Day 354: 30th Aug, 2010

2 things that I absolutely wasn't prepared for. One easily guessable answer of course is my Prom Strat paper - why and how did maths enter the picture?! Half the subjective part was calculations, based on formulae no one would ever have any use by hearting :-| . Though, this wouldn't really be a shocker or anything.

What was actually a bit of a shocker was this phone call I got in the morning. A random female suddenly told me  that my flight had been cancelled due to "operational reasons"! Spent SO much time on this through the day. Before my exam, after my exam, evening etc etc. What is most amusing is how they seem to think that they are doing me a lot of "service" by giving me multiple "options" such as "free" rescheduling on "select flights" OR a refund (when ticket prices would be double). Finally at midnight, came to an option that is 'workable'. But I'll have to spend the entire night at Delhi airport :-(

Int Fin tomorrow. Hardcore numbers - no globe :) 

Day 274: 10th Jun, 2010 - Zoo Zoo :-p

So is it my EAGLE that is making me write this blog? Or is it the SALMON which is trying to rebel against popular notions that were expressed about the impossibility of sustaining this endeavour? Confused? Don't worry. This was what happened in the 3-hour "short"(in the prof's words - ?!?) lecture on team building. As how would you understand others if you didn't understand yourself! Logically sound, except that at the end of the class, it made me feel I was in a zoo rather above anything else :-p

There is something anti-visionary about Lucknow. No pun intended, I only was referring to my spectacles. After breaking my specs 6 times in the first year, I had a two month long summers stint at Bombay, during the course of which my specs fell down at least twice, and escaped unhurt and intact. Day 1 in Lucknow - I put my specs inside the case just before I go to sleep. Morning the case falls down. And the specs - inside the case - breaks! :-S . Argghhh!! Accompanied Dhams to the city (who maintains his record of registering late), gave my specs for repairing on the way. Tried negotiating, but unsuccessful :-(

Had a long overdue INDEX meet. In our new room. Convenient :-p

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 162: 7th Dec, 2009

The blogger himself writes! Yea, today's post is by none other than Amit Haralalka - an avid blogger himself & one of my first friends on campus. The writer in him was super enthusiastic about accepting my offer :D

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

Wokkay. Thanks to ‘mumBHAI’ (as I call him), I get to recollect my day and share my thoughts on this blog. And Boy! What a day it has been!

The term ‘Monday morning’ loses its significance (notice the lack of the word ‘blues’ usually attached to it!) when you have 3 hours of classes on the preceeeding Sunday. DO NOT raise your eyebrows if you are not from Section F, neither do I need your sympathetic “tch tch”s. It is a truth that I (and my brethren from Section F) have learnt to live with.

So coming back to ‘Monday’ – the only good thing about ‘Monday’ was that classes started at 11 AM. So I got about 2 hours to do the whole act that I indulge in everyday. It is an act I call “the routine”. “The Routine” is the following act performed in sequential order:

1. Put the alarm for 8 AM

2. Get out of bed at 8 AM, and put the alarm clock on a 15 minute snooze

3. Get back to bed, comfortably inside the blanket for the next 15 minutes

4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until you have exactly 25 minutes left for class.

Today I got to do “The Routine” from 8.00 AM to 10.30 AM – Aaah! .. The joy of getting back to your bed on a cold winter morning 9 times in a SINGLE DAY!

Classes were regular – nothing fab. Except that I had to indulge in some “Desperate CP” and gain some CP Marks – not something I usually do, but I wanted to do everything possible to compensate for poor mid-term performance in a particular subject.

Post-lunch (usually siesta time, but since I had done the “routine” 9 times, I started getting the feeling that I have been sleeping for the last 7 days, which obviously I hadn’t been!), I decided to complete the Marketing Management project (since this was the project that I was working on… & the other’s weren’t!! – Division of Labour!) .. Interestingly, during one of the Oral Vivas conducted by an Adjunct Faculty, the faculty (lady) politely commented on how ‘the Collaborative Culture at IIM manifests itself in all possible ways’ when she caught members of a particular group prompting the answers to their group member during the Oral Quiz. Well, there are STILL more Collaborative Ways at the IIMs are used for social good – Work on some projects, free ride on others! J

Evening was NostaLgia time. Went out with a part of the group that I used to hang out with during my first week here – Kanny J, Saali, Bansal and yours truly. We went out to Barista, followed by dinner at Royal Café, followed by a nice long drive back to campus (with all of us crooning to Sufi-Bollywood music).

Wow! – This feels better than I thought. I should get back to writing on my own blog more often. Hopefully the Gods of Hell will smile on the internet on campus in general (and the WiFi on H14, in particular) so that a blogger can get back to some blogging!

Thanks mumBhai for the opportunity. Relishing it.. :)

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

Thanks man. And I am sure 'The Routine' is something most of us here follow very religiously :D

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 :)

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

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.

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

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

Days 152,153,154: 27th-29th Nov, 2009 - INDEX'09!

Woah!! 3 super hectic but super memorable days. Words really wouldn't be able to capture the feelings that run behind. After all, this was the grand culmination of all the efforts we were putting in since the last few months!

Started 27th by going out to get some more new stamps. Went to a closer, more recognisable place this time. And also had the (happy?) realisation that I was overcharged two days back :-p. Bought A LOT of stationary items for the events team.

