Summer of '11

Semester#3 is here now. From tomorrow starts another semester of sleepless nights, endless assignments and loads of work. But somewhere down, I know I am waiting for it. Plus there are quite some things to look forward- our first tech fest, return of the half marathon, SR elections, some courses I have been waiting for, robotics workshops, some family events etc. The semester hasn't even started and I know how busy I am going to be. Work, fun, repeat.

If not something else, one thing I learned this summer was the speed of time. It was neither too fast, nor too slow. I am not complaining that my summer flew away so fast and I am not saying that it bored me to death. I have been extremely lazy and extremely productive. So below is a approximate timeline of how I spent the Summer of '11:

YES+: For the first six days of the summer, I attended an Art of Living workshop in my college aimed at young adults. It was fun and I learnt a thing or two. Didn't followup much though.

Rishikesh: After YES+ ended, we stayed that night at college and left for Rishikesh the next morning at 6. It was legendary. We jumped into any water body in sight and I ended up bathing 9 times in 4 days (my Mom still refuses to believe this). I did rafting for 4 hours, floated aimlessly in the Ganga, separated from my raft by almost a kilometer and jumped from a rock two storeys high into the water. 4 times. We also trekked, did rappelling  and climbed a ton of rocks and slopes. Not to forget the sleep deprivation, endless talks, shouting eeeeee... like crazy and sleeping on the grass under millions of star. Of course, I fell ill. But it was the Best. Trip. Ever. Except for a nickname I got after some small mammal. I don't like it.

Mumbai: After I returned from Rishikesh in the night, I left for Mumbai the next afternoon. As one may guess, I did a lot of convincing for this can't-sit-at-home schedule. And Mumbai was not for 4 days, it was 6 weeks. I went to Mumbai with two of my classmates for community work. You see, IIIT-Delhi requires you to do 80-100 hours of Community Work in 4 years of your BTech. We were planning the trip for a while and worked at an NGO called Parivartan. I'll write more about my Mumbai trip in some later blog posts because there were so many experiences that I can't fit in a paragraph. All I can say is that the whole trip was overwhelming and I learnt a lot. Much more than I had expected and I'll have to say, I had a lot of expectations. It was also a lot of fun. All the work, the managing stuff on your own, the new city, the freedom, the vada pavs, the people, the children. I know it sounds very cliché, but yes, it was life-changing.

Travelling: This summer, I traveled a lot too. Rishikesh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Amritsar. I can pack bags now. I also now have a long travelling wish list.

Movies: I watched a lot of movies too. 9 to be precise. And these are just the ones in theater. I wanted to do 10, but there just weren't any more good movies.

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides
• The Hangover Part II
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Pyaar Ka Punchnama
• Avatar (Finally, that too in IMAX 3D!)
• X-Men: The Last Stand
• Shaitan
• Delhi Belly
• Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

30 Days of lazying around: As I mentioned, I had planned for a different, productive last 30 days of my summer after my busy two months. But alas, I spent most of those 30 days just lazying around or hanging out. Which I do not regret because of some flaws in my planning. First, instead of setting new and different goals for 30 days, I set up a long list of regular goals. Second, I again planned much more things than I could have handled. Hence #Fail. But I don't care much, as I enjoyed the last 30 days lazying around and getting up in the afternoon after the hectic time in Mumbai. I did however manage to get a few tasks done in these 30 days, which I am happy about.

So, this is how the Summer of '11 went for me. It was pretty jam-packed yet relaxing. Ah, how much do I love three months of holidays. Also, I did not post about this but around 20 days back, my blog completed its first year. I did not have a separate post about it because, well, I did not blog that much in the last one year to celebrate or something. Nevertheless, expect a series of blog posts on Mumbai 2011 in the coming weeks.

College

After promising weekly posts 4 months earlier, here I am writing at the end of the semester about my college life in a post which was supposed to be called 'My First Day in College'. No explanations, no excuses. Just procrastination and life stuff. Next blog post- asap.

Moving on, college has been simply fulfilling. I just really like it here. The way things are and work just suit me. Fine. Kinda perfect. I think its the first time I have felt like this about some part of my life.

Each morning I come here at IIIT Delhi, a very new institute which doesn't even have its own permanent campus yet and functions in just 2 floors in NSIT(a good college and our campus host, yet a world different from us). Ever since the counselling and orientation here, I knew that this place is suited for me. The faculty has mostly young people who are casually dressed and there are seniors who never have to be called sir/ma'am. The studies are bitchin' killing with focus on coding yet on not being a geek. There is always some newness in the air, you don't have to follow stuff, you can start it. Rules are bendy when needed and strict when they should be. Morals and learning are the focus sometimes and fun is the focus when it should be. We don't have grand infrastructure but AC classrooms, super-fast internet, new PCs, a pool table and a TT table are enough to keep us more than happy and occupied for now. Cultural, sports and tech stuff are just starting off with some exciting stuff here and there. BTW, did I mention, studies are the focus. They give us two 4-month semesters in a year with almost 4 months free but at a condition: we will bury you with studies for those 4 months. Homeworks, assignments, quizzes, tests, projects, deadlines... all seem to be a part of life now. Everything is evaluated but dunno why, it seems good.

Now enough about the college, what about how I am doing here. Here, I have changed myself a little bit. I don't want just to bury myself with books and assignments. I want to score good but not too much. Instead, I like doing everything. On the first day itself, I became the class-rep(or See-Aar as people shout all the time).   Its a decision I was rethinking initially due to the amount of work involved, but for now, I am going to stick to it just because I like doing the time-consuming stuff involved and because you get a little say in how the college works(if the GPA requirements allow me, results will tell.) Also I won a pen drive in a programming contest, despite scoring low in the subject. Also, I organized a class party, participated in a quiz, an extempore, made android apps, websites, did some work that actually paid and finally, climbed the college roof a lot. I also have to mention travelling in a Swift filled with 9 people. I am also planning(notice the alsos) to help organize the upcoming tech fest next year and am in the elections for it. You see, I may not be buried in books or programming, but I still keep myself busy. The semester is now ending with exams starting really soon(I really really shouldn't be writing blog posts). The best part is actually scratching off some small goals from your imaginary list of never-ending stuff to do in life and also realizing that much more can be scratched off too. In the process, I am also making some good friends and getting addicted to the internet and Wi-Fi.

So, today, here I am in the hostel living in some friends' room for a week to prepare for the final end-sem exams which start day after while planning to sleep early today to run the the full Delhi Half Marathon tomorrow(more on that later) with my college team.

Lovin' it...