11/05/2014

11/05/2014 ; 16:06 :

The course on Indo-Anglian Literature is almost at a close. I was pretty excited to get a different perspective on literature, since the last 4 literature courses had been taken by the same faculty. I remember , by class 11, I'd definitely started complaining about the fashion in which English Literature was taught. The text would be read out & explained line-by-line. I just thought that we'd had enough of that in primary school and well, we were grown up! And, then , I was definitely excited about the first Literature course in college. We'd finally be critiquing texts , delving into their implications & backgrounds. But, well, we were still faced with the line-by-line explanation.

This changed with the very enjoyablecourse on Indo-Anglian Literature. We tried & learnt to close-read a text. There's so much more to appreciation of literature than we realise.


Our basketball team went out for dinner, yesterday, to celebrate our win at the IBL. It was long overdue for Gargi had been unwell. A grand celebration that definitely merited hitting the buffet dinner at Sayaji.

A Girls' Throwball Tournament is to begin tomorrow. Sports Comm is definitely working overtime!

09/05/2014

09/05/2014 ; 17:48:

We paid Sayaji that visit we'd been planning. The food was indeed good - and so much variety, as promised. Sayaji is, by common agreement, the best hotel of Indore, though, of course our opinion is more likely based on their restaurants - Square , Kebabsville , Mediterra & Chopsticks.


We went to Chick-n Serve on Wednesday. And, we're planning Dominos, right now and a repeat to yesterday's Sayaji, tomorrow. Wow, that's a lot of eating out for one week!

There has been this constant back-&-forth, with regard to the end term timetable. Since we have electives to pick from, everyone has their own preference for the timetable - & no two people seem to want the same thing.
Raghav Kinra is pretty hell bent on going home a day before everyone else. In order for this to happen, either two of the German, Botany & Chemistry end-terms must happen on the last day. I think he's a little crazy, but, who am I to judge?

Tughlaq, in 1327 decided, for reasons best concealed by history , that he would move his capital city from Delhi to Daulatabad! History is indeed influenced by ideological bias, as I've recently learnt.


In definitely happy news, our very own campus e-magazine 'Chiraag' has agreed to accept my submission for this time's issue.( subject to space constraint, for my 'submission' is a 2200-word piece of prose- not the most suitable 'e-mag' material ) The theme for this time's issue is 'The Supernatural'. Looking forward !

06/05/2014

06/05/2014 ; 02:52 :

The intervening night of 5th & 6th May. I like intervening nights. It rained this(uh, last) afternoon/evening. Getting soaked in the rain is one of the joys that one never grows out of.

19:56 :

07/05/2014 ; 00:08 :

I'd just entered the time & was about to delve into a story when Rishi caught me. I was in the Fest Meeting, then and Rishi who was speaking was obviously not impressed on seeing me glued to my phone. Anyway, 2 sub-heads have been elected from each vertical. So, today a meeting was called, to have the entire core team meet together for the first time.

Sports Comm is in action mode. The guys' Street Football League aka SFL took off this evening. It was fun to watch ; football has fewer rules than basketball & street football has even fewer!

Sayaji hotel, Indore is running a food festival till the 11th ; there are 170 dishes on offer, or so I hear. Anyway, we shall pay them a visit soon.

It rained a little bit, 2-3 times today. Great respite from the heat! The Google weather predictor available on my phone is actually accurate. It did predict the rain, both days!


Psychologists have this list of 24 positive character traits & 6 virtues, with each virtue having the character traits as components. Say, the virtue 'Humanity' encompasses kindness, love & social intelligence.

04/05/2014

04/05/2014 ; 14:53
The IIM Indore campus is set on a hill , a hill called 'Prabandh Shikhar ' . The campus is in three 'levels' which are at three different heights around the hill. The Sports Complex , Mess-3 and Student Hostels are all situated on Level-3 i.e. the lower most level. More Student Hostels , Mess-1 , Mess-2 & everything happening is on Level-2. Level-1 has the Academic Block , the Learning Centre and the Old Auditorium. I shall try to procure a top-view map from the Estate Department. Or, I'll just draw a map and describe the entire campus in detail.

The entire hilly terrain makes cycling around campus fun. There's this steep uphill slope , you're working real hard , ascending and you feel like you just cannot move any further and then, you're downhill again, with the breeze blowing through your hair. It gives a sense of exhilaration, freedom even.


Last evening was the final of the Boys' Basketball League - 2013 Batch ( aka juniors) v/s 2011 Batch ( aka seniors) . Up until the end of the third quarter, the game was pretty close; the score difference at the beginning of the fourth quarter was only 4 points. I didn't understand whether it was the juniors who gave up or the seniors who had a sudden gush of adrenaline, but, the final score was 85-46 in favour of the seniors. Anyhow, it was an interesting watch. Plus, I got to keep score.

