29/06/2014

29/06/2014; 11:06:

Shruti and I went on a long walk around campus, the other day. It was intended to be only a walk, without the preceding adjective, but, a newly constructed road resulted in a change in plan! A new road that runs from Gate-3, along the under-construction hostels and merges with the existing road at the faculty block has been recently completed and discovered by us!

The next evening was spent cycling along the newly discovered road. The hardest part about fixing cycle chains isn't even fixing them, it's getting the grease off your hands!

The course on Introduction to History picks up History from a very different perspective than the one we were exposed to in school. The Professor spent the first two sessions in letting us know about why history is important, how history works to shape the thought process of the people, why the government is scared of historians and what it means to actually be a historian. These were all things which, even if we had known, we had never considered.

The course on the Essentials of Human Values began with Sir wondering if there were any atheists in the course, since the course has been designed from a theistic perspective. I was surprised to realise that there are a good number of atheists in the batch. Faith & belief in some form of God was something that I had wrongly taken for granted. Of course, I believe, as seen by the careful usage of capitalization. We've been discussing the idea of self and selfishness. True Selfishness actually leads to selflessness.

The geography of a place affects the business & trade. Of course, as future entrepreneurs of the nation, this is vital information for us. I mean, it obviously makes sense to open up a beautiful sea-side resort in Goa. I'll work on it!

25/06/2014

25/06/2014; 00:00:

I'm pretty sure that I've entered the date as 'XX/07/14' at a lot of places, in the last 2 days. Well, I probably just decided that June needed a promotion.

I got up this morning, to the news that the institute lorry employed for the purpose of helping cart our stuff from this hostel to the new one was to be coming, soon. I decided to begin packing at once, since there was a class to be attended later, at 11:45.
I threw open all my suitcases and began to pack my room up. I was thankful that I do not have a lot of stuff and hence did not have to go through the entire ordeal of packing tape, cartons and labeling. I was packed soon, right in time for the lorry. Those of us (well, the lazier ones) who hadn't shifted yesterday dutifully loaded our stuff.
The entire process of packing, loading and unloading my stuff took me less than two hours. I mean, it HAD to be a record. And, then, I outdid myself in the evening when I unpacked in just half an hour!

The entire process of shifting interspersed with classes kept us busy through the day. A few of us plan to spend one last night in our old hostel, for old times' sake.

Everyone has gotten lots of food from home. Good for me, I shall eat ALL of it. Harika got me biscuits from The Karachi Bakery in Hyderabad. In salty food, there is extra crunchy muruku. There was pasta, prawns, chicken, Bengali sweets, home-made cake.

Okay, I'm getting hungry. I shall also make detailed notes on my favourite eating places in Indore, some time soon.

24/06/2014

22/06/2014; 19:00:

The last time I sat writing here, outside the Girls’ Hostel, there was a warm breeze blowing. It’s been 22 days, there is still a warm breeze blowing. Indore has yet to seen any of this time’s rainfall. The post dated 31/05/2014 is the only thing open on my browser.
It’s nice to be back to campus. It’s been a long break and the campus feels eerily familiar.

I see someone with a basketball. I’m off to investigate.

23/06/2014; 22:35:

Okay, that was a pretty long investigation. I played basketball with three French girls, whose names I didn’t quite catch! They’re exchange students, here to spend the first term with the PGP-II Batch. There have been plans to start a Foreign-Exchange Programme for the IPM Students too, but, it is still in the pipeline.

It was nice to see everyone back, after a refreshingly long break. It was nice to see people sporting new hair-styles, new wardrobes and sun-tans.

We had our Orientation today, at 10:30 this morning. The revised IPM Manual was unveiled. The first thing that we were informed of was the changed rule that mandates a minimum 5% of the students be awarded D’s & F’s in every component of a course. This was originally 0%. So much for good news at the beginning of our third year.

In happier news however, we have very few credits left to complete to meet our reduced minimum of 360 credits. So, our co-ordinator eagerly urged us to spend our free time productively, participating in fests and working towards building our CV’s.

