Although I have simply been chillaxing since the last week of November, it didn't hit me to post some of the ramblings of my unstable brain. What a year 2008 has been!
Some of the memorable highlights of 2008 (off the top of my head, in no specific order) :
I did pretty goddamn well on my GRE and TOEFL tests, something I am quite proud of. Yes, these scores don't matter too much if one is applying to some bigwig university like Stanford, but at most places it will hopefully make a great impression and help to strengthen my application. Of course, these tests were only like the 1st step. The application process itself is a piece of work. Transcripts, letters of recommendation, gathering all your certificates of merit, making a impressive statement of purpose...well, by the end of the year, I can safely say that all has been handled effectively and in good time. The statement of purpose I wrote is undoubtedly impressive, not just to me but also to a lot of people whose opinions I care about!
My brother got engaged (on Jan 21st) and married (on 23rd November) to a great gal named Bhumi. Huge moment for our families and it is indeed a pleasure to welcome a new member into the family. BUT, for me, the most memorable moment out of all the shenanigans that this wedding created was the dance we performed on stage on 21st November. The endless practice sessions, endless fights between my Dad and anyone who dared to miss even a single session, playing around and having coffee and lahri pizzas at Shambhu's and the occasional wraps and burgers from McDonald's, it will remain in my memory forever. And yeah, I am an incredible dancer!!!
On the girlfriend front, things couldn't be better. Just a couple of days ago I met Priyal's aunt and uncle, who are both settled in the US and they are both incredibly cool. Priyal wouldn't be Priyal without the occasional tantrums and outbursts, usually triggered by yours truly HAHA. But we have had a lot of fun over the past year. The relationship has reached a stage where we can both be quite comfortable with each other in spite of all the fireworks going on around. We have really...matured, I would say :P
FOOTBALL! Simply the best for all the football in my life! Manchester United won 3 trophies, believe it or not. Champions of England, Champions of Europe and the Champions of the whole freakkin' World baby! I was the central midfielder for the CE team that won the inter-department trophy in a hotly contested gut-wrenching final against EC, winning every single match along the way!
Faced with several failures in the aptitude tests of Infosys and Wipro. I couldn't believe it when I failed Wipro as well, literally every single friend of mine was placed by then! Finally I got through Satyam, then appeared for Motorola as well but messed up with the HR interview. Brijesh had said when I failed Wipro, "Tu badha ne GRE maa joi leje", and it did turn out that way!
There are lots of other things that come to mind, like the efforts put into Colosseum '08, finishing the project on multithreaded file server, volunteering for Manav Sadhna (although it was initially motivated by the sole selfish purpose of meeting up with some influential people who are based in California and perhaps can help with my application to Stanford, it was quite a satisfying experience, and just to prove to myself that it wasn't all selfish, I will continue to volunteer occasionally).
Its incredible that when I have sat down to write this year ending post, I can hardly think of anything negative, any sour feelings that have been burned into my memory. Yes, there are loads of things that I wish I had done, that are yet to accomplish, but mannn, Life is GREAT, and I pray to the Lord that it stays that way. If any difficulties arise, I pray that I have strength to face the shitstorm head on. Bring on 2009!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
The One about the new CSI board
On Sept. 24th, my glorious, stupendous, awesome tenure as CSI president came to an end :-P We declared the new board, and filled the 15 board positions with absolutely everyone who worked for CSI finding a place on the board.
Although I have some doubts about the motives and commitment about them, still its the best that we could do. After the declaration, I lectured them a bit about how to go about carrying out their work and all. During which I had an epiphany :D
I talked about the importance of division of work, and not interfering with each other's work unless they need your help. I myself have been a culprit of not managing work division properly. Many a times, especially ever since Colosseum '08 (a techfest we organised on Feb 4th and 5th, 2008) I haven't been able to extract work from my other board members. It was just me and Priyal, trying to do everything by ourselves. Not just after colosseum, even before that I would rather do the work myself than entrusting it to somebody. If work had been properly divided from the beginning itself, we wouldn't have seen such problems about deciding who would prepare the proposal, who will handle the sponsors, who will prepare the reports.
