Rush

Unlike last week, when things went at a leisurely pace, life became rather more hectic this week. There are projects and assignments due in HR, ID and Computers. In addition Accounts has suddenly turned into a wayward creature that appears docile one minute, then completely uncontrollable a minute later. Accounts classes pass by with many of us trying our best but yet unable to completely internalise the professor's repeated explanations of the same topics. And the CAs inform us that their accounts were many times more complicated than this. I finally see why CAs are held in such high regard.

I have had a great time this week though. Ever since I was part of (rather, an observer of) a most interesting discussion about various Bollywood movies by Moti, Chhedi and Prostee, I have come to appreciate my classmates much more. Here they were - three people talking so confidently about rather arcane details about movies of the 70s and 60s that one would think they had done nothing but watch movies throughout their lives. But of course, they had done a lot, lot more. Prostee, DSE grad, has worked for two years with the Asian Development Bank, Moti, a high ranker in IIT-Kanpur, has left a plum post at HLL to come here and Chhedi had been offered a job at Oracle. Almost everyone here has such deep knowledge about one or more fields outside their study area. Though, much to my annoyance, most of our time is spent in chatting mindlessly over silly topics, even these glimpses into the real intellectual capacities of the people here are very impressive. And this last week, I sensed that in the future, I will be able to have more 'real' conversations with friends here than I did in the first two months.

Many exchange students from abroad are now arriving on campus. Three have already come into our dorm in place of the two exchange students who've now left and the 5 seniors who will spent next term abroad. All together some 50 foreigners are expected to study in WIMWI in the next term.

On a side note, I realised that I had really stopped watching TV when I caught a few moments of CNN today and actually detected a clear foreign accent. I had become so used to Star World and BBC in the last 8-10 years that I hardly realized that there is a fair difference in their accents and those in which we talk.

In the same broadcast I saw the terrible pictures of New Orleans. Reminded me of the tragedy Bombay suffered last month. This seems much worse though, as the levees will take weeks to be repaired, from what I understand.

Recession?

As Katrina drenched New Orleans and the price of crude crossed $70, the magnitude of what has happened in the last 18 months dawned on me. Then, crude sold for about $30 a barrel. The relentless increase in oil prices has had little impact on the world's economic growth so far. But the continuing US budget deficit, the impending burst of their housing bubble, the tripling of interest rates amidst growing consumer debt, continuing unemployment and the trade deficit with China all point ominously towards a downturn. I can imagine that if the current state holds till December, the US might be pushed into a recession (primarily due to lower consumer spending). I have mixed feelings towards high crude prices of course, as I feel that this can induce further research into more environment-friendly energy souces. But a recession (a recession in the US will of course stall the rest of the world as well, especially becuase high oil prices will have an impact on various countries, independent of and in addition to, the reduced demand from the US).

The impact on India will be significant too. I think current domestic oil prices are based on a global price of $45-50. At some point, to prevent the liquidation of the oil PSUs, either the taxes on oil will have to be reduced or prices raised. It will probably be a combination of the two. Since a portion of the tax on oil products is percentage based, the government must have made a fair sum due to the rising prices. Still, due to their fairly reckless behaviour as regards economic reform and fiscal discipline, too much of a tax giveaway will not be possible. So we better brace ourselves for petrol costing about Rs. 60 a litre in Bombay, before fiscal 2006 is over. We could tide over the high prices nonetheless, but the government's complete kow-towing before the Left's non-sensical demands has left us vulnerable. No divestment, stalling of infrastructure projects, missing legislation on labour and pension reforms - all the Centre is doing now is maintaining the status quo and even regressing (for example, the rollback on commitments to eliminate the LPG subsidy by 2007).

Next fiscal year is not going to be very good, unless things improve soon. India has wasted one full year (just like we wasted 1-2 years when the NDA came to power in 1998 and 1999). And each year wasted is a year lost in the quest to improve the lot of the poorest of the poor. Economic forecasts, especially by engineers, are very uncertain and I myself would be pleased if things continue going well. But if I had to lay a wager now, it would be for a near-recession (below 1% growth) in the US and a mild downturn in India (around 5% growth) next year.

