Its been a long time since i last wrote. Not that there wasn't anything to write about, but because i had no energy left to sit down and write.
Then what spurred me today...well I was returning from my seniors who review our essays for the scholarship and on the way back i saw a Snow-white owl. Well, i thought one got to see them only in harry potter movies. It did make my day or morning or whatever...it was so beautiful.....it is said to be a good omen..
Well, i have to write about my big screw up. We have a Quant subject with basic statistics. The first quiz with about 5 % weightage had 2 very simle questions. The first was very very easy and 2nd was ok. Considering what i am, i screwed up the first one. Thts not the bad part. In between the test, our prof came and after talking to some students actually wrote the formula for the problem on the board. I was so engrossed that i saw it after submitting my paper.
Anyways, i am not the one to crib about some marks. As i would have said to one of my friends, i am not KP. She had some great experiences with KP. We have started to chill out also. Had a trip to pizza hut some days back and had almost everything that PZ offers. The normal chats around night mess(open till 3am) and nescafe(until 2 am) are really cool. Especially around 4 am, the mind becomes really clear and you think about life, love and stuff. Although waking up the next day at 8 is a bummer.
Long time..
Fully loaded!
Well on the back of the most hectic 48 hrs tht i felt yesterday, here i am writing this at 4:45 AM. I have just returned from the room of a senior who was helping with my essay. He has his mid-terms tomorrow, yet he was there helping me out. He has called me today also. He does not plan to sleep at all. Man these IIT guys are really moulded for life.
A good thing about today was that i planned to squeeze in 1 hr of joging and gym. Hope to continue the habit.
Signing off again , to the sounds of 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' ...... It has become my anthem.
It has started....
I thought until now that it was hectic, but i now realise what actual hectic is. The selection for all on-campus committees has started. It is done on a scale of a job interviews, cos some of them like Placecom and other fest coms are simply huge with budgets of about 30 lacs.
I gave 5 interviews yesterday, the last at 2 am and slept at 4. Today i gave some interviews, understood the placement process in detail (it is on the scale of a war between 2 countries with clockwork precision), got feedback from seniors* on my ABS essay.
Its 4 am now and i ve to study for Organisational Behaviour and report to class at 9 am and then have Placecom interview at 3 pm. I probably should get some sleep now. But there are some v. good moments like a chat and a meeting with ppl* at 3 Am in the morn. Anyways thts wht i look forward to.
Signing off to the most hectic 48 hours so far.
Hard and Good Times...
Well, there is a lot of hard-work out here. Yesterday i slept just abt 3 hrs and the strange thing is that i am not yet sleepy(its 1:30 Am). But somewhere you feel that something guides you on and pushes you to be there at 3 am in the library and get that account balanced. Sometimes when its 4 am i feel that i just want to go back to my room in bombay and just do nothing, absolutely nothing. But then again i feel that i never would be able to go back to that mode again.
Also some good things. Every IIM has a merit list for admitting students every year based on CAT and gdpi performance. To my much surprise i am in the list of Lucknow. Now the top 4 IIMs(A, B, C, L) nominate 20 ppl each for Aditya Birla Scholarship. So from a rank of about 1500 after CAT, i am virtually in top 80. It definitely feels good. It is a long process and will take a lot of work, but we have been told that it is worth it. So lets see.
The fashion show thing has come out real good. People have really liked the idea and are now coming up with new ideas. Its day after tomorrow. Hope it works out good.
Freedom
It hits you suddenly. You are in your room alone, its 2:30 AM. Studying maybe watching a movie. Ppl around you mostly listening to music or playing games. That you are free!. It is your decision to do whatever you want.As somebody said , our life is not decided by our talents or abilities but by our CHOICES. You choose to do something or not to do something. This process happens involuntarily too. And like a code without flaw life always hands out to you exactly what you bargained for. Nothing more and nothing less.
Its 3:00 am and i am not worried
Yeah i am up writing this post at 3:00 am and it has become routine. Just returned from the hostel party for fucchhas(freshers) where we were to give ur intro and were asked to do other silly tasks which are very strictly not to be called ragging. We were asked to wear a short, formal shirt, tie, formal shoes. Each one was given a proper bath to be cleansed. After all the water and fun, there was also lots of snacks, drinks, soft drinks and yeah ciggis. Kafi fukkad hain yahaan. There was also selection of Hostel Rep by seniors on the basis of entertainment quotient of all the answers. I have fortunately or unfortunately been elected.
