15 Hours..1 Assignment....Made 180 MANiACs

His smile always had a knife soaked in honey. He used to say- "Start it as soon as possible..because it isn't something you could finish in a night"

It turned out to be true. On a dreaded day (last Thursday) he chalked on the board:

MANAC ASSIGNMENT
APPENDIX-C
Deadline: Tomorrow 3:30pm

With 7 classes on Thursday, we couldn't do much before 7:30 pm. 3 of the 5 sections had traumatized looks on their faces, when they came for an early dinner. Huddles with same point of discussions were to be seen all around. Somebody mentioned -"Its kind of an assignment we can't even divide amongst ourselves and then copy later".

It seemed like "Dementor attacks". People moved in groups towards library with tensions visible on the face, which tried to disguise the fear that was shivering everybody to their shoes.

Once glued to their seats people did realize it was every guy/girl for himself/herself. From capital investment everybody had to start with, to the loan amounts, payback methods, assets purchase, business type, transactions created by self (total 150 of them), nothing had people on same page.

Starting at 8, it took around 5 hours to create first Ledger, then ledger, trial balance, P&L and Balnce sheet. It was already 3 am. We took a break and went to Night Canteen. After gobbling up some maggi and chips and of course some much needed thass (1.5 hrs), we were back to work. Sleep refused to oblige most of us, thankfully though.

Finished 2nd set of accounts around 11am next day. Burn Out. Even the thought of the 3rd set was instilling vomiting feelings. Almost nobody came for the 1st class. 10-15 people who reported in other classes were all sleeping while Profs came and went. Everybody in the college knew that 180 souls were left to wander in the oceans of MANAC, which turned them (us) into maniacs...........

The ended well with one of the movie screenings by our STI prof Mr. Matthews, the one about whom I plan to type in some keys sometime in next month.

People are still drained out with pale faces. 15 hours definitely take some toll on you...Rehabilitation and Recuperation is still going on. Hope survives!!

Lord, Let the poor organisms rest in peace before the start of another run of the mill, hectic week.

Amen
Pravs

Main PGP Student 13/292.......

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun,
Ghadi ke kaanton ke minton ko ghante mein badalte dekhta hun,
Wo kehte hain CP hai bahut important,
Fir kyun mera mann kuchh kehne ko nahin karta hai,
Wo kehte hain "Knowledge is Voluntary",
Fir kyun low attendance ka harjaana koi bharta hai,
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun,
Ek frenchie rakhe huye prof ko idhar se udhar uchhalte dekhta hun,
Wo kehte hain "There is no right or wrong solution to a case study",
Fir kyun meri answer sheet mein ek bada laal gola dikhta hai,
Sab kehte hain ki "Wo bada ****** hai",
Fir kyun shakal se bada bhola lagta hai
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun,
Ek golu molu bachhe ko demand supply curve banaate dekhta hun,
Wo kehte hain "He is still to get married",
Fir kyun nahin wo Kunnamangalam market ke pizza corner pe date karta hai,
Game theory and Price discrimination mein uljha hua bechara,
Kyun apni jawaani ka check mate karta hai...
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun
Ek dadaji ko Raj Kapoor ki oonchi pants and sports shoes pehne dekhta hun,
Wo ek class mein padhaake z-transform, probability and normal distribution,
Kyun 3 class mein median mode padhata hai,
Wo kehte hain "We are running behing schedule"
Fir kyun CAT paper ki negative marking ka concept ek ghante tak sunaata hai,
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun,
Apni likhi book ko bechne aaye salesman ko Balance Sheet banaate dekhta hun,
Wo kehte hain "Asset=Liabilities + Owner's Equity always",
Fir kyun har sawaal yahin aake fasta hai,
MBA students ko question paper mein sher aur chimpanzee bataake,
Sath mein +1/-0.5 ki scheme lagaake kyun wo hampe hasta hai,
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun,
Ek sookhi maachis ki tilli ko "Silence for 2 minutes" bolte dekhta hun,
Wo kehte hain "This will bring peace to your minds"
Fir kyun har koi 2 minute ki power nap le leta hai,
Wo kehte hain ki wo PGP CHAIR hai,
Fir kyun mujhe woh baans ka MOODA lagta hai,
Main PGP Student 13/292, A2 ki middle fourth row se saamne dekhta hun

Just another wait till dawn......

2:01 am, 4th Aug

I am always surprised, why I write stuff at such awkward times. But this time I have a brilliant excuse. 4 Presentations down in 4 hrs and 3 more to go. I guess it's enough to claim I am bored. :(

Life@IIMK has been hectic, but could have been managed better if I (we) wouldn't have spent one third of our time worrying about how will we manage all things in limited 24 hours.

Mid-terms just 2 days away, and I am still wondering how to start. People might say that 2 years of work ex behind my back, it will be tough to follow a curriculum again. But in my case the things haven't actually changed from engg college days... :)

It all reminds me of the wonderful 4 years i spent in NSIT. People are very much the same. Circumstances may be a lot more testing. But after a point one tends to get numb owing to the pressure that just refuses to go. That's the best thing an IIM teaches. :)

We had a couple of get aways. It was fun with more than half of our class went for dinner and a stroll alongside the beach. As a safety measure, no guy was left alone for any single minute, owing to Calicut's claim to fame as "Gay capital of India"

Most of the days we sleep around 5:30 am, get up at 9, classes throughout the day till 5, then assignments ensuring that none of your time is wasted till again 5 next morning. If you are wondering how do we manage with just 3 hrs of sleep, just forgot to tell you that one has to learn how to sleep tactically in class without getting caught. :)

Till next dawn....