Although this is all on a very small scale, I believe in the industry as well, this is a very important task. Most companies always have a well-established hierarchy which enables proper work allocation and subsequent integration. The art of management :P
Things that I have on my plate at the moment:
1) Applications to US universities (Just got the transcripts made, everything else still left to do!)
2) Minor Project (A multithreaded file server, made in Java on Netbeans 6 IDE, very tricky shit!)
3) Finding a cool enough place to do my final semester internship (have applied to PRL, ISRO, BISAG, Tata Labs (but they only take Pune ppl, just gave it a shot) and will apply to DAIICT, IISC, India NIC, Cignex) Other options which are far-fetched are Yahoo! and some university overseas. Yahoo because they skills they require are something I havent acquired yet, and overseas college because its just toooo crazy! Even IF it was possible to get the visas and all, I still wouldn't want to go because it just toooo crazy! and perhaps no great benefits either.
Still, heres hoping the internship I do will help me later on in my career and I get a great admit to a great college and so does Priyal, and our minor project comes out fine! OPTIMISM!
Although I have some doubts about the motives and commitment about them, still its the best that we could do. After the declaration, I lectured them a bit about how to go about carrying out their work and all. During which I had an epiphany :D
I talked about the importance of division of work, and not interfering with each other's work unless they need your help. I myself have been a culprit of not managing work division properly. Many a times, especially ever since Colosseum '08 (a techfest we organised on Feb 4th and 5th, 2008) I haven't been able to extract work from my other board members. It was just me and Priyal, trying to do everything by ourselves. Not just after colosseum, even before that I would rather do the work myself than entrusting it to somebody. If work had been properly divided from the beginning itself, we wouldn't have seen such problems about deciding who would prepare the proposal, who will handle the sponsors, who will prepare the reports.
Although this is all on a very small scale, I believe in the industry as well, this is a very important task. Most companies always have a well-established hierarchy which enables proper work allocation and subsequent integration. The art of management :P
Things that I have on my plate at the moment:
1) Applications to US universities (Just got the transcripts made, everything else still left to do!)
2) Minor Project (A multithreaded file server, made in Java on Netbeans 6 IDE, very tricky shit!)
3) Finding a cool enough place to do my final semester internship (have applied to PRL, ISRO, BISAG, Tata Labs (but they only take Pune ppl, just gave it a shot) and will apply to DAIICT, IISC, India NIC, Cignex) Other options which are far-fetched are Yahoo! and some university overseas. Yahoo because they skills they require are something I havent acquired yet, and overseas college because its just toooo crazy! Even IF it was possible to get the visas and all, I still wouldn't want to go because it just toooo crazy! and perhaps no great benefits either.
Still, heres hoping the internship I do will help me later on in my career and I get a great admit to a great college and so does Priyal, and our minor project comes out fine! OPTIMISM!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The One where CE finally won NFC!
Computers Football Team finally won the Nirma Football Cup after all these years of reaching the finals and falling agonisingly short each time. Well, this time we had the firepower and the fire, to make sure we brought home the trophy! I am still wary of the fact that I am not as athletic as my teammates, and I should have done better, but I was proud of the way I played for much of the 90 minutes. Not having scored ever in my time as a CE player will leave a bit of a sour taste in the mouth, but I did manage to find the net, only to be ruled offside. Some consolation hehe...
I posted a highly appreciated match report on the orkut community of the team. Here it is:
Match report
CE has reached the Promised Land! The Dream, finally realised. WOOOOOHOOOOO! Finally the ghosts of the past football finals can be put to bed!
Final score: 2-1 (Take that, you EC fucks!)
Team formation:
-----------------Siddharth (G.K.)----------------
---Ranga----Parashar---Nikunj----Akshay------
-----------Mihir------------Parth Patel----------
----Parth Shah--------Jimmy-------Vidhan------
---------------------Tanay----------------------
The same starting 11, no subs!
Team huddle:
Everyone was totally chilled, making jokes and pulling pranks, but each one of us knew the task that lay ahead of us. Tanay joked that he was really tense, not because of EC, but because "3 high scorers in the CE team, who will take the Golden Boot???" LOL! This was the last chance for many of us last semmers, the best chance to finally break the jinx!
