Day 40: 30th July, 2009

Heeeeehahaha... hope to write sensible sentences today! :-p

Finally had a late lecture timing. Woke up aaraamse at 9.30 ... a good 6 hours of sleep again. Had only 2 lectures - Eco and BIO. Then played some TT. Btw, I am playing horribly! :-( ... Usually people tend to perform better with practice... I just seem to be getting worse and worse.

Had some CV related work to do. Finally caught up with the mentors who had been assigned to me. Got a couple of useful hints. But lot more work to do on it for sure.

Have got all our quiz results by now. I am standing near the average. Not too great, not too less. Which is pretty fine by me. Problem is most of these quizzes are MCQs whereas for our midterms we'll have to write proper brief answers. God knows how I will manage...

Day 39: 29th July, 2009

Yipee! Finally some respite from the crazy workload we had over the past 2-3 days. A period involving umpteen quizzes, presentations and assignments. Good to know that we have nothing tomorrow. AND as a bonus lecture starts only at 10.15. So, basically, yipee!

Another yipee moment today was dinner - pizza from dominoes! They had set up a counter right inside the mess. If the trail is successful (yess!) they may well setup an in-campus store! Hope that happens.

nways, veyr very sleepy and won'twat ta! [:d]

update :

Before the readers get confused, let me make some clarification. Am making this update in the evening after reading my own post. Honestly, only now I realise how sleepy I was when I made this post. I am just not able to figure out what I meant with my last sentence... I mean.. "won'twat ta! [:d]" ... how do you make any sense of that?! :D ... numerous spelling mistakes - veyr, trail, nways -hahaha... the kind of stuff found in my notebook after a sleepy lecture!

Days 37,38: 27th-28th July, 2009

And finally it has happened. After a month of being consistent and punctual, the last 2 days finally brought out the never-to-go-to-college-on-time engineering student in me :-p . Day before yesterday, I woke up at 8.35 for an 8.30 lecture. Could have still made it to the lecture but decided to have breakfast instead and attend the second lec directly. Raised the bar a little higher today by waking up at 9.35 !! Had to RUSH so that I atleast make it to the 2nd lecture.

During engineering, I used to sleep late just wasting time browsing the net and chatting. Here I waste time:

1. copying assignments (old habits die hard :-D)

2. working on the committee tasks that we have

3. trying to remember something about the tons and tons of presentations that are lined up

Our Comm prof wants us to come in formals for the presentations. Actually to be honest I don't know if the prof ever actually said that or some bugger who ran out of casuals just floated the rumour. But either way, it just implies wasting an extra 2-3 minutes in the morning wearing a shirt and trouser and tying the laces of my formal shoes! And we had not been told in which order the groups will be called for presentations, which means formals till my turn comes. Tomorrow however being the last session, it will also be the day of my presentation. Apart from this, I have a LAM presentation, Comm assignment, Comm quiz and MANAC assignment lined up tomorrow.

One great change that has happened here is the weather. The Rain God has finally smiled on the parched lands. Thankfully, it is very pleasant here now. A perfect romantic setting. Just that I neither have a partner :-p . Nor the time :-( .

Finally all the knocking on doors by random people at odd hours and asking for votes stopped. Council elections are out. One of the first high-profile posts in the college to get decided. Hope they do a good job!

Also gave midterm reviews for 2 committee tasks today. Both were OK. The committees were more in a guiding mood than in a grilling mood :-D. And I am not complaining! But parallely, pcom interviews are taking place and they are super duper stress interviews. I have one lined up tomorrow, lets see how I do!

Anyways, it is 3.30 now. Just got to go and sleep. CANNOT afford to miss the lecture tomorrow!

Day 36: 26th July, 2009

I am not alone in my room! :-O . Not referring to the ghosts the Sixth Sense way. No no, don't even think about that you dirty minds. I was actually referring to all the insects living with me. Among them all, I was under the assumption that there was only one big lizard and another small lizard in my room, until today noon. There it was.. my 4 legged wall hugging room-mate stuck up somewhere. As I gave him a mutual lets-mind-our-own-business smile and opened my cupboard, out of nowhere, another darn lizard comes out! :-O I never knew the existence of this other one! Should have applied my mind a little... afterall... where did the small lizard come from? ;-) .. hehehehe!

Anyways, today IIM Lucknow celebrated its 25th year. We are actually a little special and privileged to be the Silver Jubilee batch of this institute and that is something no one can ever take away from us :-) . Quite a milestone today for the institute.

Today was a nice day w.r.t. food. Went out for lunch with a senior. Had come out of the insti campus after almost 3 weeks! :-O .. Had bhajji in the evening for snacks. We had a Gala Dinner tonight. Had rasmalai as a dessert :-D . I GORGED on it - only 5 pieces but it was much higher than the average. Wish we had CG for that :-p .

Apart from that, the usual - some more committee tasks, some more presentations, some more assignments ... B-school life goes on...

