Life at IIMA - Term I...LIVE!!!

Finally...i get to write down some stuff....life here is tough, hectic, demanding but at the same time gives you memories that you'll take from here for rest of the life....
My first blog from this place is coming out 2 months after i joined....just a hint of how much i have been busy...but let me take you through the journey till now....
First week : Hell was put to shame.....we were working 24x7....tuchchas giving us gyaan on various activities on campus, classes, we had our famous 'HR Assingment' and so on and so forth...we took our time to settle in...if anyone who survives in this week...he's almost guaranteed to last the 2 yrs (including the 4-5 quiz week that we had)...
End of the first week, our tuchchas gave us fresher party...our first very famous ramp party in A...the one that set the tone for the 3 those followed...

Then first month passed by without even realising...new frienships developed...study groups were fun...with sometimes low capacity utilization....we got ourselves familiar with the enviroment and how things work and all that....just to give an idea...in a recent big consult student interaction...one of the alumni asked us how many hrs we worked per week considering 5 day a week (though we worked quite a lot during weekends as well) during our first month at IIMA....40 hrs...no responses...40-50 hrs...no response...50-60 hrs...again no response....greater than 60 hrs...and 170 odd hands were up...so if you can get through IIMA Term I...you can definately do good for yourself in the so called hot jobs...hopefully not hot cargos ;) and all....

Now coming back to the first month...one of the most important part of a WIMWIan is his dorm and the dorm name that he/she gets...the tradition of dorm names is almost as old as WIMWI itself. Your dorm name is your new identity on campus...the tradition is so strong that as you go for your internships and join a company after finals...your IIMA bosses ask you your dorm names and you might be called by that name for your whole of career...Windy Banga (HLL) is called Windy (his dorm name) in his office...so popular is his name is that recently our eco prof referred to him as Windy Banga...
Anyways....i was rechristened as FREEZO....sorry cant tell you why.......CCCFs are kept within the dorms....


Dorm naming Ceremony


Mid Terms: These are the chill times when we dont have to go to classes and mug for next day...if you are conceptually clear...of course..i had to mug for Eco and Qm... ;)...CCCFs of these subjects were somewht not so clear for me...

Then...came the Talent Nite...immediately after mid terms....the very next day......what days were they....how many ties were formed and how strong we stood together...those 4 nights taught us to remain together and fight together...




Practising before the 1st night of Talent nights


I danced thrice in 2 days...on stage...something i never did in my entire life !!! (college jams are not to be included)...and walked in Fash P....and played dhol for the tempos...all my friends and juniors died on hearing this...some of the shock and some by laughing hard and bursting their heart in the process...but that was fun...we were down after 3rd night...many shoulders down...tuchchas cheared us up....we had put up a fabulous show on first two days....but we came back together and put up a worthwhile performance for the fourth nite...we lost but i dont think that was ever the motive of talent nite...i mean yes...winning would have been a great...but all we knew that we tried hard and together and that's what matters...

and in the end...afer several attempts....and 5 times leaving this blog mid way, partly due to procrastination and due to assingments, WACs etc..i am able to publish this now..

Banaras

Banaras....the holy city of India...the cradle of Hindutva...the Locomotive city (ok fine the last one was given by me).....







I visited varanasi or banaras during my stint with Siemens Rail Transportation Systems...for those unaware, varanasi has Diesel Locomotives Works or dlw to be short which is India Diesel loco factory for years now....so i went there for commissioning of a control panel there...



i wouldn't exactly say that i fell in love with the city but yes...i used to enjoy the usual chilled out attitude of people there (mind you...they are hardworking but chilled out)....the morning tea in earthern kullar along with a fag gave me such a start up for the rough day ahead....
food...well any roadside dhaba would serve you a very good food for barely 20 bucks...and enough for 2 people....

It was during these days that i realised that banaras has a very special feel to it...and i want to go back again and again...the people there are good...not to mention that there are unscrupulous elements there but then they are every where nowdays.....

During one these past tours to this holy city, i got the chance to go to ganges....the feeling was amazing...there is chanting going around everywhere, you hire a boat and as you cross the river...the chanting faints and in the middle of river, with water all around and such a serene and calm atmosphere...you just dont want the journey to end...but what the heck...who wants the journey to end...
anyways..since it's summers and the width is considerably reduced, so i reach the other end in fifteen minutes....and then immediately after the serenity of water, i am confronted with huge lansdscape of nothing but white sand...which form ganga's base during monsoon season...since it was summers so it had all dried up...
i keep on walking into the so called white desert till i reach far enough....only to see the shores of ganga at a distinct horizon...

I sit down there...for 5,10,15mins....may be half an hour....the warm wind was blowing strong....as if challenging the human capabilities to bow down...blowing sand all over me....but at the same time giving the feeling that i belong here...in my land...always used to watch in movies but didnt exactly get the feeling...but at that time...i really felt that i belonged somewhere there in that earth....lying down there in the warm sand gave such a great feeling....at least one of my five senses was gratified....you know when you always wanted to say something to yourself and could not figure out what....and felt like you only want to be with yourself an nobody else should be there to listen to your conservations with yourself...as if time would stop there only...till the time you are ready again...

it would have been after an hour or so that my driver comes looking for me...and says while breaking my 'train' of thoughts (no pun intended)..saab aapki ek photo ho jaaye... poor chap was running on hot sand with naked feet...

after that i was full of sand all over me....and i wanted to go a level higher from where i already was....simply went into the water...ah...cold water...such a nice feeling...as if now it was water's turn to pamper me...just kept on swimming and asked the boatman to follow me...when i thought i was getting tired...simply just laid back in the water....the air and the sky...just kept on floating....and didnt realised...it was more than an hour in water and reached the other shore...

something i realised that day....whatever you do...whatever you become....never forget where you belong to....you cant get the feeling that is there in your land....and your body, your soul connects so beautifully to it.....thames wont give the pleasure that ganga gave me that day...
and sahara wont offer me that serenity and belongness that shores of the holy river gave me....

500 mts from ganga is kashi vishwa nath temple....and sharing a common wall is famous mosque of banaras.....as i mentioned the banarasi tea in the morning gives a great start up....
i went to a tea stall outside the temple....and the people i find reading newspaper there and having normal morning tea chats were khan bhai and ponga pandit.....ponga pandit went about smoking bidi while khan bhai reminded him of its ill effects....unaware of my presence, they were discussing things like forthcoming India tour of west indies and the elections in west bengal etc etc...all over morning tea...i took my kullar and lighted a cigerette...and kept listening to what they had to say....
it is unbelievable that there is so much harmony and peace between hindus and muslims there.....even bomb explosions could not rock khan bhai's love for ponga pandit....nobody can displace that love....every day for past 20 yrs at the same tea stall khan bhai comes for his morning tea after his namaz and ponga pandit after his morning prayers (source : chai waala who is making tea there for more than 20 yrs now and proudly tells me that his sons have seperate tea stalls in diff parts of city...business expansion...huh???)...and khan bhai is reminding ponga pandit for past 20 yrs about bidi...and then they walk back to their homes in gadualiya (few mins walking from temple).....people stand united in varanasi....and each muslim comes up and says ganga is their second mother...and they are INDIAN....

I am so pround of my country men....brave and undeterred by any attempts to shatter the harmony...they live happily....with their morning tea in kullar.... ;)

I am pround to b an INDIAN...JAI HIND