Saturday, December 31, 2005

Naya saal mubarak ho !!!!!!

Exams over......Second term ends

GUUUUHHHHHAAAAAHHHHHAAAAA ....( if u have seen Ramanand sagar's Ramayan during ur childhood u can relate it with Ravan's laughter)

Me off from the campus..... Back to home.... sweet home

GUUUUUUUUHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAA (The bigger one)

Checked mails after a couple of days..... n was quite shocked to see a lot of them with 'Happy New Year' kinda subject. I never realised that 2005 is now getting set and now its time for rise of 2006. Was just wondering how quickly this year 'passed away'. As sumone rightly said- 'Life is not measured by the number of breaths u take, but by the number of moments which take away the breath'. i m also trying to recall sum of the major moments fr me in the 'to be soon' last year

1. Sat in an aeroplane for first time in life....... infact had 2 rides in 3 days. The excuse was the convocation ceremony. The rides were not as royal as they r shown in TV....... not exactly very pretty air hostesses with those long, never ending legs.... no royal cuisine, no girl in the 'bagal wali seat'..... but the first experience was gud enuf

2. Fired first resignation letter of my corporate life....... was quite happy to see the relief on my manager's face.......reaction seemed- 'off u bugger !!!!! Bahut tolerate kar liya tujhe.....ab kat le..... now a couple of years u wud be also in manager's role and wud realise how tough it is to handle guys like u'. But i really got senti while leaving the organisation. have made sum gud friends and relationships which r going to last for times to come.

3. First time in my life when i dont hv to 'explain' my educational credentials....... i came from a small school.... then those 'idlis', i mean, the southies asked me with an inquisitive smile-'Dude wht is NSIT ?' Have not met any guy in last 6 months who dared to ask me ' man wht is IIM Ahmedabad ?'....GUUUHHHHAAAHHAAA

4. Another 'crush' in the year..... n again did not gather enuf courage to 'speak' it to her........the excuse was different as compared to earlier excuses which i gave to myself to satisfy my ego and hide my fear....... may be some more details in some of the later posts

5. First time in life felt sum real competition..... n realised tht how tough the life can be n the kind of impact it can make on u.... u go without food,sleep, other amenities in life....but with still fire in ur belly n ready to fight fr every inch.... made me a better, disciplined person.... i never had words like deadlines, time management, scheduling, priorities etc in my dictionary before coming to this place..... n now i m a bit different today.... mujh jaise nalayak ko bhi is jagah ne dho daala...err... mera matlab badal daala :)

6. First time lived away from my family. was a 'fraud' hosteller in NSIT. Being a pukka hosteller has got its charms n moments to relish... those relishing dorm moments... the naming ceremony, endless chatting in the night n then sleeping during the class hours, the birthday session( painful, yet enjoyable) .... really made me an extrovert and highly confident guy

7. Got a new name- 'Tatva'....... the dorm name given to me in IIMA..... dont ask me wht it means...... how i got tht name ........ no this tradition in IIMA can't be revealed........ wht the name means........ let the horses of ur imagination run wild......... the wierdest thing u can think about..... u r really close to find it

8. became an active blogger. the blog gained a lot of popularity in last 3 months... made a number of new cyber friends-the active bloggers like- sayesha, ruchi, Venks, aashtha, ships...the list goes on !!!!! n the number of visitors have grown leaps and bound....... Thank u guys....... n gals !!!!!

9. First time in life a wore a suit..... u may be surprised to hear that !!!!! But i feel suit to be very restrictive in motion for a free flowing guy like me.... may be i wud hv to change a bit of myself to become a better corporate citizen.

10. A lot of other things... which i cant remember now... may add as n when i remember them

wht hv been special occassions in ur life in this year.. do write in n share with us



Like every gud as well as bad phases, this year too hv ended. Happy new year to everybody. Wish this year brings happiness,joy and prosperity in ur life. Chill out n make most of this occassion with ur friends, relatives n others... me too off for partying fr a couple of days....... like a chitrahaar....See u at the same place, same time next year... till then enjoy n take care

posted by amit @ 1:11 AM 16 comments

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Winters are here, but 'thand' kahan hai !!!!

