The shifting from WordPress is finally done though the order of older posts has been messed up.
Looking forward to post regularly from now on!!
Connect.
9 years ago
12.9.08
In Retrospect
July 6, 2008
Finally it is almost time for the long and boring holidays to end and the third semester to begin. It makes me look back and reflect upon how I’ve used, nah! spent, my first year in NITK…
I SEMESTER
I arrived, of course, wide-eyed and wondering how hostel life might suit me but turned it out just fine. The fact that most of my friends populated (infested is more like it) the place made it extremely easy for me to feel quite at home in the hostels, though I must say the I Block mess and its dedicated(?) staff made extraordinary efforts to make me feel quite the opposite.
The first few months
passed by rather uneventfully, most of the time card games like uno, bluff sufficient for our entertainment along with an assortment of sweets and snacks from our homes. Room no.65 (humble abode of yours truly) was soon christened ‘Party Room’ and ‘Recreation Hall’ among other things because it was the meeting spot of our friends where we sat, teased each other, talked and in general killed time.
T20 World Cup
arrived and my mild interest in cricket was aroused with all the shouting in the TV room, Yuvraj’s six sixes in an over and the Indo-Pak final. Oh! By the way our midsems were held around the same time I think…
Crrescendo ’07
(Yes there is an extra ‘r’) arrived with a jhatang yellow shirt that seemed to poke the eye with a thousand needles at the same time. It was a pretty lowkey event its only highlight being the fact that we (Rotti, Srini and me) qualified to the Quiz finals but only managed to gape at the questions and finish last.
Then came November and with it came the exams (damnit!) but it was over in a week and I was finally able to say goodbye to Chemistry (yuck!) and EG.
II SEMESTER
II semester was soon here and so were the computers. Our room was robbed of its ‘party room’ status (I’m not complaining) and anyone with a computer was soon bombarded with requests for borrowing them, even from people you didn’t know! (do minute orkut check karloonga, de yaar)
Movies, series, sitcoms old and new were watched by large groups huddling together around one screen. Movies I had always wanted to see, movies I hadn’t even heard of, Friends, HIMYM, anime- I saw them all. God bless DC++!! The arrival of many more computers meant Age of Empires II on LAN. The ubiquitous war-game assumed a new status with inter and intra block matches- Vanquishing the armies and buildings of another human with those of your own gave us all a thrill and joy that is difficult to express in words.
Engineer ’08,
the NITK techfest happened in February. It didn’t seem like a crowd-puller (or maybe I expected too much) but some events like robotics competitions and laser shows were extremely interesting. I participated in a robotics workshop and Rotti and I won an event called Breakdown.
Incident ’08,
the NITK cultural fest followed but I bunked it, preferring to stay at home. I received a mixed reaction about it- some, who attended a few events and played MAFIA all night told me it was awesome while others, who stayed in their rooms and immersed themselves in AOE said that I had missed nothing. All in all, it was a good February- almost completely devoid of classes, fests, more movies, AOE and of course home.
IEEE Techaholic
(Get Addicted), a fest held by, and largely for, the first-years was held in March, the last thing to happen before the exams. Now a newly enrolled member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) NITK Chapter, I organised Ctrl+Alt+Del- a coding event with Rohan and co-organised the Quiz with Adi and Anirudh. Both events went on well despite the malfunctioning LAN and internet and received good feedback from the seniors. It felt good to successfully pull off two events though the late reimbursement of cash left me with quite a hangover!
The endsem exams
were done and dealt with, accompanied as usual by the last-minute rushes and the frantic confirming of portions, searches for books etc etc. The rooms for second year were allotted and chosen along with a great amount of galata with most of us Bangies occupying the second floor. Then came the pack-your-stuff-check-recheck routine and finally after having left my mattress and buckets in the locker room, it was time to say goodbye. The dreaded Surathkal summer was beginning to get to its peak and I made a timely exit arriving at home on April 20th.
Holidays
were spent mostly at home with DoTA, Prisonbreak, sleep and good food, along with the occasional chatting with friends, movie at PVR, functions and collecting quiz questions.
I am looking forward to going back to Surathkal now, to 24×7 access to movies and series, to the company of friends, to all the quizzing, gaming and football-under-lights. In a nutshell, to a good life!!!
Water Water Everywhere, not a drop to drink!!!
July 21, 2008
NITK Surathkal, situated between Mangalore and Udupi, just off the Western Ghats and right next to the sea, a place where it rains half the year... You wouldn’t think there’d be water shortages here that too in the monsoon, would you?
We had been told that being residents of the notorious VII block, allotted to the II years (Yay! I’m a senior now!) we would get more than our fair share of water shortages or ‘water-cuts’ (along the same lines as ‘power-cuts’!). These unannounced and timed-to-near-perfection water-cuts mean that the unfortunate student might be stuck with a faceful of soap, half-shaved moustache or in places that are not mentionable here!!! This coupled with malfunctioning water-coolers mean that drinking water is a long and boring walk to the neighbouring blocks all the way from the second floor. Talk about high and dry!!!
It certainly is disheartening to see the rain pouring outside the window while the tap miserly lets out water drop by drop or to see the vast Arabic Sea stretch far into the horizon and feel your throat parched as though you are living in the Sahara. The ‘concerned authorities’ of course are surely doing ‘everything in their hands’ to save us from our plight.
Net Result: -
“Why is this happening to me? I can’t find any albatross tied to my neck!!!”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
