Counting Days

No matter where you are in the world, there's one feeling that stays the same across cultures and countries. The feeling that you get when exams are over!!

I used to feel the same way in High School, in Engineering, and now even in MBA. All my classmates here feel the same way. That feeling of relief, and of having all the time in the world to do whatever you please. Right after the last exam, a Chilean classmate mentioned to me, "Now I have an appointment with my pillow!" And I smiled.

So, the first part of our MBA is done, that constitues one-third of the program. I don't want to comment on how I did in the exams, they are over, and that's a relief. We have a 4 day residential seminar starting from 15th December and then holidays!! Wooohoooo!!!

I shopped last evening and realised how beautiful the streets looked because of all the decorations for Christmas. I hadn't been out of my studio and school since last some days, and hadn't realised that the Christmas season is already upon us.

I am counting days for going back to India. While eating pizza last night for dinner, I almost cried thinking of Mom's cooking and all the food that I will eat when I reach home. I am tired of the Belgian, Thai and Turkish food here and even of my own cooking. I know that I will hog and gain weight at home, but who cares!

Siddharth has booked his tickets for Delhi and I can't wait to see him again. This will only be the second time since we have grown up that I will meet him! Sounds unbelievable even to myself, but it's true. Surprisingly, I never feel that I have met him just once. Perhaps because I know him since I was a 6 year old and because I see him on Skype everyday. When I tell our little story to my women friends here, they get the shock of their lives. "You have met him just once since you grew up! And you really started talking to each other only six months back, out of which you have been in Belgium for four months! Are you sure you want to marry him???" If I use all that logic, I know I would never suggest someone else to do what I am doing. But truly, I have never been so sure of anything in my life. Yes, I do want to marry him :)

Ah! It's time to get ready and head to the shopping streets! It's Christmas season and I wanna shop!!

One Of My Favorite Profs!

He has made Financial Accounting interesting for us! That in itself is an achievement!

Check out the video on the right.

Getting Graded

We have been graded for 2 subjects so far and thankfully I have scored above the class average for both Financial Accounting and Managing Across Cultures. I don't know how long would I be able to maintain that but for now, I am satisfied. I never aimed to be the topper here and I live a relaxed life, talk for hours with my boyfriend and have healthier sleeping hours compared to most of my classmates, so I feel I am good with the grades :)

I used to have this feeling a couple of months back that Siddharth and I would just spoil each other's professional lives because we spend so much time on Skype and phone. However, I am happy that we are both managing quite well. My entire class knows that I talk to my boyfriend for hours at a stretch on Skype, and they get quite shocked about the fact that I manage to find so much time for him. Sid is doing great in juggling his job and Phd. preparation and IELTS preparation and French classes and gym etc. Trust me, his job is not easy. Poor guy is living the dreaded post MBA work life, in which one works like an ass ;) But I never feel starved of attention from him, it is just perfect. Touchwood! :)

At Vlerick, we work in many teams for various group projects and reports in different subjects. Some groups are great and others... well.. not so great! Sometimes you find one or more team members annoying and impossible to work with but I feel that it is part of our learning. We never get to choose our colleagues in work situations, so we should know how to work best in a group. Moreover, the grades of every individual depend on the final product of the group work, so you just can't take it casually. I am glad that my group for Entrepreneurship is just awesome. It is one of the longest and biggest projects and we have to come up with a business plan and a marketing plan and present it to a jury. We were able to choose our group members for this project but it wasn't so easy to do that. For starters, it was difficult to decide what criteria we should take into account while considering possible business plan partners. I mean, whether to look at people's profiles and pick people from useful backgrounds like Marketing, Finance, IT (if you are doing an IT project), or whether to just see if I was comfortable working with someone. I honestly feel that for this project, comfort and understanding matters more than backgrounds. We can come up with a good marketing strategy even if we don't have a marketing professional amongst us, but we can never put our hearts to a project where we don't like working with others. So, my team has ended up as being a great team and I am very happy with the progress so far. We managed to finalise and mutually agree upon a business idea (many other groups haven't yet finalised an idea) and we have started our research based on it. The idea looks so good for now that we can even consider it as a real entrepreneurship opportunity after MBA. Let's see how it shapes up!

On Saturday, our Chilean group member invited us to his home in Brussels for a team meeting followed by some Chilean food and wine. Everybody knows that Chilean wines are some of the best in the world, so it was of course a tempting offer. Our friend and his wife offered us tortillas with a choice of many spreads (I specially loved the Avocado spread) and various fillings. I ate 2 rolls and they were super delicious. The Chilean wine lived up to its name and I had 2 glasses of red wine with dinner. Now, after dinner our friend told us about a whiskey called Pisco. It is very popular in Chile and if mixed with Coke, it is called Piscola (which I think is a funny name). I am no fan of whiskies but this one was very smooth and I really liked it mixed with Cola and Ice. The train ride back home to Leuven was easy after that, because I couldn't feel the cold at all, thanks to Pisco!

Life is going good I feel. I am looking forward to 19th December, when I will take my flight to Delhi. However, we will have exams before that during the second week of December :(

Send in your wishes folks, they always work for me :)

Love,

Nicky

Autumn Break

If I ever had any doubts about the ability of time to fly, they have been put to rest now. It's been only some time that I came to Belgium, and I am already booking tickets for Delhi and looking forward to my winter vacation. Yeah folks, I will be in Delhi for Christmas and New Year's! I can't wait for it and guess what I am missing most in Leuven?? South Indian Food! Yeah, that's surprising for me too. Not family, not friends, not 'ghar ka khana', but I am missing good old Idli, Sambhar and Dosa here. Would anybody believe that? Maybe because that is the only thing that I could not find here at all so far. I am regularly in touch with family and friends, I cook my own 'Indian' meals but Idli-Sambhar is something that is just not to be found in our little town :(

We don't have any classes for this entire week and I am enjoying the break. Talking for hours with Siddharth, cleaning every minute inch of my studio, listening to songs, cooking nice meals etc. Of course I will also catch up on all the subjects where I am lagging behind and prepare for projects and exams, but that is secondary priority for this week.

Our classes have been progressing at a break-neck speed as usual and I did not even realise when subjects like Leadership, Human Resource Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, Business and Law, and Entrepreneurship zoomed past us. The learning in each was immense and I am in awe of most of our professors here. For example, our Business and Law professor started the course with us by distributing some cases and questions to test our ethics and knowledge about Law. In the first class he told us jokingly that the purpose of his course was to keep us out of jail. The entire class laughed but when he discussed our answers to the cases and questions, we realised how unethical, hypocritical and unaware of the Law we were. If we indeed did those things in real corporate world, we would have been put in jail, and all the while we thought that we were being fair!! I do believe my professor's joke now and realise how difficult ethical choices are in the real world. Wow, I am already beginning to talk like an MBA!

