Day 534:24th Mar, 2011 - Last but one

Some random function ensured Kisaan's abrupt goodbye early in the morning (i.e. 12.30 noon :-p). Around the same time, Vanki left. It's getting quiet around here...

Did a little more packing; time spent on it directly being proportional to time available/time to be wasted. Gave off whatever stuff could be given to the facchas. Trudged all the way to the bank for my last teensy-weensy bit of INDEX work. And for the best time, got to see a monkey on the hostel terrace :D

As a bit of luck, even got to eat burgers in the mess. Stuck to our plan of going out in the evening, just to hang out one last time. Our first choice was Zero Degree since both myself and the madman hadn't been there. As luck would have it, it was pre-booked for a party :-S . Next stop - Mint. Strange quirks of fate, here again there were no seats inside! The Ind-Aus semifinal had turned out to be a proper crowd-puller! We settled for the outside seats, partly because we felt this would be the state wherever we go, and mainly because we just got bored to go searching again :-p . Decent enough experience, except for the mosquitoes! :-S . At least got to see all the places in Lucknow, which we had associated with 'timepass'.

Went at around 1am to Fauzi for a cup of tea, and they were pulling down the shutters on what had recently become a '24 hour place'. On further inquiry, the reason was divulged to be "lack of activity" :-( . Guess that's the effect of the sudden exodus of 350 full-time vellas...

Whiled away another couple of hours by watching this movie Taken. Pretty fast paced and action packed, worth one watch. After that, I have just got back after wishing Madman a goodbye, officially making me the wing's sole PGP2 inhabitant. 

Am in no mood for it, but I guess I'll get some sleep. One last time, one last night, as a proud PGP student of this heaven called helL...

Day 532:22nd Mar, 2011 - Convo & INDEX room painting!

Woke up at 7.00 (just 1.5 hrs of sleep) as I had promised my parents of showing them around the campus early morning. Was definitely worth it :-) . Took them on a half-way walk around the circumference, showed them the library, PGP block, my classroom! Even got to see a couple of peacocks on our way :-)

Of course, all this took a little toll and I dozed off when I got back. Got up straight on time for the convocation. First was the batch photo session - that was when I envied the ABM batch size :-p . I hope I can manage to spot the pixel which would represent me in the (abruptly taken!) pic. Anyways, was pretty excited given that I never had a convocation for my UG. Our chief guest, Kapil Sibal, could not make it, and sent a video recorded speech instead. Our chairman, Dr. J J Irani spoke really well, on values that we need to always follow. It was indeed a proud moment for me to go up the stage and take that degree :-)

Still a little tired, came back to my room after dinner with my parents and slept off. But in an hour or so, was woken up to do the customary INDEX painting (every outgoing INDEX Core team writes the names of all members on the INDEX room wall) ... :-) :-) . Man, and then I just kept wondering how every day night suddenly becomes SO VERY AWESOME! It was SO much fun doing that painting, remembering moments that we had spent, my most cherished moments on campus with my most cherished pals. And of course, the output was as legendary as can be expected from us :D

Over a finishing chai at Fauzi, I have decided to keep myself awake for some time, so I can go and wish good bye to my parents. If I sleep now, even an earthquake won't wake me up :-p

Day 527:4th Mar, 2011 - 'The Dhol' & INDEX Farewell!

So as so often and so easily, once again the Circadian cycle seems to have been inverted. Woke up pretty late and very hungry. However, was in no mood for lunch at the mess and all the 'other' places seemed "too usual and boring". That is when we decided to do the bike ride, all the way to the much acclaimed Break Point dhaba. And the long ride (with innumerable stops for directions) turned out to be worth it.

Got back and spent around an hour chatting with Chatur. In the evening, we had plans to go to Genesis for our INDEX farewell. But then, word got around about The Return of the Dhol! To celebrate the placement of the entire batch before the end of the placement week, the legendary dhol accompanied by some really wild dancing was organised. No way we could miss this one. One of my best times as PGP2 was that enthusiastic hour of energy in the mess, with so many of us dancing in the water thrown by the people of the mess, tearing each others' shirts off and gyrating our topless bodies :D

(Uploading the part before the shirt tearing spree started :-p)

And then - back to my INDEX farewell! Just my statement that the farewell beat even the Dhol must be enough to describe it. Since we couldn't go to Genesis, we had our own little setup in the common room of H11-H12. Some awesome home-made DJing by Kisaan, some great food from Aryans and unhindered dancing and masti by a group of very very very close individuals = AWESOMENESS! One of my best nights ever, right from the celebrations to the (extremely fantastic and well though out) gifts given by our juniors to Tila. Ending our journey at the exact same spot where we started :-)

Day 526:3rd Mar, 2011

Woke up late and lazy today. This time, it wasn't just about not having anything to do for the day, but not having anything to do regards my MBA! Had a small celebration with lunch at Aryans followed by a visit to CCD. Man, this will be missed.

