Day 522:27th Feb, 2011

Spent quite some time watching the match today. India batted first against England, and posted a pretty good score, though definitely less than what it should have been :-S

Shortlists for most of the impending processes tomorrow (the top marketing and GM profiles) are out. Didn't make it to any :-( . Still don't know why that happens. Hopefully it's not an impending sign of times. 

And since I did not have anything to do (and because the shortlist gave me no motivation for any more studies :-p) , trudged my way back to the gym, mainly to get some endomorphins alive and kicking. And then a little more tabbed browsing :)

Day 521:26th Feb, 2011

Spent the entire morning through noon "trying" to wake up early. Started with targeting breakfast, ended up with almost missing lunch :-p

Since I had already read up a little bit of fin day before yesterday (cough cough), I thought I might as well get a bit more acquainted with marketing. Even sacrificed meeting up with a close friend who had come down from IMT G for that! Luckily, I did manage to get through quite some portion of that ppt, side by side enjoying the live streaming of the world cup.

The good part of the day - had pizza for dinner. Seemed like ages, mainly the delay due to extreme poverty :-p . Got some funds from dad (thank God we live in India), and celebrated with a double burst pizza, treating Pachpan as well. Felt really sleepy thanks to that, but somehow crossed that dozing off threshold. Trying to read up a little more on fin, but as usual, ended up reading a lot of random tabs! 5.30 now, time to get some sleep!

Day 520:25th Feb, 2011

Woke up.. no no.. was woken up at 1.30 (yes, in the afternoon) and rather abruptly by a group member insisting there was a ppt to attend in 30 minutes. Didn't even shave, secretly hoping I would get kicked out :-p . Alas, luck was not to be. Neither did I get kicked out, nor was there enough people to seize the last mover advantage, and worst of all - there wasn't any attendance :-(

After a long time went back to the Friday tradition of watching a movie - Tanu weds Manu it was, at PVR. OK movie, easily a one time watch. Also helped avoid the dinner in the mess :D . Had a little something at Yo China! in the food court and followed it up with some awesome sizzling brownie and chocolate fantasy at CCD! God bless the inventor of chocolate :D

The night mess session has almost become a mandatory practice of whiling some time of the day, and so be it today as well. Made and had some plans to study, but kinda sleepy now. Will look into it tomorrow.

Day 519:24th Feb, 2011

Feels so nice to wake up on a day, and find out you don't have any ppts lined up :-p . Did have one form filling to do. Was initially happy since the company had come during summers, and I had all the answers ready. Turns out the questions were different, and also more in number :-S

Finally finished with my KT session for the juniors. Gave this half with Pachpan; I think it's a good idea to give it in groups. You can remember more by bouncing thoughts and opinions off each other.. INDEX is definitely in good hands though :-)

Quickly finished off whatever was left of the form (thinking and filling two answers at super speed :P) to make myself free for the hostel party! Had good fun there :-) . Just like it marks all special occasions, it rained even on this night, to make the senseless dance a senseless rain dance :D

Had a really long and really random bakar session in my room after that with Pachpan, Kisaan and TG. Always so worthwhile to talk and enjoy for 3 hours on topics right from 'biology' to engineering days to stuff here :D

Day 518:23rd Feb, 2011

These days, the body clock of all PGP2s has adjusted itself to a new external factor - the ppt schedule. Some 20 minutes before some ppt is scheduled, you could see all soggy eyelid-heavy faces going to the bathroom for a quick wash, and in extreme cases a quicker shave. 

So was it with me. Was glad I managed to wake up on time for the 1.45 afternoon presentation. Was infinitely more glad, when the last mover advantage played out and I could manage to stay outside the classroom and get attendance for nothing :D 

But just like two days back, this was avenged too. We had this presentation by one global bank. And another at around the same time by a local Indian bank. As per sat for the ppt, we saw from the back windows that pizzas were kept outside, and became all happy (free food some how has that effect), especially because, no way would a local Indian bank spend as against a global giant right? But Murphy's law won, mocked at us fair and square, through the pizza stuffed mouths of the students who went for the other one :( . BTW, should we take it as a sign of changing times? :-)

Some more wrap-up work w.r.t. INDEX. Had called an old vendor for some "negotiations", thanks to some things that weren't delivered as promised. As expected, didn't reach a definite conclusion, but made some headway in better understanding some points. Missed dinner (and apparently, one awesome new dessert :-( ...) and subsequently fell back on Fauzi. Had a nice time recalling and remembering some of the kaand that happened till now :-)

Have just spent some good bit of time mechanically reading and consciously closing the too many tabs that had been opened up on my browser. And now, one Contra session, TBBT episode and night snacks @ Fauzi later, it's time to bid good night!

