THE SENIORS.......FIRST CONTACT....
All...and i mean all thirty of them barge in our MSc part 1 lab. Only one guy speaks....bad english...but he manages to say that all juniors are expected on the terrace at 6 in the evening without fail.... he means it as a threat but his english is too bad.....and he doesnt define..."if not...then... [x( ".... The rest of the seniors are a group of confused creatures not sure where to go and what to say and to whom....he also says that we all should write our biodata specifying name, dads name, mothers name, BSc record, hobbies and why we joined bioinformatics....
So far so good.... since i am the CR (hail hail !! ), i am supposed to be submitting the biodatas and making sure all are present in the evening and that the terrace is unlocked....
6:00 pm....we....juniors... assemble in the terrace....seniors are late...they trickle in at 6:30...is that planned....i dont think so.... there is infact 1 supersenior amongst them also....a gregarious giant of a female who screams like a banshee....the "Introduction Round" starts.....is that called ragging?? (by the end i know that this may be anything but ragging....its that hopeless)
They start roll number wise....questions range from..."Where do you bike??" to "Are u 22 ?? (i.e. r u 22 roll no. ... the girl in my class answers 'not yet'.. thats her age)"...the assignments they give...."memorise the names of the scientists in the photos which hang all over our depts....in order" (this was given to me...didnt do it) "Find the cat which stays in our dept...", "what is the scientific name of pig??"
Some people dance otehrs sing...one recites a poem in hindi which goes major bouncer, i voluteer the jingle of zandu balm and lifebuoy....Some times it is difficult to make out whether the seniors are ragging us or themselves.....
None the less we all laugh a lot....the "ragging" (which henceforth will be reffered to as "introduction") never crosses any limits.... the familiarity and closeness shared by the whole class of our seniors seems fantastic and i hope that my class will develop the same over this year.....
Since all of us also have to give a bit of introduction of ourselves, i also learn bits about other people in my class....
The session extends to 8:45 in the night...but i enjoy quite a lot of it (some parts were very boring).....later some seniors (notably the guy with the bad hindi, but as i later realise, hardcore marathi) and we juniors have a good talk.....
From the seniors i have come to know that this little tete-a-tete on the terrace is supposed to be a bioinfo tradition and i as a CR have decided to keep this tradition alive and kicking. And if this session was any example....i plan to have a blast next year whether or not the juniors like it or no.....
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Pune - First Impressions
The first thing that I did upon entering Pune is cause an accident.... sorry i clarify.... is to be forced into an accident which i didnt want to cause but the "victim" wanted to get hit by my car...yeah thats right... actually what happened was that i was taking a U turn, and while i had my eyes on the oncoming traffic a guy on a moped BEHIND me decided to give my car bumper a kiss... the front bumper i.e. ... he actually came in front of my car while i was looking the other way and forced me into... forced my car into getting kissed by his filthy moped... the guy was old...i think he couldn't see... but this is pune guys... and here the first right on the road belongs to everybody !!!
THE TRAFFIC SENSE SUCKS BIGTIME......
BUT BUT BUT...things started getting progressively better and better.... the people in general are very helpful judging by the very accurate and polite instructions given by them on how to reach my destination... i hope to learn marathi soon enough... its a nice language...
The weather of Pune rocks bigtime...while it remains cool, it is not at all humid and thus no sweat...this means i dont have to wash my clothes as rigorously as otherwise... this also means that i can wear the same shirt twice AND not wear a banyan.... see... as i said it gets better progressively !!!
The girls here have the annoying habit of wearing what i call a terrorist mask over their faces which robs Pune of half its beauty... the other half being the greenery which keeps this city breathable....
There are loads of open grounds not yet scavenged by the builder's lobby... The public transport is not very good but thats a fact of life and all live with it or buy a twowheeler...
The university has a life of its own, its hearts pulsating with the loads of students who actually study here, unlike in mumbai univ where the loads of student are there just to take their migration forms... the university campus is huge huge and things can get a bit too far sometimes but then the bright side is that walking so much saves the gym costs...
The common birds here are different from what we see in mumbai, and while i cannot recognize them, their numbers and varieties are much more than mumbai... thanks to the generous tree cover...
My department has some pretty cool infrastructure and provides decent facilities... the people are really good and helpful.. and professional..(which is the best part)... my classmates are also pretty cool...
The generally blue skies and light wind uplift... i am actually HAPPY being here...i see a lot of possibilities and opportunities for me here to further my self professionally and personally... All in all i feel Pune is going to be a good place to spend the next 2 years of my life... and so we keep our heads held high and our hearts clean and ours fingers crossed !!! :)
THE TRAFFIC SENSE SUCKS BIGTIME......
BUT BUT BUT...things started getting progressively better and better.... the people in general are very helpful judging by the very accurate and polite instructions given by them on how to reach my destination... i hope to learn marathi soon enough... its a nice language...
The weather of Pune rocks bigtime...while it remains cool, it is not at all humid and thus no sweat...this means i dont have to wash my clothes as rigorously as otherwise... this also means that i can wear the same shirt twice AND not wear a banyan.... see... as i said it gets better progressively !!!
