Ivy League LSD

   A lot of people, mostly freshers run their case by knowing or pretending to know all about PG degrees in the US of A. Highly amusing are the encounters with guys who cannot complete a sentence without garnishing it with "Harvard" and "Princeton" or "UIUC" in a normal conversation about say, heavy metal. How they crept up is an entirely different question. Do they think it makes them cool by talking about it? No idea. This can be explained as a runoff from those JEE coaching days when a person, who cannot get above 60 percentile in the All India Test Series harps about how his dad or mom or uncle or Grandfather's brother's son's wife's half brother's son was an IITian ot BITSian and how much pressure he is under (the writer can also relate to that, very well, in fact... However, he did nothing to concentrate more on his studies...).

   Anyway, the above para was completely random, aimed at nobody. The chemistry lecture went quite decently.  "It doesn't matter how you pronounce it, "Jetcheff" or "Jetcheff". The Germans and Russians can handle it", rang the voice of the lecturer as students sat in rapt attention and my eyes drooped worse than a koala bear. For those who are not chemistry geeks, there is a Russian bloke called Saytzeff who was beautifully mispronounced as "Zaitsev" by the Germans. My professor being an Indian, pronounced both the same way. He is a brilliant prof though, nice teacher...

   You know you are in the second sem of the academic year when suddenly people start talking a lot about acads and projects. Friend Judee(Remember the guy with the Android phone?) is living proof. He is an Msc. Chemistry student and wants to major in an engineering degree too. So when asked (by mistake) what his interests were, he ranted almost immediately, "Semiconductors, Automobile Engineering, Nanotech, Robotics, a bit of Computer science too..." Hmm... he is still confused about what he is going to take and so am I. I don't know anything about any engineering discipline and was planning to choose what he was taking, damn...

   The Founder's day celebration was a grand success as everyone cheered(?) us on as we danced(?). We were appreciated, more for the fact that we had the guts to not only stand but dance before a gafffe hungry crowd, jeering and laughing all the way through. The IC dinner was excellent as usual and the post dance euphoria added to the taste..

    Math test just got over now. Did decently... Will watch the movie "A Beautiful Mind" (again), a story about a man who goes to Princeton... Uh oh, did I just give myself away?

Welcoming the summer(?)

Yesterday's list:
          1. Plan proposal to a girl I like in Chennai on Valentine's. (Am a despo. Period.)
          2. Plan the studying part for upcoming tests. (Aiming for 8+ CGPA)
          3. Organize books and model exam papers and do chem assignment.
          4. Wake up at 6:30 AM everyday the next week.
          5. Wash undies.

Today's List:
          1. Plan the studying part for upcoming tests. (Aiming for 9+ CGPA)
          2. Organize books and model exam papers and do chem assignment
          3. Wake up at 7:30 AM everyday next week.
          4. Plan proposal for BITSian sister. (Am still a despo. Period.)

(Hmm, the proposal for Chennai girl was half-hearted anyway, and was quashed by my best friend Ashwin. The undies were washed.)

   This weekend went quite well. Well is relative, as usual. Nothing wrong happened. I managed to set my room right and that's saying something with all the cobwebs and dust and books lying around. Raag sessions are also going decently, though I cannot say the same for Founder's day... (Read Previous post.)
   The weather is getting more and more pleasant by the day. I apologize. I don't know if it's the BITSian in me which keeps wanting to harp about the weather at the drop of pigeon shit or the south Indian which frankly, hasn't seen life below 25 and above 40 degrees. The seniors say that it is the calm before the storm, the deep breath before the plunge into scorching heat. Yuck. Freezing cold can be handled. I hate summers.          
   The hostel has turned into a CounterStrike 1.6 gaming den 'cos the freshers got laptops (No, I got a Netbook). So it's not a big surprise to hear "Abey Saale, get to their base armed with sniper as soon as "freeze time" runs out and don't forget to turn off Friendly Fire" or just "Nooooooooo...". Sad. There was this article I read the other day about the incresing number of suicides in IITK; Around 8 in the past five years... It accounted students holing up in their dens and facebooking and LAN games and general solitary confinement as a major factor. My dad told me that in his days, even if students drank or smoked (up?), they did so together and it was always fun with people around...
   Hey, the answer key to my chem test came out. I would like to focus on two emotions here. The first one is happiness; When you have done a test well; When you don't have any classes left for the day; When nothing can go wrong; When you just want to snuggle into your bed without going on a guilt trip like your school days, when a moment not spent on mugging formulae is a moment wasted; When you're in love with life;
  That's how I felt immediately after the test got over...
  The second is the sense of crushing defeat, of impending doom, of dreaded fear, when everything can go wrong at the very start, where I might be forced to take the Chemical Dual(No offense meant for chemicalites... Do remember that I wanted chemical) and will live to regret not working hard enough...
  Well, you know when I felt that way now...(Let's wait and hope I've done well...)
   And  like every Seven  Habits has an Eighth Habit, I would like to tell you about another awesome feeling. My mom sent me two HUGE parcels. One had two great books in it and the other had savories and snacks which might just help me last through this sem without any qualms about the pathetic food here. Yay! Thanks mom! Mental note to send a greeting card for everyone's birthday made...
   The management fest "Interface'11" is happening right now. Everyone's excited, as the culinary delights(?) of Domino's Pizzas(Oh no, not again!) and Momos have set up stalls. It's just another excuse for tasting a bit of civilization before we become our usual cynical, class bunking selves again. My friend Nadeem texted me the other day:
    Nadeem: Ssup?
            Me: Nothing much here man, just tests here.. you temme..
    Nadeem: What else?
            Me: Had my chem test the other day. Went ok, I guess. Otherwise, life is fine...
    Nadeem: Hmm... Ssup?

        Me: Dude, I'm in a bloody village in the middle of nowhere where post offices and banks close at 2 PM itself and civilization is 200 kms away. What do you expect?

    Nadeem: Kk, Am so sorry, man.. Will talk later?