1st half:
We started better of the two sides and much of the game was played in EC's half of the pitch. However, due to some scrappiness, we couldn't manage to score. It was not clockwork CE free flowing football as was seen in our numerous 5-0 adventures :-) With some neat one twos, 1st with Jimmy and then with Tanay I did manage to smash the ball into the net, only to be ruled offside ::sob sob:: Score: 0-0
2nd half:
EC utilised their two quality players (Dipen and Tejas) to the maximum and started to create chances for thier center forward Aradhya. Tejas made some creative runs down the left wing and Dipen, in center midfield was his usual quality self, but had to defend a lot throughout the game because of regular CE attacks. In spite of all this, they never looked like scoring as Parashar, Nikunj, Ranga and Akshay had EC in their back pockets for most of the game. In case they beat one defender, the other (usually Nikunj or Parashar) would be ready to pounce on and clear the ball. But then, we conceded a free kick about 20-30 yards out. Dipen took it, Siddharth was caught off guard and the swerving ball went thru his hands.
But, our goalie made up for his error with sharp keeping there on. Score: EC 1-0
Then began the CE blitzkrieg. Attack after attack, deft passing, skipping past defenders, it was all around the EC penalty area. Nikunj played more as a defensive midfielder, me and Parth Patel played out wide and drifted in towards the middle, while our wingers and Tanay-Jimmy attacked in tandem. Vidhan made a fantastic run down the left wing, tricking and bamboozling 3 defenders in the process, but lack of support left him helpless. EC could only handle so much pressure, then they finally cracked. I picked up the ball near the EC penalty box, went past Dipen and then passed it to Parth Shah, who came up with an absolutely impeccable low shot into the far bottom corner! Keeper Rohan could only stand and wonder, while CE went delirious. Score: 1-1
We continued in the same vein, but EC also had some moments in the game. Tejas hit a dipping shot which just went off bouncing from the bar, and Dipen danced past 4 CE players but was on his weaker foot when he hit the shot straight into the keeper's hands. We got a free-kick around the same distance as Dipen's free kick, Vidhan put it into the penalty area. Rohan, in a desperate attempt to clear the ball, ended up giving Tanay a golden chance to win it for CE, and he obliged with a simple header, 3 minutes from time! Game resumed but we didn't let EC get another chance around our territory, and when Abhinandan blew the whistle...well you know, we went CRAZY!
Best moments of the final on/off the pitch:
Tanay's shorts: Black swimming shorts, with a thick fluorescent orange horizontal stripe across the crotch!
Lolly's pajamas:Lolly, the hefty EC right winger was continuously on the receiving end of our amazing crowd's jokes and comments because of his pajamas!
Dipen-"AA SU CHHE!":The crowd taunted Dipen with imitations of his trademark dialogue "AA SU CHHE" that he dished out everytime it remotely seemed like it could be a foul by CE! Typical EC behavior!
Ranga: At the end of the game, Ranga turned towards the EC crowd and imitated the looks of shock on the faces of the EC girls! LOL!
Rohan volleyball:Vidhan's free kick landed in the penalty area, and the EC keeper Rohan, inexplicably decided to clear the ball volleyball style, only managing to find the waiting Tanay!
Tejas sms:The highly emotional EC left winger Tejas, who had a decent game himself, was so broken down at the end that he messaged all members of the CE team "I know I am the worst player in the world" Dude was on the verge of a meltdown! Well, he will be ok..
Mihir offside goal:After I put the ball into the net, the entire CE crowd starting running onto the pitch, only to find that it was ruled offside, and the guys being faced with the impossible task of explaining to the girls what an offside is!
I posted a highly appreciated match report
Match report
CE has reached the Promised Land! The Dream, finally realised. WOOOOOHOOOOO! Finally the ghosts of the past football finals can be put to bed!
Final score: 2-1 (Take that, you EC fucks!)
Team formation:
-----------------Siddharth (G.K.)----------------
---Ranga----Parashar---Nikunj----Akshay------
-----------Mihir------------Parth Patel----------
----Parth Shah--------Jimmy-------Vidhan------
---------------------Tanay----------------------
The same starting 11, no subs!
