Chennai...

Its been a 2 week association with the place so far. Heat, humidity, language, auto-wallahs, dusty and dirty roads, have all conspired to my stay being a two week long splitting headache. In that order. The moment I stepped out of the flight, I realised what a cauldron I had stepped into. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I am not used to temperatures hovering around the 40's. I've been to rajasthan where the temperatures were similar. But guess what!? Those people know it is hot out there and they take appropriate measures! Not in Chennai though. The tams (yeah, yeah, racist pig!...whatever) seem to be in a constant denial about how insufferably hot it is! Majority of the cabs are still non-ac. We went house searching and it was a sight! The landlords would be fanning themselves or wiping streams and streams of sweat dripping (in chennai, if you don't sweat...you need to check again, you're not in chennai) down their faces while saying, "Saaar, nyo nyeed faar yaa-see saar, twanty four hawars fulla breeze saar". And then follow it up with the killer line, "Geyser present in bathroom saar, haat waater twanty four hawars saar!". I mean, are you freaking out of your mind!? They don't have ac's but they have geysers man! Drop-down-dead stuff that.
 I know, I know...the language problem is hyped enough, everyone knows its a problem here. But, you've gotta be here to believe it! Forget conversation! its impossible to get in a word edgeways, once a Tam realizes you don't speak THE language. I think its a denial thing again. They just can't accept that there is a world out there where people don't speak Tamil. I bet they are like...wow! this guy is just making some random noises, doesn't know how to speak at all I guess, let me hit him with a barrage of words, and hope he latches on to a few. He will just go on and on in a cascade of what almost always seem like expletives. But they're not mind you. They might be the sweetest words in the Tam dictionary, but the way they are spoken, would make Gordon Ramsay's rants seem like a teletubby going "Eh-oh!". Ever heard a Tam speaking on the phone? He will speak so loudly that the phone itself is deemed moot. I bet they would hear each other even without the phone. For example, the guy will be probably talking to his girlfriend right, and after he hangs up, you think, hmm...poor guys seems to have had a fight, all that shouting, girlfriend must've really broken his heart or something. Just then, the guy will turn around, bare super-white teeth and say "hehe...my loower ( yeah! in Tam country its never girlfriend/boyfriend its always 'lover' :-s) and aye are wheespering sweet nothhingsaa".
Cut to the auto-wallahs. Worst I have ever encountered. I was recently bored enough to count the number of cities n towns in India i've had the auto experience. Well over 30 it is. So thats a decently experienced dude saying...the worst auto-wallahs in the country are to be all found in Chennai. It is an economic-logic defying feat out here. The bus transport is probably the best i've seen. That would mean that auto's face lesser demand, so prices should be low. Nope. Economics 101 can go into the dustpan (or one of the open drains that abound chennai). These guys are smarter than your average Keynes and Krugman's. They know, if the bus transport is so awesome, and this dude is coming to me looking for an auto-ride, he must be either desperate to get going or from out-of-town. And take you for a ride he does. As a test, I asked an auto-wallah to take me to a place I knew was walking distance...he asked for 50 bucks. Funny thing is, all auto's have a meter, wonder what it is there for. I guess things will be better once the metro rail projects completes. But  that's like in 2015...and that was before amma came to power.
Well though, before all my tam friends make a lunge for my throat would like to say a few good things about chennai. The people are nice, and genuinely helpful. If you get past the language barrier they can go out of their way to help you, except if you are asking for directions that is. It's not their fault really. In chennai, every place is known by ten different names. And ten people will know one each...none of them know the other nine. So, GPS, lifesaver out here. Food is good and cheap. Honestly, I came with the notion of idlis and sambhars and rasams, but its pretty easy to find chinese (indianised), mughlai (albeit from some southern faction of the mughal family), arabic (shawarma mainly, but decent) and north indian too. You can have your pick in terms of cheap and good accommodation too. In that recent (and that only), chennai kicks some mumbai butt. There is one mall worth going to for a hang-out, but other-wise stay home is what i'd advise. All in all, chennai takes time to grow on you. I haven't got there yet myself.

EndNote: To my tamil friends. Thank you for learning english and hindi, I now know what an effort it might have been, appreciate it.

When nothing is going your way...

Fate plays funny games. I am in chennai for the fourth time in under 2 months, and i never really liked the place. This time i am here for a good 6 months....at least. The last two weeks have been a blur, in fact, all i remember is sitting in cabs rushing to the airport. Spent a lot of time in cabs, rushing from one place to another. All the while wondering, is this what life is gonna be like? A blur of country sides zipping by as i sit in the back seat of a cab, trying to grapple with the weather changes, the headaches, aspirins and working lunches. Heck! this is the sort of lifestyle i craved when i once spend my days hunched up in front of a screen. I was foolish to think i could ignore the Taurus trait in me. The feeling of being grounded and settled is something that I like all taureans will eventually seek and crave. Its not strong enough yet, though the last two weeks have strengthened that craving to some extent. Sometimes the human mind, no matter how independent, seeks and snatches at some sort of anchor. And sometimes, there isn't one available. It is at times like these when you know, nothing is going your way. Your life just zips by like those endless country sides, and you take a back seat, staring blankly at the blur. You just hope that those times don't last too long.

CAUTION: Sharp turns ahead....crazy rant of a cynical MBA

Life rambles on. No, rambles is the wrong word...more like life avalanches on. The last two years were superfast compared to the rest of it. But now, i wonder if it is time to slow down and prepare for the sharp turns ahead. If my performance in the placements out here are anything to go by, it is certainly time to take note of the huge, yellow, "CAUTION: SHARP TURN AHEAD" sign that's been flashing in my head for a while now. In a weird sense, maybe instinctively, i have been preparing for what's to come. Apart from slowing down and taking stock of what things are really important to me, I also reduced some of the baggage I had been lugging around. I certainly feel lighter now. This might seem like gibberish, but heck, I no longer have the patience to explain everything.

