Rhythmic Dissonance

Loss

Raj — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:33:43 +0000

Disbelief, shock, despair and overwhelming sadness are some of the emotions that me and my family have been going through for the past 10 days now. I lost my sister on 1st November. Related posts:What’s Going On? So as I wrote in my last post, a lot...Looking Back When I had to come to Bangalore last [...] Related posts:

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Half and Half

Raj — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:59:53 +0000

So half my management course is over already. That was fast, now wasn’t it? And we have an ongoing 10-day vacation before the elective terms start. My original plan was to spend large part of this vacation in Bangalore catching up with old friends but thanks to the incessant rains and the accompanied flooding, my plans were ruined. I hate it when that happens.

I am still trying to salvage the holidays by doing as little as possible everyday. We also found a way to convert our apartment into a theater every night with the help of a projector. Take a look at my movie reviews page here. I’ve watched all the movies for October 2009 in the list since the vacation started and will continue watching more movies till the vacations end.

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Super Randomness

Raj — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:13:33 +0000

So, a lot happened since the last post. Here’s a gist: Term 2 ended. I took a four vacation and visited home. Term 3 began. All hell broke lose. Term 3 ended. The world was beautiful again!

In the five day break last week, I tried to make the most of the beautiful world and I chose to mostly do nothing to enjoy the days properly. I did, however, watch a cult Hindi movie, Gunda, which was nothing short of a classic. Scene after scene of pure unadulterated, unintentional comedy.

And on Saturday, not only did I find this clip on you tube of a hillarious scene from the movie Clerk but my flatmate, Amit, also ordered the movie which is finally available after years of wait. Yay!

Moving on, the weather has been phenomenally good in Hyderabad for the past den days or so and the greenery in the campus looks livelier than ever before.

Term 4 began today and the usual grind has started.

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Real, Surreal

Raj — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:42:53 +0000

I realized something the first time I stepped out of the college campus. That if you live in a campus for too long, the campus becomes your whole world and all the small problems within the campus seem big and extremely important. But only when you go out and see that there’s a real world outside can you put things back in perspective. Which is why I’ve made a point to go out once a week so that I don’t lose touch with reality.

That’s not saying that I don’t like the world inside the campus. In fact, I love it! I don’t remember ever working for as many hours a day as I do now. My life here so far has already shown me that I’m capable of much more than I thought. This might come as a surprise to some of my friends here, especially my study group mates, but I actually enjoy working on the assignments at weird hours of the day. Whats scary is that I’ll have to leave this make believe world in around 9 months and go back to the real world.

In other news, I have a great (at least I think so!) view from my bedroom window. And just so you all could agree with me, here’s a picture!

Also, the part of Hyderabad I’m in isn’t too bad. Its pretty close to the upmarket areas of Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills which have some of the best hangouts. But I still miss Bangalore, particularly my neighborhood of Kalyan Nagar and Banaswadi.

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Playing The Game Right

Raj — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:13:45 +0000

Profuse apologies for the lack of any posts in the last one month. One of the primary reasons for it was my struggle to juggle everything. There are just too many things to do and very little time. Between the classes, social clubs, professional clubs, case studies and assignments, there’s never enough time to do anything else. I do manage to listen to some music and watch episodes of Lost to keep myself sane. What makes time management even more difficult is my disturbed sleep cycle. For some reason, I am sleeping more than I used to. I blame Hyderabad’s weather for it!

But now that the first term is almost over and I have recovered from the slight (yeah, right!) humbling caused by the mid-terms, I think I’ve finally figured out the right balance that I need to maintain to extract the most out of my one year here. I’ve set some goals for myself and I will try to get involved in most things that will help me achieve that goal. Nothing too serious! Just the things I need to help me grow. I’ve been active in the Running club, Toastmasters club and Dance club and think it will stay that way though there might be few additions in the later part of the year.

There’s an upcoming term break next week. Hopefully, it will help me rejuvenate and prepare myself to play the game.

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Back to School

Raj — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:15:30 +0000

How different and consuming the past two weeks have been could be gauged from the fact that I did not listen to my iPod even once, which by the way, is the longest I’ve been away from it because no matter how busy I might have been, I always found time for it.

It has been a happy journey so far. Meeting so many talented and diverse individuals and trying to remember their names has been the theme so far.Things will change from tomorrow though as the first term begins. I’m all set to soak in the college classroom experience once again.

I’m all settled in this new routine but I’ve made sure to incorporate some of my old daily habits for the sake of having some familiarity.

Although the school is technically in Hyderabad, this place is a world in its own and could have been . anywhere in the world. I’ve only been to the city thrice and am yet to explore all the touristy places. I guess it’ll happen in due time.

Wow! Lots of scattered thoughts. Just give me some time and I’ll put it all together. I’m off to breaking my iPod abstinence now!

Brand New!

Raj — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:38:06 +0000

After spending 2 months on preparing for GMAT, taking it in October, then starting the long and tiresome application process and now after getting an admit in a school of my choice, I think its finally time to document my journey to a B school on my blog! I did write about how I felt going through the process in this and this post in a subtle manner.

My life is headed for a big change right now. A week from new I’ll be relieved from my job and next Saturday, I’ll be joining the business school . At a time when my life is about to go through such a major change, I decided to give the blog a well deserved makeover (along with a much needed upgrade from Wordpress 2.2.2 to 2.7). I hope the new theme looks good. According to me, the theme fits the blog very well and gives it a clean, crispy look while making a personal connection with the reader.