This is the month of December. This has usually been the time in last 23 years when i used to be loaded with woolen clothes. The first 12 years in vast sands of Rajasthan where nights used to be bordering on other extremes of what a day would offer you. A temperature of 40 degree in the daytime and 1 degree in night was very frequent in winters in the same place on the same day. So i wud be switching between the T-Shirts in the day to warm jackets in the night. The next 10 years in the concrete jungles of Delhi, where the variation was not so high but still gud enuf to force u to stuff woolens to survive.


But here in Ahmedabad the climate is very moderate. The temperature hv rarely touched even 10 degrees even though Delhi is literally freezing. Last weekend when i went to Delhi for the convocation, i cud literally feel the difference. Even after a couple of sweaters i was literally shivering. as i mentioned tht i attended the marriage of a friend's sister n even though i was complaining vocally tht i dont like 'shaadis' in small banquet halls, i prefer them in big tents and pandaals, internally i was still happy tht i was relieved of facing tht harsh chill during the night in the open.


So when my mom enquires about how is the climate out here, i casually reply that i am roaming around the campus in T-Shirts and shorts, she gets really angry. and as usual she cannot find a bigger idiot than me in this world. I dare not tell her that the ceiling fan in the room is still working fine. when my 'friend' calls up, n i sheepishly tell her of the situation here, she says that i am the most careless guy she has ever seen, then i start wondering about the number of guys she have 'seen' till now.


IIMA has really got sum diversity. On one hand we have the north Indians like us who have already been hardened by the winters n r really enjoying the moderate temperature here. On the other hand we wud find the 'idlis' or the south indians who wud be shivering with cold and taking all kind of precaution. So it is not very uncommon to find two friends walking together, with one walking nonchalantly in a loose cotton T-Shirt and other loaded with a couple of sweaters and jackets, shivering along the path.


But even this mild cold is having its affects on me. I m sleeping a lot these days, earlier i used to doze off during the lectures. but now this situation does not arises. I find it really difficult to carry myself even to the morning clases. as a result i hv started missing my morning classes. n i need to be careful..... authorities here can tolerate everything but the 'academic indiscipline' n not attending classes is considered a very serious offence, at least in the first year.

tring...tring... the cell phone rings..... its again mom on the other side.....I need to put on the sweater n.... need to switch off this rickety fan before she hears krrrrrrrr.....

posted by amit @ 3:35 AM 19 comments

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Yahoo ! Mein Engineer ban gaya

Some pics first


me, Shanky n Rajiv

Getting ready fr the show.......



Me, Himanshu, Garg, Jiggs, Midya

n the caps go in the air...... one of the most awaited moments of my life


Oops, mera haath beech mein aa gaya...


At present i dont hv more pics... wud upload them once i get them.....Garg send them fast


So finally a degree at last. A degree which says that I hv passed out as a computer engineer from one of premiere engg colleges of India, NSIT to be a bit precise. After nearly wait of one n an half year, I officially became an engineer. I am very lucky to hv a convo so quickly. Some of my senior batches had to wait fr about 4 years to get their degree. In fact i too had a feeling tht I wud be getting my MBA degree just before officially becoming an engineer. Long live the 'efficient' Delhi University....;)

Last week I just got a feel of how my future life is shaping. Just in time flight bookings, attending various events in a span of a couple of days, n then returning back to the base. On friday night, around 11:30 pm, I decided tht I wud be going fr the convo on monday. booked a flight on sat morning 10am. This was the first time I travelled by a plane. yeah, the air hostesses were not as pretty as they r usually shown in movies, but they were kind enuf to give me a lot of chocolates....n i love chocolates !!!!!! after all the best way to a man's heart goes thru his stomach;)

one of my close friend's sister's marriage was scheduled on sunday. So i decided to spring a surprise on the friend. I called her up on saturday night to tell her tht i was in Ahmedabad n was unable to make it to the marriage, the reason being cited was 'academic pressure at IIMA'. Next day when i turned up at the marriage celebrations her face was worth watching. She was literally shocked n was really stunned. Anyways a gud party which was followed later in night by dad's scolding in home fr not spending any time with family.

