Goodbye Seniors...

Its that time of the academic life where seniors are bidding adieu - leaving their positions to us. Fourth time around in my life - it is a phase of fun and anticipation; of what they will be in the future and what awaits us as the passing out batch...

Although not all of us had a great rapport with the seniors; it was certainly helpful and fun to have them with us - and yeah, a moment or two of annoyance as well. But all of it being part of the game; our IIT seniors had been a co-operative and supportive lot.

So here is a small post of thanks - for the student companion sessions when we were new to the campus, for all the information about the department and the campus to help us acclimatize to it faster, for all the patient mail replies for our various enquiries, for the guidance in software lab, for the formal and informal sessions to get to know our profs better, for the placement prep sessions, and for being there to assure us that all is well...

And there were moments of enjoying together too - the department trek, the job treat and the reciprocative farewell treat, and some other events like the traditional day or the tea party; or just the casual meet-ups..

So wishing you all a happy and bright future and loads of fun. Keep Rocking :-) 

A visit to Nehru Centre

Today we went to Nehru Centre - mainly for the planetarium, but ended up amazed by the exhibits at the Centre. I would definitely suggest it to be on your checklist if you have the slightest of interest in art and Indian history...

The building impresses with its outlook itself, and it does not disappoint from the inside as well - with well depicted and picturesque history of the Indian freedom struggle, exhibits of various monuments and cultural artworks, replica statues of immaculate detail and more to watch. Named "Discovery of India"; the exhibit very well justifies its name...

It had also housed painting exhibits of students of an art school - with paintings costing roughly in the 15k to 25k range(and us wondering why one pays so much money for them...). On the bright side - Entry is Free :D

Check out the website; or more aptly go to the place to have a nice time: http://www.nehru-centre.org/

Oh, and the planetarium - for the 50/- ticket, it is worth it, but with the issue of one of the projector not working and flickering lights, it can be quite a letdown! But a renovation is scheduled in the near future, so for later visitors things might be hopefully more fun..

A nightmare in the day!!!

Just woke up form a horrible dream - made me jump up in the bed, and thankfully my roomie was not around to see the drama! I just had to pen it down - for both its horribleness and twists.

So here it goes - may get weird and crazy in the course; but please bear with me - after all, its a dream....

The outset is my brother going to the college he got admissions in; but all of a sudden, he rushes into another college that refuses him his 'M.Tech' admission; and starts vandalizing the place. I get a call an hour later about his actions, and go out there to see what has happened.

There he is - sitting untethered by what he did, and instead of scolding him, I turn to console him and make him reason as to why he did it; the reason which is shady even in the dream version. Just then, the principal walks in - a big man with a heavy temper; and goes berserk at the happening. He yells out that my brother shall not get admitted elsewhere, and he would inform the authorities of the unrulyness that would result in rustication. Meanwhile I drag him out.

Scene two - I am taking my brother on the road, all the while scolding him, a result of delayed realization may be; and we go into the college he wanted to get admissions; and surprisingly the people there agree, only to get a call from the Big guy and throw us out.

Now back at home - my dad is surprisingly calm, and my mom is all tensed out about the situation, I am worried about whats going on - at 2 levels: about the situation and about the dream. Then suddenly, he storms out at near midnight - and I follow him, still harsh on for his erratic attitude. However, on the way through - a weird boost of philosophy about life kicks in, and we talk and talk; in some weird gibberish, until we realize that mistakes happen, and amends can be made and we shall put all this behind and start afresh. 

Climax - A totally unrelated and fiendishly cliche event. We are walking back, when we see a bunch of travelers that are talking half in Kannada, and half in Hindi - mostly about how well that road is useful as a detour to cut their journey by half, and one woman keeps boasting how it was her idea. So they see us, and one of their girls comes up to my brother and starts talking. He starts narrating the day's happenings, and she starts giving appreciative nods - a chubby little cute girl. All this while, I am trying to avoid conversations and strut out weirdly, almost running, in an equally weird hood like costume; while they are happily chatting away.

