Thursday was a great day, with the opening ceremony of ‘The Essex Apprentice‘, a competition for which I have been selected. After the ceremony, I went along for a trip that I’d organized for the Photographic Society and British Cultural Society to watch the Fireworks at Colchester Castle Park. Around 40 people turned up and it was great fun! Following that, I had a nice meal with friends in Pizza Hut with lots of laughter and jokes! And to finish off the night, I went to the nightclub on campus with my housemates and had a fantastic time!

Its the end of the weekend now but its been a good week and I feel much better now after having had some well deserved rest. The next week will hopefully be as fun as the last and I probably should get some studying done while I have the time. Lots of events are being planned as I write this and I am quite looking forward to them!

Thats all for this week, but before I leave, here is a recent photo taken of me with my long locks, beard and Tweed jacket!

And in the meanwhile, listen to this, very calm and pleasing.

Its a Sunday today but it brings back so many memories of school, when it used to be in the middle of the week and I used get a holiday from school. But the more important part was that my father used to get a holiday from work as well and we used to spend the day together, helping my mother cook, fixing things around the house (even if they were working perfectly), going for a walk and have long conversations about life which have been essential to my well being today.

This week has been hellish, with truckloads of work and nothing to look forward to. Spending quality time with my housemates has been my only redemption and the occasional calls to my parents make my day.

These two lists have been invaluable in making me crack on with life without stuttering -

• 20 Things I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out in Life
• 20 Things I’m Glad Life Taught Me

I strongly recommend that everyone reads them, its worth the read even if one or two points are useful to you.

And with this, I sign off to do some reading for my dissertation. God Bless Andhra Pradhesh! I miss you…

Life in the fast lane is tough. So much to do, so much to learn, so many people to meet and only 24 hours a day. And plus you need to sleep, although I have been doing lesser and lesser of that recently.

I have been literally rushing through every day, leaving home by 10 in the morning and only getting back 10 – 12 hours later. Packed lunches are my saviour, as is Coca Cola and more recently, Pepsi RAW.

There are days when I love it and there are days when I think to myself why do I even bother. C’est la vie.

It isnt easy doing all the things I do, but if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Survival of the fittest.

People never fail to surprise me. Sometimes with intelligence but it mostly turns out to be ignorance or stupidity.

Perspective in life is very important but very tough and hence probably why it is important. Again, I quote myself, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it and it would essentially lose its importance. It is only important because a precious few have it.

Music has been vital to my survival and well being. To the members of U2 & Coldplay, I could never thank you enough.

Photography has unfortunately slowed down drastically due to lack of time, trips with the Photographic Society are my only opportunity to shoot and my 365 Day Project is slightly lagging with the rate of uploading.

Funnily enough, I dont really want free time. I love being busy and having a full calender. It may kill me by the end of each day but I still love it.

I only hope that one day in my life, I can look back at these days and feel proud of my effort and perseverance.

And I miss my dad, my mom, my sister and my Paradise Biryani.

Once a subject I loved too much,
now a subject I love to hate.

Sitting in this giant red box,
watching the bearded man talk away,
supply, demand and a million other bits,
income, expenditure and boredom.

One kid listens to his swanky iPod,
another plays games on his cellphone,
looking around, I realize they are not alone,
this subject is almost as fun,
as counting to one.

Numbers and symbols swarm my head,
will I ever use them, I wonder,
as do two hundred around me.

The lecturer pauses,
hundreds turn to stare at their wrists,
the glittering of the watches nearly blinds me,
alas, there is still another hour left and I have to pee.

I shut my eyes and drift,
drift to a land,
a far away land of…
‘AND 12 times 12 is 144 POUNDS!’

I wake up sharply,
curse the numbers,
but the numbers show me,
only five minutes to go.

Smiling, I sit up, listen and,
silently amuse myself with thoughts of dinner.

The first teaching week of University officially started yesterday with an eventful Political Economy seminar.

The seminar did a ridiculously good job of kicking me back into routine by reminding me that I have a degree to do and a dissertation to write.

Freshers Fair went off well on Saturday with both my societies and my club getting a lot of attention from freshers and old students alike. While this is a good, it is also a bad thing which means I’m going to have to dedicate quite some time to running of them.

Sunday was a good relaxation day, it almost felt like term was over but it was just the beginning of a busy term.

I have so many things I want to do and are just sitting on my to-do list staring at me as I type this out but the limit of 24hours of time and a minimum of 5-6hours of sleep everyday is  a bit restricting. Perhaps I need to work on saying no to something and yes to others.

My music taste has varied over the last month and now I’m listening to a lot of Ambient music by either Harold Budd or Brian Eno on Spotify.

I think that is pretty much all for this update, short and sweet as I like it. More later.

Welcome to the University of Essex for what could possibly become the best three years of your life!

If I got paid for writing this, then the praise for University would be endless. Unfortunately, the geniuses at the marketing department havent yet understood the potential of my blog, which means that this will be quite an honest post about life at University.

When I came to University 2 years ago as a fresher, I came with an open mind, with no expectations and simply hoping to make a few good friends during my time here and get good grades. And here I am today, 2 years later, with more friends than the mind can count, and getting involved in way too many things while getting good grades and most importantly, enjoying myself.

The key words here are not ‘good grades’ or ‘getting involved’. It is Friends. They can make or break your life at University. Since you only have around 12-15 hours of lecture and classes a week, the rest of the time is spent with friends, either lazing in one the bars, or simply having a good chat, and this is the most essential bit of University life.