24/06/2014; 00:57:

In non-academic news, all the girls of the batch shall be shifting from single accommodation in SR13 to ER-2, on twin-sharing basis. The boys shall similarly move from SR11 to ER-3. The whole day has seen cartons being taped and filled, cupboards being emptied and packing tape being passed around. Once packed, the cartons were all loaded onto a lorry and transported. While about two-thirds of the girls have successfully shifted today itself, some lazy ones like me are still here, not even having begun to pack. Anyway, the last date to shift is 25th.
Having stayed in our respective rooms for well over a year now, most people are actually attached to them and really do not feel like moving.
There are people who have moved all their belongings save a pillow & a bed-sheet to their new rooms but will be spending a last night in their old beds.

I should be packing too. Instead, we called up the Night Mess and have ordered Schezwan Fried Rice and Pepsi. Of course, I would’ve wanted Thums Up, but, well, life is all about compromises.

It’s funny how we talk of compromises as if they are unusual. Truth be told, we wouldn’t really get anywhere without them! It is the foundation of a civilized society, not even necessarily human.

19/06/2014

19/06/2014; 00:13:

And, the IPM Office is being super efficient. Our third year starts on the 23rd of June and we’ve already received the Session Schedule for the first two weeks.

There’s a Term Registration to be done before the start of a new term. For Term VII, this was achieved even before we’d left for home at the end of Term VI. Here, we pick the subjects out of an array of elective courses offered.
Course Outlines- a brief idea of what the course entails- the topics to be covered & the content to be discussed in each lecture – are shared with us , in order to enable sensible decision-making.

The Orientation for the new term is at 10:30 on the 23rd of the month i.e Monday. It's one if those few times that I'm looking forward to a Monday. Well, it's not all about the orientation, it's also that we'll be back to campus & our friend after the longest term-break we've had!

It's something about an 'adventure holiday' that is intriguing to every young adult. Charged with adrenaline and a spirit to do something enjoyable, a trek through the mountains or a jump off a helicopter serves as the perfect outlet! And, it doesn't even have to be That level of extreme! To each his own. This is anyway a maxim I enjoy, but, more on that later!

13/06/2014

13/06/2014; 00:00

We could fairly easily go around the lower-most strata of the campus in a perfect circle. Walking across the whole (fairly large) area under construction would bring you back to habited hostels.

There are SR-11&12 with SR-13&14 right opposite each other, with a lawn in the centre. The IIM-Indore logo has been cut into the grass in this lawn. The stairs that lead up (well, and down) to the other hostels is on one side of SR-11-12-13-14 & Student Mess-3 is on the other. The top of the stairs is always buzzing with activity. The upper floor of the Mess-3 building houses the New Gymnasium (the one in the Sports Complex is older).

Walking straight along the road brings you to the Faculty Housing Area. Ahead, to the right is the Children’s Park and the Radha-Krishna Temple. Turning to the right leads you out of the Institute Campus through Gate-2. Continuing straight leads you to a round-about.

Here, the left road leads up to the Acad Block area while the other road leads back to the Main Gate-1. En route is the way to the Rain Water Harvesting Pond, which is dry during the other months of the year.

Learning a different language opens up a part of the world you never even knew existed! It allows you to feel very close & connected to an alien culture, one that is very different from your own. And, of course, it decreases the number of cities that you will get lost in!

12/06/2014

12/06/2014; 00:00:

Today, I was at my work-station at a little before ‘twas the next day. Since two posts on one day and none on the next is bad for symmetry, I decided to sit around twiddling my thumbs till the time changed. There is only so much twiddling that two thumbs can do, so I had a bath instead. I feel cool, relaxed and happier.

The lower-most strata of campus has all the three Main Gates. Let’s simply begin by entering through Gate-1. Take a right immediately, to be on the road that leads to the sports complex. The Sports Complex itself is a roughly rectangular building. The straight road leads you to the main entrance of the Sports Complex, with a large porch and a car-parking across from the entrance. As you enter, there is the New Auditorium to the right side and 26 Hills (our campus’ very own restaurant) to the left. The New Auditorium is much larger than the Old one and is equipped with the latest Lighting & Sound Equipment. Every Saturday, the week’s release (mostly Bollywood) is screened here, for the students & staff. 26 Hills is very popular with everyone on campus, serving both vegetarian & non-vegetarian food. Right above the restaurant is a large hall where Aerobics, Zumba & Power Yoga classes are conducted, everyday.