Had to finish some of my 'No Dues' formalities, and spent all the afternoon covering all the different departments, going to offices in basements which I didn't know existed :-p . Sat around gossiping at Fauzi for the rest of the evening.

Since we didn't have too many days left with us (all of us PGP2 INDEXians had trip plans), we decided to give our finals treat to junior core today itself. The final treat had to be grand, and what grander than Taj! :-) . Went there for the buffet dinner; had to use a little coaxing a persuasion, but we did manage to get a nice big table for ourselves. Had an awesome awesome time, special thanks to Makwana. :D :D . "There is always a goalkeeper, but we will still score" ROFL! :D . An awesome bike ride later on the empty night streets of Lucknow, got back to the INDEX room - for M.A.F.I.A.! Was a plan long pending, and it finally happened. Super fun - even Madman didn't sleep :-P

And just like it has happened for so many other days, this day too has been made special with some a light shower from the skies above :-) Wonderful! :-)

Day 525:2nd Mar, 2011 - Pappu place ho gaya!

Had to reach early since I had one early morning quiz for a trading profile. Really nice quiz - only some quick calculations to do :-p . Not too surprising that I got shortlisted to the next round.

Had a nice breakfast after that; and it was only then that I came to know that it was Maha Shivratri today. My annual fasting event :-) . Didn't want a short-term thing like placements come in my way, and hence I decided to hold my fast anyways. 

Quite a few processes then to keep me busy for the day. For the first time, I experienced being dragged out of one process to attend further rounds of another particular process, indicating an interest in me - feels good :-p . Also had a very interesting GD round of a South based leading telecom player - we argued (sensibly!) for a good 15 minutes on a topic which NONE of us were sure what really meant :D . Truly, I think that marked the end of our MBA journey :-p

By late night, I came to know I had an offer from that fin firm for the next best position than the one in which I was more interested (in which unfortunately they had frozen recruitments). A tick against the last item pending on the MBA list :-) 

At 2am, was celebrating at Fauzi with the INDEX gang (me only with a cup of tea) when I came to know I also had received an offer for the trading role I had tried for in the morning. (The subsequent interview just had one puzzle and some basic questions - was pretty short for me). Never expected to face a problem of plenty in this context. Some thinking and greed-based analysis later, I opted for the trading one. Don't know how positive the final payoffs will be, but it's now time to take some risks ;-)

Day 519:24th Feb, 2011

Feels so nice to wake up on a day, and find out you don't have any ppts lined up :-p . Did have one form filling to do. Was initially happy since the company had come during summers, and I had all the answers ready. Turns out the questions were different, and also more in number :-S

Finally finished with my KT session for the juniors. Gave this half with Pachpan; I think it's a good idea to give it in groups. You can remember more by bouncing thoughts and opinions off each other.. INDEX is definitely in good hands though :-)

Quickly finished off whatever was left of the form (thinking and filling two answers at super speed :P) to make myself free for the hostel party! Had good fun there :-) . Just like it marks all special occasions, it rained even on this night, to make the senseless dance a senseless rain dance :D

Had a really long and really random bakar session in my room after that with Pachpan, Kisaan and TG. Always so worthwhile to talk and enjoy for 3 hours on topics right from 'biology' to engineering days to stuff here :D

Day 518:23rd Feb, 2011

These days, the body clock of all PGP2s has adjusted itself to a new external factor - the ppt schedule. Some 20 minutes before some ppt is scheduled, you could see all soggy eyelid-heavy faces going to the bathroom for a quick wash, and in extreme cases a quicker shave. 

