Day 293: 29th Jun, 2010

Most Strat Man classes, KV, Pillai and myself sit together on the last bench. Even as Pillai continues with his farce of trying to read cases from the polycopy, KV is loyal to his old ways - He dozes off! The funny thing is, invariably within a few minutes, he slips into such a slumber that he starts snoring :D . And although traditionally snores are supposed to wake up and trouble people adjacent to you, in this case, KV himself gets up hearing his snores :D

Today is when facchas start putting in their applications through Calvin. Gave Pravin a nice little scare :D

Day 292: 28th Jun, 2010

Lots of classes today! Attended Barood's NVP session, then the session on Retail Mark, the Strat Man session and an Int Fin extra class. The Int Fin class was particularly interesting. Shruti was sitting with Pachpan's best friend - Mr. Khadiya :D . Anyways, as the class started, Khadiya left to the sit with Sudeep in the adjacent row and Pachpan shifted ahead. And then began the exchanging of love notes between the two :D . Kids man these MBA grads are :-P

Went to Barbeque Nation :-D .. Chatur and Psycho's treat! Had a real nice time out there. Cursed the mad man initially for delaying the outing :-p And of course, the brilliant tashan shown by him towards Shanky for lifting off the helmet :D . Vanki saala is still refusing to acknowledge 'the secret'. Need to get the cat out of the bag. Of course, even he couldn't stop blushing when his alleged date walked in to the table right next to us :D , and that too along with someone who owes his establishment a good sum of money :-P . And yes, I lived right up to my sweet tooth reputation by having around 10 angoori gulabjamuns, dipped in ice cream :D

Had an english play by Abhivyakti - the theatre group on campus. The play was crafted around a mystery, and although I couldn't see the whole of it, whatever I saw was pretty nice.

Day 291: 27th Jun, 2010

Had a massive 3 hour guest session on a Sunday. The GM of Fortis (also happens to be an alum) had come down to give a talk on Strategy. I liked the part on how he switched roles between playing the corporate professional, the concerned alum and the faculty who wants his students to engage.

The overtures were delayed by around 90 minutes. Lots of electricity fluctuation issues today and the AC in Samanjasya wasn't working. Was nice to see the team in the INDEX Core t-shirts :) . Shankar and Shruti gave the overtures.

Postponed our Barbeque plans as Barood (CEO, Quetzal - the startup where I interned) was on campus. He has come down to take a guest session on New Venture Planning. We (Shetty, Cheeta and myself) + Harlee had dinner with him. Barood as usual had his another set of interesting experiences to narrate to us.

Came back and had an absolutely random discussion with Pachpan and Kisaan. It seriously started from somewhere and went off absolutely somewhere else :D . And that too for a good 1.5 to 2 hours! 

Day 290: 26th Jun, 2010

It is indeed a little surprising that around 3 weeks into the course, this is the first time I am awake till 5.15 am. But then, this was the occasion :D. The induction for the juniors ended and we had our first insti party as well. Kept my record of staying right up to the end :) . Super fun, as usual, including attempts to bring together Vanki with bhabhiji ;-) ! Also witnessed the Limca worthy moment - Shanky being lifted :-o ..by Maanas Agarwal. Also, did learn a couple of fachchas who need to learn some behaviour.

Had gone to Brij for dinner. Seems to be jinxed - especially for Vanki and Pachpan. Third time unlucky they were - this time thanks to an overflowing crowd. Had dinner at Fauzi ka dhaba, which lies a little ahead. Not bad.

Went to get some t-shirt prints in the afternoon. Hot dusty winds blowing at my face :-| . I hope that road is repaired soon!

And as I said, after a looooong time, sunlight is flowing into my room even before I have turned to sleep. Chalo then, let me try and put myself to sleep. Good night (no sleep, no morning :-p) junta! :)

Day 289: 25th Jun, 2010

Of course this had to happen with all the different sections and classrooms. I woke up at 9.59 am ..and 10.00 am being the usual second session of the day - I rushed to the classroom. Luckily, just as I reached the classroom, ma'am called out the name of the guy just before me. Unluckily, the next name that was called out didn't happen to be mine. Surprised that I was, I thought I'll speak about it to ma'am after class. Made my way into class and luckily found a seat in the last row. Took my place and glanced around - and then I suddenly saw myself surrounded by new faces. And then it dawned - I was in the wrong class!! My class was at 11.45 am, shucks, wasted an hour of sleep :-p . The good part - made a smooth quick exit before anyone else noticed ;-)

