So close, yet so far

This is my third Valentine’s Day post. It goes to show two things. One, my blog has been in existence for such a long time. Two, nothing good ever happens on Valentine’s Day. I seem to have some sort of a “chattees ka aakada” with the day. Case in point, look what happened this time around.

The story begins long long ago, circa October 2004. My first visit to IIM A in the company of GA, Ram, polie, quirky and gang. The occasion – SPIC MACAY west zone convention. While it was more memorable for the incident of my first nap in a classroom at IIM A, I also distinctly remember us looking for a college senior of ours who was in IIM A at that time. We came to know that the guy is in Turkey, on a student exchange program. Tintin (D-12 was it?) went on to explain the funda behind exchange, and we were fascinated by the whole concept and wished we could do something like that! Cut to April 2007, when I came to know that I would be going to IIM A and I told my mom, “Looks like I will finally get to use my passport”. I was really looking forward to my turn to go to Europe on a “three-month vacation”, as they call it.

Once on campus, tuchchas (seniors at IIM A) went to tell me that almost everyone who wants to go to exchange, gets to go. So things were all hunky dory on this front. Then came summers, and when ING offered me an internship in Thailand, came the first hurdle. How? Well IIM A believes in the concept of equal opportunity, and hence they have a rule that for allocation of exchange school, first preference will be given to those who have never had a previous foreign exposure. Now I knew that my options are going to be very limited, but the tuchchas still maintained that Europe is still within reach with more than 82 seats in Europe alone. Out came the ranking list according to which allotment was to be done, and I stood at 121, thanks to my foreign internship. But with 126 seats on offer in total, and also the fact that most people tend to opt out eventually put me on the safe side. History was also on my side, with allocations last year happening till rank 160.

The first danger signal for me was when it was decided that the allocation was going to happen on 14th of February. It was a bad omen for me. Then one fine day, someone unearthed a tit-bit from The Constitution of WIMWI which reads “Not more than one-third of a batch can go on the Exchange Programme (refer to Appendix 13)”.That meant a maximum of 87 students. Still dry grounds, but something that started to bother me. Yet the still was enough hope.

Now I and Quaddro (my next door neighbour) were separated by just two ranks, and there was a good possibility that we would end up at the same place. So we began our research and come up with a priority list. Thing to consider – location (travel wise), academics (who wants to study on exchange), attendance (bunks are essential for travelling) and reputation (the thing will be going on my CV). It took 6 hours, 2 chicken sandwiches and some coffees, and we had a pecking order ready by bedtime (5 am).

Come 14^th February, Valentines’ day was marked by a very distinct red tinge to people’s attires. We attend morning lectures as usual and eagerly waited for process to start, scheduled at 3:30 in the afternoon. We were sitting in our rooms, armed with laptops and our excel sheets with all our calculations. Updates started coming on Dbabble and we started crossing off b-schools from our list. As expected, the top rankers began with US B-schools like Stern, Columbia and Chicago GSB and then started the European parade. And as usual, some people opted out at the last moment and all was going as planned. 60 ranks and 48 seats gone, it followed the last years’ pattern and opt-out rate was set to increase.

And then things started to go really wrong. HEC, ESSEC, ESC-CAP (all France), Cologne, EBS (Germany), ESADE (Spain) went as expected but the trouble began when people gobbled up Bocconi (Italy), Vienna, Solvay (Belgium), St. Gallen (Switzerland), Nice, Toulouse et al. in absolutely no time. These were the schools we had bet on based on our calculation from previous trends, and they started disappearing from the radar. And the more serious problem was we were getting too close to the magical figure of 87. The countdown began, 40 ranks to go and only 28 seats left. It began to feel like the end overs of a cricket match with the team chasing getting iffy. We reached to the exchange office only to find out that the whole of Western Europe is done. 12 ranks and 8 seats left, people began to gamble on Canada and Scandinavia. I and Quaddro could see our exchange dreams disappear. 6 ranks and 4 seats left, one guy suddenly opts out. Quaddro let out a whoop, “I am in!”. And then one more guy opted out, “We will be taking till rank 120 only”. Disaster struck, and I was left stranded with nothing in hand!

