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.