Day 445 - 2nd April 2012

Woke up relatively early today. Had breakfast at Chota before taking care of some last minute packing. The painful goodbyes continued through the morning. Donated a lot of my stuff to the housekeeping staff and Chota.
Made a trip to the main building and administration block for one last round of goodbyes with the staff. It still hasn't hit me that the MICA journey will come to an end in another half an hour. I am pretty sure that sinking feeling will hit me when I least expect it. It is only fitting that the trip to the airport will be made in Azhar Bhai's rickshaw. Its been an amazing two years out here, this place has exceeded all the expectations that I came with.  Will have my last meal in the mess as a student of the institute before leaving.

Adios!

Day 444 - 1st April 2012

The penultimate day at MICA. Spent the first half of the day in arranging for the bike to be packed and sent to Bombay. A lot of people started leaving campus, saying multiple goodbyes wasn't an easy job. Had our last group lunch at Pizza Hut - Kalkar, Shibani, Sania, Kore, Dua, Apu and Buds were there. Got back to campus by 5 in the evening. Caught up on some sleep in the evening. Spent most of the night copying as many serials as possible from myzone. The last dinner in the mess happened to be biryani. With so many people leaving, the campus felt like one of those deserted towns we see in westerns. Spent some time at Chota in the night. Saw the convocation video online before calling it a day one last time.

Day 443 - 31st March 2012

Today was the big day. Spent the first half of the day packing. It seems incredible but MCSA work continued to keep us busy for the first half of the day. We all had to gather in the auditorium by 430 before the batch photograph would be clicked on the cricket field. The convocation ceremony went off quite well - doing the rehearsals actually made sense ;-) The chief guest was Mr. Arun Poorie, Editor in Chief of the India Today Group. He spoke really well. He shared with us his experiences and learnings from a career in media that spans more than 3 decades. The ceremony was followed by dinner in the Nescafe Plaza.

Had our last batch meet in the audi at 1130. Thanked TI for arranging for a webcast of the convocation. Placecomm was given a standing ovation for the brilliant job that they did this year. This was followed by a pillow fight :P Football was played under floodlights one last time. This is the beginning of the end.

Day 442 - 30th March 2012

Woke up by 12 o'clock and had to spend most of the afternoon waking up people for the prize distribution ceremony. The awards ceremony is an annual fixture that is held the day before the convocation and awards are given to students for outstanding academic performance. Yours truly won an award for the best all round performance. Also had to give a speech in my capacity as the President of the MCSA.This award has been instated in the memory of a MICA alumnus who left for his heavenly abode. His batchmates have contributed to this award for the past two years. The award was given by the adviser to the Prime Minister. Post the ceremony the MCSA had a meeting with the Governing Council of the institute wherein we presented our feedback to them based on our experience at MICA. We were given a half an hour slot but the meeting ended up getting extended for almost two hours. Its been extremely hot out here and was completely dehydrated by the end of the meeting. Hadn't eaten anything since morning as well. Just before heading to the mess for dinner Shibani said that she would be getting pizzas for us as her birthday treat. Dinner at the mess was duly skipped ;-) Ordered a cheese burst pizza for myself and finished it in no time on the Asoka terrace :P The heavy dinner coupled with sleep deprivation over the past couple of days meant that getting sleep in the night will not be difficult!

Day 441 - 29th March 2012

MCSA work kept the first half of the day occupied. Had an MCSA 'power' lunch in the afternoon which was good fun. Had the last of the convocation rehearsals in the evening. The farewell culnite took place in the audi. There were some really good performances and very emotional videos that were played. The MCSA also did a surprise performance. We staged a fight in the auditorium which we went to sort out, as people started wondering what was happening, the three of us started dancing to All izz well :D A special mention also needs to be made about the Kachnar video made by Avinash Verma which was pure brilliance. This was followed by the farewell party. I was there for an hour before coming back to the room and sleeping (had been terribly sleep deprived for the past couple of days).Woke up at 7 and rejoined the party. There were just way too many people crying on the dance floor. Was expected though. The party got done by 830 in the morning. Called it a day after that!

Day 440 - 28th March 2012

The last week at MICA is taking everyone down memory lane. LitComm got the year books today. Reading testimonials is one big ego massage and it also reminds of things that you may have conveniently forgotten. It was good fun reading some testimonials. It is also a little embarrassing when someone writes a testimonial for you but haven't reciprocated :P 

Tomorrow is the farewell culnite followed by the farewell party, seems only like last night when we were at our seniors' farewell party.

Day 439 - 27th March 2012

Woke up at 2 in the afternoon. Summer has set in - it was horribly hot throughout the day. Skipped lunch at the mess and had a late lunch from Chota. Had convocation rehearsal in the evening which went on for an hour. Dinner was at Chokhi Dhani - courtesy our dissertation guide who wanted to take all of us out for dinner. It was good fun. Got back to campus by 11 in the night. Had the Kachnar party after that. The party will go on into the wee hours of the morning but I am calling it a day early, am too old to pull off back to back nigh outs :P

Day 438 - 26th March 2012

Today marked the beginning of the last week at MICA. Woke up at 11 and had some MCSA work to take care of. 12 of us were giving a joint birthday party in the night which meant that most of the afternoon went in preparing for that. Swati, Manu and I went to ISCON to pick up cold drinks and snacks for the party. Got back to campus by 5 in the evening. SCAM had organized an arm wrestling championship which provided ample entertainment in the mess during dinner. Post dinner the party preparations took over again. The party was good fun with the dancing going on till 730 in the morning :P Its been a while since an all nighter has been pulled off after being on the dance floor for so long ;-)

Day 437 - 25th March 2012

Woke up a little earlier than usual today since Jhamb and I had to take care of some MCSA work. Spent the first half of the day working on presentation that has to be made on the 30th of March. Went for a jog in the evening. Post dinner there was a batch meet wherein we took feedback from the batch for the presentation that was being prepared. Got done by midnight after which did some tp with Buds, Kore and Sania in Kalkar's room. Tomorrow onwards my last week at MICA begins, will take some time for that to sink in. 

Day 436 - 24th March 2012

Today's highlight was the movie screening by Prof. Mathew. He screened two movies - Bicycle Thieves and Beijing Bicycle back to back. Both were based on the same story but were made almost 60 years apart. The way the director's worked with the story was noteworthy. The former was an Italian movie and the latter was a Chinese movie. After the movie screenings, had some MCSA work to take care of which took about an hour. Read a bit in the night before calling it a day. 

Day 435 - 23rd March 2012

A very routine day. The only highlight was the discussion of the Kachnar party that happened in the courtyard in the night. The date zeroed down on is 27th. Next week seems to be quite packed in terms of social commitments ;-)

Day 434 - 22nd March 2012

Woke up at around noon today. Three days spent on the cricket field have made me feel pain in parts of my body that I never even knew existed :P Spent an hour in getting the no dues certificate cleared. Sat for the movie screening in the evening which was a french historical. Dinner was with Geeko at Subway. Got back to campus by 1030. Had some MCSA work after that which went on till midnight. The realization has also dawned that it is going to be less than a week now before the course comes to an end. Nostalgia is setting in!

Days 431 to 433 - 19th to 21st March 2012

Clubbing the 3 days together on account of the 'test' match that took place out here. It was a 3 day affair with a maximum of 60 overs being bowled in a day and each team also could bat for a maximum of 60 overs per innings. Our team lost the toss and we ended up fielding for the entire first day! Dropped catches didn't make our life easy and we finally got the opposition out for 228 in 58 overs! Yes, 58 overs on the cricket field! Luckily we didn't have to bat on the same day. Before day 2 the pitch was watered, but the sun God decided to play a part by not appearing at the beginning of the day which meant we went out to bat on a wet pitch! And what a day it turned out to be. At one stage we were 2 for 4 and finally managed to reach 66  before becoming all out in the 33rd over. That gave the opposition a lead of 162 but it also meant that we got to bowl 25 overs at them on a minefield. Made the most of it by reducing them to 49 for 8 by the end of day's play. It was a typical 4th day test match pitch where one could not predict how the ball would behave after bouncing :P

The pitch eased out on the last day and we were set a target of 214 in 60 overs. The chase was going on well and we brought the equation down to 79 required of 18 overs with 5 wickets in hand which was akin to a T20 match. However a batting collapse followed which meant we ended losing by 60 odd runs. It was a good match nonetheless. Felt good to play a test match before leaving MICA. Now need to find other ways of keeping myself busy for the next 9-10 days :P

Day 430 - 18th March 2012

Woke up at 2 in the afternoon. Skipped lunch in the mess and had lunch at Chota. Went for a walk in the evening upto Gulmohar Greens. Got back  by 7 in the evening and saw India chasing its highest ODI score against Pakistan. It was a pretty one sided match towards the end. Came back to the room and read a bit. Dozed off as I was reading. Woke up at around 2. There is a 'test' match planned tomorrow which will go on for 3 days. Should be fun.

