Nineteenth

This week marked the end of seventh semester. Also, I would be taking a one month winter break to match the institute academic calendar. But it was a happening last week of semester, considering exams ended on Tuesday. The week could be summarized by following events, mentioned chronologically:

• Guru and Why Nations Fail: Just out of sheer randomness, we (Samarth, Chetan Pranay & I) decided we just need to rewatch a good Bollywood movie. After rejecting ideas such as DDLJ, we decided on Guru. Eventually though, the plan fizzled out and I was the only one who ended up watching the movie. And I just could not ignore the subtle analogies between the hostile institutions faced by young Guru Kant Desai and the extractive institutions as described by Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson in Why Nations Fail. Government of India had, with an intention to reduce economic inequality snatched away opportunities for entrepreneurs to succeed and accumulate wealth. It created a licence raj which gave tremendous monopolistic powers to existing influential players. Not only did the aggregated economic pie (GDP for those familiar with ECO101) stagnated but also there was a loss of social welfare. I would say the movie is a must watch after reading the book.
• The Institute Lecture: IIT Kanpur started a new series of institute lectures, 'Making of a University'. Prof Sudhir Jain, founding director of IIT Gandhinagar delivered the inaugural lecture. And the statement, 'I want my students to be either professors or entrepreneurs' will perhaps play in my head every time I would think of academic administration. The leadership style of Prof Jain reminded me of stories of Dr P. K. Kelkar, founding director of IIT Kanpur. I hope other newer IITs have the fortune of having such dynamic leaders at the helm and the brand IIT would remain in safe hands.
• The Wedding Crashers: Samarth had an invitation for some relative's wedding in Kanpur. Also, Chetan and I happened to be useless. He asked us to tag along and we were more than happy to join (after all, who refuses free food). It was only later that we realized that the ceremony's at Status Club, perhaps the poshest area of Cawnpore. With jeans and hoodies, the three of us were prominently out-of-place. And well, two of us uninvited. Samarth introduced us to the host and she was really welcoming and even nudged us to join the celebration. It was fun to attend a wedding uninvited. Also, it was my first experience of the north-Indian wedding (I have always attended Gujarati/Marwari weddings back home).  
• Placements: Witnessing the frenzy, competition and energy during day 1, slot 1 was indeed an experience. I can't really classify it as pleasant or bad but was definitely worth experiencing. For a moment, I felt even I should participate in the procedure, just for the thrill of participation. Maybe, such was my perspective because I was observing the placements with a security of PPO in my pocket. 

And I also happened to read a couple of articles about sexism against residential female students in two of the elitist colleges in India (You can read them here and here). After reading them, I feel happy that IIT Kanpur at least treats all its students equally and consider them to be mature enough to make their own decisions.

I plan to spend next 20 days in the comfort of home-cooked food, pleasant weather and amazing books. Of course, there will be family and friends for company. Happy holidays!

Eighteenth

I wrote my end-sems this week. I can't find another way to describe the week.

Seventeenth

I would want to write on a number of issues. But I face some challenges with the time constraint. Maybe I will just touch upon them in brief before they fade into oblivion with newer happenings.

