An Uneventful Trip :)

We had heard about the beautiful sanctuary called Nalsarovar about 60kms from Ahmedabad, where exotic birds visit. So one boring weekend, a couple of people from my class decided to go for a bike trip to see the place. At 4am in the dead of the night, 12 people, 6 bikes, dark empty stretches of roads, the chilly morning wind, clear diamond-studded midnight skies- it seemed perfect! And so we set off, racing along, occasionally taking the wrong turn and asking for directions from the rare passer-by.

It was smooth going and we were hoping to reach there in time to watch the sunrise until we met the dangerous and by now very famous sharp right turn midway to the place. One second we were on the bike, the next we had missed sensing the turn in the pitch dark, had moved off the road and were air borne, and before we could realize what had happened, we were submerged in a pool of mud! I dimly remember surfacing and instantly hoping it was not quicksand. Once I was convinced it was not, I was praying it was not shit.

If anyone could have seen me then, which I am sure 11 people did, they would surely have thought me a mud-woman action figure or a goddess of mud who emerges from its midst like in Indian mythological tales. I was shivering to the bone! The most interesting thing that happened then was another bike following us into the mud. After we had extricated ourselves and the bikes from the mud, we half rode half walked to the nearest house, roused the poor family from their sleep and begged them to let us use their washroom. They seemed unsurprised by our sudden and dirty appearance, which had a lot to do with the not so rare incidents of hapless bikes and cars diving into the mud at that godforsaken time of the day.

A bath and a new warm sweater later - which I entirely owe to a friend and which did not survive to tell the tale (the print vanished when I subjected it to an intense cleaning session after getting back) - and of course after trying our best to ignore and feel bad about the grumbling by the lady of the house (who advised us to bathe in the lake we were going to rather than dirty her house), we were disappointed at the way our trip was to end. Until one of us cried out "Okay enough time spent! Lets get back on our bikes and go on to the lake. No way should we let this little thing spoil our moods or our plan!" Renewed excitement saw us resume our interrupted trip. :)

We reached well after sunrise and immediately took a boat to the other side of the lake. The journey up was uneventful, the birds flew away as soon as we got near them and were pretty ordinary to look at, the heat was excruciating by the time we started back. A few of us were disappointed. It all seemed a waste of time and money. Wrong thought, too soon! We had been debating for a long time on what it would be like to swim in the lake. We gave it a try! Shedding all concerns for cleanliness (like I could do that!) we dived into the 3 foot deep lake. ;P And soon convinced the others (even those who did not know swimming) to follow suit.

It was a mess alright! The lake bottom was full of weeds and grass which surfaced due to the disturbance along with the resident mud. The water was a respite from the sun! It's said that fun can be had at the most unlikely places and at the most unexpected times. This was certainly one of those instances! It was filthy water in which we played water frisbee, shouting, snatching and cheating et al. We then pushed the boat from the water and hung out of it, to the silent discomfort of the poor boatmen. :D Pretending to drown and rowing the boat were the icing on the cake! And finally we ended up swimming at least 1/4th of the entire distance!

All in all, it was a very memorable and awesomax trip!
:D

First day at work

My first day at work was exactly like attending lectures in Section D. Our project had not started so we were relatively free. All that happened was pretty much this:

Got bored.
Felt sleepy.
Went out of the room.
Stood and talked.
Sat on the stairs and slept.
Got some reports to read, and fell asleep on the chair reading them.
:D

The next few days followed up with:
Feel hot.
Go to the shop outside and have Amul Kool Milk/Kool Kafe.
:P

The End

And the first year at IIM-A has finally come to an end! What a year it has been! I have learnt and unlearnt so much. Things have happened that have changed the way I think, stuff I have always believed in, my life, my entire existence, me! It was a roller coaster ride, full of unstoppable fun, joys and fears, delightful moments, unnerving pressure, tears of pleasure; frothing together, waiting to burst, overwhelming me. There is so much I want to say, so much I feel. I have so much to think about as I go on a completely new journey, my summer internship at a consulting firm in Gurgaon. It has been such a wonderful first year, gruelling in terms of academic requirements while being interspersed with fun stuff like T-Nite, Intersection Sports, trips near Ahmedabad. It was full of unique experiences, each day a fairytale in itself, that I can only wonder what the second year will bring. I am filled with a sadness that I cannot explain and for the first time, I am not excited about going home to Bombay. I feel like a small part of me has gone, died; while I have been reborn, as a phoenix, to await new wonders.

I have survived the first year at IIM-A!