Day 429 - 17th March 2012

A pretty routine day today. Started reading No Angel - Bernie Ecclestone's biography. Sujay's birthday party was held in Chinar which went on till the wee hours of the morning. Spent an hour or so at aamchair before calling it a day at 6 in the morning.

Day 428 - 16th March 2012

Woke up in time for breakfast at the mess. Had some MCSA work to care of in the first half of the day. Post lunch had planned to take a siesta but before going to sleep checked the score of the match between India and Bangladesh. Sachin was batting on 41 and somehow it felt that today was going to be the day when he would score his 100th 100. Decided to sacrifice the siesta and headed to the community center to watch the game. As Sachin inched towards the landmark figure more and more people started pouring into the community center. Finally when the moment came, the community center erupted! I also realised that it was probably the last time when I would be seeing a match at the community center with everyone. There are some very fond memories of cricket matches seen at the community center - India's test series victory in Sri Lanka, the cliffhanger against Australia at Mohali where Laxman and Ishant Sharma put on one of the best 9th wicket partnerships, close Mumbai Indians games in the Champions league and some fantastic WC2011 games.

Went for a jog in the evening. Played cricket in front of Silveroak as a tribute to Sachin's record :P Made plans to go out for dinner in night to further celebrate the record. Sania, Kalkar, Kore, Apu, Shibani, Dua and I went to Tomato's for Jashn-e-Sachin :D The food was excellent (as usual). Got back to campus by midnight. Can go to sleep with a feeling of contentment tonight :-)

Day 427 - 15th March 2012

Woke up by 10 in the morning and had breakfast at Chota. Most of day was taken up by MCSA work. Had to meet the associate director and executive registrar. Continued reading Corner of a Foreign Field. Also had the Kachnar hostel pic for the yearbook. Post lunch Mathew sir screened a French movie in the audi, couldn't sit for the entire movie as some MCSA work came up again. Finished reading the book in the evening. Went to see Kahaani at City Gold in the night with Sania, Kore, Kalkar and Shibani. It is quite a decent movie, keeps you enthralled for the entire two hours. Came back to campus by 1 in he night. Have to keep finding ways to keep myself occupied over the next 2 weeks!

Day 426 - 14th March 2012

• Woke up by noon
• Downloaded research papers
• Went for a jog in the evening
• Packed dinner from Subway
• Slept off early

Day 425 - 13th March 2012

Woke up in time for breakfast today. The craze to download research papers from the library resources was reignited today, continued to get material on sports marketing and alcohol marketing. We also had the batch picture at the OAT for the yearbook. It was good fun with the photo being taken again and again as more and more latecomers arrived :D Had to go to Gulmohar Greens after that to book a room for Amma Appa for the convocation. Got the bike cleaned on the way back. Had an hour long siesta before going for a jog in the evening. Took a different route today which is slightly long as compared to the Bopal route but equally scenic, if not more.

In the evening had to prepare a bit for the first session of the Sports Marketing Club @ MICA. This is an initiative started by Ganesh and me wherein we want to build a knowledge centre for sports marketing in India. There are some short term and long term plans that we have in mind and I really hope things materialise. We had our first meeting today which also had a Skype session with Kunal (my boss from FIF1) on the business of motorsport in India. After the session caught up with CD Mitra at Chota. This was the last time I was meeting him at MICA, though I hope there will be able to meet a lot in the future as well. Got back to the room by around 2, continued downloading research papers for around half an hour before calling it a day.

Day 424 - 12th March 2012

Woke up relatively early today, had breakfast at Chota before getting down to housekeeping duties. Had to wash clothes and also get collect clothes from Paras Bhai. Pre lunch spent majority of the time reading articles off the net. 12th March happens to be the anniversary of a lot of important events - the bomb blasts in Bombay in 1993, the start of the Dandi March and also the day when South Africa chased down a world record total against Australia at Johannesburg. Got to know all of this through facebook! Post lunch had a meeting with one of the members of MICA's governing council who also happens to be an alumnus from the first batch. It was a very fruitful session where we shared some of our suggestions that we felt would help the institute in the long term.

Went for a jog in the evening to Bopal. Dinner was Chota with Buds and Kore on account of the not so inviting mess food. Post dinner got down to reading corner of a foreign field. Will call it a day in a bit, have the photo shoot for the batch and hostel pics tomorrow.

Day 423 - 11th March 2012

Today's blog post is dedicated to one of the unsung heroes of Indian cricket. Being a cricket fan I was appalled that I had never heard his name until recently when a Prof. Mathew mentioned his name in the Indian Cinema class. The name Palwankar Baloo does not feature in too many Indian cricket history magazines/journals. Consistent with public perception, I was always under the impression that 'Colonel' C.K. Nayudu was the first star of Indian cricket. However long before Nayudu played, there was a Dalit sweeper from Poona Club who had captured the imagination of the nation with his mesmerising slow left arm bowling. Palwankar Baloo used to roll the pitch at Poona Club and make the necessary line markings for the crease. Some the English players asked him to bowl at them in the nets and they soon realised that he had some serious talent. As would be the case for most of his cricketing career, Baloo did not get too much of an opportunity to play in conservative Poona. He then made the decision to move with his family to Bombay - the home of Indian cricket. Even over here his selection to the Hindu Gymkhana team was met with stiff resistance, however his cricketing talent overrode his caste in this case and he went on to become one of the highest wicket takers in the Quadrangular tournament in Bombay. Baloo also raised his three brothers - Shivram, Vitthal and Ganpat to become cricketers. Of them Vitthal was the most successful, he was one of the most prolific batsmen for the Hindu Gymkhana.

Baloo's struggle did not end after he was chosen for the team. He was overlooked for the captaincy because of his caste. He was never allowed to enter the pavillion, lunch and tea were served to him in separate vessels. In spite of this he continued to play cricket and take wickets. He toured England in the early 1900's and still remains the only Indian bowler to take more than 100 wickets in a tour of England. There were many instances when he was dropped from the team by high handed 'Brahmin' selectors and was brought back due to the public outrage at him not being included. Baloo however would have felt a sense of accomplishment when his younger brother - Vitthal was asked to captain the Hindu Gymkhana team. An untouchable leading a team of royalty and upper castes was unthinkable in those days!

I have been reading Corner of A Foreign Field for the past three days and this story has stuck with me. As a cricket fan I feel it is my duty to acknowledge the Palwankar brothers' contribution to the game in India. Biased historians have not given them their due. It took Ramachandra Guha's book which was released in 2002 to bring to our notice the brothers who have to be treated at par with the Waughs, Flowers, Chappels and Mohammeds of the world!

Day 422 - 10th March 2012

Another routine day. The highlight was the last MLS of the year and the speaker was Geet Sethi. He had a very informal talk with us - no fancy presentation, it was very evident that he was speaking from the heart. He spoke to us about the importance of concentration and how it can be developed. He also spoke about how when it came to achieving greatness, the kind of sacrifices one had to make along the way. Many examples were given along the way from his sport and other sports as well about how sportspeople followed certain regimes and learnt from their mistakes. The best part of the day though was after the lecture when he came to the community center to show us some of his trick shots. Another one of those days when you can consider yourself really lucky to be a part of this institute - a world champion snooker champion is playing at the snooker table in your community center! He played some really astounding shots, but then you couldn't expect lesser from a world champion.

Spent the rest of the day reading corner of a foreign field. It has some really interesting facts, but will share them in another post.

