Last Class

I had my last regular class as a regular student on 15th Feb, 2010 5:30-6:30 PM at the Auditorium. It was Strategic Marketing class by Prof Chandradeep Mitra. The class was about discussing the strategy by which Indian coffee was made popular in international markets. It was a combined class for both the sections. I sat with Virapandy ,may be in third or fourth row from the start. I had a class too next day at 9 AM but I had to bunk that for some unavoidable reason. Technically, I bunked my last class but I don’t like to construe it this way. I had to bunk it, not a choice, so my last class would remain the same 15^th Feb class. There was a video shown in the class which was a short film made to promote Indian Coffee. I quite liked it asked the professor for a copy of it. He didn’t disappoint me.

Class before it begins

Class Ends and People walk away

I clicked pictures. Lately this is the thing which is giving me most satisfaction- capturing moments.Now that I will longer remain a student, I will go out in the open world and find out the things that give most satisfaction.

Random Morning Post

5:31 AM, August 14!

I have no fixed time of sleeping, waking up, studying, eating... I just love this unbridled schedule! Once I pass out of this place, I would lose this freedom and become more organized. May be that's better, may be that's not. Stomach-aches are so irritating.

5 days to go and I'll be done with this trimester. I won't plan ahead, there is so much to do at the moment.

A Journey

I feel bemused as I sit in my comfy room on top of a Malabar hill and type this out. It has been a scintillating journey which sprang surprises at every instant. The run of events over past two years drives me crazy when I sit and ponder about it. Tomorrow it will be one year since I left my first job ever and it seems it was eons ago. When I joined, I was in a regretful mood for not being able to do well in CAT05 and convert the few calls that I had. I wasn't much hopeful about the job but I was pleasantly surprised due to a lot of propitious occurrences like getting the best division and company of new college friends. I met new people and enjoyed working or going out with them. Time flew. I got bored and started looking for a change. I made profiles on monster.com and naukri.com and explored the opportunities and it was October when I finally got through a good company of my choice. Again it was unexpected and the while the dust settled I had moved to an entirely different place away from family. I settled and there were mighty changes and once again CAT and interviews took over and as a consequence, I’m here. This sudden bout of nostalgia poured in because of CAT 08 which is scheduled on this Sunday. It will be the first one in last 4 years for which I won’t be appearing. CAT had ruled my mind probably more than deep crushes that I had and I can gladly look back at it as a humbling experience. After coming to IIMK, it was been a joyful ride with just a few glitches. I organized the hostel party day before yesterday and it was fun. I have a free (almost) weekend ahead and a few parties too.

Of Fading Memories, Cricket & More

I remember standing in a crowded school bus somewhere in the 1996 summers when I overheard someone saying “India has finally got two good players- Ganguly and Dravid”. Today one of them decided to call it a day and few others who have been omnipresent on television screen are going to do it soon. I’m not a big fan of Ganguly or Sachin or anyone (except Lara) but I’m more worried about the void that will be left behind. The sight of these players doing the stuff they are known for, for years, is so deeply engraved in our minds that the feeling of ‘what next’ isn’t really pleasing. The passage from childhood to present times has shown me a lot of new things in life but not as much as I would have liked to satiate myself. I was born and brought up at a place where even electricity was a luxury (I faintly remember kids in neighbourhood screaming in joy whenever power came). The TV shows like Chitrahaar and Saturday/Sunday cinema on modern DD-1 were the spikes of entertainment in the barren feudal land. There weren’t any computers (and we can’t think without internet?), songs, dance videos, porn, video games, flash games, rock stars, pop stars, junk stars, flirting, x-day cards, y-day cards and xy-day cards for the kids of our times and sports meant cricket, just cricket, unless you could raise appreciative glances from your uncles by playing the great Indian and apparently intellectual game of chess. The emptiness due to all the historical and sociological factors made cricket the real entertainment and probably that’s the reason why I feel the void so wide that it signals the end of an era- not just of cricket, but more of me as a puppet-show watcher. It’s the pace that makes me uncomfortable, of course things moved at the real gentle pace, probably I wasn’t as fast.

