This one was due for a long long time. But then I've been busy or to say "kept busy" would be more appropriate. As the title says this one is about how and where exactly have i been for the last two months. It in no way shows u the entire picture but still will give u a glimpse of how this normal engineer chap has been overwhelmed, kept awake, has been on a "high" literally and metaphorically, found his armory, lost weight, and has yet somehow survived to tell u the tale.
P.S. : everything from here on is the way i saw the scenes, the way i want you to see them, any pun is intended, all thought's bear resemblance to living and the dead.
The epic journey began on June the 22nd, as i left home for IMT i must confess i was apprehensive and full of self doubt, joining IMT was by far the toughest decision i had made in my short life, this was a decision that was left solely on me by my parents, repercussions of which would be faced by none other than me, and the responsibility to prove that the decision was the right call, on none other than me. So when i say i was a little psyched out when i entered those Gates would be an understatement. As i came across loads (literally) of students queuing up for the registration process coming from distant towns, some of them proud, some resigned to their fate, some trying to justify their decision, some unsettlingly confident, it was clear to me that i was surely not marooned on a desert island, and that there were people living on that island for a long long time before i had arrived !
If registration was a tough job, room allocation was tough multiplied by 10, sweltering heat standing under the sun and SAC members sitting in their air conditioned lair allotting rooms to 20 at a time and taking whole lot of time. Me being told a name namely " R praveen " and a number numberly "A-63" as my roomie and the room. With all the parents interested in doing 2 years worth of networking in one day and all the students hoping for a lot of things, it all really was unsettling on many levels.
Orientation week, yoga at 5:30 in the morning and Gibberish for the rest of the day ohh and the night. Yeah this exactly is how it can be described in one line. I would like to talk about the first day though, cause that was the only day i felt mixed emotions, as for the next 6, i was unable to feel anything except for sleep deprivation.
June 23
Yoga didn't happen, i like any other over eager sapling reached the grounds on time to find it empty desolate and sprinkled with a few like me cursing for various reasons which were
"yoga wasn't happening"
"yoga is going to happen from tomorrow"
"we had to wake up at 5"
"the yoga instructors did not wake up at 5"
mixed emotions as you can see!
loads of people retired immediately to their rooms, I on the other hand, unaware of the premium of free time and sleep, decided to tour the campus at 6 in the morning, clearly act of a novice.
Holding first of the infinite cups of coffee that i would be "downing" in the coming days i started my pilgrimage, from j lobby to the clinic, the library to the reception, the mess, the badminton courts. the newspaper boy, the college sweepers, none were ignored by my astute observation powers.
Reporting to the library converted in to an auditorium was the first of the many appointments we were supposed to keep. The days timetable was chalked out till the last minute. Don't get the picture? let me help you,
"the cameraman will cough at Sharp 11:15"
"the chief Guest(dearest Prem) will drink water at 11:21 sharp"
"the melodious nightingale will start the welcome address at 9:30 sharp and the first of the melodious notes would be coming at 9:30:01 SHARP!!!
now you see what i mean.
But i must confess between all the circus, this was the first of the many times i felt that i had achieved something and that from here on in my life everything that i say or do should indeed be worthy of being done by an IMT'ian. Little was i aware of the next thing i was going to see.
The hours passed and "tea" was called for. The rain gods angry at not being offered some of the endangered "Paneer Pakoras" decided they had had enough, as the rains pelted, in front of my eyes came a scene that i will not forget for some time to come, as it happened :
1. The rains did not deter some of the students (read 400 of the 490) from trying their luck at the abysmal coffee vending machine, or at the paneer pakora stall for that matter.
2. The director asked "Dearest Prem" if he would like something else?? "Dearest Prem" after surveying the battle for pakoras at the counters "smirked" and politely refused!! and that was the first of the many instances i scoffed at how things were done at IMT.
The rest of the day was dotted with addresses by "anyone and everyone who could share his wisdom", and the ubiquitous word "Attaindaynce" pronounced precisely as written with the consistency non nonpareil by one of our seniors. Come'th the lunch hour, we were supposed to eat enough to take us till dinner in 10 minutes. As i reached the "line for roti's" i came across my first and last confrontation, being the Gentleman Yours Truly is, he acted in the most reasonable manner possible, the fairer sex on the other hand might have gone overboard a little, but then knowing a few one liners does make you feel like using them, so well no offense taken although a lot was meant!! But i sincerely hoped that other around would exercise a little more civility and would act their "year" and would refrain from using the most "clinched banal hackneyed trite" one liners possible!!
Confused???? well this is as much as you get to see!!
As night approached the shoulders were sagging, the pressure of remembering names was climbing, the hope that something interesting will happen, Diminishing. And then came the unmatchable on many scales senior ,
"You think we are fools???(looooooooooooong pause) hmmmmmm??
are the lines he used as opening notes every single time,
and
"tommorow (looooooooooonger pause) Yoga (looooooooongest pause) 5:30
as the last words, before we were lead of to the fields to hail "Mehkar Singh" and do a lot of other stuff which reflected the creative IQ of our seniors, some of it was great , some of it made you yawn!!
Thus reaching the bed at 3:30 am with mind full of days happening, roomie already fast asleep, i set the alarm for 5:00 and though enervated, i still though it was a day that brought a lot of new experiences and in spite of all the "Bhasad" was worth it.!
