Welcome to Term 2

So much for the relaxed pace I looked forward to in this term. The workload seems worse than it was in the first term, and I've had little time to write or reflect. I hope to do better next week, but don't expect to update this blog before Sunday.

Back to Ahmedabad

The tucchas told us that this will be the lightest of all the terms we spend in the first year at WIMWI. So when I reached here at 7:30 am, I was expecting a nice, relaxed time, at least till the end of the weekend. I paid the fees and went to collect the study material for the term. And my welcome to WIMWI jolted me to reality - the books we were given weigh a ton and I could barely manage to carry them back to my room. The others too had trouble with this weight-lifting exercise.



And the readings for the first day in economics itself totalled some 60 pages (in a smallish print). The term has begun really auspiciously.

The last week, which I spent in Bombay, was great. I managed to see almost all my friends who're still in Bombay. Unfortunately, I couldn't meet Aditi, Ashish and Priyanka. Perhaps during my next visit, in November. Also fun was riding in the BEST buses and local trains. I was very intrigued by the reduction in railway fares - perhaps the first time I have seen a decline in prices charged by the Indian railways. Obviously the most fun I had was playing with my niece Vrisha.


So back it is to WIMWI, and I am looking forward to a great term.

20 hours to go

When one has mug every day, even if it be for only 2-3 hours in the evening, the manner in which time flies is astounding. Two and a half months ago, I came to WIMWI, full of apprehension and expectations. Tomorrow the first term officially ends and I will go home for 6 days. 6 days do not seem much, but in this context, where we have not got even 2-3 days of continuous free-time, they are quite a lot.

Today was a hectic day, though very enjoyable. At 9 in the morning, the 'Intro to Computers' paper began. Lasting for 2 hours, it was a fairly easy paper. Then Maths lasted for 3 1/2 hours from 2 to 5:30. It was interesting, especially the problem about "Rawbert, Tony, Michael and Mona"! I was pleased that I did not mess up either of the two subjects, though maths was by far the most difficult subject of the term for me.

Then a bunch of us went to Mocha, and spent an hour and a half there. After coming back, I was a bit involved (mostly just gazing and chatting unhelpfully) in creating a presentation for the birthday invitation of Jolly, the birthday manager of my dorm. Chhedi did a brilliant job with the invitation, save our inability to embed the mournful "Dil ke armaan asuooh mein behe gaye" into some appropriate slides. Then the elimination round for Livestock - the stock trading game for this year's Confluence - was held from 9 to 9:30. Since 2 of our team of 6 (Moti and Thoku) are sick and out of Ahmedabad, we were woefully short of manpower and brainpower. We tried our best, but didn't expect to qualify. As it turned out though, due to some server problems, many teams were unable to submit their answers. Hence, a retest will be held in the next week or two. We have another chance.

At midnight, Jolly's birthday was celebrated with great enthu on the part of both his sectionmates and us dormies.

So, no mugging done (and none is required, as Individual Dynamics is open-book and WAC has no readings) and I'm ready to sleep for the last time in term 1.

Sadder by the day

More tragedy in the story of Section D. Moti fell prey to the same nasty illness stalking our section and had to miss the exams today. After a short stay in SAL hospital, he'll fly home tomorrow, and will miss the remaining four exams as well (On an aside, SAL is the first hospital I've seen where vistors are charged an entry fee to see patients!). And Sarang too was not well enough to give exams today. Hopefully, he'll be fine tomorrow. So that's 6 students from our section, who have partly or completely missed their end-terms. I just hope their postponed exams are held soon after the break, or else they will face serious difficulties in managing the syllabus of two terms simultaneously.

Not that I've been coping much better, with just the first term to worry about. The end-terms so far have been pretty bad. Operations was a disaster. Eco will hopefully be a facesaver. Accounts today was rather nasty too. HR went OK. But once Maheshwari lucidly expains the factors pertaining to the labour unrest in the case, I will probably learn that I'd missed almost all of them.

No matter...just two more days to go. I'm sure glad to be rid of these tests, but I am not unhappy at WIMWI. I am beginning to enjoy life here. My friend-circle, though small, is perfect for me. Have got used to the pace, and have been able to make time for reading books, websites and newspapers. And I'm sleeping well too.

I finished part 1 of the Htichhiker's Guide (finally!) yesterday and I simply loved it. The story meanders rather aimlessly, but the recurring anticlimaxes are hilarious. The words are so humorous and so unexpected. "Do you want me to sit in a corner, and rust, or just fall apart where I'm standing?", says Marvin the hopelessly Paranoid, but still delightful, Android (Adams, 2002, p. 71). In the next term, I hope to expand my free time further, and begin reading more voraciously and restart my essay-writing.