Surprise?

Two days ago I confidently predicted no quizzes for the remainder of the week. Given my stock market fortunes over the last six months, it came as no surprise that there were three quizzes in two days. The third - in maths - today, was the outcome of the economics prof's indiscretion though. Day-before-yesterday, the eco class was second, to be followed by maths. Contrary to WIMWI policy, the economics professor all but announced that there was to be a quiz in the afternoon. Since maths class is optional, 3 quarters of the junta promptly left to mug and there were only 22 students in the class. This was still better than attendance during T-Nite, but the maths profs were nevertheless disturbed. So their response was to give broad hints about preparing and coming for the next class, and sure enough, there was a quiz in the class today. And attendance had dramatically risen to over 75.

The basketball tournament began today. Section D played A in the first round. We have a great team, especially Balaji, Samrinder, Pepsy, DJ and Rajaram. We had an easy victory over A, and will play section B in the final tomorrow. I am quite hopeful that we'll win this competition too.

The fourth term for the tuchhas has ended. The campus wears a rather deserted look. Yesterday Dorm 18 went for a dinner to mark the end of the term. In two weeks, the first-year first term will end too. I'll try to put some more contemplative posts during this period. Of course T-Nite has to be described too. But right now, we have to research for the HR and ID projects due next week. The case for OM has to be prepared too. Plus the expectations for a quiz-heavy week persist. I hope I'll have time.

'Vella'er by the day

I am not certain what vella means, but I heard it often enough in WIMWI to guess its approximate meaning as "having nothing important to do". Some of us have certainly become vella after T-Nite.

Today after yet another quiz-less day (We have had only 1 short quiz this week, after 5 in the last week. We anticipate 7 quizzes for next week), we proceeded to play cricket. There were initially 10 of us, later rising to 13. We played box cricket. The talent in WIMWI does not extend to this game, atleast if we go by today's play. Everyone was outdoing each other in their show of nonperformance. People were getting bowled off full-tosses! I managed to bag a nice haul of wickets, by the simple expedient of being so poor a bowler that the batsmen couldn't resist hitting me for six after six - sixes are, of course, disallowed in box cricket! We had a good time. Unfortunately our Operations prof passed us during the game. I wonder what he was thinking - we had no time to prepare his case on Tuesday (see this post), yet here we were with bat and ball!

The lack of sleep is a strange thing. I could manage with 5 hours of sleep reasonably well. But since last week, I have been trying to increase my sleep time. But as I sleep longer, I seem to require even more of it. Yesterday I slept for about 6 hours. Yet I was feeling quite sleepy in the evening. Or perhaps it was the effect of the ID reading (Individual Dynamics - a mostly silly course which tells us obvious things about people's behaviour, which I don't believe one can change much anyway).

A Bad Day

I have spent the last two months enjoying quite a few laughs when the HR prof massacred student after student. Today was my day to be massacred. Normally he is quite friendly to me, and I happily make one CP every other class. Don't know exactly what happened, but I made two CPs and he launched into me both times.

Excerpts from the class

Me : Sir, the whole fertilizer business would have been unviable in India in a free market economy...
Prof (without letting me finish) : No, you are very wrong. The business is very profitable. In fact it is more profitable than most others.

I argued a bit, but soon was trembling and just waiting for the exchange to be over. But a few minutes later, I made another attempt at a seemingly simple contribution. It turned out to be disastrous.

Prof : So who controls the posting of the IAS officers?
Me : Sir, the central ministers or the chief minister in the case of state cadre...
Prof : Where do IAS officers serve?
Me : Sir, there are some at the state cadre and some in the Centre...
Prof : What kind of a manger will you become? Are you living in India? You need to study the Indian constitution and the laws and policies of the country. Things like these are taught at the 8th and 10th standard levels...and you don't know... (I still have no idea what exactly was wrong with what I said. A bad day, I guess).