• Mid-sem paper incidents: After over a month, we finally have a chance to see our corrected mid-semester copies for two departmental courses. And these happened to be the same two subjects in which I was a bit dicey about my approach to questions. After going through my answer-scripts, I ask a couple of questions to the instructors-in-charge. And I was bombarded with accusations as being concerned only with the marks and a grade on my report card. I tried but in vain to clarify that I was just asking to know how did I go wrong. And I think the professors are not completely at fault for this behavior. Over past many years, I have observed my peers concerned only with the final tally on their first page pest them with "...Sir, you gave half mark more to XYZ for the same answer..." Even as a third person in such scenarios, I find it a tad irritating. No wonder why the profs are frustrated with grading queries.
• Nirvaak issue: The 'views-paper' created quite a controversy in the campus. Especially the anonymous rant about the hardships faced by the fairer half in the campus. I am just presenting a personal view on the matter. I agree a very sensitive issue was raised in the article. To the folks who were offended, lets just get over the cuss-words and sadakchaap nazar issues and focus mainly on the stereotyping problem that has been highlighted. This is a serious societal problem not only in the campus but also in the country and we need conversations and discussions about it. But the way that article was written, it sparked more of an outrage. From the very little knowledge I have on the impact of language, I gather the choice of words and tone pretty much determine the kind of reaction that would follow. And sadly, the author chose the wrong words and an accusative tone. And the result - instead of sparking meaningful discussions, 'Bajrang Dal IITK Special Cell' emerged. 
• Community hygiene/responsibility issue: Let me tell you something I have observed about X, my wing-mate. He never ever turns off his room's light and fan. He often brings food in disposables which he conveniently disposes very near to his room (not in a dustbin though, which again is hardly 10 steps away from his room.) He is also a big time smoker and one can see stubs all over the common areas. Then there is Y, another wingie of mine. He follows a similar path (except maybe he switches off the lights.) A trash-can is on his way to the room still he feels the need to throw that used cup in the common area. Z, another friend of mine and again, my wing-mate has this habit of spitting cough in open spaces. At least he is better than W, a chap living in my hostel who spits in the water-filter sink. And yes, these are the benefactors of undoubtedly the best undergraduate education in India. And these just happen to be the representative agents. I have tried to reason with X, Y & Z personally as they happen to be among my close friends. And the responses are, well, nomadic. Sometimes I curse my self why I am even trying to reason with them. All I can say, all the best to 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan'.

    That's it for the week. Happy end-sems!

Sixteenth

Project deadlines in vicinity. I wanted to write about mid-sem paper incidents (yes, there were 2 on successive days) but there are a couple of pending project reports. Maybe next time. Or next to next time, considering end-sems. 

Fifteenth

On 2nd November, the less famous Marine Drive of Kochi braced itself for a protest. And unlike most protests that are organized by local political heavyweights having media-spotlight as its only agenda, it was organized by a pro-liberal Facebook group called 'Free Thinkers'. Named 'Kiss of Love' (Yes, even I agree they could have done a better job at naming but the purpose of the protest was indeed noble) its purpose was to raise awareness against unnecessary moral policing in the name of Indian culture. Organizers had asked couples to assemble at Marine Drive and express love by kissing, holding hands or however they wish. As expected, Kerala police moral-policed the protest by refusing to give permission and detained over 50 people even before the start of the event.

The protest was a reaction to vandalization of a cafe in Kozhikode by political goons and clippings by a Congress-run channel on how kissing is immoral (Yes, the irony. This comes in a country that is on track to break the record for most population) among several idiosyncrasies (Valentine's Day hooliganism by Shiv Sena in Mumbai and SRS goons storming a pub in Mangalore come at the top of my mind) by self-appointed guardians of Indian culture and tradition. And I cannot help but wonder how useless and jobless these folks are! For a country whose culture sculpted Khajuraho and wrote Kamasutra, public display of affection should be of least concern. And I believe persisting with social norms decades past their expiry date is one of the gravest social problem our country is facing right now. We, as a society should embrace (or at least, tolerate) the shift in norms given they produce no negative externalities rather than classifying them as Indian or Western-inspired. In a country as big and diverse as ours, differences in perspectives are bound to arise and such attempts to color entire society with a single perspective harms the fabric that bonds us to co-exist.

And there are several other subjects where I believe we should have a greater degree of liberalism. From religion, caste, sex, eating habits, alcohol to marijuana, we should let go of scaffolding of pre-modern stereotypes and start focusing on more pertinent issues we are facing as a nation - violence against women, sanitation, quality of education, lack of healthcare facilities and the list goes on.

PS: I came across an amazing piece on this very subject some days back. Have a look at it here.

Fourteenth

It was a festive weekend and after 3 years, I finally had a chance to celebrate Diwali again in Mumbai. This year's visit was not premeditated though. After returning from Kasol trip, I felt an homecoming urge. I talked to dad and within hours, tickets were booked. Drama din't end there. Barely 4 days before I was supposed to leave for home, I again changed my travel plans. I decided I can afford to miss a day's classes. Tatkal booking followed and after attending Deepanjali (popularly known as Hall 3's Hall Day) for the last time, I was on a train that crawled (no complaints actually) towards home.

