Day 533:23rd Mar, 2011 - Endless Goodbyes...

When I came back after dropping my parents, I stayed awake since I had to see off Pachpan in an hour. When that moment actually happened, I myself was surprised by how hard it hit me. You are sometimes so used to just bang open the door of a friend, enter their room for anything - be it timepass, cribbing or advice. And suddenly you know, when you open the door the next time, nothing's going to be there... :-(

But anyways, the show must go on. Didn't feel sleepy after that. So I started off with this newly recommended series 'Death Note' - a Japanese manga. Seems pretty awesome! Went off for lunch to Aryans for one final awesome choley. Also the last time my Discover blazed the streets of Lucknow.

Had been trying all this while to get some cab person for our one-day trip, but unfortunately no one was available at that time. So it was time to indulge in all the usual activities of whiling time. Took the chance and went for one final swim in Umang. (The water is still so cold!) Finished all the latest episodes of HIMYM & TBBT. Got my bike packed and sent.

Point to be noted is I had had only around 6 hours of sleep in the past 60 hours :-p . I wish I had some mechanism to postpone all my sleep requirements over the next 2-3 days to later. But anyways, was feeling a little sleepy around midnight, but decided to have a movie session with Kisaan and Chatur. And once I had evaded that one phase of sleep, I went on to finish two movies Back to the Future and Ice Age 2. (Absolutely loved the latter one!). In between, bidding goodbye to Shomo and Bala as well...

And now finally, after sending my buddies to sleep, I think I shall pay heed to what my body is demanding and get some sleep. But for sure, am having multiple alarms to ensure I don't end up wasting my last few hours at helL .. sleeping!

Day 457:24th Dec, 2010 - Of Free Time and Flop Timing

Just another day - waking up late, and eventually having to rush even for the noon class. However, even as I was attending class, kisaan and TG made plans and booked tickets for Tees Maar Khan. So Budhi and myself needed to rush to Wave immediately after our class. And as luck would have it, everything that could go wrong did. In spite of a billion kicks (and cleaning of the spark plug by a nice auto-rickshaw walla present), my bike just refused to start. Spent around 10min arranging for another bike - got Dham's bike. Just as I sat and started it, Chugli pointed out that the back tyre had totally punctured! And finally, in that urgency, we had to fall back on Shakti's savari - Hero Honda Splendor! (In a way, the bike is good in such situations - you can't speed even if you want to!) But wait, this wasn't the end of the story. In my two years of extensive bike rides through the roads of Lucknow, never before had this happened - but today - we were stopped by cops! The only thing that didn't happen was that the bike didn't run out of petrol :-| . And I guess because we were going for a Hindi movie, we managed to have a happy ending - in the sense that - as usual, WAVE started the movie a little late, and we made it there just on time.

The movie was a typical Farah Khan - super high on all the filmi masala and overacting. Extensive reference and potshots at old and contemporary actors, not to mention a blatant reference to tonnes of cliches in Bollywood. The movie overall turns out to be OK, not as good as her previous two films. (Katrina Kaif is serious eye-candy though!)

Anyways, super duper free suddenly. Seriously need to plan activities to use my time more productively! To take a break from the heavy-duty Dexter, I even started off with another light comedy series - Modern Family! I should not be going down that lane, so fast!

And now, suddenly, for the past couple of hours, I have got myself involved in downloading a few more apps for my cell! And unknowingly it has taken me past 4am. Which means it is now 25th! Merry Christmas guys! Will go sleep now and hope Santa leaves me some presents :-P

Day 444:5th Dec, 2010 - Lucknow Mahotsav & some Fog!

While I woke up real late yesterday, had to wake up really early today (Sunday!), thanks to the SDM quiz that we had! Indulged in the good takeaway i.e. breakfast. And then got back to my room to resume my siesta. 

Slept right through most of the early morning and noon. Woke up at around 2pm to find TG knocking for my bike's keys. Now, I had come to know that today was the last day of Lucknow Mahotsav, an annual cultural fair than happens here. Couldn't visit that last year, and it would indeed be a shame to not go there in our 2 years of stay. So somehow, alongwith Pachpan convinced him too to join us.

