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