Though over years, I have willingly accepted campus as my second home, it just gives a different joy to visit the original home (even after discounting for 'Uth jaa! Its 9 o'clock already!' calls every morning.) Being with family has its own perks, most of which words just fail to explain. Cutting the senti crap short, it just felt good. Really good. Rescheduling my travel plans not only gave me an extra day at home but also enabled me (along with Deven, Haddi, Kunj & Sodexo) to barge at Adhia's place slightly after midnight and wish the asshole a happy birthday! We followed the normal pleasantries with our ritualistic session of crazy talk which culminated with an agreement of Sir Palan's long awaited treat. 

Next morning, I reluctantly accompanied the same group of people for a brain-melter named 'Happy New Year'. Put all horrendous movies I have ever watched on one side and Happy New Year on the other, yet this one movie somehow manages to convincingly outweigh all of them in stupidity. Only saving grace was I din't pay from my pocket for that shit (Adhias did for all of us, unfortunately for them.) Later in the evening, for all the great deeds he has done, Sodexo aka Sir Palan treated us at Harry's.

Catch-up with cousins

Selfie with the maniac!

Where we played with fire 

Over the course of those four days, I also caught up with cousins, uncles and aunts. But overshadowing all of that were the culinary delights I was wanting to experience for a long time. Mom's & Shemal's home cooked food, Bachelor's, Harry's, Health Juice Center, Naturals - my stomach was bursting with amazing food for the complete duration. I can't help but wait to celebrate all fests with such feasts!

Thirteenth

As I mentioned last week, this one's going to be on IIT Kanpur's Aquatics glory. I wrote a pece that got published in Vox Populi, campus newspaper. Have a look at it here. Also, please like Vox's page. BPST, Bansal and other folks have worked really hard in reviving campus journalism.

Eleventh/Twelth

Last two weeks have been absolutely amazing. In many ways, overwhelming. It all started with a wing trip to Kasol and around the same time, Kanpur's aquatics team won laurels at the 50th Inter-IIT Sports Meet. And that was followed by Antaragni'14 - my last one as a student (Now don't give me that expression for being all senti. It was my LAST Antaragni. I am allowed to be senti.)

I would start with the Kasol trip. On the first day of October, six of us embarked on an autumn break trip for a wanderlust in the Himalayas. After a day's stop-over in Delhi (which actually timed perfectly. We roamed around Rajghat, India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhavan for full 'Gandhi Jayanti feels') and a 14 hour bliss on road, we reached a small village sandwiched between Himalayas with Parvati river acting as a cheese-slice (Okay I know that's a lame extension.) But given the extended weekend, Kasol was crowded. So much that we had to travel 10 kilometers to find an ATM filled with cash. We din't complain though. For the crowd was hip, young and beautiful. Lazying about the riverside, we made a late evening plan to go for the Kheerganga trek the following morning. Next morning, things were going perfect till we realized we took a wrong route and had reached Tosh, another pretty village in the upper reaches. We were 6 kilometers and about 2 hours behind our schedule. We had a decision to make and some folks around discouraged us from making the actual ascend as it would be difficult to return by night-fall. That's when the big-man Rahul made a big decision of returning to base which would exponentially increase our speed. We started on a 25 kilometer trek with 7 hours of sunlight in our hand with intentions to spend about an hour at the top. We proceeded smoothly and witnessed some of the most spectacular sights nature could offer.

Pit-Stop 2

Crossing a village towards Kheerganga

Place where apples were growing like leaves

The hot water spring bath at Kheerganga - Bliss

We reached Kheerganga in around 3 hours and followed it up with a relaxing lazy bath in the warm spring water. Bathing out in the open, 3000 meters above sea-level, surrounded by mighty Himalayas was indeed a specially refreshing feeling. You don't get such opportunities everyday after all. We started our descend some 90 minutes after we first set feet on the Kheerganga meadows and finished our trek with last rays of sunlight.