In the next class (MANAC), I made another CP. This too was shot down, though quite painlessly. OM (Operations) was next and I was not going to open my mouth. In any case, though I had prepared the case and come, it was a particularly difficult one and I had no confidence in my process analysis of the paint factory. Unfortunately the whole class had felt the same way and few had prepared well. Our OM professor is really good and quite easygoing. But as the lack of class preparation was exposed, he became disappointed. I would have been more pleased if he had become angry. But he simply chose to end the class 15 minutes before time and asked to prepare the same case for the next class. We were all ashamed of ourselves for disappointing the prof.

In the afternoon, there was an HR lecture by the VP of Hero Honda. It was not bad, but I was more inclined to concentrate on my Computer assignment due tomorrow. The assignment was not tough - just 2 Visual Basic programs, but I could not get the first problem right at all. I tried it yesterday night for 45 minutes. Today I worked on it from 2 pm to 3 pm, then again from 5:30 to 8:30 and finally from 9 to 10. There were only minor errors but the whole day was wasted in debugging the program. I am glad I am not going to do much coding!

The day ended on a better note. The tuchhas' fourth term ends this week. Many will be going for an exchange visit next term. So we organised a small dorm party around midnight. It was great fun.

I also got the Hitchhiker's Guide from Madhuri today. Should be a great read. Though I haven't finished 'The Great Mughals', 'The Goal', 'The Wealth of Nations' and 'Gulliver's Travels' yet. Lots to read...so I better get on with it.

Victory

The inter-section football tournament concluded today. After our resounding win (7-1) over section A on Friday, we faced Section C in the finals. Our team, represented by Balaji (Balls), Shobhit (Thoku), Pankaj, Priyank, Rajaram, Sourav (Prostee) and BV (Hermy), and supported by 20 odd D-company junta, conceded a goal in the first half. We came back well in the second half, but could only score one goal and level the scores. In the ensuing shootout, we held our nerves and won 3-1. Our first victory as a section. As is our section slogan - Gussshow, D Company!

I managed to make another trip to Bombay yesterday. It was a short stay, not even 15 hours. But it was quite worthwhile, though I missed a wonderful play (by WIMWI's dramatics group) and a hell of a bumping session at Shyam's birthday, from what I hear.

BTW I made 110 bucks in the economics experiment. Not bad for 10 minutes work.

A game of football (and economics)

I will continue with my T-Nite posts later, as they deserve to be written in detail. And I'm feeling too sleepy now (I know it's only 11:00, but for once I want to sleep before midnight).

After T-Nite, the humdrum of regular classes has resumed. After a long, long break of over three weeks, quizzes have begun too. On Tuesday everyone expected a quiz. It was quite a sight when the quiz notice board was clear. Everyone was completely bewildered. "What is happening?" was a frequent query. Wednesday bought things back to normal with a MANAC quiz (and an HR quiz in class). We now expect the quizzes to continue every other day for the next three weeks. Today an IC quiz was held. Everyone was scared, as Visual Basic was expected to be tested and no one was too confident about their VB skills. After lunch I went to class and discussed whatever I could with some others for an hour. But the quiz turned out to be the easiest we are ever likely to face in WIMWI. It was meant to last for 30 minutes, but most left before half-time. No complaints though, I'm quite happy with an A for everyone in class.

After the quiz, we decided to play some football. After a lone tennis game, this was the second time I played something here. It was enjoyable, though a bit tiring.

After the football game, I went for an economics research experiment being organised by one of the professors here. I went there both to be part of the research and also to earn some money - there was the possibility of earning a couple of hundred bucks during this research game. The game itself was very strange with just one question needed to be answered, that too by only half the subjects present. I hope I get some moolah for my meagre efforts. Payout's tomorrow - I hope for the best!

T-Nite : Day 1

Day 1, Tuesday

The day began after people spent half the night practising for the various acts we would put up on Mess Nite 1. As I wrote before, preparations had begun in earnest from Saturday evening. On Tuesday morning, I left CR-10 around 4 am and slept at 4:30. We then attended classes from 9 to 1:10. I was quite sleepy, though I managed to stay alert enough during HR and Eco. In the last class (Operations), I gave up and was more or less oblivious to what the professor was teaching.

