25/11/2014

25/11/2014; 23:38:

And, after the week which went by in a blur, we had a nice relaxed weekend. After a few classes on Saturday, we sat around twiddling our thumbs. The weather was nice and we set out on a walk, walked out of Gate 2, past Rau Railway Crossing and ended up at S-47’s new ‘Hill View’ Restaurant. They had a Punjabi food festival going on and we enjoyed some good food. They’d served us lassi in giant kulhads. We left for campus with two earthen kulhads in our hands and plans to use them, for milk, the next morning!

Once back on campus, there were interviews for Chiraag’s Art and Graphics departments in progress. I sketched all three members of the panel as well as the interview room as part of my assigned task. The interviews for the editorial board were held earlier in the week.

Later, at 11 p.m., the IPM Cricket League final began. It was a nail-biting finish, with Rishi Rowdies needing two runs off the last ball, to successfully chase the 76-run target that Akshay Aces had set. The bat struck the ball, it didn’t go too far; one mis-field and some furious running later, all of the Rishi Rowdies were on the field, pulling up wickets and dancing. A trophy, cash prizes, celebratory drinks and shutterbugs were soon everywhere.
I walked back to my hostel, staring up at the sky. We traced out Orion in the night sky and walked towards the North Star. It was then that we heard wailing. There had been a litter of abandoned puppies on campus, that I’d remembered spotting a few days ago. Heading towards the source of the noise, we spotted one puppy, whimpering. Working on instinct, I called up the self-proclaimed animal activist of our batch, who confirmed that he’d gathered up the puppies, fed them and put them in the cardboard box, earlier in the day. I then only asked how many puppies there were. Peeking into the box to see all three, who were understandably freezing, we acted quickly, transporting the box indoors and arranging milk. Wrapping them in a warm jacket, we stayed up most of the night. A veterinarian was nice enough to come in the next morning and take a look at the tiny things. Two animal-lover batch-mates carted the puppies to a shelter, in the evening.

Most of Sunday morning was spent sleeping. There were two post-lunch classes after which we got ourselves on the bus and headed out to eat. We ate at a new Mexican place in town- Meximus- the interior was red, simple and replete with sombreros and pictures of chillies. And, the food was rather good! Sunday evening saw a cook-off at JAM, organized by the E-Cell. Pancakes, pasta, French toast, sandwiches and more were whipped up by enthusiastic participants. The results of the cook-off are awaited. We’d meant to participate and prepare but we conveniently forgot to fill in the ‘ingredients required’ form.

The Social Entrepreneurship classes saw very meaningful guest speakers come in; both organizations are working in rural areas in Amravati and the North-East, providing medical aid and training.
On Monday evening, a workshop by the Krishnamurthy Foundation was held. The topic of discussion was ‘Mundane Issues’. The workshop however was unlike its name and was enlightening.

25th November was the birthday of one of our Media Comm. team members. We decided to call a ‘meeting’ and surprise him with cake.
The plan was beautifully executed and the cake was good. Media Comm. floated a mail, like most other committees, to get new associate members on board. Interviews for the same shall be held tomorrow. We’ve also planned a rather exciting journalist face-off! It shall happen in 3 stages and the final round will be held on the 10th of December.
After the meeting, we wandered off to go see the new hostels which are nearly completed. They look rather different from all the existing hostels which are square in shape, with an open central area and rooms on four sides. The new hostels are rectangular, and much longer than they are wide. There is a single long corridor, in the centre, with rooms on both sides. All doors open into the central corridor. The common washrooms appear to be on both ends of the building. The hostels are currently being furnished and shall be operational tentatively by January.

Night was spent trying to spot stars in the hazy sky. One of these days, I’m going to catch someone who has a good idea of all the constellations up there and have a whole star-gazing night.