The following day, we lazed around in a completely different state. We hopped around cafes, hanged out by the river...basically chilled out like hippie locals of the place. On the last day, we were on the road back to Delhi but not before white-water rafting on Beas. It was different from rafting in Rishikesh in the sense that we were not required to paddle our way on the 7 kilometer route. The river current was fast enough to keep the raft moving. Gave us enough bang for the buck.

I originally planned to write about the Inter-IIT gold too but recent developments have led to re-positioning that piece into Vox Populi. Yes, I will edit and add its link soon.

Coming to the final topic - Antaragni. First two days went by as every other Antaragni. I attended Prima Nocte and Synchronicity, checked out the crowd food-stalls and finished off trivial academic works to free me for the weekend. I wake up on day 3 afternoon and the emotion of last Antaragni suddenly hits me. I go to Samarth's room to discuss possible dramebaazi we could carry out. He was watching random videos on YouTube to prepare for his Mridaksh prelims. The Aamir Khan's proposal to Priety Zinta from the iconic Dil Chahta Hai comes up and I sealed it for the chutzpah of the day. The only rider - she just had to be way out of my league. So, after enjoying Sunburn (As dancing would be too poetic a word. I actually look like a lunatic on a jumping jack when I attempt to 'dance') we gathered back in the Old SAC. And by 'we', I mean a crowd of around 15 folks, mostly from my Hall. We roamed about for good 20 minutes rejecting chick after chick in search of the one way out of my league. Finally we came across a group of 12-15 ladies and most of them seemed out of my league. I partially developed cold feet but somehow went ahead and knelt down before one of them. Others formed a circle around us, clicking snaps and partially cheering me. I obliged and somehow motivated by their reaction confidently phonated the dialogue I had painstakingly memorized. Claps followed and I thanked them for being a sport. And that also marked the end of Day 3.

Day 4 had no special plans. But after the Vishal-Shekhar concert, I somehow wasn't ready to end Antaragni. Ball Dance was the only event left and we (Samarth, I and others) gave it a shot. Asked a few people around but with no success. We were a tad dissapointed and decided to call it a day after a pizza. Bhanu and Pushp joined us. On our way back, Deepak (near Old SAC gate) and Pranay (near Hall 1) bumped into us. We started talking about the end of an era and our previous Antaragni adventures. Something in our conversation fired us up and all of us made a U-turn to Old SAC. We spent some time planning our moves but eventually I pull Pushp and Pranay to join me in an endeavor to convey all those pretty people how much will we miss them and how monotonous the campus will be next day onward. We were a bit apprehensive at first but after a couple of 'Awws' and 'We'll miss you toos' later, we stepped up our game. Spent a good part of the next hour and half at it. And then at 4, called it a day.

And that's how my friends, I spent my last Antaragni. I may have intentionally left out some parts, mainly because I am now getting a little bored by this post. But I am sure there are enough pointers in this post that will remind me of those parts. Hang in there for the post on Aquatics Gold!

Tenth

A week goes by post mid-sems. And this time around, along with the usual activities of chilling out, I also had an added responsibility of dropping a course. I had enrolled for the Applied Stochastic Processes course this semester expecting an exciting course in applied mathematics. Obviously I had discounted the notoriety associated with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, fully prepared for a rigorous and challenging curriculum. But the manner in which course proceeded right from the initial weeks disappointed me. Severely. Though I persisted with the course for some more weeks with a faint hope of eventual frequency matching of board-work with my personal objectives from the course. But the moment I had quiz 1 question paper in my hand, I had absolutely made up my mind on dropping this course (Well, it also provided with an additional benefit of extended sleep on Mondays and Fridays but their contribution was inconsequential.)