Day 35: 25th July, 2009

It is definitely a myth that boys don't gossip. Yes of course, we are NOWHERE close to the level and intensity of gossip indulged by girls; we do like a bit of it now and then.

6 am. This is when I am sitting down to make this post :-D . And not 'cos I was doing any assignment, not 'cos I was doing any committee task. Spent a good amount of the last 1 hr in the lib gossiping with two of my friends :-D.

Day more or less spent in committee tasks and the tons of presentations and submissions ahead in front of us. Also had a session on laA(w). Then a game on Ops. Was tp. Was about to sleep off at 1.30 when an extempore LAM group meet was decided. Woke up for that and still awake now...!

BTW, Council elections are going on here. It is really funny to see random people whom you don't even know coming up and seeking your votes. They have all these fundu manifestos and all which are put up in the mess notice board. And every manifesto ends up getting a generous dose of comments :-D. There was this guy who was smart enough to put up a manifesto with a dark background so that people couldn't write comments. But mera Bharat mahaan - there is always a smarter person around ... somebody just stuck up another blank sheet of paper beside it... exclusively for comments! :-D

Days 32,33,34: 22nd-24th July, 2009

Yooooo!! Back to the blog after 3 whole days! Typically I make all my posts late in the night, but from the past two days, I have just dozed off involuntarily. As I definitely don't intend to score a hattrick of not updating, I am making this a little early today (11 pm :-p).

So, where have I been for the past 2 days? Even a person like me could say that things had become a little hectic. After spending two consecutive days with less than 3-4 hrs of sleep, I went off to sleep at 9.45 - 9.50 pm day before yesterday. This is indeed a record of sorts here. Nobody, and I repeat NOBODY, sleeps anywhere before 2 am here. Even that is an early to bed sort of person :-D. Life after midnight is pretty much the norm!

Actually sometimes I think I talk too much about my sleeping habits and others' sleeping habits (no pun intended). But the point is you really have to be here to realise what a rare and precious commodity sleep is in helL. Except in classrooms that is :-D.

Coming back to my quizzes. On wednesday, we had a quiz on MANAC. For engineers, the first equation you learn is that MANAC = TERROR. In a certain section of the quiz, I have no idea of how I have filled my im-balance sheets. I think I might have made a few people richer at the cost of a few others :-p. I was not able to study much for the Eco test yesterday as I slept off. But fortunately for me the test was such that studying wouldn't have made much difference on the score 'coz I couldn't make much sense of 2 out of the 5 questions there were!

Lotssssss of work piled up on the committees front. As I said earlier, we had got tasks allotted by these committees. In midst of this I also applied to placecom (placement committee) which just added one more task to my kitty. Had to go meet a senior to get clarifications on the placement process here. Boy!, I was quite blown away hearing the way it happens. It should definitely be an operations nightmare! And one thing I got for sure - that will be a very hectic period. But then, it also filled me with that kind of tense excitement that fills you are going to try out a new adventure ride :-D ... Anyways, that session took a lot of time without me even realising it. Am a little more enlightened on that front now. Came back at around 1-1.30 to my room. Started making a write up on all the new gyaan obtained. Had to submit that by the next day noon. After finishing with that at around 2.30, realised that I still had another MANAC assignment to do - half finished it yesterday... dozed off randomly... and resumed and completed it today morning.

This weekend though is going to get screwed up totally. All the committees are having their mid term reviews for the tasks set. Seniors are also done with their midterms so their idle minds are going to be devil's workshops now :) . And I seriously need to get going to show them anything at all!

Are you the kind of person who uses ENTER to go to a new page while writing an article on MS word?? and then you curse Bill Gates every time you try to change the font size or add something and the page spills over sending all the formatting for a toss!! We had a session yesterday on MS Word and Powerpoint. There are so many useful features that we as novice users have no clue about. Was a very useful session indeed. And for those who fall in the above category - one useful tip - 'page break'.

Hehe... btw, I still haven't finished :-p. I am not even going to scroll up and see how haywire this post if going but have yet to fill in 3 days of stuff. Thanks for bearing :-p .

Just as necessity is the mother of invention, boredom often inspires the creative. Eco lectures seem to bring out some creativity in my class. The creativity has been explored in different avenues - people fishing out their cell cams to take photographs of sleepy heads, people giving attendance and then sleeping flat out DURING lectures, people writing poems, people drawing etc. Yesterday, when everyone was engrossed in trying to find out what kind of Qs could be expected in the test, the guy sitting beside me suddenly pointed out two pertinent Qs in the book:

i) Why study microeconomics?

ii) Can money buy happiness?

The moment, trust me, was SO hilarious :-D . Laughed like crazy - covering our faces by handkerchiefs and hiding our face under the desks.

Today it was my day and I formulated a new theory in economics. Presenting before you:

********************************

Law of Increasing Marginal (F)utility

" The level of hope for the lecture to end keeps on increasing exponentially with passage of time."