Diwali came and went and I did not light a single cracker. I badly missed home during Diwali but thankfully I have very nice classmates. A chinese classmate called us home for tea on Diwali afternoon and we had dinner at an Indian friend's place. His wife had prepared a delicious Indian meal for us, which we ate while watching the classic 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro'. We also played cards, because Diwali without gambling is utterly boring. I explained the concept of Diwali to many of our classmates who wanted to know the story behind the festival and why and how we celebrate it. I hope I gave them the correct version of the story, but anyway they would never know the difference :)

On the day after Diwali we visited a Krishna temple called Radhadesh in Ardenne. It is a beautiful place with rolling hills and dense forests. After the prayer ceremony at the temple we took a walk in the woods and it felt like going back to nature and connecting with the Supreme.

The second pic is of the castle in which the temple is situated.

I hope that after this one week break, I will emerge refreshed and full of energy, specially because it is Autumn and it is so beautiful here. I love taking walks in the park close to my studio and will post pics of the beautiful park soon.

Simply Love

How does it feel when you fall in love with someone who was your classmate 20 years ago, when you were 6 years old?

How does it feel when you fall in love with someone who has come back into your life after 13 years of separation?

It feels like a fairy tale, nothing less.

We are opposites in many ways and yet so similar. He was always the intelligent guy of class, while I was hardly ever concerned about studies. He was the class joker and I used to be sophisticated. He is a powerhouse of energy and enthusiasm, while I am laid back. He is a Cancer and I am a Leo :)

And yet, we fill so many voids in each other's life; we have the same past, we have shared our childhood, we know each other's roots.

I am happy!! Unabashedly, wilfully, tremendously happy!!

We are in love.

Life as a MBA student in Belgium

My life has changed. I have changed. And I am very happy!!

Amidst all the excitement and millions of things to do to adjust to the new life, my blog was neglected. It is the easiest thing to neglect and so it is neglected first of all. When I started getting comments and messages from some blogger friends about my whereabouts, I decided that it indeed has been a really long time and I should better blog about my new life.

I don't know where to start. I have been in Belgium for a month now and many things have happened since then. Mom and Dad came with me to Belgium to drop me here and then to go on a short Europe trip. I am immensely glad and thankful to them for coming with me because with all my luggage (almost 60 Kgs), I would have broken a few bones and all my suitcases before reaching my destination. Leuven is a small town, at a distance of 30 mins train ride from Brussels. I love the town. It is only 3 Kms in radius! You can see the entire town in half a day. And because it is a student town, you can see students and university buildings everywhere. It is almost like one huge campus.

That is the Town Hall in Leuven. A beautiful building at the heart of the town.

The weather here is gray most of the time and it rains almost every second or third day. The two awesome things about Belgium are its beer and waffles. They have hundreds of varieties of Beer in Belgium. I knew about Leuven's beer connection before coming here and that people here love drinking beer but I had no idea that someone like me who hates it would become an ardent beer fan. Waffles have a similar story. I have never had a sweet tooth but the sight and smell of a freshly baked waffle can make anyone drool. In Brussels I tried a just-baked waffle topped with strawberries and chocolate sauce. I have no words to describe how good it was.

That was my first beer in Belgium!

Now about the MBA life - My classes started on 1st September, so I have been into the program for 17 days now. The first week was all about lunches, dinners, drinks with classmates and alumni, getting to know the school, and even a party at the Dean's house (and what a party!). It was fun at the beginning and before we knew it, the grind started. In just 2 weeks, we have completed 3 subjects!! From the very first day of classes, I have been immersed in team assignments, tutorials, reading for the next day's classes, networking and trying to stay in touch with friends and family back in India. I did not realise when waking up at 5 AM and sleeping at midnight started sounding normal. I did not realise when going to the school on weekends to work with your team for group work became usual. I did not realise when the book shelf in my studio was piled high with thick binders and heavy books. I did not realise when reading 300 pages everyday started seeming achievable. I did not realise when I actually finished an impressive amount of reading. If I collectively count the number of pages for all subjects I have read so far, then that is probably more than I read in an entire year before starting my MBA.

But you know what.... it is fun! I like it! Every moment of sitting in class, every moment of group work, every moment of reading micro and macro economics, financial accounting, statistics and managing across cultures.... I love it. Even when I crib, even when I tell my boyfriend in India that all this work will make me die early (he is a MBA so he thankfully understands), even when I don't get time to cook, even when I am too tired to update my blog, I am loving every moment here and I can see that I am changing as a person. My thought process, my stamina, my ability to cope with pressure, my social networking, everything has already changed drastically. And that is when I am only 1 month into my MBA!

To top it all I joined French classes here which will start on the coming Monday. I have no idea where in the world will I find time for studying French but I have still joined.
Oh and by the way, before my classes started, I managed to visit Amsterdam and Den Haag in Netherlands. Beautiful places would be a gross understatement for them. The canals of Amsterdam give it the romantic feel of a quintessential European city and Den Haag has these beautiful buildings and a mix of the old and new in Europe.

I have made some new friends. We are 90 students divided into 2 sections of 45 each in this year's batch. Among these 90 students we have 42 nationalities, so our class is one of the most diverse in the world. Conversation topics during lunches with my classmates include; Geisha in Japan, our upcoming trip to China, the integration of Europe after the second world war, Barrack Obama's political campaign, Mexican food, Life in Nigeria, the Australian boyfriend of my batchmate from Peru, French versus Dutch language courses, and other equally diverse and interesting topics.

I am sure that my year at Vlerick is going to be a life changing experience for me. No matter where I land after the MBA, no matter what job I get (or don't get!) the learning that I am getting here is immense. My only regret is that I am not able to blog regularly. Some of my classmates have blogs and they post every few days, although I don't understand where they find the time and energy to do it, but taking inspiration from then I will try to blog more often. I suppose that I am just not that great at managing my time.

I will post some pictures of Brussels, Amsterdam, Den Haag and Leuven in my next post!! :)

Shaken And Stirred

Here I am after a little hiatus! Some of you might have even forgotten me, but hey, I am still on blogosphere :)

During the past month my blog's first birthday came and went (25th July), my 26th birthday came and went (26th July), but I did not as much as post a 'Happy Birthday Dear Blog', one-liner post. Honestly, I am so drained out these days that I don't feel up to even a twitter-like post. Anyway, belated birthday wishes for my online journal.

'Happy Birthday Dear Blog. You mean so much to me' :D

You guys may wish too.

I celebrated my birthday for 2 consecutive days and to such an extent that I promptly fell ill with exhaustion on the third day. Late night dancing and partying with friends, bringing three girlfriends home to stay for the night, and then chit-chatting till the small hours of the morning. It was fun! Almost like engineering college hostel days, all over again. And then, a quiet homely party with family on the following day. I couldn't have hoped for a better start to another year of my life.