Day 517:22nd Feb, 2011

Woke up (at noon :D) to find the adjunct student finally back on campus. Which meant sweets + tp (including fooling him about the "insti party") + lunch at Fauzi + pulling his leg by drawing attention to his Pcom group mates :-p

Spent the afternoon trying to rank companies. Made one initial list. Tried doing it on an excel first, then figured it was pretty useless to do that. Directly did it on Aghanim. Came up with a preliminary list - first cut, ranking around 70 companies, many of which might not even come on campus :D . par umheed pe toh duniya kaayam hai

Pachpan keeps complaining about always feeling pressure only on his biceps and forearms, whatever exercise he does! Finally today, he realised the importance of doing the exercises right rather than trying to be all macho and add high weights, thanks to your truly and one junior. And sure enough, the 50kg on the triceps press came down to 32kg :-) ..and still had him gasping and clenching his teeth :-p

Post dinner, sat down to finally finish off with the rankings. Came to know Ms. "sincere-as-ever" Chatur ranked 170 companies as against my 95 :D . In spite of having every DayZee shortlist! :D . Talk about confidence :-p . And then, for some strange and still inexplicable reason, started reading some fin at 2.30am :-| . And surprisingly, have sustained myself in that activity till 5.30am. Guess that's enough of being a Valuation God. For now ;-)

Day 516:21st Feb, 2011

Had been trying to get a room booked for an alum since 3-4 days, and somehow has been a little extra painful this time. Luckily, got it done today morning after one (short and sweet) ppt of a media company recruiting for their OOH division. Got to learn a little about a completely new industry.

Was due for another ppt in the early evening, as some of my group members weren't on campus. This one turned out to be very bad. Firstly, it got delayed by 45 minutes, then those Red and Blue telecom people took some 15 minutes "doing some setup". And then gave a ordinary ppt for 1.5 hours. I am mainly super irritated because I missed the chocolate pastry in snacks :-(

Spent around an hour at night giving (mostly just trying to give) some pep talk to a friend, who was worried about the way preparations were going for all the DayZee shortlists held. I congratulated myself for not imposing such problems on myself :P

Day 515:20th Feb, 2011 - Movie marathon day

Ardh Satya in the afternoon (when the day started i.e.), Saath Khoon Maaf at Wave in the evening, and Rain Man on my laptop just now.

Day 514:19th Feb, 2011

Since quite some days, there was this one tab that I hadn't managed to close. It was a youtube video, part 1 of a 6 part series. Finally saw it out today. Came to know about this solo adventurer called Mike Horn and the amazing challenges that he has conquered - covering the equator, travelling the entire length of the Amazon, going around the Arctic circle, etc.

Had missed out on donating blood the last time around, wasn't going to miss it again. Felt good. Got quite a bit to eat as well :P

Skipped gym to instead settle for some Bridge. Mr. Tiwari was leaving for his hometown and hence the request had to be honoured. Didn't play too well though, probably the lack of practice :( . Went to the mess for dinner; found it to be so bad I settled for a glass of milkshake instead. A little more form filling after that - today was a short one from this paint company. Squeezing answers in a small box with a small font was fun :-P , even wrote a couple of new incidents!

And magically, it's 2.40 now. I just don't seem to have a clue on what I do to make time pass by this way! Do I need to get checked for a multiple personality disorder? :P

Day 513:18th Feb, 2011

Woke up (pretty late) to find that I needed to give the final touches to the FRA document. Got that done just in time to have some (crappy!) lunch, and then dashed off for the Jack&Jill ppt; only to find the guys walking in a complete hour late :-x . And then break the promise of finishing off the ppt in an hour. (No, the few soaps and lotions that were distributed did NOT compensate!)