The rest of the orientation week was pretty much the same as above, just that the pressure of networking increased, the much talked about outdoor activities came to pass, people you had already met suddenly did not have a name, had my first case study in one of the orientation lectures and was the first time i realized i could speak and do it well, at that!, slept through the entire day woke up to find that had missed most of the "atttaindeyence" for that day, panic came to pass, A lot of sleepless nights came to pass, A lot of "standing on stage and saying nonsensical things" came to pass, the most memorable of which "Amit Singh! Ye gym kab khulega", a lot of going of the field at 5:15 am only to come back at 5:30 for Yoga came to pass, not sleeping for 3 consecutive days came to pass. And last but not the least "aankhon ko komalta se band karlein" and having heard that sleeping of in the yoga session, waking up only when kicked by the yoga instructor came to pass.
The time of the actual lectures had now arrived. "B3" was how i was christened, books were distributed and a whole lot of them at that.Was 20 minutes late for my first lecture courtesy Ghaziabad traffic. Was disappointed after the first lecture where in an old chap tried to teach law and brought back memories of an engineering classroom. The second was the one where we came across the famed teacher having a lot of critical acclaim, having heard a lot about her, was a little apprehensive, her style totally classic and thus the cause for all the "warning Signs"by our seniors. Was thankfully not selected to become the class CR. For the first time came across fellows who just had to have a drag between lectures and would not care to have a pollo before coming back and breathing down your nose.
Class introductions happened over the next three weeks, with some of the people standing out for loads of reasons:
....... : for his utterly insatiable appetite for witty banter
...... : for his famed shorter name "jiggy"
..... : again for his "hawkey" eyes and the hairless skull...
.....: for his inquisitiveness in LAB class
......: for his sharing of experiences in OB class and the "own it all" walk
....... : For the most innovative sleeping postures and constant bodily movements
....: for her moodiness and astute observational powers(she noticed the bodily movements above), the sandals, and well from becoming an Introvert -> Extrovert, and for becoming the future FAM teacher.
........ Mam: for her amazing lectures
.....: for his experience and stage fright or may be playing it safe(will be elaborated below), and perennial smoking
......:"for his famed "born in jaisalmer and Son of soil" dialogue
......: for her water bottle nd dentisery...!
......: for her asking all the questions and being a genuine individual
and finally
........: for her being pdpeeed in the library, and for her being a real sport all the time.
At the same time time there were few people i found outside the class who were on the same frequency as me especially the "first markup event team", a few seniors, the girl with the perennial band aid, the girl with the gr8 "finance plan", the roomie who was just perfect and loads of other people that really helped me settle down at IMT.
Between all this was the time for the Club/Committee circus. Where in first years were called in the middle of the night to be judged by seniors who not always were worthy enough to judge. Some disappointments and shocks later i landed up in IRC, the International Relations Committee at IMT Ghaziabad.
Now came the first major event for our batch the "IPL" tournament, Gravely under prepared and there only because none other volunteered, a few members from our class namely
anirudh, jiggy, ankit, avneesh, gaurav, rohit( if i have forgotten any names kindly do not mind)
worked hard put something together and reached Kapilmohan ( it is here that the stage fright of ..... disconcerted me"), expecting nothing out of the event when we were awarded the first position it was really the first time that i felt that feeling that one wants to feel all the time, SATISFIED. A glimpse...
The IPL was followed by appreciation and a little more recognition everywhere. At the same time a certain camaraderie had started developing within B3. Meanwhile the first quiz's, a lot of IRC work had creeped up from nowhere what followed was disaster, sleepless nights, below average marks and a lot of mixed emotions at personal level. Hours were spent relaxing in the library AC's which till date remains my favorite hangout place in college, Gyan was given by lots of seniors, the nescafe promenades, Yellow wretched thing, and again emotional dynamics taking up a lot of time.
The next writable thing was the "Domino's Event" where buoyed by past success a few from our class reached Kapilmohan, the case study wasn't rocket science but the fact that we were the only first year team present was a little daunting. Minutes to our presentation and we had not reached a consensus, finally again lacking in preparation we opened our mouths in front of the domino's marketing VP, and our respected seniors, it came of pretty well given the fact that even after reaching the stage we had no clue what we were gonna say. Still i feel this event to was a milestone in terms of we people coming of age.
The midterms approached fast and so did a few projects and case studies. Nights in the library, banter in front of the class ( the OB Experience), the debacle( the qtbt project )
and the 7 papers all went past in a flash. Some went well some did not, but the good thing, results are nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile the freshers , yeah the party that is supposed to happen as you enter the college came to pass and few one liners did got stuck " I thought we were supposed to have a party" , "we have thrown freshers and there is no1 here, its Disgusting", the booze flowed though like the Yamuna, the dj was better as compared to the cultural night( yeah that happened after the orientation week, cant write bout every single thing now!!! Can I ???), dancing till 6 in the morning was a joy even more satisfying was the feeling that you belong in certain groups and that you do have some potential friends in the making.
As of now after all that has happened over the last one and a half months, things seem to have settled down, in class you know the people you would like to sit next too, the photography sessions in class have made me write freelance photographer next to my name, the IRC work, the study schedule being followed, meeting deadlines ( as placecomm rules apply), in awe of some second years everything is going on simultaneously and well at that!
Rite now its one of those rare calm Sunday's and the lull before the storm that has allowed me to sit down and write in this space. Lots of interesting and scary stuff is lined up for the coming days the mahindra & mahindra event, the LAB project, the study schedule and the things about which i do not know as of now; yeah actually all this stuff does look interesting to me now and not merely a deadline, perhaps MBA rigor is starting to sink in.
On a closing note this is what comes to mind :
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
