46 weekends down, 5 to go....

Friday, 23 February, 2011

7.00 p.m.- 8.30 p.m.: Ate like a pig at the Bengali food festival at Swagat de Royale.

9.30 p.m.-12.00 a.m.: Watched Tanu weds Manu at Miyapur Talkie Town, in Miyapur.
Yes, there is such a place. It reminded me of my med school days...the rickety chairs, the crowd that expresses its joy at every kick and every kiss...nostalgia!

Saturday, 24 February, 2011

1.00 a.m. to 3.00 a.m.: Played Cluedo and Carrom at Rec Centre Pyjama party.
Thank you Srishti and gang, for yet another memorable campus party.

3.00 a.m to 5.00 a.m.:Walked around the campus analysing Elephant and Ant jokes.
Girish - How did the elephant know that the ant was hiding in the temple?
Neha - Because he saw her slippers outside the temple!
Mehul - So basically ants are stupid.
Future world leaders, the ISB brochure calls us....
5.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m.: Slept

12.30 p.m to 1.30 a.m.: Breakfast with Anmol. Finalized the Goa itinerary and talked about a billion random things.

2.00 p.m. to 4.00 p.m.: Lunch with Mehul. Finalized the Tirupati itinerary and talked about a billion random things.

5.00 p.m - I'm off to Tirupati

ONE of these events per weekend would have earned the universe so much gratitude from me. ALL of it in one weekend....I'm speechless with wonder at how blessed I am. Thank you God. 

Night Trek - Rachakonda Fort, Hyderabad

0645 hrs, 20 Feb 2011
I heave myself up another steep boulder, look up and sigh when I see where I need to go next - it's a narrow climb, between two large rock faces and it's full of brambles. The team leader hears my sigh, looks at me and asks, "Manjot, do you want me to take your bag before you go up this one?"
I want to say, "No Shankar, you misunderstand my grumpiness. This isn't my first trek you know. I have learnt to pack sensibly over the years and my bag is comfortable. I'm not even tired. But I'm annoyed beyond words at the number of thorny bushes you're making me walk through. My arms are bleeding, these bushes have gotten through my pants and I have a hundred wounds on my legs. Couldn't you have found a less painful track? But thanks for asking about the bag." But I've known him for less than a day. So I don't say any of that. All I say is, "No Shankar, I'm good."
But maybe that's not the right way to begin writing about what was one of the most memorable treks of my life. Rachakonda fort, about 50 km from Hyderabad is a moderately tough climb and I recommend it to everyone. I went there yesterday with a bunch of people brought together by the well organised if slightly pretentiously named Great Hyderabad Adventure Club(GHAC). It's a good club and I plan to continue being a part of it. 

About the trek -
19 Feb 2011- 
7.00 pm : Mehul and I reached Koti where the group was supposed to assemble. Met and made friends with some very interesting people. The team leader, Shankar Reddy, who I had been speaking to all these days, turned out to be a fresh faced 22 year old! Got a bit delayed in starting from here, left the place with 25 people in 3 cars and 9 bikes at 8.30 pm.

9.00 pm: Dinner at Green Bawarchi at LB Nagar.  The less I say about the food, the better.
10.00 pm - 12 pm: Drive from LB Nagar to Rachakonda Fort. The latter hour of the drive was so beautiful, and we kept stopping to make sure everyone could catch up and to take pictures.
12 pm - 4 am: Climbing at night is awesome! The moon was so bright that torches proved unnecessary.
20 Feb 2011:
4 am to 6 am: Well earned sleep in my new sleeping bag. Mehul says he was up all the time sitting next to the campfire listening to the old hands talk about their Himalayan treks, but I distinctly remember waking up once, surrounded by so many kinds of snores, one which I noted was his.
6 am to 10 am: Some more climbing, this time among the bramble land. Thank god the hill we climbed in the night was not so generously bestowed with thorny plants. I don't want to count the number of scratches and bruises on me. I'd rather dwell on how wonderful the view was. Every five minutes of climbing and we'd be treated to a view that made all the pain worth it. And the people - nothing beats being among your own kind. I have six new friends on facebook today and I can't wait to go trekking with these guys again. One of the highlights of the trek will remain the making of friends with this exotic person called Amera Pasha. This is a a girl who got a degree in commerce followed by an MBA; then realised that an extensive knowledge of law would be useful and so decided to get a degree in law as well. Funny and tenacious, she turned out to be one hell of a trekking buddy.

10 am to 1 pm - Drive back home to ISB, where Shally and Navneet were waiting to take me out to lunch to Westin. What a return to civilization! What Sushi! I could write poetry about that Sushi...

ISB, I miss you already....

I remember and smile now, that sometime in end-April last year, I googled 'due diligence' because I was too embarrassed to ask these people who spoke in such foreign and fascinating tongues. April 2010 to January 2011- nine months of gestation which have created this new me. A strange creature, less giddy, more aware and more thoughtful - I love this version. Manjot2.0.

It was nine months of struggling to understand exactly what it was that I wanted to do post MBA. From being half sure that hospital operations would be my end goal, to enthusiastically looking forward to a career in healthcare consulting, what a thrilling journey it has been. It was nine months of wrapping my mind around brand new concepts; it's hard to remember how I understood life before beta and batna were parts of it. Nine months of crazy friendships - with friends who would think nothing of spending hours explaining things to me, all the while making sure not one opportunity to make fun of me was lost, of course. I will never forget how Neha ploughed my brain and planted regression into it like it had never been done before. And was so proud when I scored one mark more than her in the Stats exam. Peer learning was just a phrase last year; it is now what has recreated my thought process and perhaps my life's direction.

Nine months that culminated at 1800 hrs14 Jan 2011, with these words -"Manjot, we really like you, and we would like to make you an offer." Awww. I know they say that to every one, and yet it sounds so wonderful.

Somewhere I belong..

Insomnia strikes
Every once in a while.
I go take walks at 3 a.m.
and listen to that pink floyd and linkin park folder.
These are nights when the world feels like it belongs to me.
and every song makes perfect sense.

But I always wonder
if it's worth it.
Maybe
I'd rather not understand Comfortably Numb
Not feel one with the universe
Not see the big picture

Maybe
I'd prefer the sleep.