It simply couldn’t get worse. So near yet so far. There I was, dreams shattered, thinking what a great blog entry this will make. Aussies believe 87 is bad luck because it is 13 less than 100. Now I knew why. And I slowly walked back to my dorm, with only one song in my head:

“दील के अरमान आंसुओं में बह गए ..."

Good ol' Sunday television

After completing my second term here at IIM A, we had what was easily the biggest break of first year. 10 full days at home, doing more or less absolutely nothing. On offing was the exciting prospect of India-Australia test matches, and the Sydney test match turned out the be fantastic. This I say despite the result and blatant "Aussie-ness" on display. Every matchday, I was up at 7 30 in the morning, which gave me 20 min before post-lunch session started for all my morning ablutions. And then, there I sat, in front of the idiot box till 2:30 pm, when Harsha Bhogle finally said

"Thats all we have for you today. Join us tomorrow morning for what promises to be another day of exciting test cricket".

Yes he said the same thing every day. And that was cue for me to begin my normal life.

This was the period when I realised how useless TV has become now a days. Television the rest of the day became extremely boring. Yes, there are more than 80 channels to choose from, but what can one do if each one of them doles out the same thrash. Every one of them tries to please the same audience leading to absolutely no variety. Soaps are shit (I hate Ekta Kapoor), news channels cannot be watched for more than half an hour (Syed Kirmani and Nikhil Chopra are called cricket experts!), cartoons are not funny at all (Japanese Anime dubbed in Hindi is the only option) while discovery/history channel are also telecast in Hindi, where I need to spend half my energy in deciphering the complex words that they try to substitute. A friend of mine took 3 days to figure out that a "Saanganik" was actually just a computer.

I still remember the old days when DD 2(or DD Metro) was something to envy about. Chutti-chutti was something to look forward to in holidays, while Alif Laila, Surabhi and Byomkesh Bakshi kept our week nights interesting. However, Sundays were by far the best. Stuff like Ducktales, Talespin, The Sword of Tipu Sultan, BQC, Chandrakanta, Jungle book and many more. Here's a small sneek peak of what used to be.

DuckTales

Malgudi Days

Mahabharat

Jungle Book

Surabhi

Vikram Bethal

Giant Robot

The sword of Tipu Sultan

Gosh I miss good television.

Holiday atlast

Phew! One week into the second term, and what a week it has been! Considered to be a “chill” term (wonder who made that classification), I was looking for a nice term ahead with an opportunity to do all the non-boring (read everything other than studies) stuff that I generally enjoy doing. But so far, there are no signs of the same.

Start with the best thing that has happened to Indian cricket in the recent times…the T-20 world cup. I can safely say I didn’t miss even one match of the tournament, what with term break coinciding with the schedule. And what a way to announce your entry to the world of Indian cricket captains…way to go Mahi! As the popular joke goes,

“Abdul Kalam’s dreams have finally been realised – India becomes a super power in 2020”. J

And poor Sachin – A world cup victory was the one thing that would complete a fantastic CV (Why the word CV? Long story…hang on for a bit). And just when he decided to skip one tournament, India goes on to win that one. Now all he can do is sit in his room and “congratulate the boys”. Destiny can be so cruel.

I for one had an awesome time watching the tournament, specially the way India managed to make every match interesting (old habits die hard), and contrary to popular script, managed to eke out wins. It only adds to excitement, one would say. Whatever. But it was reminiscent of the 2003 world cup played in the very same grounds, and history was repeating itself. I was actually glad we ran into the Aussies in the semi-finals itself, which was always a better place to kick their butts. After extracting the “South African Badla”, it set a mouth watering Indo-Pak world cup final. Every organiser’s dream come true (prolly why Carribean world cup sucked big time). I remember the last time (2003) where I followed every match with 150 other first year SVNITians (my engineering college) in the smallish Bhabha Bhavan TV room, and the agony felt when we lost miserably in the finals. The excitement of watching India win with 100 other fanatics in the same room is exhilarating, and I thought I will never get to see India win a world cup final in such an atmosphere. And lo-behold, thanks to one smart ECB official who had a flash of brilliance over his shot of Brandy, the opportunity presented itself again, and this time India went all the way. The team nicely adores my desktop now.