Immediately after classes, we checked if there was a quiz. None, thankfully. Obviously most of us had not prepared much in any subject, nor were to do so for the entire week. Amazingly, except for one small ID Quiz in class, there was no quiz throughout the week. At 2pm, we gathered near the mess to begin the Pub Run - an event where 20 runners from each section attempted to cover the walls of the mess with newspapers marked with their section name. D Company was quite successful. I was part of the running team. We managed to cover huge swathes of the walls, despite making mistakes in our choice of tape. Finally, we finished the Pub Run in 2nd position.

Before that, days had been spent making posters and painting banners. These were put up in the evening, on the spaces that we had claimed. Meanwhile preparations for the day's main event continued. We were to present many dances and a small skit. I was alloted a small part in a dance to the song "...Kaise Don" from Kabhi Haa Kabhi Naa. I was also given a 30 second role in the skit - as a shirtless second-year!

Our performance was last, around 10:15 pm. We went in with the usual chorus of tempo shouts like "Section D ka tempo high hai. Baaki sab ki leli - Zig Zag, Zig Zag!" and "Faccha Tuccha janta hai, Section D ko maanta hai." [These tempos are integral to WIMWI's culture. There are tempo shouts by dorms, sections and other groups - they go around the campus shouting at the top of their voices after midnight. Occasionally the mess erupts with a rousing shout, "XYZ yaaha hai, ABC kaaha hai." (XYZ and ABC generally being of opposite sexes)]. We shouted ourselves hoarse during the course of T-Nite.

So, we went in. The small stage was surrounded by many tucchas (2nd years) who had come to support their erstwhile sections and to have a merry time. We did not do well. We were incessantly booed, even before our performance began. We got unnerved, and cowed down. The enthu (enthusiasm) was completely gone. We began with some dances. Though they were reasonably well done, the crowd was not pleased. The skit was a disaster. We couldn't be heard at all. In any case the skit was not very good. My bit was not at all appreciated. We ended with the Don Song, which was well received inspite of us not executing it well.

We trudged back to the CR. Our section tucchas consoled us, and reminded us that 3 days were left. Slowly we were roused up and began preparing for another night of performances...Day 2 had begun.

End of a Dream

The dreamlike week we spent in pursuit of the crown of T-Nite winner has ended with our fashion show at RJM Auditorium. But what wonderful week this has been. Don't think that anything in WIMWI will be better than this. The results will only be announced at lunch tomorrow. I hope we've managed to retain the lead we entered the 4th day with, though we weren't as good today as we were on days 2 and 3. Let's see. More entries tomorrow.

Happy Independence Day.

Second nightout at WIMWI

I know I had promised to not write here before Independence Day, but I now have some time to kill. I went into our classroom CR-10 yesterday night around midnight after our performance in the first Mess Nite (details to be posted later). When I finally came out, I was greeted by the sight of a lovely, slightly cloudy, but clearly blue, sky, and the sounds of chirping birds. Reached my room half an hour ago, at 6:30 am. Given that classes begin in 2 1/2 hours, it makes no sense for me to sleep now. So this will be my second nightout at WIMWI. Will be a great experience in classes today!

T-Nite is going very well. It will undoubtedly end up as one of my fondest memories. I finally had my long awaited non-academic interactions with sectionmates. Go, D Company.

A Break

T-Nite preparations began in earnest today. Had a great time, but since I am going to be quite busy throughout next week and want to devote all my spare time from T-Nite towards sleep, this blog will not be updated till August 15 atleast. I hope to give a detailed account of next week soon after returning from the hiatus.

Rem on the Ramp

Today was a holiday, since midterms ended yesterday. Section D (D Company as we now call ourselves) decided to go for dinner together to celebrate and also to begin preparing for the T-Nite, which begins next week.

Over 50 out of the 80 in the section were present - not a bad number. We were led out by our CR Anara Singh (aka Ankit) at 8:30, only to wait at the WIMWI gate for over 20 minutes for a bus we had hired. Travelling in a hired bus just to go to dinner was a novel experience. But it was a very good idea, and we would have been hardpressed to find 15-20 autos in the midst of fairly heavy rains.