Refer Boring Picture 3.4 (z) . At point A, near the beginning of the lecture, the thinking about the end of the lecture does not set in much. With passage of time however, the wish for the lecture to end increases exponentially (as shown by B and C).

Point D is an extreme case of the law, often associated with a total blank out of all sensory perceptions.

********************************

phew!! :-D ... and special thanks for making it till here :-D

Day 31: 21st July, 2009

As expected, the ordeal has sustained even today. Am making this post at 4.45 am :-p . The good thing though is that I am not too sleepy or even sleep-deprived at this point of time. I don't mind this kind of pattern where I can work a little more when required and doze off during weekends.

One great thing about IIM L is the library. Very well stocked, even with respect to lots of journals and periodicals (so people say). But for me, and I would confidently say many others, the draw is: Air Conditioned - 24/7 :-D :-D . That is actually the USP. Provides a nice relaxed atmosphere in contrast to the rooms. Lots of people get their lappies to the library or Computer Center (24/7 AC here as well) and watch movies :-D . Hope to find time for that soon!

As I always say, the best thing about being in such an institute is the type of people you meet. I was just coming upstairs to my room when I met a senior on my way. Had a small conversation with him - but it was a really interesting and fruitful conversation. These are times when your perspective widens (aah.. the management jargon bug has bit me!) and you learn things that are beyond any books.

Anyways, today I bunked my first lec here, thanks to sleeping late yesterday. When I went for breakfast, found that majority of the class had skipped the lecture - something like - 'oh... even you didn't go?!' :-)

Day 30: 20th July, 2009

How often does it happen that you are making all your pompous claims and suddenly find yourself with your foot in your mouth! Just yesterday I was ranting about being free. And today, in contrast, I am making this post at 5 in the morning. Yea, I know I have blogged even later than this but then the following days used to be holidays. Tomorrow (today??), I need to attend a class at 8:29:59 (well the LAM prof is not so strict so lets make it 8:30). Which leaves 2.5-3 hrs of sleep.

The funny part - I am not really sleepy now :-| .. but I must doze off now.. tomorrow a similar ordeal is expected.. must create some buffer to stay awake!

Day 29: 19th July, 2009

For all my tall claims made in the past 2-3 posts about having a hectic week ahead, I surprisingly seem to be having pretty relaxing days. Luckily my graph of 'waking up time' v/s weekends showed a downward turn today and stabilised back at 11.30, thanks to which I was able to have lunch at the mess today.

I had earlier mentioned the Prayaas case study on child labor. We had met around 3 times before for generating ideas/content/structure... something! But nothing productive happened. Today however was the last date for submission of the report. And guess what - we met at 23.10 ... and finished the report - 7 pages of it! - and mailed it exactly at 23:59:59 :D :D . JIT application anyone? :-p Couldn't have optimised the time spent any more :D

Day 28: 18th July, 2009

You can run as fast as Usain Bolt, but not as fast as sleep because it surely catches up with you at some point of time. Had been dodging sleep yesterday, slept late. And the result? Woke up at 1.30 in the afternoon today!! A record of sorts for me.

Then had a LAM project meeting @ 2. From there rushed off to a MANFEST task meet @ 2.30. Had lunch (Aloo paratha) at Fauji's (a local dhaba-types place inside the IIM L campus). Got a shave and haircut for the impending photo shoot in suits :-p .

Had some plans to go out for a movie (HP 6) in the evening. It got cancelled however, thanks to people realising the workload. I myself had to go back to my room and finish up a LAM write up for submission.

Went to the temple on campus today evening after many days. Miss the mandir walk back in Bombay :-( .

Saw 'The Incredibles' in the evening (again). It is a really nice movie. I have a general tendency to like animation movies quite a bit. And PIXAR throws up some amazing work now and then.

Dinner threw up an interesting conversation titbit. Some people claimed that they were vegetarians as they had non-veg food only 4-5 times per year and had not eaten non-veg since considerable time. My take on it: just to give an analogy, even if you have had sex just once, you are no longer a virgin. And you definitely cannot become a virgin again just by abstaining for 6 months :-p .

Also, hostel TT selections. I played realllllllllyyyy bad :-( :-( .

Anyways, all in all, I'll sleep with the thought that it was an academically zero productivity day today. Hoping for a different tomorrow!

Days 25,26,27: 15th-17th July, 2009

Phew!! Three days to make this post. Past 2 days I have missed making the post coz I used to fall asleep. Actually it is not that I slept very early, but the intensity with which sleep suddenly used to hit me was surprising. Day before yesterday went to lie on my bed for a couple of secs and dozed off with the tubelight on. Yesterday, I was holding the laptop on my lap (obvious :-p) and was to update the blog... but I suddenly felt so sleepy that my head started swinging and within 10 secs I had put the laptop away on the table and gone off to sleep. Today I am making this post at 3.15 in the morning - thanks to a nice 4 and half hour snooze in the afternoon.