As for CV thing, well talk to any IIM A fachcha over the last one week, and it would be the only thing in his mind. I told my father the other day that I would need to spend atleast 25-30 hrs on my CV, and dad went “Itna kya likhega!”. Gee…I only people knew that these CVs are the sole basis of one getting jobs. Can’t blame the companies, there is hardly much to choose between most of us. This is something called Mayonnaise effect that we learnt last term. The good are good, the bad are bad, but the rest are all the same. Let me tell you, the process of making CV can be a real pain. I have always lauded English for being such a versatile language, but this makes ur life hell when making the CV. There are 100s of ways of putting across the same point, the pain is finding the best one. There is a world of difference between my first draft and the final thing that I submitted after rounds and rounds of modification by tuchchas. As of now, I am just glad that it has all ended.

Lastly, Happy Birthday O father of Nation. If it were not for you, this desperately required and rarely available holiday would not have been possible.

Here’s to a great man…

oops, it’s a dry state and a dry day, or is it? ;)

P.S.: Hey Chimp, time to put me back on that blog roll.

Accounting...Hyderabadi Style

Flashback: 25th June, 2007. First day of class in CR-8 in the new campus of IIM A, the class room of Section -B PGP class of 2009. Its 8:35 am, and our protoganist, Prof M S Shriram(MSS) walks in. 75 fachchas await in eager anticipation, not sure what awaits them. He looks at the clock at the back of the class, turns to his RA and comments, "Shruti, we must take a pic of the whole class with the clock in the background. I am sure I will never again get to see a class full of students at 8:35 am". All smiles. He goes on to say, "Dont laugh, I am serious. There will be marked difference in your definition of punctuality in the second year. In fact, forget second year or second term, I promise a difference post-midterm itself". We were not really sure about it, so we just nodded along.


Cut to date. 6th August.
8:35 am: MSS walks in as usual for his MANAC (Accounting) class. 12 students in the class.
8:40 am: 23 students, RA also arrives.
8:42 am: Sudden increase in the flow of students, MSS observes and smiles from his chair. 38 students in the class now.
8:43 am: another 10 have entered, and trying to settle down at their respective places. People fiddle with their name tags, which have been transformed overnight to the likes of "tanki" (TAnuj SolaNKI) and "surma" (SURajit MAllick).
8:44 am: deluge of breakfast munching, hands wiping, half-running students into the class. The trash bin outside is working at its full capacity collecting all breakfast that could not be forced into mouths in time.
8:45 am: Last minute just in time entries...finally class reaches it full strength.

MSS begins, "Just as I said in the beginning of the term, there goes ur puncutality". Then comes the bouncer, "2T, why dont u start the class". Bewildered expression on my face is a total give-away (how in the world does he know my dorm name?!). "Why are you giving me that look? Aren't you prepared for the class?". "I didnt expect you to know my dorm name, Sir", I stuttered. "I know a whole lot of things which you dont expect me to", and after a brief pause and a wicked smile "which includes accounting." With a sheepish grin, I move towards the board.

He seemed in one of his usual good moods, which almost always spelt trouble for "the chosen one". Today, it happened to me. I started making entries on the board, with the idea that I will write out stuff before explaning them. But he obviously disapproved. "2T apparently believes in opposite of what bhagvad gita says. Gita says, "Karmanyeva adhikaaraste maa phaleshu kadaachana, while 2T is only bothered about the results, and not the karma." The whole class erupts, and I knew I had a lot more coming.

I started explaining all entries. I started in the centre board, which got filled up after which I moved to the one on the left. In the end, there was one entry which I could not explain properly, and when he repeated the question, I just nodded out of sheer desperation. MS laughs, "Thats a very nice way of answering something. Go back to your seat." I thanked heavens that the ordeal was finally over, and while I was about to sit back at my desk, "our 2T will go long way in life". "Thank you sir" was all I could say, resulting in more laughter around the class.