On entering from the other side of the Sports Complex, well, the ‘Back-Entrance’ , one has to the right the Squash & Tennis Courts; to the left is the Gym with the Weight-Training Section on the ground floor and the Cardio Section on the first.
Also to the left is the Steam & Sauna Bath. Right in front of the entrance is an Olympic-size Swimming Pool.

Further ahead of the Sports Complex is currently a Construction Site, where new, IPM-Exclusive Hostels are being built.

Walnuts are a rather interesting dry-fruit. With two hemi-spheres, ridges & grooves, they are shaped just like the human brain; I’m sure that there is more to this than mere coincidence and the fact that walnuts are ‘good’ for the brain. I hope we find out soon enough!

11/06/2014

11/6/2014; 00:00:

I’m one of those people who gets excited whenever it happens that I check the time and it is ’00:00’ or ’20:20’. So, I’m pretty pleased, right now!

Now, we’ll start right from the stairs leading to the Girls’ Hostel and end at the ‘Mandir-wali’ stairs.
There’s a long straight road that ends at ‘Titanic Point’. Full credit for this christening goes to the junior batch. Initially, we did mock their choice, but, by repeated use, the juniors have managed to get the rest of us to begrudgingly agree. Well, to their credit, it is a tad bit more convenient than ‘behind FPM Block’ and definitely more aesthetically appealing.
Now, the long straight road. All the way, out on the left side you can see far & beyond, plains, mountains and the highway. On the right, you pass by Married Student Residence , Student Mess-2, a Hostel Block and Executive Residence-3 to finally end at the FPM Block. (Fellowship Programme in Management aka Ph. D students’ Block). The FPM Block is perfectly circular in shape and is rather cute.

Once behind the FPM Block i.e. at Titanic point, there is almost always cool breeze and good company to be enjoyed. Walk around the block and out from the other side. Walk past ER-3 , the stairs leading up to the library, Student Mess-1 (Main Mess) and the other Girls’ Hostel to find yourself back at the base of the stairs where it all began!

All Hostel Blocks (not the recently constructed ones) are the proud owners of two names- one of the format SR-X (Insert a number in place of X) and the other of the form X-Block (Insert a letter of the English Alphabet here). The ‘X-Block’ format was the older one and the other one is the latest. While the blocks are labelled as SR-01, SR-02 and so forth, everyone refers to them only as ‘A-Block or J-Block’. I shall compile a comprehensive list, of what’s what, to save myself the confusion! Also, each block has its speciality which definitely merits a mention on the list too!

07/06/2014

08/06/2014; 4:11:

Going down the straight road once you're down the 'Mandir-wali' stairs will lead you to Hostel Blocks on both sides of the road.

JAM-Juices And More is on the right side. JAM traditionally served Maggi, Sandwiches , Fresh Fruit Juices and Milkshakes. JAM has recently added Pizzas, Burgers, French Fries and a whole lot of fried goodies to their menu.

To the right is now space for an eatery. There have been eateries that have come and gone and only space remains, now.
Next to this is a VolleyBall court that always has a game in progress!

In the hostel block on the right , SR-10 ( the erstwhile J-Block) is a Printer Room where all through the term assignments are printed, notes are Photo-copied and at the end of the term there's a last-minute rush to get tickets-to-home printed!
Next to this is the Post-Collection Room, where letters , parcels and online-shopping arrives.

Ahead, is the Married Student Residence and further ahead is Student Mess-2.

Okay, now, back to our main road. Ahead, to the right is 'Kachori Point' which sells Samosas, Dhoklas, Vada Pav and of course Poha (with sev & onions on top).