Team huddle:
Everyone was totally chilled, making jokes and pulling pranks, but each one of us knew the task that lay ahead of us. Tanay joked that he was really tense, not because of EC, but because "3 high scorers in the CE team, who will take the Golden Boot???" LOL! This was the last chance for many of us last semmers, the best chance to finally break the jinx!
1st half:
We started better of the two sides and much of the game was played in EC's half of the pitch. However, due to some scrappiness, we couldn't manage to score. It was not clockwork CE free flowing football as was seen in our numerous 5-0 adventures :-) With some neat one twos, 1st with Jimmy and then with Tanay I did manage to smash the ball into the net, only to be ruled offside ::sob sob:: Score: 0-0
2nd half:
EC utilised their two quality players (Dipen and Tejas) to the maximum and started to create chances for thier center forward Aradhya. Tejas made some creative runs down the left wing and Dipen, in center midfield was his usual quality self, but had to defend a lot throughout the game because of regular CE attacks. In spite of all this, they never looked like scoring as Parashar, Nikunj, Ranga and Akshay had EC in their back pockets for most of the game. In case they beat one defender, the other (usually Nikunj or Parashar) would be ready to pounce on and clear the ball. But then, we conceded a free kick about 20-30 yards out. Dipen took it, Siddharth was caught off guard and the swerving ball went thru his hands.
But, our goalie made up for his error with sharp keeping there on. Score: EC 1-0
Then began the CE blitzkrieg. Attack after attack, deft passing, skipping past defenders, it was all around the EC penalty area. Nikunj played more as a defensive midfielder, me and Parth Patel played out wide and drifted in towards the middle, while our wingers and Tanay-Jimmy attacked in tandem. Vidhan made a fantastic run down the left wing, tricking and bamboozling 3 defenders in the process, but lack of support left him helpless. EC could only handle so much pressure, then they finally cracked. I picked up the ball near the EC penalty box, went past Dipen and then passed it to Parth Shah, who came up with an absolutely impeccable low shot into the far bottom corner! Keeper Rohan could only stand and wonder, while CE went delirious. Score: 1-1
We continued in the same vein, but EC also had some moments in the game. Tejas hit a dipping shot which just went off bouncing from the bar, and Dipen danced past 4 CE players but was on his weaker foot when he hit the shot straight into the keeper's hands. We got a free-kick around the same distance as Dipen's free kick, Vidhan put it into the penalty area. Rohan, in a desperate attempt to clear the ball, ended up giving Tanay a golden chance to win it for CE, and he obliged with a simple header, 3 minutes from time! Game resumed but we didn't let EC get another chance around our territory, and when Abhinandan blew the whistle...well you know, we went CRAZY!
Best moments of the final on/off the pitch:
Tanay's shorts: Black swimming shorts, with a thick fluorescent orange horizontal stripe across the crotch!
Lolly's pajamas:Lolly, the hefty EC right winger was continuously on the receiving end of our amazing crowd's jokes and comments because of his pajamas!
Dipen-"AA SU CHHE!":The crowd taunted Dipen with imitations of his trademark dialogue "AA SU CHHE" that he dished out everytime it remotely seemed like it could be a foul by CE! Typical EC behavior!
Ranga: At the end of the game, Ranga turned towards the EC crowd and imitated the looks of shock on the faces of the EC girls! LOL!
Rohan volleyball:Vidhan's free kick landed in the penalty area, and the EC keeper Rohan, inexplicably decided to clear the ball volleyball style, only managing to find the waiting Tanay!
Tejas sms:The highly emotional EC left winger Tejas, who had a decent game himself, was so broken down at the end that he messaged all members of the CE team "I know I am the worst player in the world" Dude was on the verge of a meltdown! Well, he will be ok..
Mihir offside goal:After I put the ball into the net, the entire CE crowd starting running onto the pitch, only to find that it was ruled offside, and the guys being faced with the impossible task of explaining to the girls what an offside is!
Friday, August 22, 2008
The One with more medals and Motorola
I for one have always believed that sports other than Cricket are not just being neglected, the sporting "Fed-fucking-erations" are just made so that the Presidents can fill up their pockets with the allocated funds meant actually for development of sporting facilities.
