This part of my life, I would like to believe, yet far, is probably the BEST! What more could one ask for after going through the gruelling schedule during the first and second semesters at a B-Skool. Those were times when I was fighting hard to build a recognition for myself among my batchmates, trying to find out what specialization suited me best, trying to prove a point or two, working all alone on group projects as my groupmates were expert social loafers etc etc. I'm truly happy to be currently stationed at this corner of my journey called 'life'. Its simply awesome in several respects. It simply is. You are free to 'Do Nothing!'. No responsibilities to shoulder, no restrictions on anything you do or not do. To add to this fun, I'm part of a group that calls itself CKB (Chaddi Ke Baahar!). Now again, as is the case with solving group assignments, there are pros and cons associated with being a part of a group, a well diversified group. Now let me explain this diversity part in a little detail. The diversity would range from Geographical, Lingual, Aspirational to relationship status! The group has got people originating from Kashmir to Kerala and from Maharashtra to West Bengal. People who have varied interests in life - Finance, Marketing, HR, Operations. People who are single, committed, were committed and broke-up, had multiple crushes and still unsuccessful, some ready for marriage and some not quite yet! We are 13 different people in all but one as a group. I hope I have been able to give you a clear picture of the composition of the group.
After getting placed in November and then finishing off my CFA Level I exam in early December, I've been on a long vacation. Since our college campus is located on the outskirts of Pune, it presents a perfect atmosphere for vacationing! At times you wake up in the morning and look out of the window and wonder if you are at a hill station. The campus is decently well-maintained and is buzzing with activity all through the day and sometimes well into the night. Now that we don't have anymore classes to attend and with hardly one or two assignments or projects to submit, we have literally got nothing to do on campus. I wake up late in the morning and the only motivation for waking up at that time too is breakfast - the best meal of the mess! Being not the kind who craves to stay healthy and in good shape, I'm discounted of the trouble of waking up early in the morning and going for a jog or playing a game of tennis. Breakfast done, what next? This is a perennial question on the minds of the members of CKB. So we decide to go out for lunch, snacks, dinner and again for lunch, snacks, dinner the very next day and this goes on. Off late, I've been spending so much money on 'food' and the worst part is that no one would even believe this fact looking at my slender personality. We've indulged ourselves into exploring new eating options and destinations in pune. We keep keep trying various cuisines and each time some member or the other is left unhappy given the diversity of the group and their tastes.
There is another group that I hang out with. This is the group of people who hail from the same state as I do - Andhra Pradesh! I'm lucky to be a part of multiple groups so when it gets boring at one place, I always have an alternate option! ;) I'm sure CKB is going to kill me for this line. So will the gulti-gang. The advantage of a gulti-gang get-together is that I can speak in a language which I'm very comfortable speaking. The kind of jokes I can crack in my mother-tongue, I cannot crack as effectively in any other language. At least, this is what I feel and believe. So we recall comedy scenes from telugu movies and burst out laughing for hours together whenever we meet. This group also gave me the opportunity to host Pongal special lunch on our campus. That was one experience on campus which gave me a lot of satisfaction in terms of work that I did. Thanks gulti-gang for the opportunity and support.
So as part of this long holiday of mine called the "Final Semester of MBA post placement", I keep eating out, eating out and eating out and still remain slim, do nothing but spend money, learn swimming, sleep during the afternoons and also during the nights, surf the net, chat with friends, look constantly at the facebook and orkut homepages which hardly present anything new and interesting, try my hand at lawn tennis on a concrete court, read others' blogs and write my own at times. Well, I've gotta go out now for dinner. So catch up with you guys later.
