Anniversaries and parties!!!

Last week on 23rd July, I completed one full month here… so it’s a happy one month anniversary to me, oops sorry to everyone around here who have braved 30 days in this course. And guess what? Me and my roomies celebrated it in the true MBA spirit.. yap by making assignments, preparing PPTs n writing reports. Celebrations aren’t for us I guess. But we did hug each other, and actually blurted out almost at the same time that it doesn’t seem to be just a relationship of 1 month, it looks like we have known each other for a pretty long time. The way we have adjusted and gotten used to each other’s way often reminds me of the manner new born kittens comfortably curl up with each other and form a circle which gets impenetrable. Having good friends and room mates can only cure homesickness when you are away from home and miss your family and old friends terribly. Also I miss my mum and her kitchen at least thrice a day when we are served either completely burnt food or undercooked ones, either the food’s completely bland or too spicy to eat, and the taste’s too mixed to distinguish one food item from another. I guess this training in hostel life was necessary for me to understand and appreciate the importance of home and family. By the way now we have decided to alternate each week between “complain and cribbing week” and “no complain- no cribbing week” so that we curse our destinies for one week and the next feel thankful to at least get food thrice a day as against the millions who starve and have not the privilege of having food and safe drinking water. That way we balance out our frustration and social consciousness.

Last Friday we had fresher’s party (after one full month) but the wait was worth each day… the party was awesome and I enjoyed till hilt. Danced from 7 in the evening to 11 at night, the music was great and the food yummy.. But after that had difficulty getting up the next morning, and my legs ached for two entire days! But no complains because I am ready to repeat the exercise yet again. Suddenly MBA’s looking very interesting. And the discussions that took place in the class in the next day (we got a period off) was ultimate.. we pulled each other’s legs, imitated how one danced the previous night and clicked photos of the people sleeping during that time (to be converted into a yet another PPT for next year’s Parichay.) But it was truly fun and the interaction that takes place during the 10 minutes break after each session takes away the boredom and refreshes for the next boring lecture. And our favourite pastime includes teaching Tamil and Malayalam students how to speak hindi and they in turn teach me how to speak tamil. Its real fun I tell you. The accents and pronunciation vary so much that it becomes a constant source of entertainment for us. I totally love my class.

BOOKS

I often wonder that the people who claim not having the patience of sitting at a place and spending their time idle as an excuse for not reading books know what they are missing. I mean right now I am reading Paulo Coelho’s Eleven Minutes, and despite its sensual plot, the description of the feelings of love and despair, the loneliness especially when you are surrounded by people, and the feeling of not owning anyone, has struck a chord with me. Indeed falling in love is a great feeling, but it leaves a person totally shattered after it’s over, no matter how short the duration of love itself maybe. But that’s not my point here; the main point is that fiction (in general) always somehow seems to interpret the feelings correctly. If you are happy, the protagonist(s) will share your happiness, while the same people seem to be a part of your foul mood as well. A single book can be understood and interpreted in so many different ways depending upon the perception of the person reading it, and yet each interpretation sounds as true as the other one. Strange, but just like films, the books too make us involve in their plot, and evolve with them as the case maybe. People say that the truest and instinctive feelings come not from heart, but from your guts (Thank God, otherwise I always used to think that I am a one up feeling from my stomach, but I guess that just shows the intensity of my feelings, and the passion behind it, and I always feel pain and love from my guts), and after reading a brilliant piece I feel from my guts. Yap that’s how a compulsive reader I am, I get totally and absolutely absorbed in the book I am reading. I cry and laugh with it, feel for the people and also try to understand others better after that. Some people prefer reading e-books but I still feel the personal feeling of reading a book physically (and not virtually) and the involvement with it can’t be replaced with anything else, and absolutely not by reading the summary of books on the Wikipedia. That feeling what the readers feel after reading a really good piece just cannot be expressed in mere words, the feeling needs to be experienced first hand, and I pity those who don’t like reading. I mean how somebody can not like and enjoy reading? I am myself against forced reading, but my idyllic holiday necessarily includes leisure reading of novels. Being the moody person that I am, I think books have always been my best choice of company because they cater to my mood swings and keep me at bay from thinking about other painful things of life (I never forget the best memories). Indeed the quote (which is kind of compulsorily displayed in every library and reading room, don’t know why) about books being our best friends, holds some true value after all.

JUST LIKE THAT...