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Exactly 16 days are left for me to pack, shop, prepare, study, say goodbyes, etc. I am beginning to panic now. My things-to-do list has started appearing like a monster that is impossible to slay. The more tasks I finish, the more are added to my list. I actually have a to-do list that is growing bigger by the day.
I bought my ticket, bought a new laptop (HP Pavilion dv4), booked hotel and temporary accommodation in Belgium for 4 days, started my Statistics Course and did other stuff that I cannot even recall now. I read something about time somewhere long back, that how time goes by in lumps when we are in a state of high anticipation or excitement. Sometimes it seems like a large chunk of time just disappeared from my life and at other times, even few minutes seem very long. Yes, time is going by in irregular, unpredictable lumps.
Many a time, I notice myself saying and doing routine things like an automaton, because my mind is busy figuring out what is the next thing-to-do on my list. This is the first time in my life that I am marveling at the powers of habit. I don't need to think while talking to many people. I can give correct responses and expressions out of habit, keeping my mind on other matters all the while. And what's more, people don't even notice!

I will try to write another post before flying to Belgium, but going by the frequency of posts on my blog lately, it seems unlikely. Wish me luck folks, I need all of it that I can get :)

Oh, and by the way, the blog title has got nothing to do with drinks, as you guys might have figured out by now. It is about how I feel presently :)

The Four-Legged Cupid

It was not long since they had moved to the new place. She loved it; she thought she could call it her own. He loved it; the view from the 14th floor balcony was mesmerizing. They still did not have a double bed. Mattresses on the floor with loads of cushions and pillows made a makeshift arrangement, and they were happy with it.
It was a hot summer Sunday afternoon.

He- This mattress feels so hot. I can't sleep.
She- Get the chatayi from storeroom and sleep on that.
He- hmmm.. yeah.. good idea.

He gets up, opens the storeroom door, and looks back at her. She is still lying on the mattress, face down, eyes closed.

She- Beware of that lizard in the storeroom. It is so fat that it threatens to fall on one's head at any moment.
He- Unlike you, I am not scared of lizards.
She- Well then, get rid of it.
He- I will when I see it. Right now, it is not in the storeroom.
She- uh..huh..

He is back with the folded chatayi. Contemplates a moment for the best place to spread it. His eyes fall on her, lying on her stomach at the very corner of the mattress. He smiles. Next to her is the best place.

Holding one end of the chatayi, he lets it roll on the ground next to her.
Something jumps on her from the folds of the chatayi.
She shrieks, his eyes dart on her.
A lizard runs the full length of her terrified, shaking body and scurries across the floor to the nearest wall.

He- Oh shit!

Her screams don't stop. He is frozen. She does not turn, does not move at all, and just keeps yelling his name.
Letting the chatayi drop in a heap on the floor, he jumps on the mattress to lie down beside her. He hugs her and she clutches at him, as if for her life.
She- I hate you

He- I am sorry kid. I love you.

Her body is still shaking with suppressed sobs and fear.
His body shakes with suppressed laughter and he hugs her tighter.

The afternoon doesn't seem unbearably hot anymore.

30 Nosey Things You May(n’t) Want to Know About Me

Alright, here's the first tag on My Latest Fad. Unsungpsalm promised that I will enjoy it, so here I am.

But before you get to know the 30 nosey things about me, you first agree to pay a price. I need a new laptop and everybody knows there are so many options in the market that it's a madhouse out there. Oh, don't run away yet. I am not asking you to buy me a new laptop. All you have to do is suggest one. My requirements? Pretty simple actually. Something close to 12", lightweight, easy to use and handle, costs within 40-41K. That's it.

Now, to the tag

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? My eyes look puffy. Didn't I sleep well??

2. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now? Rs. 2100, besides debit cards.

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR? Whore... before being judgemental listen to this. Unsung already used the first word that came to my mind. This was the 'second' that came to me.

4. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone? Di.

5. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone? I never download ringtones. I use only those that are already on the phone. My current ringtone is 'backpacker'

6. What are you wearing right now? I am still in my nightclothes, yes, I am jobless. Pyjamas and a spaghetti top.

7. Do you label yourself? mmmm yeah. An Intellectual. I know it's not obvious from my posts, but that's because I don't like showing off. Ha!

8. Name the brand of the shoes you currently own? Reebok shoes. Carlton London stilettos. Various sandals from non-branded stores in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Vegas. Yeah, I shop all over.

9. Bright or Dark Room? mmm bright generally.

10. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you? Unsung. I am tempted to use his real name out here for some reason. But that would be a serious breach of trust :)

Hmmm... Unsung knows what I think of him. Awesome writer, mature for his years, cute in many ways :)

11. What does your watch look like? I am averse to wearing a watch. Don't like them, don't wear them.

12. What were you doing at midnight last night? For the first time after months, I tucked myself in bed with a book, at midnight. Trying to sleep early and wake up early.

13. What did your last text message you received on your cell say? “Powercut again. I am getting ready. Call you later."

14. What’s a word that you say a lot? There are many I guess. "Shutup", "Oh F***", "Duffer", "mmmmmm". This last is an exclamation, but I use it as a word mostly :)

15. Who told you he/she loved you last?(please exclude spouse, family, children) Di's daughter Maahi told that to me just a few minutes back, but I have to exclude family. I think GO was the one then.

16. Last furry thing you touched? Maahi's many soft toys. Last year in Kanpur at Priya's home, I held and cuddled her oh-so-adorable dog Lolo. She has a Pekinese pair, Lolo and Pluto. Lolo is sweet but Pluto is a wicked little .... mmm... dog. He won't let anybody touch him.

17. Favourite age you have been so far? 16.

18. What was the last thing you said to someone? "Aap dusting theek se nahin kar rahe ho", to the maid. For those who didn't get that, "You are not dusting properly"

19.The last song you listened to? "She's always a woman to me" by Billy Joel. It's an awesome song and my caller tune these days. If you want to listen, here's the link.

20. Where did you live in 1987? Ghaziabad. We lived there for just a year because of Dad's transferable job.

21. Are you jealous of anyone? Not anymore. Used to be, in a funny way, when I was younger.

22. Is anyone jealous of you? I don't know.

23. Name three things that you have on you at all times? Phone, money, Lipbalm.

24. What’s your favourite town/city? Dehradun (only because I have spent some of the happiest years of my life there), Delhi (I like it despite the heat), Vegas (I couldn't have enough of Vegas in 3 days), San Francisco (I would love to have a house there), and some remote towns in Uttaranchal that nobody has heard the names of. They are beautiful places.

25. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it? I love writing letters on paper but I just hand them to people they are for. I can't remember when was the last time I mailed a letter.