In a land of downright bastards posing as politicians who are, surprise surprise, MANAGING sports in the country, it is undoubtedly a superhuman display of guts and grit from two small town Indians who won bronze medals, making it India's best Olympics ever. However proud I am of the huge and muscular Sushil Kumar and the boxer Vijender Kumar who added to India's medal tally, I can't help but feel terrible about the state of matters in this country.
I appeared for Motorola the day before yesterday, managed to clear the written test which had technical as well as logic questions, also managed to clear the dreaded Technical interview which I felt I didn't do that great in! Questions were asked from data structures, OS, C/C++ programming and networking. BUT, in HR interview the guy managed to create an opinion in his mind that Mihir will probably leave the company after a while and follow the footsteps of his brother, and he wanted to take only 6 people. WELL, life goes on, may be this happened for a good reason, and something awesome is in the offing! (See, thats why I describe myself as eternally optimistic :P)
In a land of downright bastards posing as politicians who are, surprise surprise, MANAGING sports in the country, it is undoubtedly a superhuman display of guts and grit from two small town Indians who won bronze medals, making it India's best Olympics ever. However proud I am of the huge and muscular Sushil Kumar and the boxer Vijender Kumar who added to India's medal tally, I can't help but feel terrible about the state of matters in this country.
I appeared for Motorola the day before yesterday, managed to clear the written test which had technical as well as logic questions, also managed to clear the dreaded Technical interview which I felt I didn't do that great in! Questions were asked from data structures, OS, C/C++ programming and networking. BUT, in HR interview the guy managed to create an opinion in his mind that Mihir will probably leave the company after a while and follow the footsteps of his brother, and he wanted to take only 6 people. WELL, life goes on, may be this happened for a good reason, and something awesome is in the offing! (See, thats why I describe myself as eternally optimistic :P)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The One about one GOLD Medal
11th August, 2008:: The day Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual Gold ever! This guy has made me feel so proud and happy!
The One after a LLLOOOONNGGG time!
Soooo much has happened in my life since my last post, its totally insane how lazy I have been in posting on my beloved blog (behind which I spent hours getting the layout to reflect my favourite colors!)
Well I got placed at Satyam (which I am not going gaga about as I plan to do my masters anyway). Gave GRE on 16th June and got 1450! (Verbal:660, Quant:790, AWA:5)
Gave TOEFL on 12th July and got 113/120 on that. Seems like everything has gone right in me going to the US, atleast till now. Will be starting with my applications to US universities after the MSE exam.
I had started reading the Kite Runner a long time ago, but gave up midway and just finished reading it yesterday. After finishing it, the spirit of Amir (protagonist), Sohrab and Hassan in the book just touched me deeply. It has been a long time since I felt like this after finishing a book. It was pure magic. I actually felt my eyes alert and widened. Felt like I have totally wasted my life lately, havent given the respect and effort that I should be giving to myself, to become better for not just myself, but also for everyone important to me. Maybe that is why I decided to get off my ass and get on with my blog!
Things are going quite well with my girlfriend. I felt so good that day when I was practicing dance (go figure) for my bro's wedding garba and I was messaging Priyal, I thought I had messed up in my replies and felt she would be upset. But her reply was, "I love you for your bumbling, dawdling self bebu" and I was totally over the moon about our relationship then!
Man Utd seem to be on the brink of signing Berbatov. Football Focus with John Dykes is on the tube while I am writing this and the major jackass called Shebby Singh seems to think Nani ain't that good, and McMahon thinks Utd is in fact weaker this season due to the loss of assistant manager Queiroz. Only time will tell, but being the diehard UTd fan, I think these so-called pundits will be shitting themselves watching Utd rise. More Later!
Well I got placed at Satyam (which I am not going gaga about as I plan to do my masters anyway). Gave GRE on 16th June and got 1450! (Verbal:660, Quant:790, AWA:5)
Gave TOEFL on 12th July and got 113/120 on that. Seems like everything has gone right in me going to the US, atleast till now. Will be starting with my applications to US universities after the MSE exam.