So was it with me. Was glad I managed to wake up on time for the 1.45 afternoon presentation. Was infinitely more glad, when the last mover advantage played out and I could manage to stay outside the classroom and get attendance for nothing :D 

But just like two days back, this was avenged too. We had this presentation by one global bank. And another at around the same time by a local Indian bank. As per sat for the ppt, we saw from the back windows that pizzas were kept outside, and became all happy (free food some how has that effect), especially because, no way would a local Indian bank spend as against a global giant right? But Murphy's law won, mocked at us fair and square, through the pizza stuffed mouths of the students who went for the other one :( . BTW, should we take it as a sign of changing times? :-)

Some more wrap-up work w.r.t. INDEX. Had called an old vendor for some "negotiations", thanks to some things that weren't delivered as promised. As expected, didn't reach a definite conclusion, but made some headway in better understanding some points. Missed dinner (and apparently, one awesome new dessert :-( ...) and subsequently fell back on Fauzi. Had a nice time recalling and remembering some of the kaand that happened till now :-)

Have just spent some good bit of time mechanically reading and consciously closing the too many tabs that had been opened up on my browser. And now, one Contra session, TBBT episode and night snacks @ Fauzi later, it's time to bid good night!

Day 511:16th Feb, 2011

I think third day in succession that my sleep got disturbed at dawn. Pretty cold today though, thanks to a fresh bout of rain. The poor blower's post winter break had to be abruptly cancelled :P

The next (and thankfully final) waking pit-stop happened straight at 12.15 noon :-S . No semblance of any afternoon though - it was a tad bit dark and still drizzling. But amazingly beautiful - clean and green in a way only nature does :-)

Typical vella day otherwise - mostly spent sitting in front of my laptop. Resumed gymming though! Was dead tired and wanted to go for a quick dinner, preferably outside. But neither did plans for 'outside' work out, nor did the 'quick' part, as my room was invaded by TG and Sheldon Salhotra for some INDEX budget clarifications. Luckily though - TG agreed to come for dinner to the ever-dependable Brij. Ate right till my oesophagus was full :P

Day 499:4th Feb, 2011

Woah! Seems like someone forgot to tell the fog that winter's over! I woke up pretty early today, at 6.30am the first time. As I stepped out of my room, I saw that the dense blanket of morning fog is back. I hope it does not bring along it's friend - Mr. Cold.

Had made a lot of plans yesterday on what to do today. But eventually, the first thing I did with the extra morning time (apart from breakfast :D) was finish season 1 of Heroes :-S .Couldn't help it, but at least now there is some closure on that front (pls God, don't make me start season 2).

Spent the early part of the evening doing some pending INDEX work. Post that I had one company application which I wanted to finish - 3 HR questions for a major FMCG company. But I had already missed gym since two days, and for sure I knew if I skipped it today, I'll fall out of the habit. And thus the choice was made - I even added a complimentary run around the campus to make up :P

Post (yet another) dinner at Fauzi, my room was raided by INDEX juniors trying to reconcile accounts :D. Now now, that part is going to be fun for them :-P . I have a report to make by tomorrow noon, analyzing the leadership styles of 2 people from the industry. Still deciding whom to choose so I can make optimum use of resources ;-) . Add to that I am feeling all tired and sleepy... may be ... tomorrow morning...

Day 497:2nd Feb, 2011

The barrage of quizzes and projects are here, for one final time. Had 2 quizzes today morning. PM was fine, but as feared yesterday, I had to pay the price for sleeping during yesterday's QAF crash course :(

Kisaan's lying-on-the-bed-full-time-watching-sitcoms fever seems to be rubbing on me. Having bunked my FRA class (optimising available bunks :P), I had way too much time in the afternoon. And I suddenly started not one, but two new series! Two and a Half Men, of which I saw one episode and Heroes, of which I saw 8 episodes! The latter one is gripping! Even skipped gym because of that (though had a brisk walk along the campus after snacks).

After a long time, went to Brij for dinner. One place where the food is consistently simple and good! Felt really sleepy after that heavy meal, but I had a KT session with the juniors. That ran pretty much into the night, around 3.45. And now, another episode of Heroes later, I think I'll call it quits for today.

Day 494:30th Jan, 2011 - INDEX 2010: The End

Successfully made it to class for the presentation. That may partly be because of the early morning call I got from one member of my group to wake up Pachpan for some inputs for the presentation. But when we reached the class, and showed it to the prof, he said some additional things needed to be incorporated :-( . Task unfinished.

But none of that was really important. Today was to officially mark the culmination of one long journey - we had the final presentations and results of INDEX 2010 today. That made sure our afternoon was totally engaged, collating the results. It's really sad to see some deserving teams lose out very closely, but I guess that's just an unavoidable part of the game. It's harsh, but you got to do what you got to do! My heartiest congrats to the winners - Team S.I.G.Ma (Special Interest Group in Marketing) as well as to all the other teams for all the fantastic effort they put in.

