Day 166: 11th Dec, 2009

I Ran the Half Marathon! ;-)

There comes this epic moment in the life of every IIM L dweller. And yesterday was mine. I did not run 'the distance' physically. But my feat? Yesterday, I watched 20 episodes of How-I-Met-Your-Mother nonstop! Skipping snacks and dinner :D . Now I know why they are called 'sit'coms.

Anyways, the fact that you are now hearing about what I did does indicate that the guest writers' phase is over. My blog enjoyed a good amount of attention then which makes me realise how much all of us look to break the monotony. I will try my best to come up with something interesting on my blog even further :)

Remember that towards-the-end scene from Predator? Where Arnold suddenly falls in that mud and the alien fails to spot him out. I suddenly realised how Arnold would have felt (not the falling-in-mud but the not-getting-caught part) in this one eco lecture where the prof didn't catch me out! QAM - the great leveller - papers were out. After the MANAC and DWO result, finally the toppers were back in place. And as far as the previous toppers were concerned, they were back to topping as well, in their own league :P

For dinner, went to this place called 'Brij-ki-Rasoi'. (I don't know how we haven't been there yet considering it is quite close to our college.) And the food was really good! And inexpensive! That's equivalent to the combination of chocolate cake and vanilla icecream - awesome! More visits are definitely due!

Day 160: 5th Dec, 2009

Guest writer for today is Sudeshna. Interesting titbit, she happened to have been in the same Lucknow panel as I was during GDs. Gifted writer, am sure she will put together a nice read. I only pray I don't have to sit with a dictionary to comprehend it :)

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I will be called Simply Sud (no relation to the radio icon(?))....

A big thanks to aapro COM.P for the “exceptional personality” tag (assuming that was meant for yours truly, banishing the nagging thought that the chances of it being meant for someone else are very, very high). And of course, a big round of applause and immense gratitude to my friend appan (a shortened form of Verappan, not to be confused with Appam of fake IPL players), christened so because his moustache is related by hair and follicles to the late brigand’s moustache :D (Applause for this brilliant blog and gratitude for the guest entry, in case you were confused)

Ok. So without further ado, since I was allotted Dec 5^th, Dec 5^th is what I shall describe. It started as any other day of mine does- in sheer disbelief that the night’s sleep was so fleeting, sigh. And since the night before (3^rd Dec, that is) was spent working on a ridiculously time-consuming DWO presentation till the wee hours of the morning (mainly because parts of our DWO group were afflicted by either CFA, COM.Pitis Minora- one contracts COM.Pitis Majora in the second year of one’s membership in the cabal, social loafing and amnesia- we forgot this one chap was in our group :O)- I was understandably tired and therefore treated myself to a good night’s sleep. Yay!

So, where was I? Oh right, Dec 5^th- I woke up reasonably fresh as a day old daisy and trudged to DWO, which as usual was as interesting as watching paint dry. But I didn’t have the gumption to sit in the first row (which is where I normally sit) for a 1.5 hour long Eco marathon and so scampered to one of the empty seats in the back rows. Have been called an ‘illegal immigrant’ for all my efforts to thus evade harmful subjects and er, smells- oh well. Tried to read ADJ’s Economist, but it was futile to lower my head without being discovered. Even cut a deal with him about splitting the subscription, which I was afraid to take because I knew the mags would meet the same fate as TOI and ET, which line the shelves of my closet. So, I resorted to some half-hearted C.P. and Pills, who was sitting next to me, mouthed “I hate you”, while all I did was get really lucky at guessing the answers (alternately mumbling “increase” and “decrease” as regards interest rates, income, output and such horrors). The highlight of the class was Shivku being singled out again for another Eco inquisition (poor chap, it’s becoming routine now) and Rajat’s message about my illegal immigration. Yes, we lead scintillating lives.