I had started reading the Kite Runner a long time ago, but gave up midway and just finished reading it yesterday. After finishing it, the spirit of Amir (protagonist), Sohrab and Hassan in the book just touched me deeply. It has been a long time since I felt like this after finishing a book. It was pure magic. I actually felt my eyes alert and widened. Felt like I have totally wasted my life lately, havent given the respect and effort that I should be giving to myself, to become better for not just myself, but also for everyone important to me. Maybe that is why I decided to get off my ass and get on with my blog!
Things are going quite well with my girlfriend. I felt so good that day when I was practicing dance (go figure) for my bro's wedding garba and I was messaging Priyal, I thought I had messed up in my replies and felt she would be upset. But her reply was, "I love you for your bumbling, dawdling self bebu" and I was totally over the moon about our relationship then!
Man Utd seem to be on the brink of signing Berbatov. Football Focus with John Dykes is on the tube while I am writing this and the major jackass called Shebby Singh seems to think Nani ain't that good, and McMahon thinks Utd is in fact weaker this season due to the loss of assistant manager Queiroz. Only time will tell, but being the diehard UTd fan, I think these so-called pundits will be shitting themselves watching Utd rise. More Later!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The Quick One
About 5-10 years down the line when i read these entries, I want to remind myself of some important events in my life, and the life around me.
Apart from my personal life, its important for me to record the stuff that I feel strongly about.
Forgot to mention this during the last post:
On 4th April, the day before Tetrathlon '08, the fears for global warming in my mind were spiked when the heavens opened up...in April! And believe it or not, it wasnt just rain, for a period of about 15 mins, it was pure solid ice that came down upon Gandhinagar!
Vivas starting from 21st April, final theory exams starting on 1st May! Lets just HOPE that I am able to focus while having the books in front of me, and done want any fights of ANY sort with my girlfriend! Its been going rather goooood lately and we been havin a lot of fun too! With Manchester United doing excellent in the Premier League(last result: Man Utd 2-1 Arsenal) and the Champions League as well, Cheers to Life!
Apart from my personal life, its important for me to record the stuff that I feel strongly about.
Forgot to mention this during the last post:
On 4th April, the day before Tetrathlon '08, the fears for global warming in my mind were spiked when the heavens opened up...in April! And believe it or not, it wasnt just rain, for a period of about 15 mins, it was pure solid ice that came down upon Gandhinagar!
Vivas starting from 21st April, final theory exams starting on 1st May! Lets just HOPE that I am able to focus while having the books in front of me, and done want any fights of ANY sort with my girlfriend! Its been going rather goooood lately and we been havin a lot of fun too! With Manchester United doing excellent in the Premier League(last result: Man Utd 2-1 Arsenal) and the Champions League as well, Cheers to Life!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
The One After Tetrathlon
Haven't gotten my lazy ass to pour out my thoughts even though the last few days have been rather...uhmmm...peculiar, shall we say?
Me and Priyal got into a fight (which lasted on and off for two days, no less!) over what I thought was trivial, but she clearly was on a different wavelength :-) Well, I realised I can be rather "superficial" at times, taking things at face value, and need to look deeper into the actual cause behind the jhagdaaaa...Hope we both learn something from this...Oh my God did I say "we"?
Well anywayyy...today was Tetrathlon '08. The juniors' first event with CSI. Everything, everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong!
Started off smoothly. No complications in the kick-off, but this treasure hunt event "Huntville" was insanely complicated worsened with all the errors made on our part. Lots of teams fighting with the co-ordinators, and rightly so, for all the mistakes on our side leading to injustice being done to the teams.
The sponsor was calm, then disturbed, then disappointed, and then downright freaked out as the day progressed! Vikas Desai, from Royal Education, had come and seemed a jolly enough fellow, and at the end of the day I can still say he is a reasonable dude. The sponsors in general have plenty expectations from the event that they are sponsoring, now Nirma doesn't really believe in making the sponsors happy. The rules are such that you are not allowed to have banners on the walls and what not...well looking at the reason its because the paint peels off, but where the fuck do we put the banners otherwise!