A whole lot of BIO(Behaviour in Organisations - **yawnnnn**) in the past 2 days. Had a presentation yesterday so spent the day before preparing for that. Fortunately the presentation went off pretty well. I gave a decent intro. Atleast that's what people said. Then again had to submit some proposal for the BIO project. So some more of the subject yesterday evening :-S .

We had a placecom meet in the evening yesterday. Boy, placecom is placecom! I am sure anybody who is/has been in a B-school realises the importance of the placement committee. The huge attendance for every PCom session only affirms the fact that B-school is majorly (read completely) about placements.

Attended a session by Mr. Anand Halve yesterday... a slightly arbit ('cool' lingo for arbitary :-p) session on marketing+branding+enterpreneurship but it was nevertheless interesting.

Today's lectures were sleepy. Fatally sleepy in the sense that they were as inevitable as death. And not just for me, it was endemic in nature. Everyone in the class was dozing off. I slept off in the break making good use of two seats. In the lecture that followed, one guy in my class gave his attendance, and in 5 min, totally slept off lying on 2 seats :D.

Anyways, don't remember anything else much now. Hectic week ahead. 4 quizzes AND a couple of project reports AND a couple of assignments AND committee tasks. I could have broken this down further and create a bigger effect but then I will run the risk of scaring myself :-p . So anyways, adios for now.

Happy weekend!

Day 24: 14th July, 2009

2 things:

1. Got our first assignment (MANAC)... finally!

2. Got the 2nd round tasks for committees. Boy, the tasks are really tough. Makes me wonder what work will be left it I finally make it there :-p .

For now, hectic days ahead.. ! And at such times, when I am supposed to stay awake longer and work, I feel more sleep-attracted than before :-S ... Murphy's law: when things can go wrong, they WILL! :-S

Day 23: 13th July, 2009

Aaannhhh...should have seen this one coming :D ..

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Dear All
It has been brought to our notice that B’day celebrations in and around the Students Mess premises is creating a lot of problems for many of our students and the house keeping staff alike. This creates a lot of hygiene issues and invites rodents and other pests inside the dining area. It has been extremely difficult for the early users of the mess to bear with the stench of the egg (broken as part of the celebrations)

To this effect, please refrain from celebrating in and around the mess premises. We would request you to celebrate it in your respective hostels as the culture has been.

Some Strict NO’s during celebrations

1. Breaking of Eggs (Anywhere in the campus)
2. Spilling of Sauce


Regards
Students Council
------------------------------------

Day 22: 12th July, 2009

Woke up early today. 10.45 :-p . Had some general placement related talk - the only event which manages to draw the entire PGP1 population !

Had a little rain then. I hate these little 10 min rains that come. It is like when you are in a hurry and you pass by a fast-food joint and the delicious smell hits you. You like it for those 30 secs but then you have to walk by and you realise you can't actually eat anything. Same here - you feel as if the temperature will come down, but all it does it increase the humidity and leave a big bunch of sweaty pigs behind.

Pleasant surprise during lunch though! College tees were being sold. I immediately bought one, went to the hostel, bathed and wore this tee :D . Feels nice - IIM Lucknow :)

Rest of the day majorly spent in trying to read up for the OB quiz tomorrow. Funny story - OB (Organisational Behaviour) happens to be the most theoretical subject in our syllabus. But still, we got an email in the evening which said "calculators will be allowed" :D . Almost like carrying a microscope for a history exam.

On another (more poignant) note, there are a lot of extra activities in an MBA college that make you aware of some harsh realities. Case in point - we were going through a video sent by Bhavishya (a committee associated with social responsibility on campus). The video had a couple of kids involved in child labor. Any guesses what one of them used to earn per day? A princely Rs.10/- ...

Day 21: 11th July, 2009

I have never slept till so late ever before in my life with such alarming regularity. It is the third weekend on campus and again I got up only at 11.30. Very very lazy day. Worked on the Manfest task for some more time. 'Some time' went till the evening. And then... slept again!

Am anticipating a heavy next week in terms of assignments and quizzes; but being caught up in these tasks and stuff, studies are just not happening. Just when I packed my books to head to Gyanoday (AC + less distractions), got called for a volleyball match :D ... what can I do if fate does not wish me to study?

Two parties today. One was a known one - from a birthday celebrating friend. We ordered pizzas, really nice change. Then came back to my hostel and realised we also had a hostel party! Our first one! It was nice... atleast now I will have a better idea of people when I bump into them in the corridoors. H sixxxxxxxx H six!!

Day 20: 10th July, 2009

This is a very weird post, in the sense that I am writing this post at 05:05 hrs on the 11th of July :-O . I can see the first rays of day break as I look out of my window. Have been busy with a task for Manfest ... and this is just a preliminary task! Felt nice to photoshop and all after ages though..!