Day 421 - 9th March 2012

Woke up earlier than usual - 1030 a.m. :P Spent pre lunch occupied with some MCSA work. Had to meet the associate director and chairman of the dissertation committee. Post lunch went to Gulmohar Greens to find out about the room tariff out there, have to book a room for Amma Appa when they come here for the convocation. Went to Reliance Mart from there to pick up some stuff for the room. Got back to campus by 4 and continued reading corner of a foreign field. I really like Guha's style of writing - free flowing and easy to understand. Had tried to read a  book on the same topic by Boria Majumdar 5 years back, but just could not get myself to read it after a certain point of time - it felt like I was reading a M.A History textbook!

Went upto Bopal for a jog in the evening. Got back and got to know that some of our grades were displayed. My grades are pretty OK - a mixture of As and Bs, have taken a beating in two media subjects with two Cs. The agenda for today's dinner was Bhaji Pav (yes in Ahmedabad it is said the other way around) at Mahakali in Bopal. All their Bhaji Pav had the option of being made in Oil, Butter or Cheese :P The food was really good and that is one more place off the bucket list.

Didn't have much to do in the night. Continued reading before calling it a day.

Day 420 - 8th March 2012

Unlike last year, stayed back on campus for Holi. The festivities began by around 11. Every year a tanker is called and a particular patch of land is made into slurry where people are dragged into as an initiation to Holi. This year was no different, the tradition of guys' shirts being ripped off also was adhered to strictly. Some poor souls committed the crime of walking out in jeans, a t-shirt and sports shoes and they were summarily punished. There was also a couple of guys who after getting their shirts ripped off wore another shirt and came back. Those shirts weren't spared either!

Slept in the afternoon for a good couple of hours. Went to the gym in the evening. Dinner was another place that was on the Ahmeabad bucket list - Souq. It serves mediterranean,  moroccan and lebanese food. Had shawarma rolls out there which was quite good. That was followed by dessert at the chocolate room, tried the rocky road chocolate pizza which was out of this world! Was left wondering why I never tried it earlier. Got back to campus by midnight. Continued reading Corner of A Foreign Field before calling it a day.

Day 419 - 7th March 2012

After yesterday's submission I expected to be a little free and had planned to catch up on all the books have to be read. However the first half of today was consumed by MCSA work. Had a meeting with the executive registrar and the associate director for some work related to the dissertation committee. The meeting for one almost two hours. Post lunch had to send out some mails for the senior committee selection process.

The finals of the MCL were played today and it was a PGP-2 v/s PGP-1 game, just like last year's final. It pretty much followed the same trend like last year's game where the PGP-1 team faced a batting collapse and put up an almost at par score. The PGP-2 team chased it but not without a few hiccups. There was even a prize distribution with all finalists winning medals and trophies for the man of the match, man of the tournament and winning captain. All of these were given by the MCSA :P

Went to the gym in the evening. Dinner in the mess was a pleasant surprise with soup, pizza and chocolate ice cream :). Post dinner had a meeting with all senior committees to figure out the dates for their selection process.  Got done with that by midnight after which there was a KT session for the new MCSA. Went for a midnight snack to Chota with Sania, Ishan, Baby Menon and Pallavi - tadka maggie in the chilly weather was heavenly! Got back to the room by 4. Tomorrow is holi, had escaped it last year but this time that wasn't an option :P

Day 418 - 6th March 2012

Woke up past noon today (again). Post lunch started working on what was (hopefully) my last assignment at MICA. Had to submit the Indian Cinema assignment by EoD today. We had to write about our learnings from the course and also send a pictorial representation of a topic that was taught in the course. My biggest learning from the course was the case study on Lagaan - about how it dealt with the caste system and at some levels was an insult to our intelligence. For pictorial representation I took up the topic of how women are potrayed in Sooraj Barjatya films. Some of the movie posters actually made me cringe! So I am guessing there is some learning at least that I am taking away from the course ;-)

Went for a jog upto the highway in the evening. Realised that jogging on the treadmill and on the road are two totally different things! There was an MLS in the evening, the COO of Idea Cellular was the speaker. It was a very nice talk on how things around us are changing. He used humour very well throughout his talk - his opening line was "Please use your phones during the talk, everytime I hear a phone ring I can also hear our coffers filling up, so if you get a call during the talk please answer it" :P

Sankalp had organized Showcase in the night, this is the platform for aspiring pgp-1 directors to put up their plays after which the directors for next year's Natrani production are chosen. There were 5 plays out of which I personally liked 2 of them. One dealt with 3 prisoners who were on the death roll and the relationships that were nurtured between them in the days leading up to their hanging. The second one used the concept of absurdity to take a dig at concepts like mass murder by capitalist powers and the justice system in place.

Got back to the room by 230, worked out some of the things that needed to be done for the senior committee selection process before calling it a day.

Day 417 - 5th March 2012

Have to find ways to kill time in March. Everyday so far has been following pretty much the same routine - wake up at noon, read articles off the net through the afternoon, go to the gym in the evening, play tennis/badminton if possible. Decided to go out for dinner -went to Kbobs. Had heard a lot about it and it lived up to expectations, with some awesome kebabs. That's one more item off the bucket list.

Had a meeting with all committees in the night for the senior committee selection process. Had a batch meet with pgp-1 after that to clarify doubts regarding work in the senior committees and also take their feedback on the way senior committees functioned during the year gone by. Got done with it by 2 in the night. Came back to the room, spent the customary hour on facebook before calling it a day.

Day 416 - 4th March 2012

Woke up earlier than usual today but still wasn't good enough for breakfast in the mess :P Spent the first half of the day taking of care long overdue washing of socks and shoes. Had a 3 hour siesta, woke up by 530 in the evening. Went to the gym after that. Tried my hand at badminton again today, now I am not sure if I will be able to play tennis :P Post dinner Buds, Kalkar, Ishan, Sania and I went to SH-5 to see a documentary on anarchy during the Spanish revolution. It was pretty interesting, George Orwell's 1984 was inspired by that part  of Spanish history. The movie got done by 2. Back in the hostel now. Tomorrow onwards need to start ticking off items from the Ahmedabad bucket list.

Day 415 - 3rd March 2012

Very lazy day today. There was an MCL match in the afternoon which kept me occupied till the evening. Had a little MCSA work in the night regarding the senior committee selections. Had to send out the committee ranking form. After that had nothing much to do. Played badminton in the night, and was surprisingly able to play a rally of more than 2 shots above eye level :P Got back to the room by 4 and called it a day.

Day 414 - 2nd March 2012

Woke up at noon today. Went to Bopal for a haircut, picked up some stuff for the room on the way back. Need to start planning how to spend a month out here with no classes! Had a meeting with all committees in the  afternoon regarding the committee selection process. We had suggested the idea of offering PPOs to candidates to whom they are keen on retaining. Also had to discuss the process in which committees would be slotted for interviews to be conducted. Spent a good hour and a half discussing the process with Buds and Sania. Went to the city in the evening to pick up a friend of mine who has come down from Lucknow. Had dinner at Honey9 after which we came back to campus. Showed him around the campus in the night before calling it a day.

Day 413 - 1st March 2012

Woke up at noon. Had to go to the city for some work in the afternoon. Used it as an excuse to have lunch at Chawla's - a punjabi food place at Vastrapur. Pretty decent food. Since its my last month out here, have made an Ahmedabad bucket list - a list of places to go to in the city before March 31st. So Chawla's is now off the list ;-) Got back to campus by 4. Had a little MCSA work to care of in the evening. Went to the gym for sometime before dinner. Post dinner started work on the international marketing assignment. There was a case study of KFC 's strategy in China that had to be analyzed. Got done with that by midnight. Placecomm elections will begin in sometime. It seems only like yesterday that we had our placecomm elections :-) Will attend the elections before calling it a day.

Day 412 - 29th February 2012

No classes today. Didn't realise how time flew throughout the day. Went to the gym in the evening (come March, the gym will be overflowing with people from pgp-2). Got down to writing testimonials for the yearbook in the night. Have to admit that I have been very lazy - have written very less for very people. I prefer  telling people in person how much I am going to miss them :P Surfed the net before calling it a day.

