Day 515:20th Feb, 2011 - Movie marathon day

Ardh Satya in the afternoon (when the day started i.e.), Saath Khoon Maaf at Wave in the evening, and Rain Man on my laptop just now.

Day 505:10th Feb, 2011 - You bet! :P

Had our Brand Management paper early in the day today. The paper was one DI problem; no issues :-) . Though I do feel it might be a good idea for profs to make it clear that the book/slides are never going to be used in the "open book" exam. Might as well save some paper & printing ink and contribute to the environment.

Followed up the exam with a movie (after a long time!). We went to see Sanctum, a James Cameron movie. Being in Lucknow, we are compelled to watch such 3D movies on a normal 2D screen; though we got to sit on 125/- seats for 100/-, thanks to the theater being practically empty :-p . The movie was OK; I guess the 3D stuff is the essence of the movie.

Had higher motivation to go to the gym today - had to win a bet, condition being I would do 3 sets of 10 reps with 44kg on the chest fly machine! And yes, I did it, rather comfortably :-p . Though from today, I have started a more disciplined regimen :-)

I have no exam tomorrow. Tried putting myself to sleep but didn't feel particularly sleepy. So some change in plans. Just spent an hour enjoying with the ipod earphones tucked into my ears, listening to some soft music and of course, regaling people around with my rendition ;-)

Day 478:14th Jan, 2011

Interesting incident in the LD class. As an activity, each team had to draw and depict a particular scenario. The catch was that the team members would take turns and individually contribute to the drawing. Was fun to observe the complete lack of any artistic ability in any of our team members :D 

Just like the financial world has a new definition for New Year as "April", cine-goers have a new definition for the beginning of the week - Friday. Today being one, we made our way to Wave for Yamla Pagla Deewana. Probably amongst the worst 1st half ever; and if you do manage to make your way through it, the contrast effect stands useful and helps you tide over the 2nd half.

Went to the Hazratganj Aryans from there - the fourth Aryans that I have been to. Definitely the worst. Very average food - only the paneer peshawari was good. Even the chole wasn't nice :( . The good part was the entire evening was converted into MMR's treat :D

Came back to get on to my "routine" of Big Bang Theory. Came across a .mkv file and one thing led to an other, and I downloaded and installed the latest VLC player, and next thing I know I was playing the .mkv file of Terminator 2: Judgement Day! And that is one super classic movie. Which meant I just had to watch it entirely once again \m/ . And now at 4.35 am (after 2 more episodes of Big Bang Theory), I finally call it a day (or night).

Day 464:31th Dec, 2010 - Bye Bye 2010! :)

Some people take their work super seriously. The maid here (persistently) came here THRICE in the morning. Now I had slept late yesterday, and so each time I kept asking her to come back "later". But finally I had to relent. She even (all by herself) took up the challenge of cleaning my super cluttered table (even though that was primarily just dumping all those things at other places :D).

After the LD class (the entire session btw was a video lecture on 'Emotional Intelligence' by Daniel Goleman, based on the book I am reading :P), we had made plans to go for Gulliver's Travels for the 4.30 show at Wave. As usual, the ideal plans got delayed (last minute bike jugaads + too much traffic!), and we reached the movie hall a couple of minutes into the movie. The hall was full of schoolgoers, including us ;-) . Nice movie, I am sure some scenes would have looked awesome in 3D. Though I would have it liked the movie more had they given some more time to Gulliver's stay at Brobdingnag.

Squeezed in a quick movie just before the insti party - Rogue Trader. Saw how easy it is for human nature to get deeper and deeper into the vortex of trouble. I think it is very difficult for humans to curb such things by themselves, mainly because of the realistic possibility of the end intentions being good. Made me think how important it is to have unbiased checks and balances in a system.

And then of course, time to welcome the New Year in style! :D . Had an awesome awesome New Year party. Honestly, I didn't expect to have that good a time here, but then, the little surprises in life are always nice :) . Wished a whole bunch of people, hugging and wishing everyone I bumped into. As usual, danced like crazy with all my friends and section people. And sang and sat till the very very end. Two brilliant cups of coffee later, I am now back in my room. In fact, it's been 2 hours since I came and I still haven't slept. Or felt sleepy for that matter. Always happens after an insti party - the effect shows only the next day :P . 

But anyways, got a lecture tomorrow. And I don't want to be missing the first lecture of the year :D . So will finally go get some sleep now [6am]. 