So I am back!!! And despite trying to be very sweet and politically correct and all, I realised I am better off the way I am. And I can't change myself for some people whom I don't even know properly. So the people who have an objection from my blog, well thats your problem. Take a walk if you wish to, and mind your own business. I write for my own recreation, and slowly have become really passionately attached to it, and am not going to abandon it for anyone. And having said that, I want to take this oppurtunity to say that I never doubted Xime's capabilities in churning out good managers year aftr year, and the last post was meant to be taken lightly, but none-the-less it got so much of free publicity and i got many new readers. Lolz... No ya it ws no publicity stunt and I have no "understanding" with the seniors. It may have looked a bit of over reaction, bt it was completely by their own choice... I had no bearing on it. Lolz... anyways the bottom line's that no harm's done and now I love my blog all the more and have become very possessive about it.

Also I think since I am on the topic, I would also like to thank my batch mates, and especially my roomies, who have stood for me and with me. Your support at that time means a lot to me, and had you guys (oops sorry gals) not been with me, I would have broken down. But you people gave me the strength to stand by my convictions. Also i received a lot of support from my good friends in Delhi and especially from my best friend Ashish... Had you not been there for me, I would have failed. Thank you dear.....

Ok so now since its looking more like a filmfare award winning speech, I would divert a bit and tell all about my stay here... two things that I have learnt here is to eat food which remotedly looks (and mind u just looks, which can be deceptive) like human food ( i mean edible), and secondly to sleep with my eyes open.. Not only in guest lectures but in other classes as well... Here's a confession I wanna make... I just dont sleep in Presi's class because am scared of him (he asks a lot of data based questions and am like scared of facts and figures since birth) and second is Jose (he's all so full of energy and I really feel as energetic as him, he enjoys teaching and so i enjoy learning, and he really motivates me a lot to do well, I seriously study for him).. As for other profs, well they yawn in the class and I accompany them...

Now for my roomies (KritHika {KK}, Mahima {MAHI}, Medha and Ekta {EKI}.. Nah ekta's not in our room technically but literally speaking always is, so i count her as my roomie too.. And anyways by now we all feel incomplete without her).. We were alloted rooms according to our names and thank god (and my parents ans grand parents as well) that I was named from the letter "M".. because I have got the best roomies of the world... We share everything together (food, clothes, accessories, secrets, ideas and even thoughts by now, and imagine its just been 3 weeks but feels like we have known each other for such a looong time...) They helped me settle down in the new place, adjust to new surroundings and to new people, and mostly to cope up with seniors' ugly stares and uncalled for comments. Thanks a lot guys and for writing all this I deserve a BIG chocolate.

As of now i would close my post here, and tell more about my college, roomies, other friends, batch mates and institute in general in the next post (seriously I have a lot to say and particularly about the habits of my roomies, which is sure to leave us all in splits. But as of now, cya.)

BRIDES & GROOMS WANTED @ XIME (its back!! )

Just a week into XIME and I have understood their ulterior motives... Nah! Its not to make us managers (MBAs) but "Married But Available" types and the institute's name does'nt mean Xaviers Institute of Manegement and Entrepreneurship but "Xavier Institute for Marriages and Engagements". I feel they are preparing us to get married in two years time, and manage our households and husbands rather than managing MNCs. For example, here we have to get up early morning, do all the things on our own like washing, cleaning, et all, have to wear sarees on every monday and salwar-kameez on other days as part of our uniforms, stick to gruesome schedules and never complain . Also we are taught to "act like a lady", how to behave on formal occasions like meetings and dates, how to dress up properly, how to speak and what to speak, how to behave, how to order food and what to order, how to manage budgets, to keep a pleasant countenance, and the list continues (just like the rules of our handbook, which were read out to us on the very first day... so much for our orientation).

The after effect is all evident from our seniors' behaviour who turned up yesterday itself (ya each one is a couple, the girl- boy ratio being 1:1 here, pretty intelligent our president; the rules gone for a toss, anyways its only for the junior batch; and the strong alumni association standing to the testimony that batch mates make better life partners.) We gave a welcome party to our seniors yesterday, and they ragged (very boring affair) us in return... I dont think they know the concept of 'Freshers Party' but introduced a new 'Ice breaking Session' called "Parichay" where we have to find out about one of our seniors from their friends and girl friends (guys enquiring about gals, and vice versa) and they arn't supposed to know till the end because its a guessing game as well (well every body knows everything here, the batches also dont know the meaning of secrets.)

As for what I did in my first week... well tried to adjust to my other three roomies, made good friends with them and also to few other girls, again tried to adjust to the new environment(common bathrooms, pathetic food in the mess, very strict and disciplinarian profs... ya I would have better adjusted to my in-laws than to these weirdos, atleast they would have loved me more and taken better care of me plus the empathy factor's always there.) Anyways its been raining here almost every evening making it very sexy and romantic and I am missing delhi all the more.... so much for "Welcome to XIME", will keep updating more stuff as and when things happen!