After resuming my gymming, it was now time for some celebration! We went to this new place Cassia - a buffet kinda place (modeled on BBQ). The chinese was good. And desserts are always good :D . And the best part - it was converted into a treat from Haathi, Kisaan and MMR for their placements! :-)

Day 486:22nd Jan, 2011

Just like last year, we had an awesome time with INDEX alums this time too. In fact, this year we even had INDEX super seniors from '05, '06, '07 batches, including one legendary guy who comes down every year :-) . Good timepass in the INDEX room, followed by some more timepass at Just Tea followed by a walk around the campus :-) . And exactly as I felt last year, once an INDEXian, always an INDEXian! :-)

BTW, we had the Swedish band Pain of Salvation performing tonight. One helluva show that!

PS: It's 2.30am. My feet are still aching from my day before yesterday's 4-rounds-of-the-campus stunt. I just hope I do manage to wake up on time :) . Can't let the week-long dedicated practice just go waste right?

Day 485:21st Jan, 2011 - Manfest 2011 starts!

Wasn't feeling too good when I got up. But still somehow went to the LD class as we had a presentation today and I was playing a substantial role this time, answering 2 out of 3 questions about the case. Had to leave the lecture midway though. Turns out it was just a case of a slight tummy upset :P

After a string of bad movies, we were really looking forward to see Dhobi Ghat, especially given the fact that it starred Aamir Khan and that the trailers were very promising. Could not have met with a bigger disappointment :-| . It definitely can't be called a "movie". At best, it was a stitch of 3-4 extremely amateurishly shot videos. The first time I actually experienced absolutely not understanding when the movie ended - suddenly the screen blacked out and names started rolling. Makwana's surely not getting the money back for this one! :P

Anyways, our annual management fest or Manfest is here! Today started off with a performance by Rahul Sharma on the santoor. (As expected, Vanki didn't even know that instrument :D). Good performance - these instruments have such a pleasing sound! Pachpan, kisaan and myself had pizza for dinner, sponsored to us by Manfest's Mr. Olam :D

As usual, lots of alums are here. Nice catching up with them. In fact, was about to get some sleep at around 2.30 when this bugger Jiggy came up. Some general chit-chatting and the usual 'corporate' cribbing and now the time is 4.30am. Sigh, just can't seem to avoid it.

Day 477:13th Jan, 2011

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

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

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

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

Day 461:28th Dec, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

Day 449:10th Dec, 2010

The problem with two-papers-in-a-day is that it leaves you with zero enthu for even a little studying in the rest of the day. Especially with addictive distractions like Crazy Taxi around! Consequently, hadn't started a word for PF yesterday. And not just me, nobody seemed to be doing it! This, even though, it was the scariest mid-term paper.

But of course, that had ensured that entire morning today was dedicated to it. One more super level threat from MMR - he is scary man when he does that! As far as answering the paper itself was concerned, I had to re-play my yesterday's role of the human photocopier. But this time from the question paper itself! You may find this very very confusing - but I really seemed to think all the answers were in the question paper :-| And I made good use of that!

But anyways, it had been a long long time, and we were still to celebrate the Summers of our INDEX facchas. So today finally, we all went to this place called UV (UltraViolet). The sad part was that the place served no alcohol (.. ;-) Muaahahaha! :D ) . The starters were nice, the veg main course was average (actually a little less than average). But the best part was the whole lot of chocolate that I had - 50% (shared with others) of - Kitkat shake, nutty mocha shake, cookie monster shake, choco chip fudge and a sizzling brownie :D . And no, I am still not (even a tiny bit) averse to chocolates! :D

Day 440:1st Dec, 2010

Today seems like a reallllllyyyy long day. I think it is substantially due to the fact that I woke up at 5am - yes you read that right - 5am today! After a quick bite at GnB (and of course, capturing the atrocities committed on their staff), we made our way to Lohia Park. Today being World Aids Day, INDEX was supporting the local government organisation in organizing a City Run to raise AIDS awareness. The run went off very well - had a good response from people.