Day 288: 24th Jun, 2010

So Pachpan decided to remain all rolled up in his bed, banking on a proxy for his first class. I had already refused to do this (seriously, no giving/taking proxy from/for me) and therefore the focus was shifted to Vanki. At the last moment, he felt it was not possible. And it was fun (a little sadistic :-p) to see Pachpan's reaction at this discovery in the next class :-p

Spent 3 whole hours in the afternoon getting the INDEX room cleaned. Was a major cleaning exercise. Disposed off a whole lot of old redundant stuff ! The room looks super spacious now. And eerily clean :-p

We had our team building class in the evening today as we were supposed to have an outdoor activity. And man, what an activity it turned out to be. Basically, we were divided into teams and each of us had to go from A to B WITHOUT any member's feet touching the ground. Before you start imagining us doing Rajnikanth or Mithun da level stunts, let me tell you our modus operandi. We all had a limited number of thermocols, newspapers, etc. and we make our way by stepping on these. Now, if you can imagine this happening, the first person bends a little, puts something ahead, steps on it. Everyone in the middle just take a step ahead and pass the sheet coming from the back to the front. But the last person has to completely bend after every step, reach out and pick the material left behind and pass it ahead. So you can imagine - for 200 odd steps in our path - that person had to do some 200 quick and successive sit-ups along with other movements. I guess by now you would have understood I was the last person in my team. And in short - totally lagg gayi !

But the post-activity analysis had 2 useful things that I came across:

1. For all members of a team to give their best, there has to be a strong sense of a Common Purpose.

2. It is very essential (and practically quite difficult) to identify the weak link (may be a person, activity, process anything) and give it support.

Had the presentations today in the induction. They sure are fun :D 

Also celebrated the mad man's birthday. The fellow got bashed up, but I guess still much less than what he does :-p . 

Day 287: 23rd Jun, 2010

So there it starts - the waking-up-late-to-miss-breakfast-before-class saga. Woke up at 8.08 for the 8.15 Int Fin class. Luckily for two aspects a) my bike and b) our prof , I didn't have too much of an issue attending the class. 

Spent the other classes of the day with some help from the book - 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' by Mohsin Hamid. A slightly weird kind of a book. It is a monologue spoken by the author to an American visitor in Pakistan. The good thing is it's a short book. So I'll finish it before I start getting too bored :-p

As usual, with yet another thanks to the mess, I report yet another dinner at Fauzi. A very small discussion on what to order eventually reminded us of the futility of this activity, as once again, we ended up ordering the same standard fare !

Had a small INDEX meet after that. I am sometimes (more frequently these days) surprised on how small points suddenly become the focus of a discussion and take up so much time! 

Went with Pachpan to watch how how day 2 of the induction is going. Not very interesting :-S

Day 286: 22nd Jun, 2010

The effect of 800 students and an under-construction mess was at its fullest potent. There was so much crowd that myself and pachpan went off to Fauzi for lunch. Had the standard fare - roti, dal, aloo jeera, dahi. This is definitely something which does not go wrong at Fauzi.

However, this 3.45 timing for the SM class is turning out to be a major pain. Invariably, the free time post lunch happens to be an extremely sedative-oriented hour. But it is such an 'in-between' time that we can't even enjoy a proper siesta. Took 2 alarms (and 2 snoozes!) to motivate me into going for the class.

The induction session for the fachchas has started. Was pretty surprised to see that it ended as early as 12.30am :-O ..A far cry from the niteouts we had last year. This timing should definitely be extended in the coming days if they are to be introduced to the rigour that lies ahead.

