Of TS, Footy and Swimming

A sunny Wednesday morning. Half an hour at the insti swimming pool, a boring and unintersting breakfast and a one hour EE-208 lecture (spent reading Arthur Hailey's "Strong Medicine") later, here I am, sitting on my desk humming to the tune of "Kryptonite". Perfect time for blogging.

The previous fortnight has been quite a revelation for me, a period of renewed interests as well as new-found aspirations. The former with regard to TS & football and the latter with swimming. All this punctuated with my experience at the insti library and my one prized (I-should-be-proud-of-it) personal achievement.

TS, a time of the year which we dread the most. Speaking of which, I must tell you, this time  around yours truly played the role of "The Teacher" for a change rather than the usual "The Baster" (annoying and irritating our very own revered Mr. Dhaka, even when he tried relentlessly to put some (non)sense in the minds of us poor souls). Well, as goes the famous proverb "As you sow, so shall you reap", I did reap considerable rewards for my generosity towards my fellowmates, this TS being the best for me in the past year. At least, that's the way I feel about it. My DC machines score too agrees with me, improving by 200% over my previous try.

The four days encompassing TS were also filled with a few happy moments : the violet-canopied tree outside our wing (described eloquently in Murtass's blog), the fun-filled eve playing football (even though I wasn't part of it) and of course, Man U (basters) screwing up at home against Porto. And, yeah, Chelsea rules! More so after the see-saw, nerve-wrenching encounter with Shitterpool. I sincerely hope that Porto beat the hell out of Man U tonight. That would certainly call for a celebration. 

The library experience: Friday afternoon, 2 days after TS got over. No electricity in Azad Bhawan, so obviously no net. Peltering heat. The entire wing frustrated, looking to while away time. Then out of nowhere the dimunitive mastermind (aka Chote) comes up with a brilli-aunt idea. Library Chalo!! "Awesome", I said. And so 6 of us, with our lappies and headphones, made our way to our Great Library. The next 3 hours were spent gleefully downloading games, watching movies, chatting and playing FIFA on the first floor, even as our not-so-awesome friends considered it to be blasphemous and instead fought the heat and boredom in their rooms. This was the maximum stretch of time that I had ever spent inside the library, and which, I guess, I put to good use. Thank you Civil Dept. people (or whoever they were) for giving us such a great library.

And now, to Swimming, something which I had thought of learning a long time ago (1st year 1st sem, just like the rest of the guys). The insti pool opened today for the first time this sem. Timings: from quarter to 8 to quarter past 8. I not-so-eagerly got up at 7:15 and 15 mins later found myself at the pool. Only the first 40 people to arrive were allowed, so obviously me and my friends had to make it early. In the end, the situation got out-of-hand as more than 80 guys turned up, all willing to take a dip. As a result, we got only 15 mins time in the pool. But that was time enough for me, a beginner, to fill my stomach with as much water as I could, in the end feeling like a water-balloon. All that ingested water soon made its way out into the wash-basin (urghhhhhh) immediately after I returned from that darned morning lecture.

6:40 pm - I have just returned from UG Club, all exhausted after an hour spent playing TT with SSS (Sexy Sleepy Soccer-lover) aka Jynja. The Power electronics prac and the "wannabe-HOD" who presides over the lab had got me all jaded, so I decided to slip out at the hour mark, unable to take it anymore. Also, with virtually the entire Department going berserk over SURA applications and chasing profs, I decided to cool off my heels at the club. Today being the last day for submitting SURA applications, everyone was very busy (even Mallu!). I would have been one of them, all worried and harried, had I not had the privelige of securing a fellowship at IISc, Bangalore. With the fellowship safely in my pocket, I can breathe easy, albeit for now. Bangalore beckons and I'm game.