26. Can you change the oil on a car? Erm.. I can't .... yet! I intend to learn someday.

27. Your first love/big crush: what is the last thing you heard about him/her? My first crush, that I can recall, was a classmate when I was in class 2. He was my crush for 3-4 years. We recently found each other after years of leaving school. We chat almost every 2-3 days and talk every couple of weeks. Last I knew, he was immensely enjoying his new job after MBA and was certain that he would flunk his CFA level 2 exam.

28. Does anything hurt on your body right now? Come on, what kind of question is that. Is this tag intended for bed-ridden people? Of course, nothing hurts on my body, thankfully.

29.What is your current desktop picture? A purple lotus with small yellow petals in the centre. Surrounded by big green leaves in a pond. I took it at a roadside eating joint while travelling to Dehradun.

30. Have you been burnt by love? Ah... yes!

I did enjoy the tag but I am not sure about people who read it. Don't forget to post your suggestions for my new laptop.
Everybody who reads this tag and is game for it, is tagged :)

A Fresh Beginning

I never thought that I would ever be too busy to post on my blog or to read posts of my favorite bloggers. It has happened now and I am not too happy about it. I started this blog last year and whatever crap I wrote here gave me immense satisfaction and an outlet to burst out. Moreover, reading blogs of unknown strangers (who I now feel I know since ages) gave me a sense of belonging. I am too busy to write posts and read blogs regularly now and it feels that some part of me is locked up and getting suffocated. I feel guilty when I don't post for long periods and then coming back to the blogosphere is even more difficult. It is like facing a close family member whom you have been avoiding since long.
I have lost track of what is happening in the lives of my blog friends and I feel left out. Is this weird? My blog friends would know, I guess.

A quick review of what I did all the while I was missing from blogosphere:
~I got my Visa (yippeee).
~I read MANY books, To Kill A Mockingbird, Rebecca, The Kite Runner, The Firm; to name some of them.
~I entertained guests and relatives at home. Many relatives came to visit and live with us for few days because they know I will be leaving soon for a long time. That was sweet of them. I had an awesome time gossiping, shopping, eating with them. I have gained a lot of weight after these visits and screwed my daily routine, but it was all worth it. I will miss them all in Belgium.
~I completed my French classes. Yes, sadly my French classes are over. My teacher can't continue for the next level so I have to now learn on my own.
~GO came back from US and I watched 2 movies (17 Again and Paying Guest) back to back with him again, after knowing that the last time I did that was a disaster. It wasn't so much of a disaster this time, except that Paying Guest is the most pathetic movie that I ever watched. By-the-way, Zac Efron looks cute in 17 Again.

It was enough to keep me occupied if you add it up with social networking, trying to read business related books and articles, and sleeping :)

I can see that life ahead will be even more hectic. My School has e-mailed a list of recommended pre-MBA reading and will make us take 3 online courses (Stats, Financial Accounting and Economics) in July. I have to shop and pack and generally prepare for going.

But, all said and done, I have no intentions of staying away from my blog, like I have been doing for some time now. I have realised that it is important to me, and I am going to make it a part of my routine. It is strange how we neglect many things, knowing that they hold a lot of value for us. Like family, friends, learning new things, and in this case, blog :)

It has started to sink in, now that the initial excitement is getting stale, that I am indeed going for at least 13 months. Away from people who care for me, food that I love, and the life that I am used to. It will be fun and a great learning experience, but I think it would also be difficult. All I have in my survival kit is my enthusiasm, passion (which I hope won't fizzle out too soon), common sense and intellect. I have realised that another survival tool is my blog, just rant here and it becomes easy to get along with things. More so, when unknown strangers (with blogs that I am only too familiar with) post comments that are all concerned, supportive, hopeful, energizing and considerate at the same time. I love my blogger friends. There comments are sometimes all that you need for a doze of energy :)

I changed my blog template. The new one looks fresh and professional, and goes with my present mood; to make a fresh beginning.

My Affair With A Romance Language

It has been long since I was on blogosphere and I admit that there were a couple of times since I last posted when I started writing but then just gave up. I blame it on multiple factors, but Delhi heat takes the biggest share of blame. I just hate this time in Delhi. The dry and scorching weather gets me into depression, and I should add here, that it really takes a lot to get ME into depression. Going outdoors is suicidal these days, even in evenings. The only places to hang out are malls, and it gets intensely boring to hang out exclusively at malls. With all my social life limited to Facebook and French classes, there was not much to talk about. Moreover, I was in a lazy, introspective phase.

I promised last time that I would blog about my French classes, as they are a lot of fun. They still are fun and I love my time there. The teacher is nice; she gives good material, and teaches well. I have two more students in class with me (both men), so it is a small and intimate class. We get many opportunities to laugh because we keep making silly mistakes that are at times HILARIOUS. One such instance that comes to my mind is of the day when Swati (our teacher) asked me to make a sentence that starts with 'Je voudrais...' (I would like...) It was our third or fourth class and I was still struggling immensely with vocabulary. I started to say something but the sentence that popped out of my mouth was "Je voudrais un bon homme." (I would like a nice man.) Shucks! That was followed by a shocked second and then peals of laughter from everybody including me. The other two students in the class specially laughed loud at that. Embarrassing, I know. But trust me, that's nothing compared to the mistakes that THEY make.

I think it's time to describe the other two students in my class. 'A' seems like a pretty boring guy and he is the one who struggles the most in our classes. It has now got to the extent where the rest of us feel he wastes the time of the class because he just doesn't understand things. Whatever job 'A' is doing, it keeps him busy in some health related seminars these days. He comes to the classes right after work, travelling from CP to Gurgaon. I appreciate his dedication, especially in this weather. He turned up a little late during one of the classes. We looked up as he entered the room to join us. The first thing that I noticed about him on that day was that he was wearing a big, round, red badge, which said "Loose weight now, Ask me how" in shining white letters. Before I could stop myself, I pointed to the eye-catching badge and asked him, "What is that?" His response, "Oh, I forgot to take that off after the seminar." WTF? He traveled all the way from CP to Gurgaon and then walked into the class wearing that. I wonder how many people asked him tips for loosing weight that day.

I call the other guy "My grey eyed Ipod" or The ipod for short (this nick suggested by GO). He has beautiful grey eyes but at times irritating manners. He sings really well, calls me nearly everyday, and hangs up only after singing me a song or two. I know it is funny, but I admit that I enjoy it. I mean how many men these days would sing you songs everyday when you are not even dating them (and nice songs at that). I know he is either too nice or too creepy and I am still trying to decide in which category to place him. He is doing well in class though and I enjoy talking to him, especially when he talks passionately of his career. Like me, he is going to start his MBA program soon but in Canada. He is intelligent, having completed his engineering from a good college and worked for a couple of years, he managed a great score at GMAT and then admission at a decent B-School. I am impressed at how informed he is about his field and at the amount of reading he is doing. From financial accounting to French vocab to oil fields in Canada, he has read up a whole lot. I am always impressed with well-informed people but at times, he intrigues me. He would at times say non-committal but suggestive things, which might mean that he is flirting. I give non-committal responses then but try to make it clear without being too obvious that I am not interested in any relationship or fling (or anything) at all at this point in my life. I just don't like it when men try to play it so safe that they stand neither here nor there; I think that's not being man enough. Of course, I might be wrong with the whole thing, it might be just premature alarm bells ringing in my head, and therefore currently I just brush aside such things and ignore. However, while talking, laughing, arguing, at every imaginable instant, I am watching him to try and understand where he is heading with all his talk (and songs!).