23:23 :

The time amuses me. Since small things make me happy,I am almost always smiling. I'm amused by the time at least once a day, 00:00 . The ambulance was just here, to ferry Gargi to the Medical Centre. Gargi has this penchant for falling ill, more specifically for having bouts of vomiting. Food just doesn't seem to suit her. By now, all the MedCentre staff, ambulance driver included know her by name. She got some tablets and khichdi, I hope she feels better in the morning.

In other news, a student body meeting was called , this evening, in order to elect the Sub-Heads of the different verticals responsible for the fest - Sponsorships, PR & Marketing, Events, Logistics, Creative , Event Coverage, Hospitality & Informals.
Everyone is really enthusiastic, it is nice to see .

Metafiction is like fiction beyond fiction, yeah, that. A story classified as 'metafiction' is a story that is about writing a story.

30/04/2014.

30/04/2014 , 14:22 :

And, the Girls' Basketball League finally came to a close, last evening. The final match was going good, when it was suddenly interrupted by the power suddenly going out , right after half-time. It was only a couple of minutes, but, it was fun. Well, at least I thought so. We won ! 25-15. Sports Comm. has promised us a trophy !

Our batch boys' won the IPL- Boys' Cricket, just two days back, so, nice follow up to that!

1/05/2014 , 11:19 :

Yesterday, Prof. Pawan Budhwar, Professor, Aston University, United Kingdom was on campus, to give us a talk on 'Challenges of Managing in an International Context' . A topic that seems very relevant in today's world where boundaries are expanding and borders are fading. Understanding different cultures, understanding the different mind-sets that these cultures lead people to have, learning how to integrate and beginning to not only appreciate the differences, but to also use them to be even better.

We're pretty close to finalizing the website developer for our fest i.e. Atharv , so , that's good.
Sanjana & me were just having a discussion about the fruit-seller on campus. We understand that he enjoys a monopoly on campus and all but, he sells his fruits way too expensive sometimes. Whenever he does get good fruits, he'll charge them at almost 50% more than the market rate. And, then, no one buys them, they go bad & the price falls again. Anyway, he's brought coconuts for the summer, so, that's good.

02/04/2014; 13:33

Indo-Anglian Literature mid term was this morning. Arun Kolatlar writes nice poetry. Jejuri is very different, very enjoyable & very thought- provoking.

2012 batch boys must win today's match to remain in the league.

Okay, afternoon naps are great, I shall go catch one.

Quite a few English words have Indian origin - shampoos & bungalows - finding their way from Indian languages to Portuguese and to English from there.

29/04/2014

29/04/2014 , 14:56

I really need to finish writing that poem I'd started. It all began with Yash Tyagi's birthday, on the 19th of April. Wait. No. it all began with me forgetting Yash Tyagi's birthday that was on the 19th of April. Yep, that's what happened.

Then, I decided to come up with the most illustrious plan ever, to make it up to him. I fail to understand why I even need to 'make it up' . Anyway, I decided that I shall write him a poem. I started. I started rather well . I even finished, very well. But, I lost Yash somewhere, 2 stanzas down and the poem doesn't match, even though I must admit ( auto-trumpet blowing alert!) that it is rather good.

The 'Introduction to Geology' course aka 'ITG' is nearly complete. Each course entails a specific number of sessions, since the credit system followed here works as per 'time spent working on a particular course' more than anything else. Every 5 sessions of 75 minutes each earn you 1 credit. The tally for workshops is different and varies with its specifications. Almost all other courses follow the 5x75 = 1 rhythm.

There's the final of the Girls' Basketball League, this evening, at 6:45 . Finally, the league's at a close and we're in the final, yay! Yesterday, the Boys' Basketball League started too. First match, 70-36 ! What a game to watch!

Oh, and, we decided that we ought to learn the capitals of ALL the countries in the world. And, their locations too!

Apparently, a foetus has its fingers all stuck together. The lysosomes all spring into action, dissolving the skin in between fingers, freeing them.

28/04/2014

28/04/2014 , 15:11 :

Monday. Not the least favourite day of the week anymore. Sunday is. Being at IPM has blown my week out of perspective, if I may. Thursdays are off ; that is pretty convenient , since weekday-malls are less crowded than Sunday malls plus, the factor that most service shops are closed on the weekend and hence better accessible on Thursday. Coming from the city that NEVER sleeps ( I just thought it was like that everywhere) , I see shops actually being closed here, in Indore. I learnt to appreciate a lot of things that I took for granted - Pani Puri ! I never got what the big deal about Mumbai Pani Puri was! All until I failed to find anything remotely close in Indore! And, the whole 'feel' of Mumbai ~ it isn't pegged the 'City of Dreams' for nothing.

