A Quick Autopsy!

It’s a wee bit strange to find myself in a fix wherein words don’t flow as easily as they used to for a blog post. Not that my life over the past one semester had been any less juicy or eventful. It’s just that I was trapped in what I would like to call a ‘blog freeze’. Every time I started a new post on a few occasions, I wasn’t just inspired enough to finish it. Funny as it may sound given the fact that I had swell of my time this particular semester marked with a lot of firsts in my IIT life, new friendships, old bonds –a few battered and a lot more strengthened, new adventures, new discoveries-both about myself and non-self, bittersweet memories, new revelations all making for a remarkable third semester in the life of a sophomore.

The biggest of them all being my first GPA 9 :D ( I seriously can’t help sounding eager/nerdy here for I waited too long for it and now, too excited to shut up about it :P )followed by my first ever Shaastra coordship made all the more special by the fact that a lot of fight went into it. The event under discussion here is ChemicalX. We did manage to rise to the occasion when participation went beyond bounds and people just didn’t stop coming well after we ran short of question papers. All’s well that ends well is what is popularly said! Ours was a pretty small team comprising 2 coordinators and a volunteer and it was a great experience to have been able to shape the event as we wished to with very little pressures from anybody outside our cosy small team. The fact that ChemicalX was just into its second edition very oddly grouped under ‘Unwind’ to much of my perplexity must have added to our much-cherished freedom. We managed to put a good show after all! [Looking forward to your comments on it, Varun! ;)]

Meeting film actor Boman Irani as a part of being an Extramural Lecture Series Coordinator is the next big event this semester. We got to interact with this charming, versatile and totally down-to-earth artist at very close quarters. Fighting mosquitoes at the BEGH chatting away to glory with one of the most sensible and sought–after actors of new school of Bollywood thinking has certainly been a helluva experience for me! And editing the department magazine has been an experience of its own sort. How strong the readership is still what I’m trying to figure out though! [:P]

As the 3rd semester drew to an end, came a chance to be a part of the placement team as a representative. It was again a paradigm-shifting sort of stint which did make my winter vacation a little more occupied than it otherwise would have been. It was fun work alongside presenting me with a chance to observe the placement scene from close. I also tried doing something by which I mean learning, more about Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) but I think there’s still a long, long, long way to go in this regard [:P] Now that it’s all over, I’m back to doing what I’m best at! Laying back with a book in hand, watching T.V like a maniac complete with quarrels over remote with my very sweet [:-/] sister and hogging on home food like there’s no tomorrow missing the friends and IIT once in a while.

Back into action!

Well...this is the first post taking birth in 381 Sharav,come to think of it,first in IITM for I started this blog last summer back home during the painfully vetti phase of the vacation.Why now after conveniently forgetting it and let it get rotten unupdated in the hugely complicated and crowded blogosphere on the World Wide Web for about a month?Majorly because so much happened over the past one month that kept me from writing a new post and this friendly piece of space online holds every right to be informed about all that for it stood by me in those friendless moments of vacation.Its time to vent out my high-5 moments,frustrations and surprises spanning over the past month on this platform.

It was obvious to me the moment I entered the sprawling campus how much I missed it for the last 3 months.Good to be back,truly!But I do miss my mom and her constant reminders of when to sleep,what to eat etc. now that I am back to being on my own again which means unlimited chatting,movie and gossip(!!!) sessions with friends late into the night or a formal insti coords meeting or skipping breakfast at the drop of hat and of course,new courses,quizzes etc...By the time I stepped in,the hostel is already filled with 'freshies' with vacuous faces,still having the JEE strain written about them.What I realized during those few PDPs,(Personality Development Programmes-a clever euphemism invented in IITM for ragging) I was a part of was that its rocking to be a senior,the wise one doling out few words of wisdom,in a "been there,done that" manner but in a way its dampening as well,as you now very well know how things work around that you no longer have that beginner's enthusiasm about the insti and people here.You know what happens at every fundae session.You will have realised that fundae-putters are very much human quite long ago.And most of all,you will have learnt how to figure out the timetable,all the shortcuts from CRC to hostels,mess and departments,you no longer have the opportunity to get psyched over the vol interviews because you are a pseud-putting coord now.You are done with your first Shaastra and first Saarang.Its no longer 'Enjoy while you Explore'.But yet 2nd year is in a way,hectic and eventful for me in a totally different way.It dawned on me why Chemical engg is 'the peaceful' branch.Its definitely not grades having had a phenomenal PMT where I learned in ways more than one, last semester.Its our lacking labs in 2nd year that earned us the tag of peace-putters over the years in the insti.(I always smirked at that tag.)We have two interesting PMTs this sem and nice(read sane) professors teaching them.Latest development being my getting into the EML and Saarang newzie teams.EML has been a nice experience so far and Saarang team,I am yet to be initiated.I totally enjoyed getting back with my friends again.Nitya is no longer as shy as she used to be.Sonya is dancing more than ever.Freshie night fundaes,Spark classes etc.Shreya is staying part-time in hostel and full-time in CFI.Getting to know more of spunky Maiya.Ramya is my new roomie and Amulya,my new math class benchmate,her new straightened hair,a butt of my comments during the pained moments of MA202.ID and BT classes,going by the tradition,are yawnfully boring.HS is my favorite so far.Indian National Movement and Constitutional Development.We have an NRI visiting faculty who likes screening Satyagit Ray's movies in class.I enjoy the process of coming up with some decent points for discussion in her class.

Kaminey is awesome and so is The Shawshank Redemption(I know I am way behind times but better late than never,isn't it?)TBBT is perfectly nerdy and HIMYM,'legendary'.Summing up,I'm back to being alive again!!!