And with that, I end my last post of this year! Which technically would be posted in the New Year, but we know what we are talking about :D . And yes, once again my dear blog reader/follower, wishing you a very very Happy New Year! :)

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 443:4th Dec, 2010

Woke up pretty late today. The good thing about that is it leaves you with that much less time to think and wonder how you will spend it. Not only for the time you were asleep, but for the next couple of hours spent away eating, bathing and generally in a state of laziness, drowsiness and inertia.

Late evening, when some senses were about to hit me and prompt me into some action, a movie plan came up. And off went Pachpan, Shomu, Chatur and myself to wave to watch Phas Gaya Re Obama. Now suddenly these kind of movies are being made these days which concentrate on one simple plot and weave a humourous story around them. And just like the rest, even this one turns out to be a pretty decent plot. Has a pretty ingenious climax too :D

We thought of watching one more movie straight. But didn't have enough time. So we just had dinner outside at the eatery in the lane behind Wave. For those who don't know, it is a pretty nice place. Very cheap, and good stuff. I had pav bhaji - they make it well here, but couldn't help remembering that I'll be having the authentic version in 10 days! :-)

Somehow, when Pachpan came to my room at night, the conversation restarted from where we left it yesterday. Discussions ranging from foreign profiles to money to entrepreneurship to career options to career goals to feasibilities and such arbit stuff happened in quick succession. Unintentionally took up quite some time.

Anyways, remember my CV work? A couple of people told me my 2 page CV is twice as weak :-P . So right now, I am remaking and remodeling it to fit it in one page. Using the great MMR's CV template - so well structured that I am finding it difficult to modify it :D. Finally getting to understand that thing though - more than anything, I keep learning a little more about MS Office through these little experiences. Anyways, have done some bit on the CV to get it down to one page. 4.30am now. Will get some sleep. Have a quiz at 8.15am! :-S . Hope I wake up.

Day 433:24th Nov, 2010

Am now reaching new levels of nonchalance. Had an EPA quiz in the morning. Woke up, even physically got up (yes, they are two different things) and then, in some 30 seconds, inspired myself to go back to sleep. The reason - a 5 mark quiz for which I haven't prepared wouldn't serve me from either the knowledge point of view and definitely not from the CG point of view. Even skipped the next 2 morning lectures to wake up at an extremely lazy 1.30 in the afternoon. (Later came to know the proj fin lecture was officially cancelled. Yey!)

As I said, day before yesterday couldn't catch up on HP 7 on account of Guzaarish and now it was time for amends. Made it a 'Bunk-all day' by skipping the EPA class. Saw the afternoon show - movie was OK types  though, probably a little slow. Spent some time in Landmark where Chatur exhausted her 'Topper's Gift Voucher'. Such a pity you can't buy chocolates with that voucher! :-p . A discounted cappuccino later (thanks to a free voucher), went to Brij where and had dinner with some more from the INDEX gang. Awesome time!

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!

Day 414: 5th Nov, 2010 - Happy Diwali! :)

Had I been home, today I would have woken up at around 5.30 / 6 am, taken a nice oil bath after some initial smear by my grand-mom, got ready in 20 minutes and then burst crackers. But here, when you go to sleep only at 4.30 am, what would you expect! Consequently (discounting the phone call from home), I woke up only at around 12 noon :-p

For Diwali celebrations, few of us section B people (+ MMR + Gora Tam) who were still on campus, made plans to go out for dinner. And guess where we went - The Taj! :-) Had some awesome dinner over some nice conversation!

Plus, today happened to be a Friday, with two releases. To avoid the crime of missing both the movies even though it was a holiday, we quickly finalised + mobilized ourselves to reach WAVE just in time to catch the 11.30 pm show of Golmal -3. I liked it quite a lot! :D . Some really funny moments here and there. "upar wale ki umar bhi aapse bass do teen din zyada hogi". And the sidekick's AWESOME spellings! ROFL! :D

Came back to campus at around 2.45 am. Along with the cold, fog has begin to set in. Visibility while driving has thus become much less, making driving more safe/simple for the likes of Praveen, me who don't care too much for visibility anyways :-p . Anyways, some FB updates + a couple of short videos about boxing later, I am now super sleepy! 4.30 am - Time to tuck myself into the quilt. Good night  & Happy Diwali! :-)

Day 383: 5th Oct, 2010

Exasperatingly slow net today! Seems some connection issue at the service provider's end. Shucks! It also gives that painful feeling of what would life be without the internet? The timing of this was very bad too - just around the last 3-4 overs of the super duper test match we had today! (I initially thought cricinfo server had collapsed 'coz of the sudden load :-p). VVS once again standing tall against the Aussies, super stuff!