With all due respect, the instructor-in-charge, Prof S.S.Dhar had completely skipped over the 'Applied' part mentioned in the course title. Being a field having super-normal applications in finance, medicine, telecommunications and weather studies, it would be naturally expected to study how stochastic theories would be used to develop models in these domains. But half semester had gone by and hardly 15 minutes were allocated to rainfall problem. Proofs and theorems accounted for almost 70% of assignments and 100% of evaluations. Now, I am not trying to demean the importance of theories and proofs in any manner. They are very much required for scientific and technical progress and I personally enjoy studying and understanding them. But that does not imply I am competent to derive them given the time constraints of examination system (I had realized very early in my undergraduate life that my aptitude dwelled in applying knowledge to real-life/life-like scenarios and not in deriving theorems.) Additionally, if the only purpose of the course was to teach stochastic theory, why use the word 'Applied' in the course title!

I believe professors at this place fail to understand that not all students who voluntarily take up a course intend to do research in the particular subject (Or they do understand and choose to not give a fuck about it. In that case, this paragraph is immaterial.) There is just a tiny class population interested in research and hardly a couple of students wanting to actually research in the particular specialized field. All of us secured admission to this institute on basis of our ability to solve problems and a vast majority would love to continue doing that. Not everyone has caliber towards research, though almost everyone wouldn't mind to apply the results of any research to solve problems (irrespective of problem leading to value-addition or not.) Plus, from what I have gathered from my peers in the Mathematics and Scientific Computing department, it is general norm to rote the theorems and proofs from class notes and assignments to easily secure a good grade. I feel this approach kills intellectual curiosity and turns us students into CPI-sucking rats. I think the department should do a reality check and start offering genuine applied mathematics courses(the only one I know of is Mathematical Modelling), at least for the undergraduates.

On a side-note, I gave 50m and 100m Butterfly timings on a single day last week. Now, I would need to set some more targets to achieve before the farewell. 

PS: I have observed some strong under-currents with inclination towards research in the campus these days. But the real litmus test would be if it still exists after job offers. I sincerely hope it does though.

Ninth

Mid-sem week. Nothing exciting happened. Except for the thing with Rahul. And I am not going to put that on a public forum. Also, I don't feel like writing. Maybe next week.

Eighth

Yes I am late again. And this time I have a stamp of legitimacy for an excuse. Its the midsem week after all. In spite of a two day break between exams, I had planned a one week break from writing this time around in the name of exams. But a combination of factors (more specifically the multi-dimensional existential crises along with generic levels of frustration with the Indian system I usually face during exam time) got me writing.

So, we all know the valley has recently faced a calamity of disproportion. And how half of India is going gaga about how our army is spearheading the relief efforts and the other half crediting NaMo for a no-nonsense disaster management (even the foot-in-the-mouth Diggy is praising PM.) But the thing that disturbs me is why have our planners failed to consider such an eventuality. The relief  efforts and everything is all fine but why we, as a nation have failed to put an efficient system in place (if technologically and economically feasible) as a prevention. It absolutely surprises me that our planners are collectively  making decisions in a similar vein to that of an uninformed and illiterate subject at the bottom of economic pyramid (the analogy I wanted to use was along the lines of refraining to buy cheap mosquito nets only to end up spending much more on its treatment but I am just out of wits right now to fit it somewhere in there.) Anyways, the point I am trying to make is that its not rocket science to not consider such an event happening in a valley completely surrounded by >15000 feet mountains. And I looked back in time to find a plan had been put in place for flood management more than 100 years back by our then colonial masters after the 'great flood' of 1903. But they, being the colonial rulers din't do much and our subsequent governments, for being corrupt whores, again din't do much. And the result, by the most conservative measures, $1 billion is off the Indian economy (and I am just being an insensitive ass here, not accounting for human capital loss and other losses of livelihood.) 

Definitely I am not suggesting we could have avoided all the losses. But we could have minimized them. Like in case of Orissa hurricane (the one outlier among Indian natural calamities. And maybe because it primarily involved building a satellite and because ISRO was given responsibility to deliver it.) A superhurricane (as they called it) that lashed the state in 1999 killed over 10,000 people. With improved remote sensing capabilities, a similar intensity hurricane that hit the state recently claimed less than 1% of the former figure. In just one decade. Now that's something to be proud of. 

