Khronicles - the beginning

We've got a supermarket here where we get almost anything and everything. But the problem is, it is kinda addictive! I found myself shopping for unwanted items and ended up paying a lot more than I intended to. We've got our own washing machines so there is no dhobi problem unless one is too lazy to get his clothes washed by a washing machine!

First day, I went to the computer centre but was not allowed inside. Reason - I was in my three-fourths! And you need to be dressed in full pants to be allowed. But thanks to my excellent negotiation powers which also include begging, pleading and keeping a sad, innocent face, the guard let me in.. :D We've got sofas in our library! And lots of books as well. That is all I know about the library since I've not really gone about exploring. It does seem to be a good place to take a small nap between classes though.

Lately the climate has been extremely pleasant. You really need to see it to believe it. Sometimes at nights, it becomes so misty, that we practically get to walk through the clouds! :D The view from some of the valley facing rooms is breathtaking, especially early morning. There can be a no better start to a morning. I was so inspired by the view, that I decided to go jog early in the morning. Can you believe it? :)) It was a fairy tale story as long as I was jogging downhill. Only when I decided to return back to hostel did I realise that I'd have to jog uphill! I was short of breath for rest of the morning.. so much for being inspired by nature!

It rains 24 hours a day! Either it is that slightly-irritating-drizzle or the cant-be-so-easily-ignored torrential rainfall. But it is fun.. it brings out a new look to the surroundings. I guess one gets used to it. It looks more or less like a resort. The people are kinda nice, mostly confused because this the first time they’re staying away from home. We’ve hardly got any freshers here so it kinda sucks. Everyone looks like an…Wait for it. Uncle. :D

And before I forget, there are no heaters/geysers. So we’re forced to take bath in cold water. :( We had a small hostel party where we had some "social interaction" with our seniors. It was fun! :D The classes have started and frankly speaking the classes are damn interesting! It feels good listening to interesting classes after almost 4 years! In fact, 6 people happened to come a minute late to the first class and they were asked to submit a 5 page report on the case by evening. The way the prof. gave the punishment looked so matter of fact that it was awesome! It has instilled in most of us, a sense of fear! Need to be careful though not to get into the bad books of any prof.

Our campus:

The passage to IIM-K

Before I begin this post, I’d like to take this opportunity to warn all the readers not to use the Indian Airlines service for the coming weeks. Thank you.


So I was all set to make my way to God’s own IIM. I was supposed to catch a flight to Chennai from Hyderabad and then catch the Mangalore express to Kozhikode (also known as Calicut) Unfortunately for me, the Indian Airlines ground staff decided to go on an indefinite strike. First I got an SMS from the Indian Airlines saying only hand baggage was allowed. And just an hour before the flight was scheduled for its departure, they cancelled the flight. Luckily I got on board the Paramount Airways’ flight to Chennai at 5:30 otherwise I'd have missed my train to Kozhikode.

I caught the train on time. The last few hours of the journey were quite memorable thanks to the incessant rains and the fisherman throwing their nets in the just-filled-lakes. Reminded me of the "chinna-chinna-aasai" aka choti-si-aasha song in Roja.. We reached our destination only to be greeted by some more rainfall.

All the students supposed to join waited outside the station for the other train to arrive from Delhi, the Nizamuddin express. However it was delayed by 2 hours and hence we decided to go have breakfast at a local hotel. I was warned about Keralite food long before I left Hyderabad but I comfortably ignored them. We found a certain hotel DEEWAR near the station and decided to have our breakfast there.

Now before I get into the details, let me make one thing very clear to all you non-Keralite readers of mine. Fish is considered vegetarian in Kerala. Repeat after me - fish is considered vegetarian in Kerala; just like potato is considered vegetarian in Hyderabad and the rest of the world.

Coming back to the story, we unknowingly stepped into Hotel Wall (also known as Deewar) thinking we'd have an unprecedent supply of idlis and dosas. However we were disappointed when we were told that only idiappams and vellappams were available. As for the side dishes we were asked to choose from 2 vegetarian and one non-vegetarian curry. Yes, fish was one of those 2 vegetarian curries. Thankfully, we realised it before we had ordered and went for the other one - a vegetable vegetarian curry. And not surprisingly, it contained the most important vegetable in the Kerala way of life - the coconut. The main dish also was a mixture of dosa dough and - no prizes for guessing - some more raw coconut.

In spite of repeated threats from our oesophagus, we managed to gulp down all the coconutty food. We then made our way to God's own Kampus, IIM-K. The campus looks heavenly! It is like the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! :D The climate is pretty cool, slightly sultry; food rocks - it is of the non-coconutty type! And the people here are quite different. Can't wait for the classes to begin!

BTW it is yet to stop raining.. :(

PS1: This post was written quite a long time back on a wordpress blog. 14th June to be precise.
PS2: I had to switch to wordpress because blogger.com was not opening in the IIM-K labs.
PS3: Lately I discovered that blogger.com opens in the IIM-K library :D
PS4: Other posts will be added sooner or later.
PS5: Life is rocking! :D
PS6: We have a presentation to make tonight at 11:00. Excited! :D