Watched two movies in the afternoon- Wicker Park and (500) Days of Summer. Loved both. Read a few pages of Of Human bondage. Later in the evening, Kanny J and I went to watch a Hindi play, “Ponga Pandit” by Habib Tanvir, staged as part of a theatre festival called Repertwahr (Repertoire, ruined...sigh). The play was a disappointment of gargantuan proportions primarily because they chose to stage it in some UP dialect Hindi, which I totally didn’t comprehend. But it had some amazing moments of humour and the acting was par excellence. The show-stealers? The paneer and salsa wrap and fries we picked up from McD’s before the show and snuck in somehow. Am watching Hamlet on Monday, it’s by Rajat Kapoor, and I’m a biggg fan! Miss my NCPA and Prithvi days. Sigh, miss Mumbai.

We decided to grab some grub at Royal Cafe and were stopped by a traffic cop on the way because KJ entered a one-way in the wrong direction. Pretended to be new to Lucknow and generally ‘damsel-in-distressy’ to avoid a hefty fine or worse. And due kudos to KJ for some seriously gifted acting and thinking on his feet. The food was divine- made KJ , the incorrigible carnivore, eat veggie food (Muhahahahahaha!)- Paneer tikka, onion kulchhas and dal makahni. Had some double flavoured ice-cream. Oh and met the QCOM in RC celebrating another one of Sumo’s quizzing victories. Vipin of 3.4 and QCOM fame, ate the end of my ice-cream cone while wagging his admonishing finger, “singers don’t eat ice-cream”. Got some mutton Biriyani packed for Harlie, who kept calling to ensure we didn’t forget his precious.

Got back at 11:30 and wrapped up the day with South Park, with scant regard for the DWO quiz on Sunday, the 6^th .Forgot to attend the QCOM meet which I really wanted to attend. C’est la vie!

Till we meet again, dear readers. Cheerio!

P.S: Oh and before I forget, some people DID NOT have a problem with some other people. I can say such with certainty because I know Some People intimately. Some other people just need excuses to live by some obscure code of conduct of the cabal they belong to. Amen.

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Thank God, got through without a dictionary :D. Thanks Sud!

Just a small addition to the highlight of the Eco lecture. This nametag thing is becoming a nuisance. Today I even interchanged places with Shreyas to try my luck on the inside seat. But no use! :-x

I also saw PAA today. Liked the movie, but didn't find it awesome :-p

Day 123: 29th Oct, 2009

The classroom was real empty today. All the top guns of the class had gone to take a shot at their top guns.

Anyways, the consequent drop in average population (due to the absence of above average people) resulted in an exponential drop in class participation. People like me became hapless victims to the phenomenon. Me was asked questions in the eco lecture. Twice!

Really nothing much to do during the day. Had a batch meet at night for which Shreyas and myself were to postpone dinner. Until the futility of the occasion for us struck.

Some smiles. Some stoic. Some dejects. The roller coaster sets in motion... When will I get the chance to sit on it?

Day 110: 16th Oct, 2009

Today a path breaking phenomenon happened! The scene: MANAC 2 lecture. Against all natural inclination, I actually put my hand up and asked a doubt. To the great Mr. Mishra himself. And the return comment "it's good to see that people are taking interest in my course and asking difficult questions." :D

The mood on campus is all happy happy. Everyone's gtalk/facebook status is now 'Happy Diwali'. And the smiles are just bouncing off each other.

Some of us INDEX people went out for dinner to this place 'Chotte Nawab'. If you ever go there, you must try the paneer malai seekh starter... it's yum! We came back and went to the mess to have some tea. Vigi was still in the stud mode with jacket open, white t-shirt and a glass (of tea) in his hand. Suddenly Praveen pushed a helmet right on to Vigi and transformed his t-shirt into a TEA-shirt (credit to Swetha for the term) :D .. am not going to risk writing Vigi's reaction. He might just hack this blog and destroy it or worst case perhaps may he might hack me itself :p

Day 106: 12th Oct, 2009

Yesterday night the entire batch was suddenly presented with a new DI problem with the sudden population of the e-notice board. Some of the groups solved it (including ours). Others just didn't have enough resources.

Anyways, on to more mundane things. Used the day to create a poem. You can read the poem at this link. Took a span of three lecs - eco, MM and DWO. Mainly because MM and DWO were distracting because of CPC with Pandhi going over the top to incorporate 'alternating current' in the session.

