Well here I am sitting at my office reporting from Gurgaon, the land of call centres, malls and low-rent housing ( relatively speaking ). Project has started off, which is going fine save for the problem that I have to travel all the way to Okhla in Delhi to work. This means spending 3 hours each day in a rickety bus ( DTC buses- the less said about them the better).

On the upside, I really dont have to worry too much about food like I used in NITIE. I can dig into all the junk food I want to here in Gurgaon and there are plenty of options available.

Switching over to a different topic, this is the time when most students who have given CAT are researching their B-school options at a more granular level, trying to find out as much as they can about potential B-schools they have applied to ( especially unofficial info about the school which you do not find on the official websites ). I know I did. Some talk to alumni, some prefer the grapewine but smart people use Google( and of course talk to alumni).And if some did use google to find out abt NITIE, I'm guessing my blog would show up on the Google listings.

And so I figured I'd do my part and post a brief round up about NITIE, Mumbai.

Life@NITIE :Most B-schoolers claim that they are being pushed to the edge each day, having to stay up till 6 am doing assignments everyday, quizes and cases everyday, etc etc everyday.

The above statements are all true except it does not happen everyday. There are times when the profs bombard you with work, quizes, cases etc or when you are part of a certain organizing committee for a certain event. And during these times, you literally get screwed. But then are also times, when you are lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling wondering what to do next.

The same holds at NITIE. What I personally have seen ( and experienced) is that in a B-school a person can be as busy as HE/SHE wants to be. He/She can set the pace of his/her life. One may chose to just stick to acads and focus on CGPAs ( in which case there isnt much stress). But if you want to get into extra currics and still want to maintain your CG then it becomes a tough juggling act. And believe me, if you cant manage both well, you'll be screwed.

The above was general myth-busting stuff. Coming back to the topic of life@NITIE. Officially Class starts 9.00 am and ends by 4.30pm. Obviously, there's nothing offcial about classes at NITIE. Most guest lectures/extra classes start at 7.00 pm and may go on till 12 midnight. Classes could also start early morning 7.00am.

At NITIE, very few stick to acads alone and most of them alternative interests. We have several Committees at NITIE such as Placecom, PMG( Prerana mgmt group - Prerana being our B-school fest), CyberCom ( the IT committee - of which I was a part of :) ) and Rotaract and several others. Entry into most of these committees is vry competitive and of course one is expected to work like crazy for the committee if one is a member.

For a place like Mumbai, NITIE is an unbelievably scenic place, nestled in between two lakes and there are several spots most of us hang out to chill. THere is the NITIE pond, the MDP terrace( my personal fav) and loads of trekking tracks. So if you wanna chill or take a break after a rough day, NITIE's the place to be.


Of course, we do have loads of masti otherwise - whether it be watching movies (enabled by a robust LAN and a movie server), playing networked games, or partying away to glory at the Sports complex, etc etc...the list is endless - its all there.


And this sums of life at NITIE in a nutshell.


Now that i'm feeling hungry( so what's new? ), i'm gonna pester Demand Planner Kalyan ( my senior/roomie ) to give me company for lunch.

Watched The Aviator yesterday. It was released here the day after they announced that this film got 11 oscar nominations. So I anticipated a huge turnout for the first show and went there 3 hours in advance. But I was wrong. Not only did I get the tickets comfortably, I even got the seat I wanted :) (And the hall was almost empty!! )

The movie was well-made. I liked it a lot. I had read about Howard Hughes earlier on and I had a picture in my mind of him as this driven, crazy millionaire guy. This movie however, brought those facets of this man much better than I had imagined and in a much more sensitive way. And throughout the movie, the director maintains this unflinching focus on the protagonist, relegating everything else to the background. Leornado Di Caprio has done an awesome job and has come a long way as an actor. Cate Blanchett has given a wonderful performance as Kate Hepburn.

On the whole, this film has the grandeur and the sensitivity to make it a classic in its own right.

Whatta ride!!

I was at the Global village in Dubai, the day before yesterday. Went with my folks and man, the place was TOTALLY ROCKING!!

There were abt 40 odd countries participating and each of them had their uniquely(and magnificiently) designed pavilions where they showcase their goods and culture. I couldnt visit all of them but some of favs were the Iranian and the Czech Republic pavilion. The Iranian pavlion had some excellent stone-carved handicrafts, but what i liked best was the live performance of this Iranian music troupe. I along with my parents walk into the centre of the pavilion (the pavilion being arranged in a unique concentric design) and we see this group of four taking the stage. 2 guys were playing Korg, one guy was on percussion( bongo like instrument) and one guy on the guitar. And then they began...and I was hypnotised. The guitarist was AMAZING!!! I've never in my 25 years heard such amazing guitaring....the strings were moving so fast...his fingers were floating in effortless motion....a masterpiece..and Iranian music has found itself yet another ardent fan.

And to top it all, since all pavilions had to have their local people manning the stalls, I got to see beautiful women from abt 20 different countries... :))

After the pavilion visit, we headed to the amusement rides. I was feeling particularly adventurous so decided to try the dare-devil rides. Man were they OSSUM!!! Adrenaline rush to the MAX! Couldn't try quite a few rides though cos the queues for some of these rides were unbelievable.

I definitely need more time in Dubai...there's just too much out here to see and explore.

17 days simply ain't enough.

Well I did it. It was kinda irritating to see a couple running into the sea...I promised myself that I'd change the template someday..so here it is- my brand new, navy blue(i think),eye-friendly, subtle polka dot design based template...I'm lovin' it!

As with all code, there seems to be some bug with the HTML script for this template. Somehow, my blogs dont appear right on top and I have to scroll all the way to the bottom. So calling fellow bretheren blessed with the knowledge of HTML (or is it DHTML ?) to help me out here...would appreciate it (cos that's all i can do :) )