12/05/2014

12/05/2014 ; 15:15 :

Last night, at around 11 p.m , the lights went out. Now, power cuts here aren't very often & power is typically restored within a couple of minutes. Power was out for well over an hour, last night. It was Daksha's birthday. We got cake & firecrackers! The impromptu darkness made the whole escapade even more enjoyable, especially the firecrackers. While we do have a hostel-in time( 11 p.m.) , the darkness was good reason to subvert this. All of us gathered in the central lawn that lies in between the girls' and boys' hostels . Playing football, gossiping , lighting mosquito-repellant coils , laughing and cutting cakes. (Well, it was just the one, but, still. )

13/05/2014 , 12:54 :

I got up yesterday morning, left my room, toothbrush in hand. I was greeted by Harika who promptly informed me that she'd been up late, reading my blog. I was slightly confused. I wasn't sure if she meant this blog or my other one. I didn't really remember sharing either with too many people. So , I asked. Apparently , Ojasvi went ahead and posted a link to my blog ( with attached appreciatory comments) on a FaceBook group , namely 'IIM-I IPM Helpline' that well, is a good source of interaction between IPM aspirants and the IPM Community. The course being new, everyone is pretty unclear about a lot of things about this place. Kudos, Varun! ( He's the admin of said group). Was I surprised ?! I was elated! Appreciation is good. Unexpected appreciation is even better!

We were reading about Psychometric Testing in the Positive Psychology Course, yesterday. Then, I remembered. Sometime in September of last year, the authorities here had deemed it wise to conduct Psychometric Testing for all the students. It was a pretty different experience-- writing stories on random pictures - We now know ( courtesy aforementioned course on Positive Psychology) that since negative emotions/thoughts are hard for people to express directly, projections are used instead. Like in the famous Rorschach Ink Blot Test where one is shown an ink blot and asked to plot a story, it is really one's own feelings that are expressed when writing about an abstract 'theme'. As part of the Psychometric Testing, we also had a Group Discussion on the best way to solve a given problem, followed by personal interviews. What still eludes me is why the results were never shared with us. But, well.

It's now proven by scientific research that people who have higher levels of Happiness/Satisfaction/Well-Being are likely to live longer , be more healthy , have higher incomes and be in long-term relationships.