It is natural to compare this phase to a similar one previously in my life. It was the time when I had to say goodbye to BIT Mesra, my engineering grad school. The memories of 4 years, the friends, the bakar sessions, the night-outs, the intellectual diarrhea, all flashed before me when I had made the 2 day train journey back home. At that time, I certainly wasn't thinking about the future and what was in store for me. I was just too gutted to be leaving the place that had become home to me, the friends who had become family and the life that had become comfort itself. This time, it is all the other way around. More than thinking about what transpired in the last two years out here, I am just looking forward to making a fresh start to life once this is over. Every new beginning marks the end of a previous new beginning. To think that for the last two years I have been living my dream. Believe me kids, its not necessarily a good thing to have dreams come true. I wonder if other's out here feel the same...or is it just me? But still, I don't want to be a bitter cynic. I guess, ten-fifteen years down the line I will come back to stare emptily at these 'hallowed' corridors and reminisce about the times I spent there. The midnight frisbee, the WAC runs, the ppt runs, the interview runs, life out here did involve a lot of running. And maybe after all it is unfair to compare the two. One gets institutionalized after a period of 4 years. What if I had spent 4 years here...damn, lets not go there! Scary!

At the end of it all, I guess what I am trying to say is that, this is just not the kind of place one misses. I don't think I will look back at this place anytime soon. Some of the people, yes, I will miss them, but there too I look forward to knowing them outside this place...in the real world. It has been called many things, a concentration camp, a cauldron, and what not. I would call it a prep camp. To borrow words from a dear friend, a prep-for-life camp. Because after going through here, nothing in life can ever surprise you. If you can get out of here unharmed, you will face all that life has to offer and conquer it. So yeah, even though I won't miss this place, and I only look forward to the sharp turns ahead; the confidence with which I look forward to negotiate those turns, stems from the bumpy ride this place has afforded me. For that I am thankful. I thank this place for showing me what life is like.

p.s. Planning a fortnight of negotiating 'sharp turns' in a road trip across the western ghats. Really, really looking forward to that. Maybe I should do a travelog...watch this space.

Happy are those...

It's one of those things that keeps cropping up in my mind over and over again. That voice-over dialogue from the move 'The pursuit of Happyness'...he says something like the pursuit of happiness is such a meaningful phrase. How did they know that happiness is something that can only be pursued. They could have said it is the right of a person to be happy, but no, they chose to say that it is the right of a person to pursue happiness. Is happiness not achievable?

At the place that i am, more than an education, i have received hard lessons on life. It has been a growing up process that solidified some notions, gave birth to others, and squashed some of the same ones.

Strength is a function that is independent of external variables: Solidified.  
Trust is temporary and painful: Solidified
Faith is permanent and but blind(and rarely found): Solidified
Happiness can only be pursued: Newly formed
Pain may have no source: Newly formed
Life is a bed of roses with thorns: Solidified
The world is a good place: Squashed
Sadness is temporary and flippant: Unvalidated
Self worth is decided by the highest bid in an auction of people around you: Squashed

...and many more others that I find hard to pen down. All in all though, Life is Good. But sometimes there will be two years in it that let you know it is up to you to keep it that way...

"Happy are those, who realize that the fun lies in the pursuit of happiness and that will go on forever"

A heart full of memories to take from the year...

Its just over a day to go for the most frightening academic year of my life to end. I still have an exam tomorrow, but here i am writing a blog. Will be catching a nap after this...then have a dinner out planned with friends...studying isn't on the cards, today at the least. Was certainly an eventful year, a busy one. I still remember vividly, I was a bit apprehensive for the first few weeks. "Fitting in" has always been a natural priority for me, and it was also the concern topmost on my mind out here. I was worried that I was among the "best minds" in the country n all the other hooplah that the media throws at you about IIMA. Then came T-nite, this was a stretch of 4-5 days where these "best minds" voluntarily make fools out of themselves. Well not all actually, some of them are really really talented...(that's the 'T' in T-nite)...glad to say I did my bit. Would have loved to have done more...but don't we all?
The summer placements were a torrid time for most, fortunately or unfortunately i was lucky with it. The less said about this phase the better. Things became much better after that, and I guess this is where the bonding really set in. Some great friends emerged and as usual the parties, the dinner outs and the movies were back into our lives. Btw...you can get an idea of the party scene out here when I tell you that I was usually the DJ designate :-). But who cares...we have a blast every time we party.
Then came the inter-sectional sports which was fun time all over again. The competitive spirit brought me even close to my friends...and made some new unexpected ones as well :-). Truly enjoyed myself around this time. Whats more our section came pretty close to winning the thing as well, unlike the T-nites ;-).
The last few months have been a blast. This is around the time I think all Wimwians start to appreciate the place...(although we do get a bit sick of all these red bricks around us!). Student body elections, followed by the last term which was by far the busiest. All sorts of crazy assignments and reports to submit. I managed to put in a skit though...again glad I did that.

So all in all a wonderful year. I am sure it was for the rest of the poor souls out here with me. Designing shirts, logos, dressing up as a zoo-zoo, performing a dance, a skit, and playing a few games...oh and also studying my backside off...enjoyed it all. But most of all I loved making some great friends and some MORE than great friends...they have made my time here worthwhile...

@IIMA friends.....We say adieu to this place for now...but we will be back after a 2 months hiatus...wish you all the best of luck for your interns...