Some intensive chest exercises at the gym today. Also spersed with some triceps exercises and a 3km run :D . I can feel my muscles getting tougher now ;-) . Might be a little biased though :-)

Had kutte jaisa bhook and even the dinner at the mess was really sad. Kisaan had gone to play a cricket match for sikander and so poor me had to go all alone to Fauzi. But then, you just need to sit at Fauzi for two minutes and you are sure to get company :D . Had dinner with cyberKGP and my Bridge colleagues, funnily over giving some Fin electives' gyaan to some facchas. Had a marketing session scheduled just after that; attendance wasn't mandatory for me, but I figured I wouldn't be doing anything productive anyways. With that simple logic, I went along. Don't know what I learnt, but I know I didn't lose anything.

The night mess visit that followed suddenly left me with a new brainwave - we get brownie there, heated up, with chocolate sauce. How about buying an ice cream from Guptaji to have some home-made (not so) Sizzling Brownie?! Definitely an idea worth a try I guess!

Went to my INDEX junior Mak's room to collect KungFuPanda's sweatshirt. Also ended up giving a little electives' gyaan to him as well. Poor fellow reminded me of the crossroads I was standing at last year...

I think I need to start locking my room when I leave. (Have I mentioned I (and many others) NEVER lock the door of the room while going out?). Yesterday had the instance of a friend randomly posting a status update from my FB account, regarding the way my name is (mis)spelt. Today, I suddenly saw my USB mouse was missing. My detective instincts told me the suspicion would be on Bala. And then, true to his remarkable style, Bala gave yet another demonstration.

Me: Do you have my mouse?

Bala: No, it's with Kisaan

Anyone reading the above statement would infer Kisaan came and took my mouse. But no, the great Bala came, took my mouse, went to Kisaan's room, gave my mouse to him, and took his mouse. And on my quizzing a little more about this 'arrangement', I was (in his characteristic style) "ordered" to use my "hands" till my mouse is available again :-S . The e-sikander AOE addiction :-S

Anyways, my intentions of sleeping early have gone bust big time. Been randomly reading stuff (as usual). 4.20 am now. Just read a random mail from some committee on campus who (God-knows-why) called someone, and now we all mandatorily will have to attend that. Arghh!!

Day 512:17th Feb, 2011

Yet again I woke up at dawn! And took me a good 30 min or so to get back to sleep again. Fortunately woke up earlier than yesterday. Too much inertia though - skipped breakfast.

I seem to have made my 'casual steps' into an algorithm to pass off the day. Stuck to it. Lunch, laptop, gym, dinner. And that's a little flexible in the sense I could squeeze in 2 movies today, due to well, lots more free time. Fight Club was kicka** I thought, but Rocky Balboa was kinda disappointing, didn't match up to the Rocky series one bit.

And in the midst of all this, I found time to fill in the rudimentary details and then flunk the numerical part of this STeN-Chy online test. In a way, lucky for me; was saved from the 150 question long psychometric test which most others flunked :P

And then, I probably became the one of the only 4 PGP2s still working on a project - yes, the much discussed FRA. As noted previously, we thought we should be giving in more decent stuff. Spent around playing a little bit with some databases we have subscribed to (OK, only one database. OK, that too was done by my friend :P)

Was pretty sleepy somewhere then in between. But the night mess seems to have driven it away. And now at 5.20am, I am unfortunately not sleepy, but hungry :-S . Look on the bright side though, my sleep won't be "disturbed" at dawn :P

Day 511:16th Feb, 2011

I think third day in succession that my sleep got disturbed at dawn. Pretty cold today though, thanks to a fresh bout of rain. The poor blower's post winter break had to be abruptly cancelled :P

The next (and thankfully final) waking pit-stop happened straight at 12.15 noon :-S . No semblance of any afternoon though - it was a tad bit dark and still drizzling. But amazingly beautiful - clean and green in a way only nature does :-)

Typical vella day otherwise - mostly spent sitting in front of my laptop. Resumed gymming though! Was dead tired and wanted to go for a quick dinner, preferably outside. But neither did plans for 'outside' work out, nor did the 'quick' part, as my room was invaded by TG and Sheldon Salhotra for some INDEX budget clarifications. Luckily though - TG agreed to come for dinner to the ever-dependable Brij. Ate right till my oesophagus was full :P

Day 510:15th Feb, 2011 - Last exam at helL!

