Day 531:21st Mar, 2011

A pleasant and early wake up call from my parents and sis to indicate they had reached the city and were on their way for their first visit to my campus. Excitement at both ends :-) . Also realized Pachpan was supposed to be have been back by now. Sure enough, I found him in his usual elements in his room, uninhibited in his praise for himself for his 'packing abilities' :D 

Quickly got ready and ran down to the guest house to meet my parents. Got them settled = dumping luggage in the room, so we could go down for breakfast. Showed them the "basic utilities" of the campus - the mess, Fauzi, JustTea, GnB ; made me remember my own first day when I consciously had to try to NOT get lost :-P . Since we were supposed to have rehearsals for tomorrow's event in the afternoon, I had my parents visit around the city + shop in that time period. The rehearsals themselves were a pain, mainly because of the afternoon heat (the free tropicana didn't help much :P). Trying to 'blast' the empty tropicana packs were a lot of fun though :D

After a brief period of rest (skipping PGP day occasion), I went off with my friends to the High Tea. Had a nice time there - generally talking amongst ourselves and also meeting a lot of my friends' parents. My parents came in halfway through (chikan shopping had taken priority :-p), and then it was my turn to introduce them to my friends. Luckily, there was enough mutual consideration to ensure appropriate behaviour :D

Went back to my room but was still pretty bored. So back to Fauzi with Pachpan and Shru. And that is when one of those absolutely random things happened which would become life-long memories. Arora had his car, and along with Buddhi and Kisaan in full flow, we went for a drive. An awesome drive, going to random places in the city (including DM Sahab's ghar), with Arora engaging in absolutely random but highly entertaining conversations with people. Of course, a special appreciation for his one-track mind :D. At one point, we were just 4 seconds away from consciously driving down a flight of stairs :-p . We came back for yet another round of the campus, even stopping to get pics clicked in front of our Diro's residence! Also saw for the first time Bodhigraha-2, the extension of the existing PGP block. Seems well made. A place that will soon beckon a lot many students in the coming years.

One of the craziest nights I have had in helL!

Day 530:20th Mar, 2011 - Guess whoz back \m/

Back after an awesome trip to Sikkim, and a (mandatory) impromptu deviation to include Bhutan, thus ensuring my first foreign trip :D . In keeping with the mandate of this blog, won't talk about that trip here though.

One thing is for sure though - wherever you go, nothing like home. And for now, no home like helL. Made our way back to the campus at 8am. After a little email and facebooking, I went off to get some breakfast, trying to stay away from all the pakka colors being used in the Holi celebrations. Of course, didn't manage to do that entirely, and consequently was forced into having a nice early oil bath. All this ensured a nice little afternoon siesta to get me kick-started.

Although I didn't really get what the kick-start was for. Most of my friends still weren't on campus and I mainly stuck to downloading stuff from DC and watching Heroes. No dinner in the mess today, and unfortunately all PGP2 bikes had been packed and sent off. Big bonanza day for Dominoes, including some little contribution from us. MadMan, Shomo, Bala and me had a pizza treat and a random discussion.

Met up with Kisaan at night. Made a visit to Gupta to compensate for the lack of night mess. And then, a little more Heroes to end the day.

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 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 495:31st Jan, 2011

An LD quiz to start the day off with. As stated before, quizzes these days seem to aid in only one thing - having breakfast :-)

I now seem to be the IIMPrints renovation expert. Post my FRA and Prod Man class, spent the next hour or so modifying and correcting a few more testimonials, including revamping Kisaan's completely. And then, got back to (re re reading) another top favorite book of mine - Godfather!

Post gym, my quest to find a bathroom that had hot water (we have the facility, but finding some actual hot water in the tank is tough!... I so miss the solar-powered 24/7 hot water in the slums!) got me delayed for dinner in the mess. The only thing worth missing because of that was the Gajar Halwa.

Day 479:15th Jan, 2011 - Triple Thrill

Brilliant day!

Was just another ordinary day until I decided to turn things around. (Ok, that was a little too sensational :P).

