The Term (1) End Review

Maddone. That was the longest three months of my life. Yet.

So here's the deal. PGP19, we the first year PGDM-C students at MICA have just completed a whirlwind first term in this hallowed institute. This strange place. This zoo. And I don't even say 'strange' with any negative connotation. It just is... a little off. Not quite- for lack of a better word- normal. It's like a microcosm, a tiny little speck where normality does not apply. It does have some kind of aura around it, something there in the air that you know is there, but you can't quite touch. Something... strange.

Hell, we needed periodic trips out to the real world to keep our sanity in check, to remind us that yes, there is a place where order exists, where people go about their daily lives and everything is... normal. Ah, that's beginning to feel like a loaded word. But I must say, even a trip to nearby Bopal was enough for me sometimes, just to bring my feet back on the ground.

Not to say I don't love this place. It's amazing. But wait, this is the term end review. Looking back, I came here with so many plans, so many expectations, so many goals. Ah, the first day of school again! Nuts. I ain't done nothing yet. What have I accomplished? It's a wonder. It's rather hard to believe, now, that 3 months have actually gone by. Then again, has it really been 3 months? Ok, let's go over the main points and get this over with. Let's see if I, if we, did anything that we set out to do.

The Beginning
The first week was maniacal. It was a simpler time than now. So many new and interesting people, and this was before the seniors even came on campus. There are so many really intelligent and talented people here. It was a time of much socializing, often late into the night, something rather new for some of us (even me). We also noted how time is warped in this place. It just doesn't go at the rate attested to by scientists. 3 weeks felt like 6. It's probably all this waking for 20 hours a day nonsense that we do.

Roommates
It seemed like fate that I was paired up with Uchil. What a perfect match. Similar frequencies, we're both concerned about keeping a clean room, and have no social constraints whatsoever. We're almost even the same size. Can't say the same about everyone else. There are some real odd couples over here.

Parties
What parties? It's just another day at MICA. A bit much at times. (wink, wink)

Academics
Ok. So I thought I left massively long lectures behind back in engineering. I didn't know they got longer as you went on. 75 minutes, are you serious? We tried to learn things, and some of us did learn a lot of things, and some of us even scored well in the various exams and midterms and assignments that they kept giving. And yes, the break-up of the evaluation means that some of these assignments saved some of us from the ignomy of failing the subject proper, because let's face it, some of us are too old to be writing papers anymore. But we did get a few concepts, between cat naps and loo breaks. Speaking of which, each class has its own set of martial sleepers, whom you can count on to droop at any time of the day regardless of the professor in class.

Culture
Half of our first term subjects had to do with this seemingly harmless word. I had a good idea what culture was before coming here. Now that we've had about 118 definitions hurled at us, I'm not quite sure. Maybe it's all just an illusion. Maybe it's like that damned spoon in The Matrix. I'm sure there's a grand unifying theory somewhere. All I can say for sure is everything boils down to culture. Everything. What you eat. What you read. What you play. What movies you watch. Whether you wash your hands after taking a leak. Everything.

Gangnam Style
There were songs, and then there were songs. This is the latter. At certain times, a particular song was playing in each and every hostel here. But this is the one that blew everything else away. I remember a 48 hour period when this Korean rap song was all that we were tripping on. Getting dressed up in formals was another excuse to blast the song over the speakers and do the dance, which we are all pretty good at by now. Any time anywhere, we open Gangnam style.

Committees
A lot of us had our hearts set on a committee. It's one of the quintessential aspects of college life. Of course, positions were limited. So after a grueling week of auditions and assignments and interviews that went on late late late into the night, it was a bit of a pissoff not get into any of them. To put it lightly. I had to settle for platitudes and assurances that it's better not to be in a committee anyway. Apparently.

The Dark Knight Rises
I managed to watch it only 5 times. It's hard to get out on a weekday, though I managed it once and caught the 3:45 show. Too bad opening day came on the day of our Culnite, but I compensated by watching it the whole day the very next day. It's a little annoying that it didn't come to the Ahmedabad IMAX. That is one thing I was counting on. So much for my plans of taking a train to Mumbai and watching first day first show in the IMAX there.

Badminton
From 5PM till 6:30AM the next morning. No kidding.

That damned rain
The monsoons arrived at the campus a little later than expected, but more than made up for its tardiness. Have you ever seen the badminton court flooded in shin-high water? No, that is not an exaggeration. It really happened. The rain makes everything icky. Not only that, but we live in the middle of a jungle. The rain unleashes forth a veritable plague of insects and other things that swarm to lights in our room. There are 6-legged critters of all shapes and sizes crawling up all kinds of body parts. But if you ever want to know when it will rain, you should just ask me. Because it will always be the day I put my laundry out to dry. Damn you, Murphy.