But first, hunger pangs had to be dealt with. So the four of us (Mr. Happiness too) first made our way to Dominos for some of that awesome double cheese burst pizza. And then we rode and rode and rode and rode. And finally reached the Mahotsav place.

But guys, for those of you reading this, you must visit this if you are going to study at IIML for 2 years. The kind of crowd there was at that place was awesome! Super traffic - couldn't find parking space - till literally God came to our rescue and people started parking their bikes inside a temple close by! :D . The fair had that proper feel that you are so often shown in Hindi movies, a kind of place where you could easily get lost (BTW, it did happen amongst us too - twice). There was a big replica of Rumi Darwaza created as an entrance. And so many of those little toys - we bought all of them - the hooter, the horns, the bow and arrow, bubbles and a parachute! :D . It was super duper fun to keep playing with the hooter and try hitting each other :D. Saw the Maut ka kuan game after many years - so risk those guys take! The ferris wheel ride (somehow keeping just the 4 of us instead of the usual 6) was awesome too, mainly because of TG getting scared :-p. Lots of food items too, a tad expensive though, compared to the other items at the fair. There even was a concert by Sonu Nigam - free! And even before he had come, the crowds had gone berserk at the performance of one local singer - and it was at that moment that we got a substantially better idea of what the local Lucknow junta exactly wants ;-) . No wonder that Planet Salsa show used to be such a hit :-P 

The return journey was no less eventful. We took the shortcut route that goes to the airport. And maybe because of all the open space around it, but I saw fog so dense I had never seen before! Or rather never imagined could be! In fact, the fog was so thick, that at so many points, our shadow due to the lights from vehicles behind us, was being formed IN AIR! It was almost as if a wall of fog was in front of us. The visibility was so poor I could hardly see 2-3 metres ahead of me, that too with great difficulty! :D . So basically, summing up, AWESOME bike ride! :D . Need to have a couple more of these! :-p

Day 410: 1st Nov, 2010

Since quite some days, the IAS bhoot has been haunting Pachpan again. Which invariably somehow tends to become a topic of conversation every now and then. And really long conversations when TG is a part of the discussion, mainly because he holds the exact opposite stance. Apparently, they reached a peak yesterday night by continuing a discussion on that topic till 8am :-| . And the "game-changing" point, after so much pondering, turned out to be the salary figure :-S . Which in turn led to another series of thoughts about how important it is for the Government to invest a lot more money to ensure high quality talent acquisition and talent retention.

The summers process is going on well. Lots of more companies, and each one picking more number of students. Heard a super-duper interesting and amusing interview experience of one of Pachpan's juniors, for his 2nd round of a major consultancy firm :D . Need to get a script of that! It is one of those never-to-be-forgotten-ever encounters! :D

Anyways, went with Pachpan to the city for yet another stint of raising money. It is amazing the kind of people you meet out there. Some people thoroughly professional and courteous, some others who are ultra-fond of advising but won't help beyond that, some genuine and honest people. And then some others who are absolutely third class; zero professionalism, simply unsuited to be in any position of authority. Like the guy we visited. (at the place outside which my bike met it's ill fate :( .. the subordinate who met us and started talking about rates all of a sudden).

Continued the eating-out saga. Lunch (awesome choley) at Aryans. Snacks was a round of panipuri. Dinner at Dasaprakash (a must when with Pachpan) .. :D

Many more offers and sign-outs today. Now all our INDEX facchas are placed with good offers :)

Day 409: 31st Oct, 2010 - Design Time still \m/

Some more designing. Spent a little time on coming up with the sweatshirt design. Infact spent more time searching for a decent background template! Everyone was insisting on a plain and simple sweatshirt with universal appeal, and that is exactly what they got.

During our Summers process, we don't have classes, but we haven't technically got holidays. And that is ensured by asking all of us to report to the Placement Office and sign against our pics. And to ensure no frauds, we even have a dedicated person to ensure a one-sign-one-person (right person! :P) process.