Okay now, too many words scribbled. Exam week it is. Untill next week. Adios.

PS: Poor planning seems to be a nationwide phenomenon. I have been living in Mumbai for past 22 years and I can almost imagine a 10 year old version of myself wondering about the water and rain woes of the city. I can write another 1000 words on what could be done to solve these issues. 

PPS: I don't want to get started on planning inefficiencies of Kanpur. The city is an epitome of chaos. And here's the article that triggered me to write this post.

Seventh

Yes I am late. And so has been so many other activities for the week. To give a perspective, newspapers from Saturday are lying unopened on my desk. Its been almost 5 days that I read any word from Steven Pinker's Language Instinct. Way too many things to do. And I just feel like going back to sleep. Maybe, its a wrong time to write(because I don't feel like writing) but I don't think I would find another open slot pretty soon. But it had been quite a pleasant week. And I had thought of various issues to write on in this week's post. Rather I would just make a note of the topics in this week's post and follow them up in subsequent weeks. So, here it is - 

1. Capital One intern hiring experience (from the other side of table)

2. Want for passion in life

3. Decision to drop Applied Stochastic Process course

4. Community hygiene issues on campus

5. Revisiting Bucket List

PS: Two more personal best timings last week. Shaved off a second \m/

PPS: Mary Kom is perhaps the most pathetic biopic ever. Complete waste.

Sixth

The week started on a new low. And I am perfectly happy about it. For it happened at the Institute Swimming Pool. And the event was 100 meters freestyle. I managed to clock my personal best after a string of rather erratic timings. I have been steadily regaining my stroke rhythm, losing the unwanted belly from Bangalore days and have stopped giving fucks about the early morning classes that gravely distorted my sleep cycle. I feel this is just the start and I believe I can easily shave two more seconds by the end of the season. And doing so in my final year makes it a little special, for most people find satisfaction in the saturation of performance by the time they reach their pre-final year.

And there’s another reason to cheer this week. I have managed to overhaul my inefficient reading speed issues, again a by-product of Bangalore days. And I believe the zero fucks I gave for 8 am classes was again, a main contributor of this development. Coincidentally, regaining my reading prowess timed perfectly with the virility of the Book Bucket Challenge. Going through my feed glancing through all those titles I should add to my reading list leaves me with an overwhelming feeling. There are so many books to read and going at my current rate of 40 books a year, I have time for just over 2000 more books. That’s really disturbing. On a completely random note, it would be really great if universities start offering a semester wherein one is just expected to read books they wish to read. My mind is already preparing a list of books, library sections to cover and I find it hard to come back from utopia.

Book Bucket Challenge reminded me of how differently people read books. There are some who read for the beauty of language, magic of words and literary excellence while there are some folks (like me) who just focus on concrete meaning of words, flow of ideas and knowledge trapped in paragraphs. Of course, there are others who seem to cherish both aspects of reading. I realize I am missing out on a significant portion of reading experience. But I am anyways weird. I also fail to appreciate scent of flowers, cuteness of kids and puppies (in fact they repel me) and  the grandeur of awkward social customs like marriages among many other things. I understand these are the trade-offs I need to make to lead a bit-more-rational and slightly-less-illogical life than an average demographic sample point. No regrets for my choices and the things I am missing out.

That’s it for the week. Quizzes looming this week. And so are the comments, “Abbe tujhe kya hi farak padta hai!” *sigh*

Fifth

Monday night. I arrive at Economics Lab after the CCD shuts shop for the day to - 

1. Escape the suffocating heat
2. Study for the quiz I have following morning

I casually go through my Facebook feed and notice an article named 'That Hashtag Was My Colleague' shared by one of my favorite comic writer. It was a long article about the barbaric gang-rape of a young photo-journalist at Shakti Mills compound. And I had to stop in between. Not because of the length. But because I was angry. And partially disturbed. By the incident and also by the insensitivity of the system. I completed the article and was appalled by the attitude and comments of the defense lawyers and the then-accused assholes. And there are hundreds of similar cases in India every year. Thousands unreported. And I cannot stop wondering how the very fabric of the society that idolizes women in the form of knowledge, wealth, power and prosperity has been ruptured.

