Completing the fifth term@IIML

Dec, the 13^th , 2007 00.45 @Home

I just completed the final examinations of my fifth term in HelL. Though I had lots of time to prepare for these exams, as usual because of bad planning, I faced paucity of time towards the end. Last two weeks before the exams were entirely spent on the projects, three of which I was sort of the mastermind of the project reports( BE, CRM and SDM). Finally the exams arrived and since I was in a precarious position in Business environment course, I devoted all my time to that course when I had another difficult course(MPC) also to deal on the same day. The BE exam went well but the MPC exam got totally screwed . I dint know a bit of what was asked in the paper and was also feeling sleepy after an almost nightout. So the natural consequence was a very bad 3 hour question-answering/globing ordeal.

After that I had the exams for CRM ..BIDM .. SOM .. BIDM .. they all passed in a haze.. I managed to write some crap in those papers. The exam got over at 9pm on 8^th and I had my train at 00 am on the 9^th. So, as soon as I finished my exams, went to the mess, bid goodbyes to some friends and started preparing for the journey. I shared an Auto with Prabal. When we reached the station, we realized that the trains were running late and I just hoped that mine wont be. But my train arrived 3 hours late. Mine was break journey, I had to travel by one train(Kushinagar express) till Bhopal and then by another(swarnajayanti express) to Samalkot, which is adjacent to my city, Kakinada. Luckily I planned for 5 hour buffer between the trains of which 3 hours has been utilized .

The train reached Bhopal 3 hours late as expected. But my other train also got delayed by 3 hours. So the 5 hour gap remained as it is. Since Bhopal is not a place where we can roam around, we confined ourselved to the waiting room in the railway station . I started watching the movie Superbad(2007) on my Lappy. I couldnt finish the movie since there were some sleazy scenes in the movie. Since this train was going to AP, most of the people were speaking in telugu. Watched the movie Athithi with some of the co- passengers and slept off around 12pm . There were some girls from NIT Allahabad going home for the vacations in our compartment. They made noise for most of the time and fortunately they settled down around 11pm. The next day they started from where they left off the previous night at 8 am in the morning. I was feeling hungry. So climbed down, washed my mouth and had bread omlet which the catering personnel served. Luckily most of the girls reached their destinations and alighted the train.

I again dozed off and woke up for lunch. Lunch comprised of Egg curry with roti and rice. I dint taste any great. But who am I to complain . I reached my destination station around 4 pm and got into a bus to go my place. The bus was typically packed . Luckily I occupied two peoples space and no one complained. When I brushed my backpack against an old woman’s hand, she started mouthing expletives. Not giving any damn to her, I put on my headphones and started listening to some music. The bus took a round trip around the natural way it used to go. On asking, people around me told me that they are constructing a flyover along the path, so the bus will take alternate route. I hired an auto for Rs 20 and reached my house. The autowala tried to get 5 more bucks from me but couldn’t. No one was there at my house when I reached. So I opened the door, unpacked my bags and sat in front of the TV with some snacks.

A perfect day

Ok .. time again to set the blog rolling ..

I wanna talk about the day that was almost perfect (compared to routine ) .

The previous night I had gone to bed very early (i.e., 11.30 pm ). So I woke up early at around 5am and starting preparing for the classes for the day. I knew that coudn’t sustain my interest for long, so I decided to take a short morning jog. I found that Amit was still awake and was just about to sleep. Bidding him good night, I got out and started on a short jog . By the time I reached the gym, my legs have already started saying “Enough, Enough”. I did not want to push them too hard , so I went to the gym . No one was there at that time , I opened the doors , put some music and started working on my biceps. Remembering those old days when I was in Blore where I used to go to gym before going to office, I started working hard on the biceps . Meanwhile, Michael Jackson’s songs were playing in the background . So in between the sets of exercises, I started shaking my leg .

After half an hour of fruitful body building , I came back and had a bath. Then I went for breakfast. Already some people from my batch were there which I didn’t expect . After completing it, I came back and read the news paper for some time and dozed off around 10.20 A.M . My class was supposed to be at 11.45 . I slept for 3hours and got up for lunch. Feeling bad for missing the class , I opened the mail , It said that the class wasn’t there and that mail came around 10.28 . So with a happy frame of mind , I went for lunch .

