Chp 29. Exchange Program going on...

Saw the movie “Man on Fire” a couple of days ago.

Great movie. Denzel Washington was amazing as ever and Dakota Fanning (of the “Taken” fame) was at her best. I love the movie, except for one teeny weeny part…. The VCD that I rented was an original print, but there were no freaking sub-titles!!!!

Half the movie was in Spanish. The only words I understood were “Si”, “Senor” and “Ola”. And nearly everybody in the movie was called “Sanchez” or “Miguel”. Its on times like this that I wish I was like “ShangriLa-Whisky”. He’s my senior here in IIMB, a very close fren, a mentor to some extent, and sometimes more like the elder brother that I never had. Ofcourse he doesn’t know Spanish either but he’s going around with a Spanish exchange student… yup, wish I too could go around with a hot Spanish babe… I will call her senorita and she will look at me right in the eyes and say “tacos?” ok ok… I am digressing from the topic here.

Watching that movie really makes me wanna learn Spanish. I find foreign languages so exotic. I already know French. I took French as a second language for 6 years back in school. But then, all I learnt was “written French”. Spoken French is completely different. Whats the point in knowing how to say “I would love to take you out for dinner” in badly pronounced French, in all the possible tenses (passé recent, future proche, etcetera…), when u don’t understand what her reply meant (Unless ofcourse her reply was a simple “oui” or “non”). C’est une situation difficile. Que dois-je faire ?

Speaking of French, the final rounds of interview for the 5th semester Exchange Program is going on right now. Nearly all my frens have applied for exchange. I hope they get the Universities they desire. Some of the affiliated Universities are Graduate School of Business, Chicago, London Business School, European Business School, UCLA, Fuqua Business School, Duke, University of Washington, Copenhagen Business School, University of Saint Gallon, Switzerland, ESADE, Spain, Wissenschaftliche Hochschule für Unternehmensführung (WHU for the uninitiated ) and many many others… Everybody’s looking forward to this Exchange Program. Those who are going on exchange are excited about the cross cultural experience and the opportunity to imbibe new ideas, new cultures and new value systems (which nearly everybody wrote on their SOPs during the Exchange Program interview ) . And those who are not going on exchange are looking forward to interacting with all the foreign students who will land up here from the above mentioned Universities. A special mention must be made about my fren “He-who-shall-not-be-named”. He wants to go to one of the Australian Universities, just bcoz it seems Australian women find Indian men hot! He’s looking for one heck of a crazy time there. I only hope he doesn’t leave his legacy behind, if u know what I mean

So watch this space regularly for I will update it tomoro along with the Exchange Program result.

Chp 28. Interlude: 1-0

Half time score : Arsenal down 1-0 against Bayern Munich at Highbury, first leg, UEFA champions league.

And to make matters worst, all the bloody Manchester United fans are watching the match too just to taunt us. Anyway, i guess the second half is about to begin soon. Hope things don't get worse for the gunners, coz Cole and Campbell aren't playing and Bergkamp is still afraid of flying And Edu is already substituted by Flamini... not that i hate Flamini or anything like that... its just that, i'd like to see Arsenal play a squad i am very familiar with.

I pray for you, my gunners. Lets hope the next next post i make is about you guys staging a come-back.

Bye bye... i'm off to the TV room....

This is one of the things i really LOVE about IIMB. When i first came here, i thought there won't be anybody interested in football. But wonders of wonders, nearly everybody is into soccer, and our hostel campus is more or less divided into an Arsenal and a Manchester United camp. We throw rubbish at each other all the time

Chp 27. Free Mojtaba and Arash Day

All ye Bloggers... UNITE!

The global web blog community is being called into action to lend support to two imprisoned Iranian bloggers. Hence, today, tuesday, will be known as the "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day" within the Blogosphere... Click on the links below for more details.

Chp 26. Its gettin hot in herre.. so take off all ur...

Early this morning, I was sleeping peacefully on my bed, dreaming about angels and fairies (not the “happy” kind), when all of a sudden I was woken up by this loud infernal noise coming from inside my very own room. PHHHRRRAAACCCKKK… PHHHHRRRAAACCCKKK….. PHHRRRAACCCKK!!! I was dazed and shocked for a second. Lightening thoughts flashed thru my mind. Is it an earthquake? Is it the end of the world? Has the ghost of my cousin’s long dead puppy come back to haunt me???

The dreadful noise won’t just go away, even though I covered my head with my blanket. Reminds me of Freddy Kruger ripping out somebody's heart in one of those "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies... But then, this is not a dream, and I could not make the sound go away just like that. Slowly one hand reached for the tube-light switch, dreading what might greet my eyes, while another hand slowly reached for the nun-chuks hanging above my bed…

Click* and there was light. Guess what was making all that noise?