Day 285: 21st Jun, 2010

So we had our Retail Mark presentation in the first lecture of the day. I have been super busy with some INDEX work and had no time for playing any part in the making of the ppt. But as my luck with presentations go, I ended up being the introductory speaker on ours :-| .. Used to it by now though :-p

All the students (and for now, quite a few parents) are on campus. And presently, the mess is in a terrible mess. No place to eat, i.e. if there is food left to eat, i.e. if at all you can manage to call it "food" :-|

Celebrated Chatur's bday at midnight. God alone knows why she suddenly became psycho-ish, started chasing us with the sauce bottle in hand. Woh bhi chappal nikaalke :-O . My new unbreakable specs had it's first test. Fortunately, it lived up to it :D

Day 284: 20th Jun, 2010

Boy, people here (UP, I mean) are hard-working. Yesterday evening, I called the bike servicing guys. And today morning (mind you, it's a Sunday morning!!), they were here. Woke me out of my nice little extended slumber. They made a preliminary examination and I asked them for a quote. May be it was the hot sun or what I don't know, but for sure his brains had been fried when he gave me an estimate of Rs. 4000/-. I asked him to give me a breakup of all the things - and he started listing some 15 billion items that needed to be fixed/changed/modified. After cutting off a lot of items from that list, I gave my bike to him. The chap came back yesterday evening itself. Final cost, after some super duper cost cutting - Rs. 1500.

What's priceless? - I am reunited with my bike !!! Wooohhoooo!! :D

Pravin gave us a pizza treat in the afternoon. I think more than the pizza, we were thankful for the AC room at Patanjali ! :-p.. Kisaan displayed a lot of brilliance during the lunch - especially with his repeated attempts to dip the garlic bread into the cheesy dip. "Dhakkan" saala! :-p .. Of course, also very memorable was Mr. Psycho's remarks and outbursts :D . Man, he is one of a kind :D ..As for Pravin himself, his interrogation sessions just don't seem to end :-p

Had the deadline for the INDEX team submission today. Had a whopping 26 registrations!! Woahhhh!! *Drum Roll* ..INDEX 2010 is going to be AWESOME!

Day 283: 19th Jun, 2010

Gymmed for the second consecutive day. Not bad. It's surprising how quickly the body seems to adjust. For sure, I had put in more effort today, but still felt less tired.

Today however was yet another debut - swimming ! :D .. Was fun. Apparently less crowded today. Pravin has also come down to campus. Did some tp. Half of INDEX was in the pool :-p . Pravin, as usual, did some psycho stunts - weird somersault dives into the pool. Swam for almost 1.5 hrs. Dead tired !

Day 282: 18th Jun, 2010

Today is a red letter day. Finally, I make my debut at Umang. Eventually, as it turns out, all it takes to spur me is to make a bet :-p. Gymmed one complete hour in the morning :) Hope this lasts! 

The prom strat class breezed away - was an ad watching session today :D

But a hectic day otherwise. Finally made a closure with my old room. None of my stuff is there now. Bloody but I did turn envious - those rooms have been given nice new beds and pillows! :-o

Arranged for some docs in the afternoon. Arranged for Praveen's visit. Was out in the city today all evening with INDEX work. The good thing was - almost everyone I met in the day was nice! Had an unexpectedly loooong-ish chat with our flex printing vendor. Pretty interesting conversation! Also got some cost savings :)

Went to watch Raavan with the INDEX gang. I joined them directly at Wave. (BTW, the mystery of the vanishing 100/- happened yet again! :-X .. need to be careful and alert the next time!). Missed the title song as we stayed in the food court for an extra 5 min..and I guess we kinda missed the best part. Movie is okay-ish, pretty scenic, random at times and very Southie!!

Day 281: 17th Jun, 2010

Had an interesting exercise in team building today. A fictitious situation - a group of people were trapped inside a cave and rescue operations were happening such that only one person could be brought out every hour. Meanwhile, the cave was getting filled up with water and there was a high chance of a cave-in, killing all those still trapped inside.

A brief write up about every participant was provided. What we were supposed to do is try and come up with a ranking - an order of priority in which the participants would be brought out.

Quite interesting. So many perspectives even within one team. And across teams - there were still more differences. Arising out of the various approaches adopted by different teams. And all this even though the basic parameters employed by the teams turned out to be similar.

What we learnt finally, is that even though we consciously avoid NOT to make assumptions, we still somehow end up doing so. Just like I am assuming there are readers of this blog even now :-p . LOL.

Day 280: 16th Jun, 2010

The interesting thing about today was a visit we had to the local market for our Retail Marketing class. Basically all of us were packed off on a bus and taken to this weekly bazaar that happens at this place called Mahanagar every Wednesday.