For the afternoon class, our professor gave all the groups the same assignment and asked each of us to make a presentation. The whole class decided otherwise and came without a ppt. So he started discussing the case, and people were participating in the discussion. Not satisfied with the limited level of participation, he started asking the last benchers some questions. Since we didn’t have good answers, we kept mum most of the time. After that class, it was time for an ops course. We had a presentation to make and our group made the presentation. I unnecessarily spent 3 hours in making some slides when all I had to do was go to the CC and scan the text. Ours was followed by a funny presentation where the professor couldn’t understand much of what the guy was saying. It was followed by a one and half hour strategy class.

End of first year

(a blog that is postdated)

End of the first year in HelL

So the exams begun as suddenly as they always do when you don’t plan properly

Having completed my first year in HelL ( ‘with a bang’…just wanted to say that ) , I started on my journey back home . I took a train from Lucknow to Delhi with some friends. Since we booked for different flights and as my flight was supposed to take off later in the day , I said adieu to my friends and then looked for a dormitory in the Delhi railway station .. but as expected ran into trouble. The counter for booking was supposed to open at 8 A.M but the time then was 6.30 . Then I waited for around an hour and then checked again to see if it was open.

The counter is located near the entrance of the station whereas the dormitories are situated well inside on the first floor. So, to avoid the pain of carrying the luggage around I went to the cloak room and deposited the heavy bag there. Carrying the lappy bag along the some washing kit, I packed the idea of taking a dorm and headed straight to the waiting room . Since my train ticket was till New Delhi only . they refused me entrance into that unless I crease their palm with 10 bucks. Having obliged that , I went in and attended my washing chores. Resting for half an hour (to compensate for the 10 bucks that I have paid ) , I came out and went to a restaurant in front of the station. I still had 4-5 hrs before I could check in . I ordered a dosa, bought a news paper and then kept eating the dosa for around an hour in the air conditioned lobby of the restaurant. Then I had a coffee and spent another half an hour . Having got the courage to stay put in that place I opened my lappy and started reading stuff.

Gazing at the people moving around I spent almost 2 hours. Finally to get rid of me as well as the mosquitoes they started cleaning the place by spraying some poisonous chemical around. So I finally came out, collected my luggage from the cloak room and headed for the airport though I had more than 2 hours to check in. The prepaid auto costed 90 bucks and we reached the airport in under 40 minutes.

Worldcup cricket 2007

Yet another month has passed and there were many days where I thought of making entries into the blog but couldn’t . The third term exams are a week away . I have 4 quizzes in the next 3 days , 3 project submissions and then there are 2 vivas. So I decided on writing a blog . J

Today is one of the biggest matches of the world cup tournament and I am ostensibly excited . It’s a do or die match for the Indian team . For the sponsors of the tournament also , this is a big match since the Indians are the biggest crowd pullers and their elimination will lead to a great fall in the earnings. The match is being streamed into each room via the lan . So I can sit with the books and watch the match . Should I stock pop corn also?

Many events have passed by during the period in between , mid term results were out( they were bad as usual ) , the world cup has started( as I already mentioned ) , I won the best sports person award for the year 2007, we officially got the Sikandar award, we had a Sikandar party , three gult parties etc.

I forgot to mention the biggest of all .. the final placements for the seniors…there were 100% placements and most of the people landed up in great companies. I was part of a liasoning team for the companies Aditya Birla and KPMG, we did have a pretty decent time with the recruiters ( it seems KPMG demanded for various facilities last time around ) . I worked for 2 days and then slept for another 3 days to recover from the strain.

And then there was the convocation where for the first time the campus gave a residential look with so many parents roaming here and there. During this period they celebrated the PGP day wherein the achievers during the academic year were given awards. I was given the best sports person award that day. But a funny thing happened. Actually I was not informed beforehand that I will be getting that award that day . So as usual I had gone to the gym and while returning I went to the place where the event was going on. Though I was not interested in going inside, one of my friends wanted to see the awards and said that we shall sit inside for 10 minutes and then leave. We went in , I was wearing a tshirt and track pants and was sweating all over (coming from the gym..right?) . Some of the students there were wearing business suits . So we sat in the last row. Suddenly my name was announced and I had to go onstage in that attire. If that’s not enough they called me again to collect the Sikandar trophy . So that was pretty awkward . Best Sportsperson in his typical sports wear. Funny . Not for some, though.