Had some little work here and there when I came back to college. Trucks had come by now, to carry teams' props to the ground. Helped a bit there. But left it to someone else as I had to go to the fair venue.

The setup looked nice :) . My personal favourite was the huge backdrop to the stage. Anyways, didn't have time to pause and admire anything after that.. work work work was all I did. Right from arranging food for the support team to raising curtain lengths to providing carpets to fighting for the loo arrangements (becoming legendary in INDEX circles for years to come :D). Went to the local police chowki to inform them... had to go to this whole new area called 'Naya Hyderabad' (in Lucknow :D). It is right behind a very important city road but still it was totally cut off! Was running with the tent wala to ascertain things were perfect. I remember dozing off and swaying even as I was standing :-p , but there was no way I could go and grab even 4 winks. And chilllllllllyyyyyy cold all through! Finally at around 6.30 am, I slipped into a razai in the ops tent and slept for an hour.

28th, day 1 of the fair, had finally arrived! And being an Ops guy is tough! Murphy's law invariably had to come true to mock at us. There was a power failure just as the fair was supposed to open. And there was apparently not enough diesel ! Spent the entire afternoon going with the electrician (which involved finding him out first!!) to get additional power points at multiple stalls. Without getting into specifics, let me just say there was a lot of running around for the rest of the day. One awesome sight which I had not been .. how do I put it.. exposed to before ;-) . Of course, things got better towards the end as I grew in power ;) and learnt to make phone calls and get the work done :D. The Sufi Nite event in the evening was pretty good! We would have liked more numbers, but can't complain! Ended the day bargaining with a local food stall vendor, more for the fun of it than for anything else :-p . Went back with Saurabh, first to GnB to grab a bite. Just couldn't feel my legs!! I somehow dragged myself to my room and was flat out sleeping probably even before I hit the bed.

Woke up on 29th and realised I had slightly overslept past the 7am target. A few calls later I realised same was the case with other first year Core members :D. Got dressed quickly and went to the ground. Things were pretty much in place though. The tent wala had even put carpets over some dusty areas as I had asked him to. Came back to college to deal with the small stomach upset I had :-p (which in itself was surprising considering my lunch comprised of oranges). Even getting work done was easier today as the labourers were all familiar with me and I didn't have to tell them things twice. Had another good set of events today. Saw the crowds grow up, especially towards late evening.

So that was INDEX'09 for me. Couldn't even watch the final few events as I was still.. yea.. running around..! Ordered pizzas for the support teams, which was only a small appreciation for all the hard work they had done! Jumped around a little over the last 2-3 songs being played by the Rock band. Got a few photos clicked. A couple of random videos (which I am yet to lay my hands on). Bumps for everyone!

And then my last bit of work for the day. Packing stuff, getting them loaded on the trucks and have them back to college. Leading the truck, then waiting for it to come into visibility, then realising the truck was far ahead (Riza should really be beaten up :-p) and then coming back to campus before the truck :D. Unloaded stuff. Spent some time in the INDEX room.

Finally pulled off INDEX '09 :)

Hip hip hurray!!

Day 150: 25th Nov, 2009

Went to check out this new kids play area with Shruti. Rather went there midway since Praveen had to go out on some urgent work. All the way to Gomti Nagar. Saw some new areas though :D , including a circus :D. Didn't get to see any animals though :-(

Thankfully I got my thermals yesterday. It gets a little chilly even with that, but then what would it be without that :-/

Slept off early today! No one called me up for the late night meeting, or maybe they tried and I didn't respond :D . Either way, the rest will serve me good - few VERY hectic days coming up!

Day 77: 5th Sep, 2009

It's hel(L). It's hectic! I had this whole list of things to do when I started the day:

-Work on the CV proofs (for all you people who aspire to get in here, please make sure you have proofs for ANYTHING that you are going to put down on your CV. Really strict about that)

-Modify the CV

-MANAC project. Read/analyse the balance sheet

-Start studying atleast one chapter in atleast one subject of the multiple quizzes lined up on Monday and Tuesday

But I was so tied up with other things that came up that I couldn't do even one of these things :(

Had this ITC project submission before 5 pm. A couple of team mates of mine had done a good amount of work on it. Thankfully. My job was to collate the final info, check for any errors, reformat some stuff, take prints and submit. That took up afternoon.

Simultaneously had a BIO meet. Was present there physically only :-$ . But saala ... in return they assigned me with the toughest part of the BIO project submission - some multivariate analysis on the data collected!

Today the junior core of INDEX had its first outing :) . Went to the city to check out this ground and make some observations and stuff. Then went to eat - the non veg junta went to Dastar Khwan and we, the veggies, went to this place Royal Cafe. Boy!.. was blown away with this Lucknow food thing. Finally I saw why it called the Nawabon ka Shaher. We started off only ordering masala papad and some veg seekh kabab as the starter and 1/2 soup. Simultaneously ordered this basket chaat. And when they came... mannnn... what quantity! The masala papad was papad in the form of a cone, with all the masala stuffed inside. The basket chaat was again super tasty. I was really glad to eat some good chaat outside Bombay! And the soup... their half itself was easily double the quantity of a normal full soup I have had anywhere else! Needless to say, our tummies were full there itself! :D Never got around having proper khana.