On a different note, I met my best friend Amit yesterday after more than a year and half. Although we could manage less than an hour with each other but it was totally great. I took him to TGIF (my favorite hang out) and we of course had LIITs. I haven't laughed so much in ages as I did in that hour. Friends always make you feel so good. Although Amit and I talk nearly everyday but meeting each other after that terribly long period felt really great. I am glad we could make it because in a couple of months, I would move to Europe and then I don't know when we would ever meet.

Ah! It feels wonderful, now that I have finally written this long post. I wonder why I was putting it off. There will be more to come and soon :D

I Am An Intellectual Originator

Last night I took a personality test at MyPersonality.info after reading about the test at many random places. I knew already that the test results often surprise people with their accuracy and I have to say that I was not disappointed. While taking the long test, I wondered how accurate it could be with such haphazard questions that people obviously answer in a hurry. But whatever the testing strategy is, it works.
There are 4 broad personality types and my results placed me in the intellectual category. No surprises there. I have held that opinion about myself since I was 3 years old :) Within the intellectual category, I was described as 'The Originator'. Here is a short review of an Originator:

Logical, innovative, curious and downright inventive. They see possibilities for improvement everywhere and possess the ability to understand complex concepts. They are introspective and carefree nonconformists. They often neglect the more common areas of life while pursuing new solutions. They can be good conversationalists and exciting company.
I loved every word of it :D

My personality type is basically the 'ENTP'. Let me decode it for you. It means that I am more of an Extrovert than Introvert, I am more iNtuitive than Sensing, I prefer to Think rather than Feel, and I Perceive more than I judge. I guess that pretty much sums me up.

The test was interesting and I feel it should be made a mandatory part of any person's CV.

PS: I am longing to write a post on my French classes as they are so much fun. It will be coming soon :)

An Invitation to all Vlerick Admits

The world has become a far smaller place than it was decades ago. More and more people are traveling across the globe for fun, business, study etc. However, going to a foreign land involves more and more hassles. On one hand, we are shrinking the world and on the other, we are making it difficult to get a simple permit to enter a foreign land, the Visa. Protectionism was a hot topic in the latest G-20 summit and I believe that getting work permits, student visas and even tourist visas will get tougher by the day (at least as long as the recession and its aftermath last)

There are 8 Indians in the 2009-2010 Vlerick batch and all of us are finding it difficult to understand the Visa requirements. All of us are well-traveled people and none is applying for a foreign Visa for the first time. However, there are so many confusions regarding the Belgian Student Visa process that I have really started wondering whether I would make it in time. The problem is not just for Indians. We have 2 batch mates from Chile and they too are facing similar difficulties, maybe even more so.

Anyway, this post is not about the Belgian Visa. I found that some of my batch mates have come across my blog while searching for Vlerick related blogs. I feel that I can reach out to other batch mates across the globe if they do find my blog. We have a dedicated Facebook group for the 2009-2010 Vlerick batch, created by one of our batch mates. All the Indian admits are already part of the group and our Chilean counterparts too found the group and joined. We have all introduced ourselves to each other and have some very informative discussions going that are benefiting all. It feels great that we already know each other well, months before starting the program. I know when Shrini's brother is getting married, I know what food Sanjeed likes, I know what problems Julio and Javiera are facing with their Visas, I know who got their loans cleared and at what rate of interest, I know when Abhi started his French classes. That is the level of interaction we already have.

I invite all 2009-2010 admits of Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School to join our Facebook group and be a part of all informative as well as personal chit chat. We have plans of taking the group forward by forming various interest groups and by inviting suggestions from everyone. Whoever has the latest bit of info, he/she shares it with others on the group and the rest of us save a lot of time and energy. It would be great to have all the batch mates there and the sooner the better :) I am really looking forward to know the group of people with whom I am going to share a very exciting year of my life.

Leonine Luxury

Ah! The joys of a manicure! I am indulgently staring at my fingers while typing. I am touching and picking objects gently and not grabbing at them, to make my nail polish last longer. Alas! Even with new and improvised beauty products entering the market every other day, there is still not a single nail polish that would last even for 3 days without chipping. Anyway, right now my hands are glowing and my nails are shining. What more could a girl ask for? Apart from some Mac products and spa trips and new clothes and.... mmm guess I am getting carried away :)

While getting my manicure this evening, I let my thoughts wander. I was thinking how much I love pampering. I know everybody does, but with me, it goes to another level. It has a healing effect on my body, mind, and soul. It makes me so happy! I think it has a lot to do with me being a Leo :)

Okay, people who don't believe in sun-signs are now rolling their eyes. Roll 'em as much as you want dear non-believer, but every Leo loves luxury and pampering, and that's as good as a fact. There might be just different ways of being pampered that work for different people, but scratch the surface and you find that need for self-indulgence in every Big Cat.

These days I am too much into it. I have a set routine (yes, I count that as indulgence), I wake up at 6 AM, I do Yoga, I meditate, I listen to soothing lounge music during my shower, I eat only fruits for my dinner, all of which makes me feel as fresh as a baby. My mind is so relaxed, my body feels so light and I am so peaceful that I do imagine being just-out-of-the-womb kind of fresh. Alright maybe a just-out-of-the-womb baby isn't that happy. I should say a-day-old-baby kind of fresh. I believe in getting my facts right :)

I want to clarify here that I am not a diet and fitness freak, neither am I paranoid about my weight, and I call myself a 'foodie'. It is just a phase that I am in, but now I am seriously considering making it my lifestyle. However, I also know that all this is possible because presently I have more time on my hands than I can waste without feeling guilty. Once I get back into the grind of work or studies, it would be nearly impossible to afford such luxury. This gets me back to the L-word. Yep, that's the L-word of my life nowadays :)

Psst: I succeeded in not mentioning Vlerick even once in my post. Yayieee!! :D

Life And To-Do-List

Life has suddenly become very busy. There are numerous things to do on my list and there is a deadline for everything. I came back from Kanpur on 12th and had an exam for my HR diploma on 15th. I have the next exam tomorrow but since 15th I have been busy with my registration at Vlerick. I met GO and his friends day before to catch up over drinks and dinner because GO is going to US for 3 months on a business trip. I will be done with my HR exams on 25th and after that, I have to rush things to get a loan and then apply for Visa. Meanwhile, I also have to join French classes (it will look good on my resume during placements next year) and keep learning until August. With all this work and the deadlines threatening to zoom past, I am also trying to keep in touch with my future batch mates at Vlerick. They are a nice bunch, all of them from varied backgrounds and age groups. I know only about the Indian admits yet, and hence I can imagine the kind of diversity we will get in the class once we are actually there. The Indian admits are all brilliant people and I am looking ahead to an intellectually stimulating and exciting time at Belgium.