Sleep
There were those days when we voluntarily sacrificed our sleep for vagabond activities and what not. They were not so bad. We compensated for them during the day (you know what I mean). But sleep was certainly a thing we all bid an uncerimonious goodbye to. Still, it wasn't so bad, until it became involuntarily. End term exams were days that saw us get about 4 hours of sleep- in maybe 3 sittings. It was a physical job, like tensing a muscle, to stay awake. There were many drooping heads over laptops and hitherto unopened books, fighting against the clock and the biological need for REM (not the band). And then there was the odd day that suddenly you find yourself in a position to turn in early (a relative term, I mean about 3AM). So you lay down, thinking you'll be out like a light, but you're not. You toss and turn, and turn and toss, and then it strikes you: you have become nocturnal. Damn it.

Conclusion
Well, that's it. I mean no, that's not it. There is sooooo much more, but you're not going to read it anyway, and I've got to pack. Because I'm going home. Yes. The term end vacation is here, and I'm going home. And I'm happy. Because as amazing as this place is, it just gets to you. And now I need a good week away at home, back in the real world, to recharge and replenish, and then I'll be ready to come back with arms wide open. But no, seriously, right now what I need more than anything is to get the hell out.

So what have I accomplished? I'm not quite sure. I've lost a lot of weight. I've managed not to get a belly, what with the fantastic array of fried things they serve us. I've removed the word 'routine' from my dictionary. Sigh. I'd like to think I've done something good. So many things I took for granted in the first week are gone now. Alliances once made are estranged. New ones have sprung from unexpected places. We are all so used to each other. I wonder what it would be like to meet some of them out there in the real world. But you know what, this was a huge learning experience. Now I know, more or less, how things are done around here. So next term should be easier. I think.

P.S. The photocredit goes to RoRo.

My Own Wasteland

Cracked earth fractures in the heat
As the barren land mourns.
No life perturbs the ground
But for a few crown of thorns.

Even the cacti are withered
And protrude like broken bones.
I planted them there with great care
And now my labour's fruits are borne.

I chose every rock to adorn this place,
I crafted and moulded every dune.
The sand that cuts like broken glass
I laid myself under the moon.

I tore the sky, no clouds do cover,
And the sun is harsh and cruel.
But I'm to blame for shadow's exile,
She's not to blame for sun's rule.

With loving hands I shaped the hills,
With minute detail I crafted the cacti's spines.
By day the land burns, by night freezes with no ice.
This is my wasteland of my own design.

God gave me green forests and bounty,
And lakes and vales to feed them.
He gave me chances to build cities
of gold, but I did not heed them.

Now even God has forsaken me,
Left me without even my sins to atone.
This is my wasteland, my own creation
And now I must live here alone.

Random Rant 8:- The Phantom Click

Uh oh... did I do that?

So there you are, innocently working on the computer, the most evil machine ever invented by man. You're just minding your own business, doing some task (usually on some loathsome Microsoft software).

You'll be moving the mouse, clicking, typing something, clicking, dragging, basically having the time of your life.

But ever so often, one will accidentally click... click, but not mean to. It is a phantom click. One that is not initiated consciously by you, but nonetheless finds your finger applying sufficient pressure on the left mouse button to register one.

Sometimes, with disastrous results. Because the phantom click will sometimes press a button that you absolutely did not intend to and it brings about a regime change the likes of which you have never seen. Suddenly new windows appear, or old ones are gone. You are lost. You do not know how to revert. Ctrl+Z is not working. You are panicking. Work done may disappear or reappear in another horribly wrong format. Or you may have accidentally irrevocably deleted something.

Oh dear lord, what have I done?

What is this sorcery? What strange secret have you unlocked? You look at all the possible buttons you might have clicked. Which one of them would have unleashed such witchcraft?

And since the click is a phantom one and did not register with you, you will continue to happily drag the pointer across the screen. This may change the entire layout of the GUI. Suddenly taskbars are not where they should be. The preview screen in Outlook is gone. Text has disappeared or been inserted where it doesn't belong. It is a nightmare.

And the worst part is, you are alone. No one can help you. You are lost. You are without recourse. You are very, very pissed off. Fucking computer...

Random Rant 7:- The Excuse-Me Tango

So there I'll be, walking along, tralalalala, minding my own fucking business.

Then suddenly, some idiot will stop right in front of me. These idiots can come from anywhere. They may materialize around the corner, or may coming head on at you. Usually they are looking somewhere else. The ones coming around the corner do not have the sense to recognize the possibility of someone coming in the blind spot behind the corner, they just come barreling through. Those coming head on are looking at the ceiling, the floor, or into space- anywhere else but right in front of them. These I can at least see, because I'm of course looking in the proper direction.

But it may just be that I am in the confined space of a narrow corridor or such. Not much area for maneuverability. So now, bam, I'm stuck with said moron in front of me.

Idiot.

I hate having the flow of my walk broken for no good reason, but for someone's carelessness.

But being the bigger man, being the peacemaker, being the nice fucking guy that I am, I choose to step aside and give the erring soul yield, so that he/she may get the fuck on their way, and I can continue as well.

But no. Said idiot moves in the same direction that you do.

Damn it. Why would you do that? You have already put your incompetence on full display, why now would you block me from putting you far behind me, physically and otherwise?

Okay, I choose to ignore this blip. All is not lost yet. But I want to get the hell out of there. So I go to side-step the person. Only to have them step in the same direction.

Okay, what the fuck, man? Why are you mocking me now? Can you just move so I can be on my merry fucking way?

