I love Sarah Palin

Okay, I should start with the disclaimer that I am not a republican (or was it democratic? heck, who cares? ). Honestly, I don’t really give a damn about who becomes the President or the VP. But Sarah Palin coming into the limelight has given us some real entertainment. If you don’t believe me, check these out:

Gov. Palin Cold Open

Palin Rap

I miss Besant Nagar

It’s been four months since I left chennai, and I already miss Besant Nagar, the standard hangout place in the nights…

It didn’t take too long to plan a trip to Besant Nagar beach. A crappy menu for dinner in the mess, which was pretty much the case everyday, would bring us all down to the Besant Nagar beach. The normal routine involved dinner at Pupil’s or Murugan Idly, then sometime on the beach, and finally desserts at Fruit shop (Thanks to BP’s persuation skills).

How I miss those burgers in Pupil’s and the Uttappams in Murugan. Sigh.

PS: The latest episode of HIMYM captures my emotions pretty well.

What’s the deal with Bloomberg?

Bloomberg is supposed to be the one of the most dependable source of news and data. Maybe I should think about changing the “is” to “was”. Two incidents in the past month have posed serious questions about its credibility.

The first one, was the obituary to Steve Jobs. A 17 page story, with references and the like, went out to all subscribers of its live news, when an employee accidentally mailed off their stock obituary while doing a periodic update. 

Bloomberg is not to blame entirely for the second, but they still get their share of the blame for pushing the United Airlines stock down from $12 to $3, when they published news about UA filing for bankruptcy. Google news crawler had picked up the news from an obscure source, one thing led to another, and before anyone knew, the bankruptcy news was up on bloomberg flash news.

Sigh. Who shall we count on now for reliable data?

Being judgemental?

On our way back to dorm after the evening tea, we took a leisurely stroll around the campus, and ran into my economics professor. His immediate response was to express his surprise at PGP students still finding time to take a stroll around the campus while a term is on. I guess even the professors take it for granted that we spend every waking hour with the books.

Sigh. I came here hoping to get 8 hours of sleep every night. These days, I’m lucky if I can get at least half of it.

T-Nite

T-Nite happened. And it was great. Since we finished last among all sections, I’ll make the standard disclaimer that it’s not about winning, but about the spirit of competition and bonding together as a section.

I had fun. Got to know lots of my classmates better over the four days / nights. Yet another memory hold on to for a long time…

Time is precious, and hence this post shall end here.

PS: T-Nite stands for Talent Nights, which is the IIMA’s version of freshers’ night where the first year students compete over four nights, showcasing their talents (or lack of it, as the case may be).

No Free Lunch

A week ago, my economics professor had trouble answering one of the doubts in class, and felt that the explanation he gave was inadequate. He told us the next day that on his way back after the class, he was asking himself if he earned his lunch for the day. It sounded like just one of those economics statements like TANSTAAFL (which incidentally, is the name of the canteen on campus).

The next day, after going over a particulary tricky problem in class, the FRA professor asked if everyone was clear about the solution. When noone raised any further doubt, he remarked “Good. Now I can have my lunch in peace”.

Yesterday, I was told that another professor, who was unable to answer one of the doubts in class, did not take his lunch that day, because he felt that he did not earn it.

There is a lot of speculation among the batch that this is some sort of an honour code among the professors here. Unless they feel that they have earned their lunch for the day, they don’t take it.

Intriguing, is it not?

WAC Run, Demystified

Two of my previous posts referred to something we call WAC. It stands for Written Analysis and Communication. But even the prof calls in WAC.

So, there’s this course. Prof walks in with a case. Class debates on what the problem is, and what its solution is. Everyone is satisfied at the end of the class. We then write a 1000 word report on how we analyzed the problem and logically arrived at the final conclusion. Submission in hardcopy in the classrooms, before 12:59:59 PM. Additionally, there is a softcopy submission on the server, before 2:29:59 PM on the same day.

So what’s the big deal? Write the report, print it out, and off you go to the classroom to submit it. If only it were that simple. Deadlines are sacrosanct in this campus, and in the spirit of honouring the deadline, we are expected (by the seniors) to submit the report as close to the deadline as possible, but not after it. The juniors, who in their newbie enthusiasm, tend to finish the report much before the deadline, thereby committing one of the worst crimes you could commit on campus.

How could the caring seniors let their beloved juniors commit such sacrilageous acts while they’re watching? They take it upon themselves to ensure that the deadline is honoured. How do they go about it? When the junior is happily packing his bag with the report safely inside, your friendly neighbourhood senior (FNS) walks in and casually enquires if everything’s done. Once the unsuspecting junior answers to the affirmative, the door is immediately closed, locked, and the key deposited safely in the pockets of FNS. This is usually followed by a round on banging on the door, pleading, threatening, and what not. In spite of whatever happens inside the room, the door is opened with just a couple of minutes before the deadline is over.

What follows is what is popularly known on campus as WAC run. The junior, in his struggle to meet the deadline, runs like he has never run before, all the way from his dorm to the classroom in the new campus. On the way, he encounters more seniors who prepare roadblocks for him all the way until his final destination.

With all the efforts taken, intellectual and physical, the smile on the junior’s face after he has handed in his assignment tells the seniors that it was all worth it. At least, they believe so. After all, they have all run many a WAC run just the year before.

Thank God

Thank God you are in IIM learning about bad debts, and not in IIPM. Else, you would have been learning which shirt to wear, what brand of laptop to buy, and how wide a smile you should have.

- Prof. S in today’s FRA Class

WAC

I have an assignment submission in 20 minutes. In a classroom that is 10 minutes away. Then why the hell am I still in my room, blogging?

Ans: WAC Run.

A new home

I have reached IIMA. Actually, I reached a couple of weeks ago. But thanks to some weird conspiracy theory, I got my laptop in hand only three days ago.

The place is good, the dorm facilities are the best, and the academics here is just a nightmare. It’s been just over a week since classes started, and I already wish I had more free time.

Classes have been quite interesting so far. The profs are good, and some of them have a good sense of humour too.

More on life at IIMA later. WAC assignment is due tomorrow. Need to get back to work.