We see to be going out for dinner every other day. Once again, Brij got the majority vote due to its proximity advantage. The added drive for TG was that it was a Sunday and kadhi would be available. Or so we thought. Unfortunately though, seems like even on a Sunday, you need to be lucky enough to come on time for the coveted kadhi! Interesting dinner time conversation - a new conspiracy theory called Loose Change, which claims that the entire 9/11 episode was orchestrated by the US! Scary thought.

PS: Must mention my stud quotient. At a time when everyone was clothed in multiple layers of clothes, I went on my bike in just one t-shirt. Tuning my mind.. ;-)

Day 405: 27th Oct, 2010

Sometimes you need an external trigger for some things to happen. Not that you don't want to do it, but just that you may be a little apprehensive to actually commit to it. So when Chatur showed me the SMS sent by Spicmacay informing us that the artist had to be confirmed immediately, I actually was kinda happy :D . And that is how INDEX'10 gets it's first major performance :-)

Buoyed by this, I immediately jumped on to my Discover and went with Vanki to the city (badly dug up everywhere! I think I must have inhaled 2-3 kgs dust today.) to hunt for some local sponsorship. Mostly people weren't even in office. Did get to meet a few people though, and gather some mild to some slightly-enthusiastic responses. Sometimes, it is just good to take that leap of faith and see how things work out! And how did that work out. When I came back to campus, understood that Kisaan also had some nice news at his end. Great job! We are now one-up as compared to last year ;-)

Day 404: 26th Oct, 2010

Woke up to find this mail from Pachpan.

Subject: "Kal subah 8:30 class hai .. so jao .."

Content:

Last mail sent :

Pachpan: 4:02

Me : 3: 54

Chatur : 3:50

Consultant : 3:49

MMR : 3:36

Kisaan : 3:25

Haathi : 3:20

One of the advantages with our CBM class is that the prof allows you to attend any of the sessions held during the day. Due to that, Pachpan has stopped attending the 8.45 am class since ages. Today, even Vanki adopted to that strategy. He blissfully slept off through the early morning class. So seems like Chatur and myself are the true champions - slept late, but still made it to class :D

Lately, my blog seems to have become a rant about my handset, but what to do. Every fault needs two visits to the city, once for depositing the handset and once again to collect it. This time, the new piece given also started giving problems. Went today and deposited my "new" handset back - waiting time two more weeks!

From there went to check on the status of an MR project. Happiness met tragedy. The good part was that I didn't even have to go up and meet the person. I got the required info at the reception itself. Now the bad part was that in those few minutes, my bike seems to have committed suicide :-( . Suddenly, it's self-start and horn stopped working  :-(

INDEX is coming near, quickly! A long list of tasks, only getting longer by the minute. Finished off some of them today - collecting some bills, meeting a vendor, arranging permissions. Allowed myself a little sleep after that as we had a meet at 01:00 hours, to draw up a tentative budget and a little bit of short term planning. Ended up spending quite some time on the former, peppered with some random deviations ranging from parties to PPI/PPOs to stuff on DC ;-) . It's 6.15 am now, and complete daylight. I have a class again at 8.45 am tomorrow (today??!). Will I make it? :-)

Day 402: 24th Oct, 2010

Now although I had had a preliminary glance through quite a bit of the PPTs that had been uploaded, I knew for sure that I wouldn't remember anything if I didn't get a chance to revise it. Also needed to read a few handouts. With this intention, I set myself the target of waking up early. I didn't miss this target by much. However, today was one of those days when I was destined to have a slight stomach upset early in the morning and consequently all my grand plans went haywire. Just saw a little bit of some new theory and ran off to the exam. Paid the price of not going through the stuff once again. Also had a mini sense of deja vu when we got a very similar question as was in the EPA exam. Had a small conversation immediately after the paper, which resulted in an ..appointment of sorts :-P .. which I did not honour, mainly 'coz I wasn't sure where it would lead :D

In the afternoon, meddled around a little bit more with my handset. Have been trying various permutations and combination to find more details, i.e. the circumstances under which it does / does not conk off. And what I have learnt till now is that the phone seems to be working fine in the Offline Mode. In fact, even after the SIM has been inserted, the phone continues to be ON only when it is being used in that mode. 