The Lawn next to JAM and the Lawn next to 'Kachori Point' are perfect places to lounge on the grass, drink tea, eat and gossip endlessly.

An endless flight of stairs lies ahead. This leads to SR-13 & 14. Mess-3, SR-11, SR-12 and other buildings are down there too, but, SR-13 & 14 are the most important. Girls' Hostels, you see.

Mosquito Repellents have a very interesting mechanism behind their success. Apparently, they do not kill mosquitoes or anything courageous of that sort. They simply 'hide' you from the being detected by the mosquito 'radar'. Interesting logic.

06/06/2014

06/06/2014; 23:06 :

Now that the top-most level has been explored and understood, let's move to the middle layer.

The stairs that we students most often take are the ones next to the Mandir i.e the second staircase from the Director's Residence, right before the Library.
Once down, the road goes in three directions (well, four really but the fourth just goes back to where we came from!) left, centre and right. Let's stick with the left road, for today.

On turning left, you encounter a Hostel Block on your right side. Also, an SBI ATM and Mytrix -Hair Saloon for Men is seen. Right opposite this is ER-4 (Executive Residence- 4).

Ahead is the Medical Centre, which for unbeknownst reasons is closed on Sundays. Because, of course, illness too takes Sundays off.
Anyway, it's there and very useful- the Ambulance is always on call, medicines are available and the Doctors (more so the nurses) are ever-ready to help! The road downhill leads to the Faculty Housing Area.

Opposite the Medical Centre is the newly constructed Community Centre, that currently houses the Student-run Pi Shop, a grocery store, a fruit-&-vegetable shop and a tailor.
The Pi Shop recently moved shop to this new location. They sell everything that one might need on campus - even selling pillows and buckets, when a new batch of students moves in! They've acquired three refrigerators, progressively, one to stock plain milk/lassi/curd and the other two to stock an assortment of cold drinks/ energy drinks / fruit juices.
Two Coffee Machines- one for Hot Coffee/Tea/Soup and another for Cold Coffee/Iced Tea are the most crowded. Of course, the recently acquired freezer (on 6th May, 2014) that houses an assortment of ice-cream is posing tough competition.

The grocery store next door is perfect complement and competition to the Pi Shop. The best part is that fact that since the owner of the Grocery Store has a much larger shop in Rau (the village in which IIM-Indore is situated), he is able to easily & very quickly procure items on demand.

The tailor had begun with repairing torn clothes and soon moved to stitching clothes, selling IIM-Indore merchandise, selling T-shirts, swimming costumes, shoes and white-boards.

The Fruit-&-Vegetable shop has recently acquired a 'Sugarcane-Juice Machine' , an electronic one at that too! All through summer, this saw a steady buzz of thirsty students.

All this activity has been restricted to the ground floor of the Community Centre. There has been talk of a Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) or a Ladies Beauty Parlour that is soon to open on the first floor.

Mangosteen is an actual thing, a fruit to be precise. This was a very recent discovery for me. One that happened by chance!
There's a restaurant by the same name, in Indore. On learning of its existence, I was quick to question the strange name. It was then that I was informed of the existence of this apparently delicious fruit. I also happened to spot it in the market today! I shall dare to try it too, some time soon!

05/06/2014

06/06/2014; 1:06 :

So, we had just reached the Learning Centre aka the Library. The Library has 2 floors and a reading room in the basement.
On entering, there is a desk where one ought to make an 'entry' and leave one's bag, lest one get caught up in studying and leave with half the library!

Ahead , on the left there are about 20 PC's, for people to garner knowledge. These have access to multitudes of online journals and resources. Ahead, there are tables with countless newspapers - The Economic Times, TOI , DNA, The Hindu , Dainik Bhaskar and the like. Straight ahead, there are Magazines that could cater to every person's interest!
Further ahead are 'study booths' , complete with cute green chairs- perfect for hours of studying!

On the right is the Information Desk of the Library; 'Issues' & 'Returns' are processed here, too.
Ahead is a staircase, that leads down to the Reading Room in the basement- for quiet, undisturbed reading or for an academic group discussion, when it is empty.