Ah, Mumbai. But, I shouldn't drift, well, I can't. Indore's nice too ! So yep, Monday.

This Saturday was fairly eventful. Mr. Anand Neelkantan of Asura- Tale of the Vanquished fame was on campus, to talk to the IPM students about writing. More particularly, on how to be a commercially successful author, how the entire 'Publishing-House-Screening' is a rather hard thing, how exactly a story works, how a character develops, how reader interest is to be held and how best to go about completing a whole novel. His talk was very inspiring, while being in touch with the ground reality.

29/04/2014 ; 14:27

Saturday evening was spent in Indore city. We just tend to call it 'city', around here. 'Aree, is anyone going to the City today?' , and everyone knows that you mean some (most probably) mall of Indore. Indore seems to have SO many ATM's. Either the number is actually really high, or, I'm just noticing them more, since I use them a lot more than I did back at home. Back at home, money seemed to appear more from Mummy than an ATM.

Hmm, I should get exact statistics on the number of ATM's in Indore v/s the number in Mumbai. I think I should do a density measure rather than an absolute number measure, for the obvious reason that Mumbai is a lot larger.

26/04/2014

26/04/2014, 13:21 :

Well, got half a day off, today. There's a creative-writing workshop, at 2 p.m. , today. More on that, once I actually attend said workshop.

Last evening saw the supposed elaborate fest meeting for 'students of all three IPM batches' . The meeting saw a much lower turn-out that anticipated, but, well, people probably had Friday evening plans. Anyhow, the Fest Events Brochure was shown to all and our fest Coordinator, Rishi spoke to everyone about our progress on the fest and the further plans to popularize the fest among the youth of the country. We have ambitious plans of inviting participation from ALL the colleges of the country!Details of all the different events of the fest were shared. 'The Game of Shadows' which is based on the Game Theory sounds really great to me, a lot because, I didn't expect someone to quite enjoy the Game Theory enough to make an actual game of it.

Well, there was a 2011 v/s/ 2013 Girls' Basketball match. 2011 Girls' put up a great show, bouncing back from 10-12 at the beginning of the last quarter to win the game by 26 to 14.

Domino's had a 'Buy 1, Get 1 Free' scheme yesterday. We quite recently discovered that a lot of restaurants in Indore city ( Indore city centre , i.e. Treasure Island Mall / the Railway station is about 16 k.m from campus) deliver food to campus, on an order over Rs. 1000 /- . So, yep, we had pizzas for dinner and gossip for dessert!

I hope the creative writing workshop is interesting!

Banner sizes that we're considering are 40x15 and 25x25.
Some knowledge on banner sizes :D

22/04/2014

22/04/2014 , 01:22 a.m.

The evening of 20th April aka Sunday saw an almost thunderstorm on campus. Lovely, breezy, well, nearly stormy evening! The wind was all there, the rain didn't seem to want to comply. Anyhoo, it was a much- needed, much- appreciated respite from the heat.

23/04/2014, 02:53 a.m.

It rained this evening! Well, drizzled really, but yeah. IPM's Sports Comm. is all enthused. Currently, a boys' cricket league & a girls' basketball league are in progress. IPM-3 beat IPM-1 , 20-14, basketball, this evening.

The IPM students are all geared up to hold our first ever fest, in September. Atharv 2014! Sounds all grand to me. We're currently working on inviting some big names from the industry, to grace the occasion with their presence.

25/04/2014 , 02:05.

We're also working on the content for the FaceBook page. The fest logo is nearly finalized. Let's hope I can get my hands on it, soon!
Tomorrow, uh, today i.e. Friday evening , 6:30 will see a student body meet, to discuss the fest. The excitement in the air is palpable !

We've been playing Basketball a lot more often, of late. The new Basketball court in SR 11 ( Student Residence aka Hostel Block No. 11) is probably good reason. There's another, newer, under-construction Basketball court. I have very definite plans of being the one to inaugurate it. (Hopefully, I won't miss shooting that first basket!)

Elections took place in Madhya Pradesh today. Lot of my friends back home went out to vote . Unfortunately, I couldn't , owing mainly to my absence from my home-town. Rakhi Sawant is contesting as an independent candidate, from one of the constituencies back home!

Sanjana procured lemons, soda & mint last night. Our hostel witnessed a community drinking of mojitos (virgin, of course). It was good fun! Especially since it followed up on the badminton games! Yep, games. What began with two bored girls and a couple of racquets progressed into a grand spectacle, with a total of eight racquets making appearances out of nowhere. I'm sure it was a debut appearance for some of those racquets! ( Two virgins in one night? That ought to count as a feat!)

