An example of my weekly dinner schedule and venues:
Monday: Mezbaan
Tuesday: Hostel Mess
Wednesday: Rainbows
Thursday: Crazone from Slice of Italy
Friday: Pizza Square order
Saturday: Cafe Rendezvous
Sunday: Pizza Hut
And this goes without saying that around three times in a week; the lunch is also ordered from Pizza Square. How such messy food habits wreck havoc with stomach and health is no more a secret with yours truly having to find a rickshaw each time I wish to visit Insti (yes! a visit indeed as attending classes has also become a rarity).
With work on Rendezvous on full swing around two weeks before the actual D-day and continuing with the one week rest period after D-day; my academics had been lagging far behind. And therefore, it came as a HUGE surprise to me just as it was for everyone in the class, that I scored the highest in the whole class in the Optimization minor exam. Wow!! Now the whole irony of such a situation can be summarized in the following scene:
‘I enter the tutorial of the Optimization course fifteen minutes late. The students cry out at this lack in sincerity and the professor ‘politely’ notices, “I haven’t seen you. Do you ever attend lectures? What’s your name?”
“Sir, Nikhil Gupta, Nikhil Mohan Gupta”, adding ‘Mohan’ later on in the hope that the couple of times that he had asked the full form of my middle initial M during the lectures, would remind him of the number of lectures I had attended.
No use. The professor was as blank as before.
Suddenly, a friend shouts out,” Sir, he is the one who scored the highest in minor 1. 18 out of 20.”
Prof raises his eyebrow, exhibiting his typical weird smile and speaks in his typical heavy grave tone, “Vo to theek hai”, and with a pause continues,” Have you done the problem?”, throwing another salvo of punches at my face.
I continue to smile in my heart at my helplessness and the fun my friends are having, and could just manage,”Sir, which one, sir?”
Professor finally relents and the topic changes. Thank God!!
Thus, this incident goes to show the extreme apathy growing inside me to the various incidents happening around me. I sincerely hope this is a phase that would soon pass, and I would be back on my feet with all the energy and enthusiasm. Organizing Rendezvous was a mega-work that re-defined the self-created boundaries that any kind of work could expand into. Working late into night, and waking up early, has given me a brief glimpse of how hectic one’s life can become. It would take a true manager to balance time in the best possible way to keep oneself happy at home as well at work.
Spending time with family is such an important issue for me and almost disregarding it for the last one month makes me desire to go back home and take a break. I deserve it. I am desperately waiting for the Dussera break when I would finally be able to go home. It’s hugely surprising that I haven’t gone back home since I came back from US. It’s just amazing how time has flown by and Rendezvous, the much-awaited mega event is already over, creating a feeling of nothingness inside me. I am anxiously waiting for my cousin to arrive from US and to spend some time with him; be it at home or somewhere else. I need a break from IIT. However challenging and exciting the IIT system maybe, it does after a critical point brings with it the feeling of exhaustion when one needs a break from it. And I am at present, in that period when I can just collapse whenever I want to; thereby eagerly waiting for a break and it kills me to think that I have to prepare for a minor before going for that much needed and well-earned break.
There is my birthday around a month from now. But it seems so so far away as of now. There is the Rendezvous billing to be done. The Rendezvous after-effects :)…a couple of presentations…minor II…Dussera…etc…what not!!!
However I know that time would again fly by and Diwali would arrive without my even knowing it. I am just eagerly waiting for some relaxing vacation. I need it!! And then if my heart so desires, I start work on the next project or else I start paying heed to my body and do some workout. My body is asking for it and before I know, it would start crying. I better start doing something.
There are some other minor things that I need to work on as of now…the room needs a thorough cleaning…it looks in its worst state in my entire four year stay at IIT…need to work on some assignments…academic workload increasing day by day…some clothes need cleaning asap…watch out on the times I eat out…not because of money but health (never imagined such a scenario would be possible in IIT life itself…but it has 😦 and I need to pay heed to my body asap)…and many other small things like sitting less in front of computer because of eyes.
Paying heed to the last statement, I finish my post here. Good night!! Damn, these mosquitoes are just so annoying.
In Pursuit of Purpose 