronted with questions i had solved twice... But the level of toughness increased in the later part of the test.... Thought i performed satisfactorily at the end of the section.... Verbal... RCs were something i least prefered at 9 o clock in the night... But had 5 of them... Was feeling very tired by the time i ended the test...

The scoring was something like this: Q50 (10 wrong, with only 1 wrong in top 20)
V35 (just 10 wrong, but with errors spread throughtout) Overall score 730...

Though this score no way reflects that i can definately cross 720 in the finals, my confidence now says that 700 is certainly on cards... Keeping my fingers crossed... And hoping to have a better test day tomorrow...

Chow....

13 days to go!!!!

Ok... Its coming three days late, but i have all the reasons to explain...

I am supposed to describe the two tests i took since last Sunday, but before that will just like to write a few lines on the things that are distracting me from my GMAT preps... :)

1. ATG: This is the new app server on which i am supposed to work for my new project. Dont know whether its actually difficult to get a hang of it, or it is because of my 1 year old ATGphobia - but one thing is for sure... ATG is bugging me like hell... I spent the entire Monday and Tuesday, trying to install ATG and few other accessories... Took help from N number of people and at the end of Tuesday, the conclusion was that i needed to change my machine.... Got a new machine today, which no doubt is a lot advanced than the original one, but is still NEW... The boring task of dumping everysingle bit of data from your old system to the new one than started... It is 5:15 at the moment, i have successfully installed ATG and the new application and have also moved the data from my older machine to the new one, with only songs folder remaining now... ;) The actual work of going through the usecase and starting with the coding (hopefully) will start tomorrow.....

2. FIFA world cup: Just felt yesterday that i should have been taking the GMAT a week earlier than i am actually taking... Brazil playing its first match against Croatia, and i had to sleep so that i could get up early and study a bit, which actually never took place!!! :) Got a very tight scolding for not getting up!! :(

3. Food: The randomness is at its peak in this area of distraction... Just cant go to those costly restuarants every night for dinner!! Once the G is over, i will make it a point to have my dinner in office or somewhere on the way to home...

Well, actually these are just the excuses that i am trying to convince myself... and you know that, right? Haven't studied much this week and that is probably frustrating me...

Forget this crap, let's come to the point...

Sunday 11th June: Took 800score.com's test 4... Very interesting and confidence boosting...
Good accuracy in quant and sober one in verbal... 4 wrong in quant and 11 in verbal..... Scaled score: Q:50, V:38 ----> Total:680... Again... would have sailed above 700, had it been GMATprep... Just keeping my fingers crossed...

Tuesday 13th June: Was seriously in no mood to do GMAT 800.. dont know why? So started with ETS test 31... And put up my best performance in quant... 52 of 52 correct!!!! Verbal was ok with 41 of 56 correct... The questions were actaully very very very very easy in quant and that helped me to this accuracy.. No doubts i have been making stupid mistakes with easy questions as well, and so gettting all correct this time was very boosting... Keeping my fingers crossed again....

Its 14th today and i have 13 more days to go... The 13th day from now will decide many things!! Work hard, righty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Signs of a b'right' score?

Yes, i am happy and i am smiling... Some good signs finally.... Took Kaplan 3 today, which is supposed to be one of the four toughest mock GMATs that i have.... And scored 670!!!!! Q:50 V:38.... I never expected to cross 650 in Kaplan.. And 670 was always a distant dream... Well, i have it now and i am satisfied....

The only thing that is still bothering me is my verbal accuaracy... Got 15 wrong and 26 correct... Pathetic, right?? And the worst part of it is, 8 out of those 15 incorrect questions, were SC, something that i am working since a week....

Seriously, seems like i have to work a lot hard on my SC.... Is there something that i am missing? Can i have some guidance from anyone for my SC accuracy??????? Lets not waste time, by pondering over these questions, but lets straight away start working.... Will be taking a sectional SC test now.... I need to get 12 out of 14 correct at any cost!!!!

And yes, got to know that one of my good friends in Infy also gave GMAT a week back!! Hahaha... there is so much of hiding factor nowadays!!! Seems every even numbered person is giving GMAT, but still no odd numbered person knows about it!! hahaha.... He scored a 690 with Q48 and V35... Comparing my today's score with this one, looks like i would have crossed 700 easily had it been the GMAT scoring pattern... But Kaplan, dont know why they are so desperate to screw everyone's score!!

Nways, time to start working deligently...
C ya all!!!

All fine... but where is GMAT?

No no no no... Please dont think i have lost the track for my GMAT preparations, after going home... The fever has got over & above me now... Anything i do during the whole day - eating, working, talking, playing - anything for that matter, there is always this 'G' which resides at the back of my mind...

With respect to my GMAT preparations during the last two weeks, emmm... nothing much on the preparations side, but yes i took 3 CATs + 1 paper test during this time.. The test were:

1. 800 score - test 2: The effect of almost a week break was showing.... RCs were too difficult to concentrate... Scored pathetically and landed up with 620, a break up of Q47 and V 29.... The only inspiring thing for me in this test for that i didnt go below my lowest score so far (600 in Kaplan 1) :):)

2. Big CD - teset 1: Hmmmm... interesting.... The graphics and everything on the CD and on the home page, were quite impressive... But frankly, either i am misunderstanding their scoring pattern or they have some pathetically weird scoring system!!! I scored a 420 here!!!!!!!!!
Didnt even wait to see the break ups for quant and verbal... Infact, while taking the test, i found few questions from OG 11 and this made me confident of crossing 700.. But with 420, i was left speechless!!! Didnt do anything the entire day, just slept!

