Twenty-third

An extended weekend. And I can think of absolutely nothing to write. There was a Vox treat. And the Gymkhana elections. And also the Republic Day. Yet just don't feel like writing.

Twenty-second

The only highlight of the week was the cycle trip to Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary, located roughly 60 kilometers from Hall 9. It was a little ambitious to cover 100+ kilometers on cycle in single day but we anyhow went ahead with the plan. Amit sir had posted on Bumpy Trail Bicyclist and about 12 people turned up for the ride. My wingies had a little issue to sort out on their cycles and they started 15 minutes later.

I don't know how but flu hit me hard around 30 minutes after we started. My nose was clogged and riding became a bit tedious. Eventually, I had to stop for 20 odd minutes near Unnao crossing of Lucknow-Kanpur highway. My wingies caught up with me and now genuinely uncertain about finishing the ride, we continued after chai from nearby katta. We stopped at a shady dhaba for breakfast and the guy took frustratingly long to finish our order. Finally we reached the sanctuary at noon.

Place was like an oasis. Never expected such serenity around Kanpur. We lazily went around the place and by the time we were ready to start our return journey, it was already 2. We had already planned to hop onto a bus to Kanpur. The cafe guy at the sanctuary suggested hitchhiking on trucks. We heeded his suggestion and 15 minutes later, we were on a truck heading towards Kanpur. The driver said he would drop us at some place about 20 kilometers from insti. Helped our cause. We wanted to visit downtown Kanpur for a foodie session.

So, we cycled for about 6 kilometers to reach Phool Bagh, which like the Zaveri Bazaar of Kanpur. We had some chaat and quickly found our way to the malai-makkhan vendors. For those who don't know about malai-makkhan, its like ecstasy for people with a sweet tooth. Try the one in front of the famous Banarsi sweet shop. While you are there, also relish the kesar laddu from Banarsi.

It was getting dark. And I was reluctant to ride on Kanpur roads in such conditions. Convinced others to book one of those green things that dropped us at the main gate. And finally, we reached back and finished the ride exactly 12 hours after we started.  

Twentieth/Twenty-First

Happy new year people! Yes, I know its almost 2 weeks since 2014 lost its place on the calendar but laziness got better of me and this happens to be my first post for the semester. So my first week of last semester had a strong element of anti-climax. Plans for the week started with a trip to Singapore, which was later diluted to Rishikesh (most of us realized the power of the phrase 'lol aukaat' then). Eventually, even Rishikesh fell out and I was stuck in the vicious loop of add/drop. The 'E-Commerce fiasco' compounded the misery and I ended up attending classes for over 9 courses in relatively extremely challenging conditions. I finally settled things with an overload, which could be used as a safety-net/backup/last-sem-feel as per convenience.

The only positive for the week was that I got a new phone which in turn made me realize I am terrible at clicking selfies. I could have used New Years Eve revelry in my defense but I am awful quite thoroughly.

For those who would just refuse to believe I am really bad at selfies

Week 21 had interesting things in store. I traveled to Delhi for the Harvard US-India Initiative (HUII) conference. Other than a superb line-up of speakers and panelists, it also seemed a cool networking opportunity. Well, I had a very specific target - folks not from engineering background. I met several interesting folks but in majority, hearing the other delegates talk made my ears bleed (To the people I met at the conference and happening to be in my friend list and also happening to read this post - I might have fretted a lot about this). Even an OC member agreed with me on this part. But overall, it was a pleasantly different experience.

Would I attend such conferences again? Maybe.

Would I elaborate about the key-note speakers and the panels I attended? Yes. I am in a writing typing mood currently.

DAY 1:

Keynote Speaker Jairam Ramesh: A balanced and diplomatic talk. Exactly what could be expected from politicians. Answers were too generalized or way off topic. Kept his distance from the audience. This talk gave me negative vibes about the rest of conference.