Celebrated a bday at 12. Actually there were many bdays being celebrated in the senior batch as well. Bdays here are death-days, especially if you are a guy! It may well be a good idea to abscond in the week that your bday falls! But yea... except for the poor fellow getting all the kicks, it is a lot of fun to watch :D . The cake never gets eaten, all of it is used on smearing it on the face, hair, wherever really! Add to that lots and lots of tomato sauce. Any fruit juice/ cold drink. Sometimes eggs. Then more kicks! Eventually you pity the soul ... just kidding... he just gets hit more :D

PS: the day when yours truly was handpicked to give an answer and I responded in stauch silence :-p (albeit without any option).

PS2: except for the above PS, the remaining events technically happened on 11th July :D.

Day 19: 9th July, 2009

My first college tee!

Days 17,18: 7th and 8th July, 2009

Missed making a post yesterday. (Sorry dear beloved regular readers.. :-p .. hehehehe.) Actually yesterday night I was massively preoccupied with making a limerick. Was able to think of half of it yesterday, and the other half today. Anyways, here goes my first attempt at composing a limerick. Please do leave your feedback about it.

Tossing in his bed he lay awake

A limerick he wanted to make

The structure he knew fine

AABBA was the rhyme

So he just ended the poem with snake.

Today we got the results of the LAM(Legal Aspects of Management) quiz which we had had yesterday. An incident - one of the questions in the quiz went thus:

X applies for a bulk of shares of a company on the condition that he is appointed a manager. He is alloted shares but without any appointment. Can X revoke the allotment?

Now here one person knew the context of the question and related theory, but even with that he/she didn't know what the yes/no answer should be. That is just what the person did. Wrote all the relevant theory and did not specify the final answer at all.. and guess what.. got marks! :D

Apart from this, I have been sleeping all day. Fell asleep TWICE in the afternoon (BIO effect). Fell asleep again in the evening while reading a book for Comm-1. Missed dinner. Will head for the night mess now! Catch ya!

Day 16: 6th July, 2009

My observation on the diminishing buffer before breakfast seems to be quite true. Today I had to kind of trot from my hostel to the mess so that I could squeeze in breakfast.

Had only 2 classes today. Sir announced a quiz on LAM tomorrow. 'Quiz' is a very misleading term though - not that a few good students will be called up to form teams and answer questions; it is more like a unit test with proper seating arrangement, marks and all. Went to Gyanoday (the library people!) in the afternoon. Studied or rather tried to study LAM as sincerely as a human being with tendency to get bored can manage. Atleast I am glad that I switched to Akhileshwar Pathak - better for understanding. But for a break for snacks, read through the evening as well. Fir bahut ho gaya..

Had a quiz (in the true sense of the word) on marketing/brands/ads/logos by a committee on campus. That was fun. And insightful in some aspects. Had 2 committee interviews scheduled - ran off for Conclub at 10. And then Manfest at 11. The last bit on the Manfest stage 1 form is nice :) . Different.

Ideally need to study more for LAM. (studying will go on till ad infinitum with understanding being void). Hostel mates are saying we'll have a group discussion at 2. That is almost 35 min away as I write this post. Anyways, back to LAM now. Let us see who wins - the soporific power of LAM or the shouts of my hostel mates :D

Day 15: 5th July, 2009

I thought I woke up earlier than yesterday. Then I checked the time - 11.40! :-O . Unbelievable.

Post lunch, tried to study LAM a bit. Only noteworthy achievement was that I didn't fall asleep while reading it; but unfortunately could not read more than 6-8 pages (3 cases) in that stretch.

Today evening we had Parichay '09. Parichay is a sort of freshers' platform where people with talent to do something go on stage and people (like me) with talent to watch and appreciate sit in the audience. Well, what do I say about the performances - I could hardly hear anything! A bunch of seniors had assembled with one objective - to make noise and disturb the PGP1 students - must be a kind of tradition. Probably a hidden lesson there is to anticipate your audience... all the performances were scripted keeping in mind some sober faculty and students, but this must have been a helL (pun intended) of a surprise! :D. Some of the remarks from the seniors were fun though. But I daresay all the performers would disagree :-p.

Had an interview with Team SynapsE at 01:00 hrs. The interview was mostly HR-ish in feel, so that is good :D. Now back to the hostel. Yet another lecture filled week. Yawnnnn!!

Day 14: 4th July, 2009

Woke up at 11.20 today :D. Obviously that set the tone of the day. Directly lunch today. After that went for the eCell lecture that was organised. Should have been better :-S .

Went with a friend to get some medicine. Boy, a trip of 10km, taking almost 40min visiting the various shops! :-O. Can't afford to fall sick!

Went for the night mess today as well. Turned out to be a good decision :-p . Also saw some groups practising for their dance and skit performances. That was good too :-D .

Day 13: 3rd July, 2009

Yuccckkkkkyyyyy start to the day. All toilets on my floor were ... ahem ... un-usable! The entrance test really must also include such basic questions on personal and social hygiene!