The girls here have the annoying habit of wearing what i call a terrorist mask over their faces which robs Pune of half its beauty... the other half being the greenery which keeps this city breathable....
There are loads of open grounds not yet scavenged by the builder's lobby... The public transport is not very good but thats a fact of life and all live with it or buy a twowheeler...
The university has a life of its own, its hearts pulsating with the loads of students who actually study here, unlike in mumbai univ where the loads of student are there just to take their migration forms... the university campus is huge huge and things can get a bit too far sometimes but then the bright side is that walking so much saves the gym costs...
The common birds here are different from what we see in mumbai, and while i cannot recognize them, their numbers and varieties are much more than mumbai... thanks to the generous tree cover...
My department has some pretty cool infrastructure and provides decent facilities... the people are really good and helpful.. and professional..(which is the best part)... my classmates are also pretty cool...
The generally blue skies and light wind uplift... i am actually HAPPY being here...i see a lot of possibilities and opportunities for me here to further my self professionally and personally... All in all i feel Pune is going to be a good place to spend the next 2 years of my life... and so we keep our heads held high and our hearts clean and ours fingers crossed !!! :)
But where are the earthworms??
There was notice in the papers that from some date, which will come upon soon enough, Pune will face water cuts due to acute water shortage and a 7 hour per day load shedding due to acute (yeah u guessed it!!) power shortage.
Back home in Mumbai, Kharghar which was already facing 4 hour load shedding now has to bear 9 - 10 hours per day !!!
This monsoon has hardly been much of a monsoon... after the initial promise of rains faded off into drizzle, the whole of Maharashtra has hardly got its share of rains and life giving water...
Some say its the water shortage thats causing the power shortage...(how?? beats me). Some say its the bad monsoon thats causing the water shortage (sounds logical), some just bear it while keeping quite...
May be some larger force is at work here...like global warming lead seasonal variation??? I dunno...
But the other day, as i was walking towards the NCCS canteen, it struck me that this Rainy Season i did not come across a single earthworm.... those ubiquitous worms that come out in rains and live even when cut into 2... i didnt spot even a single earthworm!!! I remember when i was a kid i used to play with earthworms a lot... they would dance like mad if prodded with a twig and if in the process it broke?? cool i have 2 now to play with.
While we all may suffer the indignity of having our living standards brought down by the water and power shortage, what saddens me the most is that i didnt see a single earthworm this season.
Back home in Mumbai, Kharghar which was already facing 4 hour load shedding now has to bear 9 - 10 hours per day !!!
This monsoon has hardly been much of a monsoon... after the initial promise of rains faded off into drizzle, the whole of Maharashtra has hardly got its share of rains and life giving water...
Some say its the water shortage thats causing the power shortage...(how?? beats me). Some say its the bad monsoon thats causing the water shortage (sounds logical), some just bear it while keeping quite...
May be some larger force is at work here...like global warming lead seasonal variation??? I dunno...
But the other day, as i was walking towards the NCCS canteen, it struck me that this Rainy Season i did not come across a single earthworm.... those ubiquitous worms that come out in rains and live even when cut into 2... i didnt spot even a single earthworm!!! I remember when i was a kid i used to play with earthworms a lot... they would dance like mad if prodded with a twig and if in the process it broke?? cool i have 2 now to play with.
While we all may suffer the indignity of having our living standards brought down by the water and power shortage, what saddens me the most is that i didnt see a single earthworm this season.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Neutral???
Am in....finally.... I have finally taken admission for MSc. Bioinformatics at Pune University. Am i happy?? I should be... after all this department is the best in India, it has good placement opportunities, there is good scope for PhD later and this line is the future where simulation will rule wet labs. So i should be happy, atleast.
The problem is i dont feel anything at all. And this is the topic of this blog. What do u call the feeling where u dont feel anything??? I am not feeling apprehensive about the course, nor scared of a new city or ragging or whatever. I am not feeling sad that i'll be leaving my parents. I am not feeling good about bagging such a nice course at a good place with a promising future. I am not feeling bad of leaving old good friends behind. HECK I AM NOT FEELING ANYTHING !!! And what the hell does one call that feeling??? Emptyness?? I dunno. but i want to find out... and this feeling is driving me nuts !!! I guess i am feeling weird... thats all !!! Or may be i am just neutral about all that goes on all around me. Or heck may be this is Nirvana... but if this is nirvana then i hate it !!! Its like i cease to be a Human !!! ouch.
The problem is i dont feel anything at all. And this is the topic of this blog. What do u call the feeling where u dont feel anything??? I am not feeling apprehensive about the course, nor scared of a new city or ragging or whatever. I am not feeling sad that i'll be leaving my parents. I am not feeling good about bagging such a nice course at a good place with a promising future. I am not feeling bad of leaving old good friends behind. HECK I AM NOT FEELING ANYTHING !!! And what the hell does one call that feeling??? Emptyness?? I dunno. but i want to find out... and this feeling is driving me nuts !!! I guess i am feeling weird... thats all !!! Or may be i am just neutral about all that goes on all around me. Or heck may be this is Nirvana... but if this is nirvana then i hate it !!! Its like i cease to be a Human !!! ouch.
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