Day 448:9th Dec, 2010

Had two papers today as I said. The 'D'readed has been avoided in EPA. And I became a human photocopier in the open book Serv Mark exam (pr. 402 + 420 of the text book :D).

The highly irritating and frustrating and unfair thing happened immediately after my exams. As I was walking out, I casually happened to check my attendance record on the notice board. And I was shocked to find that I had been marked a horribly high number of absents in spite of honestly attending enough classes! (Ironically in the same 2 subjects that I appeared in today). A grade drop without any mistake! Tried to get some info about it, but everyone had left. Need to work on this tomorrow!

Day 439:30th Nov, 2010

I generally diligently attend all initial classes and save up my bunks for towards the end. Unfortunately though, strategy failed as we had a "final project quiz" in the CBM class today and I had to attend it. Not that much came out of giving that quiz anyway.

Pretty packed day though. This was immediately followed by a session about a company that evokes dichotomous reactions. A lot of us are very enthusiastic about it and an even greater lot want to have nothing to do with it. Mainly due to the location where they send us. And of course, the "rumours" about what kind of heads comprise of their CTC. Anyways, an alum had come down for the session, and it was pretty much informal (except for the dress code). The job sounds exciting and adventurous to me. Wouldn't mind it at all!

Immediately after that, I had to revamp a ppt for a presentation we had in our SM class. Did that in my room and then in the back benches of the classroom. The presentation itself went off smoothly though - that's one thing we have had enough practice of here :D

That was followed by an LTL class. Somehow, because of a few cancellations and reschedulings, turns out we have 5 whole sessions of LTL left. Still time for me to use my buffer. Also, funny thing during attendance - the prof looked up at me after I had answered my attendance. Courteously, even I looked back at him. Then he enquiringly nodded at me. I nodded back - confused. (Absolutely didn't understand where the dumb-charades game was going.) Then I realised the prof was asking me why I had missed the previous lecture. I had no clue why (!! ... who keeps a track of everything) and that is exactly what I told him :-p . Don't know why the class found it funny though :-p

Had a small meeting in the evening. Closing small small issues. Leaving the bigger ones for later discussion, since we all need to sleep early and wake up really really early tomorrow!

Day 418: 9th Nov, 2010

Such a blissful feelings to wake up the morning, find out your class has been cancelled and go back to sleep again! :D . Did break my record of sleeping past noon though. Woke up at a much early 11am.

Had enough attendance (full :-p) in the subsequent lectures of the day. Bunked those to go to the city with Pachpan and get some INDEX work done. Roamed all the way from Gomti Nagar to Hazratganj. Discovered a whole new eating place near WAVE - those small roadside joints that serve good food! At Hazratganj, met up with Kisaan who had his own set of follow-ups to do. Indulged in some pillion-swapping :-p and Pachpan went off with him to meet a few other people; while I thought I'll go check out the status of my cellphone.

Yes, btw, my great cellphone was STILL NOT OK! :-( . Been more than 3 months since I had it in proper working condition! As you would recall (:-p), the last time I gave my phone for repairs, I got a new piece after the 15 day wait. Call it my luck - Turned out even that piece wasn't working! So today, when I went in after another 15 days, I got yet another new piece. This one wasn't a stunner in looks though :-( . Somehow, the silver grey front panel wasn't impressive. When I asked about that, I was told "The company uses any readily available piece". Which is downright silly, because I paid specifically for a good-looking phone! When I asked if it could get replaced, the response - "It will have to be sent back to the company again!". And that I just can't wait. But silly people - why can't they just keep an extra set of panels with the Care Centers :-S

When I came back to my room, I got to know some urgent modifications required in the hoarding creative. Sat on it. Almost 4am now. Not even sure how it is going to be received by others in my team. Just a sign of times to come, over the next one week :-)

Day 417: 8th Nov, 2010

Had come to know yesterday late night that we didn't have the early morning CBM class today. What else do you want to know beyond the fact that you can sleep uninterrupted. And that is how I clocked in yet another successive day of waking up post noon :D

But this was followed by a marathon spree of classes. Serv mark followed by LTL followed by another extra class of LTL followed by an extra session on Proj Fin! 2.30 - 9.30 pm straight! :-|

And after that, a marathon designing session for INDEX! Our poor facchas are caught up in their mid-sems and so time for us seniors to pump in a little extra effort! With less than a couple of weeks to go, too much work on the publicity front needed to speeden up. Had to come up with a basic draft to get some approvals and progress; and it's almost 5.20 now doing all that. Tomorrow's first session is CBM. Am not sure if that one also has been rescheduled! Lets hope so! *fingers crossed*

Day 398: 20th Oct, 2010

Yesterday, in some super jubiliant mood, I declared a National Holiday for myself. Chilled out all the time, not for a moment considering that I had two papers today. The morning one was Service Marketing. Consequently, the only effort I took for that was a) taking the printouts and b) waking up on time :-| . (Remember yesterday's BASH?)

Of course, the more interesting paper was the late afternoon one - EPA. Three questions - requiring 3 essay type answers. The prof's only request to all the students during the exam was to not exceed the 3-page-per-question limit. I honored it, comfortably.

I have often been impressed by the ability of a lot of people here to push themselves and work hard. Today, I got in touch with a person regarding publicity for INDEX. When I mentioned I had exams till 7.30, the guy had zero hesitation in saying that he'll come and meet me at the college after that. Unfortunately, due to some misunderstanding, the person ended up going to some other college! At around 8, he realised his mistake. But instead of postponing the meeting, he assured me that he will turn up in another 15-20 minutes! Really nice work ethos. Just today morning, I wrote my Services Marketing exam, but the lesson I learnt here on the practical aspect of going to great lengths to ensure customer delight, will stick with me much more easily, and forever.

