Joka Diary - 7

IIM C is notorious for its inclination towards Finance. Also, the faculty is known to take a quantitative approach to all subjects possible. For instance, when I mention the subject as Human Resource Management, can you in your wildest dreams imagine that it is a totally mathematical subject? Well, to be fair, it has some game theory and probability also thrown in, fat consolation indeed! And to make things more interesting, the Finance profs are really cute. Look up the dictionary meaning of 'cute' to make sense of it. For instance, consider BBC - the prof who teaches us Derivatives. He follows a set routine for his sessions. He begins by asking the students to look at the course outline, and tell him what topic is scheduled for the day. The entire class waits with baited breath in great suspense while some sincere student, who cares enough to carry the syllabus to the class everyday, reveals the topic. Once the topic is disclosed, BBC spends the next 5 minutes lamenting on how simple the topic is. The look of disappointment on his face is so stark, we just cannot restrain ourselves from sympathizing with him. It is grave injustice on the part of the Institute to insult his genius by giving him such simplistic things to teach. And I am not sarcastic when I say genius. BBC had topped his batch when he was a student in the Institute and has his name firmly engraved on the revered board. Anyways, once he is able to get over his grief, he starts teaching, which involves running lecture slides @57/min, and telling us that there is really nothing in there which we cannot read from the book. Finally he likes some particular slide, and pauses there, spending around 23 seconds on explaining it. Also, he relates a couple of incidents, closely related to the subject to further deepen our understanding of derivatives. All his anecdotes invariably revolve around some or the other unfortunate student who flunked in his subject, and there are plenty of such student samples available given that he has been teaching for close to 20 years now. Most of the anecdotes end on a happy note. The student never passes that particular finance course, but goes on to become some highly successful executive once he finally manages to get out of the college. What he probably wants to impress upon the class is that you can never be too smart to fail an exam. And so each horror story end with some wise words - 'Study well and start now, else later, nothing can be done.' However, the class has taken his anecdotes very sportingly, and few plan to study. Contrary to the prof's expectation, his threats have a funny effect on us. We have actually come to believe that we would all land excellent placements and do exceedingly well in life if we can manage to flunk in at least one of the finance courses. Not that it is any difficult for us!

Because, at times..

..I miss Him too!



Need we say more? :P

The picture is part of my 'Countdown to The Wedding' collection. We took one picture a day, every day of the month preceding our wedding. Wipe off that smirk, the rest of them are pretty mundane -- of us sitting casually, watching TV, looking for an apartment in the Times classified, having dinner or just laughing together. Yes, I am a hopeless romantic like that. The pictures were taken by my lovely flatmates-- T & A. Both of them were overly thrilled about our wedding, perhaps even more than us. They took the job of taking the daily pic really seriously. So much that even if we forgot, they wouldn't let Him leave for his place till the pic for the day was taken. And the girls suggested us different poses to bring variety in the pictures-- this smooch being one of them :D Thanks gals, you made it really special for us!

The best-laid plans..

..go awry. I am a big show-off. Yes, that is exactly what I am. Did I tell you I am supposed to head home today? Of course I would have told ya, because I have told half the world about it. I have been dreaming about the Dussera trip to home, even before returning from the previous trip, that was barely 10 days back. And I have been dreaming of the Bara Bangalia Durga Puja which I haven't seen since 2002. And obviously looking forward to spending time with Pari and the Husband. Being a loud mouth is acceptable, when you have a big brain to keep up with it. For bird-brains like me, it spells disaster and embarrassment.

I am not going home today, or any time soon. My train tickets were wait-listed, and they still are. The husband had got them for me almost 3 months back, and both of us had forgotten that they were in the waiting-list. Wait, hold on the urge to laugh. There is more entertainment coming. Like the mess had mutton-biryani in lunch today, and I ate very less despite it being my most-favorite dish. Yeah.. because I believe in 'traveling light'. And Oh, did I mention how cleverly I left my stuff at home on the last visit, 'abhi to 10 din me phir se aana hi hai'. Bah! Hold on, the best is yet to come. There are plenty of people forced to stay on the campus because they couldn't get their reservations. I generously offered to share my berth with them in case they could work it out with the TC. Not just that, yesterday I spent the entire evening downloading movies to watch on my way. You see, I like to really plan things in advance and prepare well for the travel. Now if only I had had the good sense to check the status of my tickets!

I am still trying to get tickets in Tatkal, for Monday if not earlier. The railway-booking website isn't working though. Luckily for Pari, the husband is reaching Alld. tonight. The poor child is waiting for us. And you know what, he got his tickets altered at the last moment, so that he could reach Alld. before me and receive me at the station. It was important, since Papa is not in town, and my train reaches past midnight. Have no doubts folks, we are good at planning!

Joka Diary - 6

So much has been happening -- both inside and outside Joka. And I have been too busy (read lazy) to chronicle either. A post on Pari is also long due. Next one, for sure! Alright, lets begin with the updates. I am into my fourth term now, over 5 months already spent in Joka. This weekend, my M-I-L visited the campus. Did I mention that the Prime minister visited us last month. No? Never mind.. that wasn't really important. Lets focus on the M-I-L's visit. I got really excited at the prospect of having her here. So much that I went around the campus telling people of her visit, only to be harassed in return. My classmates threatened to complain to her of all the things that I never said, and all the misdemeanors, which I did not commit. That did little to dampen my excitement, which took me to a new level of cleanliness. As it is, this flat of mine is quite small and easy to maintain, and I am usually too busy to even mess it up. Still, M-I-L's visited warranted a more thorough scanning of the flat, all the nooks and corner for hidden cobwebs/fungus and their elimination. Did I tell you how quickly we get mold here? The climate here is so hot and humid that if I leave a black shirt out of the cupboard, for say overnight, the next morning it develops white patches of mold. Talking about Joka, this is going to be my pet peeve.