So I step back the other way. To my absolute horror, so the does the other person. It is getting agitating now. I mean, I was already agitated, but now the facade of good citizen is starting to crack.

So this back and forth thing can happen any number of times. It may be accompanied with embarrassed smiles and muffled apologies. Excuse me, no you excuse me, no you excuse me, and so on.

But here comes the best part.

I stop. I think, enough of this chicanery, I'm done with this bullshit. You can do whatever you want. But then the other person stops too. Now we both look like idiots who are just standing there. The horror. The shame. I want to die. I want to pick the other person up and throw them in the other direction. Look, just go around me, what are you doing?

But that's okay. I know the person's next move. By following the previous pattern, I know they are going to the side. So, here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to prevent any further shenanigans. I am going to end this misery. I am going to go right down the middle.

But then, would you believe it, so do they.

Why.

The Avengers- Something Of A Review

I hated the Tim Burton Batman movies, but I loved the Nolan ones. I don’t know when it happened, but somehow the taste for “fantasy” creeped out of me. Perhaps it was because I grew up a Batman fan, and everything about him was so… human. But the first “incredible” superheroes that were presented in a “credible” way were X-Men and Spiderman, two cartoons I religiously avoided. If I could enjoy those movies, surely there was hope?

But I was still always concerned about the Avengers project. Iron Man came out, and I became an instant Robbie Downey Jr. fan. The Incredible Hulk reboot was also very enjoyable. By the time Iron Man 2 came out, we all knew about the Avengers project. It annoyed me because that would involve placing the “credible” Iron Man (yes, even with his out-of-this-world technology) into the “incredible” world of green monsters and Norse gods. I cringed a bit at the time.

But I let the excitement build, even if it festered with my doubt. I knew the basic premise… they would be recruited, they would falter, then they would come together as a team to avert a global catastrophe. That is taken for granted. It was how they would do it that was my concern, could they keep my attention, and would each hero be given his due.

After all, it felt like a couple of movies were made just with this one in mind. So I thought, what the hell? At least I’ll get to see more of Sam Jackson than just a small teaser clip at the end of the previous movies.

But they did make good of it. And I was pleasantly surprised. There was enough emotion to go around, something I was worried would be sorely missed. We had the conflicted soldier complex of Captain America, a counterpoint to the renegade of funk that Tony Stark was. Both of them didn’t see eye-to-eye. We had the reserved Bruce Banner who wanted nothing to do with them. There was a romantic tension with Romanov and Barton that was more taut than a bowstring (see what I did there). There is the weight of the world on Nick Fury. There is the maniacal Loki who is bent on revenge, and I’m not certain anything else. I’m not sure what Thor brings to the table other than a big hammer, but it seems that Robin lady’s sitcom career wasn’t a waste after all because she landed a role in this movie.

Apart from that was a heavy dose of good action, which is hard to come by because we are so spoiled with all kinds of brilliant action pieces that we become kind of desensitized to it all. The film starts slowly (after an initial action packed bang, that was to be expected) with several references to previous movies that have you excitedly saying “Ooo, that’s the thing from Thor!” or “They told that in The Incredible Hulk, remember?” and “Oh yes, that comes all the way from Nazi days in Captain America!”.  And also the recruitment process. This is not a bad thing, because it allowed for a lot of banter to take place- Tony Stark, of course, being the king of banter. Then comes the typical scattering, accompanied by a big action scene, where the heroes are distraught, and there is a lot of emotion here. And it is handled well. And finally the big kaboom when they decide to come together as a team, and Sam Jackson does not get eaten by a shark.

Now the thing about superhero movies is that the entire city or world has to be on the edge of doom. Otherwise, it’s no fun. In Batman Begins, Gotham was on the verge of destruction. In The Dark Knight it is arguable that even more was at stake. In all Spiderman movies, New York stood on the threshold of annihilation. Iron Man had problems with doomsday technology. Earth was going to be overrun by Frost Giants in Thor. Watchmen had the world poised on the brink of nuclear war. Hulk had to stop a giant scary beast from tearing apart Harlem in his movie. And Captain America… sorry, I was dead drunk for that one. But he beat up a lot of Nazis, so like, whatever. The point is, global catastrophes have become the order of the day, because anything less will fail to capture our destroyed attention spans for more than 2 seconds. Every life has to hang in the balance, or why the f**k do we need a superhero? In this case, however, a global catastrophe is DEMANDED by the sheer scale of things. And we are given one, one that is built across the span of at least 2 prior movies (Thor and Captain America). Everything has its place, everything fits.

The special effects are, as expected, amazing. When Romanov tells Banner and Captain that “its going to get hard to breathe in a minute”, and you think the boat is a submarine, but a second later you realize its not… these kind of things are what you love about these movies. And the action is beautiful. Not overcooked and unintelligible like certain Michael Bay movies. It is REALLY good. The big final fight where all the Avengers are working together is marvelous. And it really is a sweet cap on a truly excellent superhero movie.


My doubt can finally rest peacefully. I can finally look forward to the final Batman movie.

How Girls Are Different For Boys (told in rage comics)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Legend Is Legendary