Oh, and, I got trolled by the sun, today. The lazy genius that I am, believed that 2p.m was the perfect time to have a bath. I was warned of hot water, but, well, I assumed that it'd be warm and decided to go ahead. It was warm, good warm. But, as soon as my head was covered with shampoo, the water decided that it just had to boil . And, there I was, with a head full of shampoo and a shower running boiling water. What a situation that was!

On occasion of Shakespeare's 450th birthday, our very own Literary Committee organized a screening of 'The Complete Works of Shakespeare' by the famous 'Reduced Shakespeare Company'. 88 minutes, and all of Shakespeare. I didn't realise that that was even humanly possible!

There's a German mid-term, tomorrow, for some certain select population that decided to study German. It's of course, a half-day off for the rest of us.

Still ought to sleep!

20/04/2014

20/04/2014, 01:53 . . .
20/04/2014

23:52

I did go attend the Mimicry Competition, and, it was real good, though more participation would’ve been great! Plus, there were a couple of good entries for the Short-Film Competition, with a tie for the winner.

‘ShankhNaad’ ended on a high note with a Caribbean-themed DJ party open to all!

And, with that presumably high note, I'll end this post too !

18/4/2014

And, I thought 26th was a big deal. My clock now reads 15:49 , 18/04/2104. The only solace is the fact that I actually finally remembered.
17th-18th, i.e. yesterday & today is seeing ‘ShankhNaad’ -an intra-IPM fest of sorts, with varied events being organized by different committees of the IPM Student Activity Council.
It began with the LAN Gaming Event - CS, FIFA '13 , NFS -Most Wanted , DOTA & Flappy Birds/Subway Surf for non-gamers like me, all run by the Activity Comm aka Anustha. It ran on three evenings, greeted with much enthusiasm.
The Sports Comm. has been at organizing ALL the events before the end of this Academic year, with a just concluded Boys' Volleyball and a very much in-progress Girls' Basketball & our very own IPL.
Literar-i , well , the Literary Comm., organized a JAM-Just A Minute. I hadn't participated in one before, and it was really interesting.
THe Performing Arts Comm, i.e. Beat-i-fic had arranged a 'Battle of Bands' in the evening, with 4 different bands coming in to perform.

18th Morning began with Social Club Aarohan's 'Avdhaarna' , a competition that involved people pitching ideas for 'sustainable' changes on the campus, for the benefit of all.
Retorica- the Debating Society ran 'EconJuncture' - a game that truly tested the student's ease with economics, dealing with only everyday application of economics. It was a really well thought-out event and made me realise how much economics I do not know.
To begin soon is the 'Mimicry Competition' & 'Directors' Cut' - short-film making, both planed by Adaa- Drama Comm. I think I should go attend, it's to begin at the auditorium , soon.

BRB :D

Well, it's been a while. 18/04/2014

Okay, it was the end of the 15th when I thought about getting this written. And, it's the middle of the 16th now.
Anyhoo, it is a good 10 days since the last thing I wrote.

The trick is not to get repetitive. That might be a problem with these initial few posts where the first thing to do is to establish a fair idea of the campus in an outsider’s head, but, it’ll have to do.

Damn, it’s nearly the end of 16th too. Some dedication. IGNOU exams are in full swing. 3 down ( 4 for the B.Comm guys) and 2 to go.

It’s the middle of the 17th, now. At this rate, I’m totally gonna have this page full of posts.

Yesterday turned out to be an almost impromptu holiday, courtesy cancelled classes & IGNOU ka Accounts paper. Watched Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug. Good movie; worth a watch. I like practically anything that’s in 3-D anyway, so, that was a big plus !

The ‘Kachori/Snack/ Poha Point’ is now open from 8am to 8pm. Nothing beats oily samosas for breakfast, yay! He now also boasts a different menu everyday which repeats after certain interval. Tuesday & Thursday is Panipuri day ; Wednesday is for Chole-Samosa ; Friday means Vada Pav; and, Poha is made every day , for, well, this IS Indore.

And, the hostel authorities took it upon themselves to ‘search’ every room in the boys’ hostel for objectionable objects – not weed & alcohol but electric fans ( seriously? How much electricity does a fan even consume?) and irons(understandable), confiscating all that was found. 21st!

And, we had this Secret Santa thing organised by our very own IPM Magazine- Chiraag, for students of all three batches. It took a lot of work and was efficiently organised and, Christmas was good 
Lot of people received a lot of nice presents. Merry Christmas!

And, I think I deserve an award or something, now! 26th, 00:15, as my laptop clock tells me. There’s a Physics Mid-term in the morning, 9:30, I believe.