What impressed me was the entire setting. Have read in books (ok ok Tinkle :-p) about this kind of weekly markets, but seeing one was an experience. There were literally hundreds of makeshift stalls that had sprung up on the street. Selling absolutely anything and everything. Of course, prices were always jacked up and you had to be that hard-nosed bargainer to get your worth. Easy for me - I know that's not quite my stuff - so stayed away from actually buying anything.

For the class itself, we had to just go around and talk to shopkeepers and get some details. Got a little bit of that. Then treated it like a mini-outing and walked around with Ghate tasting some new items like panna (tasted like pani-puri ka pani), chana kheer, mango kheer (both AWESOME sweets!).

Of course, my mind kept drifting to INDEX. Reason being it was exactly the location where the prior editions of INDEX was held (not possible now since a multi-level parking is being constructed there!!), but I was just super envious of the location. Would be so brilliant to get people there!

Day 279: 15th Jun, 2010

Had great fun collecting money (for the section celebration) during the SM class. Especially Dada's negotiations with Lima, raising his contribution from zero to Rs. 30/- 

Buried under an avalanche of work now!

Day 278: 14th Jun, 2010

Steps to elect a bakra CR:

1. Spot the 'bakra' , in this case the person who leaves the classroom as soon as the lecture is over, even before the prof leaves the classroom.

2. Form a group of people. Meet him 'casually' afterwards and tell him he has been nominated the CR. (The group helps in the convincing part - you can break up the group in 2 parts to 'act real').

3. Now he has started cursing himself for what he got into.

4. Make him send an e-mail to the class, talking about the work which the 'CR was supposed to do'. Thus by default, he is now the CR.

5. Take the group of people to his room and laugh your heart out :D

All Hail Vanki - the CR for all occasions!

Poor dude. He also ended up as the CR for his StratMan class :D

Day 277: 13th Jun, 2010

One of my aims on campus was that in these 2 years, I wanted to train myself for a marathon. Right now, only my nose seems to have taken it seriously :-p .. Really irritated by this running nose! It is also delaying my Umang (gym+swimming) plans! (NOT an excuse)

Apart from that, it was a pretty chill Sunday. In fact didn't really feel very Sunday-ish as the other days have also been really light :-p

Had a HUGE sandstorm late night-ish. Room's full sand covered now :-| . Super winds blowing. Doors banging wildly all over - of course then people had the good sense to latch it. In fact, the winds were such that I had to apply some might and push to get the door open! ..Weather's pleasant though! :)

Day 276: 12th Jun, 2010

It's kinda weird when you start making yourself feel "productive" after trying repeatedly and finally getting a 100+ continuous rebounds of a TT ball against the wall. But that's the great sense of achievement with which I started the day today.

We had to take a case write-up to our Prom Strat class today. Arbitrarily, ma'am caught this one guy. Who picked up someone else's write-up and went on stage and did manage to speak 'something'. One year of MBA, if not anything else, does help you learn to come up with impromptu bullshit. 

Pretty slow day after that. Became suddenly obsessed with 'Bhaja Govindam'. Was listening to a short version recited by MS. (Not that I am very much into music etc., got the link from a friend's blog). But it was nice and soulful, and the lyrics are profound and deep. Don't think the advice will last for long though. I tend to make my own philosophy for things \m/ , ones which change as per convenience :D

Played some TT today. I enjoyed it. Though I again didn't play as well as I can / should ! Read a little bit of 'Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish' by Rashmi Bansal. The 3-4 stories I read were interesting, but not exactly inspiring. Though ample scope to draw learnings from each of them.

Learnt from Shomu how to operate the washing machine. My first clothes washing stint in this hostel :D.

Have also fallen victim to a running nose. Nothing is more irritating than that ! Going to take a tablet and put myself to sleep.

Day 275: 11th Jun, 2010

Yaar!! On Fridays and Saturdays, I have just one lecture! Shucks.. I so wish it was adjusted to some other day! Would have had nice loooong weekends. Which could I have employed to cover the whole of North India!

Got my hands on a bike after around 2 and a half months! Feels AWESOME to be on a lean mean 2-wheeled machine! Yet to get my bike serviced and repaired though.. but not long before I am reunited with my Discover!