3. 800 score - test 3: Things were getting on track at home now... I was slowly getting used to 44 C temperatures of Rajkot afternoons... This test was pretty comforting... It had some good questions and i did quite well.... Totaled 680 with a break of Q49 V 35...

4. ETS paper test code 28: Wow!!! The accuracy in quant was spectacular, probably becuase most of the questions were sitters from OG 11... :) Still got 4 wrong in quant, which meant a quant raw score of 46, which maps to section score of 45!!! Had it been a CAT, i would have scored a definite 50. Verbal - dont know when will i improve here... 11 wrong... Guess, i need to concentrate just and just on SCs now.... Raw score in verbal: 39, which meant a total score of 680....

The conclusion of this entire post is that i am still a dullard, as far as SC is concerned... Steps to be taken:

1. Go through OG SCs method
2. Go through OG practice SCs
3. Complete 250 SCs
4. Complete manhat stuff, though very boring
5. Start with Kaplan 800
6. Keep giving score top SC tests whenever time permists in office...

Enough for today, i feel... its time now to go home, relax a bit and then jump over to the two paper tests i am caring today.... 800-gmat.com (test 11) and ETS (test 31).

Lets hope, i give both of them today itself and perform satisfactorily....

See ya tomorrow folks...

bbye....

And yes, ek kaam ki baat to mein batana bhool hi gaya - hum sirf itna chahte hain, ki aap baratiyon ka swagat Pan Paraag se kijiye... :);):0@#$@# Bad PJ, i know!!

I have taken the G-date.... And the date is 27th June, 2006!!! Still havent figured the unique features of the date :-), except that 27 totals to 9, which happens to be my lucky number and 27/6/6 has a repetition in it which is my lucky combination.... :):):)

My next two weeks will determine how lucky these facts prove to be for me!!!

Alright... M back finally...

I dont exactly remember when was the last post i published. Probably, it was after i took GMATPrep -1 for the second time and scored a 730. The day seemed so very beautiful... Seemed as if the gorgeous weather in the evening that day, was just set for me to cheer my score... :) Also had hundreds of butterflies enjoying themselves in my stomach as 26th May was coming closer... No no, 26th May wasnt my GMAT date, it was instead the date when i was going to fly to my state, Gujarat!!

There was so study, no GMAT till 26th... I kept dreaming and planning about the times i was going to spend in Ahmedabad and in Rajkot, my hometown... My stay in Ahmedabad was limited to just a day & half and so, i knew there wasnt going to be any studying there... But Rajkot, yes... though i knew i have never studied at home, since the time i left for my Engineering College, i was constantly telling myself to study atleast this time... :)

I had wonderful time in Ahmedabad... Had to stay in a hotel, as i was not supposed to inform any relative/friend of my being there.... ;) If any of these people read this post someday, they are going to kill me!! hahah... After a very emotional day, i had to depart from Ahmedabad and i tell you, going to Rajkot was never so difficult for me... There was a unique bond that was pulling me to Ahmedabad, and somehow i dint feel like leaving the city... :(

Days in Rajkot were as per my expectations from all fronts. Had a good time with my parents and my sis... Things look so very perfect when all the family members are together!! Had many many rides on my CBZ... The more i drive this bike, the more i fall in love with her... Papa gave me many chances to have a feel of our car as well... :) He normally fears everytime i drive, coz my driving is very haphazard as compared to his... :) Also, had 3 tiring games of cricket with one of my cousins and a dinner outing with them at one of the costliest restaurants in Rajkot, 'The Temptations'!!!

Just when i was planning the date when i could return to Ahmedabad to catch my flight on 4th, we got a very good news from my maternal uncle... His daughter, and my elder cousin Vandana was to be engaged on 2nd June in Ahmedabad... The date - 2nd June - was decided so that i could attend it!! Wow... Its so nice to find how much important your presence is, for people you love so much... :) but this meant, i had to depart a day earlier from Rajkot... :( Had many things to complete before leaving... Had to meet my grandma again, spend some time with her... Help mom with some snacks preparation... Get my bike and car serviced... Had to meet some relatives and of course, had to go for a bye-bye visit to Ramkrishna Ashram!! :)

Got up at 4 in the early morning on 2nd... Though an hour late of what was decided.... I had my packing done so the only hurdle between me and the 250 km long run to Ahmedabad from Rajkot was a bath....

Didi's engagement, in Ahmedabad, was a treat to watch!!! She was looking very very pretty.... And jiju too looked smart and dashing... They formed an indeed great pair!! Jiju was so very caring towards her and i felt so nice after observing a few 'stints' that he did.. :) I have learned one thing from him - when you pick a glass of water from a tray which had just two glasses before you picked one, it shows courtesy on your part if you move the remaining one to the center, so that the tray doesnt get imbalanced.. Small thing, but i liked it!! :)

It was the big big time then... Two ladies who love me the most in this world - my mom and my best friend, Neha - were going to meet each other for the first time.... :) Now... What can i write about this meeting?? Both of them complement each other so much... There was constant chatting for a period of 45 mins we were together.... Netiher front was ready to give up!! My sis, who also happens to be a great chatter box, had to take a back seat for a while... My God!!! Why do females have so much to talk always??? Seems, i will have to be a very very very very patient listener throughout my life, as these three ladies are going to stay around me forever!

3rd June now: was the best day of my trip to Gujarat... It had everything i had thought of... Movie, snaps, shopping, dinner, more snpas, bike-ride and above all... the first rain of the season in Ahmedabad... Just too romantic to be described here!!! :):):)

Well, thats all about my Gujarat experience this time.... With success in everything i had planned and with no goof-ups, i certainly felt very lucky and very very blessed with His blessings....

Hope, He keeps showering them on me and everyone, forever and ever...