Even while I was fiddling around with my handset, an urgent plan to watch Jhootha Hi Sahi at 5pm at Wave was hatched at 4.10pm. A really bad and unfortunate moment.. the movie must be amongst the worst I have seen! Pachpan's almost in a mood where he wants to start a blog, exclusively to categorically give the choicest abuses to this movie!

Back to the campus; had dinner in the mess. 2nd consecutive Sunday dinner in the mess! Must be a record of sorts in the 2nd year :-p . Back to my room, I was still trying to explore some new tests for my handset when randomly Vanki and Kisaan made me go all the way to 3.4, just for their "celebration"! It has started to turn really chilly outside, need to keep my pair of gloves ready at all times.

A proper "genuine" post this one ;-) . After quite some time I believe! Somehow managed to finish this post..  in between juggling with shayari-jugalbandi with Kisaan :-p . Going to get some early sleep. At 01:00 hours, bon nuit!

Day 386: 8th Oct, 2010

In Lucknow, it always rains suddenly in the midst of a bright and hot day, and then the sun comes out smiling again. So, one thing I have always wondered about is why there are no rainbows here. Obviously (like everyone else), I love rainbows and would love to have one popping up on the sky every now and then.

Now with hopes of getting a back-in-proper-condition handset after the third round of repairing, I planned to go to the city in the afternoon. Just as I was about to leave, the dark clouds got some jhatka and it started pouring :-S . As always, it stopped in some 20 minutes and plans were resumed. 

I recorded my slowest ever time navigating the 3.4 road, thanks to all the slush (the road is left dug-up!) and potholes. However, imagine my delight when I suddenly spotted a rainbow in the sky!! Beeee-auuu-tiful! :-)

After very smartly carrying my bag just for the phone and its papers, I realised I had forgotten my Job Sheet, a kind of receipt for collecting back the handset. Now forgetting / losing receipts shouldn't really be a big issue in India. And moreover, I had always had the impression that North Indian people were more bindaas in their outlook towards business. Unfortunately for me, this fellow heading the CARE center was perhaps amongst the most useless of all people there can be. He took photocopy of my identity card and told me to write the time by which I would come the next day! :D .. Ironically, he must have felt like some big Bond person after doing all this show, while everyone else just wondered the depth of his stupidity.

Went to catch a movie after that. Unfortunately had to wait at least for 2 hours for any show! Including all the 3 multiplexes! Such a waste; especially compared to the eternal line of shows in Mumbai! But then, it ain't even a fair comparison :-p . Compensated instead with a dinner at Dasaprakash.

Day 343: 19th Aug, 2010

Woah, it's a bonus to get yet another ultra-awesome dialogue, once again from our conB prof :D . It all started off when sir asked the class about the quiz.

Class: "Sir, please take best of two"

Sir: (smiling) "I want to torture you. I will take the lowest of two and give marks"

:D :D

Fachas has the iBrand auction today. It started off with a pretty nice video. Good job by these guys. But, for sure, I missed Shanky's AWESOME commentary! :D . The max fun part was of course, ahem, the bid on certain "popular" places on campus :D

God knows why I decided to do some CSR for Vanki; went all the way to 3.4 in the drizzling dark night just for his sudden urge! :-S . Also, celebrated three birthdays in one night - pretty awesome!

Day 331: 6th Aug, 2010 - (Post)Midnight (Post)Movie Masala!

Wow, a movie even after you walk out of the theater is pretty awesome! Especially when you are playing the lead parts ;-)

Let the story evolve.

Scene 1: As usual, sticking to our new faith of watching every movie that releases, we go to watch Aisha at WAVE - night show. Super unrealistic movie - but theek hai :D 

Scene 2: Shomu and Madman race ahead on their bikes, with their pillions. Sticking to a moderate speed, me (with Vanki) and AdiJ (tripling with pachpan and Chajju) are going at our own pace. AdiJ suddenly realises his  bike is running out of petrol. But a petrol pump is right ahead. So I race ahead anyways.