Had an extra MANAC class in the morning. Then 2 more classes - economics and BIO. Need to take some online 'who-am-I' type test for the subject. I am a little curious to know the results it will yield. At another level, these kinds of tests are basically a form of 'scientific study v/s intuition'. I always wonder - even if you 'know' something, but your intuition said something else - which one will you eventually stick to? Personally, I feel people will tend to stick to their intuition - simply because it 'feels' more 'trustworthy' to the self.

Came to my room and slept off in the afternoon today as well. This is a little strange. I am really not sleeping very late at night. But afternoon sleep is a new phenomenon that is taking place here. Not a very welcome change!

Went for a walk at 1am (it is 3am as I write this post :-p) with a couple of hostel mates. Amazing weather. A slight drizzle. Had hot hot maggi at the night mess :D. Nice end to the day :)

PS: Learnt the story of room #506 on the 13th day. Co-incidence? Spooky!

Day 12: 2nd July, 2009

Had classes only from 10am today. Felt glad to wake up late. Only 2 lectures today - Economics and BIO (Behaviour in Organisations). But they took their toll. Came back and slept again :-\ .

Went to the first floor of the library today... what comfortable couches!! wish we had them in our rooms!

Day 11: 01st July, 2009

Just regular classes. I realised that with every passing day, the buffer I have to eat breakfast has been reducing. I just hope I manage to eat breakfast everyday before I go to the classes, especially Mon-Wed when we have classes from 8.30-1.30. Else will have to run down to the Guptaji's juice center in the 15min break we have during lectures. (Not a bad option actually, might help to come out of the slumber).

Had a session on the importance of CV in the evening. These are some of the moments (pretty frequent for me) when you look around you and think what have you been doing for the past so many years of your life. Apparently, the first shortlist is only through your CV. Which means that when interviewers glance through your CV for a few seconds, they should be able to see something different (read exceptional) about you. As for me, even a few minutes/hours/days spent on my CV would bring out no such thing. Lets see what the future holds...

Went from the session to the mess to grab a bite. Sat with some friends. Had random discussions on a wide range of topics. This was the time when I felt glad about being in an IIM. Lots of viewpoints. Lots of perspectives. Varied people with their different profiles and experiences putting forth their views. Of course, as with any group of boys, we would follow the pattern of 'random topic - discuss girls - random topic - discuss girls -' and so on but still..

PS: btw, hi-hello happening a little with a couple of girls. atleast that CV is getting some points...

Day 10: 30th June, 2009

I am in section B. Yesterday a lot of other sections got a lot of assignments. I could see other PGP1 students busily running around doing a lot of stuff. I was as usual just chilling around. Got an inferiority complex towards the evening and went to Gyanoday (library) to get some Gyaan. Learnt a bit about the topic. Also learnt there is a LOT to do. And learnt that the people are going to be VERY competitive.

yeh kahaaan .. aa gaye hum .. :-o !!

Day 9: 29th June, 2009

First day of classes. Woke up early. The weather had suddenly become very chilly! Got out of my bed and realised that it was raining... boy, that was welcome! :D Took a bath in the cold water (no hot water in my hostel it seems). Got dressed, had breakfast and went for classes.

Nothing much to talk about the classes. One of the good looking girls is in my section, so that is a good thing :-D . Also we have pre alloted seating arrangements. I sit in the 2nd last row, but at the corner of the bench... basically a position where I can't hide at all from the profs :-( . Not that it has any affect on my sleep though, mainly because sleep has become kind of an involuntary activity during classes... one can't help but doze off a little, no matter what.

The rains had a good effect of bringing the heat down. But along with that came a downside. (Dual aspect of natural accounting perhaps :-p). Insects!! Many of them!! Actually this was a litle anticipated and hence I had locked the doors and windows of my room when I left, but even then when I returned there were so many flying creatures in my room. All those bloody attracted-to-light insects. If I switched off the tubelight, they would even come near the laptop, so rather have the tubelight on. Anyways, I switched off the tubelight, laptop, etc and cleared my cot a little and sat down. After a while, I wanted to go to fill my bottle with water. I wore my slippers as I stepped out of the bed (fortunately). The first step I took after that ... crunch! ... casualty #1... some insect dead. I just brushed it aside and took another step and ... crunch! ... casualty #2. Swept them both out of my room with my foot and stepped out of the room to close the door when another ... crunch! ... casualty #3!! THAT was the number of insects there were around!

Day 8: 28th June, 2009

Overtures happened today. Overtures - just a fancy term for introductions of the various committees on campus. Standard format actually; the various committee members coming up with a presentation on why they are the best and why we should join them. Poora Sunday nikal gaya.

BTW, forgot to describe the mess before. Since this post is short, let me do some chance pe dance. In this last week atleast, the mess has been quite ok. Infact it has surpassed expectations quite a bit. There is quite some variety and choice. And things are pretty much on time. I have started including corn flakes for breakfast everyday. Lunch/dinner often has aaloo and paneer, both of which I have no problem with. And yes, often they serve RASNA in the evening :D . And of course, we have the night mess, which remains open till 3 am, serving stuff like aaloo paratha, maggi, etc.