Though all this meant that I had lost out on a lot of sleep over the past 3 days. Made up all of that with a nice and not-so-short siesta :D

Through evening till now that, one of my old temporary addictions is back - the hunt for good mobile apps. I must have surely mentioned this before - that the very reason I bought my present N79 is to explore for apps, as I see that all the great features of a phone are going to be delivered through independent software apps. One major problem with Symbian though is that it requires all software to be signed and have a valid certificate - which is a big big issue when it comes to some ingenious apps available at sidey-types websites :-p . Finally remembered the way by which I had resolved this issue. Had to go through the whole process though - thanks to the new IMEI number on my new handset :-p

Day 431:22nd Nov, 2010 - Empty!

Life suddenly feels so empty! Just a day ago, it would be criminal if you couldn't utilise each and every second for something. And now, you have hours and hours to idle away..

The last one week, not one phone call went by without having another "in waiting". And now, the only time my phone rings is because of those automatic calls from Airtel. (Though I am confess, my mind seems to hear the ringtone every now and then!)

The "tasks" column on my outlook, most of them in red (signifying - overdue :-p), is now absolutely clear. My study table was adorned by 'sticky-notes' indicating a zillion to-do things. Even my laptop screen was not spared, putting to good use the 'Post-it' software in Windows 7. Everything's been trashed now.

In order to save some minuscule seconds, I would always have open multiple explorer windows, one for each folder relevant and even one for a subfolder in that, so that I did not have to navigate each time. All those windows are closed. The perennially running resource hogger of a Photoshop has been closed. And so have the multiple browsers to check multiple gmail accounts.

But most of all, the mind is super free. No multiple thoughts fighting with each other for priority action. No thinking about what workaround to provide for the sudden last minute problems. Nothing dynamic.

Sigh. Life is suddenly so empty.

I am sure my fellow senior core are engulfed by similar feelings, especially considering the frequent trips that have arbitrarily been made to my room :D ; indulging in all sorts of conversations. The highlight of which was a band formation; and before anyone actually learnt any music, people started the photoshoot for the album cover :D

And just like that, we decided to go out for dinner. Fortunately for everyone, Pachpan and TG came to a quick truce - go to Mainland China this time and Barbecue Nation the next. Some nice food in some nice ambience, and brilliant company :-) . Even hatched a plan to watch a movie after that. Had to skip desserts for that :-( . Much debate on whether to go for HP 7 or Guzaarish. Eventually by the time we reached Wave, turned out HP 7 had already started 5 minutes back, simplifying the choice :D . Hoping and anticipating many more of such times in the next 100 odd days left!

Days 429,430: 20th-21st Nov, 2010 - INDEX 2010!

IIM Lucknow's INDEX would be India's biggest Disguised Market Research Fair. INDEX 2010 saw a lot of firsts. A record 18 live market research projects from the industry including 2 on Rural Research, big names like Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, some awesome videos, even a website!

But yet.. I find myself falling short of words thinking how I could do even moderate justice in describing all that crosses my mind as I write this post :-) . And I don't think I can manage. So instead of describing INDEX, I would rather say this -

INDEX has been the most memorable journey of my 2 years at IIM L. I have learnt a lot and have had infinite level fun (very highly compressed in one statement). But most importantly, I have made some brilliant friends for life. This post is a thank you to all of them!

And also a big thank you to the 500+ students involved in INDEX, either as a part of an MR team or as a part of the organizing team. Brilliant job everyone!

Three Cheers to INDEX!! Hip hip.. hurray!!

Day 428:19th Nov, 2010 - INDEX'10 eve!

It's still raining! And we just weren't able to procure water-proofing material at such short notice. Only thing is to pray and hope it remains sunny tomorrow! Spent a good part of the afternoon at the ground supervising the various arrangements being made, especially the teams coming down to have the MR stall set up as per their design.

When I came back to campus, I was shocked (or did I somewhere expect it?) to find that the most illogical conclusion had been reached. Just can't comprehend the way some things work out here. *angry + frustrated!* 

With INDEX tomorrow, billions of tiny things to be ironed out. Late evening, realised there was some communication gap w.r.t. the stage backdrop itself! Man.. spent some anxious time correcting that. And then of course, it is of course a must for the Ops guy to be on-ground. I remember my stint last year, patching up tents till late in the night. This time things were much more on time. Of course, the afternoon rains have played havoc. The tents are moist, and are catching dew like crazy. Almost all tents have a drip issue and teams haven't been able to put up their props entirely. But the good thing is rains have stopped now, and also the skies seem clear. That should give enough time tomorrow morning for the teams to finish their setup. It's 4am now - need to catch up with some sleep before heading off to the ground early morning tomorrow!

The D-day is finally here! :-) Yayy!!