Scene 3: I don't know at what pathetic speed they pushed, but we were almost near our college when the call came that that particular petrol pump was closed! And so was another petrol pump right ahead.

Scene 4: We go back to get petrol for those fools. It first set us off on a hunt for a bottle to carry the petrol, at a time when no shops were open. Finally we caught hold of an autowala who said he'll ask someone else, and 4-5 of us were hunting for a bottle in the parked autos. Luckily, found one by the roadside.

Scene 5: Back we go to hunt down these idiots. Amazingly enough, they managed to be super brilliant and find a dark spot where they just could not be spotted. Luckily for me and Vanki, we identified the petrol pump...

Scene 6: Here comes the pain! The entry of Mr. Policewalla.

"yeh kya chal raha hai yahan?"

"kuch nahi sir. picture dekh ke aa rahe they.. petrol khatam ho gaya."

"kaun ho tumlog?"

"sir, students..."

"students ho toh padhai karo. raat ko picture kyun dekhne jaa rahe ho. bass tumlog chain kheechne ya !@!$$ karne yahan ho. thane chalo sab samjhata hun."

"sir, students hii hai.. "

And then we show the great one's (me of cos) ID card. 

"theek hai, jaldi niklo."

And in this situation, Chajju even wanted to walk away stealthily, so that the policemen don't seem them riding triples!! 

Heeeehahahha! Some experience :D

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 311: 17th Jul, 2010

What is the worst preparation one can do for an open book exam? Yup - Not have the book itself! Just wrote this to let you know there were people much worse off than me. Atleast 3 people (including pachpan) sourced books from the prof himself today morning. And I know one guy who issued an entirely different book from the library as he hadn't collected any of his books!

Went for Inception at WAVE - for the night show. The interval was awesome - half the hall was IIM L junta! And all PGP2s; bloody, who would say midterms are going on! :D . Great movie! And of course, the super brilliant bike ride back, WAVE to campus in 13 minutes :)

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 303: 9th Jul, 2010

A little regression and analysis (the MBA show-off giri) and some basic common sense (the truthful reason) made me realise that the highest frequency of missing my breakfast happens on Fridays and Saturdays. Must be because of this odd timing of the Prom Strat class - 11.45 :-|

Spent a typical afternoon - getting some INDEX work done with Vanki, in the city. Had a never-done-before interesting experience on our way back though :D - riding over a railway track! Actually the lone flyover to reach our college was blocked (innovatively, using some cycle rickshaws!) for some Queen's Baton or something. So off we went searching for a route from under the flyover. And that is when we realised we needed to cross a railway track, and that too not our any proper road! There was a narrow path where at one point, a few stones were arranged to give a little elevation. Was fun :D

Went to Cellar for dinner - Mine and Shanky's PPO treat! My first visit there actually. Italian fare mainly - surprised to find one at Lucknow :-p . Food was pretty decent - though the mocktails, desserts weren't too great.

With heavy tummies and sleepy heads, we still motivated ourselves to have a short meeting. Work is work - no compromise na :) . Just some updates, some allocations. And then the customary night visit to the mess, a milkshake on Shanky's account, and a good good night.

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

Day 284: 20th Jun, 2010

Boy, people here (UP, I mean) are hard-working. Yesterday evening, I called the bike servicing guys. And today morning (mind you, it's a Sunday morning!!), they were here. Woke me out of my nice little extended slumber. They made a preliminary examination and I asked them for a quote. May be it was the hot sun or what I don't know, but for sure his brains had been fried when he gave me an estimate of Rs. 4000/-. I asked him to give me a breakup of all the things - and he started listing some 15 billion items that needed to be fixed/changed/modified. After cutting off a lot of items from that list, I gave my bike to him. The chap came back yesterday evening itself. Final cost, after some super duper cost cutting - Rs. 1500.