Mother has her sister and parents living here, who duly collected her from the airport. And then, I brought her to the campus in the evening. It is usually difficult to get a taxi to Joka, but that day was extra special. We struggled to even get an auto-rickshaw. To cut a long story short, we got into 4 vehicles - 3 autos and a bus to reach the campus. And I paid 100 bucks to the last auto, to drive us less than 2 kms. A very eventful journey indeed! Next morning, it was bright and shiny when I took her to the mess for the breakfast. Less than 15 minutes later, it was raining so heavily that we both got soaked to the bone on the way back, despite the umbrella. Later, when the rain finally stopped, I took her around the campus. And honestly, I had no idea that the campus is so huge. I haven't seen even half of it I guess. All said and done, we had a great time and M-I-L turned out be my first guest in Joka.

With the Durga Puja approaching fast, the college is buzzing with frantic activity. There is a Puja committee, which is responsible for putting up the puja pandal, and they have done a damn good job of it. A grand wooden structure has been erected and the entire campus is lit up. And now, the deities have arrived too. We saw the campus workers taking them off the trailers on our way back from dinner. It is going to be fun here, though I am leaving for home tomorrow and will be back only in time for the immersion. Here's wishing a very happy Dussera to all!

Does every post need one - 'Title'?

I wake up, tired and listless after an almost 3 hour long struggle against sleeping wakefulness or wakeful sleeping, whichever way you choose to look at it. I have been delirious, oscillating seamlessly between my house in Allahabad, and my flat in Joka. I spend sometime in my dream, talking to my mom, she asking me to get ready for a family event, my sister already dressed up in a saree. I wonder aloud, why are these kids so crazy about donning a saree? These are the same girls who would grow up to be women scorning at sarees, complaining how difficult it is to move around in one, when they are married and wearing saree is more of a social obligation than a choice. Sis gets miffed and walks out of the room. And I continue to tell my mom how I was just dreaming of her and the family event, and she smiles and confirms that it wasn't a dream. I really need to get ready for the event, and quickly since I have overslept already. Just as I feel reassured, for some weird reason, I force open my eyes, and find myself on my bed in Joka. Alright, so I have been hallucinating, and should jump out of the bed immediately to avoid further confusion. That doesn't happen. I go back to sleep and get transported to the family event in Allahabad again. This vicious circle, sleep->hallucinate->realize that it is a dream->try to wake up->go back to sleep->continues for the next 2 hours or so till I really get worked up and finally get out of the bed.

What is the first thing that you do after you wake up? I look in the mirror. As far as I can remember, I have always had a dressing table placed bang opposite to my bed, both in Allahabad, and in Bangalore. Here in Joka, the mirror is in the next room, but I am so used to looking at myself as the first thing after I wake up, that I actually sleep walk to the mirror. Today, I can see my skin glowing, not to the best of its ability, but definitely better than what it was in the morning. Which if you ask me, is not a good sign. My skin glows when I have a temperature. And the more sick I get, the more it glows. Believe me, kidding am I not! In fact, I have had some not-so-compassionate friends visit me during viral bouts, and comment that I didn't meet up their visual expectations of a sick person. The fever seriously makes me glow. Now why didn't I get fever on the day of my wedding, the world would have saved on a half-a-ton of makeup.

Whatever, I pop a crocin based on my interpretation of the symptoms. In any case I do not have a thermometer here. The husband wanted to buy me one when I was shopping for my stay here. I put forth an argument he couldn't refute -- 'I am going there to study, not to fall sick.' Now who can hold water against such razor sharp logic. And when a girl has such observation, intuition and a telltale skin, why waste on a thermometer?

If you can't make any sense out of this post, please do not blame your intellect, and don't as much as doubt my. I am, in all likeliness, still delirious..

Because I am missing her so much..

This is a video we captured a few days before leaving Bangalore. Ignore my unkempt house.. and just watch the miracle that she is!



While we are on Pari, some more pictures. Yesterday was 'Fruit day' in her school and she was the cherry. Below is the cherry that Mausi painted for her. Isn't she terribly lucky to have such a talented Mausi?

Nightmares

As I grow older and the world around me changes, my dreams or shall I call them nightmares, also appear to graduate to higher levels. Now that I have lived long enough to witness a couple of technological revolutions -- the internet & cellphones, and slept enough hours to get a pattern in those nightmares, I can actually trace the advancement, in my nightmares that is. My nightmares are almost always spun out of my fears. Like my fear of getting lost -- I have spent several nights trying to find my way out of some maze or trying very hard to reach some obscure place -- always in vain, and waking up in the morning really tired after all the struggle. Or my fear of absolute darkness. Growing up in Allahabad, electricity failures were a pretty regular feature in the evenings. And we did not have a generator/invertor for almost the entire first decade of my life. My nightmares then comprised of trying to grab a hand, of parents, grandparents, aunts-- just anybody from the family in the pitch darkness. However, now that I have been living away from family for quite sometime now, even the subconscious me doesn't turn to the family for support. I have just had a dream where I was stranded in the dark, feeling very very scared, and fumbling endlessly with my phone to turn on the torch in it, obviously with little success. I have bought this cellphone with the torch feature only two months back, and looks like my subconscious has already registered the update! Just curious, is it only me or has that happened to you too?