I have to visit Parneet while she is in Delhi. Amit has promised to come to Delhi from Hyderabad before I leave, so I have plans to catch up with him too. Golly, I need to meet everybody in these few months.

Life is revolving around a 'To-Do-List' these days and I guess it is going to get busier and busier. I have heard and read about the horrid working and sleeping hours at B-Schools, and I think I need to prepare myself for the grind. Already, I feel that I have stopped thinking coherently. My thoughts all start with, "I need to ..." and a new thing-to-do is mentally added to my already miles long list. :(

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.11) I need to brush up my cycling skills. It has been years since I rode a bike and in Belgium people prefer to pedal down to wherever they want to go.

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.20) I need to do a lot of boring reading before I go. Business Reviews, Economic Times, Business Blogs.

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55) I need to learn all about Internet Marketing and professional writing. It might help me earn during my studies. Just an Idea :D

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.79) I need to reduce my sleeping hours :(

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.100) I need to stop needing rest :(

.101) I need to stop talking about Vlerick :D

Karma and Holi

A Very Happy Colorful Holy Holi To All

I am visiting my cousins in Kanpur for Holi this year, and although I have never in my life liked Kanpur, I am looking forward to celebrating Holi with my cousins. This will be my first Holi here and I have heard that Kanpur people go wild when celebrating the festival of colors. I have been singled out as today's target by cousins, brothers-in-law, nephews, and nieces alike. I know I am going to get a raw deal today :(

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My to-be-school Vlerick is constantly on my mind these days. It feels like I am infatuated with the school, and I am sure if there was any such thing as love with inanimate objects, then I would have called it the beginning of a love affair. Well, come to think of it, to my mind Vlerick is not at all an inanimate object. However, I don't want to go blah-blah about my school again because that is exactly what I am doing since many days and people around me now grab any nearby object to stuff it either in my mouth or in their ears, whichever is easier. I would just write about my love relationship with Vlerick :)

In February, I first saw its name on the 2008 Financial Times rankings and because it was in Europe, I visited the college website. It was simply love at first sight. The college campus was beautiful and the city even more so. The various stats about the college were very impressive and I knew that we were meant to be together. I had a fair idea that my chances were bleak considering the reputation of Vlerick in Europe. I nevertheless decided to give it a try. It was tough, the application, the essays et all, but the path of true love is never easy. I submitted the application and waited for some days with bated breath (just figuratively), praying throughout and asking my friends to pray for me. I think that Gods were kind and I came to know my results in 6 days flat. I am the only person out of those admitted who had the results in that unbelievably short duration. For everybody else it took more than 2 weeks. I made it, I have been accepted by my love and I can't wait for our new life together. The latest FT rankings just gave me more reason to rejoice, because Vlerick jumped up by 22 places (now ranks 75 in the world), which makes it the fastest moving-up-the-ladder school. I have to now complete the registration process to legalise our relationship and then Vlerick would be officially mine. We will live together from 1st September.

Give this couple your blessings :D

Alright, so I just demonstrated my insane infatuation but so what!

The News

Although I am very ill and tired at the moment, I still feel euphoric. I have been speaking almost non-stop for the last 2 days, which has made my tonsils swell and has resulted in a mild fever, but I never felt better in my life.

Dear Blogdosts,

Thank you all for your kind comments on my previous post. You all encouraged me no end and I am very happy to share now that I have received the much-awaited offer from my dream school, Vlerick Leuven Gent School of Management. I still can't believe that I really made it to one of the top 100 B-Schools in the world. As far as I know, I am the only girl selected from India as yet, 4 other Indian guys have been offered admission, and I believe there will only be 2-3 more Indian admits.

I have been running really busy since last 2 days. On 3rd March I went to Noida and met Priya, GO and a college friend whom I had not met since ages. I came back home late and tired and checked my mails to find a mail from Vlerick, informing me about the offer. I screamed, yes, I did. I told Mom and then Dad and then called friends and since then I am talking incessantly to friends and family and narrating the whole story to everyone. Nothing less would do! On 4th, that is yesterday, I had a wedding to attend, where I again met many family members who got to hear the entire history of Vlerick from me. That much of talking has its disadvantages, and I am now struggling to recover from a fever and pain in my throat. I never before realized that I gulp more than once every minute. I now know, because each time I gulp, I close my eyes and do it in slow motion, else the pain seems almost unbearable.

Anyhow, these last few days have been very eventful for me and I am not complaining :-). Thank you guys for your good wishes. I think they really worked for me. The session begins September 1 and I am really looking forward to it :D

Fingers Crossed

I am sorry about the sporadic posts, but this was one time of my life when I started hating the activity of writing.

I was applying to a very reputed, very prestigious MBA College in Belgium and as a part of my application had to write '12 essays' to let the admissions committee know more about me. It took me a week to write those essays and to finally hit the submit button on my application and I think that there's nothing left about my life that the adcom won't know now (except my love life). I wrote and re-wrote those essays because I am dying to go to that school, and totally exhausted myself in the process. After doing the final add-a-comma, delete-a-word thing on my essays, I reviewed my application again and to my horror discovered that if I want to apply for a scholarship I have to write another essay building my case. This was new for me; I have applied to 2 colleges so far and at both places all applicants are automatically considered for scholarship. I was not prepared for it and by now harbored a severe contempt for writing essays. I opted, and I still can't believe it, to not apply for the scholarship. I don't know of anyone who does not apply for a scholarship and I think the adcom would think of me as being the richest young female in India, which I am not :-(