The staircase also leads up to the first floor, where most of books of the library are housed. The books are classified very well- numbered and sorted by category. The filing systems of large libraries never cease to leave me in awe.

The centre of the library is lit up by sunlight streaming in from the translucent dome overhead. This gives the Library a very warm, welcoming feel.

Next to the L.C, is an under-construction building, which I'm told will be the new Visiting Faculty Block.

Next to this is the Old Auditorium. I believe the Audi has a seating capacity of 400 people. When guest lectures are in session, over eager audience is quick to fill even the green-carpeted stairs, to have a view.
The same building also houses a branch of the SBI , a Post-Office and our Transport & Estate Offices.
Adjacent is empty space which serves as parking space for the Institute Buses- Staff as well as the Student Shuttle buses - the same ones that ply to Indore city, every hour!

Finally, a downward sloping road leads to stairs that descend to the Sports Complex.

Walking straight would bring you to the entrance of the Acad Block. A complete Circle.

There is something about circles that makes them the obvious shape of choice - the Parthenon was circular, so are engagement rings and wedding bands. Also, important things like pizzas and pies are circles too!

04/06/2014

04/06/2014; 20:44:

Yes, even yesterday I started writing at about the same time. Consistency!

In the centre of the round Acad Block is a large central lawn which is where the Convocation, the Flag Hoisting on the 26th of January and on the 15th of August happen. Paths run across the lawn, allowing one to walk across the 'shorter route' between two places in the Block.

Around the Acad Block, working in an Anti-clockwise direction, we encounter ER-2 (Executive Residence-2). There are 4 such ER's on campus. The general belief is that the rooms in ER-1 > ER-2 > ER-3 > ER-4 . ER-2 is currently where the Junior Batch Girls' stay on twin-sharing. ER-3 is where our Batch Boys' used to stay on twin-sharing too.
ER-2 has 4 floors and is covered in glass. It has a white dome on top that can be seen from very far away. When one looks at campus from a distance, this white round-top is distinctly visible.

ER-1 is next to ER-2, but, SRC lies in between. SRC is a structure housing two classrooms- one on each floor. These are small classrooms, seating about 60 students and were built after the main building.

ER-1 or the New MDC (Management Development Centre) is where all important persons who visit campus stay. These are like the 'suite rooms' of the IIM-I campus.

There is a lot of greenery around this area, mainly trees and bushes. After such a larger patch, is the Director's Residence- a grand, white bunglow that exudes confidence and royalty.

Ahead is a flight of stairs that descends down to the Faculty Housing Area. These stairs are officially the 'drunk' stairs of the campus. Don't get me wrong, it is only because they are very uneven. On a proper symmetrical flight of stairs, when you climb, you step right first, then left. On these stairs, you step right first, then right and then right. I personally make it a point to crib every time I use this flight of stairs.

Ahead is the second flight of stairs, this descends to the Student Housing Area. These are perfectly fine, as far as symmetry in climbing goes. Next to them is a Mandir where students offer their respects, en route to & fro classrooms.

Then, on crossing the lawn in front of the LC (Learning Centre) , you reach the LC. This lawn is fairly large and has 2 Volleyball and 1 Throwball net as well as empty space where people run/play football or even star-gaze (or so I've heard). Open-Air movie screenings are held here, during Fest-time!

There is something about 3-D movies that makes them a lot more alluring than 'normal' movies. I'm sure of there being something, I'm just not able to figure out what the something is. I guess it's just the excitement, probably.

03/06/2014

03/06/2014; 20:33:

P.S: Ctrl+(+) the Photo after clicking on it, for a better view!

Well, here's the 'plan' of the campus, as promised. I did not really get around to requesting the estate office, but, well, I drew best as I could, off the top of my head.
The campus is set on a hill, called Prabandh Shikhar. The campus is essentially in 3 layers- I reckon I go into the details of most of what I consider important.
The top-most layer has the Academic Block in the centre, with ER-2 (Executive Residence-2), SRC (Classrooms) , ER-1 , the Director's Residence, the Learning Centre ,the Old Auditorium and Under-Construction visiting faculty housing placed around it.