I did not travel 5000 miles to come to the University of Essex solely to get quality education. I could have got that anywhere in India. I came to experience a new life, learn to live independently, meet similar minds, enrich my knowledge about the world while studying well and having a good time.

There is a quote outside the Vice Chancellor’s office which I cant quite recall now, but it goes something like this ‘University provides an experience for living and an opportunity for learning.’ A layman could simply read the quote and forget it but if you are like me and analyse it, you understand that University is primarily a place to learn to live, a simulation of the real world, while providing with quality education to help you pass the time.

But enough banter about the boring bits! University life is all about having fun, missing lectures, getting involved in sports and societies, waking up at 12 in the afternoon, and being positive!

Some quick tips,

• Make sure you attend all the orientation sessions in the first week, they are immensely helpful towards making your transition into Uni life smooth.
• Try and play as many sports as possible in the first few weeks to see if you fancy any of them.
• Dont be afraid to ask questions, everyone is always friendly and willing to help!
• If you have any issues at all, you can always ask me. Send me an email or add me on Facebook!

Cheers and have a good time! From your friendly Student Trustee!

Its the last quarter of the game.

The opposition is in possession of the ball and they are drawing close to our goal. As defence, I grip my lacrosse stick harder and get ready to face the opponent.

Number 88. He is already two thirds of the way across the field. He slips, and the ball bounces out of his stick and rolls a few feet away from me.

I run towards the ball and try to scoop it. I miss on my first try, and before I can try again, I hear a whoosh and look up to see a giant of a man charging at me  and BAM!

Blackout.

My eyelids flicker open and I can see that the game is in play again. I had only been knocked out for a millisecond but it felt like an eternity. I stand up with ease and see that the game has moved to the other end of the field and we are in possession of the ball.

Alex Reily moves up from behind the goal, dives and scores! We are still down by a few goals but it was a great shot.

And that, my friends, is a summary of the Lacrosse match I played yesterday against the East Coast Lacrosse Team after just 2 training sessions. I’m not going to lie, I didnt really play that well and did miss quite a lot of the throws, but I did try my best and I’m sure with more practice, I can definitely do much better. The team was very encouraging, all through the game, and even though we lost, we still felt like winners.

It was the first ‘manly’ sport that I’ve ever played. Donning shoulder pads, chest pads, elbow pads, gloves and a helmet, and with everyone given a lacrosse stick, it is as violent as games get. It was massive fun even though I got rugby tackled twice during the  game and my legs still ache.

The game taught me to learn to be aggressive and to man-up and do what must be done rather than cower in a corner waiting for someone else to do something.  It taught me to make quick decisions on  the field, alter game play to adjust to  the situation rather than strictly follow the instructions you were given at the start of the match. It also taught me that the objective of the defense was very simple ‘Dont let the ball get through’ but very tough to follow.

I definitely enjoyed playing Sports, after a very long time, and I can honestly say that I will be going back for more!

Life has been fine, its been 2 weeks since I got here but it feels like 3 days. I have settled back in well, and spending tons of quality time with my housemates since once term starts, I know I’ll be crazily busy. I do occasionally miss home, but  thats a part of life here and as U2 once said ‘Walk On’.

A month of catching up with friends. A month of missing home and Biryani. But in reality, its just a week. This is either a good thing or a bad thing, only time will tell.

University has been a bit empty, waiting in eager anticipation to the arrival of freshers.

However, the work has been otherwise, increasing convieniently to fit in with my extra free time. Which I’m not too bothered about since I do like to my calender full.

I was in London for part of the weekend, for Chris Saul’s birthday, which was pretty damn fun!

Back to Colchester now, and the weather is getting colder as the days pass by.

Nothing spectacularly exciting has been happening, but hopefully this will change as the freshers come!

The time for me to leave home for England after spending 3 glorious months traveling, relaxing, and laughing in India.

And the  usual feeling kicks in again, the feeling of being torn between 2 worlds, the feeling of not wanting to leave the safety and comfort of home and the feeling of wanting to go back to Uni. But regardless of what I feel, time will move on, and the world will roll on and I must flow with the river or be left back while civilization flows past.

After 1 week in England, I know I’ll settle in and things will become normal, but its that one week which I dread. One week of wanting to go home and have Biryani. Admittedly, a majority of the time will be spent missing Indian food, and yes, my friends and family too

Nevertheless, I will be back in 3 months for winter vacations, and then head back to England before I even realize that I’m back home. But thats for another post, another time.

Goodbye for now.

I did get a bit tired of traveling towards the end of the trip, having already gone to Delhi and South India for a week each. Getting back home was a glorious feeling only to realize that I would be leaving for England soon. I think I’ve made the most of my time in these 3 months, having traveled around, spent quality time with family and friends and enjoyed the feeling of being home to the maximum.

I watched ‘Mallanna’ a few days ago, a movie which everyone warned me about as being a complete torture but a movie which I surprisingly found entertaining. The story itself was nothing complex and the movie wasnt taken very well, but I still found it reasonably okay, perhaps because I liked Vikram and thought the songs were awesome.

I’ve been catching up with friends again, its been fun and nice to see everyone once again before I leave tomorrow night. My next post will most probably be from England, and as always, I dont really want to go since I enjoy home too much, but things must move on…