Some numbers

Classes

Days in the term : 81
Number of classes : 164
Number of classes attended : 162 (The 2 missed were in an "attendance-optional" class)
Number of quizzes : 41 (including 6 midterms and 8 endterrms)

Sleep

Average hours of sleep : 5.5 (Sleep data recorded since July 15)
Fewest hours slept in an 8 day stretch : 23.75 @ 2.97/day (From Aug. 7 to Aug. 14)
Most hours slept in an 8 day stretch : 54.75 @ 6.84/day(From Sep. 4 to Sep. 11)
Days with 4 hours or less of sleep : 13 (Since July 15)
All-nighters or near all-nighters : 4 (During the entire term)

Other activities

Days when cricket played : 2
Days when football played : 1
Days when tennis played : 1
Group treats and dinners outside : 4

Reflections

Now that the term 1 is about to end, it is appropriate for me to post some thoughts about my time spent at WIMWI.

It's been quite contrary to my expectations in many respects. I came here expecting the studies portion to be relatively trivial (despite the rigours seniors had warned us about, in pre-arrival interactions) and there to be many non-academic activities. The subjects have instead proven to be quite challenging and useful. I even appreciated subjects like HR and Individual Dynamics, that I had previously viewed with much scepticism. I especially liked HR, proably because we had the brilliant Prof. Maheshwari. I still think that ID is a problem course, though I cannot easily point out where it goes wrong and how it can be improved (Perhaps, a discussion of genetic and evolutionary influences on behaviour might help). My least favourite course was the written communication course (WAC). It's the favourite of many students here, but I did not see any major improvement in my writing skills. Or perhaps I am just unhappy because I've got poor grades in this subject. My favourite subjects were economics and operations. I have been long smitten by economics, of course, and I expect this to continue. I am quite sure I'll take up a heap of economics electives next year. Especially if any are taken by Prof. Dholakia. Operations is billed as a difficult subject. It is, but it was a pleasure listening to Prof. Tirupati. Even the little knowledge I have acquired about, say, JIT has alerted me to the difficulties in running factories optimally.

On the other hand, the extracurricular activity front has been relatively quiet. Especially for me. In this aspect, I stumbled rather badly. Due to my poor people skills and because I had virtually no experience in organising 'events' in college, I found it impossible to get into any of the many clubs and committees on campus, except the Animal Lovers Club (where my work has been pretty poor too). It will be a terrible waste to get out of this place without being part of any serious non-academic activity. I hope to work upon this aspect next term. As I've written before, I expected many debates and discussions on history, science, politics, economics, etc. here, and by and large I have been disappointed. Next term we have a course on the Indian sociopolitical environment, and that should stimulate more heated conversations.

On the social side, I have fared quite decently. Given my inward orientation, I am more than happy with the friends I've made. I have of course faced problems adjusting to life where I am not in the bottom 33% of the class, but some conceits that I have displayed have surprised myself too. Some humility will certainly not be out-of-place, especially when I recall that most people here are much better qualified and as talented as I am. And the fact that I have seen people much more suitable than me not get into an IIM. At the same time, I do not place much faith in the idea that people can change their personalities infinitely, if only they put in enough effort. So though I often speak without considering the sensitivities of the situation or the person in front of me, and my straight-forward manner of responding often appears abrasive, and I realize that this is a serious problem, I fear this will be a millstone I drag throughout my life.

Last day of Classes!

Classes ended today at 11:40 am, with Mamman, the acting class Rep (he's also the entire PGP 1's Rep), thanking our MANAC professor.

Thoku's back on campus :) But as I was walking back after meeting Thoku, I met Mamman who told me that Khetan was now in hospital. The news was quite deflating. 4 from our section will now have to get their end-terms postponed.

I finally saw a full episode on TV yesterday. The show's Buffy, obviously. Unfortunately I landed upon one of the poorer episodes from the weakest season of the show - the episode "Where the Wild Things Are" from season 4. It was still good viewing. Anya (I'm just trying to tell you that we have nothing in common besides both of us liking your penis, and now I don't even have that!) and Spike (You know... You take the killing for granted... And then it's gone, and you're like... I wish I'd appreciated it more. Stop and smell the corpses, you know?) simply floored me (Both quotes are from the Buffyguide website. Referencing is something one learns quickly in WIMWI). And Sarah Michelle Gellar looked heavenly as usual. How I hope to see episodes like "Becoming" and "Once More, With Feeling!"

Dorm Naming

More assignments submitted and completed today. I can't wait for Saturday, when the last of the assignments is due.

