Life on ultra fast track

Well, well….never thought I will be so occupied in life! I thought that end of term I would bring some relief, maybe just for 24 hours, but now I am sure that thinking of getting a break is like “hoping against hope”.

With so many things to talk about, it is little difficult to figure out from where to start. Let me start from my exams. There are some things which are just too good here. Firstly, every exam has a random seating arrangement in a new room for everyone. This virtually eliminates the possibility of forming a cartel to one’s advantage. Even if one tries to use unfair means in an exam (even for a quiz for that matter), an expulsion from the institute is a possibility. Secondly, the papers are so meticulously prepared and conceptual, that without sound basic concepts in place, one just cannot perform here. Be it any subject – economics, accounts, stats or behavioural science (organisational behaviour). One lesson which I learnt, and the hard way, that last minute preparation is not gonna work here. It is hoped that I will put in little more extra in the next term.

Something which has never happened to me, ever, happened here in the accounts exam. The paper was expected to be tough. Knowing this, I had put in effort before the examination week. Even on the last day, I burnt the midnight lamp to see it through. I am sure I had not put in more effort in anything else in my 25 years, than what I had put in for this exam. But when I got the question paper in my hand, I was just shocked. I kept turning pages to figure out from where to start!!! I did not know a single question and yes, I had NOT prepared the wrong syllabus. First 15 minutes were lost to evaluate how and where to start from. 15 minutes count a lot for a 90 minute paper. Somehow, someway, I did whatever I could and left the examination hall 10 minutes before the scheduled time. My mind had stopped working and given all hopes to clear this paper. But soon I realised that everyone (ya..apart from select few ;) ) was screwed left, right and centre. Waiting to see at least some grade in front of my name in this paper. GOD, save me, please!!!

After our end-terms we had some literary events on campus organised by one of our clubs. Wanted to take part in Hindi debate but paucity of time (lame excuse, I know) was a bottleneck. But there were some on the spot events like Hindi and English JAM. It was fun to take part in them after so many years but sadly lost in the prelims. Last event of the day was antakshri, organised as a part of Hindi Diwas on the campus. The day ended on a high with our team finishing 2nd :P :P

Term 2 began and with a bang. Some of the faculty is really strict and we had a surprise quiz in the second class itself!!! According to me, my performance was pretty decent but nothing be said for sure. The number of assignments has increased exponentially and while I am writing this, I have like 2 more group presentations to work on apart from class readings and case analysis submissions and what not! Although I have just 15 hours of classroom teaching in a week term , but the subjects are intense and faculty is pretty demanding.

I have joined a new club on campus called “Sunrisers”. Herein, we are a group of people who believe in early rising but somehow are not able to do it. This is how it works. A leader wakes up 3 people. In turn, those 3 wake up 3 more and the chain continues. So, I have slept at like 4 in the morning but still woken up at 6. Getting up early again gives me an opportunity to play badminton, take a long walk of the campus and enjoy the scenic view amidst pure air :) Rest of the sleep is compensated in the evening. But my average sleep has come down to 5 hours.

Buying a bicycle has been one of the better decisions. It allows me to save a lot of travelling time and results in bit of exercising too ;) ;)

Amidst this life-going-on-a-rocket-like-speed, I am still able to watch Prison Break season 4 episodes on Tuesdays itself, without fail. With more TV series scheduled to start pretty soon and my schedule expected to get more hectic, it will be difficult if not impossible, to watch the episodes so regularly.

Sports are also underway big time now. I gave my name for TT and badminton, but could not make it on time for badminton match due to other commitments and hence, my opponent got a bye. My TT match was pretty interesting. I lost the first set 21-19, won the second set on deuce. Third set started badly for me. I started with my serve and score line read 1-4. My opponent extended the lead to 8-2 with his serve. I worsened the situation by making it 4-11. But it was over yet. I broke this serve and made it 11-9 :) :) Here the battle got really fierce and getting one point was contested hard. I finally lost the set 21-16 and, of course, the match too. Maybe, lack of practice before the match did me in.

Oh yeah! Forgot to mention. A marketing game has been organised by a club inside the campus. Prelims was an online quiz and our team has made it to the finals, even after missing 2 sitters in the quiz :D :D The finals will start sometime soon and hope to crack that too! After all, some good moolah awaits us ;) ;)

Durga Puja break is coming in like 2 weeks and can't wait to go home...

Amidst all this – I just wonder one thing. Why are there only 24 hours in a day!!!!

Electronic Mail

This is really strange, what happenned with me lately!

I had to get my friend e-mail some stuff really urgently. This was on Tuesday, September 2, 2008. I told him around 12 pm to do so and he did the needful instantly. But suprise suprise...I am not receiving that mail for some unexplained reason. Or maybe Murphy's Law was operating at that time. I waited for like an hour and got really impatient.

My friend was in the US and hence it was sleeping time for him. So, I did not want to disturb him. Ignoring this delay, I went for my class and checked it back at 4 pm and still no trace of that e-mail. I pinged him on gtalk but apparently it was still not a great time to be up in US (my bad luck !!!).

Somehow my prayers got answered and he responded around 4:45 pm on gtalk. I told him about this and he instantly sent me an another e-mail. Oh, forgot to mention that I needed that mail by 6 pm; come what may.

But somewhere someone was against me. I am not receiving the second mail too. GMail is delivering all spam, my other mails and but not this one! Well, I calmed my nerves and waited more. But at 5:15 pm, I requested him to send me another one but this time gave my yahoo, rediff, hotmail and all other ids which I have :P

As he was in the process of doing this, a small notification popped up in gtalk; informing me about a new mail and I was delighted to see that I have received his mail...finally :) :) This was the first one which he sent out.

I informed him about receiving the same and abandon the third e-mail sending operation. I received the e-mail at around 5:30 pm, after around 5 hours of it being sent and just 30 minutes before I needed it!

Now, comes the best part. He had sent me 2 mails and I had received only one. Right. Little did I care about it. But, when I checked my mail some time back today, Voila - there it was...mail no. 2 :) :) This means an electronic mail took approximately 67 hours to be delievered.

Cant get slower than that :D :D

Something worse possible is not receiving an e-mail at all which was sent out.

September is here :)

Come September and we have all the TV series back!

Strating with Prison Break Season 4; the first episode is already available here. I am waiting for How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) Season 4 and The Big Bang Theory (TBBT) Season 2 to start from the 22nd.

Given the relatively less number of classes in my term 2, I am pretty hopeful of watching the episodes on a regular basis.

Also, it is the month of birthdays in family and lotsa people on campus; so can expect a few parties too ;)

Well, I have been writing for the Business Standard newspaper regularly, and they found my response to be good enough; for the second time today. They did the first time here. Hope to continue the good run.

Things coming up - End Term Exams, selections for Badminton (less hopeful) and Table Tennis
(more hopeful here) Teams for the institute, lotsa Business Competitions of other B-Schools and some being floated by the companies.

Wish me luck!