Day 411 - 28th February 2011

Had our International Marketing group presentation in the morning today. It went off well, the prof gave us a few pointers which we could have worked on. Afternoon to evening was completely occupied with MCSA work. Had a meeting with the director and executive registrar. Then had a meeting some of the faculty members regarding the dissertation submissions. Played tennis in the evening for a bit. That was followed by the inter hostel tug of war competition. Spent half an hour at the gym before an all committee meeting for the selection of the senior committees. There was a post dissertation submission party organized in the night and the theme was Absolut Fantasy, where people had to come dressed up as their fantasies. Yours truly went as an F1 race driver since the Force India shirt, cap and helmet were easily available. Other people also got into the thick of things with people coming as Rauf Lala (from Agneepath), Langda Tyagi, Don Corleone, A nurse, Wolverine, Men in Black, ManU man (just to name a few). Was awesome fun. Had a good time with my batchmates after a really long time. Was a nice way to kick start the relatively free month of March.

Day 410 - 27th February 2012

Had a rest day today. Spent most of the day sleeping. Had to take care of some MCSA work in the afternoon. The film studies assignment was due tonight. Gave finishing touches to my assignment before submitting it in the evening. Dinner was at Natrani cafe with Sania. Got back to campus by 10 and had to start working on the International Marketing Assignment that has to be presented in class tomorrow. Our group is working on how India can be marketed as a medical tourism destination. Got done with it by 1 in the night. Went to Gulmohar after that for Atin's birthday treat. Was there for half an hour before coming back to Kachnar and calling it a day.

Day 409 - 26th February 2012

Today's post is dedicated to the quintessential sportsperson at MICA - Suhail Kapur. It was the last day of SAMAR today which meant that the quarters, semis and final for most of the events to be played. Mr. Kapur's day began in the morning with a cricket match. This was followed by the men's singles final in tennis where he creamed his opponent who until then was the most hyped player in tennis. This was followed by the basketball finals where again his team won. After this he had his mixed doubles finals in tennis, where (surprise surprise) he won again.

If you thought that was where it ended, then you are woefully wrong. That was just the beginning! He had seven back to back badminton matches in various categories - mens singles, mens doubles and mixed doubles. He won all his matches out there and that too convincingly against all opponents. The baddy court was packed till 2 in the night with everyone wanting to watch him play one last time for MICA. And he didnt let the crowd down at all, with his trademark strokes with the shuttle appearing out of nowhere when would expect a normal human being not to reach it.

He has been christened Krish by our batch for his heroics on the field. But personally I respect him because he does not lose his cool on the field, something that is very common in inter college matches. Sport reveals character and he has always maintained his composure on the field, a true ideal for any aspiring sportsperson.

In sports marketing literature, there is a term called BIRG (basking in reflected glory) where a sportsperson's victory is considered to be our victory. Suhail Kapur has been the cause of reflected glory for MICAns for the past two years and I wonder if the void left by him can ever be filled at MICA. I feel honoured and privileged to have been in MICA for the two years that he has entertained us and given MICAns something to cheer about. 

Day 408 - 25th February 2012

Was the second day of SAMAR today. Played football for the first time at MICA :D Was good fun. Spent the rest of the day watching games where MICA teams were involved, had nothing much to do apart from that. Tomorrow is the last day of SAMAR after which we have the last set of classes at MICA!

Day 407 - 24th February 2012

Samar started today. I had registered for tennis and cricket both of which didnt go too well :P Lost the men's singles and doubles. Lost a very close match in cricket as well. Spent a major part of the day at the tennis court or at the cricket field. Was dead tired by the end of the day. Had dinner at Chota which was a chicken fest - aneesh paratha, frankie, chicken chilly and manvi rice! Came back to the room and finished watching Johnny English. Getting sleep tonight shouldn't be too difficult!

Day 406 - 23rd February 2012

Didn't have any classes today on account of it being the last day for the dissertation submission. Had to submit Apu's dissertation. Spent a major part of the afternoon reading. Started watching Johnny English. Played tennis in the evening followed by half an hour at the gym. SAMAR, our annual sports fest starts tomorrow. MICA will be represented by four contingents, got to know today that I am contingent captain for MICA White. Had a meeting with the contingent in the night and appointed captain's for each sport. Our matches start tomorrow.

Got back to the room continued watching the movie for a while before calling it a day.

Day 405 - 22nd February 2012

Had 2 sessions of International Marketing in the morning. The prof. discussed various marketing strategies one can consider before entering a foreign market. He has given us an assignment which requires us to devise a launch plan for an Indian product in a foreign market. After class met my dissertation guide and got the final approval. Got the dissertation printed and got her signature on the final submission form. Spent the rest of the afternoon caught up with some MCSA work, had to meet the chairman of the disseration committee and the executive registrar. Had some work in the program office as well. Came back to the room and squeezed in a 2 hour siesta. Didnt have company to play tennis in the evening so had to make do with going to the gym. Spent most of the night reading the Winning Way. Finished it by midnight. Most of the learnings in there may seem like common sense but some of the examples from the world of sport are pretty interesting and insightful.

Went to Chota for a Chai in the afternoon. Its amazing how there is always someone out there whom you can strike up a conversation with that can go on for hours! Got a back to the room by 3 in the morning. Surfed the net a bit before calling it a day.

Day 404 - 21st February 2012

Had 3 sessions on International Marketing in the morning. The prof. was a visiting faculty from the industry. He had 20 odd years of experience in the 'adult beverages' industry as he like to call it. He explained the different factors that we needed to keep in mind while devising international marketing strategies. He shared his experiences while launching Fosters in India. The alcobev industry in India requires innovative marketing strategies for a brand to succeed in India and he took us through his work. After a 25 year stint in the industry he is now an entrepreneur, he has started a chain of beer cafe's, a relatively new concept in India which seemed pretty interesting.

Post lunch there was a company presentation to attend. Had some MCSA work after that, we have to slowly start handing over work to the newly elected MCSA. Introduced them to the senior management and some of the people in the administration. Met my dissertation guide to get some final changes made to my dissertation. Overall she has approved it, need to make one modification after which I can submit it.

Played tennis for about an hour and went to the gym after that. Post dinner made the final few changes to the dissertation report. Continued reading the Winning Way and called it a day early, have a class at 930 tomorrow morning. Hope to wake up in time for it!

Day 403 - 20th February 2012

Woke up at 1 in the afternoon today! Spent a very lazy afternoon watching some videos on youtube. Made changes to the dissertation report based on the feedback given by my guide. Played tennis for an hour which was followed by the gym.

Post dinner actually slept off for a couple of hours. Woke up at around 1 in the night. Started reading The Winning Way, a book which combines management principles and learnings from sport written by Harsha and Anita Bhogle. Some of the anecdotes in the book are quite interesting. Slept off by 4 in the morning. All in all a pretty lay day!

Day 402 - 19th February 2012

Woke up at noon today. Spent a major part of the day formatting the dissertation report. Realized that the indexing functionality in MS Word is not that easy to comprehend :P Played tennis in the evening with Anuja for an hour and a half. Samar is less than a week away, my tennis game isnt at the level I would have liked it to be, but it has improved compared to what it was earlier. Went to the gym after that.

The MCSA elections were scheduled in the night. It went of quite smoothly and got done within 3 hours. Got back to the room by 330. A lot of people have been asking me how it feels now that a new MCSA has been elected. I actually havent even thought about it! Its been work/life as usual :-) On that note will call it a day!

Day 401 - 18th February 2012

Had two hours of international marketing in the morning. The prof. is a visiting faculty from the industry. He was heading Mahindra's tractor business in the US before returning to India a few years back. The session dealt with how we need to understand different cultures while dealing with international counterparts/clients. Classes got done by 130. Post lunch comtinued working on the dissertation. Had to complete the part on data analysis and interpretations of the results.

Played tennis in the evening for about an hour after which I went to the gym (yes, sixth term does give you a lot time). Had to go to Bopal in the evening to pick up some stuff for the room. Converted into a dinner trip to Subway with Sania. Got back to campus by 10, spent some time surfing the net before getting back to working on the dissertation. Went to Chota at around 3 in the morning for some chai and ended up chatting with people for almost 2 hours! Got back to Kachnar at 5 in the morning, dont see myself attending tomorrow's classes.