Liberal Arts & Conservative Societies: Pramath Sinha (Founding Dean, ISB, Founder, Ashoka University & Dheeraj Sanghi sir's UG roomie) was the reason I was so excited about this panel. Mainly revolved around need to change perceptions about liberal arts. And that there are jobs and careers for liberal arts graduates. Nice panel. The negative vibes I mentioned before started diminishing. Also got a special video message from Pramath Sinha \m/

Hello, World: I went in with no specific expectations. Lakshmi Pratury started off with a fine talk on need to showcase our stories to the world. And it was followed by an electric elocution by Atul Singh. Filled with nationalistic fervor, he appealed the audience to move around with India's cultural swagger. Though I dint agree on most parts, it was indeed worth attending.

Curating India's History: Mark Tully had been to IIT-K some time back but for reasons I can't recall, I couldn't attend his talk then. This seemed like an ideal substitute. He delivered a talk in a manner like that of an old-school professor. It was hard to pay attention to what he was talking and the topic had digressed to influence of religion on Indian politics and society in general. But the questions that followed were of quality and that more than made up for the boring speech.

Keynote Speaker Piyush Goyal: The strongest impression he projected was of approach-ability. He came across as a person who works rationally and as someone who is willing to listen and implement new ideas. He even stayed back for over 30 minutes interacting with the audience. It felt good to see people of caliber (and not just dorks like Uma Bharti) holding ministerial positions.

DAY 2:

Keynote Speaker Mirai Chatterjee: Way too early for me to be completely attentive. In patches, heard about policy framing to address supply side problems in primary health-care. Later, I went and inquired about inculcating equally pressing demand side problems in the policy design. It was just acknowledged as a very important issue and we moved to the next question.

Human Rights in India: Meenakshi Ganguli and Jaqueline Bhabha formed the panel. I have always felt that human rights activists, though they raise important issues, fail to provide feasible alternative solutions to the problems. I came back with the same feeling from this panel.

Policy Making & Evaluation: Rohini Pande (Economist and a big-shot at J-PAL) was the obvious attraction for me. She talked about setting up an effective policy to control and check pollution. Sandeep Ahuja (Co-founder, ASHA) ranted about suffocating problems existing in bureaucracy that eventually lead inefficient implementation of policies in India.

Social Entrepreneurship: Excellent panel in Akansha Hazari (Founder, m.Paani) and Deval Sanghvi (Co-Founder, Dasra). Touched upon all relevant issues in running social ventures and philanthropy-funded NGOs. I personally am not very motivated towards contributing in the social sector. But someone needs to take initiative and action. Its great that so many talented people are up for it.

Keynote Speaker Jayant Sinha: The rock-star of the conference. An amazing talk that comprised of three stories of his life. In many ways it gave a feel of Connecting the Dots speech by Steve Jobs. 'Kabir ke dohe pel die' will perhaps be the etched in my memory along with his name. Completely changed my perception of ministers at the upper level. He happens to be among the very few ministers I can trust to lead the country forward.

We weren't very sure but we did go to the delegate party after the conference. Ridiculously priced. It only got relatively better in the later half. Last day in Delhi had its share of ups and downs. After having amazingly delicious breakfast at Samarth's place, we went on to explore Old Delhi. Red Fort was welcoming but the kilometer long line to get in repelled us to Jama Masjid. Parathe waali galli & Haldiram followed for an amazing spread which would definitely lead to oral orgasm. Also, whose daily consumption can kill you in a month.

Clicked from the Jama Masjid tower with Red Fort in background

For the down part of the trip, our train got delayed by over 4 hours. Misery din't end there and it took about 10 hours to finally reach Kanpur.

Pro-tip: Use the Executive Lounge on the station in such situations. Worth every buck.

Also, a very good friend of mine went completely berserk because I didn't meet/call/text her while I was in Delhi. I'll have to figure out a way to ease things out. Suggestions are welcome.