The Christmas decoration papers that I stuck on the ceiling got entangled on the fan and were spinning along with it! Aaargh.

Stopped the stupid fan, removed the decorations and then went back to sleep.

At this point, I’m sure something must have struck you. Something strange that I shouldn’t have mentioned. If you’re thinking “Yes, how come u still have Christmas decorations in ur room?” then that’s not the question I was expecting from you. I still have those decorations bcoz I’m too freaking lazy to remove them What might strike you is… why am I sleeping with the fan switched on???????

Right now, the only thing I can say is, Bangalore is starting to get bloody HOT!!!! I never used to sleep with the fan on coz in the morning its freezing cold. But now, I have to sleep with the fan mindlessly spinning above me…

I can feel the dryness not only in the air, but all over my body! Actually I first felt the summer heat when Amol and I went out for lunch 3-4 days ago. Our campus is very cool bcoz there are trees everywhere. But outside the campus was a different story. Man, it was terrible! I mean, I’ve been in places way hotter than this, but for Christ’s sake, this is Bangalore we’re talking about. If it was in Cal or Hyderabad, I would have prepared myself (body and mind) before stepping outside. But what greeted me that day completely took me by surprise. You don’t expect the weather to be that hot here in Bangalore, no sir. Global warming, the world heating up, the polar belts melting, we are all going to die! Better go to bed with that girl you’ve been eyeing all evening, before its too late!

Anyway, speaking of hot, me n my frens went to Club-X on Saturday nite, and man were the chicks hot!

There were eight of us, 4 couples. Ofcourse there were only 2 genuine couples among us, but never-the-less, we all had such an amazing nite. I mean, Club-X was as great as ever, but what really made that nite special was the fact that my frens here finally decided to go with me for the first time.

Is it bcoz of the million times that I keep pestering them to check out the place? I was glad that they really loved the place. Came back to hostel around 6 in the morning.

The only thing that sucked about Club-X that nite was, there were no freaking cover charge. I am a Club-X regular and usually the cost is around 500 bucks – 200 entry fee and 300 cover, or 300 entry and 200 cover. And sometimes instead of the 300 cover charge we get a coupon for one cock-tail, and on other nites when there’s a special theme party, its 500 flat entry but the girl we’re with gets a nice gift wrapped present courtesy Club-X.

Guess what we got that nite? 500 entry for couples, and one cake!!!! One freaking lousy cake which nobody’s gonna eat anyway at such a party ambience. And it wasn’t a great cake either. More like those cakes u find in a sidey bakery... Man was I tempted to smash that cake right at the bouncer’s grinning face The theme was “firang nite” and free entry for expat couples who reach the venue before 10:30. But when the party was at its peak, the party had a good mix of every race, creed or colour.

That’s what I LOVE about Club-X. Anyday you’ll always find a great mix of different people. Bangaloreans, coorgies, firangs, chinkies, arabs, my niggah brothers, you name it, they’re all there. Plus the simultaneous music played by two different DJs. The dance floor DJ (DJ Ivan) played really good hiphop and club muzik, making everybody bounce up and down, while the other DJ at the lounge side played amazing classical and retro rock, where people jived or just relaxed smoking a seesha.

Had a great time with my date too. She danced very well, after all she’s a bharatnatyam dancer ok ok… I promised not to write about anything that happened that nite, and also about who all went with me and what they did after a couple of schnapps... So I think I’ll stop at that. Comon I know where to draw the line when it comes to sensational journalism

Chp 25. Shubha

Arrrgh! I’m being victimized out here. All my so called frens are ganging up against me.

Shubha suggested it, and now they are all doing it…. They are taking my trip on their respective blogs!!! Shubha has already written about me on her blog. And after everything that she’s written, she even ended her post with a “To be continued”
Monu, Ramya and Amra will follow very soon. Thankgod Tommy has stopped blogging, and Amol and Ankita don’t blog at all.

If Shubha wants war, all I can say is “bring it on baby!”

Shubha, a very very close fren since coming down here, we hang out most of the time together with our other frens (except when she’s busy with “sports” ). I knew her even before coming to IIMB thru orkut and also her much popularized blog.

She was popular then, she is popular now. A day-0 summer placement offer, she doesn’t lack brains. Neither does she lack beauty and charm. If my mother is reading this, she would definitely ask me why I’m not going out with such a girl The truth is, I know secrets about her that others don’t know…. muah haa ha…

For instance, she has a certain thing for german dudes. There was this exchange student called Philip… ouch* I can already feel Shubha running down to my room and twisting the bejeezuz out of me!

So I mailed her a certain picture of hers which I was planning to put on my blog. She threatened me with dire consequences if I do that!