Moving on with the rest of week, I finally managed to finish off a book in a long time. Bangalore had decreased my efficiency from reading 50 pages a day to 50 pages a week. This has happened in the past but it generally took a week or two to get back to my original clearing rate. Though my laziness can be attributed as a prominent reason for the delay this time around, horrible climatic conditions at Kanpur along with 8 am classes every single day do find honorable mentions. For both of them lead to a highly skewed sleep pattern and turned me into a zombie for the rest of the day. Eventually, I held my ground and converged back to my natural tendency of preferring knowledge to course grades. 

This week, I also made a giant leap forward in understanding human emotions through several experiences. I have always considered myself an emotional retard, especially when it comes to expressing them except for anger (people who  know me well won't disagree.) And to a certain extent, I also considered that quality as a competitive advantage. But it seems the human genetic make-up is catching up with me. Whether or nor it will make me a better individual makes up for an interesting thought experiment!

Fourth

Another year. Another Independence Day. And another annual bustle along with my wing-mates. It has been a wing ritual to celebrate I-Day with partially pompous and borderline bizarre activities (not necessarily out of patriotic feelings) right from our first year. It started with an Independence Day parade across the hall in our first year at the stroke of midnight, followed by wing-screening of 'Border' (which has achieved a cult status in our wing) in the second and third year. This time around, courtesy new speakers in the wing, deshbhakiti geet were in flavor. Special playlists were created and a little while after midnight, Lata Mangeshkar, Md Rafi and A.R. Rehman enchanted through the corridor of E-Top, Hall 9. Most of us struggled to attend the flag-hoisting ceremony the following morning, but thanks to our conditioning did savor the breakfast. And for the first time in four weeks, I missed Hall 3 mess. 

The day did not end there. Responding to Balaji Viswanathan's call for a Grand Quora meetup on 15th August, Journalism Society of IIT Kanpur had organized Kanpur meet in the evening. Over 15 folks turned up and engaged in a stimulating conversation for more than 3 hours. Topics ranged from patriotism, IITK culture, the problem of plagiarism to introduction of new (planned) IITs. Everyone seemed happy with the meet and open to meeting regularly every fortnight or so. I genuinely hope this sustain momentum as it provides a much-needed discussion platform in the campus.

Third

To Jahnvi, Nupur, Bhagyam, Tejal, Ruchita, Kinjal & Mitika,

Happy Rakshabandhan! I really miss you all, especially on this festive day. (And yes, also the sweets that come along with rakhi :P)

Jahnvi Joshi I totally guessed 'mere bhaiya' was your touch!

So, moving on to the big news of the week. I was formally offered a PPO (pre-placement offer) from Capital One this week. Yes, I plan to gladly accept the offer and that has already impacted my bank balance. I was looted in broad daylight at CCD by my department folks, at Hall 9 canteen the following evening for a 'starter' treat by my wingies and, a proper wing treat (after almost a year) at VJs yesterday. A aquatics team treat would happen soon and voice for a starter treat has already gained momentum.

Another thing that is gaining momentum is the every second person commenting "Abbey kutte ab tere liye do sem ulti-chill ho gaye" and "Ab kya karega padh kar" whenever I talk about academics. Yes, getting a PPO does bring in relief from hours into resume-preparation and HR interview preparations. Also yes, I understand these comments are made in a light vein. Just that for me, a PPO does not matter in how I go about my everyday life. And this is because right from my first year, I have been living independent of a goal to land up a decent enough job. Marks and grades never really bothered me. I got involved in initiatives/activities when they fancied my interest and exited when I no longer enjoyed what I was doing. Same goes with my selection of OEs. I always avoided the 'chill-prof' trend followed by a vast majority of my colleagues and never shied away from intense courses. Somehow, I am bounded by the philosophy of popular Bhagvad Geeta verse, 'You just put in your efforts, results will take care of themselves.' My association with the institute aquatics team can be seen as an example. I have never been part of inter-IIT contingent and it would be plain foolish of me to fancy my chances in my final year. But, I just go there with all my sincerity and get the laps done. And this is because fundamentally,