Anyway, that was the reason I was not posting on my blog. I wanted a break from writing but it's nowhere to be seen in near future. I have decided to apply to another college, which is in Spain. Although they ask for only 2 essays, but I have to write nonetheless. Therefore, I gave up trying to avoid writing, and returned to my blog. By the way, I also want to ask all my blogdosts, whoever would read this post, to pray for me to get an offer from the B-School in Belgium. I am already so much in love with the school, despite its weird name, Vlerick Leuven Gent School of Management. I told you it's a weird name. However, it is the IIM-A of Belgium, being among the top 100 MBA colleges in the world, with a 1-year MBA that includes a residential program of some weeks at another reputed school in China :-). The only problem is that the average student at Vlerick is almost 30 years old and has 5 years of work-experience. I am counting only on my GMAT score, my diverse profile and my gender to make it to the school, yeah; they try to maintain a female strength of 40% in their very small class of 65 students from around 30 countries. I could go on and on about the positives and I have not even started talking about how good a place Belgium is, with the world's biggest brewery (InBev) having it's headquarters there :-)
Please Please Please pray for me to make it. I am applying to other European colleges too but Vlerick is the place where I really want to go. After writing those 12 essays and taking 8 days to submit my application, I am obsessed with Vlerick. My family silently bears with me while I blabber non-stop about what a certain Indian alumni had to say about Vlerick, what the Director of the Vlerick MBA said to me when I met him while he was in Delhi, what I wrote in my essays and blah blah blah. I would be heartbroken if I don't make it, even though I am very late in applying and I am stretching my chances too far at such a reputed college. But I don't care how far I am stretching my chances, I just want to go there.
Keep watching this space for updates on whether I made it or not :-)

An Outburst

Is it usual human behaviour to get irritated at the drop of a hat and take it out at people who love us? Or am I the only arrogant, ungrateful, selfish, insensitive, big-mouth around?

Love scares me. Not the family kind of love, but the friends and boyfriends kind of love. I used to think until around 3 years back that I am incapable of loving someone wholeheartedly, with devotion, submissiveness, with no other feeling but love for the other person at all times. Then somebody came in my life and that kind of love did happen. It was sheer bliss; being totally, incautiously, head-over-heels in love. The feeling was new for me and I revelled in it. However, I now think that that kind of love is probably unhealthy because love takes so much priority in life that every other thing is overshadowed. Moreover, plausibly that kind of love scares the other person. Even after so much love (or maybe because of it?) that relationship did not work. I am single for almost 10 months now and I am comfortable with this single status. Nevertheless, unplanned, unintended and surprising new relationships are always waiting for you around the corner. The thing is that I am back to where I was 3 years back. I feel I am incapable of loving someone without reserve. I am too practical now to be in love, and the shortcomings and drawbacks of the relationship are glaringly visible to me. Even the shortcomings of the other person. I keep telling myself that nobody is perfect and probably I am more imperfect but, I don't want these shortcomings to be visible to me. Love hides such things, ain't it? Such unwanted details are glossed over when you are with someone you love. I have been in that kind of love so I know. Now these small discomforting details are a little too visible to me and I just can't stop myself from mentioning them to the other person, much to his dismay and discomfort. Therefore when I feel that the other person really loves me, it scares me. Loving somebody when that person can't love you back is still less painful than being loved by someone whom you can't love back. It hurts you, makes you feel guilty, makes you try hard, and at the end of it all trying never helps. I want the other person to be practical like me, I encourage him to point out my shortcomings and that of the relationship, so that I may not feel so guilty about being cruelly practical but he, being so much in love, can't see any. He even tries to justify those that I point out. It makes me wring my hands in irritation and makes me say things that I don't really want to say. He is still sweet as ever, utterly unconvinced about the impracticality of the relationship, and I feel more guilty, more irritated. It's like a vicious circle. I don't want to hurt but I end up doing exactly that. I don't want to be very practical, but I end up being exactly that.

I have heard this question many times that is it better to get married to someone whom you love or to someone who loves you. I have always heard girls saying that it is better to marry someone who loves you because you are always made to feel special. Still I can't convince myself about that. I think that won't work for me. I feel it is far better to be with someone you love, even when the other person does not love you so much in return and when it hurts like hell, than marrying someone who loves you, then hurt him when you try your best not to and then feel guilty about it. Being hurt is still better than feeling guilty. What is your take about it?

Pub Going, Loose and Forward

This consortium is the perfect example of how a small snowball of an idea can gain momentum throughout the nation and grow into a giant, all-engulfing, avalanche of pink chaddis to the Ram Sene Office in Bangalore. For once, such a below-the-belt tactic seems totally fair and sensible. Hence, I am now a proud member of the Consortium of pub going, loose and forward women. I have joined their facebook group and asked all my friends, cousins and anybody whom I know to join the campaign. I read in the TOI today that the Ram Sene's Bangalore unit chief Vasanth Kumar Bhavani has said about the campaign that, "It's a free country. However, we would like to know the background of these people since nobody from good families would resort to such cheap steps". Yeah, you are right Mr. Bhavani. People from good families only beat up women and drag them by the hair.

I don't want to question how a celebration of love on a particular day can be a part of only western culture. I don't want to start discussions about why women should have the right to drink, go to pubs, and socialise without the fear of being beaten up by hooligans who want to sudharo every female in the country. I don't want to ask these hooligans that what happens to their moral policing when a woman is raped, abused or molested. All I want to say is, oppose them, stand against them, fight them back.

This Valentine's I am going to raise a toast for all the men I know, who are real gentlemen, and who support and take care of women around them. For my brother, who helps my sis-in-law around the house with every possible work, unasked; who took me out to celebrate in a pub when I got my first salary; who really respects women. For my Dad, who brings me a bottle of white wine whenever I ask him; who has never had a problem with my dressing sense; who really respects women. For my friend Amit, who pulls out chairs and holds open doors for women no matter what their age is; who would make any girl feel like a princess just because he thinks women deserve it; who really respects women. For GO, who accompanies me to pubs even when he is not much into drinking; who gladly lets me be the person I am even if he doesn't agree with me about something; who really respects women. I will a raise a toast to all of them not because I feel they are going out of their way for the women in their lives but because these men do it without the airs of doing women a favor. They do it because that was how they were brought up.

Go ahead, raise a toast this Valentine's to all such men in your life and to every woman on the planet :-)

Movie + Drinks + Movie = Bad Headache

A movie, followed by a couple of drinks, followed by another movie results in a bad headache!!