Day 274: 10th Jun, 2010 - Zoo Zoo :-p

So is it my EAGLE that is making me write this blog? Or is it the SALMON which is trying to rebel against popular notions that were expressed about the impossibility of sustaining this endeavour? Confused? Don't worry. This was what happened in the 3-hour "short"(in the prof's words - ?!?) lecture on team building. As how would you understand others if you didn't understand yourself! Logically sound, except that at the end of the class, it made me feel I was in a zoo rather above anything else :-p

There is something anti-visionary about Lucknow. No pun intended, I only was referring to my spectacles. After breaking my specs 6 times in the first year, I had a two month long summers stint at Bombay, during the course of which my specs fell down at least twice, and escaped unhurt and intact. Day 1 in Lucknow - I put my specs inside the case just before I go to sleep. Morning the case falls down. And the specs - inside the case - breaks! :-S . Argghhh!! Accompanied Dhams to the city (who maintains his record of registering late), gave my specs for repairing on the way. Tried negotiating, but unsuccessful :-(

Had a long overdue INDEX meet. In our new room. Convenient :-p

Day 273: 9th Jun, 2010

I don't know if I have mentioned this before. One of my greater achievements in my first year was that in the last 4 months, I did not have a shave or haircut. Just to confirm there was no typo, I reiterate - in the last 4 months of my first year, I did not have a shave or a haircut. Of course, I don't think I need to get too descriptive for you to imagine a person in such a state. Though never an intention, this hairdo did manage to create a little bit of a brand image for me :P. And now, when I came back after my internship, all clean-shaven with a super short haircut, I can actually find people finding it tough to recognize me :D 

An excruciatingly painful registration process. Was bored to death. Something better needs to be done there.

Had maggi after a loooooooong long time. Infact had it just once in 2 months. Now I guess it's back to resuming its "staple food" status.

And now that Saurabh has come, he will bring all a billion childish observations and a zillion plans. One of which was to watch Rajneeti today (one of his few better plans). Had some difficulty in arranging bikes. But then of course, the philosophy was sacrosanct - "the first plan made for this year shall not be broken!". And there we were, 7 of us, catching the 11pm show at Wave cinema. Though the movie is a lot of cut paste from various places, I still enjoyed it. Also, had to return triples on Shomu's bike - yet another first. 

Day 272: 8th Jun, 2010

Yoooooooooooooo!! 

And here I am ! Back to the campus and this blog after a brief hiatus - my internship! I spent the last 2 months in Bombay - had an absolutely wonderful time back there. Got to catch up with quite a lot of friends too. Though not much of anything since my internship itself turned out to be ultra hectic.

Anyways, true to the nature of this blog, I'll come back to my campus narrations. 

One of the primal instincts of the human mind is to compare. And there I was, thinking about how different things were just one year back. I remember being curious and apprehensive. I remember trying to spot for someone heading to IIM L so I could share a cab. I remember the dry hot dust laden winds that slapped my face with tenacious regularity. And today, there were so many familiar faces that we could share not just the taxi fare, but also the extra baggage amongst us! Why, last year, I even remember getting lost at a place that I can surely walk even blindfolded now! And to top it all, I even guided a first year prep course student around the campus :P . Funny sometimes the way events fold up!

Came to my new room. Threw a pretty good first impression space wise (again a huge deviation from last year!). But (there is always a 'but'), unfortunately, the cleaners had all left and my room does not have even a square millimeter of space which is free from dust! Have just dumped my luggage here. Will unpack tomorrow once I get it cleaned.

Also made multiple trips to my old room to collect my stuff. With even more stopovers at Gupta - consuming a huge number of Shikanjis (just remembered I didn't even know what this word meant a year back!). Half my stuff is in my new room now. Got bored. Also went to the INDEX room. Looks like an absolute extension to my own dust covered room!

Even managed to have a small debate with the Airtel guys in the midst of all this. The funny chaps there had, for some reason, still kept my incoming calls barred. (some stolen identity jhol had happened during my internship - never mind that now). The helpline (the number which I got only after 3 attempts) guy initially said he will 'note' my complaint and an airtel executive will contact me in '6 days'! How is that happening at all ?! Made him transfer the call to his supervisor. I explain the situation and the job gets done in 2min !

Had to make arrangements to sleep (my bed was totally dust covered!). The mattress from last year to the rescue. Have put it over my bed right now. Good idea that one.

Anyways, registration tomorrow. And am damn tired and sleepy. Adios ppl. Cya around!