1. I absolutely love swimming
2. I share an excellent  rapport with my teammates

I think I went a bit overboard with my 'approach-to-life' fundas there. So, moving on. I think I explored/developed a new hobby of mine in photography. It all happened in an uncharacteristic Stochastic Processes tutorial (uncharacteristic for the prof was also at wit's end while solving assignment problems.)  I was plainly sitting in the class when a ray of light struck me. I turned and saw a nice arrangement caused by the relative positions of the sun and a window. What followed was completely unnatural of me. I started clicking pictures capturing the moment with different angles and camera-modes. I was partially surprised by my act and would look forward to more moments to actually know whether that was a one time thing or a new hobby indeed.

That moment - 

Wrapping up the post here. See you next week with the Independence Day special!

Second

So this week marked the start of academics and it has been remarkably dull this time around. Except for a class in Macro II (more on that later), all others were drag. Ridiculously pathetic  climatic conditions along with unfavorable class timings (they start at 8 am everyday) only aggravate my frustration on the academic front.

The week also marked the advent of a new fad in my wing - decking up rooms. And I count myself among the pioneers of the movement. I and my room-mates had attempted a similar thing in our freshie year room but the posters faded to oblivion for next two years. Until I pulled them out again this year while making my room habitable. So did another wingie of mine. And now everyone's in process of ordering/printing posters. I have moved a step further and also inculcated a 2.1 stereo system into my room decor. Needless to say, the extra colors and beats are definitely welcome. 

Study-table under the watchful eyes of Einstein

Sleeping in the shadow of legends

Coming back to the Macro II lecture I was talking about earlier. So it happened to be the sole interesting lecture of the week. It began on a very unconventional note. We were shown three sets of art-works from three different eras. We inferred key points common across all the works of first set and their subsequent transition over the other two sets. And it was not very difficult then to draw parallels between the the three artistic eras and economic schools of thought. The class did partially light up an interest in art. Maybe I would even consider taking up an art course next semester. After all, I have no freakin' idea about art and related fields and still I did reasonably well in analyzing those paintings.  

That's all for this week. Catch up again next Sunday!

First

For the first time I arrive at the insti a day before the registration day. I am glad I did (one more day on campus \m/) Well, when I had my tickets booked, shifting hostel was the only reason that I had thought of. 

So, finally single rooms. And honestly, they aren't as cool as I perceived they would be. I shared a ~120 sq ft room with two other folks (and now among my best friends) in the first year and half of second year. Things seemed congested initially but we somehow managed. And I sometimes felt single rooms would be cool - just for the fact that a little privacy and a little more space would be like icing on the cake. Its been four days at Hall of Residence IX and honestly, moving around the room in undies is all the extra bit of privacy has on offer. Not that I detest living in single rooms, it was just over-rated. 

Moving on,  the aquatics team is finally changing its strategy in the pool. I feel this was a much needed change. I had raised this issue even last year but probably I wasn't loud enough. Not that the older tactics were inferior but persisting with them made our game-play predictable and we had failed to evolve along with other teams. Anyways, I am really optimistic with this development and I think we would definitely reclaim our position of honor at this year's meet.

So that's it for the first week. I wanted to include a paragraph on tinder, an app I have been using for past few weeks. But creative juices aren't flowing and also, its not related to my the final year. Classes start tomorrow morning at 8. Everyone's welcome to join me in mentally showering profanities to the time-table setters for scheduling classes at such unearthly hours.

The Inception

Last day of internship. I am planning my days ahead for the final year of college. Quite normal for me. Wait. FINAL YEAR. Bloody fuck! That was fast. It seems like just yesterday that I, flanked by my parents, boarded that Kingfisher flight from Mumbai to Lucknow. There comes an idea to capture the mementos of this year. Subsequently, 'Final Year Weekly' is born.