The Academic Block, well I'll just stick with 'Acad Block' coz that's what everyone here seems to call it, is a majestic round structure. It is in the process of being re-painted and re-tiled. A new section with 12 NLT's- New Lecture Theatres (Classrooms) has been added less than a year ago.
The Entrance has an arc overhead that very proudly reads 'INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT INDORE'. The Reception has a picture of the newly graduated PGP Batch as well as a 'Merit Board. The newly installed Fish Tank adds a little human touch to the aura of this place.

Moving from the Reception, to the right, we first encounter the IPM Office & the PGP Office. The IPM Office used to be at another location, but, about a year ago, it moved to this new, larger location. The erstwhile IPM Office is now the Visiting Faculty Office.
The IPM Office houses staff, computers, printers, exam schedules and the like.
On the floor above, there is the Director's Office and all the other super important offices.

Further ahead, there is the Computer Lab , the I.T Department and the I.G.N.O.U Study Centre to the right and the Placement Office to the left. I like the CC Lab ( Computer Centre). Everyone calls it the 'CC Lab' , that would just be 'Computer Centre Lab'; this makes no sense to me. Every place has its quirks. Quirks are what make us fall in love, with places, things , people and ourselves.
On the floor above, there is the Accounts Office; I've been there once, regarding a fee refund.


Ahead, is yet another thing I fail to understand - there is a water cooler (this one has very cold water, make note!) and
two Gents' washrooms, facing each other. Not One Ladies' and One Gents', but, Two Gents' washrooms.


Then, there is visible to the right, the Learning Centre in the distance. CR-113 & CR-114 (CR=ClassRoom) lie ahead, one opposite the other. This is followed by CR-103 & 104 and then CR-101 & 102. The CR's have a seating capacity of 80 students and a single projector.
On the Floor above, there are CR-213, CR-214 , CR-203, CR-204 , CR-202 and CR-201 which are identical to their ground-floor counterparts.

NC-1 & NC-2 (New Classroom) each with a seating capacity of 120 and two projectors are the largest classrooms in the Acad Block.
Right above them are the identical NC-3 & NC-4.

Ahead lies the new NLT section. There are 12 NLT's, 4 on each floor - this new section has 3 floors, while the rest of the Acad Block is only 2 floors. These NLT's are really high-tech, being constructed only last year- they are horse-shoe shaped, have a microphone at each seat, a brand-new projector, a green-board instead of the white-boards in the other classrooms, green carpeting, white blinds and a seating capacity of 85.
On the ground floor, there is a 'Snack-Point' amidst the NLT's , right under the stair-case. We've seen the 'Snack-Point' grow before our very eyes, from having only biscuits and chips, to now having a fridge, making Bhel and serving the famous Indori Baked Samosa!

All these Classrooms have been dutifully renamed, very recently, but, the new names are yet to engrave themselves in anyone's head.

As our round around the Block is nearly complete and we near the reception, there are two lanes of corridors leading off to the right that house all the Faculty Offices. The floor above has identical offices.

Finally, there is the Faculty Mess on the left side (on both floors) and the M.D.P (Management Development Programme) Classroom.

And, then, we're back to the reception; it has an ICICI Bank ATM on this side.

Let me try and draw a top view of the Acad Block too. Home-work, for tomorrow. So much for being out of school and rid of that!

02/06/2014

02/06/2014 ; 23:34:

Okay, I will admit here that I am hoping to get this post finished before the 00:00 mark.