Day 400 - 17th February 2012

400 days at MICA! :-) Started off the day by attending the last few sessions on Ad research which dealt with the pre and post testing of advertisements. This was followed by the group presentations that we had to make based on the reading material the professor had provided. The prof posed some tough questions for all the groups and has asked to make some modifications to them and resend them to her. In our defence we really werent in a postion to devote as much time as we could have on account of the dissertation submission. Post lunch met my guide and discussed how I would be doing the data analysis and proceeding with the presentation of my results, she is OK with it, which is a huge relief at this point of time. The rest of the afternoon was consumed by MCSA work which involved meetings with the executive registrar, chairman of the dissertation committee and the associate director. Got done with all the work by around 5 in the evening.

Went to the gym for a bit, after which I headed to the tennis courts where we played under floodlights. Played for a good hour and a half. Dinner was at Chota courtesy the third straight meal the mess with Aloo in it :P Post dinner gave an interview to a batchmate for his dissertation which was on Sachin Tendulkar. Felt good talking about him and cricket after so long! Also had a batch meet with pgp-1 to explain the process of the MCSA elections that would be taking place day after tomorrow. Came back to the room and continued working on the dissertation. A couple of juniors have been approaching me to get their speech and agenda in order for the MCSA election. Reminded me of the agenda I had prepared for my speech last year, it is still stored on my phone :-)

For tomorrow's class on International Marketing there is a pre read from Malcolm Gladwell's book called Outliers on the ethnic history of plane crashes. Started reading it and found it quite interesting. It dealt with how hierarchy in the cockpit had led to many crashes in Korean Airlines and more than anything the problem was rooted in their culture. The article elaborated how it was dealt with. Slept off halfway through the article (it is not an indicator of how interesting/boring it is, was just too sleepy :P )

Day 399 - 16th February 2012

Today was an unusually long and tiring day and reminded me of first year when we used have classes for the entire day :P Woke up at 11 and had brunch at Chota (Misal Pav). Had advertising research class from 12 to 8. Just before the class started we got to know that the presentations have to be presented tomorrow! The course as such is quite interesting. The first 2-3 hours dealt with topics that we had already learnt before but the visiting faculty for this course works in a market research agency so she was giving us the agency perspective for all the theory we had learnt in MR, got to learn some pretty interesting stuff. The part on ad testing brought in the concept of efficiency (media plan) and effectiveness (content) of an advertisement. She gave us various examples along the way as to how agencies actually do pre testing for ad effectiveness. Was sitting for a long stretch of lectures after quite some time and by the end of it was completely sapped out!

Went to the gym for some time pre dinner. Post dinner sat with Kore to take his inputs on how to proceed for the data analysis part for my dissertation. What I had thought of initally may not necessarily work out, so worked out an alternate plan. Will present it to my guide tomorrow and take her point of view, hope she approves it! Generally at this time of the year almost everyone from pgp-2 will be sending out surveys to be filled or conducting interviews/ focus group discussions on campus for their dissertations. Have come across some really interesting research tools this time around being used by my batchmates. One guy is conducting a poker championship to study hoe people react under stress :D Dua is doing his dissertation on facial coding and its marketing implications. I was a guinea pig for his research with Kore trying to sell me a phone and my facial expressions being recorded. After the first sales pitch Kore was told what my expressions meant and he was asked to make a pitch once again, this time modifying it spontaneously based on my facial expressions.

Had planned to finish a certain part of the dissertation report but I just realised that it is too much to finish for today, plus saturation is settting in. Also a lot  depends on what my guide says tomorrow! On that note, will call it a day and hopefully wake up in time for class tomorrow which is at 830!

Day 398 - 15th February 2012

Had planned to wake up at 730 and play tennis, but I guess it will take some time before I cn get back to my earlier routine. Woke up at 1130! Had lots of work lined up for the day. Called up my dissertation guide and briefed her on the status of the research. Sent out the survey links to be filled. There was a huge lot of laundry to be given to Paras Bhai. Post lunch met up with the advertising research group for our presentation which is due tomorrow. Divided the work and decided to send our parts in by night. After that the MCSA had a meeting with the head of estate and the executive registrar. The meeting was regarding deciding on a roadmap for next year for students activities based on the learnings from this year. Got back to the room and started work on the advt research assignment. There was this article that had to be read which dealt with various types of advertising models. It was quite lengthy but came across some pretty useful stuff. Prepared my part of the presentation and sent it across by evening. Went to the gym in the evening (in an attempt to make up for missing out on tennis).

Dinner in the mess was quite sad. Guess it had to even out after the valentine's day special dinner yesterday which even included chocolate pudding! Got back to the room and surfed the net. Have been doing general tp. Class begins at 1215 tomorrow so I can afford to sleep in and that is a good thought to go to sleep with :P

Day 397 - 14th February 2012

Got back to campus at 3 in the morning after a 10 day break. Woke up at noon and had chai at Chota. It was an extremely lazy day, I hadn't even unpacked. Had to send out my dissertation surveys to be filled. Slept off int the afternoon again for a couple of hours. Finally stated my day at 7 in the evening! Caught up with Buds, Kore and Kalkar. Culcom had arranged some games today for valentine's day. The mess was decorated and everybody had a candlelight dinner :P The food was also good and mess comm took it a step further by crowd sourcing the menu. Post dinner, there was prom night in the Parjat courtyard. Got back to the room by midnight and have been working on the dissertation. Have less than 10 days to complete it and also have classes lined up!

Day 396 - 3rd February 2012

The routine of getting up early for the past week didn't help when I wanted to sleep in and wake up post noon. Spent the first half of the day wrapping up some MCSA work. Played tennis in the afternoon for a long time - almost 3 hours! Was good fun considering I won't be able to play for the next 10 days. Went to Bopal for a haircut after the game. As is the case so many times I am unable to to judge how short the hair is cut since I am dont wear my specs. Was subject to a super crew cut today. Got back to campus by 8. Dinner was at Millenium  where I discovered a new dish today - Shikari Kebab. Had to come back and pack for the impending trip - will be away for 10 days courtesy two weddings in the family. The winter party was held in the Palaash courtyard today. Stayed up till 4 in the morning by when it was time to leave for the airport.

Will be back after 10 days, see you on the other side!

Day 395 - 2nd February 2012

Another day where I woke up with great difficulty to play tennis in the morning. This was followed by breakfast, library, siesta. Its amazing how with just a couple of months the importance of the library dawns upon many of us. Was having the same discussion with the librarian yesterday as he was showing me around the construction of the new wing. To be very honest, I thought this was a very small library with limited resources. But that perception has changed and how! The kind of books here are amazing. Just the other day I was going through this book on the economics of sports media. Wanted to find out the price of the book online - it was 13k!

Anyways, after a two and a half hour siesta came back to the library and started working on the film studies assignment. It is due only on the 10th of this month but wont be here for 10 days starting day after tomorrow. Lit Comm is conducting a taboo tournament which started yesterday. I wasn't keen on taking part however some smart alec put my name alongwith Sania in the draws. Got to know that our match was at 11 in the night. After a lot of prodding decided to play :P Have played taboo only once before. Our game wasn't bad at all, we ended up winning 23 - 18 :D Though I dont see us progressing further in the tournament since both of us aren't on campus starting day after. In a way its good to leave on a high! :P

There are 5 people from our batch who have been asked to join the company where they have been recruited earlier than everybody else. Their joining date is in the beginning of next week! A farewell party was organized in Chinar for one of the people who will be joining early. Made me realise that two years are fast coming to an end! Spent a couple of hours over there. Have decided not to play tennis tomorrow morning, on that note will peacefully sleep in :D

Day 394 - 1st Februrary 2012

Woke up with great difficulty in the morning to play tennis. Post breakfast shifted base to the library. Its become a kind of routine now - tennis, breakfast, library, post lunch siesta, back to library, dinner, post dinner in Kachar North West. Today was no different. Also met my dissertation guide during the day to discuss the research methodology. She had suggested some modifications which I made and sent back for her approval. The discussion then veered towards placements, the direction in which the institute is headed. The debate is never ending and from a student's perspective there are many changes which we feel are necessary. Some of these changes will be recommended by the MCSA and we hope to see some action taken.