And just when I thought it was all over, he had one last comment to make. He was clearing the board, when he again came across my entries. "2T, you are from Hyderabad na". "Yes sir I am", not sure what that was supposed to be for. "So thats where u picked up the habit of writing from right to left"!

I always though MANAC classes were entertaining, but today I found myself at the receiving end. Not that bad actually.

Rechristened...

Wow! 2 posts in 3 days...something is definitely wrong out here. Well its not much, just that mid-term exams are going on, and one always looks for outlets to vent out frustrations in such situations. Just when I thought I had already been through the worse that could be (breaking the non-negativity barrier in an exam), WIMWI manages to prove me wrong again. Mid terms...2 exams a day, and you dont even know how long your exam is going to last (Operations was 3.5 hrs long, while computing "just" 2). MS Sriram, our MANAC (there is no "I" there) prof, did tell us in the first day itself..."Welcome to IIM A. Its the end of your dream, and the beginning of a nightmare". Now I know why he said that. More of Shriram to come in my future posts.

On the bright side, I have sucessfully managed to complete half a term here. 2 WACs, 12 surprise quizzes, 23 cases, 7 subjects and 2 midsems later, I am still here. And while I am here, I invariably become a part of the WIMWI culture. We finally had our traditional dorm naming ceremony, and after a 2 week long process, the sorting hat finally had me...

"Thou shall henceforth be known as 2T - The Sex God".

Thats our tuchchas saying, welcome to Dorm-20, the Dorm of Sex Gods.

Glimpses...

D-20 Fuchchas - The new sex gods. They will henceforth be known as ...

Now Shriram will not have to call me Vamsee anymore, poor chap always keeps asking in the class "Whats ur dorm name?". And yeah, talk about the origin of my name. Well, I can't really tell that to you. Thats a Dorm secret, and no one outside my Dorm will never know that. Its been so since times immemorial, and shall remain so. The Dorm culture here at IIM A is very strong, and each of the 23 dorms has its own traditions, rituals, ceremonies and practices. People here are never bothered with your real name, they always ask "Which Dorm? Whats your dorm name?". Such is the significance of dorm name that we know HLL head as Vindi Banga, well vindi was his dorm name here at IIM A.

Read more about the IIM A dorm name tradition on Sleepless at IIM A.

In the world of WIMWI...

I am really tempted to write a full fledged blog here, considering that this will be my first post since entering the hallowed portals of IIM A. But alas, with the mid-terms around the corner, it would be too much of a risk. But since I have managed the miracle of completing my WAC assignment before time (three hours to go!!!), I will take the liberty to put up a post.

Here is a list of some common jargons used here in WIMWI. Disclaimers, since it is not an original work. None the less, it makes a pretty interesting read. I promise there is a lot to follow, for which this will work as a reference guide. Take them at the face value now, explanations will follow in due course of time. I am off to enjoy the famous WAC run(See below) now...

Arbit (adj.: origin:: local); short for arbitrary .meaning nothing in particular and everything in general.

Assignment (n: origin:: James Bond Movies); PC lab has computer paper; groups have to meet; the Profs have to give something in order to take something; hence ass-ignments; gives rise to Newton's nth law - "thickness of the report shall be directly proportional to the weightage of the assignment".

Blackbooks (n: origin:: IIM A); collectors' items; consists of old question papers which are the saviours during quizzes, midterms and endterms; question-able methods of cracking the scene. "

Bumps (n: origin:: A'bad Municipal Corporation); if it's your birthday or in case you crack the scene , then you have had it - no ifs and butts.

Case mat (n: origin:: Case Unit); IN CASE YOU ARE FOUND WITHOUT IT IN CLASS , THEN YOUR CASE IS VERY WEAK. BT THE WAY THE UPPER CASE IS INCIDENTAL

CCCF (n: origin:: IIM A); acronym for 'Conceptual Clarity and Contextual Familiarity'; for cccf on what that means see cccf.

