Being in the middle of the longest break he's ever had since he began his formal education ( which was by attending class exactly one day throughout all of the first year ;)  ) ,  Harsh(a)  [whichever way you prefer it ;)  ] is now officially jobless! Ever since his graduation in March, he's been keeping himself busy with odd jobs round the house, making plans for that 'big' trip of his.. including:

• A bike trip to the North-East
• Scuba diving in  the Antarctic Ocean
  
• Camel training at Addis Ababa
• A hike to Bhutan
• Making sand castles in the Kalahari
• Figuring out if they eat frozen Gobi manchurian after dinner at the Gobi desert  [ It's a cold des(s)ert, you see! ]
  
• A month long mountaineering course at Darjeeling / Shivalik Himalayas
• Fishing for crocodiles in the Periyar lake
• Planting mango trees in his family orchard, so that he too can tell his grandchildren that they (the humonguously huge mango trees) were "this" tall when he was young

Flower, flower everywhere, not a flower to eat.

Note:
1) The last flower refers to Cauliflower....
2) And I seem to have a sudden longing for gobi manchurian.

The Leaky Cauldron.

"Let's go to Kudremukh!"

"Hmm.. Good idea. We'll go camping on Narasimha Parvata.. Awesome place."

Disclaimer: This may/may not be a work of fiction. It may or may not refer to real-life people and/or real-life incidents. All resemblances may or may not be coincidental.

Starting today, I shall start posting chapters of my latest blockbuster - "The *** Omnibus"

This in intended to be a collection of short stories, wound by a common thread, that of whateverness..

Disclaimer: These may/may not be a work of fiction. It may or may not refer to real-life people and/or real-life incidents. All resemblances may or may not be coincidental.

It was supposed to be a bright sunny day where we would all gather in the breathtakingly beautiful Open Air Theatre and get our degree certificates from The Guru himself ;)

Instead, it turned out to be a damp affair, with the rain gods deciding to weep with joy to mark the passing of PGP 10 ;) And weep they did! With bucketloads of water on the jealously guarded lawns and the sun deciding to take the weekend off, we were left with no option but to be prepared for all eventualities. After all, as managers with one of the best pedigrees across the globe, we needed a risk-mitigation strategy and an impact analysis matrix so as to ensure that our project would not throw any unforeseen issues that would affect quality output and give less than optimal results to all stakeholders involved. [Yay! I can finally spout management jargon!!!]

This essentially ensured that we had done scenario gaming exercises, also called rehersals, making reasonable assumptions and applying probable buffers for most situations [English – we went through the entire program multiple times…]

With the rain Gods playing hide and seek, it was finally decided that we’d all assemble into our auditorium while our parents would watch a live telecast of the proceedings from the classrooms. Talk of watching it on a 70mm screen!! I do hope this is taken forward to it’s logical end and a live webcast of the entire ceremony be made from next year on.

Anyway, with my folks coming over and the usual oohs and aahs on how beautiful our campus was, how it seemed more of a resort than a b-school, it was quite some fun!

By tomorrow evening, PGP10 will be history...

<text to be written when i start feeling senti> [no, not senti as in Senti a.k.a Senthilnathan... senti as in 'sentimental' ]

Some things are just impossible. For everything else, there is PGP10!  \m/   \m/

33

You Are From Uranus

You shine with brilliant creativity, and you're more than a little eccentric. You love everything unusual and shocking. You're one far-out chick or dude. Anything unconventional excites you - and you have genius potential. Just don't let your rebel side get the best of you, or else you'll alienate everyone. Your original thinking and funky attitude is all you need to be you.

You're a Total Grinch

Ouch! You make the Grinch seem like Santa Claus. Holidays definitely aren't your thing. Just relax, and create your own tradition. Even if it's drinking spiked hot chocolate and heckling carolers.

You Could Definitely Be a Vampire

Immortality, staying pretty forever, not having to get a job... you could definitely eat some flesh for these things. It's not that you're a murderer by nature. In fact, you're probably the furthest thing from it. However, if you woke up a vampire, you'd certainly be able to adapt and enjoy your new lifestyle. There might not be much better than living forever, even if it means giving up your soul. What you would like best about being a vampire: Being a total outsider What you would like least about being a vampire: Other vampires

You Are Very Messy

You are a slob, and you really don't care if other people know it. You don't love messes, but you just can't be bothered to clean on a regular basis. While being messy and disorganized feels easy, it's probably making your life harder. Maybe it's time for you to get a maid.