Ciao
Pravs

Poetry at 4:30 in morning!!!

pic of the valley from my hostel at IIM K

I was listening to some beautiful poems from my favorite hindi poet Dr Kumar Vishwas

कोइ दीवाना केह्ता है, कोइ पागल समझता है,
मगर धरती कि बैचैनी को बस बादल समझता है,
मैं तुझसे दूर कैसा हू,तु मुझसे दूर कैसी है,
ये तेरा दिल समझता है या मेर दिल समझता है

For complete poem click here (video) or here (lyrics)

I added a couple of paragraphs to it. :) Dedicated to a very dear friend of mine!! :)

जुड़े नाते थे जो सारे, मैं वो सब तोड़ के आया,
हाँ सच है मीठी यादों को मैं फिर भी ओढ़ के आया,
था छोडा उस फसाने को हसीं सा मोड़ एक देकर,
मगर उन भीगी आँखों में मैं खुद को छोड़ के आया!

जो खा ठोकर संभालता हूँ, तो क्यूँ दूं दोष राहों को
किसी के आंसू बह बह के, धोएँगे मेरे घावों को
बताओ कौन फ़रिश्ता है, नज़र आये तो पहचानू ,
कभी पूछूँ पहाडों को, कभी नदियों को, गावों को !

Phoenix Song!

Its my last day in Delhi (at least for 90% of my time in next two years).

Made some delicious Paneer-Capsicum in afternoon. Watched India lose the all-important T20 match against England. :-(

That's It.....

See evbdy in Mumbai!!!

Murphy's Laws: My buddies!!

For those who are new to the term click here.

It's been couple of months since I became a staunch believer in the Theory. Although Murphy's blessings have been bestowed upon me that I got out of all the situations, pretty much unscathed. :)

It all when my car was shelved (an overstatement) from side, by a small 10 tonne concrete truck while I was waiting for green signal to give me a way forward.
Refer

Then after couple of days, I get a flat tyre on my way back to home around 11:30 in night. I didn't realize the fact before driving about 200 meters, thinking might be an unknown power that's steering the car towards right. I spent around 20 minutes changing the tyre. My stepny tyre had metal spikes (like you have in your football shoes). Had bad metal cuts on my fingers. There is something about cuts on skin. You realize how bad are they when try to take a pinch of salt from the Jar! :'-O


Then I drove setting the street on fire, literally (sparks coming out of the tyre).
When I reached home I couldn't find my office i-card. It had somehow detached itself from the access cards which completed the set. Then I went back again to office at 12:15 am. Search it all near the dhaba where I changed the tyre, parking space, office work station. To my sorrow I couldn't find it anywhere even after an hour of search operation. With somberness, I reach my home, and I find it there beneath my driving seat. So I wasted some 2 hours for simply nothing.

Not long after I left parking indicator lights in the parking lot only to discover that around 11 in night, the car had lost every bit of charge it possessed. Even after trying push-and-start techniques when the car refused to make any sound, I left it there and got into my friend's car to come back in morning with some mechanic. (I don't have that 24 hr automobile helpline :-( ) It was sheer luck that I spotted a battery mechanic (I wasn't even making an effort to find one) on my way back to home. He Came. He Saw. It Started!!

I haven't been so lucky in traffic scenarios though. Murphy wants to test me tough on that. No matter whatever route I pick up to go to delhi, I find extra-ordinarily jams. The other routes were comparatively a lot better. Maybe my mind follows Mass-Psychology. That calls for a great career in Stocks and Trading. :)

It was monday, when after being stuck in such jam, I drove to the nearest metro station. And carried on Metro there onwards. Went to college. The damn officer couln't find my degree after keeping me waiting for 2 hrs (I went to catch up a nap in between). Then I go to my office for finishing final formalities. And it took like ages. Suddenly I realized it was 9:30 and I had a car parked at a metro station. The friend I was accompanied by. (and also the one who was supposed to drop me to the nearest metro station) had to pick his mum and aunt from a place in gurgaon, he didn't know way to. We roamed to and fro at roads. (There's a sick habit of not telling a "no" when we pop up a question regarding geographical location of a place).

We managed to reach around 10:10 and had a race against time to catch the "11 ki last metro". We had long toll queues, naraina jam to keep us at 100 miles distance from hopes of making it on time. Somehow my friend got me at the place on time. I boarded the metro and it broke down at ISBT. When it finally got me to my destination (30 minutes late), I got my car back. (Had to pay extra because I had exceeded the time limit by 20 minutes :( ). Murphy caught me once again when I chose a way which seemed a bit easy-going initially. Not later than a km of drive through it, I found dozens Trucks parked on 2 of the 3 lanes available. At 12:30 I entered into the bottleneck and came out starving at 1:30. Went home. Had a maggi and then sank into the bed....

Still Awake at 2:15 am!

It's 2:15 am and I am awake! Tried catching some sleep earlier specially after a tiring afternoon. Went to Nehru Place to get my Lappy upgraded.

Had raajma chaawal after so long. Mum's been away from me for about 13 days now. Never cooked rice in between. Have plans though, tomorrow :)

What have I been cooking these days? click here

Kinda like weekend cooking. Not on weekdays though. :(

Saw a sweet comedy just now- Four Weddings and a Funeral. Nice movie. Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) with a good cameo! Had me in splits! :D

It's begun to rain outside. Feeling a slight chill now with vest and bermuda being my summer wardrobe!

I think I'll catch some sleep now. Asta La Vista.