One of our profs some D Chatterjee for organisational Behaviour is a real don. He has taught at MIT,Harvard and has been elected as one of the best thinkers in the world by TIME. He also plays soft music all the time and has a different type of class structure. He also gives his info about some of his experiences with some great ppl , so its fun. He was saying about his meeting with tendulkar and he asked him about his goal- setting. Very reluctantly Sachin replied that sometimes he just decides tht he has to win the damn tournament for India. Then he is not just a batsman but bowler, fielder and also a tem player. Man Sachin is god for no silly reason.
The workload is also increasing exponentially, but its interesting. I have made a chedule to study immediately after lunch at library(what a great place!!), go for ajog around the campus or gym and then some studying again till dinner. Yeah i squeeze in some time for some amazing stuff from the lan like movies, Friends, Joey or The Wonder Years(remember the old serial!).
So that was my day 2. Have got to read some stuff before i go to sleep and be ready for the class tomorrow morn at 9.
IIM Lucknow
So i am here. After all the prep for CAT, deciding against MS and basically rubbing the ass off some painfully rough surfaces. It was also a dilemma to come here or wait out for A,C. But after coming here i have realised how inchoate our perceptions are & what a world class insti L is.
THE CAMPUS: It is not for nothing that IIM L is called as one of the most beatiful institutes in India. 200 acres of sprawling lawns and landscaped area. I have seen IITs and my engg. college itself is huge. But after coming here i realised how beautiful an institute can be. Just today i was jogging around the campus and i crossed about 4-5 beautiful peacocks with all their huge feathers. Well with such a beautiful campus and surroundings makes me feel that it will bring the best out of me.
THE ROOM: Well, the all important abode of mine for the next two years. Its quite spacy and most important of all it has a high-speed net connection, which is great because the stuff on intranet here is great! You key in anything and its here, and also unimaginable sweet-dishes:)-. One thing though with all the trees and greenery, there are hundreds of unique bugs out here. Sometimes its a real pain.
THE INSTI PARTY: Well the insti party was cool, when the badi courts were converted to a disc. The flow of free whiskey, vodka, cigarettes and was staggering. It was also good for non-smoking and non-drinking guys like me with free soft-drinks and juices. I missed my engg. group a lot while dancing because we danced like hell in ur final sem. Its a shame that i am alone here.
THE People: I am here in the midst of about 300 batchmates and an equal number of seniors, and i have aleady met a good deal of them. The one thing good about Lucknow is that the seniors start networking very early, so u already get to know a lot of them pretty early on. The people are quite diverse. These friends of mine called BUN and IBUN are from Shillong whereas there are others from south, north and from urban areas like me. Although i sometimes find that people have pre determined notions about ppl like me who are from mumbai and other such places.
THE MESS: What a relief!! I realised for the first time that a mess can have such good food. Where else u get pastries for snacks, gulabjamun(sorry gulabjambu!!),icecreams almost every night. What is even more amazing is that it is open till 3 AM and great stuff is available even then.
THE SCHEDULE: The initial two days were quite hectic with tests scheduled from 12 to 3 am, followed by late night walk around the campus till about 4. The next day we had to present on "Income and Exchange rate elasticities of Import and Export". Phew!!Well when we finally did , ur seniors were fed up so we got a new topic, "Why waste water, when you can have a bath with your neighbour's daughter".(mgmnt related/or?). I was asked what would you prefer water or neighbour's daughter, and i was like r u kiddin? ofcourse the daughter.
My Take: IIML is one of the best instis in India and ur alumnus talk prooved it. The guys were like VPs of J.P.Morgan, J.W.Thompson and the like. The only thing is that it is a bit low-profile and not like other institutes. It lays a lot of focus on acads and is quite strict!.
I have realised that its a new system, but i will have to adjust pretty quickly and give my best. With subjects ranging from Law, Finance, Visual Basic, IT, Operations Research and Organisational Behaviour in the very first term it is quite interesting and colossal.
I will have to have infinite patience to cope and shine out here. Also after laying off a lot in engg. i am realy hungry to perform. Thats the difference i have seen in me for quite some months and i think its time to perform.