Day 139: 14th Nov, 2009

What a paper DWO was. It is already such a globe subject and the questions only amplified this nature of it. All about setting yourself some 5-6 arbitary keywords and reusing them again and again and again. Squeezed more out of those words than what a sugarcane machine can squeeze out of one sugarcane.

'My friend's' paper tomorrow - MANAC. MANAC 2 is such a wrong subject to be the last paper :-S. Even less mood to study. Played TT after lunch. Then slept. Then blogged. Finally took my books and went to Saurabh's room to study.

The highlight of course was when myself and Shreyas were studying in the mess. And then Shreyas the bond was explaining a whole group on how to solve a particular sum :-p . Sometimes, sum times change :-p

Day 138: 13th Nov, 2009

My sleep saga has no end. This phenomenon of unforced extra sleep is a sure fixture in atleast one paper. This time the opportunity cost involved eco. Slept off at 11pm and woke up straight at around 8.15am :-O . Thankfully for me, the respite was that it was one of the easier papers we saw this term. Not just in relative terms (which wasn't too difficult to achieve given the other papers) but also in absolute terms. Post exam analysis revealed that the ENTIRE paper was an EXACT COPY of last year's paper :-S . And then he cuts our marks for copying in assignments :-)

First time this semester that we spent time doing random tp. Afterall, DWO tomorrow. Although it has maximum syllabus, the very thought of going in its vicinity is sleep provoking :-S . We were treated to enlightening facts about RBI and Air India by Pills. The 'proud-of-being-an-AirIndia-frequent flyer' literally has the timetable of AI flights by heart :D . Not to undermine Riza's stories about Bangalore's uncovered under-bridges and the plight of the people when a train passes above :-p

Played some TT post dinner. Although at best an average player, I do take TT a little seriously in a weird sort of way when it comes to improving myself. My game has improved a little. Very little though. Lots more to achieve in terms of reduction of unforced errors.

Came to my room and finally was about to start studying when Dhamdhere called me to the mess. There I go again. DWO... so long...

Day 137: 12th Nov, 2009

I don't think the profs are setting papers for this mid-semester (trimester?). The script seems to be right out of a Quentin Tarantino movie! Bloody and gory, leaving behind a lot of dead bodies!

Had I even had an inkling of the type of FM paper that was to come, I so would not have put up the struggle(!!) I did yesterday. A random 100 mark paper, with 50 marks on a case! :-S . And the two formulae I learnt at the remedials didn't come at all :-( . And all this for a half-credit course! :-S Not even a chance to make up in the end terms (NOT complaining :D).

Economics tomorrow. Have kind of started going through the slides. Seems to make more sense than Eco-1. And has far fewer graphs :) :)

Day 136: 11th Nov, 2009

Had QAM today. The surprising thing was no one in my class knew the answer/approach to a few problems that were given in the class worksheet! :-| . The question paper was disappointing - one question on F-distribution and six marks worth of theory!! I guess the QAM dream run comes to an end here.

Had pizza for dinner. Am having too many pizzas lately :-| But this one was free as I am going to bill it as a part of Saurabh's Mckinsey party ;-)

The after effects of this heavy cheesy dinner was more daunting. Went to attend the FM remedials. I think I set a record of being the first person to sleep during remedials :-( . Nothing entered my head, except some silly equation to determine optimum cash balance. Went to the mess to study so that I have access to a continuous stream of tea. Even that wasn't helping much. I could probably have poured the hot tea on my head and still fallen asleep :-|

Luckily the yellow spectacled Fin God came along and took me to his study circle @ Aarti's room. That time turned out to be more productive and I finally managed to grasp a few concepts. I just hope the time value of knowledge does not depreciate before the next few hours :-)

Day 135: 10th Nov, 2009

Midsems started. Many firsts;

- First time we have 2 papers in a day here

- First time we have an open book exam

And to top it all,

- First time I went to an exam without opening the book even once :D

It was humanly quite impossible to read through both the subjects. And I thought reading MM superficially wasn't going to help. Don't think I was too wrong in my thinking - we had only one case to be analysed, for 25 whole marks! Opened the textbook directly in the class. Went straight to a couple of frameworks/diagrams and fit whatever I could in those boxes. Lets see how successful this method is.

OM was all about revenge. Revenge for all the sleep. Revenge for all the inattentiveness. Revenge because the sun rises in the east; make your own reason. Random cases demanding random analysis. My favourite part in the paper was when I managed to work out a formula for a particular term (takt time!) after looking at the data given in the next question :D

Day 134: 9th Nov, 2009

Came to know only in class that Soumen has also got placed. That completes the quota for our bench. Time to redeem the party promise. Souvick, being the first one placed, gave a pizza treat! (For now I have paid for it though :-p). The pizza was surprisingly hot, and the cheese was still dripping :D

And who would think mid sems are starting tomorrow. No wonder seniors are so chilled about their exams. It's just term 2 and we have stopped bothering. But I don't think it's time to opine yet. This maggu batch won't give up without a fight. Lets wait and watch! 2 papers tomorrow - MM & OM. Got to buy a new pen... on second thoughts... I don't think I'll run out of ink in the near future :p

Day 133: 8th Nov, 2009

Went for some local spons work with Shruti. Could go only after ages, thanks to my forced sabbatical. The good thing was that we did get some success :) . Beginner's luck eh :-p .. comeback types :D

After 4 months on campus, I finally figured out another alternative for food. We have this person who supplies South Indian food. Saurabh and myself ordered dosas and idli for dinner... was pretty nice. Good option when in need for a change.

My cellphone has completely conked off now. Can't even hear through the handsfree. Surviving (not that I can't live without one, but still) on a borrowed piece from Shreyas.

Vinay and Naveen had come for some work. Unfortunately happened to be one of those times when I am so dead sleepy that I just can't comprehend what is going around :-| ... I told them I would sleep awhile and resume work later, but mercifully they let me sleep on :D