Considering that all this drama is happening at our main road - the conversation should end in 5 minutes, but it goes on and on.. Surprisingly, my brother still looks the same, while I am 20 to 30 years older. Thats what woke me up!

So this was not the conventional way of bringing up my family and particularly in a post - but I guess the weird dream did demand the story be told. 

May be the dream represents some of my hidden intentions or its just a cockamamie of things running in my head. I have to state that none of the above stuff is made-up, I mean I have presented as is what happened in the dream; so its an actually virtually actual story !!!!

Monsoon - Full On...

Season 2 of Mumbai Monsoon is here....
For the past few days, the rains had been mild and occasional, but since yesterday they have gathered pace!

Currently the atmosphere is pleasant - with the rains cooling down the surroundings that were scorching under the sun a week ago. After seeing the effect of the summer sun and the accompanying heat waves, this one is a way better...

But things won't remain like this long though - soon it is going to be raining non-stop for hours, the ground and the roads will be wet or damp, and no one shall dare to go out without an umbrella even to the neigbouring building.
All this is bringing back memories of the first time I came to Mumbai - me and my Dad were fed up of the rains and the trains on the way to IIT !!

Well, in my friend's words: "Its time to pull up your pants, open your umbrellas and face the rains"
Welcome to Mumbai Monsoon :-)

Mother's Birthday Celebrations and some Resolutions

Back in Bombay, but heart still at Bangalore - so here is another narrative that occurred back home. There was one post with reference to my Dad, this one is for my Mom.

I must say my mom had a rather lavish birthday this time around - took her and my brother to Pizza Hut and McD; and also bought her a thing or two she had wanted for the home. Well, the latter went fine, but the former did not go as well as expected....

Apart from the general disapproval of first time tasting - all 3 of us were definitely discontent about the plan. If its just plain old onions and tomatoes on a batter that you get for that much money; anybody would have the same reaction; unless you are willing to just throw off money. This experience definitely re-instilled my views on pizzas as a waste of money.

So resolution 1 - never eat pizza (mom's perspective) or eat it only when its treated (my perspective ;)). 

It also happened to be a learn by experience moment...

The other part went just well - got some kitchenware that was needed; this time definitely money well spent. So resolution number 2 - always give preference to useful gifts first, rather than going out to some eat-out place. We had such a system in our college friend circle - and it works great !

And the obvious thing - malls are not the best places for family outings; hotels are convincingly better! There might be different views on this, but this is where my stand is....

Next up: Year 2

Back to Bombay after nearly a month long vacation, to face the second year of my course...

Entering Reporting mode.....

The vacations got prolonged due to the coincidental absence of my Prof, and knowing myself I wouldn't have done any work by coming earlier. And they were pretty usual - stay at home in weekdays and go out to meet friends and relatives on the weekends; but with a few welcome changes. 

One thing about going back home is spending quite a lot of money - a thing that bothered the naturally stingy side of me :D

One fun outing was at Chairman's Club resort - the highlights of which were a zip-zap 5 minute Zorbing session, and a delayed Xbox Kinect experience, and the awesome food - certainly worth the money. If anyone plans to go there after reading this review - do remember to take the appropriate swimware for total paisa vasool....

I also kept up my reputation of bunking meets - bunked an elaborately facebook-planned friend meet! 

Also went around to some PU colleges for my brother's admissions - crossing out all those colleges I had been for mine, and trying the other ones..

Switching back to non-reporting mode.....

The coming days call for initiation of the MTP, reiterating the placement preparation saga, and just 2 more courses that make up the the complete course structure, and in the meanwhile try to explore more of Bombay. Quite simple sounding set of tasks - but certainly the crucial year that has impact on the years to come..

Also, it is the last year of being a student - a decree of no responsibilities and lot of fun; something that a lot of people realize once it has passed. Fortunately, I am having a second of such 'last year's,  so time to capitalize and enjoy it..

And also thinking of testing to try to cut down on being lazy and wasting time doing nothing. Well, I do sound very confident while saying that :D

So shouting at myself: "Ahoy Captain, 2nd year ho!"