Spent most of the evening working on a presentation which I have to send to CD Mitra. The presentation is based on a case study I have prepared for my dissertation on Sahara Force India Speed Nights - the race screenings conducted at pubs across the country. It deals with how a non cricketing sport is promoted in India. Prepared the presentation and mailed it to the FIF1 marketing team for their approval before sending it across to CD Mitra, who plans to present it at sports marketing courses he will be conducting in other institutes. Post dinner Kore, Buds, Sania and I saw an episode of Roadies in Kalkar's room. This is something we used to last year as well, sit and have a good laugh at people's stupidity! Dinner at the mess wasn't that great which meant a midnight snack was on the cards at Chota. So chicken parathas it was, the parathas at Chota never seem to disappoint. Got back to the room by 130, read a bit of Ambani and Sons before calling it a day.

Day 393 - 31st January 2012

Another day of no classes today, in fact I dont have any classes till the 11th of February. Played tennis with Anuja in the morning. Post breakfast shifted base to the library. Had to send out e-mailers requesting people to fill up my dissertation survey. Unlike most surveys this one cant be floated in the student community at MICA since they aren't in the target audience. Also started working on the first draft of the dissertation. Worked on the research methodology section today. Managed to have an hour long siesta before coming back to the library.

Kalkar and I decided to go out for dinner (dum aloo in the mess = EONI). We went to Masty and had a very surprisingly good food to bill ratio, considering the fact that we both have similar (large) appetites. There is this place we have discovered in Bopal which serves cold Paan which has become a huge hit. the shop's name is Umiya Pan Center but it has been rechristened 'Ooima' Pan Center :P It has become pretty much routine to stop there on our way back from any dinner outing. Topped it off with ice cream at Havmor. Got back to campus by 11 and came back to the library. Have finished the part on research methodology and mailed the first draft to my dissertation guide. Posting this one from the library, will go head back to Kachnar in a bit after the daily dose of videos/articles from facebook!

Day 392 - 30th January 2012

Was supposed to play tennis in the morning with Anuja but just couldn't get myself to get out of bed. Finally woke up at noon. The new extension of the mess was inaugurated today, its an open air area. Quite nice for the winters but the summer afternoons will be like a boiler room over there. Post lunch had a meeting with the Associate Director regarding the committee selections that will be coming up soon. That was followed by Indian Cinema class. Today's class covered a range of movies from the 1930s. Two of them that stuck were Achut Kanya and Sant Tukaram. The former was a love story between a Brahmin boy and a Dalit girl and the latter was about the Maharashtrian Saint Tukaram. Both took a dig at the caste system. Achut Kanya also had the distinction of having the first female music director. We were also shown songs from both movies. Spent the evening trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the day :P Went to the library but committed the mistake of watching the trailer of Moneyball, it was so tempting that I had to come back to the room and watch it. The movie was there on my comp for quite sometime but I wanted to read the book before watching the movie. Watching the movie made me realise that if I wanted to understand the book I would have to first familiarise myself with the rules of baseball. The movie was interspersed with a midnight snack at Chota (dinner in the mess wasn't that great). On that note it was a good way to end the day!

Day 391 - 29th January 2012

Another rest day today. Woke up at noon and had brunch at Chota. Continued watching the original Agneepath, in fact everybody who has seen the Hrithik movie has come back and seen the Amitabh Bacchan version. Played tennis in the evening for a couple of hours. Got back to the room and finished watching Agneepath. Was also tracking the Djokovic Nadal Australian Open Final online. For the kind of match it was, there must have been way too many visitors at the website for it to function smoothly. So I had to watch the final moments of the game at the community center. Sunday dinners have always been good at the mess and today was no different. Got back to the room and spent sometime watching videos of old tennis matches on the net (yes, the Djoko Rafa match effect). Read a bit of Ambani and Sons before calling it a day.

Day 390 - 28th January 2012

Winter isn't over as yet out here. Realised that in the morning when I went to play tennis with Anuja. Was shivering throughout the walk from Kachnar to the tennis court. Post breakfast shifted base to the library and continued work on the dissertation. Got the go ahead from my guide for the survey questionnaires. Took a while to find the right site to make the survey, the free versions available online have a lot of limitations. Have floated the questionnaires, will have to now start begging people to fill them :P Managed to finish reading The Elusive Fan today, the part I really liked about the book was the case study on successful sports brands. The US has come a long way in building a sporting culture so it was no surprise that all examples from there. Wrapped up work in the library by 8 in the night.

Kore gave his birthday treat today which was dinner at Honey9 followed by Agneepath at City Gold Bopal. I find the movie quite stupid, too much violence and the story was already known. Came back to campus by 2 and decided to watch the original version of the movie. Saw about half the movie till 4 in the morning before deciding to call it a day.

Day 389 - 27th January 2012

Didn't have any classes today. Woke up at 930 and decided to shift base to the library with the hope of starting work on the dissertation. Got a call from my guide to meet her regarding the questionnaires that I had sent to her. Had to make some modifications to them. Have resent them and am awaiting for her approval. Continued reading The Elusive Fan, I find it very similar to our marketing textbook, the theory sounds very obvious or pfaffy but the examples and case studies are very useful in understanding how marketing actually functions. Some MCSA work kept me busy post lunch. Played tennis in the evening for almost 2 hours. Had to leave the game half way for about half an hour because of a meeting with the chairman of the dissertation committee. The date of submission has now been pushed to 23rd February, giving us some breathing space. Continued my day long stint in the library pre and post dinner. Have plans to call it a day soon, want to watch movie before sleeping though, dont know if that will materialise.

Day 388 - 26th January 2012

Didn't have any classes today on account of Republic Day. As is the norm, Republic Day celebrations were held on campus by inviting schoolchildren from the nearby villages. Had a meeting with the Executive Registrar which went on for almost an hour. Had a nice 2 hour long siesta. Have started reading Kotler's book on sports marketing called The Elusive Fan (under the pretence of doing literature review for my dissertation). Spent most of the evening reading the book. Dinner was at KFC with Kalkar. This is the first KFC that has opened up in Ahmedabad and it was my first visit to the place. It did take some effort to reach the place though since the bike ran out of petrol along the way. It was worth all the effort though. Got back to campus by 11. Continued reading and along the way saw some videos on youtube. Will read for a bit before calling it a day. Have no classes till the 30th, hopefully can get some work started on the dissertation!

Day 387 - 25th January 2012

Breakfast was at Chota. Decided to spend some time in the library and read up a bit for the dissertation. Some MCSA work came up pre and post lunch which meant we had to miss the first hour of Indian Cinema. Made it in time for the second half which was a case study of Manoj Kumar's Shaheed. The movie is based on the life of Bhagat Singh, however the facts were conveniently tweaked to conform with popular belief at that point of time. It was an in depth analysis of the movie and went on for more than an hour. There was a movie screening with Satyjit Ray's Charulata - a critically acclaimed movie and Satyajit Ray's favourite creation. It is based on a novel by Rabindranath Tagore. Got done with the screening by 9. It is Kore's birthday tomorrow so there were the usual birthday celebrtions in Kachnar. Boys arent as kind as girls and inspite of the cild weather Kore was dunked with cold water. Food was packed from Honey9 for the ocassion and we all pounced on it like hungry wolves :P On that note, with a satisfied tummy, will call it a day.

Day 386 - 24th January 2012

Surprisingly woke up in time for breakfast at the mess. Played tennis post breakfast with Anuja. There was another MCL game today, this time between MP and Vineeth's team. It turned out to be a high scoring thriller with  MP's team chasing down 150 in the last over. One of the best matches I have seen in the MCL till date. Post lunch had a 2 hour long siesta. Finished watching Groundhog day in the evening. Have been wanting to formulate my dissertation questionnaire for the past couple of weeks, decided that it had to be done at any cost today. However post dinner procrastination took over. Saw some of the baddy matches couurtesy coxic smash then went to Chota with Kalkar and Buds. Came back to Kachnar and MCSA work took over.That went on for about an hour. The MCSA elections will be held in February, had to work out how to go about the entire process. Finally started working on the questionnaires at 1 a.m. Have completed them now and sent them to my guide. Also need to read up on some material for the literature review. Need to break the shackles from this lethargy that has set in and get cracking with the dissertation work!