Long time no movie! Have missed around 3-4 of the past few releases. So time to catch up. So off we went to Wave, and saw Khichdi - the movie. Was OK. Many PJs, some funny, most trying to be funny. The happiest guy amongst us was Bala of course. Must have been a God-level cult movie for him. And the most blissful guy - MMR - for his unshaken, unbeaten record of sleeping through every movie he comes to watch in a theatre :D

Day 360: 12th Sep, 2010

Dabangggggggggggggg-ed!! :D

Super movie - full masala :D . Sallu doesn't even have to "act"! 

PS: NEVER eat South-Indian food at Richi Rich

Day 351: 27th Aug, 2010

So my first paper - conB. Was an open 'textbook' exam - so strategically read up on the polycopy chapters first.  Went to Ray's room to get some gyaan on the cases; though what I remember most is laughing a lot on Ray's definition of a TV geek :D . In accordance with Murphy's law, got that part of the case which we hadn't read. Didn't really make much difference though :-P

I must admit life's intriguing when you actually have to coax people to go out for a party! That too for reasons ranging from a quiz (which had been postponed, for which you already studied) to studying for the exam that was day after (because you are afraid of flunking in spite of coming 3rd in midsems :-| ..). Finally did manage to get everyone on board. Except the big guy. Saala he ignores us full-on these days. Anyways, rest of INDEX went to Lounge54 ( b'day boy Kisaan joined in directly), hukkah being the motivating factor. Baaton-baaton mei worked up a whopping bill :D . Going to go back bankrupt :D

Days 344,345: 20th-21st Aug, 2010

Shared responsibility is nobody's responsibility. Now that Pachpan ran off to his hometown, his ditching act inadvertently put the workload of getting the surveys filled on me; but I at least I knew I was to do it. That was my biggest incentive to go to Friday's prom strat lecture - got the surveys filled through my friends in class :D . Of course, equally troublesome was the part where I had to manually feed in the hard copy replies into excel. And bored of having the work pending against my name, I came up with an "innovative" solution for the problem ;-)

After I came back from my dinner, birthday-boy-Bala came and told us that we are going out :-S . Apparently Shomu's persuasion. We (expanded to Ritzee, Kisaan, Vanki, TG for the free food) went to Genesis, highlight being we managed to jugaadofy one car! Didn't eat much, kept nibbling on the Peanut Masala. Had the choco-chip icecream for dessert - its awesome !

But, that wasn't the end to the day. Came to know that iBrand'10 was witnessing unprecedented enthusiasm :D . Excess of anything of course, brings its own set of interesting and unique experiences :D . My room has suddenly become the discussion hub :-| . Consequently, even as I tried working on some projects, facchas kept coming and discussions kept happening.

Finally, found my peace at 3am. A knock on my door at 7am (actually it was a violent push and a loud shout) interrupted my dreams. Realised it was two of our facchas. Poor fellows had stayed up through the night :D . Nice practice for INDEX I say! ;-) . Went with them to the mess and stayed there for a couple of hours, had breakfast and slept off again.

Spent the afternoon mainly trying to come up with something substantial for this inter B-school competition - iCreate. Didn't really manage to do much, so dropped it halfway. 

Had missed going to Lafangey Parindey yesterday; and not wanting to delay it any further, we made arrangements to go tonight. That got interrupted through some nice negotiation practice. Anyways, dealt with that (or so we thought) and we left for the movie. Wow, again in a car! :D . Sudden rise in status over the past 2 days :D . Or is it because Pachpan isn't here? :P . Some more interventions during the movie (sorry Deepika!) happened, but finally reached one acceptable-to-all conclusion. Peacefully saw the rest of the movie.

Came back to see my room wide open. Saala once again full kabzaa by everyone. Quickly, some little analysis and explanations and then sabko bhaga diya :-P . Sat down to start work on my Strat Man part. Too tired now though. Put it off for tomorrow morning. So long, for now, its bon nuit.

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 318: 24th Jul, 2010

Two guest lectures today. One guy from Ogilvy came for the prom strat class - every time I get drawn and think to myself I should get into advertising. Seems like fun! Had an extra class for Retail Marketing - a lecture from the CEO of Planet M, and an alumnus of our institute - 1992 batch. Good talk - he gave some nice ground level pointers.