My last exam at helL today! :-) Leadership Discovery. And thankfully, it was a case-based open book, open slides exam :D . No pain.

And I don't know how I can describe it; but as I took those few steps away from the PGP block after my paper, there was this intense thrill and a feeling of "liberation", mixed with the feeling that it means the end is only near..

Lots of celebrations happening, some celebrating outside, and many more boisterously celebrate in hostels. I spent the sudden unexplained surge of energy with a music-filled walk around the campus. Followed it up with a mush movie - P.S. I Love You. Pretty typical one time watch, but doesn't come close to Notting Hill :-) . And special thanks to the great Bala for the choco-chip fudge dessert from Genesis!

And just before I sleep, God decides to make the day a little more special, with thunderstorms and rain :-)

Day 509:14th Feb, 2011

Heroes season 2 in one straight session \m/

PS: Happy Valentines Day! (Or all the best lookin for one!)

Day 508:13th Feb, 2011

Unabashedly, I admit to having sincerely studied for FRA today, especially given yesterday's debacle. But seems like the choice of 2 Fin subjects in the final semester might prove costly for me. Literally, since today's 19 mark FRA paper had a weightage of 60 marks overall, and the questions didn't have partial marking :-|

Had to come back and sit to complete the form for a General Management biggie. Frankly, I think that's my dream company :-) . But I really don't know if I'll even get shortlisted. Given the midnight deadline, I sat around filling the form fast, but neatly; mostly using answers that I had prepared for last year. There's one answer though which doesn't seem too satisfying, and just as I was about to copy that, I came to know the deadline's been extended :P . Good, let me think about it tomorrow!

Day 507:12th Feb, 2011

Now, in my 6th term, the third last exam of my IIM L life, if I myself come up and say I prepared quite hard for this exam, you really MUST believe it! Major fatta hua haalat, especially given the huge weightage to the quiz and very minimal weightage to project :P (and our performance in it :P). 

But eventually, when going to give the paper, I was reasonably confident of turning in a decent enough answer sheet. Except, that didn't happen. Pretty tough paper, damaging grades across the board. Of the two nuclear bombs that can spoil my future plans, one has exploded - tomorrow will know the fate of the other one.

Anyways, this was the last exam for Pachpan, and the fool immediately left for home. Well, I know he is going to be back this time, but it did put my mind on the same track it has often drifted to off late.. - that very soon, we'll all be gone, never to return (for quite some time at least). Sad :-( :-(

Day 506:11th Feb, 2011

Pretty free the whole day today. Led to me spending even more time on my laptop. Led to me finally get too irked by my "crowded" desktop, and finally I cleared out the random clutter and put the files to folders where they belong.

Pachpan had plans for a movie - Patiala House. But with the unsurmountable mountain called QAF in front of me, I decided to stay back and try and start climbing. The good thing was, there were others like me who had taken these courses with slightly ulterior motives as well ;-) . Did get around reading a bit, but didn't manage to make much sense of what I read. I guess the only knowledge I gained properly was when Pachpan arrived to explain one topic for some 30 minutes or so. But, the struggle went on (hoping for some sub-conscious absorption :D) and it's about 4.15am now. Guess I'll resume tomorrow morning, hopefully with someone to explain and make things easy!

Day 505:10th Feb, 2011 - You bet! :P

Had our Brand Management paper early in the day today. The paper was one DI problem; no issues :-) . Though I do feel it might be a good idea for profs to make it clear that the book/slides are never going to be used in the "open book" exam. Might as well save some paper & printing ink and contribute to the environment.

Followed up the exam with a movie (after a long time!). We went to see Sanctum, a James Cameron movie. Being in Lucknow, we are compelled to watch such 3D movies on a normal 2D screen; though we got to sit on 125/- seats for 100/-, thanks to the theater being practically empty :-p . The movie was OK; I guess the 3D stuff is the essence of the movie.