Briefing

(blog written sometime back ..but couldn't be posted at that time )

Its almost five months since i started posting and still its only 4 entries long ... all this inspite of me being interested in writing stuff... i hav decided yet again that I will plan my daily activities and try to stick with them ... lets see how well it goes ..

so many things hav happened in the period from the last one .. we have managed to win sikandar, the inter-hostel tournament I mentioned somewhere else earler.. we won gold in Cricket , after fighting every inch of our way .. at one point it looked like we were out of contention and the next day we turned the tables upside down by thrashing a strong opponent .. poor guys, they were leading our pool before the match and were considered one of the strongest contenders , with the manner of defeat they fell to the bottom of the pool and failed to qualify for the semis .. The final was a tightly contested one in which I managed to disgrace myself after all the good performances in the earlier matches ... still we managed to win the match because of some awesome batting by Sudheer..boy, he showed some real class that day ...

All my hostel mates call me the player of the tournament :) .. I was there, contributing in all the teams .. and it feels great if we achieve something to show for all the hours spent ..

Right after the cricket tournament , the mid terms happened .. went through the motions as always .. i realised that something has gone wrong with my memory .. i used to remember a lot of things as they were from the books that I read ..but lately i seem to have lost the power ..out of 5 points, I invariably forget atleast one ... i hav to start taking some measures.. All of this happened because I relaxed too much during my stay in IIT .. u need to constantly keep ur brain engaged to keep it sharp forever...

thats what even research says .. ppl who keep their brains engaged by resorting to games like sudoku , crosswords etc. are less likely to suffer from Alzheimer's disease .. so ppl be careful .. dont always leave the brainy things to others ...

Change

(Sometime before Manfest2007)

Today he finally decided that since the ground is occupied for some other purpose, he would make better use of the evening time. He started off towards the mess, talked to friends there, had snacks and then started wandering around. He found a partner who also wanted to walk around and then they decided to go for a walk around the institute.

Far away, a building was being constructed and they thought it would be a new hostel for the junior batch since there would be an increase in the intake of students from the following year. But it finally turns out to be an extension of the guest house. So, they finish a trip around the institute, but when they reach the starting point, they see some guys playing in a constrained place inside the ground. It looks like no barriers are going to stop these guys from playing.

After watching for some time, our man finally gets into the field and starts playing. One hour later, after having their customary fruit juices, the playing group start back to their respective hostels. Again the thought comes to our man, that he should make better use of his time. He says to himself, “ok. 5 minutes for bath and then I’ll start studying “. He goes to the bathroom, but to his dismay that the hot water is not coming through the solar water heater pipes. It looks like it got screwed once again, second time in 10 days. He goes to the adjacent hostel and takes bath and comes back. The whole ordeal took half an hour. Fine.

So he’ll start studying now. Hopefully.

There is a case on Burger King which he is supposed to prepare for the next class. He duly opens the lappy to get hooked to the net to get extra info from the net. But unfortunately, the case is not so famous and was no-where to be found. He indulges in some other time pass till it becomes time for dinner. Dinner takes another 45 minutes and he is back. The time now is around 10 PM and at least now, he wants to study. He opens DC to see if any case related info is there. But instead he finds that the movie “American Pie5: The Naked mile “which he had kept for download a few days back had been completely downloaded. So forgetting about the purpose of opening DC, he quickly opens the movie and starts watching it. Another 1.5 hours later, the movie gets over.

He starts feeling hungry. So now it’s time to go to the night mess. Once out his room, he feels the cold unbearable and dressed up in his winter gear, he starts climbing down the stairs. One of his hostel mates is totally drunk and he is being brought back to his room by two of his sober hostel mates. The guy has puked all over and he is saying to himself “Before I came here, I decided to attend all the classes without fail ... so don’t forget to wake me up in the morning “. The guy is out of sense but he still remembers his purpose. Strange, I am totally sober but not able to follow my purpose.

Elsewhere guys from another hostel seem to be celebrating someone’s birthday. The bumps giving ordeal seems to be over and now they are going on their customary celebrations in the mess. Slowly he joins them and goes to the mess. He has some biscuits, some bread and some tea and comes back. Now the time is 1.30 Am. Not able to do anything useful today, he starts writing a blog which he hasn’t done from the last twenty days.