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.