Day 390: 12th Oct, 2010

Taking a printout usually turns out to be a super frustrating experience! More true for colour prints. Point is, for taking printouts, we have to go all the way to the Computer Center. The good part is these prints are available to us at a subsidized rate. But the bad part is it takes aeons for a print to come out! Took me an hour and half (one full Service Marketing class - simulation game ON in the adjoining room :-p) to get the printout of our brochure.

Update: My phone's on a vacation to Delhi! Chalo, mei nahi toh phone sahi!

Day 374: 26th Sep, 2010 - Khel khel mei

A three hour Service Marketing class on a fine Sunday morning! Would definitely have found the choicest of words to curse it, but for the fact that it turned out to be time very well spent! We had to play a simulation game designed by a Harvard professor, and I can definitely say it was a fantastic way of "learning by doing". Left me wondering why we don't have these for all subjects!

Came back to my room and started watching a documentary on Shaolin Kungfu. Painstakingly reached till the end; found it to be quite boring. Slept off, partly the documentary effect, and partly of course to compensate the early waking up.

When it rains, it pours. Now that the Brij jinx seems to be broken, we visited it yet again within a space of a week! :D . Had a big discussion on how much freedom a retailer would have in underpricing a product (even by taking loss). Need to find that out from authentic sources..

Day 373: 25th Sep, 2010

Our dear wingie Shomo's birthday last night had an extra element of discomfort - a bucket of water. Blame Pachpan for starting all these wrong trends, especially at wrong moments :-X . Three rounds of assault, followed by the cake smear (a nice heart shaped cake!), followed by a march to the mess, and of course another round from the animals there :P . Even after all this though, I still managed to wake up pretty early - 9 am for a 12.30 pm class! The tough part though is deciding what to do with the extra time (unnecessarily) created. I decided to be a little productive and actually went and had breakfast. Unfortunately for me, it was pretty sad today!

Encountered yet another super example of arbitrary pricing in a Servicing Model. Went to this bag seller to get the chain mended on my laptop bag. He randomly quoted 100/- as charges! I just told him that only a day ago I had enquired at his shop and was informed the cost would be 50/. And lo and behold, his price dropped by 50%. And am pretty sure, even on that, he must be making 80% profit (at least!).

Don't know whether the net and the LAN must be considered a boon or a bane. Boon because, thanks to them, we spend all our free time watching movies. Bane because, thanks to them, we spend all our free time watching movies! Anyways, without getting into the judgemental aspect, I would just say Chatur, me & Vanki caught up with a movie called 'Se7en'. Interesting thriller, it's based on serial killers :D . Now, who doesn't like them! Hehe :D

In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare aptly captures the protagonist's anxiety with the words - "your mind is tossing on the ocean,..". Well, let me just wish some good luck to a friend, who's probably feeling these words right now...

Day 362: 14th Sep, 2010

Woke up really early today - 6 am! Mornings are really beautiful :-) . Listened to music for a good 2 hours, side by side finishing off some pending work.

Had a productive CBM class :D - I drew caricatures on my INDEX core friends :-p . Whatever anyone else may think, I felt very proud of myself ;-)

It is funny the way paradoxes keeping popping up. I just finished my Service Marketing class and went to the local SBI branch to get some work done. And felt 5000% that the fellow on the opposite side should be attending the class :-S

It is equally funny (but not surprising) how everyone is always available for a treat :D . Becomes so very difficult to get everyone's approval for a party or a meeting, but mention a treat and wagging tongues show up in no time :D . The occasion was the celebration of Chatur & Kisaan's PPO/PPI (resp.) in INDEX - with Vanki's addition today! We went to this new place called Zaafran, which claimed to specialise in Mughlai cuisine :-P . Didn't seem like that, but the place was pretty ok. Super quantity though! Not having looted the treat givers enough, we made our way to CCD. Unfortunately, my recently discovered chocolate indulgence Dark Passion wasn't available :-( . Settled with Devil's Own. Not bad ;-)

Got back and we had a small INDEX meet in my room. Few updates, few plans, few arguments. That ended at 01:00 am. 

But now it's 3.40 am. And guess what, I am ending my day exactly as it began - another 2 beautiful hours of music. C'est la vie!

Day 361: 13th Sep, 2010 - Ink wars!

My timetable for this term is bad!

From Mon-Thu, I have the first class of the day (8.45 am), the last class of the day (4.30-6.00 pm) and one random class in between. Which basically means a lot more sleeping - what else can you do during those short periods of rest? :-p

The Service Marketing class has turned out to be a surprise packet. The prof kicks ass! :D . The guy has industry experience, and spices up the class with a good number of real life examples and jokes. A sample - try figuring out what USA and OUU can stand for in Consumer segmentation (TG: SEC A, 35-45 years)!

Pachpan's finally back on campus. So as always, my white board and laptop became entertainment hubs. And all of a sudden, in spite of my warning, they pulled out the plastic wrapper on the sound panel. That set off similar triggers as on this day. Today's weapon of my attack was this bottle of INK I found in Kisaan's shelf. Splashed a little in both their rooms :-p

After an exchange of promises of revenge :D, Kisaan, Pachpan and me went out to get our handsets repaired (weirdly, everyone's piece had a problem). After a Lucknow tour by Kisaan (which I don't know whether it was a part of a plan to frustrate or not), finally only Pachpan managed to get his charger. Went to Dasaprakash for dinner - it lived up to its reputation. Revenge for yesterday :D