Thrill #1

As I have said, I have been trying to get myself to be fit enough to run 10km. With just a week to go, I decided to practice running on the road rather than on a treadmill. So there I was - out with my jogging shoes, with the initial target of running one entire round around the campus (2.42 kilometers). No sooner had I run the first 200 meters was I exhausted, but I kept going on and on until I finished one round... and then still kept going on and on to finish 2 rounds! :) . Proud of myself :D . (And special thanks to Shankar Mahadevan for the fantastic Lakshya title track!)

Thrill #2

Three wingies (who stay in adjacent rooms) - Shomo, Bala and ChocolateSupplier got placed in the same company :D . Good for them!

Thrill #3

Confirmed that South Africa's cricket team would have the worst set of chokers. We won a fantastic match against them, by just 1 run. Was fun to watch it in the mess with so many others. What better way to end the day! :D

Day 477:13th Jan, 2011

Woke up pretty early today. Around 7.30! In fact, so early, that I went for breakfast exclusively with that intention, as I would otherwise start feeling really hungry by lunch. Just can't remember the last time this would have happened! Spent some of this early time closing up some of the many opened tabs in my chrome window. But compensated that by opening up a few new ones :-(

LD, lunch and BM took up the afternoon. Evening once again was spent working my thighs and calves off at the gym. To put things in perspective, during dinner, I came to know that I was burning 4 times as much calories as Shanky (who is twice my size). 

Have been putting off washing my clothes since quite some time. Since it is so cold (and therefore absolutely dry and non-sweaty), t-shirts run for more than one day. But the limit actually gets defined by the more critical category - undergarments :P . As a matter of fact, 2 days back, I bought a few new ones just so I could delay the washing cycle :D , but didn't have that option today. Yea, agreed we have a washing machine and our job isn't that tough, but it is still very boring to (typically first wait for the machine to be free,) put those clothes in the machine, wait for them to get washed and then dry those cold things with your bare hands. Just had to be done though :-S

Finished off with some little INDEX work - a little excel sheeting to have a digitized record of my expenses.. Followed that with some Big Bang Theory. Positive development for the day - Equal gym effort as yesterday, but managed to stay awake further.

Day 461:28th Dec, 2010

Oops, that one day of TT has left me with a nagging body ache.

Anyways, Pachpan came back to campus today (temporarily - he seems to be planning to live this term outside). And with him, came back the zealous pursuit of kiddish nonsense. The seeds though were (for a change) sown by MMR, who concocted one absolutely news piece of "information" about me. I had no intentions to have any stand on that, and that didn't help their cause (unless their cause was exclusively about fun). Even roping in Haathi, they went to confront Chatur. After a lot of data mining, finally they found something which eventually turned out to be absolutely out of context anyways. But yes, they did end up having a ball.

I spent a good bit of the evening arranging a gift for my Dad's birthday tomorrow. Somehow, I could not buy a greeting card, and even getting one now would not ensure it would reach home on time. So I spent some time researching other options. A little after going through the standard options of flowers and cakes, I came across a more innovative and hatke gifting idea. Promptly spent some time creating a collage of the (extremely limited) pics that I had; did manage to create a decent one though :) Felt good!

Went pretty late to the mess for dinner, but surprisingly, it was actually - hold your breath - good today! Simple but tasty food, with some nice kheer at the end for desserts. MessComm, why can't we have this everyday!

I skipped night mess thinking I'll retire to bed early. But as usual, reading random blogs have kept me awake for a lot of time. And a nice 1 hour long call with a close friend to end the day on a nice note :-)

Days 453,454: 20th-21st Dec, 2010 - Walking the last mile

Wow! Just can't believe the speed with which 5 terms have passed by!

Anyways, the combined post is because I slept off early yesterday, 8.30pm, a little too early infact for helL's standards :D. Not much to do yesterday. Finished off with the registration formalities. Caught up with a few stex-returned batchmates - finally saw the guy who lost half of himself back there! A few others who were back from stex also seemed to have lost weight, except of course for my good friend Kung Fu Panda, who seems to have gained a few more kilos of awesomeness :P + of course it was freezing cold and I had this feeling that excessive exposure to it wouldn't bode well. And hence, I just found a nice excuse to snuggle myself on the bed and get some sleep.