Chai (n: origin:: obscure); the underlying fillosophy of WIMWIans; the forum for countless discussions over countless cups; the non-alcoholic spirit of IIM-A life. Has strong associations with mess , NR and Rambhai's

CHAOS (n: origin:: Biblical (almost), IIM-A); describes the state of an WIMWIian two hours prior to any submission or presentation. Also IIM-A's organised (???) annual extravaganza.

Cogging (n: origin:: Arthur Hailey); Collaborative Operations on Getting Good Insights for Necessary Grades; on-line teaching aids for turning the wheels of one's life . Strictly prohibited in WIMWI.

Combo (n: origin:: Phantom Comics); IIM-A equivalent of Jungle Olympics; never ending source of fun, entertainment and activity in the second term, when battles are fought on an mental and physical plane; an outlet for action and interaction.

Convocation (n: origin:: Nalanda); the day when IIM-A life turns full circle; 180 degrees are handed over on this day.

Corpo Dinner (n: origin:: IIM-A), one more resultant)of mess grub; around 25 Indians go out in English suits to an American place, have Mexican and Chinese food and go Dutch; a truly global affair.

CP (n: origin:: Harvard); Acronym for 'Class Participation'; IIM's vocal support to the cause of socialism, often accompanied by its offshoots like Arbit CP, Challenge CP, RCP, ACP etc.

CR (n: origin:: Sholay); acronym for 'Class Representative'; generally jobless except for rescheduling classes, making farewell speeches, postponing assignments and making a fool of him(her)self in the Talent Nite.

Cribbing (n:: Oliver Twist); Continuous Ranting and Industrious Brow Beating Inevitably for Necessary Grades.

D-l, D-2 & D-ll (origin:: Louis Kahn); short for Dorm-1, Dorm-2 and Dorm-11; residences for non-males and non- resident males.

Day Zero (n: origin:: Algeber-wai mulublai); the day of reckoning for the best; genesis for some ;armageddon for any.

Diro (n: origin:: English); Big Chief of IIM-A; a figurehead who can't figure out where we are heading.

Dorm (n: origin:: Louis Kahn); they exist from 1 to 23; the epicentre of all activity in IIM-A; also residences for WIMWIans.

Dorm Rep (n: origin:: IIM-A); Chief of the dorm; arranges for dinners, dunkings, T-shirts and other common dorm inventory

Dunking (origin:: Niagara fn!!s) ; IIMA's answer to the patriot missiles ; long range aqueous projectiles aimed at an unsuspecting passerby providing source of immense gratification; this ritual for no perceivable reason, has a distinctive sexual bias.

Endterm (origin :'The Crusaders'}; the magnum opus of the coterie of professors, an epic battle fought by valiant students to stay afloat, which puts other occurrences like the Mahahharata and the Ramayana to shame; used in conjunction with other torture instruments like midterms and quizzes.

Exhibit (origin:: showbiz); Unnecessary, but necessary portion of anything attached to its end; an integral part of WAC reports and PPTs.

'F'(origin:: ancient Greek); the most dreaded grade in non-academic circles; also happens to be the sixth letter of the alphabet.

Fachchas ( origin: obfciirc); all new entrants to the realms of Louis Kahn, Vastrapur, the case method, corpodom and MANAC quizzes.

FPM ( origin: 11M A); fully paid mazaa; a four year transform which involves a fully subsidized vacation with a universal pastime called research; fine fellows they become.

Fraud (origin: RaviC, mind u, only the word, not what it stands for) to beautifully elaborate and then succinctly encapsulate first grade BS, applies to many assignments, and unfortunately, some courses as well

Garba ( origin: Gujjuland); a rollicking local dance form; an occasion for honing one'? skills in tertiary activities like dancing, bird-watching; a time when IIM A comes to NID, NIFT and CEPT.

Group Meeting (origin: Harvard); necessary part of the curriculum; when WIMWIans sit or stand or lie down and discuss solutions tor unstructured problems and dilemmas in life; in other words , the day's juice is collated, arranged and prepared ready for dispatch to community at large the next day.

Harvard Dinner (origin: IIM A); the soup that we land ourselves in on Friday nights; a solemn acknowledgment of where we derive our 'bread and butter' from;

IIM-B (origin: Indian Govt.); never heard of such a place, cccf invited. Also called Not So Well Known Institute of Management In Southern India.

