09/10/2015

30/09/2015; 16:26:

It's been rather long, 10 days to be precise since I was last at my writing board. And, given that classes have not been running, that’s mostly surprising, or not.
It’s that classic paradox- when there’s a lot going on, there’s no time to be writing about it and then, when you have all the time in the world to be writing, there’s really nothing to be written about.

So, we’ll do the usual, and start right where we left off- 21st September, right after the birthday. E-mails calling for registration for various IRIS events began to be sent out- I think Entreprid- the Strategy event was the first to get started on this and even conducted their first round- an online quiz on 20th night.
21st morning began with the Business Communication end term that was somehow left out (or perhaps it was always scheduled to be so) at 10 a.m. I finished the paper in under 20 minutes and strode out of the exam hall and made a few failed attempts to get something to eat.
At 6 p.m., Ganpati Visarjan was to happen- the procession set out from the SR10 basement and ended at the Rain Water Harvesting pond near Gate-3.

Meanwhile, I finally got my article about my summer internship complete and sent it out to BLoC- Business Line on Campus. I think it went up on 22nd and looks good! Later in the afternoon, the OM Quiz papers were shown- this quiz was significantly easier than the last one and that was reflected in the marks. Since it was Tuesday, Royal Sandwich was on campus. Soon time ago, they’d gotten a flex printed, that pretty much stays put on campus- with their menu on it- at the bottom, it proudly proclaims ‘At IIM-Indore campus, every Tuesday’.

Wednesday was mostly spent doing nothing, filling out a few applications, making some power point presentations and looking for food. Later in the night, we got an article written about the upcoming, actually, up and running Voice of Indore event for IRIS 2015. The auditions are in full swing and will culminate in a grand finale on Day 1 of IRIS i.e. 23rd October. Meanwhile, an online version of the event has been started on the FaceBook page, and multiple entries are coming in!

24th began, somehow, somewhere with this vacation and everything, each day just seamlessly blends into the next and you perhaps do not even realise- an obvious consequence of having no fixed schedule or sleep time. The day just begins as and when you wake up and then never ends before the next one begins, for, you forgot to go to bed that night!

Our Marketing Mid-Term marks were put on an Excel sheet and sent to us; we’ll probably get to see the papers along with the End-Term ones. There was a workshop about Digital Marketing that began at 1 p.m. It was an interesting workshop- with a fast-growing number of internet users in the country, social media is more important than ever before for businesses reaching out to (potential) customers.
The Accounts End Term papers were shown at 5 p.m. in H-101. Poha Point had decided to make and sell dahi vada, and I hear that it was rather good. Burger Planet was on campus too. They’ve recently added new ‘tandoori’ variants of their burgers to the menu.
Bazinga- the Informals team of IRIS 2015- opened entries for a Blitz Chess event- each player gets a total of 3 minutes to make their moves. It sounds like my kind of game.
I think the Globe@I’s Thursday Night late show is now going to be a regular feature. Meanwhile, Yem Bee Yay, the troll MBA FaceBook page sent out a detailed e-mail, letting all those still not in the know be made aware, and inviting applications for a ‘top-secret’ summer internship before they decide on the new admins for the next year.

25th began late too, with a workshop on ‘Communication as You’ve never Seen it Before’ organized, courtesy Zephyr, the Psychology Interest group.
Meanwhile, we’ve been working hard on trying to get a Radio / Mall Partner on board for IRIS 2015. And, we received communication that TVF is going to be on campus for IRIS, on the 24th of October, so, that’s something to look forward to, in the near future. 25th was Eid and CulComm accordingly arranged for an ‘Eid Feast’- mutton and chicken biryani was made available for everyone interested.

A new mess menu being sent out was the highlight of the 26th. Advaita- the HR event of IRIS held their first round- an online quiz at 10:30 p.m. We did a decent job of the quiz and made it to the next round! We then had a Batch Meet at 11:45 p.m. There’s just something about having everyone gathered together, and then listening to a few important things before heading off to the Night Mess as one!

Sunday- 27th - well, the whole week had been off and felt like Sunday anyway, so this one Sunday lost its uniqueness!
IIM-Ahmedabad is holding their Sports Fest on the 9th of October which is awesome; however it seems very unlikely that the Women’s Basketball team can attend the event which is disheartening.

28th- Monday morning- it was still Term Break so, it was one good Monday morning! We received Round-2 of Advaita on e-mail- the deadline to send our submissions in was 4th of October, so we conveniently put this at the back of our minds- we never actually got around to doing it, but, well.

Udaan was set to happen on 2nd October, like every year- on 29th, a pre-event promotional Nukkad Natak was staged in Central Mall. Meanwhile, we received a reminder e-mail about the IGNOU assignments. I really need to get around to doing them. Even with the late fee, they need to be written and sent in by the 20th of October!