Today morning I attended my first class of the last term. (Even had breakfast after what seems like a zillions years!) Due to the PGP1 exams, we ended up having the class in CR103 - my old classroom. My actual seat was already occupied, so I ended up sitting one row behind. But that didn't stop me from reminiscing about all the super brilliant moments spent in that class - 3 cheers to section B for that! :-) . Then went to Chatur's room to gorge on all those sweets gotten from home. Not to mention the bonus of getting a few chocolates from the stex people nearby :D . And finally saw the movie 'Usual Suspects' - I found it OK.

Had a company ppt in the afternoon. Many more to follow. I guess a good amount of time this term is going to go this way. The funny part today though was that a Pcommer's name was called out and he wasn't there! :P . Had the burger in the mess (newly rechristened as 'Annapoorna') - seems like a 'Warm Welcome' sign with the most popular item.

Meanwhile, TG got his pappu. Spent some time talking about that, a lot more negotiating for the scale of the treat and then a lot more on random bakwaas. Which somehow ended up in the decision that we were not going to eat in the mess. And so we went to the (by now default) Brij ki Rasoi and stuffed ourselves to the max - no one else paid and it became a 'starter to the main treat' ;-)

Also Pachpan, Bala and me were riding triples and we kind of had a 'standstill skid' from the bike at 3.4 :D. Nobody got hurt or anything, but it was uncanny considering I had joked about it just that evening with a couple of other friends! Spoooky no?! :D

Slept off immediately when I came back. But then got up a couple of hours ago. Anyways, too much of pointless browsing done. It's 5.30 am now :-p . Good by helL's standards and have now more than made up for yesterday's early retirement. Time to go to sleep again so I wake up for tomorrow's class. Gn.

Day 442:3rd Dec, 2010

Woke up suddenly to realise the SDM presentation was still pending. Sat on it and finished it off at one go. And consequently very efficiently played the role of 'slide-changer' during my group's presentation :D

These days, I am spending most afternoons in front of my laptop watching my new addiction - the stock markets. Dirty mind! :P

Once again, went to Brij for dinner. My bike just wouldn't start because of the cold - and therefore I found myself riding a junior's 200cc Bajaj avenger - man, 200cc is some power! Some extra riding happened, thanks to Shomu da exhausting his bike's fuel midway. Standard order - I don't think the waiter will even ask us the next time we go :D. And somehow, especially these cold winter days, Brij seems to double our appetites! We ate voraciously. Even the simple rice and dal here is SO awesome! Wish the mess picks up a cue!

At night, went to ask Pachpan a few things about a fin career. Ended up talking a little about that and a lot about a lot more. Jointly came up with a plan to salvage some lost time. Lets see how that works out!

Day 388: 10th Oct, 2010

As core members of INDEX - the market research committee on campus, our endeavour is to constantly improve the quality and relevance of research and final deliverables that the student teams come up with. To this end, we arranged an interactive session on Market Research by Mr. Rajesh Nair (ex-Director at A C Nielsen and soon to move to BCG as an Expert Consultant). He has previously associated with INDEX as the judge. He gave extremely insightful comments on how to adopt an approach which would be relevant in the industry and would best serve to deliver actionables to address the business objectives of the client.

Post the meeting, we headed off to Chanakya for lunch. It turns out to be my first go at a "formal dinner". Must say, I need to improve on the "small-talk" front :D

Came back and absolutely crashed into my bed. Perhaps it was because of waking up so early, perhaps it was because of the better quality food, I don't know; but, I slept like a dead man for the next 3 hours. Nothing much after that. Just heard a few songs, surfed the net. Such a boring day in fact, that I even had dinner in the mess - Been ages since that happened on a Sunday!

And expectedly, not too sleepy now! Have just been randomly browsing the net. I read that the Nobel Prize had been awarded to the guy who developed the IVF treatment. Tragically, I also came to know the guy who performed the first IVF in India (2nd in the world), committed suicide 3 years after the operation because of the opposition he suffered due to the then social mindset... Really sad. Read a few more random articles about any damn thing under the sun. Even relived a little bit of the random MSN chats that I used to have in engineering. And now it's 4.30 am :-) . I guess now I somehow must tuck myself into my bed, to ensure I wake up for the 8.45 am lecture tomorrow! Bon nuit!

