London and Paris. Two wonderful cities known for their glorious history. Separated by a 3-hour train journey through the English Channel, but still worlds apart. While London is typical of its English male-dominated culture which can be experienced throughout the city, Paris, on the other hand, is very feminine. Though the whole of England and France are also similar respectively, these two cities stand apart in showcasing their respective cultures. Everything that you see in these two cities, speaks volumes about the cultural influence they have had over the previous centuries.
The moment you set foot in London, the orderliness and clarity of things amazes you. There is minimal ambiguity in information transfer. You dont even have to go to a "May I Help You" desk to ask for instructions. Although we Indians are never used to doing that because almost all the "May I Help You" desks in India are vacant!!
Strangely enough, the moment I set foot in Paris, it was reeking of urine. It took more than an hour and a half to get out of the railway station, since the ticketing machines do not accept Euro notes, but only coins (which we did not have)!! Even otherwise, unless you know French, Paris is very hard to roam around. And the first couple of people we asked for directions refused to utter a single word, after getting to know that we dont speak French. Such arrogance about their language!! This does not mean that the English are not arrogant, but atleast we speak their language, which makes it much more easier!! :)
So the reason behind my updating my blog, after more than 7 months since the last post, and writing about London & Paris, is because, it so happens that I am in Paris right now. Not the Parry's in North Madras, but the French capital Paris. So other than identifying the cultural dissimilarities, there are a few other highlights too, behind this trip and this blog post.
1. This is my first blog post from outside India
2. Mani's unassailable lead in the 'prasaddhi' list has become shorter now. I am in range to beat him, given that he does not get out of Indiana for the next 2 years!!:)
3. I get to see all the Parisien monuments, not to mention the gorgeous 5-foot-somethings found all over the city!!;) Well, London is not that blessed with these monuments, though still watchable/****able (i meant 'starable', u ugly minds!!) :P
And for my readers (are there any??!!) I promise that I will post more often!! (I am not a politician. Believe me!!)
Friday, November 28, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Lonely Battle
Well, let me start by wishing a very very.... (to the power of 76 (any guesses why it's 76??!!Answer at the end of the post)) belated Happy New Year 2008 to all my readers. And yeah, I am not talking about some obscure alien, hiding in Mars, still reading my blog. There are still some homo sapiens residing in this very planet who do check regularly if I have updated this blog. I have managed to do it today, bravely winning the bloody war against all those spiders that started spinning webs around this very piece of future-historic literature.
On a more serious note (not that the war was any less serious), life has become a lot predictable at IIMA than the first term or two. One of the most important takeaways for me, from this place, will be that - "Life does not become a candy store once you enter IIMA. It can only get worser". This theory might not apply to some individuals who satisfy certain pre-requisite criteria. It becomes too complicated if they are brought into the equation. So let me restrain from giving too much gyaan about that.
Getting back to the predictability thingy, throughout schooling and the undergrad days, the only worry you have about acads is - "How many hours before the board/semester exam do I need to open my books??". The closest similarity you can find here is equivalent to comparing a journey in a bullock-cart to one in a F-16. Not only that, however hard I tried, I could only barely manage to escape from utter embarrassment, while the others kept scoring Empire-State-high marks. And now, after 2 full terms and one half term, the grades dont keep slapping me hard, mouthing the words "Do better next time, be*****od!!", but just give a pitiful tap on the shoulder with the words "Kat lo, ch****ye!!".
And amidst all this, due to the lack of any 'physical activity' and the loads and loads of treats (group level, dorm level, section level etc) where we stuff ourselves as much as we can with the sole aim of increasing the bill, my 'mid-section' had gained some extra pounds. Thankfully, I was not alone (atleast in this!!). Thus formed the duo partnership between Vamshi & Me (Yeah, it was restricted to the gym, the mess & the class. Nothing physical personally. Believe me!!). We hit the gym with regular irregularity, the main culprit being the increased assignments this term.
Then came the Tennis mania. Sirpy plays Tennis quite well. And I, having gone for Tennis coaching for a month in May 2007, was all game for it. The first set, everyday, is always a Andy Roddick Vs (some obscure tennis player from Zambia). And as you would have guessed, I was the latter. For a change, Sirpy, the unofficial Exchange Student from Zambia (as he is 'fondly' called here), ditched his nationality. The second set was more of a (some guy ranked 275th by ATP) Vs (some guy ranked 250th by ATP). And now, I became the better player. The main reason for my victory, though, is not my improved game. Sirpy gets all tired and out halfway into the second set, being unable to run with his pot-belly, though his reduced stamina is also attributable to his smoking habits (I hope the targeted audience get to read this :P).
And to top it all, Dhokla became the (un)enviable Co-ordinator of MAD Club (Movie-A-Day Club). All the new and requested movies were being downloaded at totally high-speeds in MBps. Well, No. They were downloaded at a pathetic speed. But still we got a requested movie in DivX format, in about 2 days, which is a great turnaround time!!! There was never enough time to watch all those movies. Damn.