You Are Jean Grey

Although your fate is often unknown, you always seem to survive (even after death). Your mind is your greatest weapon, literally! Powers: telepathy and telekinesis, the ability to project thoughts into the mind of others, communication with animals

Date:	2007-12-23 15:27
Subject:	Snake!
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

While denizens of the non-human variety are pretty common at K, this is the first time one of them has made me late for class ;)

Picture this:

There's a class at 1515 hours which will have a quiz. Our protagonist (yours truly) is so engrossed in reading the adventures of Hans Solo that he forgets he had a class. Suddenly. there's a loud knock at his door at 15:13 by a neighbour who reminds our boy of the quiz. Cursing the fact that he has to attend classes on a Sunday, our boy fumbles around, trying to get dressed up, while simultaneously trying to find out what to study for the quiz. You see, he's so much wrapped up with the trials and tribulation of Princess Leia that he's conveniently blanked out the quiz.

It is now already 15:15. Rushing up the stairs ( yes, all 96 of them, since our man lives in the ground floor.. and the academic area is almost 100 feet above his current altitude), our protagonist is brought to a screeching halt at the top of the stairs by a thick dark coloured reptile which has decided that the middle of the corridor is the best place for its siesta!

It is already 15:17. The quiz will start anytime now. Our man is now desperate. He plans to execute a flying leap over the beatific creature when fortunately (for our man, of course) a security guard come along and prods at the snake with a stick.. And voila! The snake, as it turns out, a four foot long cobra!! Raising it's hood, it eyes the two intruders balefully... tryingto make up it's mind whether to go for the man with the stick or the one with the bulky black box (which the humans call a Thinkpad) in his hands. Thankfully, the security guard acts first, and with a flick of his wrists that would have done Azharuddin proud, throws the snake in the air and into the valley below.

Our man thanks the guard profusely and, warning him that the copybook flick has ensured that the enraged cobra is now squarely outside Hostel A, runs to his class, mentally making a note to keep his valley facing balcony closed for the next few days ;)
-

And it's back to academics now  :)

Ok! A big departure from the norm. What am I doing here writing about a person whose ___ tendencies are suspect?  ;)

Having heard quite a few friends pan the recent SRK starrer Om Shanti Om, I was quite prepared to watch the movie, if not for anything, then for pure b****ing value. Turned out, the movie is actually a nice one. Yes, the movie is unrealistic, candyfloss and melodramatic, but hey! it ain't pretending to be an Akiro Kurosawa classic! It knows what it's positioning should be, and unabashedly panders to it's target segment. Considering that the whole purpose of slipping into a theatre is to rid oneself of  'reality', for however short a duration, I believe OSO does a pretty decent  good job.

It bring out the child in you, who, somewhere deep down, implicitly believes in fairytales :) .. always willing to believe that agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho, to puri quainat use tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai… that agar sab kuch theek na ho, to picture abhi khatam nahin hui… Cheesy?? Candyfloss?? Clichéd??  All that and much more!! But so what? Deep inside, wouldn't you want to believe in it?

Oh, and did I mention Deepika Padukone looks awesome in the movie? No? Ok, hear it now. She looks like a gadzillion rupees (the dollar is now on a southward journey, so can't say she looks like a billion dollars).. Subtle, understated and uncomplicated.. Just the way they are supposed to be ;-)

Date:	2007-10-02 12:17
Subject:	Instant gratifiation, delayed response.
Security:	Public
Mood:	calm

A month ago, I'd posted about not having to pack my bags again till the end of my PGDM in March. And of all coincidences, the very next day, there was a notification from the administration telling us that, in a break from tradition, we have a term break from the 1st to the 9th of December!

And looking at the fact that it took me a month to post this.. more because of lack of, err..ummm...motivation(??), than for a paucity of time, it means that it's time to pull up my socks :)

Date:	2007-09-17 17:04
Subject:	What is one crazy thing you would like to learn to do?
Security:	Public
Mood:	bored

Go ahead! Tell me what!

Mine's to go deep-sea diving without diving gear ;)

Date:	2007-09-05 06:53
Subject:	Penultimate term
Security:	Public
Mood:	optimistic
Music:	The pitter-patter of raindrops..

Reaching K after an eventful bus trip, it just hit me that the next time I'd be packing my bags would be when I'm leaving K for good!
Starting today, we begin a marathon session, spanning two terms, since there's no break between the last two terms!
Though with home just a hop, skip and jump away, unscheduled visits are always a possibility  ;-)

Date:	2007-07-31 17:34
Subject:	Honey :P
Security:	Public
Mood:	grateful
Music:	Cryin' in the rain

Roma ( romaamor ) rocks!!