That was the lesson I learnt on Saturday. GO and I had another date; GO drove all the way from Noida to Gurgaon again, I made him wait again and we had drinks again. Everything was pretty much the same except for the fact that this time I insisted on watching two movies that day. Yeah, I make such insane choices at times. I totally disregarded the fact that GO comes from Noida on a weekend so that he can meet me and not to watch lousy movies. However, I had to watch a movie and it was painfully difficult to pick between Raaz and Slumdog!! Okay, I know there's no comparison between the two movies but I am a die-hard horror movie fan. I enjoy the creeps that I get sitting in a theatre and moreover I had enjoyed Raaz 1, little did I know that Raaz 2 has not even the remotest connection to it. I fell for the line 'and the mystery continues...' and assumed that it continued from part 1, but, no, it didn't. To make matters worse Emraan Hashmi looked like a wild gorilla because of his hairstyle. I made GO suffer through Raaz and he kept asking me at intervals, "You really wanted to watch this???". I unconvincingly replied each time, "Come on GO, it isn't that bad. And if it gets worse, we can walk out in between". We did walk out but only when just 10 minutes of the movie remained and I realised that we barely had time to grab a bite before it will be time for the Slumdog show.
We were in Ambience Mall and neither GO nor I had ever been there before. I just loved this mall, specially because you don't get the feeling of being at a crowded place at all, so much so that it almost makes you feel that you are not in India. Anyway, after Raaz both of us badly needed good drinks to recover from the disappointing experience and we found a pub, Firangi Paani. Unusual name and nice place. They have an awesome scheme going these days, they have a ladies nite on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, when ladies can have free drinks, yeah absolutely free!! No I am not advertising for them, I thought it may be useful for anybody in NCR :-). Anyway, I ordered the usual LIIT and GO ordered some nasty and evil looking cocktail with Blue Curacao in it. It tasted just like cough syrup, sweet and heady, ugh!! The LIIT was good, not as good as in TGIF though. We were a little high soon and didn't realise that we had missed nearly 20 minutes of Slumdog already. Anyway, we rushed to the auditorium, I with unsteady steps and GO holding my hand. I dropped on my seat in the audi and wanted to sleep right away but GO whispered in my ear almost threateningly, "Don't sleep, watch this movie, it's better than Raaz." He filled in the background so that I could understand what was going on, and although I was almost on the verge of sleeping, and my mind had gone comfortably numb, I watched for a few minutes. The movie was good, my mind slowly aroused itself and then I really watched it, taking in the brutalities, the dust and grime, the reactions of the foreigner couple sitting next to us and even though the narrative went on at a breakneck speed, I enjoyed it. However, GO kept making some intellectual comments about how the director had caught an incomplete view of India albeit a poignant one.

By the time we came out of the audi, I had a bad, real bad headache. Lessons learnt: Never watch two movies in a day; never mix drinks and movies; never mix GO and bad movies (although he is sweet and can watch any movie with me but I later feel guilty).
Next date is already planned and despite headaches and lousy movies, I am loving it! :-)

Welcome To The World - Anhad and Paavaki

Its strange how time flies and how things change. Just like while driving, the landscape keeps changing from one beautiful and picturesque view to another, the situations in life keep changing from one colourful scenario to another. It just seems like yesterday when eight of us used to live together in one flat during my engineering days. We were great pals, eight girls who knew each other's secrets and stories. Each of us went through various highs and lows, saw each other crying and breaking down, saw each other fall in love and moving on, celebrated each other's successes in exams and later in work and so on. A couple of years after graduating some of us got married, some went for higher studies and some continued working. However, now another phase of life has started, another landscape in the journey of life. Ruchi already has a beautiful daughter Pari, who is now 20 months old. Parneet was blessed with a baby girl Anhad, on 29th December and NV was blessed with a baby girl Paavaki, on 13th January. Its almost as if another gang of girls is in the making :-)

ANHAD & PAAVAKI

I used to chat with NV every day for hours. Even when she went to US with her husband our chats continued in the same fashion. It is since the day Paavaki was born that we haven't had a chat even once. She has become so busy with changing diapers, feeding the baby and taking care of her needs that she hardly gets time to sleep, therefore coming online to chat is near to impossible for her. I realise that life has changed dramatically for her and she is struggling to get used to it. I so want to meet Parneet and NV to hold and cuddle their little ones but it's not possible anymore. We are all in different cities and very busy with our lives. We just manage to send mails to each other, share snaps and keep each other updated with the latest gossip and news.

I really wish at times that all of us could be together again, along with husbands and kids. It would be great to have that sort of a reunion sometime. Sigh! Wishful thinking, that's what it is.

Long Island Weekend......... Contd.

My last post (or should I say non-post) was unintentional. I accidentally posted just the title and hence the funny post without words happened. I would have removed it but when I got a couple of comments on that post I decided to let it stay.

Anyhow, this post is about what I did this past weekend and how does Long Island come into picture. I met GO (My George Orwell) on Saturday after a pretty long time. None of us remembers when was it that we last met, as if we have collectively lost that portion of our memories. I can guess that it must be close to 2 years but I am not sure. Its funny really how we don't remember when and where did we last meet. We have stayed in touch throughout, courtesy orkut and phone, probably that's why we never realised that time is flying by and it's probably 2 years that we haven't seen each other. Finally we met and I noticed that GO looks as cute as ever; the same smiling face, the same witty jokes, only this time GO had a car :-)

We wanted to catch a movie, or to be true, it was I who wanted to catch a movie because I usually don't get company in Gurgaon for the movies. The only available option was Chandni Chowk to China! GO warned me that it was a crap movie but I HAD to watch it, so we did. Crap was an understatement, the movie is outrageously bad. I don't even want to write about it. However, GO and I still had a good time by laughing at everybody and everything in the movie. After the movie it was time for TGIF, yeah whats a date without a couple of drinks!! Oh, didn't I tell you that it was a date? Well it was, seemed like it at least :-)

Whenever I want to try a new drink, I mostly end up getting confused and then I order what I love drinking, Long Island Iced Tea. I love its name (specially because Tea is the only beverage that's not in it), I love its color, I love its taste, I love its ingredients (gin, vodka, tequila, rum and triple sec) and I love it because its stronger than any other cocktail :-). So I had 2 LIITs and they were enough for me because I did not want to scare GO when I met him for the first time after soo long. The next time we meet, I am going to have more. You reading that GO?

We laughed, discussed drinks, friends, old times, new times and later GO helped me walk to the parking lot, even 2 LIITs make me need support while walking. He dropped me home and I have to say now that I really had a great time. Would look forward to the next time you come here GO :-)

Sunday was another thrilling day. I met another great friend, Karan. We attended an MBA fair where some Australian Business Schools were participating. Karan had come with some friends and three of us who had taken the GMAT (all 3 of us have decent scores), got on the spot offer of admission from University of Technology, Sydney. Now, how cool is that?? You go to an MBA fair, you are not even interested to study in that country and you are offered admission in a University that's ranked 9th in Australia. None of us was delighted however, because we have gone through gruelling days and nights to apply in couple of universities in US and we are still not sure whether we would be offered an interview, let alone admission, and here we get a straight admission offer with the only condition that we need to submit our documents. I mean wasn't that too easy?? Still, I GOT AN ADMISSION OFFER FOLKS!!!! In August, probably I would be writing from Australia about how much I love Sydney and how cool my university is :-)

When 3 of us had admission offers, that called for a celebration. Since we were in Vasant Vihar we went to RPM, the only disc in the vicinity. It was time for LIIT again :-). The LIIT in RPM was stronger than it was in TGIF. We drank and danced, 5 guys and me, all of them sweet and decent guys, and had a great time. So this past weekend was my Long Island Weekend and I still feel that I just can't have enough of LIIT :-)