Soumen dada is in mohabbatein mode with his sweater and all. Considering the placement season buzz of PPOs and PPIs, we are happy to introduce a PPA on our bench. PPA - Parampara Pratishtha Anushasan :D . We also have plans to introduce awards under his name. Soumen Das scholarship: for display of high academic consistency, i.e. people getting 4 CG throughout.

Day 99: 5th Oct, 2009

Even with all that exertion, my in-built alarm managed to wake me up at 7.30. However, I wasted time trying to coax myself out of the bed. Finally I was rushing to the mess at 7.55 to grab a quick bite before the 8am lec when I see a Kiran Kumar of my class standing and trying to capture something with his mobile cam. Going there I realised it was snake that he was shooting - a tiny one crawling along the very path from which I was to walk :-p. Finally I got to see a snake on campus!

The late sleeping took its toll during the lecs. Had to keep my eyelids wide awake during MANAC 2 by Ak-47. Just put my head down when the prof was taking attendance, and in the space of 40 odd roll numbers, I fell asleep :-| . Luckily for me my neighbour woke me up on time. However, thanks to CPC, managed to get through MM easily. Must appreciate the creativity of people, incorporating words like water-buffalo, grasshopper,beer, air hostess, etc in their CP effort! Today's 1st list of words was exhausted in under 10 minutes!

Day 95: 1st Oct, 2009

Was a comparatively chill start to the day in the sense that lectures started only from 9.45. But the extra DWO lecture in the afternoon more than compensated. When I realised that my brain had stopped responding to whatever was happening in class, I resorted to focusing some energy on doing something 'creative'. Came up with this,

Trying my best to stay awake

Hardly happens to be a piece of cake

My eyelids droop now and then

Random senseless words flow out of my pen.

Necessity is the mother of invention

Trying to discover new sources of recreation

A little fun is in watching others fight sleep

Some have succumbed, in slumber deep.

Disconnected sound waves crown into my ear,

A stifled yawn there, an open one here

Hey! CP challenge some have decided to play

That's an innovative one I say.

I stopped here because now my attention was totally grabbed by the banging of desks over CP points. That is when I realised CPC had come into implementation! Boy, creativity at its best! :D This one is a nice trend. Am actually looking forward to lectures now ;-)

Had an INDEX party in the evening! Went to this place called Genesis. It's a nice place (by Lucknow standards, not by Bombay standards :-p) with OK food. Doesn't really matter much when you are in the company of friends. Got some nice funny stories which cannot be shared here :-p. Maybe I can mention that Vinay got a very exclusive SMS/invitation from one of the most "in-demand" stex female on campus :D

Have a nice loooooooong weekend now. Three whole days. And the best part - I have nothing to do then! Yoohooooo!!

Day 53: 12th Aug, 2009

We have a new subject - Operations Management - for the post midterm schedule. On day#1, at the start of the session, I wrote on the top of a fresh new page - "10/08/09 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT". And now after 3 days, that is all I have written in the notebook. Some serious random globe seems to be going on in that lecture.

Towards the end of the lecture today, we were asked to read a case and discuss a little bit. The case was primarily about a reduction in productivity and we were to analyse the reasons for the same. Some CP desperate people kept giving random solutions and we had already overshot the lecture timing by 5 min. At this point, the guy next to me (S) just stands up to leave for the break. And gave a CP remark which was just out of the world! :D

Prof : Some people seem to be eager to leave the classroom.

S: Sir, actually if we look at the case, one of the major reasons for fall in productivity was that the workers were made to work overtime and that is always a major demotivating factor.

Needless to say, that was the last statement of the lecture :D

Also, had a 'Fun Quiz' in MANAC. Not fun as in what-is-the-longest-a-snake-can-grow type questions. Probably the explanation would be that it was NOT a "serious" quiz. Here again, S answered the first question in a flash. We stayed quiet and mum for the rest of the quiz, smartly avoiding any negative points. This conservatism approach paid off well and we eventually stood second in the class, earning a valuable 1.5 marks :D