Arbit post

Hmmm, A long time since i wrote anything (that is apart from my exam). Actually i haven't written anything since i left my job (that should give you some idea on what i was doing at work :) ).

As I told in the last post, i am now in Kolkata, the erstwhile British capital of India. Initially it took time to get adjusted to the rigors of an MBA course. Especially to a lazy ass like me, who has literally slept through 3 yrs of his life in the name of work, it is like hell. But once you do get adjusted, it just becomes the routine.

OK, now lemme try to recap the last 8 weeks of my life. Joining formalities were pretty simple, almost next to nothing. Just fill in a form and there u r into the pre alloted hostel room. You get registered to the course a few verifications and you are all ready to go. Actually as i said, the few days, it is like all systems on the limit.

Parties...yes we do have parties (with unlimited booze, which goes on till the day break). Already attended 4 parties in the past 8 weeks, so on an average 2 parties every month.

Then there are tutorials, conducted by the seniors. Actually these are our saviors in the exams.They cover all the important stuffs in a way that goes into a dumbo brain like mine too.

Amidst all the partying, studies, tutorials comes the mid-term exam. Well 5 weeks into it and there it is...even before u can blink mid-terms come up. Thanks to the batchmates who take up crashers, a 2-3 hr synopsis of the entire course. Actually there are ppl who just attended these crashers and have got A-Pos in the paper.

Regarding the weather....least said the better. After coming from a city like Bangalore, known for its weather, this is a virtual hell for me. The weather is soooooo humid that u take the bath and come out and with 1 minute, u'll be sweating.

And then u do have ur best friends visiting you (especially those in the ground floor like me). Well, the best friends i am talking about are frogs, all sorts of reptiles (and may be sometimes the snakes too). Snails are pretty common over here (what with the 7 lakes in the campus). It is a sad sight to see soo many snails crashed by the cabs and the bikes.

Coming to the campus. It is beautiful campus, with 7 lakes in the campus. Our hostel is blessed with the view of a lake as soon as we come out of it. This lake a jetty too. So it is pretty common to find ppl chatting with others on this jetty.

With Kolkata being on the eastern side of India, it becomes very bright at around 5:30 or 6. I remember the first day when i got up and saw out of my window, it was so bright that i thought it must be 10 or 11 in the morning. Only after checking the watch a couple of times and crosschecking with the time on my mobile, i confirmed that the time is actually just 6 in the morning. Well it is another thing that this has made me miss a couple of classes, when i overslept thinking it is just 6 only to wake up after half an hour and see the time is actually 11.


Coming back to the early sunrise, i think it is apt to mention the existense of a mini Howrah Bridge in our campus. It is just a bridge across one of the lakes. The view of the sunrise from this bridge is just too good and some people (not me...i go to sleep then) do go over there at 5 am to watch the sunrise. As can be seen from the pic below, the view is just ...awesome....






The rains here are even more wierd. One minute there is no sign of the rain and for the next half an hour, it rains cats and dogs. Once it rained the entire night and then the situation was something like this.




Well, the seniors do tell that it might get worse if it rains continuously for a day, as it does every year. So am waiting for that, it will be fun...though drying the shoes is a major problem. Oh well, not to forget, there were a few dead fishes on the road after the water dried out :D

I think i can go on and on writing about this, but right now i have to stop and start on preparing for a case presentation which we have to do on monday. So long, till the next post...which hopefully is pretty soon.

Off to Joka

OK. No posts for a long time. So thought that i will go ahead and post the update from my side.

on 24th of May, my manager announced to my team that i will be going to IIM Lucknow. After all the congratulations and adulations, i came back to my seat and logged in to check for any new mails and what do i see???!!!!

I get to see a mail from pgpadmissions and thanks to the way gmail displays the to address all i can see is that much. Now all the iims have the same email id (pgpadmission@....). So i thought this to be a communication from IIM Lucknow . I didn't bother to read the from address and was mystified when the body told that i am offered admission and was supposed to send a DD of 50k before 4th of June. !!!!

It was then that i see the from address and what do i see..... the letter is from iim Calcutta !!!!!!
The sanctum sanctorum of finance!!! offering me admission.

Well my manager had told once that there are 4 stages of reaction to any startling news.
Shock, Denial, Frustration and Acceptance. Well for good news i am sure the third level will not be present. This was my condition on that day

For the first five minutes, i was dumbstruck. I didn't know how to react. I just stared blankly at the screen. Read and re-read the mail a couple of times. The second stage set in...denial. I thought it must be some prank now. Well, this institute is known for not giving out a wait list and usually give out exact number of calls, and it is now giving admission to me, almost a month after the first list was announced !!!!!

I sent back a mail asking for the attachment which was non-existent, and only after seeing that did i realise, that yes.... i am offered the seat !!!!

Well the ecstasy was overwhelming!!! (I dunno if that sentence makes any sense.... but i was in such a state). I rushed home, almost banging into a couple of vehicles on the way. I told my father and my brother, but was shocked at their response. Then i realised, that they didn't know the enormity of the news. So i waited till my mom came back and told her. It was when she told the enormity of the situation, that the other 2 got it.

Well there it is... the best 2 hrs of my life in a 50 line post.... :). So here i am ... off to Joka.

Oh yeah, for those who don't know, Joka is kinda suburb in Kolkata where IIMC is situated