Day 372: 24th Sep, 2010 - Angrez and Aaloo

Really interesting incident in the mess at lunch. Whilst trying to make up my mind on what would be the most edible choice, my eyes fixated on a plate of what looked like some awesomely cooked plain aaloo. Very happy, I drifted in that direction. And just as I was to take some, that plate was harshly pulled away by a worker citing "yeh angrez log ke liye hai"!! (referring to the Students on the Exchange program). Independence, an illusion in your own country?!

It is always so fulfilling to come up with something creative. Something that you can call - your own, even if it may not be the best. So some designing work came along after a long time - Pachpan wanted me to come up with a template sorta thing. Meddled around a little here and there. Found out this powerful feature - Brushes! Really cool stuff! So much potential to do so much more. Now, if only I had a more designer-oriented head on my shoulders :-p

Well, normally I do not have too many problems with the mess food. However, just as I was going to the mess, I made a mistake of casually asking my friend, the menu. The short conversation -

Me: "Abbe mess mei kya hai?"

Friend: "Hagga"

Which, err, means, ahem, shit (literally). Which definitely is not a very enticing choice.

So off we went to Fauzi for dinner. Oh, but our first one here this term? Pretty late. Had what, you asked? Haven't you like by-hearted the Aloo-jeera, Dal & Roti combination by now? :-)

Day 366: 18th Sep, 2010 - Standstill !

Days pass off super slowly. I seem to have absolutely nothing to do. 

Actually it's not just me. These days, if anyone hears any sound in the corridor, immediately people come out to check out what's happening, to check if they can get a few minutes of tp done :D . And for the exact same reason, the regularity of visits to the mess is also higher - not because junta is hungry, but simple because there is nothing else to do! Luckily for them, at least they have some awesome projects to work on, thanks to INDEX :-)

Saw 2 movies today. Revisited Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na - why do I feel the movie is getting better every time I watch it? Also saw Toy Story 1 , and as expected (animation movie!), I liked it :D

Day 346: 22nd Aug, 2010

♫ "Woke up this morning, Got up with the fear of SM!" ♫

Needed to start (and finish) the SM project in a few hours before it was time for the extra lecture in Retail (on a Sunday, yes, :-( , sad, I know). Sud seems to have gone off the map, so I guess another consecutive ditch putting all the load on me. Never mind, taking a "cosmos" point of view, I think I'll balance it out next term (INDEX term!). Finished that thing.

Next up was a guest lecture by the founder of Crossword - R Sriram. Luckily, that lecture turned out to be nice. One of the things I found interesting was this thought he gave on rules; most organisations make rules for the 1% who are the outliers, people who'll do silly things. But what you can do instead is to relax those rules, make life more comfortable for the 99% and treat that 1% as a business cost. Point to ponder.

Next up was our conB viva. As I keep saying always, the prof is too good, really nice person. In his email informing us about the viva, he wrote - "my request is all of you should come with pleasant faces" :D. The viva itself went off smoothly, thanks to Bansal ji. 

Sunday dinner in the mess is made to push you to go out and enjoy :) . And of course, such things are to be followed. Off we went to Richi Rich - last minute ditch by Vanki, not sure why/for whom ;-)

Day 339: 15th Aug, 2010

First things first,

Wish you all a very Happy Independence Day! :)

Managed to wake up well in time today to attend the flag hoisting ceremony. In fact, even managed to squeeze in my breakfast before the 9am event! :D . Pretty ironical, considering I miss my breakfast on most weekdays even though I have morning classes; but managed to have it on a Sunday.

The event was immediately followed by another irony, as 60 students (including yours truly) lost their freedom to a project submission. One of our group members took ill, so we had to patch up his part too. The even more difficult part was in finding somebody who had an active print account (most 2nd year students had exhausted their balance!). Then, as expected, caught a facchi who was kind enough to consent to an expense of 23 Rs. (yes, this is exactly why 2nd years don't have any balance - they get looted off by "smarter" classmates and "lesson-learnt" seniors).