Day 385 - 23rd January 2012

Played tennis in the morning with Anuja for about an hour. This term so far has felt like a holiday, have a strange feeling that its all going to be come back and bite me soon. Came back to Kachnar and did the weekly washing of clothes - its always a game of chance with one washing machine at the disposal of 32 people. You've got to pray that nobody has left their clothes in. Have been lucky the past two times. The second round of MCL games began today, umpired the second innings. Was a relatively one sided match. Had Indian Cinema class post lunch. The session was a case study on Bombay Talkies - how it gave rise to the film industry. Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani, the founders of Bombay Talkies were true pioneers in the film industry with the kind of steps they took. They were the ones who started the concept of summer internships. Ashok Kumar, Kamal Amrohi and Dev Anand were some of the products of Bombay Talkies. We were also shown a documentary on Wagah which took a dig at nationalism.

Today was also the deadline for the CIM group assignment submission. This was one group assignment in which people just could not free ride. Was sitting with my group in the library for most of the evening working on the assignment. Got done with it by midnight, just in time for Apu's birthday celebrations in Chinar. She had bought pizzas from Domino's (I had prior intimation and had skipped dinner in the mess for it :P). Was in Chinar till about 245, came back to the room continued the daily tradition

Day 384 - 22nd January 2012

So the plans of going to the Little Rann of Kutch did materialise. 9 of us split up in a car and 3 bikes. It was a 90 km ride one way and the road was brilliant to ride on. Kore was riding pillion with me which meant there was a spare rider in case I got bored :P But the roads were so awesome that I couldn't imagine letting anyone else ride my bike! The trip was organized courtesy Rohini's dad. It started off with a lip smacking, finger licking good lunch at a resort near the sanctuary we were supposed to tour. Cars and bikes were allowed inside the sanctuary and the journey was like an off road terrain. Compared to the highway that we had taken to reach there the ride inside the sanctuary felt like a driving test! Nonetheless it was good fun and we got to spot some wild asses (dont snigger), neelguys and did some birdspotting as well. All in all a good day spent. Came back to campus by 730, had dinner saw a little bit of Groundhog Day and called it a day by 11.

Day 383 - 21st January 2012

Played tennis in the morning with Anuja for about an hour. Didn't have any classes today on account of TEDx happening on campus. They had some decent speakers which included the President of the Mumbai Dabbawalla association. His passion and enthusiasm when it came to delivering his talk was truly admirable. Another speaker whom I found interesting was this person who was out to professionalize the cycle rickshaw industry which is highly disorganized. Didn't attend any of the post lunch sessions. Went to Bopal to collect my tennis racquet which I had given for gutting. Came back and slept for a couple of hours. In the evening caught up with Prof. Mitra and Ganesh (a junior) where we were discussing the possibility of starting a sports marketing club in MICA. Post dinner started watching Groundhog Day. There are plans being made to go the little Rann of Kutch tomorrow, should be fun if it materialises.

Day 382 - 20th January 2012

Managed to wake up in the morning to play tennis, guess trying out the new racquet was incentive enough. Spent the hour before lunch surfing the net. Post lunch had a two hour long siesta. Spent most of the evening in Kalkar's room. He is not feeling to well, so Kore, Buds, Sania and I were spending some time with him. Didnt really feel like having dinner in the mess. As if on cue Apu called asking if I was game for dinner outside. Decided to give my pending dinner treat to Sania and her for the rural project and report. We went to Tomato's for dinner, had heard a lot about it and it lived up to expectations. It is like an American diner from the 60's with a very interesting menu card. Got back to campus by 1130. Caught uo with the Prof. Mitra, the prof. who helped me out with my internship and also takes the sports marketing course out here. Spent more than an hour at Chota discussing placements, the sports marketing scenario in India and many other things. By the time I got back to the room it was past 3 a.m. Slept off after I e-mailed him one of the cases I had written for my dissertation, it could be used for one of the presentations he makes at other b-schools.

Day 381 - 19th January 2012

Had a 'rest day' of sorts from playing tennis. Woke up at noon at had brunch at Chota. Had to go to Bopal in the afternoon to get my old tennis racquet fixed and also bought a new racquet. Got back to campus by 4. We had planned the MCSA photoshoot in the evening at the OAT. The junior and senior MCSA havent had any photos clicked together, so we thought we might as well do it properly in the OAT :P This was followed by dinner at Barbeque Nation. Spent a good 2 hours out there which speaks volumes about the food that was eaten! Got back to campus by midnight, just in time for Pallavi and Satya's birthday party in Chinar. Ishan, Baby Menon and Sania had spent a major part of the day decorating the courtyard with drapes and lighting. The end result was quite good. Was the party till around 3 in the morning. Hope to play tennis tomorrow morning and inaugurate the new raxcquet.

Day 380 - 18th January 2012

Played tennis in the morning with Anuja for a good hour and a half. Couldn't squeeze in a siesta today as MCSA work kept me busy throughout the afternoon. We had to work out the timelines for the submission of the dissertation for which we had meetings with the executive registrar and the dissertation committee. Couldn't sit through the Indian Cinema class as some MCSA work came up. Ended up sleeping for about an hour before dinner. Post dinner didnt have much to do, continued the daily tradition of reading articles/watching videos shared on facebook.

Day 379 - 17th January 2012

Played tennis in the morning with Anuja. Finished transctibing the CIM interview before lunch. Managed to squeeze in a siests for an hour and a half. The Indian Cinema class that was scheduled to take place in the evening got cancelled which meant the entire evening was free. Had some MCSA work after which I came back to the room and saw Fire in Babylon (for the second time). Post dinner saw some of the badminton games that were going on courtesy Coxic Smash. Cafe Coxic also set shop today, had a coke float from there. Continued reading the book on how Brand NFL was built. Its been a pretty chilled out day, will call it a day now.

Day 378 - 16th January 2011

Played tennis in the morning for a change. Also managed to wake up in time to have breakfast in the mess. Strted transcribing the interview I had taken for the CIM group assignment. Transcribing interviews is one of the most painful things I have come across in quite some time. Listening, pausing, typing, listening again and so on. Post lunch took a one and a half hour long siesta. Had Indian Cinema class in the evening. It started with a screening of a few scenes from India's first motion picture - Raja Harishchandra. The lecture that followed was about the growth of Indian cinema and how businessmen got involved to make it as professional as possible. The evolution of the use of sound in movies was also discussed. The moment sound came in, the actors who previously acted in silent movies became redundant because language was a huge barrier (with India having 1652 languages!). Hindi was predominantly used but Marathi and Bengali also picked up in those days. The complete adoption of sound took place with the usage of music in movies. The first song recording was done in a studio near railway tracks in Bombay and it took four long months to record those songs since the noise from the passing trains created a lot of disturbance. Also got to know that there were movies with as many as 70 songs in them!

After class came back to the room and continued the transcribing. Dinner was at Dominos with Sania. The Cheese burst pizza was really good! Got back to campus by 1030. Coxic Smash - the intra MICA badminton tournament started today. Although I cant play badminton, watching experts play is a visual treat. There was one such match today which was amazing fun to watch. Came back to the room and continued the daily tradition of watching interesting videos shared on facebook. Will read for a bit before calling it a day.

Day 377 - 15th January 2012

Woke up at 11 which meant I slept for 10 hours! After breakfast at Chota, started working on the CCRM assignment. Used some research papers for reference. The subject is quite interesting with a lot of case studies on crisis management. Lunch was at the upper crust stall courtesy the sankalp fest. Played tennis with Tathu for a good hour and a half in the evening. Did general tp until dinner watching videos on youtube. Dinner was at the chinese stall set up for Sankalp's fest. Went to Chota after that with Sania and Kalkar. The grand finale of Sankalp's fest was a series of short plays called 'Classic Milds' by a theatre group called Akvarious. For the first time in MICA I have seen comedy being pulled off on stage, their sense of timing was brilliant and there wasnt a soul in the audi who wasnt laughing. Came back to the room by midnight and have realised that there are too many videos posted on facebook that are extremely interesting and worth a watch. Want to take a break from sitting in front of the laptop now and read a bit (for a change) before calling it a day.