What's priceless? - I am reunited with my bike !!! Wooohhoooo!! :D

Pravin gave us a pizza treat in the afternoon. I think more than the pizza, we were thankful for the AC room at Patanjali ! :-p.. Kisaan displayed a lot of brilliance during the lunch - especially with his repeated attempts to dip the garlic bread into the cheesy dip. "Dhakkan" saala! :-p .. Of course, also very memorable was Mr. Psycho's remarks and outbursts :D . Man, he is one of a kind :D ..As for Pravin himself, his interrogation sessions just don't seem to end :-p

Had the deadline for the INDEX team submission today. Had a whopping 26 registrations!! Woahhhh!! *Drum Roll* ..INDEX 2010 is going to be AWESOME!

Day 275: 11th Jun, 2010

Yaar!! On Fridays and Saturdays, I have just one lecture! Shucks.. I so wish it was adjusted to some other day! Would have had nice loooong weekends. Which could I have employed to cover the whole of North India!

Got my hands on a bike after around 2 and a half months! Feels AWESOME to be on a lean mean 2-wheeled machine! Yet to get my bike serviced and repaired though.. but not long before I am reunited with my Discover!

Day 164: 9th Dec, 2009

Words of a 9-pointer! For that is what Shruti - my fellow INDEXian (a record in the history of INDEX!) and today's guest writer - happens to be... A fine example of a big surprise in a small package, lets see what the typical day of a 9-pointer is like!

---------------------

Shivku and I are fellow INDEXians who have done quite a bit of roaming together (on his ‘best-in-the-campus’ bike) in the weeks leading up to INDEX. It is in one of our night mess ‘over-the-tea’ candid talks that I mentioned my desire to start a blog. And I believe the offer to write a guest entry on Mr. famous’ blog was a consequence of that conversation, which I accepted with gratitude. So here is my very first blog…

My take on Dec 9^th 2009:

The day started with my alarm ringing at 6:15 am. I switched it off –as is my routine- and slid back into my warm razai (sent by grandma during mid-terms J). It is amazing how I manage to get back to sleep even after having 10 hrs of sleep already. I am breaking my own record every day. A big yaay for tat!!

I finally manage to slip out of my razai at 7:25 am and the first thing I do is turn on my lappy hoping, praying with crossed fingers that the CR has sent a mail saying , “Extra OM class by Prof.S 8:35-9:35 AM CANCELLED!”…….. but no, what met my eyes was the exact anti-climax. A mail reminding everyone of this horrible event meant only to make us squirm in our cold benches (in the classroom). So drudgingly I got up and did the routine of brush-bath-and-pray (yes, I pray daily) in 30 mins and scampered to the mess for breakfast. Here, I got slightly suspicious that my outlook had played some trick with me and not shown me the ‘cancellation mail’ because I could not spot a single first year in the mess. But I convinced myself to head to class and check it out.

As fate would have it, as I was entering the PGP block, so was Prof.S. Here, I want to digress to point out a few things about this legendary personality. You never want to find yourself alone with him. He will give you advice on pranayaam, yoga and ethical behavior and the importance of taking a cold water bath on a winter morning. The guy took 3 extra classes to write the heading ‘Deming’s 14 principles’ on the board and he still wants more extra classes!…..Perhaps I am not good at driving this point in. But you have to know this guy to understand entire sec-D’s loathing for him….

Anyways, finding myself in close proximity of him with no one else in sight I hastened my pace to get away. But alas, he was swifter and caught me. Asked me stuff about feeling cold and taking bath and commented on how IIML culture was spoilt since no other sec had a class at 8:30…blah blah. I managed to extricate myself soon enough, reached the classroom, dumped my bag and headed towards the door. Would you believe it? This door was locked from outside L. So again Prof.S and me. I somehow maneuvered my way out of the door I had entered from. Phew! And saw another classmate walking in. Safe at last!

The class went on as usual. I was reading last week’s economist lent by Sarma a.k.a Paa (so called for his bald look in the winters). Beside me Sidhanta was on his NFS type car game. Saurabh was trying as hard as he could to listen to the lecture but was showing signs of frustration now and then. Behind me Siva- having finished his CFA exam recently- was back to his pool game on his fancy phone. Vinay was a new entrant at the behind-the-last-row row and was trying to study QAM! Even after many derisive remarks from fellow last-benchers. His defense, he needed to pass in QAM. The argument didn’t make much steam with any of us….