Dinner was a good time. We went to Mirch Masala and had Punjabi food. The food was not bad and everyone seemed to have a good time. We then went to have ice cream and were finally back around 11:30.

Most of us however had not studied much for tomorrow. So we hit upon the idea of conducting a Rem on the Ramp itself. In this case, the Rem(edial)s were conducted by those who had studied, to teach the basics of the topic to the rest. Rems for MANAC and Computers were taken in a setting where normally large groups gather only in preparation for group outings or to gyrate in a Ramp party. Both Rems were short though, so we were free to mug/blog by midnight.


T-Nite (Talent Nite) should be really great. We'll have to organise dances, skits, songs and other such performances for 3 or 4 nights. It is an inter-section competition and D-Company is determined to be one better than last year when we were only joint-winners with A. The tucchas (PGP 2s) will judge us and many alumni will also drop by. Only problem is that the Institute does not care much about this event. Hence classes and quizzes will proceed as normal (perhaps worse, because the professors know we'll be busy with the Nite), and we will simply have to sacrifice more sleep to prepare for the performances. Don't know how much I will be able to contribute, except for helping with logistical arrangements and showing lots of enthusiasm. Will take many snaps, I promise.

DBabble

As I write this, I am also chatting with Shobhit, Simrin and TOEFL on WIMWI's online notice and discussion board. It's called DBabble and it has ensured that whatever little incentive students have to meet each other during really hectic times is no more. We've actually solved an entire IC assignment (albeit an easy one) by discussing it on DBabb! It's not all that different from actually sitting together and solving it!

But more pervasive than the instant messaging are the Notice Boards (NBs). Every interest group has one and any information of the slightest utility is posted there (and much that is useless too). Today on Section D's NB about 150 messages were posted, and there are still 90 minutes before midnight.

I guess this is not very novel at all for most savvy computer users. But I have never actively used chat rooms before and for me this is a fun experience.

1 hour = 60 minutes

It's almost 2:00 pm. I am sitting in the class waiting for the maths paper to begin - the booklet is in front of us, but we aren't allowed to open it. Instructions and other details are given on the front page. Before the paper, from 9 to 12, we had attempted a rather gruelling accounts paper. It was full of numbers and most of us couldn't balance the balance sheet.

So, all set for the maths paper. The paper says the duration will be 120 minutes. Atleast it will be shorter than accounts, only 2 hours. Suddenly one guy exclaims, "120 minutes...4 hours!", in a tone of complete shock at the hell they are putting us through.

The whole class burst into laughter. This guy presumably belled the CAT, was going to give a maths paper and couldn't convert minutes into hours! Some explained that this was the MANAC effect (accounts is called MANagerial Accounting and Control here). For some reason, I found the episode hilarious and can't stop laughing whenever I think of it (though it may not have the same effect on most others). WIMWI can drive the sanest minds over the cliff into madness.

Culture

As this has been by far the longest I have been outside of Bombay, before coming here, I was curious and anxious about meeting people from such a vast variety of backgrounds. But pretty much from day one onwards (aside from the shocks in terms of acads), I felt at home here. In midst of a discussion, I hardly ever felt that I was talking to persons who had lived all their lives in places other than my home city. Whatever little of the social and political views of the people I have gathered so far, seem to indicate the same mentality of liberalism I am most comfortable with. I guess that could be for two reasons :

1) Bombay is a microcosm of India, atleast urban India.

2) The students here are mostly from the same economic backgrounds - middle class or upper class (not implying any discrimination or lack of intelligence of course, just that few poor kids in India get the quality of primary education or access to the resources required to crack various entrance exams). Humans are fundamentally the same, if we consider a reasonably large group. They just respond differently to their different economic circumstances. So similar economic conditions, similar outlook.


I guess that reason 2 is the main factor. Perhaps the economic upper strata of Indian society is rather homogenous regardless of outward differences in language or religion. Perhaps the same is true of people worldwide.