"Chicks uncle, obviously!" was how I answered the question "What's the best thing there?" It was posed by my uncle when he'd called to congratulate me for getting into this new world called Manipal. "[expletive] man, I'm through! after a long time... better now than never..." My, what excitement as I told my neighbours and friends... Being here is a privilege, no less. This used to be an uninhabited hilly forest about half a century ago till one fine morning when TMA Pai thought of changing the world, both literally and figuratively. And he did just that. Manipal is now world-renowned, has students from 52countries and other advertising I'm not doing right now. They don't pay me for that, so why bother?
Anyway, for a student, this is heaven. For reasons that can be mentioned here and also for those that cannot be, this is it. This is fun and frolic. And then some. :)
New friends, new classes, old classrooms, expectations of AC but squeaky fans, super fast internet, window shopping from 10.00-10.30, part-time classmates, full time classmates, antics inside the classroom, weak networks, birthday bumps, (even for those who don't have birthdays) Revels, comments in Revels, stuff like this. Tiny details that cumulatively make a wonderful memory. It's a short time here, just one academic year; but it's a lifetime's story.
I can't satisfy myself without pulling quick ones on my classmates here. We've got a rosgulla who's shedding hair, an excellent mimic who wants to postpone every assignment and seminar and whatever-it-is, irritants who resemble actors from the '60s, we've got low-waisters with gelled hair, fat waisters with dosa flair; a guest student who claims he can come when he wants, a hyperactive potato shaped girl with devilish nail polishes (which I think to glow in the dark,) a pole and a dancer (no, that doesn't mean a pole dancer, of course,) a highly optimistic fan of Madonna, a volleyball champ who grew fat but didn't eat much, and a part-timer with interests in pens, tests and pants.
Close to our class, we have a few more lovely characters - a dangerous loose cannon which never misses a good point or a good quote and a funnily gross man. I mean grossly funny man.
All in all, it is a joy ride all along. There isn't enough memory nor space to fill everything here. That is how it is, for any student. Not for the lecturers. You don't fool around here with them. There are those who have been here longer than I have been alive, those who don't bluff. All lecturers I'd seen in the past, were interesting at best. Here, I'm in awe of some of them. I wouldn't be too wrong in saying they are living legends in their own rights.
They say motivation can come from anywhere. Undoubtedly. For me, there's been a sweet surprise, a sweeter motivation. An email sent at 230 in the morning gets a reply at 420 in the same morning! [expletive chain] In the name of Almighty Lord Who Protect Us All, when do they sleep??? There are only 24hrs in a day thankfully, or there wouldn't be limits to what they'd do in just one day.
Its not just the time that they put in,long term or short term, its the knowledge they have, the attitude they have, more importantly, the hunger they have even now to get better and better, to learn more that is a slap across my face (I don't know about you!). I hardly study for an hour a day. :( You see the difficulty in entering MIT but not from getting out. After a certain period of time, you will graduate as surely as 2+2=4. But what you take from here, is what matters. These are not my words, they'd never be. They might never be anything apart from just another sentence in just another post in just another blog for just another reader, but it is as solid in meaning as the ground beneath your feet.
You can start whenever you want, its never too late to learn. What you know is never too less or more, it is simply what you know. I have a fear that I'll be respected (if that happens that is) only for my degree and not for what I am or not for what I know. Even that doesn't motivate me to study must be the symptoms of a neurotic disease, but the awareness that there is right now, about where I stand; how miniscule I am is vastly different. There is now a sense of self-realization, even if it has a ring of negativity to it.
That is the best thing about Manipal.
Anyway, for a student, this is heaven. For reasons that can be mentioned here and also for those that cannot be, this is it. This is fun and frolic. And then some. :)
New friends, new classes, old classrooms, expectations of AC but squeaky fans, super fast internet, window shopping from 10.00-10.30, part-time classmates, full time classmates, antics inside the classroom, weak networks, birthday bumps, (even for those who don't have birthdays) Revels, comments in Revels, stuff like this. Tiny details that cumulatively make a wonderful memory. It's a short time here, just one academic year; but it's a lifetime's story.
I can't satisfy myself without pulling quick ones on my classmates here. We've got a rosgulla who's shedding hair, an excellent mimic who wants to postpone every assignment and seminar and whatever-it-is, irritants who resemble actors from the '60s, we've got low-waisters with gelled hair, fat waisters with dosa flair; a guest student who claims he can come when he wants, a hyperactive potato shaped girl with devilish nail polishes (which I think to glow in the dark,) a pole and a dancer (no, that doesn't mean a pole dancer, of course,) a highly optimistic fan of Madonna, a volleyball champ who grew fat but didn't eat much, and a part-timer with interests in pens, tests and pants.
Close to our class, we have a few more lovely characters - a dangerous loose cannon which never misses a good point or a good quote and a funnily gross man. I mean grossly funny man.
All in all, it is a joy ride all along. There isn't enough memory nor space to fill everything here. That is how it is, for any student. Not for the lecturers. You don't fool around here with them. There are those who have been here longer than I have been alive, those who don't bluff. All lecturers I'd seen in the past, were interesting at best. Here, I'm in awe of some of them. I wouldn't be too wrong in saying they are living legends in their own rights.
They say motivation can come from anywhere. Undoubtedly. For me, there's been a sweet surprise, a sweeter motivation. An email sent at 230 in the morning gets a reply at 420 in the same morning! [expletive chain] In the name of Almighty Lord Who Protect Us All, when do they sleep??? There are only 24hrs in a day thankfully, or there wouldn't be limits to what they'd do in just one day.
Its not just the time that they put in,long term or short term, its the knowledge they have, the attitude they have, more importantly, the hunger they have even now to get better and better, to learn more that is a slap across my face (I don't know about you!). I hardly study for an hour a day. :( You see the difficulty in entering MIT but not from getting out. After a certain period of time, you will graduate as surely as 2+2=4. But what you take from here, is what matters. These are not my words, they'd never be. They might never be anything apart from just another sentence in just another post in just another blog for just another reader, but it is as solid in meaning as the ground beneath your feet.
You can start whenever you want, its never too late to learn. What you know is never too less or more, it is simply what you know. I have a fear that I'll be respected (if that happens that is) only for my degree and not for what I am or not for what I know. Even that doesn't motivate me to study must be the symptoms of a neurotic disease, but the awareness that there is right now, about where I stand; how miniscule I am is vastly different. There is now a sense of self-realization, even if it has a ring of negativity to it.
That is the best thing about Manipal.
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