On the subject of Indore & Poha. Poha is supposedly THE thing in Indore. It sells on the sides of the road, as breakfast, it is prepared in households and even our mess is not immune to it- Poha regularly features as both a breakfast and a snack item. While, one cannot deny the fact that 'pohe', cooked with onions, an assortment of spices and style is good, my predicament lies with the fact that I simply do not like Poha. I do not dislike it, however, do not get me wrong there; I just would not go out of my way to find a good plate of Poha. (But, Mummy-ke-haath ka Poha is often welcome)
Poha is served with Tomato Ketchup , assorted Sev , onions, coriander and even chhole.
(Poha with Chhole and onions and sev is something Archit introduced me to and I even ate it a second time!) (I also liked Raghav ki Mummy's Poha )

Sev & Tomato Ketchup -- A lot of items, in Indore are served with a very typical topping of tomato ketchup & sev. There is an item called a 'Baked Samosa' which is neither a samosa nor baked , which I've seen for the first time only in Indore. It is a kind of patties which has a filling of potatoes (usually). Then, this is 'made' and served ('yeh bane ke dena!') i.e. it is opened, slathered in ketchup, filled with a generous helping of sev , perhaps onions and then relished.

This idea of crunchy, flavourful sev completing food is one that really appeals to me! I have begun to enjoy aloo sandwiches with sev, on the mornings that the mess prepares Poha!

I once remember quizzing a batch-mate who is from Indore aka 'local' about some aspects of Poha that really puzzled me. 'What happens if some Indori kid does not like Poha?' I was promptly informed that such a scenario was not possible!

Well, as long as I have sev !

01/06/2014

01/06/2014; 13:06 :

The first day of a new month! It's a good time to reach home. My train reached at 8:40 this morning. I was met by a smiling family and the Station Master who decided that of all people present on the station, I was the best candidate to have my ticket checked. Of course, I did have a ticket. Also, my slippers managed to get themselves exchanged, in the train, perhaps somewhere during the course of the night. Which social-image conscious soul would want my SpongeBob Slippers is something that eludes me. Well, as long as I had some slippers to wear!

My mother decided to offer to prepare Poha for breakfast, knowing fully well that a) Indore is the land of Poha and b) I do not like Poha one bit. She was promptly informed of both and I got Litchis for breakfast.

Now that I have 3 weeks at my disposal, I'm going to draw that campus map I'd promised. But, before that, I'm definitely going to write about the Indori-Poha connection.

I've had ONE mango, this entire summer season; looking to change that, starting now, with this one mango that has been watching me write, awaiting its turn!

On the question of whether the fruit was named after the colour or whether the colour was named after the fruit (the colour here being orange, the fruit here being orange too!) I strongly believe that the colour was named first and, on being sighted, the orange was cited!

31/05/2014

31/05/2014 ; 19:02 :

I'm sitting in the lawn outside my hostel. Cool (well, almost) breeze is blowing which is the perfect complement to the warm summer evening. 29th of May was the last working day of Term VI- the last working day of our second year, in fact! The girls' Hostel is nearly empty, as is the campus. It's so quiet; this place is never quiet. I hear crickets chirping, just far away enough to make it sound pleasant. There are a few birds in the sky and many insects in the grass. Nature likes summer. I see three other people - the guard of the Boys' hostel , the guard of the Girls' hostel and an FPM student who was just telling me a little about publishing research papers. He just published one and his topic sounds really grand to me - something under an area that merges Operations & Electronics.

Well, Term Break's begun and I'll leave for the Railway station in about an hour. There are parents to be hugged, a brother to be troubled, good food to be eaten, friends to be met , ice-cream to be licked , places to be seen, shopping to be done and writing to be enjoyed -- all waiting for me!

These last ten days just went by in a blur. Our end term exams started, and ran one after the other, in quick succession. We had a PT (Physical Training) test on the morning of the 24th wherein I managed to sprain my back while doing crunches. What followed was 36 hours of uninterrupted ( albeit painful) sleep! The Money, Banking & Finance End Term on the 26th had me wake up , just short of a world record.
A lot of the End Term exams were really interesting , even enjoyable!

I've managed to drink a whole litre of water, in the half hour that I've spent sitting here, writing. There was this one day that I decided to research ( aka Google) on whether drinking too much water could be a health hazard. There is condition called Hyponatremia that is possible, but only when a large amount of water is drunk in a very short time span. Hyponatremia, as the name suggests means insufficient salt in the blood. Anyway, as long as I'm drinking 6 litres through the day, I think I'll be just fine.