Monday we had the convocation. Surprisingly a lot of people turned up. I never expected such a big turnout. With a lot of familiar faces around, reminicient of the life which i went thru for 4 years, when there wasn't much tension in life, 'academic pressure' was a lot unheard of, missing classes was the order of the day, planning of a future career was prohibited, lots of nightouts conducted just gossiping around, lots of discussions around babes, bikes n beers ( though i remained a teetotaler thruout). wearing those black convo dresses with the yellow apron n the cap certainly was thrilling. The best part of convo was tht a couple of speakers were unwell. So we were spared of a number of long, tiring speeches. I still cant understand from where do these leaders find enthu to deliver those stale, uninspiring speeches. The ceremony got over in 2 hours flat n then we took a tour of the campus n the hostel. A lot of memories did come up n the moment was all nostalgic. We took a number of snaps n then the custom of throwing the caps in the air took place( I donnow whts the name given to this process).... missed a couple of friends..... ajay,mallu, achint were not there

I had a flight to catch around 5pm on monday. So had to leave a bit early. So the weekend was pretty hectic, with a lot of running around to do. But overall it was fun n these moments are going to be cherished thruout the whole life. Now i m back in IIMA campus, sitting in front of Kotler, somehow hoping to finish the marketing assignment fr tomorrow. Hope tht i just dont doze off in the class tomorrow( thts wht i hv been doing the whole first term)

posted by amit @ 12:01 AM 12 comments

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Birthday Blues

Let me walk u thru another aspect of IIMA- the 'fun fr all' n 'pain fr one' aspect. The life here is tough n a lot of stress is always present, but given an opportunity we try to derive the best out of it. The aspect i m talking about is the birthday parties. Anybody from outside the campus who wud come and watch any BDay party wud never accept the fact tht these same bunch of hooligans are going to 'decorate' the top positions in business scene tomorrow.......... n urs truly was at the receiving end of the barbarous assault of these hooligans yesterday


My dorm mates were exceptionally enthusiastic about celebrating my birthday..... many of them had been at the receiving ends earlier and thr revenge was the first thing on their mind. The process started with the dorm birthday manager booking the 12 am slot( yeah even the BDay parties here hv their schedule.....) and posting the birthday invite in DBABBLE, the institute's online notice board.


Now we hv the concept of GoH or Guest of Honour. This is basically to invite any person of opposite sex as the special attraction on the BDay. She also has her role cut-out fr the same. But before her roles starts, it was the time for these hooligans to take over. more than 50 people turned up fr the 'show'. It all started with customary bumps..... and was kicked around really badly..... n then i was turned over with my face facing the ground. I was taken around the dorm like an aeroplane on the shoulder of four guys.... n then the dormmates decided to hv some fun. A lot of cold water was poured on me with special preference given to the rear section. It has been really cold out here recently n getting dunked by cold water was really scary..... but the more scarier part was about to start. These people took out their slippers and started to test the strength of their slippers n chappals against my rear.... this went out fr sumtime n i felt enormous pain..... they stopped fr a while when i pretended tht i cud not take it any more..... but soon they realised tht i was acting and lo! the 'slipper act' stopped only when they got tired n when they cud not give it any more.........


more was yet to come... they placed me 3 feet away from the candles n asked me to blow them off. After the sound thrashing i got, i was in no position to force any jet of air out of my mouth...... n then those tenacious guys started again..... i was still on four shoulders and was pushed around till i finally managed to blow off the candles. Only then i was allowed to land, i was 'put' on my feet now.... struggling to stand, i thot i did a good job of reciting a couple of 'poetic' lines for my GoH n the crowd seems to hv loved those 'romantic lines' after the 'war session' they enjoyed...... i started to feel a bit better. After i had cut a reasonably big piece, she took that in her hand and smeared them all over my face and hair. Moreover, she wiped her hands clean on my shirt. This i guess was the best part of the night for me. ;)

Now its time for the 'jubilant' junta to leave (after they had their cake and eaten it too). I washed my face and came back to cut the second cake which was exclusively meant for the dorm mates. It was quite late now n then the cermony was over... everyone retired to their rooms n i also came back... time to rest now....... wht i was left with was a battered and torn jeans, a smeared t-shirt and an injured rear.......;)

amit

P.S: Its been 18 hours now ... but my whole body is still aching. :(((.... i really found it diificult to 'sit' in the class today n everyone seems to be smiling at my uneasiness.......;)

posted by amit @ 3:58 PM 26 comments