I have this weird tendency to look at things from both points of view, which sometimes makes me vulnerable but in many situations it has turned out to be an asset. Right now, I can still point out the mistakes, the problems that we created for ourselves. Not getting permission beforehand to put the banners in the audi(although I dont think a permission from even the director will convince that bastard Sharad Modi to allow us to do that), messing up Treasure Hunt scoring, testing the projector beforehand, and above all, not being aware of the mahaan rule of no banners even inside audi (while we we did the same thing for Colosseum '08, we had to face no probs at all!) For the record, Sharad Modi came into the audi (thankfully not when the quiz was going on, before it when ppl were just sitting waiting for their chance for mgmt case study) and himself started ripping off the banners, with the sponsor looking on. And the way he was blowing his top off, it was totally insane.
The sponsor on seeing this went ballistic. Who wouldnt??? He pointed out to us, rather sinisterly (is that a proper word?) that there will be consequences for this. Well we tried our level best to make him stay, but he wanted to just leave. And the thing that most bothers me right now is, how much of the promised 7000 will he actually give us. I am optimistically hoping for 3000, which will cover all our expenses, when we combine this amt with the registration income.
However, at the end of the day, apart from certain nitty gritties, rather frightening ones(!), we managed to successfully finish the event. When the seniors were demanding to know how the scores were evaluated, I calmly stepped in and provided a rather useful diversion by asking audience questions and keeping the folks busy. To their credit, they dint raise any further hell and were genuinely enjoying themselves.
The most important thing to be noted amidst all things blowing off today, Priyal was a rock! Totally calm, and displaying her clear-thinking abilities in the middle of crises, she handled herself and situations around her extremely well. They way she stepped in to evaluate the scoring, hearing out the participants and their rants, giving the juniors a piece of her mind when they were found to be viling away their time in the canteen while we were busting our collective asses...totally a pro. In some ways she will always be a much stronger person than I am.
I feel like I did well under the circumstances too. When these numerous CALAMITIES were happening simultaneously, I feel like I justified me being the President by facing whatever happened head on. But yeah, a major portion of todays daavs wouldnt have happened if I had somehow convinced the sponsor not to come at all to college on event day, the way Priyal said. Well hindsight is a beautiful thing, but rarely does a person does exactly the way they would have done ideally.
But you know what, we still have to inform DJ about this. He probably will freak out, but I am optimistic that he will let go our folly in putting up banners on the side walls and look at it from our point of view...too far fetched a hope I know, but thats the way I am. An eternal optimist.
Me and Priyal got into a fight (which lasted on and off for two days, no less!) over what I thought was trivial, but she clearly was on a different wavelength :-) Well, I realised I can be rather "superficial" at times, taking things at face value, and need to look deeper into the actual cause behind the jhagdaaaa...Hope we both learn something from this...Oh my God did I say "we"?
Well anywayyy...today was Tetrathlon '08. The juniors' first event with CSI. Everything, everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong!
Started off smoothly. No complications in the kick-off, but this treasure hunt event "Huntville" was insanely complicated worsened with all the errors made on our part. Lots of teams fighting with the co-ordinators, and rightly so, for all the mistakes on our side leading to injustice being done to the teams.
The sponsor was calm, then disturbed, then disappointed, and then downright freaked out as the day progressed! Vikas Desai, from Royal Education, had come and seemed a jolly enough fellow, and at the end of the day I can still say he is a reasonable dude. The sponsors in general have plenty expectations from the event that they are sponsoring, now Nirma doesn't really believe in making the sponsors happy. The rules are such that you are not allowed to have banners on the walls and what not...well looking at the reason its because the paint peels off, but where the fuck do we put the banners otherwise!
I have this weird tendency to look at things from both points of view, which sometimes makes me vulnerable but in many situations it has turned out to be an asset. Right now, I can still point out the mistakes, the problems that we created for ourselves. Not getting permission beforehand to put the banners in the audi(although I dont think a permission from even the director will convince that bastard Sharad Modi to allow us to do that), messing up Treasure Hunt scoring, testing the projector beforehand, and above all, not being aware of the mahaan rule of no banners even inside audi (while we we did the same thing for Colosseum '08, we had to face no probs at all!) For the record, Sharad Modi came into the audi (thankfully not when the quiz was going on, before it when ppl were just sitting waiting for their chance for mgmt case study) and himself started ripping off the banners, with the sponsor looking on. And the way he was blowing his top off, it was totally insane.