Yet another movie! Saw Salt - the Angelina Jolie action flick. Was quite engaging - even though Jolie didn't exactly stick to her core competency :-p . Also, seems like Vanki skipped the show, to avoid "bumping" into us ;-) . Poor fellow, had to make do with the mess :D

Sleeping super late today. It's almost 4. Just gave some feedback to one mentee. Got to wake up in 4 hrs - a visit to ITC e-Choupal planned tomorrow!

Day 315: 21st Jul, 2010

What sort of a test is this?! We got 48 'fill in the blanks' (yes you read it right) today. Without alternatives! :-| . Sometimes I am just clueless about some things! Oh, btw, also had the Strat Man paper in the morning :-) Was a case based paper - yet another open-book exam where the book didn't come into any use!

But the important part - exams over!! To celebrate (bahana!), we went to watch Tere Bin Laden. Though not "very funny", it has its moments. What I would appreciate is that it was well thought out. Wasn't nonsensical just to be funny; though again, that's not really a problem :D

Now for all the hearsay about Lucknow being a great "foodie place", it is pretty much restricted to a few places and mostly only if you are a non-vegetarian. I hadn't found a single place here which served good dosas, which is pretty surprising considering it is one of the easiest things to make! 

Until today.

Went to this place called Dasprakash - famous for South Indian cuisine. Didn't get disappointed :-) Ate some good dosas and uttappas! 

A little weather update - the monsoon finally seems to have come to Lucknow. Twice in the morning this week - it got so chill I had to switch off the fan :D

Day 313: 19th Jul, 2010

Finally one of those days when I sat down to study for the exam :P . That's the thing with fin papers - they are not open book exams :( . Had Int Fin today. Lots of subquestions - the maximum weightage a question carried was 2 marks. That's nice :D

Went to PVR to watch Udaan. But it's luck is turning out to be like Brij :-p . Apparently some server was down at PVR :-S . Those buggers didn't even care to inform at the entrance - bloody they must have been made to reimburse the parking charges. So this became the second time that the plan was made but didn't get executed successfully! Worked well for Vanki though - we went to Wave and saw Inception - repeat for myself, Agarwal and Shruti. Watched it "analytically" this time :D 

The best part - I rode a car after ages! :D . Only from the campus gate to H14, but nevertheless, enjoyed it totally! :D

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 282: 18th Jun, 2010

Today is a red letter day. Finally, I make my debut at Umang. Eventually, as it turns out, all it takes to spur me is to make a bet :-p. Gymmed one complete hour in the morning :) Hope this lasts! 

The prom strat class breezed away - was an ad watching session today :D

But a hectic day otherwise. Finally made a closure with my old room. None of my stuff is there now. Bloody but I did turn envious - those rooms have been given nice new beds and pillows! :-o

Arranged for some docs in the afternoon. Arranged for Praveen's visit. Was out in the city today all evening with INDEX work. The good thing was - almost everyone I met in the day was nice! Had an unexpectedly loooong-ish chat with our flex printing vendor. Pretty interesting conversation! Also got some cost savings :)

Went to watch Raavan with the INDEX gang. I joined them directly at Wave. (BTW, the mystery of the vanishing 100/- happened yet again! :-X .. need to be careful and alert the next time!). Missed the title song as we stayed in the food court for an extra 5 min..and I guess we kinda missed the best part. Movie is okay-ish, pretty scenic, random at times and very Southie!!

Day 273: 9th Jun, 2010

I don't know if I have mentioned this before. One of my greater achievements in my first year was that in the last 4 months, I did not have a shave or haircut. Just to confirm there was no typo, I reiterate - in the last 4 months of my first year, I did not have a shave or a haircut. Of course, I don't think I need to get too descriptive for you to imagine a person in such a state. Though never an intention, this hairdo did manage to create a little bit of a brand image for me :P. And now, when I came back after my internship, all clean-shaven with a super short haircut, I can actually find people finding it tough to recognize me :D 

An excruciatingly painful registration process. Was bored to death. Something better needs to be done there.

Had maggi after a loooooooong long time. Infact had it just once in 2 months. Now I guess it's back to resuming its "staple food" status.

And now that Saurabh has come, he will bring all a billion childish observations and a zillion plans. One of which was to watch Rajneeti today (one of his few better plans). Had some difficulty in arranging bikes. But then of course, the philosophy was sacrosanct - "the first plan made for this year shall not be broken!". And there we were, 7 of us, catching the 11pm show at Wave cinema. Though the movie is a lot of cut paste from various places, I still enjoyed it. Also, had to return triples on Shomu's bike - yet another first.