Had higher motivation to go to the gym today - had to win a bet, condition being I would do 3 sets of 10 reps with 44kg on the chest fly machine! And yes, I did it, rather comfortably :-p . Though from today, I have started a more disciplined regimen :-)

I have no exam tomorrow. Tried putting myself to sleep but didn't feel particularly sleepy. So some change in plans. Just spent an hour enjoying with the ipod earphones tucked into my ears, listening to some soft music and of course, regaling people around with my rendition ;-)

Day 504:9th Feb, 2011

Had our Product Management exam today. The trickiest part about the paper was that answers seemed to be only of 20-30 words, but they carried 5-10 marks. Now, our classic Indian mentality simply does not allow us to write such "short" answers for so many marks. So all effort went into inflating the actual answer to as-much-as-you-can levels :D

And very very surprisingly, I think it's around 2-3 days after which I am sleeping past midnight :-O . That's so NOT like helL, but I guess gymming takes its toll ;-)

Day 503:8th Feb, 2011 - Last class at helL!

Woah, 3rd consecutive day or so when I am having breakfast! Some record indeed!

The extra morning time and the breakfast turned out to be pretty useful as I had to miss lunch whilst I (started and) finished the PM report (and presentation) for today's class. My last class at helL :-) . My special contribution to myself - inserting a video in the ppt for the first time :P

Day 502:7th Feb, 2011

Woke up early, had breakfast! Then started getting bothered about the FRA project which was due, in 5 hours :-| . Went to the rooms of two of my group members; both were sleeping :-| . Man, term 6 is special! Anyways, one of them told me he had seen "a little" of what's to be done, and that he would come up with "something". Pretty risky terms in that statement, but I was helpless as I anyways had to attend my LD class where again our final presentation was due. That went OK. 

Immediately after my LD class, I contacted my group mates. As guessed, we were still close to have done nothing. Got an AMR guy to do "some regression" on "some data" and get "some result". Meanwhile, I even had to go to our prof to get our presentation scheduled, since we had already missed our alloted time. The good thing is profs are cooperative, definitely so in term 6 :-) . He agreed to see our ppt without any fuss, and having seen our ppt, very calmly declared the lack of effort, but fortunately he gave us another deadline to make improvements :-) 

The good part was in the small time gap between negotiating with the prof and waiting for my group to come, I managed to jump in and have some gulab jamun and Kwality ice-cream for this company's ppt which I didn't even attend. But as you sow, so you reap. The ppt that I was stipulated to attend - for the same company's IT division - didn't have attendance taken. To add salt to the wound, the next ppt which I skipped for my gym session, had attendance :-(

But God's generous. Good ending to the day :-) . Pizza for dinner - KungFu Panda's treat for his General Management PPO! And then lots of (re)Beginner's Luck at bridge! Naice!

Day 501:6th Feb, 2011

Today somehow seems to have become a day of self promotion. Now that I had finished 500 posts, it was time to give some publicity to the effort :P . And there went my blog URL on facebook :-) . Actually, apart from the publicity which I gladly welcome, a major intention was to give my batchmates a peek into the past. Although I write very specifically about my point of view, I am sure a large number of elements would be common to most of us.

Without putting in too much effort, I finished the application the way I had answers yesterday. Seems to be some issues with the assessment though - it never loaded for me! Got to look into that.

By now, most of us have been extremely poverty stricken. In these desperate times, visits to the mess have increased. Including for Sunday dinners! :-( . Guess it's time for one last major funding rescue call to home. And now, after one 'reflective' walk around the campus, it's time to have one look at what to do for all the pending presentations. I have given my laptop to Pachpan and asked him to take it to the library so I can come there and work. In a weird way, I suddenly feel free from all digital shackles. Guess.. on second thought, may be I'll push the project work for tomorrow :P . Will tuck myself into bed now. tada!

PS: I was also the Etrigan topper today ;-)

Day 500:5th Feb, 2011 - Five Centuries :)

Woke up comparatively early (8.30 is early dude), partly because I still had to finish the LD report by noon, and partly because I had to be (nominally?) present in class for our QAF presentation. Worked around these two conflicting interests by taking my laptop to the QAF session :P

Much of the day was spent filling the application for this multinational FMCG; more specifically in coming up with answers for three HR questions. Each time this happens is like suddenly hitting the 'Pause' button in life and trying to think of what you did. Has the potential side-effect of making you think you live a rather shallow and empty life, hardly doing anything beyond the mundane. But given the fact that we are MBA students, that cannot be true ;-) and thus you keep thinking and re-thinking and writing and re-writing, usually till the deadline appears. I had to attend a game+learning combo session by the same organisation in the evening, and by then I came up with what I thought were pretty decent answers.

