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)