IIM-C (origin: Indian Govt.); never heard of such a place, cccf invited. Also called Not So Well Known Institute of Management In Eastern India.

Juice (n: origin: IIM-A): WIMWI's own edition of the British, Hindi and vernacular tabloids put together in torture chambers called classrooms for public consumption and reprieve; no wonder Hitler didn't like the 'juice'.

Junta (origin: 1930s, Spain); we, the people, the mob, any number of guys and gals from one to infinity generally present anywhere.

KLMDC (origin:Gujjuland); Kinda' Lodge for Misled Delegations from Companies, a paid vacation for middle level managers in an amiable ambiance; for those who can't afford golf courses, crash courses are the in-thing; a classic case of mutual value addition.

Leli (origin IIM-A); ancient war cry of the masses; occurs when unwitting individual(s) have been taken (in) by a revenge seeking mob. (see tempo shout and zigzag).

LKP (origin: Louis Kahn); IIM-A equivalent of the red square; venue for convo, afternoon snoozes, photograph sessions, inaugs, rock-nites .....

LSD (origin: 'TheBeatles); stands originally for' Literary and Symposium Desk' but literally the symposium part is non-existent.

MAD Club (origin: IIM-A); stands for Movie A Day; but often Xceeds one's XXpectations.

Management (origin: Gujjuland); what one tells the auto driver when you want to get to IIM-A; not to be confused with anything else.

Marketing (origin: Indus Valley Civilisation); if it's not finance it must be; governed by four P's, especially during placement - Please Pardon Poor Percentages; also the name of torture instrument used by PO, Vyas and Jain Baba.

MF (origin: IIM-A); stands for Marketing Fair christened 'Insight'; where the companies use WIMWIans as guinea pigs for trying out new ideas and the WIMWIans use local junta as guinea pigs to try out their fledging skills and all the junta not doing serious work enjoy themselves immensely.

Midterms (origin: 'The Crusades'); See endterms.

NID (origin: 'Govt. Of India'); Place forming a mutual admiration society with WIMWI. They admire the , way our campus is built and we admire the way they are.

CT (origin: local); Where WIMWIans mortally wounded in the mess, retreat in the night to assuage grumbling tummies.

Nightout (origin: 'The Owl and the Pussy Cat'); doing something you should have done earlier, at a time when you should be doing what you did earlier, (see WAC).

Open Book (origin: smug Profs); Kind of exam in which cogging from a book is allowed, but in which you can't figure out which chapter. Or if you know the chapter you must have brought the wrong book. If nothing else you've come to the wrong classroom. See cogging.

Operations (origin:World War II); nothing medical There is a rumour that it used to be a substitute for Finance and Marketing, but you shouldn't believe everything you hear.

Pantry (origin: Louis Kahn); A. small room in every dorm. Some of these actually contain Ossum food.

PGP (origin: PGP office); Presently Grilled Prisoners. (See endterms, midterms, quiz, assignments).

Postpone (origin: Mojo); Something that is done to assignments, classes, quizzes on pretexts like Talent Nite, LAN crashes and a general attack of lethargy.

PPO (origin: P&G); Stands for 'Placement Panic Over' or 'Persistence Pays, OK?'.

PPT (origin: Placement Office); Stands for 'Please Pay "Ttention'. Sadly, very few comply and the rest pay up 250 bucks each.

Quiz (origin: Charles Daley); Like any other you have seen. Puzzling questions, limited time, makes you wish you knew more and of course the quizmaster's decisions final.

R.As (n: origin: 'The Mahabharta'; Lord Ganesha being the first one); People holding the key to a good GPA and must hence be kept in good humour. Attendance, CP and exam marks are in their hands. Behold them in awe and handle them with care (see GPA, CP, cribbing).

Rambhai (origin: Gujjuland); One man institution outside WIMWI who could teach a course or Wo if he had time (see marketing, chai).

Rem (origin: 'the Bible', 'The Second Coming'); Replay in slow motion for those who missed action the first time round.

RG (origin: The autobiography of Daintier Benz); I know what it means but why should I tell you ?