Also, CV w.r.t. the dames on campus still pretty empty. Not even on hi-hello terms yet :-( . Need to act. Fast. :-p

Classes formally starting from tomorrow. All the best to me :) .

Day 7: Week-end!

Saturday. After 4 hectic days, no plans for the day. Decided to go for a movie. Few of us gathered. Thought of going by bus. Waited for the bus in the heat. Waited a little more for the bus in the heat. Realised we had missed it. Eventually booked an auto.

The auto wala turned out to be a solid specimen on communication. He was talking LOUDLY on his mobile all the while. How loudly? Well, I don't think it was just the telecom signal that was going to the satellite... am pretty sure his voice would have gone till the satellite and then reflected to the receiver.

Went to this place called FUN mall. Actually I don't know the name of the mall but there is a FUN cinema multiplex there. Saw NEW YORK. I have already accomplished wasting a lot of time in Lucknow in this one week, but this I regret the most. PATHETIC movie. Mr. Kabir Khan, you don't take Katrina, John Abraham and Neil Mukesh and then make a Jihad-ish sort of movie :-S ... solely because they can pass of as Westerners.

Came back and was seriously disappointed to know I was not shortlisted for the 'early staggered placement process' :-p .;-) . Some consolation lay in the fact that we were to have our first insti party in the evening (read night). Was pretty good. Loud music. Good DJ. Lots of booze with chakhna (for the interested). Softdrinks. Turnout more than expected. Danced a little. More like jumped around and flung my shoulders and arms here and there, but then majority wins :-p .The 'crowd-pullers' came in a little late, fashionably. Good amount of seniors as well ;-) ... poor starved wolves. As always, was fun to watch people getting drunk and 'dance'. :-D . Came back all tired and sweaty.

PS: took bath THRICE today; in the morning, then before the party and once after the party (at around 2 am).

Days 4,5,6: June 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th - Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Not making this into a very elaborate post. Although maximum events happened.

part1: Basically Induction programs during the day by faculty and alumni (read Vineet Chauhan :D -> nice orator + good content). Registration formalities on Friday.

part2: 'Induction programs' @ night by the seniors. Formals.. write ups.. deadlines.. hostel gatherings.. sleeping at 5 am.. CVs (doesn't drink doesn't smoke remark).. role plays (apna AXE effect, also rakhi sawant, etc).. presentations (this is not what we made.. hehehehe :D:D).. and the realisation.

VERY VERY hectic four days. Major loss of sleep. But fun :)

Other things that happened or may be just became noticeable.

- saw some nice looking chicks in our batch :D:D

- introduced myself to tons of other people. got intros from tons of other people. got a little embarassed when I couldn't remember anyone's name. Found solace on realising nobody was able to recollect my name as well :D

more or less, it is like.. recognise a face and call out with generic remarks like 'dude', 'dost', etc etc.

- my room seems to have become better :D. all the rooms on my corridoor are now full. the bathrooms are cleaned more regularly. they seem to be neater.

or may I started getting used to it...

Day 3: 22nd June, 2009

When I was working (professional life), I often had days when I knew I had some objectives/tasks to do. (Not that I claim completing any of them, but atleast there was something that could be listed). After I quit, the days had been quite empty in that sense. I just had loads of time and would fill that with some random acivity. Something like the box in the mandir which just stays the whole day and hopes someone would put a coin in it so that it could get a feel of its existence. Now, finally, after very many days, I started the day with an objective - to get my bike! :D

I actually intended to leave early in the morning to avoid the heat, but as expected could manage to leave only after breakfast at around 9-9.30. Shared an auto with a hostel mate to the city railway station. One thing about Lucknow traffic rules - none are to be followed. I had a vague idea of this concept during my journey from the airport, but my understanding was getting clearer this day. Some examples:

1. You may have 2 lane, 4 lane roads, etc but that doesn't imply that some lanes are to be used for going in one direction. It is quite a free for all system, you can go in any direction, in any lane.

2. I couldn't see too many speed breakers here. But still not many vehicles were going fast. UP govt is smart that way. The roads are made such that they will not just break your speed, but break the vehicle itself.

3. There is mutual respect amongst drivers when it comes to breaking rules. If a vehicle suddenly stops in the middle of a road to offload some goods or passengers, none of the vehicles behind even honk. They will wait for the vehicle to resume its journey, or else they will try and squeeze their vehicles from the side!

Anyways, reached Lucknow station. No offense, but there somehow seemed to be more North Indians at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus than there. Not my concern though. I didn't take much time to locate my bike. Completed the formalities and took off. My first ride in Lucknow :D . But bloody hot it was, in my 22 km journey from the station, I stopped TWICE enroute to buy a cold drink! Reached IIM L and had lunch at the mess.

