A page in my journal

It's been a long time since I posted something about what has been happening to me and my life. In fact, ever since I decided to change the shape of Mode C and make it what it can possibly be - my face to the world, I have been writing stuff that is as far from my life as possible. This helps me avoid any unpleasantness that inadvertently occurs when I get too close to my emotions and feelings about something that has been happening around me. It helps me avoid absolute (negative or positive) references to real events and people and thus, exonerates me from the sins of life blogging...or that is what I would like to believe, and that is what has made it possible for me to retain Mode C in whatever form it exists today.

All the same, in nature with the public vehicle that Mode C has now become, there is another angle that can be touched upon and that is, to let people (who are interested, of course) know what has been happening in my life without going any deeper. So here is an account (warning: those not interested in me or my life may skip this post right now and wait for my next movie review :-)) of what's been up since I landed at IIMK and moved into G hostel (which is the last Mode C knows about my life)...

The juniors have come to the campus, one hundred and sixty six of them (minus a couple who have left for greener pastures) and they certainly have made the campus more colorful in terms of their shear number and of course, the initial enthusiasm that a generally high work-ex batch brings with it as a part of the two year holiday package. There are quite some married people in the batch and one couple is actually staying together on campus (and no, not both of them study here). They have been doing the usual, getting bulk deals on laptops (a good deal they got, too), arranging for the lowest possible bank loan interests (which has been dealt with properly, too), and of course getting involved in the politics as committees start getting nominations and the election dates come closer.

Talking about elections, Backwaters received 43 nominations amidst widespread allegations of misconduct by Backwaters committee members in trying to influence the nominees' choices. sTrEAM Backwaters, of course, maintains that the large number of nominations was all due to the "different" presentation they had made to the junior batch. Getting that presentation together had been a delight, of course. I had a basic idea which was further sharpened by the sTrEAM's inputs (especially Pakow's Troy idea). Although there was initial skepticism about the entire thing, the team that we are, all of us got round to executing the thing with full gusto and the result, a presentation that was something that has not been done before. Although it could have done with some editing, I am still proud of my sTrEAM and the way they believed in a vague idea and made it a reality...a small thing for some, perhaps but not at all inconsequential as far as I am concerned.

Konnect had a presentation, too and although I had decided to remove or at least minimize my association with Konnect, somehow I got involved in this one, too. Another something that has not been done before...more of a performance than a presentation. With editing proving to be our nemesis yet again, the overall impact was nevertheless, quite decent.

Recently, I have been inching away from Konnect to make sure that it gets owned by more people in the batch and does not end up being the dream of an individual. For me, it can never be an individual initiative and unless the batches here take note of it and start setting foundations for Konnect, there is no chance of any tradition being born. There will be problems galore and some of them have already started creeping in. Even as of today, Konnect is not considered official (not a committee, neither an interest group) and perhaps, it should not be made official by force or persuasion. Perhaps, there is much more to be done yet before the current batch realizes that there is no other option but to give a standing to Konnect's popularity...but as I said, unless this dream is owned by more and more people, there is no going forward.

Once I have started on Konnect, let me bring things to the logical sequence by talking about the Treasure Hunt that Konnect organized a few days back. I had to get into the thick of things yet again despite having yearned for seeing people take the entire thing up by themselves...but there has been progress, no doubt with more people joining the Konnect bandwagon. Kudos to the Konnect Team for organizing a splendid first event of the year and kudos to those who participated in Kaptain Konnect's maiden voyage (especially people from the senior batch who proved the dictum wrong that only juniors participate in anything requiring enthusiasm and seniors either sleep or sleep soundly).

Things have actually come to a passé as history repeats itself and my over indulgence in public activities (read taking random initiatives) once again received flak from unknown sources. Like in college, there has been nothing directly spoken to my face (how I wish that had happened, instead) but there have been what can be called feelers (direct or indirect) that point to the futility of it all. Kdio had not been my idea but I had taken it up for the good initiative that it was. After the most polite of hints that I received from some body who wants to know "how many people think Kdio sucks", I was pissed off but later, saddened...more due to my lack of understanding than that of the person(s) involved. Now again, I am going into my emotions which I had promised I will not. So let me end this particular episode by saying that counter to that one action by one (or few) individual(s), there have been so many supporting me that I am sure I will be back with Kdio (and other such initiatives, of course) sometime soon.

In the meanwhile, classes have been pretty sporadic and given the schedule of the visiting faculty for most of the courses, the trend is likely to continue. None of the marketing subjects that I have taken this term have started yet and it has been a dosage of finance that has been keeping me busy so far in this term. Fixed Income Securities, Management of Banking and Financial Services, and Portfolio Management have all started and apart from FIS, I am comfortable with the other two and of course, with the compulsory Strategic Management course. As far as FIS goes, I have to brush up more of my basics (well, almost all of them) if I am to enjoy and utilize the immense knowledge and experience that the course faculty brings to class.