SAC-C (origin: The Chancellor of Exchequer); WIMWIan equivalent of President, Pope and CEO rolled into one. In short a position in which you can sac, see?(see WIMWI).

Soapbox (origin: Hyde Park, London); Place where some people go to speak and rest go to have fun.

Tucchas (Origin: Paradise Regained by Milton); the Gods in WIMWI

Ramp (origin: Stanford Univ. USA); Architectural marvel for foreigners and NID-ians to gawk at and for WIMWIans to climb, (see NID). Now notorious for parties

Summers (origin: Revolution of the earth round She sun);Hot season in preparation for which people wear blazers and ties .

Systems (origin: Mckinsey's 7 S model); Like Operations a rumoured alternative to Finance and Marketing. Most WIMWIans don't believe this to be true. (see operations, marketing, finance).

Talent Nite (origin: local); High point of the first term. An elaborate exercise to get to know almost everyone in your section and to see your CR make a fool of himself, (see CR).

Tempo Shout (origin: The Paleolithic Age; origin: of spoken tongue); tribal war whoop emitted by groups of WIMWIans, apparently without any provocation, rhyme or reason (see Leli, zigzag-zigzag).

Tower Lawns (origin: Louis Kahn); used by WIMWIans for playing football and hockey, general junta for lazing on and cows for grazing on.

Vastrapur (origin: unknown); Small unimportant village in a small unimportant town in Western India.

Vet (origin: Blue Cross); The medical man about town. Short for 'veteran doctor' - contrary to popular opinion. Met when you report a stomach upset , the main symptoms of which are over-sleeping and inability to attend classes.

WAC run (origin: local); strange ritual held nine times a year in which WIMWIans remain awake all Friday night and start running madly at 04:25 PM on the next day. (see Nightout).

Welcome Night (origin: local); Traditional event to see how well a PGP 1 can sing when two hundred PGP 2s are yelling.

WIMWI (origin: extremely local); Where I Mingle With IIM-ites.

Wing (origin: Louis Kahn); View of the campus from the wrong side of the LKP.

Work-ex (origin: Newton's Third Lam); After which some people come here for a two year break.

Zigzag-zigzag (origin: Tempo Shout); Description of the path to success and future glory from here. Part of tempo shout, no doubt for that reason, (see Leli, tempo shout).

Summer Vacation

I know I am into job now, and unlike back in school or college, there ain't no such thing as a summer vacation. But then, some habits die hard. So I decided I need a summer vacation this time too, albeit not one that stretches over the whole of summer. My cousin's marriage was the official reason, just because you need one to get leave. Frankly speaking I was just bored of waiting for my results, so just wanted to chill out at home. So a two week leave was what I finally managed to eek out. How ironical is it that people generally take a break to "chill out" in summer?!

So first stop was home sweet home, Hyderabad. First few days were spent hogging on mom's gastronomical delights and gaining all that I had lost over the last 6 months in just 6 meals. Eat-sleep-TV-comp-eat-sleep again. Throw in a couple of long drives and a few movies, life simply doesn't get better than this.

Now when u think of summer vacations back in school days, it usually involved lots of TV, cricket, fighting with Brindle, going to granny's and meeting cousins. Of course, that was almost 8 years ago and I hadn't been to granny's since. So I decided to make the trip this time.

They live in this village called Vuyyuru some 20 kms from Vijayawada. Mom would insist that its not a village, but it is definitely where u get to see rural India. Here are some thing characteristic of a trip to Vuyyuru:

1) Tiled roofs : Certainly not something to be seen easily in cities.

2) The box-shaped cycle rickshaws : A unique characteristic of Vuyyuru, I bet not many of you have seen this.
3) Sugarcane laden bullock-carts : The life-line of Vuyyuru, connecting the farms to the sugar factory.
4) Hand pumps!
5) The best respite from the heat - Goli Soda.
6) And finally, the sign boards....

P.S. : While I was busy capturing all this, the IIMs finally declared their results.
Yours truly is headed for IIM A!
Looks like my association with Gujarat is going to continue for another two years.