I loathed the way Indian media ill-treated these players and pushed them towards retirement. India media probably considers itself as the force that brings change. However for a change, they show reports on commissioner’s lost dog and shiny flying objects but otherwise they are the harbinger of all great things that happen in the country. Commercialization is okay but being so fake and interfering and then overdoing to gain viewers’ attention is criminal. Indians on field were as arrogant as Australians but these things aren’t portrayed the way they should be. And I’m preaching like politicians, which doesn’t serve any purpose.

Getting back to reality, I had an amazing-cubed bike trip to Wayanad and nearby areas. It was a welcome break after the midterms and we really enjoyed to the local maxima after the excruciating mid-terms. A 300 km bike trip in a place like Kerala can at best be described by pictures; still it will be far from reality because you can’t feel the wind in your hair.


Its the path we followed to and fro..

Changes and Celebrations

There is definitely some positive relation between my writing blogs and exams being round the corner. Whatever it is, I have felt quite suffocated lately (and it has nothing to do with exams) and writing something will be relieving to an extent. Some of the recent developments might have long-term effects on my life and being optimistic, I feel it’s all gonna be good. Talking about the developments that have happened this trimester, I have moved from first bench to last bench (rotation policy). It’s a relief to stay away from the prying eyes of a professor standing at an arm’s distance. However, it considerably increases the probability of being randomly picked to answer a baffling question or a question like “Can you tell me what am I talking about?” to test the concentration level of historically notorious back benchers. Nevertheless, I feel more comfortable.

There are few things pending which I got to do as soon as I’m free to go out for a day - Buy a table lamp, get the jeans stitched, get a decent haircut, buy good cheap speakers from gulf market, bank related work etc. I think I’ll go just after exams, that’s normally the first thing that people do on a free day- going to city. Despite Calicut being a relatively small dot on Malabar Coast, the markets for shopping are reasonably good. Even though Diwali is not a big festival here, I was able to find all stuff that was needed for a traditional diwali pooja and decoration. Diwali celebrations at F hostel was indeed a great fun.

Another Night

It is just one of the innumerable night-outs that I have done after coming to K.Most of them were by choice owing to my weird sleeping schedule but the present ones are forced. I have been sleeping in two shifts- one after lectures and another from 6AM to 8:30AM types. This time I'm awake due to the impending final exams and the mammoth untouched syllabus which is springing surprises every time I walk through it. The biggest difficulty is the waves of sleep that sweep me off my feet to the spongy cushion. Let this week pass by as soon as possible though blogging won't help much to my cause this time. I don't remember ever being so keen about (going to Bangalore and) meeting family after the exams are over. I've met great people after coming here and I can say that I'm happy with the people I hang around with everyday. The weirdness quotient which persists in all of my relationships ,either due to me or them has been pretty abysmal. There is nothing much I can say about the surroundings, they're too good to believe.

I love my room[F51]. The pic shows the view from my balcony which is not exactly the much coveted valley view but still tranquil and appeasing. It is on 2nd floor hence quieter, much to my delight. It takes me 101 stairs(up and down both) to reach canteen. For this gargantuan effort, a cuppa is not going to balance the calories and so I've been stocking chips, biscuits and kerala halwa in my room. It has been quite a challenge to keep the ants away and they've been winning hands down so far.I've learned to operate a washing machine which is one of my major learning after coming here. Anyways, 20th evening and I'll be off in a bus to Bangalore with other friends here. I'm looking forward to the Delhi trip this term-break. Unfortunately, New Delhi was rocked by serial blasts today. We've been living with it for ages paying price for the historical blunders. It will be better soon. Rains have started and I'll probably be off to sleep now.

Quixotic Dreams

It was pretty fast. I could still hear the whooshing sound as it passed by. Some things accomplished and some left to desire, fair enough, the game is not yet finished or rather it has just begun. In the game of life, you never know where exactly you stand because you don't know when it will come to an end. It's difficult to make precise calculations about what you've got and what you need to have more. Some dreams remain quixotic but what is hope for? Oh, I have to study.