Many people from my class went to the hospital today, as it's Thoku's birthday (on the 8th). Everyone is finally making progress. Thoku is quite fine. In fact many of us suspect that he's in the hospital to enjoy the AC, TV and room service which stand in stark contrast to the limited comforts in WIMWI :) KG is still very weak, but he seemed better today. Anara said he was quite well all day, though when we went, he was running a fever and feeling sleepy. We had a good time at the cake-cutting ceremony with the cake embossed with "Happy Birthday, Thuko" :)

After the short visit, Moti, Chhedi and I joined our dormies for a dinner in Mirch Masala restaurant (where we had section dinner too). This was in celebration of the 4 exchange students joining us this term. Though I could not eat, the conversation was interesting and rather witty.

After coming back, I got to experience the other side of the fence, with the dorm naming of the 4 newcomers from Europe. Like Tin Tin and Kumphy from the last term, these four are very sporitng and enthusiastic too. The ceremony was a good foretaste of things to come next year. Like always, D-18 chose quite decent names for its inhabitants. Swappy, MaNo, CenChu and Zippo - welcome to The Dorm on the Edge.

Last week blues

How I wish these blues were due to sadness on account of classes ending! Instead we are all swamped by three submissions due in the next two days, plus some concerns about the exams next week, and of course the continuing presence of three of our section-mates in the hospital. I for one have pretty much given up the struggle to study every fine detail. I will somehow go through the week, hopefully manage to clear the end-term hurdle and come back to the second term with fresh enthu.

This week I saw Friends (for about 5 minutes) after a long time. Must have been by far the longest stretch of time I have spent without watching the show since I first saw it 7-8 years ago. For some reason, it did not feel quite as entertaining. The laughter track, in particular, was jarringly out of place most of the time. I wonder why. I do want to watch one full episode of Buffy before the end of term though. Oh those happy days when I watched Buffy as many as times as I could possibly manage! And I could manage thrice a day quite easily during a period when it was being simultaneously broadcast on Star World and some South African channel beaming into my house. I am still quite sure that the first thing I'll buy for my personal use when I start earning any money is a boxed set of Buffy and Angel DVDs.

BTW the tubelight in my room is still not working. This is contributing to my slightly miserable state too. I hope to get it replaced tonight.

In a hospital

The tubelight in my room is not working tonight, so typing is a real strain. I'll keep it short.

The grim situation as regards illness on the campus continued today. Our class CR Anara joined Thoku, KG and Khetan (from Section A) in the hospital today. It's possibly malaria but no one is sure (Though Khetan has indeed been confirmed with malaria). It was rather sad to see them all in the hospital today, especially with the end-terms approaching. From our section, Prostee, Chhedi and Balaji are doing the commendable job of spending the night in the hospital. Gusshow, guys!

Meanwhile a tradition has affected me. Pajushan began on Sep. 1. Altough a hard-core atheist, I have a soft spot for traditions which are not directly contrary to my beliefs. So my general policy is to continue with a tradition unless there are compelling reasons to do otherwise. Since 9th or 10th standard, I have followed the Jain custom of abstinence from certain foods during these 8 days of Pajushan. Generally, it is hardly a bother; but this time it has been a bit more difficult. With hardly any of the allowed foods being served in the mess, I have had to resort to drinking juices and eating fruits (with a good corn soup in the evening) during the day. And the long nights cause more pangs of hunger at night than I've been used to (Since nothing can eaten or drunk from sunset to sunrise). Well, only four more days to go, then it's back to a varied diet. And from the 16th to the 21th, it should be good eating my favourite foods in Bombay all day!

The calm after the storm

After two rather busy days spent mugging, doing assignments, making presentations on Osama and aimless (but very fun-filled) wanderings with friends, suddenly I found myself with nothing to do this evening. I was in no mood to study tonight. But everyone I knew seemed untraceable. I read up on Hitchhiker's Guide, cleaned my room a bit, etc. Still bored, I then resorted to aimless wanderings in the campus by myself (The only saving grace was that I had a cell with me and made some calls to friends from Bombay).

We had presentations in Individual Dynamics today. After a last day rush to prepare for our presentation on a leader and his influence on his organisation (we finished at 4:30 am, with presentations beginning at 9 am), we managed to put up a decent show in class today. Of course, the choice of topic was a major upside. I discovered significant attitude problems on my part though. I really will have to work on them and improve soon.

Last week of the term is upon us. Unfortunately many in my section have fallen ill. At least four (correction added on 5/9/05 : three) are sick or have just recovered. This place does not lend itself to any voluntary/enforced breaks from the regular routine of studying. Falling ill is amongst the worst things that can happen to a WIMWIan. It's not that WIMWI authorities are not doing anything (there are regular sprayings of pesticide, anti-malaria pills are distributed, etc.), but then students who primarily eat on campus from the college mess should not be falling prey to fevers so often.