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Showing posts from October, 2025

From PATNA to KBC: How Dr. Kalam Taught Me When to Step Aside

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जो मुझे मिला, वही पर्याप्त था। जो उसके बाद मिला, वह अनमोल था।   (What I received was enough. What followed was priceless.)     A year ago today, October 17th, 2024- I sat on the hot seat of Kaun Banega Crorepati and created history in an unexpected way.                                             After winning ₹6,40,000 and answering questions confidently, I made a request that surprised everyone: " सर, एक निवेदन है, मैं इस पड़ाव पर क्विट करना चाहूंगा। मैं चाहता हूं कि बाकी जो बचे हुए हैं, उनको मौका मिले। " (Sir, I would like to quit at this stage to give the remaining contestants a chance.) Mr. Amitabh Bachchan's response will stay with me forever: " सर, हमने यह उदाहरण पहले कभी देखा नहीं। बहुत कुछ सीखने को मिला आपसे। ." (Sir, we have never seen such an example before in 20+ years of KBC. We have learned a lot from you.)   A Special Moment I Shared ...

The Backwaters of Time: Our KV CBE Reunion in Alleppey

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Forty years disappeared in forty minutes! From October 10 to 12, 2025, sixteen of us — the batch of 1985 from Kendriya Vidyalaya Coimbatore — gathered at the picturesque Sterling Lake Palace Resort in Alleppey. It was our 40th birthday as a batch, and we celebrated it not with candles and cake, but with laughter and shared memories, floating together in a houseboat on the serene Kerala backwaters.   Forty years young — celebrating our batch birthday. The setting could not have been more poetic — a palace resort surrounded by shimmering waters, gentle breezes, and the occasional sound of oars slicing through stillness. Yet, the magic wasn’t in the location; it was in us — friends who had grown older, greyer, and hopefully wiser, but whose hearts still beat to the rhythm of the morning assembly bell of KV CBE.   Back to School — Literally We decided to go the whole way. Our reunion wasn’t about nostalgia in words — we wore it. Each of us came dressed in our school attire...