In the evening, went on a small round of the campus ring road on my bike. As expected, got lost :D. Asked the security people for directions to come out of the maze. Got some glimpse of the fauna on campus though. Saw peacocks. Saw a monkey. Apparently we also have pythons, porcupines and jackals on campus... yet to come across any of them though.

Formal Induction tomorrow. slept off early.

Day 2: 21st June, 2009

A Sunday. Realised that when the sun rises, the rays directly fall on my face from the window :D And boy, the sun does rise early here! Woke up at 6, then 7, then 8, then 8.30 finally :-p. Quite a lazy day, nothing much happened. Breakfast, lunch, snacks during the day - the breaks spent relaxing at the room or roaming around the campus a little. The paths are still confusing. Need to ask people around whenever I need to go anywhere - even for my own hostel :-p.

Saw the Computer Centre. Saw the library. Saw the classrooms. Met some more acquaintances. Made some acquaintances! More or less just sight seeing happening. Yet to see a good looking girl though :-( ... which for an average guy pretty much negates all the above mentioned things :-p.

BTW, today also cleaned my room cupboard. Unpacking progessed to higher degree. Clothes and all arranged a bit.

PS: I didn't mention taking a bath anywhere. :-p

Day 1: Initial Impressions ...

20th June - The journey began.. Landed at Lucknow Airport at around 2.. temperature around 45 degree Celcius! :-O .. I have always had a skin tone that was more suited to handling heat ;-) , but this is the maximum effort it had ever taken in its life :-p. Booked a prepaid taxi to IIM L. It cost me a whopping 400 bucks. Anyways, went to the comfortable taxi, sat inside and rolled up my windows... and then realised the driver was rolling his windows down... bloody... 400 was the NON AC rate it seems! nwys..

We say the roads in Bombay are bad. Well.. if one needs to appreciate those roads, heor she MUST come down to lucknow. Almost the entire length of road that I travelled, from the airport to the institute was UNDER CONSTRUCTION :-S ... the dust particles were all you wish for when you already have those hot winds hitting your face! nwys..

Reached IIM Lucknow at around 2pm.. Actually the road leading up to the institute has some nice sayings along the way (not that I remembered any of it in the next 2 min but still :-p)... entered the Gates of HelL (IIM L is better known as helL amongst its students) for the first time :) ... had to get down, make a note of the vehicle no. and from there I was directed to the Students' affairs office... the guy there asked me to give him a copy of the Offer letter. oops, blooper 1 on campus :D. I didn't have it. He asked me to get a photocopy from 'commercial plaza'. Obviously taking lots of directions for a maximum of 200m distance, I got the photocopy and completed the intial formalities for hostel registration. Next I was to pick a chit, that would be my hostel room for the next 1 yr (atleast). Some context now... IIM L has 14 completely built hostels, hostels 1-8 are the old ones(called 'slums') and the rest are newer(called 'cities'). As fate destined, I picked up a chit numbered ***... hostel *! So am going to be a slum dweller in my first yr of stay! Hostel *, room number ***! nwys..

Went up to my room. Got it cleaned and dusted. Hostel was quite empty. Probably people had not moved in by now. Room seemed to be O-K. Checked out the common bathrooms. Yukkie!! :-( ... Smelly! And a little dirty. nwys..

Met a person from my hostel. Nice fellow. Gave me a very important lesson - how to get in and out of the hostel :D. No kidding ppl.. Every 3-4 hostels here are interconnected, and the main gates for some hostels are closed (security you see). As you may have guessed, the main gates of my hostel are always closed, so I need to navigate my way around to some other hostel and from there out of the bldg! Then Took me for a small campus tour. Showed me the juice waala - Guptaji - (heaven!, remember the temperature mentioned in the 1st line itself!), basic layout, mess and the way back to the hostel :D. Called up the Cooler guy to get one for my room. 1000 bucks for one year. Then went to the ATM to reload some cash in my wallet. Still trying to navigate my way around. nwys..

In the evening, met up a couple of people whom I had known from Bombay. Roamed around a little. Those lucky ppl had got the Cities for their hostels. Went there. Boy, that was so much nicer :-( New cots, new paint on the walls, a whole new shelf!! Checked out their loos.. man, that definitely was the winner :D. Roamed around a little more. Saw the 'commercial plaza' again. Bought some essentials. Bought a local SIM. Went to the juice waala again. Some tp, dinner at the mess and back to my room. Only now did I indulge in my first 'unpacking' act. Unpacked only a bedsheet, spread it out on the cot and dozed off.. Day 1 @ helL.

PS: Did you know apna nimbu pani is called 'shikanji' in the north of India? The guy who gave me a tour was a northie, he ordered a shikanji. I asked him shikanji kya hai.. his reply: shikanji... shikanji hai! :-p ... Later found out from the friend I met in the evening (who has been in the north as well as Bombay) that it meant nimbu pani :D