As soon as I came back to my room, I somehow slipped into a nice loooong siesta. Remained dazed even as I went to have my dinner and stuff. That's the side-effect of a long sleep - keeps you in a stupor.

The only time I managed to come out of it was when we suddenly put some thought on getting our conB work done. Went to the night mess, from there to the CC. One useful tip: it pays to have a multi billionaire in your group ;-) . Thanks to the great Vanki, we took 160 printouts - 40 copies of a questionnaire, 4 pages each. Half the job done. The other half - getting them filled! ;-)

Anyways, that's for tomorrow. Getting back to my tryst with the Sleep Goddess for now. Can't even afford to miss Retail lecs anymore!

And yes... Jai Hind! :)

Day 328: 3rd Aug, 2010

The mess lunch was SO boring today (even as per me :-p) that I had to try out Tarun's combination - sasta Veg roll at IET corner + Garlic bread from Dominos :D . Pretty good combination, I must confess!

Had a ..hmm.. sine-curvish experience today. Came back and checked my mail - and the curve suddenly dipped to the trough, but then again, by evening, another piece of mail sent it back to near the crest :)

Had to make a trip to the city. As I was coming back on my bike, I suddenly felt a very very sharp prick on my right arm. And a shooting sensation the very next moment. My first ever bee sting! Now I know why it's so scary. Immediately found a paanwala and applied some chuna over the sting. There's a small mark there, but I like it for now - serves as a little piece of an adventurous memory :-p . Though I sure want it to go away soooon!

Day 325: 31st Jul, 2010

For the last few weeks now, mess food = Aloo. In a fresh bout of creative sarcasm, one of my friends came up with this ALOO exclusive menu, inviting a horde of 'Likes' on social networks :D .
Click on the pic for a larger view.

Today also marks the start of another activity I have wanted to learn and pursue - Bridge! Tiwari knows a bit of how to play; so we have formed a small group of interested people and started playing. Just realised how interesting the game is, it's not just "fun", but you need to be really mentally alert while playing it.

Day 307: 13th Jul, 2010

It is always a super feeling to not have any classes in the morning. The downside of course is the fact that you end up sleeping right through your breakfast; but then again, you avoid the pain of skipping it so you reach class on time.

As usual, took the chance to pay a visit to the city. As usual again, not a very useful trip. But then again, I know many such useless trips will lead to one useful trip.

I remember being at Puranaya Chowk at 3.32. Managed to reach college just in the nick of time - even grabbing my favourite Kool Koko! Ohhh, I just remembered - the Amul stall (which was ALWAYS closed last year) had reopened - and now I have access to my favourite drink - Amul Kool! Yippeeee!!

I played a little bit of the revolutionary - sending mails and following up with the MessComm on certain aspects that I thought should be changed. \m/ Glad to see all my suggestions implemented. \m/ Had Maggi in the mess today, thanks to me! :D . Suddenly remembered the conB extra class and DASHed for it. Now in order, we INDEXians were getting caught. So it was but natural that Vanki would face the music today. And that is what happened :P . Caught, while he was replying to me :D . Not enough drama though!

Day 299: 5th Jul, 2010

I had subscribed to the assumption that the mess has some sort of hidden under-the-table contract with Guptaji - the juice wala. The food has been so bad on quite a few occasions that it has kinda become mandatory to gulp down a milkshake with every meal. Now of course, the mess has done a smart thing - they are offering the milkshakes themselves! (at an additional cost of course :P). Jokes apart (though not too much of a joke), something seriously needs to be done about the mess. Under mysterious circumstances, they even took off the popular items like maggi (during snacks).

Hectic day academically. Had to review 12 articles for our RM prof. Had to search for another 3-4 articles for our ConB prof. Argghh!! We have access to a whole bunch of good databases from our library, but still found that it took ages!

The best part of today was however the last part of the day. Me, pachpan and kisaan riding triples on my bike - headlights not working - and going for a purposeless round around the campus :D