Pain, relief, nonchalance and ecstasy!!!…and back to the grind…

After the much feared yet highly anticipated first mid-term exam was out of the way we were awaiting with baited breath, the outcome of our efforts or a lack of them. While most of us took the oft-taken approach of studying, learning and teaching our peers (in short…burning the midnight oil and looking for more oil once it ran out) some of us chose a slightly different approach of not studying at all and relying completely on the learning in class (if nothing else it was to test our understanding in class and our preparedness for a very rigorous course…OK I’ll say it…I’m plain lazy and I love excuses).

When the results did finally come, they didn’t disappoint us completely. Some of us scored above our expectations, some of us guessed our scores perfectly and some of us realized the extreme need to pull up our socks. Well I classified the class into the following; the expected heroes, the underdogs turned into heroes, the ‘we need to pull up our socks’ gang, the pretenders (that’s just me and maybe my roomies…everyone else is pretty awesome here!) and the rest of us content with a decent performance.

The reactions of my ilk (the pretenders) varied from pretence (Oh…I didn’t study at all…I’m a born genius) to pretence (Oh…I don’t care…it’s just an exam, it’s not the end of life) but then we didn’t matter that much…we had the heroes to cater to.

The real heroes were the unsung, the unmoved and the unassuming underdogs whom no one expected to top the class, yet it was exactly them who did. The modesty on display in the midst of their obvious ecstasy was, to say the least, commendable and comforting.

Then were the expected heroes…those who stood out in class from day one and those who didn’t disappoint when the results did finally prove them to be heroes. Theirs was a simple attitude of nonchalance (the story was scripted well before the movie began…so why the ecstasy?).

The majority of the class…a decent performance…some expectedly so some not so expected…feelings of pain and joy in equal measure ultimately manifested into the purest of feelings…relief.

And finally (though I wanted to keep this article humorous this needs to be mentioned too) some of us hit the brick wall…our scores were lower than what we had expected them to be…slightly lower than the rest of the class…there was pain alright…but there was a lot of introspection too…and there was a lot of help forthcoming from the rest of the class…together now, we champions will endeavor to pull up our socks and be ready to face the next exam as a team…all of us scoring as well as all of us can…and here lies the spirit of this great institution…the spirit of oneness in this very competitive course of management education…

Ah! I’m done with the emotional part…so here’s what comes next….BACK TO THE GRIND…one moment we have the result next moment all of us grappling for time for the next mid-term…and guess which one? Statistics!!! From the previous blogs I’m sure you’ll understand the rationale behind the exclamations…no? Find out for yourself by reading the post ‘165×1 – Disaster!!!’

(Rakesh Jaddu, Class of 2009)

Rain!!!

The sun is covered, its glory lost;
The earth shivers, shrouded in frost.
As the light of day faded,
Clouds of rain paraded.

The tender leaves, in an infant green,
In mirth unknown,
Bend towards the ground.

The wavering rain, in steady breeze,
Drive home, the restless bees.

The water trickling down the blade of grass,
Steadily forms a puddle ever so vast.

With reckless ease and effortless grace;
Down the slope,
The ever-widening streams race.

The chirping of the birds, the hum of the breeze,
The sweet sound of the raindrops
And the swinging trees.
An enchanting melody here sung.

- Rakesh

The setting was perfect…an entire day of lectures and assignments that overheated our cerebral circuits…the fear of the approaching mid-term exams only heightening our anxiety…the sweltering summer heat…

The setting was indeed perfect for the rain to come and wash away the heat, the fear and the anxiety…

(Rakesh, Class 2009)

Sangamitra!!!

Salsa!!! Well salsa did come to the rescue that fateful day, but more on that later.

After the awesome experience that was the convocation, us Champions were really looking forward to ‘Sangamitra’ (The cultural function performed twice a year). And boy wasn’t it a treat!

‘Sangamitra’ took off very aptly with a rendition of ‘Ashaayein’, ‘Maa’, the hugely popular Tamil song ‘Manjal Veyil’ and undoubtedly one of the best performances of the night ‘Beetein Lamhe’.

Unfortunately Uncle Bala had to leave early. Before leaving though, he sang a beautiful song from Sivaji Ganesan’s ‘Irumbu Thirai’ that personifies the family values that exist here in Great Lakes. The seventy one year old Uncle Bala singing like a seventeen year old youth deservedly got a standing ovation from everyone in the audience.

The songs continued for a while after that and this included an impromptu performance from Bharat, the topper of the outgoing batch. The Jaycees then threw open the stage for the Champions and we’d like to believe that we didn’t let them down with our own impromptu performances.

There were more surprises coming our way when the Jaycees decided, basically, to play a prank on us. Two unsuspecting girls and guys from the Champions were asked to give flowers/propose to the best looking guys/girls from amongst the Jaycees. Well this is where the Salsa came to my rescue…and various other activities from the outbound to the other three! Some were seen jogging around the whole hall and some were on their knees to gift the flowers.

Mercifully for us this was over soon and it was followed by three amazing dance performances danced to varied tunes beginning with ‘Mahaganapadan’ and ending with ‘Alha Duhai Hai’.

In the midst of all this razmatazz though it was of course very thoughtful of the Jaycees to recognize the contribution of every single member of the staff. All the staff members were felicitated by Prof. Sriram, Prof. Sankaran and Prof. Rakesh Singh.

The evening ended with a memorable performance of various symphonies. The last symphony was composed specifically for ‘Sangamitra’ and it served as the last note for the function.

(- Rakesh Jaddu & Murli Naidu)