Day 376 - 14th January 2012

Was woken up with some MCSA work in the morning. That took about a couple of hours. Went to Bopal for a haircut before lunch. Post lunch saw Die Hard 3. The first movie of the series seems to have a corrupted file, need to look for another version to complete watching the series. Worked a bit on the CCRM assignment (read as 1 page) before playing tennis in the evening. Dinner in the mess was Palak soup and Parathas. Post dinner came back to the room and started watching American History x, a movie about racism in America. Pretty thought provoking stuff. On that note decided to call it a day. Have to finish the CCRM assignment tomorrow and start transcribing the interview I had taken for the CIM group assignment.

Day 375 - 13th January 2012

Friday the 13th today! Nothing extraordinary happened though, had to submit the rural report in the morning. As expected, there was a huge rush at the printing center in the morning and to add to our woes, the colour printer was giving problems.Took about half an hour to get a printout of the report. MCSA work took over after that. Had a meeting with the executive registrar and the associate director prior to lunch. Since tomorrow is Sankranti (which is a holiday for the staff) lunch was served at the
football field with a complete Gujju fare. Played tennis for a while in the evening with Shom. Since today was Lohri, Culcomm had organized a bonfire in front of Asoka with Popcorn and sweets being distributed. Punjabi music then tookover with people having a lot fo fun and dancing talent being showcased from some unexpected quarters :P Got another rest day coming up with Sankalp's theatre fest scheduled to happen over the next couple of days, should be interesting.

Day 374 - 12th January 2012

Had a late start to the day today which meant breakfast at Chota. Didnt have any classes in the morning, but the rural report is due tomorrow morning. Did a little bit of work for that before lunch. Post lunch had the second session advanced excel training. The session was on control structures and coding in macros. The session was really interesting and didnt even realise how 3 hours passed by. Played tennis for a bit in the evening after which had to get down to helping Sania and Apu with the rural report in whatever little way I could :P Kalkar wasn't feeling too well with a sore throat and he came up with this phenomenal medication of having Shikari chicken at Honey9. How could I have said no for such a noble cause ;-) Though the flip side when ever it is only the two of us who go out to eat, the food to bill ratio goes for a toss. Got back to campus by 9 and decided to go to the library for a change of location. Ended up watching videos on youtube and working a bit on my part for the rural report. MCSA work took over post midnight. Everyone seems to be up completing the rural report, something tells me that there is going to be a huge line at the printing center tomorrow morning!

Day 373 - 11th January 2012

Woke up at 11 today. Since it is Jayati's birthday, there was barbeque party at Chinar last night, with some awesome kebabs being made! Had breakfast in Chota. Spent a major part of the day taking care of some MCSA work. Had meetings with the director and some faculty members. Had IC class in the evening. The session dealt with the origins of Indian Cinema. Got to know that the conept of summer internships actually originated in the film industry. Also got to know many interesting facts about how cinema halls started in Bombay and the kind of marketing schemes used in those days to entice people to watch movies. Dadasaheb Phalke and India's first motion picture Raja Harishchandra werw discussed in detail. The amount of time he spent researching and learning how to use the camera coupled with the struggle that he had to go through to complete the film was truly astounding. For the female lead role, even prostitutes refused to act, so eventually he had to cast a man in the role who had to dress up as a woman! As is the case in many movies, here  is wife had to keep her jewelery as security for him to get money to make the movie. The final movie was a blockbuster with bullock carts being used to carry the coins received through ticket collection.

In the evening had made plans to work on the rural report but then a plan was made to have dinner at Ikobo. Around 15 of us went to have sizzlers in the freezing weather :P Was good fun though. Got back to campus by midnight. Surfed the net for a bit before calling it a day. Guess, the rural report will have to start tomorrow!

Day 372 - 10th January 2012

Looks like all the tiredness of playing two sports a day finally caught up with me. Woke up at 12 today! After having chai at Chota got down to completing the FMCG assignment. Had to skip lunch as there was a lecture by a visiting faculty from John Hopkins university on Online Credibility. Managed to grab a bite in the break between that class and IC. Today's session was a case study of Lagaan and how it propogated the caste system, disability and gender inequality. Case in point was Kachra, an untouchable who was taken in the team not because of his ability but his disability! The way he was potrayed throughout the movie was also questioned. The session also analysed the brahminical ideology that was evident throughtout the movie. Although one may not agree with all that was discussed in class it was certainly a different way of looking at things that had never been thought of before. Post snacks there was a movie screening. Since the discussion in class was about caste, the movie shown was Bimal Roy's Sujata. Its about how an upper class post graduate brahmin falls in love with an illiterate uneducated untouchable. The movie screening got done by 1030. Came back to the room after that and continued working on the FMCG assignment. Its Jayati's birthday tomorrow, cake cutting etc begin in less than 5 mins. Hope people are not savage enough to dunk her in this weather! :P

Day 371 - 9th January 2011

Played tennis in the morning for an hour with Anuja. Both of us have been practicing with the aim of being in decent enough form during our sports fest, hope that happens :P Post breakfast had to go to Bopal to give the bike for servicing (which has been long overdue) Picked some snacks on the way back. Before lunch worked a bit on the FMCG branding assignment which is due tomorrow. It is a case study on the toothpaste industry in India and there are a questions based on HUL's brands in the markets that need to be answered. Havent been in the best of form when it comes to batting, haven't lasted at the crease for more than over in the past two outings! Had to leave the match early since today was the first day of classes for Indian Cinema. The session was quite lively with a lot of DCP from unexpected quarters! It dealt with the evolution/decay of Indian Cinema, whichever way one would want to look at it. How capitalist ideologies have taken over the film industry and also the political inclinations/ideologies of all superstars were discussed. To end the class we were shown songs from the 1950s to 1990s and how things have changed in Bollywood. My favourite though was Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai from Anari. The idea behind seeing this songs was not for entertainment but to analyse them from the point of view of modernity. Didnt have a movie screening today though. Have been feeling extremely sleepy post dinner, will call it a day soon.

Day 370 - 8th January 2012

Played tennis in the morning for about an hour. Post breakfast finally decided to start working on the  CIM Individual assignment that is due tomorrow. A research brief was given and we had to write guidelines for an FGD which was going to be conducted based on those objectives. Played cricket in the afternoon (yes there is a lot of free time!). In the evening saw a bit of Up In The Air which I have been seeing in parts over the past couple of days. Since today was a Sunday chicken was served during dinner in the mess. Post dinner came back to the room and saw Die Hard 2. Did a lot of things to keep me occupied today but at least I started work on the assignments! :P

Day 369 -7th January 2012

Had the advanced excel training workshop today. The workshop on excel basics was done in the previous term. The session dealt with recording macros and the basics of coding in macros.The session got done by 4 in the evening after which I had to meet my dissertation guide. During the vacations I had conducted a couple of interviews based on which we discussed the findings and the way forward. So that just adds up to the long list of submissions/work. But that didn't mean that evening time was not used for procrastination :P. Dinner was at Honey9 with Sania, the first Shikari Chicken of the new year!
Got back to campus by 930 and did general tp. Watched some videos on youtube and terminated Buds on facebook, whenever people in Kachnar are bored he is our go to guy! Dont have any classes tomorrow but have assignment deadlines approaching with the first one due day after. Hope to start working on them from tomorrow at least! :P

Day 368 - 6th January 2012

Another rest day today. But woke up in the morning to play tennis for about an hour. Post breakfast went back to sleep and woke up in time for lunch. There is a lot of work lined up for this month with an assignment submission every 3 days till the 18th and the dissertation submission on the 1st of Feb. Having said that there is this state of inertia that has set in, with yesterday and today being free days, I have been on a movie marathon! Saw kick-ass in the afternoon, its a movie which takes a dig at super heroes. This was followed by Our Idiot Brother, a family comedy. So I guess starting with the assignments will have to wait until tomorrow! :P

Day 367 - 5th January 2012

First day of the last term at MICA! Didn't have any classes but there was MCSA work that took up the first half of the day. Had meetings with the Director, Executive Registrar and Exam Cell. There aren't many subjects this term, but a majority of the time will be devoted towards completing the dissertation. Was free post lunch, saw a Woody Allen movie - Match Point in the afternoon. Played tennis in the evening followed by cricket in front of Silveroak. Dinner in the mess was Pav Bhaji. Post dinner caught up with Apu whose leg is still in a cast. Came back to the room and saw Die Hard 4. Went to Chota for a midnight snack, dinner wasn't all that filling. Have been surfing the net searching for some good songs to download. Will call it a day in a bit.