Got back to my room and suddenly entered into a Reformist Mode. Day before yesterday, a particular incident happened regarding the way a certain amendment was done. I personally thought the process was unfair, and have been trying to mobilize opinion. All I want to do is have the batch re-think over it :-)

Just got back to my room after a night mess session. Pachpan just got a huge download of politics, scams and other GK stuff from his KGP batchmates and we sat around discussing that for some time. And yes, the deadline for the application has been extended; yes, as usual, the answers were kinda trashed by Pachpan; yes, will give it a re-visit tomorrow.

And yeah, 500 days in helL, every single day on this blog :-) ! Three cheers! :-)

Day 499:4th Feb, 2011

Woah! Seems like someone forgot to tell the fog that winter's over! I woke up pretty early today, at 6.30am the first time. As I stepped out of my room, I saw that the dense blanket of morning fog is back. I hope it does not bring along it's friend - Mr. Cold.

Had made a lot of plans yesterday on what to do today. But eventually, the first thing I did with the extra morning time (apart from breakfast :D) was finish season 1 of Heroes :-S .Couldn't help it, but at least now there is some closure on that front (pls God, don't make me start season 2).

Spent the early part of the evening doing some pending INDEX work. Post that I had one company application which I wanted to finish - 3 HR questions for a major FMCG company. But I had already missed gym since two days, and for sure I knew if I skipped it today, I'll fall out of the habit. And thus the choice was made - I even added a complimentary run around the campus to make up :P

Post (yet another) dinner at Fauzi, my room was raided by INDEX juniors trying to reconcile accounts :D. Now now, that part is going to be fun for them :-P . I have a report to make by tomorrow noon, analyzing the leadership styles of 2 people from the industry. Still deciding whom to choose so I can make optimum use of resources ;-) . Add to that I am feeling all tired and sleepy... may be ... tomorrow morning...

Day 498:3rd Feb, 2011

Heores all day long!

Day 497:2nd Feb, 2011

The barrage of quizzes and projects are here, for one final time. Had 2 quizzes today morning. PM was fine, but as feared yesterday, I had to pay the price for sleeping during yesterday's QAF crash course :(

Kisaan's lying-on-the-bed-full-time-watching-sitcoms fever seems to be rubbing on me. Having bunked my FRA class (optimising available bunks :P), I had way too much time in the afternoon. And I suddenly started not one, but two new series! Two and a Half Men, of which I saw one episode and Heroes, of which I saw 8 episodes! The latter one is gripping! Even skipped gym because of that (though had a brisk walk along the campus after snacks).

After a long time, went to Brij for dinner. One place where the food is consistently simple and good! Felt really sleepy after that heavy meal, but I had a KT session with the juniors. That ran pretty much into the night, around 3.45. And now, another episode of Heroes later, I think I'll call it quits for today.

Day 496:1st Feb, 2011

Grudgingly made my way along to the early morning class; I already had 3 bunks in the subject and didn't want to take any chances. But one good thing I did - I used up that time to "plan out" my day ahead. Off late, I am guilty of wasting way too much time, but now I am back to my actual sticky notes to keep myself on track. The list did come in useful. I, especially, love scribbling tasks out of my pad and thus preparing the plan was a good way to keep me motivated.

PM lecture was fun too as I had my laptop with me. I cheated my mind to believe "we didn't have net" which created useful time to read up on some of those tabs as well as to update my previous blog posts. BTW, got our quiz 1 marks. I got 15/15 in that - how cool - last time that happened must have been in school! :P

A tiring visit to the gym, a rejuvenating shower, and a simple dinner later, Pachpan,  Kisaan and myself were playing with the huge General Awareness book that Pachpan has procured (Kisaan won the game). Anyways, Pachpan, MMR and myself just made our way to the night mess. And now, I just had a crash course on what to do for tomorrow's quiz, by finGod. Just hope I am not SO sleepy that i forget everything! :S