16/02/2015

16/2/2015; 02:51:

And, the last term as, well, the ‘IPM-Only’ Batch i.e. Term IX began on the morning of Valentine’s Day, with two ‘Effective Communication Skills’ classes. A DJ Party was held on campus, beginning late in the evening on 13th Feb and running well past midnight, to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The usual ‘Pyaar ka Matka’ was inexplicably missing. ‘Pyaar ka Matka’ usually takes off a week before Valentine’s Day- decorated earthen pots are placed at strategic locations and cards are made available to the students. Messages professing love and more are inscribed on the cards, which are dropped in the most conveniently located ‘matka’. These cards (most often anonymous, bearing only the recipient’s name) are then delivered to all the ‘loved’ people on campus. The Cultural Committee is responsible for smooth conduction of the whole event.

15th morning began with two ‘Effective Communication Skills’ classes too. A screening of the much awaited India-Pakistan World Cup match was arranged in the Old Auditorium. Unfortunately, we had classes for the most part and had to make do with live streaming the match, on the classroom projector, in the breaks in between classes. Everyone loves a good cricket match, especially if it’s the World Cup, even more so if it’s an India-Pakistan clash. Our professor, this morning uttered the words ‘You know that mobile phones aren’t allowed in class.’ ‘What’s the score?’ in the same breath!
Of course, the best part of the day was India winning the match!

A new Chinese food place has appeared on campus, courtesy enthusiastic students and the Entrepreneurship Cell. It’s been dishing out noodles, fried rice, rolls, chilly paneer and more.
Most of the juniors are also now back on campus; their term begins on the 16th.

Work for Ranbhoomi is in full progress. In other news, an academy that specializes in preparation for the Indian Civil Services Examination is in the process of setting up a centre, inside or right outside campus. Currently, market research is in progress; an estimate of the number of interested students is being drawn up.

The list of Round 1 NGO’s / CSR wings was made available to us, during the course of the term break, as part of the placement process for our social internships. The social internships are to be 6-weeks long and are due to begin early in May. Since tomorrow happens to be the last date to fill out one’s preferences, we sat down today, going through the internships on offer and narrowing down to a few, based largely on their Geographical location.

In other news, the book launch of Mr. Upendra Singh Bapna’s book, ‘A Perennial Stream’ is to happen on the 20th of the month. The book traces the history, the rise and fall of the Bapna family, through the last few centuries and over 7 generations. The focus of the book remains the importance of dignity, being true to one’s morals, being upright, no matter the eternal environment and being willing to face hardship rather than compromise on what one believes in. The book launch is an exclusive event and will see an evening put together by IIM-Indore students- bringing the book to life through song, dance and drama. I get to be the M.C for the evening and am really looking forward to a successful event.

In happier news, IIT-Indore’s Quiz Club, organized a city-wide general quiz, ‘Cognitio’, where two of our juniors placed third. The event was held on V-Day and was hosted by World Quizzing Champion, Mr. Vikram Joshi.

Language is constantly evolving. For example, the traditional rule which deems it wrong to end a sentence in a preposition is now redundant; a preposition is now a perfectly acceptable word to end a sentence in.
Also, the date yesterday i.e. 15/02/2015 was a mirror image! Look closely!