With such tempting things to pass time, who would devote their entire time studying and keeping on studying??? My thoughts exactly, 3 weeks ago. But, as always, 'she' was here once again to open my eyes. Yeah, here. In Ahmedabad. She gave one more of her super-inspiring lectures (Hey, there is at last some lecture where I dint doze off!! Or did I??! ;)). But this one was really different. No, I dint just mean the place it was delivered. I meant the impact, you moron. It has spurred me to act very differently from what I was earlier. Again, dont let your imaginary horses break free. I was talking about my preparation level for classes, on a daily basis.
But still the gymming, tennis matches and the occasional movie keeps happening. I am trying to manage time effectively. How effective it was, will reflect in this term's grades, which I hope would definitely be a lot more than the first two. So here I am, waging this lonely battle against the academic evils. I dont know if the gymming, tennis and other pastimes are worthy Generals in this battle or just diversions that lead to a dead end. Keep your fingers crossed, my readers, for you will soon get to know the outcome!!! (Dont keep your fingers crossed for too long. It might become painful!! :P)
(The reason for (very) to the power of 76, in the first line is because it's now 76 days since New Year '08 :D)
On a more serious note (not that the war was any less serious), life has become a lot predictable at IIMA than the first term or two. One of the most important takeaways for me, from this place, will be that - "Life does not become a candy store once you enter IIMA. It can only get worser". This theory might not apply to some individuals who satisfy certain pre-requisite criteria. It becomes too complicated if they are brought into the equation. So let me restrain from giving too much gyaan about that.
Getting back to the predictability thingy, throughout schooling and the undergrad days, the only worry you have about acads is - "How many hours before the board/semester exam do I need to open my books??". The closest similarity you can find here is equivalent to comparing a journey in a bullock-cart to one in a F-16. Not only that, however hard I tried, I could only barely manage to escape from utter embarrassment, while the others kept scoring Empire-State-high marks. And now, after 2 full terms and one half term, the grades dont keep slapping me hard, mouthing the words "Do better next time, be*****od!!", but just give a pitiful tap on the shoulder with the words "Kat lo, ch****ye!!".
And amidst all this, due to the lack of any 'physical activity' and the loads and loads of treats (group level, dorm level, section level etc) where we stuff ourselves as much as we can with the sole aim of increasing the bill, my 'mid-section' had gained some extra pounds. Thankfully, I was not alone (atleast in this!!). Thus formed the duo partnership between Vamshi & Me (Yeah, it was restricted to the gym, the mess & the class. Nothing physical personally. Believe me!!). We hit the gym with regular irregularity, the main culprit being the increased assignments this term.
Then came the Tennis mania. Sirpy plays Tennis quite well. And I, having gone for Tennis coaching for a month in May 2007, was all game for it. The first set, everyday, is always a Andy Roddick Vs (some obscure tennis player from Zambia). And as you would have guessed, I was the latter. For a change, Sirpy, the unofficial Exchange Student from Zambia (as he is 'fondly' called here), ditched his nationality. The second set was more of a (some guy ranked 275th by ATP) Vs (some guy ranked 250th by ATP). And now, I became the better player. The main reason for my victory, though, is not my improved game. Sirpy gets all tired and out halfway into the second set, being unable to run with his pot-belly, though his reduced stamina is also attributable to his smoking habits (I hope the targeted audience get to read this :P).
And to top it all, Dhokla became the (un)enviable Co-ordinator of MAD Club (Movie-A-Day Club). All the new and requested movies were being downloaded at totally high-speeds in MBps. Well, No. They were downloaded at a pathetic speed. But still we got a requested movie in DivX format, in about 2 days, which is a great turnaround time!!! There was never enough time to watch all those movies. Damn.
With such tempting things to pass time, who would devote their entire time studying and keeping on studying??? My thoughts exactly, 3 weeks ago. But, as always, 'she' was here once again to open my eyes. Yeah, here. In Ahmedabad. She gave one more of her super-inspiring lectures (Hey, there is at last some lecture where I dint doze off!! Or did I??! ;)). But this one was really different. No, I dint just mean the place it was delivered. I meant the impact, you moron. It has spurred me to act very differently from what I was earlier. Again, dont let your imaginary horses break free. I was talking about my preparation level for classes, on a daily basis.
But still the gymming, tennis matches and the occasional movie keeps happening. I am trying to manage time effectively. How effective it was, will reflect in this term's grades, which I hope would definitely be a lot more than the first two. So here I am, waging this lonely battle against the academic evils. I dont know if the gymming, tennis and other pastimes are worthy Generals in this battle or just diversions that lead to a dead end. Keep your fingers crossed, my readers, for you will soon get to know the outcome!!! (Dont keep your fingers crossed for too long. It might become painful!! :P)
(The reason for (very) to the power of 76, in the first line is because it's now 76 days since New Year '08 :D)
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