We got to see the MicroEconomics end term papers on the 30th- I didn’t actually have to go up to the Library Basement (which is where the TA’s work and entertain students) since some nice soul from my section took it upon himself to see everyone’s paper and message them their scores. I woke up late in the afternoon to a message with my marks, the class average and the total- and, it was good marks too!
A second performance of the Nukkad Natak was staged at C21 Mall, in the evening.

09/10/2015; 03:54:

And then, the new month dawned- Gate 1, which has been under construction for over 2 years now, was finally ready! An inauguration ceremony was held at 9:30 a.m. It’s one grand piece of work- the gate now needs three people just to push it open!
A temporary Bloomberg Terminal has been setup in the Finance Lab and an information session regarding the same was held at 1 p.m. on 1st October. By night, a lot of people who’re on the Udaan team made their way to Dusshera Maidan- that’s where the 11 k.m. run kicks off- to get banners up, the registration desks set up and more. It’s a lot like a party- lots of happy, enthusiastic people mulling around, getting work done- it’s a very my-kind of set-up. On-spot Registrations for the run began at 5 a.m.; the race was flagged off at 7 a.m. and the 3 k.m. ‘Dream Run’ began at 8 a.m. on campus.
Buses for participants began plying to Dusshera Maidan from campus at 4 a.m.- the run begins way too early- this year, just like the year before I’d decided to go run the 11 k.m. but of course, I never managed to get up. Next year- and that’s something I really should do, since it’ll be my last year here- I shall get up in time to run the 11 k.m.
As participants began arriving on campus (the end point for the run), certificates were to written out, prizes handed out and more. Each year, the run comes with a social cause- this year, it was Udaan- Run to Empower the Old. Significant contribution was made to the old-age homes in the city- in the form of essential supplies and time!

3rd October was the 19th Foundation Day of IIM-Indore. The PGP-1 students from the Mumbai Campus were here, for the occasion. The ceremony began at 4 p.m. with the Foundation Day Lecture on ‘Look Beyond, See Invisible’ by Shri Anshu Gupta of the GOONJ Foundation followed an award ceremony- with Best Teacher, Best Staff awards given out, and Academic Excellence Awards given out to the top 5 percent of the current PGP-2 batch. A violin recital preceded the Foundation Day dinner at 8 p.m.
On this occasion, the Media Committee ran a Photo Contest- an image depicting life at IIM-Indore was to be put up with an interesting caption.

Sunday was spent mostly sleeping and then heading out to eat at Chik n’ Serve.

It was then another Monday that didn’t feel like a Monday. Meximus was on campus in the evening, serving up Tandoori items- Chicken tikka, Paneer tikka and even tandoori mushrooms. Laavanya- the Fashion Show at IRIS 15- sent out an e-mail calling for participation. An IIM-Indore team needs to be formed and auditions will be held for the same. Two peppy tracks have been picked out for the audition- we convinced our friend who’s on the organizing team to be the show-stopper for the event- replete with the topless look that’s somewhat standard for the show-stopper- at least that’s the trend we’ve managed to piece together from the last few Ramp events here.
Also, the date, 5/10/2015 is a palindrome! I just find palindromes really fascinating, so, that had me raving through the day to whoever would listen!

On 6th, Advaita sent out an e-mail announcing a Wild Card Entry Round. We decided to work on the Quiz as soon as it would be sent out, i.e. at 10:30, that night. Of course, we got busy doing other things and completely forgot about this until it was too late.
Meanwhile, the ‘Happiness Project’ that one IPM junior had embarked upon reached completion- in form of a short film that was shared with the institute. A lot of thinking and hard-work has certainly gone into making it- there’s even some scenes shot way up in the hills!
Bazinga- the Informalz team for IRIS 2015- threw open registrations for a Salsa Workshop. They even followed the registration mail up with a few pointers on what all the ‘single people’ could do to try and get themselves a partner. And, like they said, it just seems difficult. It is in fact much, much harder to implement in real life. There was also some motivation as a close- your Salsa partner could always turn into something more.

7th October- Registration Day for Term 1 finally dawned. A Registration form as well as the Undertaking for the Rural Immersion Programme that’s to happen this term were to be submitted at D-101, between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. After submitting the requisite papers, reading material for the term was to be collected from the Library Basement. The Book Vendor was also on campus and a lot of very enthusiastic souls quickly headed to buy the necessary books- one on MacroEconomics, one on Cost Accounting, and two on Finance- Financial Management and Corporate Finance.
Later in the day, payments were to be made for customized IRIS T-shirts- replete with the name of the event/vertical one is part of and one’s own name. Since ‘Voice Of Indore’ would likely be abbreviated to ‘VOI’, on the T-Shirts, I decided to get one that says ‘Media’ instead.


8th October saw Term 2 begin in full force. Classes began at 8:45 a.m. It’s weird getting used to the schedule again, considering that we’ve been on campus for 2 weeks, on term break. My sleep-cycle is still messed up; it’ll take some getting used to this 8 a.m. alarms going off again.

There are more classes tomorrow, and getting to bed sure seems like a good idea!