So 2 classes of Prof.S later, attendance is taken- the only reason why students attend his classes. I wanted to check my attendance post-midterm (having missed 3 classes+1 quiz already) so I went to have a look at the attendance sheet. Prof.S comments- “What are you looking at?” Checking attendance obviously. Then he points out my absents and asks reason for them. I innocently answer- due to INDEX sir. He goes into a whole new tangent about how these ridiculous extra-curricular activities are hindering the process of learning and should be done away with…goes into my native place and place of schooling etc….comments on my hindi……oh there is more, but for the benefit of readers, I’ll stop right here.

Moral of the story: Stay away from Prof.S.

Then we have Marketing Management- decent class. We get to see videos of nice Ads J. Only this time, it was silly Rasna ads. Certainly not the level we had seen earlier-‘Hamara Bajaj’ types.

And the last lecture-QAM by G.K.S. This guy is much like Prof.S, but one good thing is that he sticks to the dias allotted for teachers and does not venture into student territory. So you can even lie down on two benches and sleep. But I had had enough of sleep already. So I was chit-chatting with neighbours. Prof. had to make one of us shift places- how Kindergartenish…

After classes, I had nothing much to do- leaving out studying for a quiz which was out of the question anyway. After INDEX, things have been easier… So I headed back to my room and indulged in some newspaper reading, Gtalking, a little INDEX work. Took printouts of my tickets for the term holidays. Always makes you feel soooooo cheerful :)

I saw Prof.K walk towards faculty block on my way back to hostel. I have got like the lowest in the batch in Marketing for mid-terms. Badly in need of some marks, I resorted to some lame arguments to get some marks. I never do this-NEVER. But these times are exceptional….anyhow, didn’t work. I am still where I was before. But one thing that did come out of the meeting was that the Prof came to know my name and the fact that I am in INDEX core. That is a plus I hope J

The next highlight of the day was evening tea. After a long time, Akanksha and I went to the mess together for tea. She lives next door and we’re pretty good friends, but haven’t seen much of each other off late. So it was a bit of catching up. Saw Harsh there, wished him a happy birthday and demanded Cadbury from him (he’s interning there). Some nice chocs to make the day J. This reminded me that my sister’s birthday is tomorrow. I set an alarm for mid-night to remember to wish her…..This is bad, how could I not remember this before? What is happening to me??? Wasn’t family most important? How come I don’t know what my sisters have been doing the past few days? How come we haven’t spoken to each other for a month? We used to share everything… what’s happened to that?

With this contemplative mood, I came back to my room and did some reminiscing, calling dad, mom and everyone. Felt better after that…… like atoning for some sin. And finally fell asleep, dreaming about home and family and friends and better times……….

P.S.: The day was punctuated with project/presentation meetings which I have not cared to elaborate on.

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Wow... that was long! :D . Thanks Shruti! Hope this will only be the first of many more blogs to come!

Day 158: 3rd Dec, 2009

These nametags are really turning out to be a nuisance now. Today again the eco prof made us all put nametags, and within 5 min of that, caught me to answer a question. I don't know what obsession he has with me, especially considering the fact that I usually don't sleep in class much. Definitely not as much as many others around me!

Quite a few firsts today though!

I played lawn tennis for the first time in my life, thanks to Ghate for the initial coaching and all! Boy, the sweet spot in the tennis racquet is really sweet; I hit the ball out of the court four times :D

Saurabh rode a bike around the campus. First time. Big scope for improvement there obviously :P

Four of us - Riza, Shruti, Saurabh and myself went to Wave to watch a movie. My first visit to Wave! Actually the main purpose was for Saurabh to get a haircut from Habib's, which eventually never happened :p. We saw De Dhana Dhan - typical Priyadarshan.

Another first - on my return journey with Saurabh, I broke the 3 digit barrier in Lucknow for the first time :D

And finally finished season 2 of HIMYM!

A day of quite a few achievements eh? :D