Raincloud

Today the evening sky was suddenly consumed in the dark clutches of an enormous rain-cloud and the sky turned from a dull gray-blue to pitch-black in a matter of minutes.

What's with all the high fundu Sanksrit names?

As an MBA student, a very important and common occurrence is the B-school fests and the related contests. While most of these B-fests are fun and worthwhile to participate in , one interesting thing I have noticed about these fests or at least their names is that they are almost always in Sanskrit or in shuddh Hindi. Most of them are high funda names whose meaning I don't understand without staring and thinking for a minute.

I understand the reason for having the title of the B-fest itself in a language other than English, it adds charm and exclusivity to the whole festival, but do individual events have to sound so fundu too? Why can't we have names which are easy for everyone to understand at a single glance? Why do I have to look up the dictionary to understand what Pratidwandi means or what am I supposed to do in Shashwat? A similar trend to follow is to use Latin names. A simple stock market game has to be called Prosapia venalicium venatus. And a hospes sermo would garner more attendance than a guest talk.

'Hey do you know I'm participating in Navinmetra and Udgati?'
'Um... that's nice, all the best for ... uh... whatever you will do there...'

I wonder if this trend is an extension of would-be and new managers to spout out new fundae the meaning of which even they can't explain in real terms leave alone the poor listener. Whatever it is, the trend of giving out such names is likely to continue, because that is precisely what it is - a fashion. And as usual, I feel otherwise. What I would rather suggest is the addition of a subtitle in English like those Hindi movies. It will help angrez ki aulads - The children of the Britishers like me. We can have Parichay - The introduction, or Antardarshi - Timing the stock market etc.

Before ending this, it would be only proper to share the festivals here at IIT Madras. Saarang is the hugely popular cultural festival, Shaastra is the tech-fest, Samanvay is the b-fest.




Note - Names of some B-school fests have been changed to protect identity. The words given above may not mean anything. If you plan to use any of them, I deserve a royalty.

Where are the rains?

As someone who has lived in and around Gujarat all his conscious life, I feel confused at the pattern of monsoons in Chennai. It is the end of September and I haven't seen a day of continuous rains. By this time, Vapi or Mumbai would have lashed you with all its fury, given you a couple of holidays thrown in and by and large a few bouts of cold as well. Chennai has a very different pattern. It is burning hot for four to five days. Then suddenly, out of nowhere you see some dark clouds hovering above your head. Those are the warning signs of an hour or so of rains, and more importantly a surprise quiz in the OB class. But the wind carries the clouds away before you can say 'I wish I had some tea and hot pakoras.' Not that I mind though. I am not much of a monsoon person anyway.

The reason for the low rainfall in Chennai during this time of the year is of course its location. I am told that Chennai gets most of its rains through the retreating monsoons. This means that the peak rain season is Oct-Dec. So I guess Chennai is yet to get its share of rains. As someone who is learning the importance of drawing pictures, here are the rainfall figures for Mumbai and Chennai which will give you a better idea. Clearly, the monsoons are yet to come, and considering the view from my room, I'm eagerly waiting for it.

Mother of all exams

Had a wonderful time in the exam today. Not that the exam went nice; rather it was one of the toughest exams I ever wrote. Still I didn't feel disappointed at all. I was laughing at myself for my inability to make heads or tail out of it. In the end, I managed to fit in a distribution to one of the questions, managed to draw a graph among other things.

PS. Friends are forcing me to study for the next exam. Have no motivation to do it but will do it anyway. Will probably complete this post in the night.

Time to be back

(7:57)
Right now I should be buried in my Organizational Behaviour text book. I have an exam in an hour or so. But somehow I felt I had to write this post now. I think the time has come to open up this blog for its second innings. Don't have any justifications as to why now, but somehow I feel the time is right. I still don't know what I will write here; probably it will be the same old blog - my unwanted opinions on anything and everything. But one distinction I will make is that I won't post any creative material on this blog. The stories, the poems, the one-liners will stay on my other blog. Let this blog continue its journey to what I had created it for - In search of Nirvana.

What a day! Today I regurgitated 2 months of course material in around 2 1/2 hours. Whether I did a good job or not will be clear in a month when the marks come out. Never have written so much in so little a time. Next is the mother of all exams - Data Analysis for Management. Don't think I've forgotten what's after that. Financial Accounting - the grand-daddy of all exams. Two days of pain followed by two hours each of shock therapy. Lets see how many parts of the body I still have intact after that ordeal.