And I screamed!

The people who know me, know me as a particularly non-squeamish person. I don't get scared (enough) watching a horror movie. I don't cry during movies (except for Taare Zameen Par or other similar stories with kids in it). However, it might come as a surprise to you all that after landing at ISB, I have throatily vented my emotions atleast thrice already - each time incited by a different kind of wildlife.
The first occasion was when I paid my respects to a lowly fat rat. Both rat and the security personnel walking behind me got the scare of their lives as they scampered to their own safe places, leaving me deserted and looking very foolish.
Then, it was when Chandni killed a common cockroach and was threatening to place the lifeless form on me. In fact, it was amusing to see how roles reversed in those few minutes. While the cockroach was alive, it and I were calm and composed, respecting each other's private space. Then, Chandni saw it and all hell broke loose. Chronologically, the cockroach then paid the ultimate sacrifice followed by Chandni's threats and my helpless screams.
The most recent time was this afternoon when I saw an ant-eater. We were returning from a conference and I was sitting in the front passenger's seat of the cab when I saw this huge iguana-like creature majestically strolling across the road. I mutely pointed at it and the driver, in a state of panic or sadism, turned the wheel towards it. When I realised the fate rushing towards the ant-eater, I screamed. Yet again. This time, I alarmed the driver and the other two passengers sitting behind. Anyway, long story shot - ant-eater ambled slowly to safety while the driver kept assuring me that the car wouldn't have harmed it anyway because it is a tough animal... This would probably be another take-away for me - the ability to express myself when faced with my fears ;)

One of the most interesting outcomes of working or living in a high-pressure situation is getting to observe people and behaviour at uncomfortably close quarters. There are some who get bogged down by the facade and withdraw into themselves, while some get more aggressive and offensive. And then there are those, who try hard at being what they are and barely managing to stay within the limits of sanity. Particularly amusing are the knee-jerk reactions to spam mails during exam times. Somehow, people manage to ignore the multitudes of mails hitting them throughout the term. And then, it is suddenly end of term and a hapless individual decides to send an otherwise-politically-incorrect joke to the whole student community and pays for it dearly, when a whole thread of mails is spawned with some people on either sides of the line. I am guessing that this focus of attention was rivalled only by the last term's debate of dunking vs swimming pool hygiene. (No - Don't ask!)
The author herself is not free of faults. :P My constant rants are now finding another creative outlet. A friend and I have launched a comic strip on campus which scores high on context and sarcasm. More on that, later. For now, I must begin to pretend to study. I have my end-terms on Monday. Au revoir!

Time to reflect

First week of term 1 is almost over. And there are some words and phrases that I have encountered so many times already, I could scream if I heard them again. In decreasing order of irritants along with the common usage or comments, we have the following non-exhaustive list:
1. traction - "There was not enough traction between the 2 communities"
2. logistics - "We will have to work out the logistics", or "I propose we get into the logistics of it later"
3. it depends - This is the safest and most acceptable answer in a B-school. You can use it whenever you don't know the exact answer to the question being posed to you, or if you want to buy time to arrange a seemingly intelligent answer if you are caught the instant your mind had started wandering in class.
4. networking - A much abused innocent word. It also carries the onus of being THE reason for many people to be in a B-school. What many don't realise is that to network you don't really have to work too hard; you don't have to make fake conversation; you don't have to appear to be someone you are not; you don't have to create a record of sorts by remembering as many names as you can in as less a time as possible - you only have to be genuine. Your smile should say that you are indeed glad to see someone. You are a part of their joys / birthday dunkings / sufferings (hopefully not much of these) because you really want to share a part of their lives. Being polite, kind and nice to people around you will win you the much coveted "network" by itself.

Since the last time I wrote, the swimming pool and its various nocturnal inhabitants have witnessed many more dunkings - birthdays, CPs and the works. Let me explain CP for my readers who are from the normal world outside - it means Class Participation. Certain courses, in order to encourage CP, provide incentives like grades associated to it. Unfortunately, this translates to a lot of Arbit CP, Desperate CP and you get the picture. In the true spirit of fairness, we dunk the people charged with A-CP.

Just one more thought with respect to CP - One is not always right or wrong. Sometimes, people have a different perspective. It is just the way they are. Instead of listening to them patiently and opening our own minds to various possibilities, we tend to smirk or even ridicule them. To clarify my stand, I am not speaking in favour of A-CP (those guys deserve to be dunked) - I am just hoping that we, as a community, learn to appreciate a different perspective without appearing condescending or as insufferable know-it-alls. We have, after all, come here to "learn".

Moving on, with respect to birthday dunkings, I was wondering why normal friends and acquaintances (who are not study-group members or quaddies) do not include themselves in the ritual. It is not owned exclusively by a section, is it? Last night, I knew all the 3 guys being dunked by various sections on their birthdays. Rightfully, in an ideal world, I should have had my share of all 3 cakes! ;)

According to a behavioral survey conducted in a class last week, I am a strong "reflector". This information was thrown your way to justify the tangents I tend to go off into.

And before I leave to prepare for my Stats quiz tomorrow, I really have to record for posterity something that happened in class today. 5 minutes into the start of the session for Micro-Economics, while the professor was introducing a very important and significant model, our class was startled by a loud crash. Turned out that one of us had actually toppled over backwards from his chair! He claimed he was leaning too far back - exactly how comfortable was he trying to get? :P

Gaaaaah!

10 massive rants as this point of time - each worth a blog of its own:
1. Why the fuss over the wedding of two average actors?
2. The time taken to travel within Bangalore has not changed - neither has noise pollution.
3. Just because I am leaving the company does not mean that I impart knowledge to half of the unit.
4. Managers continue to play games. Seeing them, my resolve to do an MBA wavers - I don't want to end up being like them.
5. Why isn't all the time spent with family enough? As I lie in bed, before falling asleep, I remember all those things I forgot to mention to them.
6. Why did God make lizards like He did? (I know this is silly, but I can't help it.)
7. It is amazing how priorities shift and the justifications that come along are worth every cent.
8. A conscience is the heaviest load to carry.
9. Why do I take huge risks? And when I do, why do I worry so much after that, till the results are in?
10. Politicians can always manage to string along the voters, and the voters never learn.