Becoming a student once again and not getting a monthly salary are some things I’m preparing myself for. And exams, of course! What makes this change bigger is that I’ll be moving to Hyderabad. The thought of leaving Bangalore makes me sad. I’ve spent a little less than five years here, after all. There is a possibiliy that I might come back after the programme ends next year but still. As I sell one peice of furniture after another, I feel like I am giving away a part of my life away. A life that I slowly built in four and a half years.

On the other hand, I am starting a new life with a clean slate and I feel like getting out of my comfort zone here was just the thing I needed to grow. And above all, I can finally experience the much hyped hostel life that I’ve only heard of till now. So wish me luck and brace yourself for new posts from a management student’s perspective!

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Magical Hampi

Raj — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:10:26 +0000

After prolonged planning and few last minute surprises, I, along with a friend, set out on a trip to Hampi on the weekend of February 28 – March 1, 2009.

We reached Hospet and then Hampi on Saturday morning and got a room in Ranjana Guest House in Hampi Bazaar. Its recommended by Lonely Planet and served us some excellent breakfast and snacks during the time we stayed there. If you are not looking for luxury, its a pretty good option.

I had already researched all the places we could cover in two days and we had a rough itinerary in mind. Also, we had detailed maps and information on all the places so we didn’t need a guide. (Thanks to Hampi.in and Indiamike!)

We kicked-off our tour of the Sacred centre with Virupaksha Temple, the largest temple in Hampi. Right from the start, both of us were enamoured by Hampi. The terrain, the rocks, the architecture – everything was fascinating.

We continued to Hemakuta hills, Sasivekalu Ganesha, Krishna Temple, Narsimha and Monolithic Shivalinga. The heat started getting bad as noon time approached. It was lunchtime and we decided to check out Mango Tree, a restaurant located on the Tungabhadra riverside, which I had read a lot about. And the place did not disappoint! We gulped down glasses of mango shake one after another and decided to make it our official hangout place after every round of sightseeing.

After a relaxing lunch, we decided to cover the riverside ruins next. The stretch begins from the end of Hampi Bazaar where a large Monolithic bull is placed. The heat was starting to get a little too much and there were almost no people in sight but our zeal to see more kept us going. In fact, we were the only tourists for quite some time at Achyut Raya Temple and Courtesans’ street.

The stretch till Vittala Temple was probably the most dry and difficult. We tried drinking all sorts of liquids to keep us cool and even had a sundae. We passed King’s Balance to get to Vittala Temple and got to see the most popular of Hampi, the stone chariot. We spent around 1 hour in Vittala Temple complex resting happily after successfully completing the day’s itinerary with some time to spare. On our way back, we made a short stop at Sugreeva’s cave and then headed back to our room.

For a small town, Hampi has a vibrant night life. There are numerous roof-top cafes and restaurants and loads of shops selling anything and everything. We did a tour of the whole market and bought ourselves a t-shirt with motif each. For dinner, however, we decided to go back to Mango Tree. After dinner, we came back home and went to sleep after a long tiresome day.

On the second day, we started early and took a coracle to the other side of the river.

We then trekked to the top of Anjaneya Hill. This is supposed to be the birth place of Lord Hanuman and the view from the top was more than worth the effort.

Afterwards, we went back and checked out of the room. For the remaining part of sightseeing, we decided to rent bicycles. We rode to the Royal Centre area and kicked-off our tour with Underground Shiv Temple, Mahanavmi Dibba and Hazara Rama Temple. The sites that included Watch Tower, Mosque, Krishnadeva Raya’s palace etc. looked more like an excavation site.

We also saw some tempting baths and tanks with little or no of water. We finished the leg with Lotus Mahal, Elephant Stables and Queen’s bath.

We then rode to Kamalapur to visit the archaeological museum and then concluded our trip with a well-deserved delayed lunch at Mango Tree. After spending an hour or so there, we returned to Hospet to catch our train back to Bangalore.

On the whole, it was an amazing trip! Hampi is a small but bustling town with friendly people who are not after your money. Its a trip I would recommend to everyone. After all, how often does a place offer historical, adventurous and religious sights together and gives you a chance to show off your well-earned tan with pride!

These and a lot of other photos from my Hampi trip are available at flickr here.

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Happy Go Lucky

Raj — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:16:27 +0000

The past couple of weeks reiterated that no matter how much I plan or worry about my life and the direction in which its headed, I can never claim to be in total control. So I have decided to take it easy for the next few weeks and just take life as it comes. How it would work out is anybody’s guss but at least I won’t spend my time worrying and overthinking the same thing again and again.

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Twenty Two, the third!

Raj — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:44:49 +0000

First, a little background on the title. I wrote the first posts of last year and the year before that on 22nd January and named them similarily.I do feel a little sad about not updating the blog much but then the readership has dwindled anyway so not too many people miss new posts on the blog. Of course, writing more would be a good way to win new readers and I plan to do that in the new future.

Life’s been hectic but good and I am progressing well on my resolutions for the year.

Also, in store is a major facelift for the blog. It has stayed this way for too long and it deserves a new look. I’ll start working on the reboot this long weekend itself so expect something soon.

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