The sponsor on seeing this went ballistic. Who wouldnt??? He pointed out to us, rather sinisterly (is that a proper word?) that there will be consequences for this. Well we tried our level best to make him stay, but he wanted to just leave. And the thing that most bothers me right now is, how much of the promised 7000 will he actually give us. I am optimistically hoping for 3000, which will cover all our expenses, when we combine this amt with the registration income.
However, at the end of the day, apart from certain nitty gritties, rather frightening ones(!), we managed to successfully finish the event. When the seniors were demanding to know how the scores were evaluated, I calmly stepped in and provided a rather useful diversion by asking audience questions and keeping the folks busy. To their credit, they dint raise any further hell and were genuinely enjoying themselves.
The most important thing to be noted amidst all things blowing off today, Priyal was a rock! Totally calm, and displaying her clear-thinking abilities in the middle of crises, she handled herself and situations around her extremely well. They way she stepped in to evaluate the scoring, hearing out the participants and their rants, giving the juniors a piece of her mind when they were found to be viling away their time in the canteen while we were busting our collective asses...totally a pro. In some ways she will always be a much stronger person than I am.
I feel like I did well under the circumstances too. When these numerous CALAMITIES were happening simultaneously, I feel like I justified me being the President by facing whatever happened head on. But yeah, a major portion of todays daavs wouldnt have happened if I had somehow convinced the sponsor not to come at all to college on event day, the way Priyal said. Well hindsight is a beautiful thing, but rarely does a person does exactly the way they would have done ideally.
But you know what, we still have to inform DJ about this. He probably will freak out, but I am optimistic that he will let go our folly in putting up banners on the side walls and look at it from our point of view...too far fetched a hope I know, but thats the way I am. An eternal optimist.
Monday, March 31, 2008
The first ever
I have been known by most of my friends as a cheerful always happy fella. Not entirely true.
I give off the impression of being a strong, confident and a decisive individual. Well, somewhat true.
I care about people who are close to me. Entirely true, even though they might not realise so!
I am sometimes a wannabe, self-conscious around ppl who I think are better than me at something, something I "wannabe" goooood at. Sometimes.
My Dad drives me up the wall everyday coz he has this strange way of greeting me - "I don't find you studying" or "Micky, tu akho divas TV joya karis toh bhanis kyare!?" Believe me, they are usually the first few words of greeting.
I love my girlfriend who loves me just as much! We have our problems now and then, and we have our own quirky way or sorting things out.
Am an ardent Manchester United fan, totally die hard, and one of my dreams is to watch a derby game at Old Trafford.
I sometimes am too much to handle, sometimes absolutely adorable, frequently dummmbb due to lack of brain usage. However, more often than not, people like me. Do I try too hard not too hurt people? Nah can't be, I can't hurt anyone! But then, my girlfriend begs to differ! AWWW MANN!!! My Mind Bamboozles ME!
This is I guess my first attempt to somehow put my strange and wayward thoughts into words. Lets pray for better success in the following posts!
I give off the impression of being a strong, confident and a decisive individual. Well, somewhat true.
I care about people who are close to me. Entirely true, even though they might not realise so!
I am sometimes a wannabe, self-conscious around ppl who I think are better than me at something, something I "wannabe" goooood at. Sometimes.
My Dad drives me up the wall everyday coz he has this strange way of greeting me - "I don't find you studying" or "Micky, tu akho divas TV joya karis toh bhanis kyare!?" Believe me, they are usually the first few words of greeting.
I love my girlfriend who loves me just as much! We have our problems now and then, and we have our own quirky way or sorting things out.
Am an ardent Manchester United fan, totally die hard, and one of my dreams is to watch a derby game at Old Trafford.
I sometimes am too much to handle, sometimes absolutely adorable, frequently dummmbb due to lack of brain usage. However, more often than not, people like me. Do I try too hard not too hurt people? Nah can't be, I can't hurt anyone! But then, my girlfriend begs to differ! AWWW MANN!!! My Mind Bamboozles ME!
This is I guess my first attempt to somehow put my strange and wayward thoughts into words. Lets pray for better success in the following posts!
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