See, this is exactly what I call “unfair”. You can always take your guy fren’s trip. After all it’s a guy thing and he will always take it in a good spirit. But the moment u try to take a female’s case, she either lunges at you in her wild banshee scream, her sharpened finger nails digging deep into your manly flesh, or even worse, she will emotionally blackmail you… “Kim, I never thought you were like that…” or “I am hurt, kima, truly hurt… plz don’t talk to me again…” and I will be like “I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry… it will never happen again. I should have never mentioned about you eating a double cheese burger with extra mayonnaise. Gosh, what was I thinking then? I am pure evil. Please forgive me”.

That’s the difference when you make fun of a guy and a girl. With a guy, this is what usually happens:

Me : Hey, I’m gonna put that up on my blog.
He-friend : Bastard. Do that and you’re dead.
5 minutes later after putting it on my blog.
He-friend : Bastard… so whats the plan for dinner? Lets go to KFC na?

Whereas with a female fren.

Me : Hey, I’m gonna put that up on my blog.
She-friend : Do that and you’re dead.
1 day after putting it up on my blog.
She-friend : Your Honour, I swear I did not mean to stab Kima 10 times on the chest and throw his body parts to the dogs…

Sigh*

Chp 24. Monu's folly

Our exams are over. And my biological clock is almost back to normal.

Staying up for nearly 40 hours at a stretch does indeed take a heavy toll on one’s body. Yesterday after our exam, I was planning to have a nice sleep. I was also a bit sore at screwing up my exam, coz some of the questions asked, I’m sure even Amartya Sen himself would find it difficult… You should read the comments on my earlier post. I posted a comment every hour during my “nite-out” just to stop me from dozing off.

But then, just as I was about to sleep, Amol and Monu came and told me we’re all going out for lunch! Aaarrgh. One part of me really wanted to hangout with my frens, while another part of me, a much tired part of me, wanted to sleep. Finally, the stronger conscience won, and there I was having a grand buffet lunch at Mainland China.

We were undecided where to go initially. Luckily Laura aka The Agony Aunt was online, so she suggested a number of places we could go to. In the end we decided on Mainland China.

Had a great time there. The prawn chips are amazing. The lunch buffet cost around 170 w/o tax, and it was definitely worth it. The service is also very good. Was teaching all my frens how to eat with chopsticks. Lol… laughed my ass out watching them struggle and trying all sorts of unorthodox method of holding a chopstick. In the end, they were so impressed with the whole chopstick thingie that they all took back one with them. Lol, me just wondering where for the love of Jesus are they ever going to use chopstick here in hostel!

By the way, one advice to all you bangaloreans. If you are going to Mainland China in a large group, always fake a birthday. Tell the Mainland China ppl that one of ur fren is giving a birthday treat. You’ll not only get a free cake, but also entertainment like a “happy birthday” song and… here’s the best part… a Chinese firework display! I’m sure if u ask, they can perform the Chinese Dragon dance too.

After a fantastic lunch we decided to watch the movie “Black”. But Shubha had some work. And slowly Tommy said he too had to go back… and then Ankita and Anita too joined the “Back to Campus” group. And so I told the guys that I too should probably go back and take a rest, otherwise I might faint. So the guys gave me one of the cars, and we parted ways. Tommy sat in the front seat to make sure I don’t fall asleep while driving

Reached hostel by 4pm. Slept immediately, but I set my alarm for 7pm coz I know that if I sleep at a stretch, I will wake up wide awake around 4 in the morning filled with hunger… Its better to sleep for 3 hours now and then sleep again around 11-12pm.

3 hours of sleep later, I got up (obviously), and the other guys who went for the movie “Black” had just returned. Monu told me that as he was walking back from the hostel parking area, he noticed an Indica lights on. There are only two Indicas in the hostel. One is Monu’s, the car that just came back. The other is Amol’s, the one that I drove back earlier. Amol immediately stared at me, and I was like “ooops”

So Amol and I went to the car park. The whole time we were walking I was like “Hey comon, its not exactly my fault. I was drowsy, I was sleepy… I didn’t sleep the whole nite…”

And when we reached the Parking area, guess whose car lights were on? MONU’s!!!!!!

Gawd… Amol and I never laughed that much before!!!! This is the heights of stupidity, clumsiness and foolishness all rolled into one Can u actually believe this? Monu parks his car forgetting to switch off his lights. He doesn’t notice this as he walks back to the hostel. 50 metres away, he turns back and sees his car lights on. And he actually thought its Amol’s car, which I have parked way at the end of the parking lot, far away from where he has just parked his car. And it wasn’t that dark yet!

On our way back, we met the hero Monu. He was standing there, waiting for us to return, grinning like the devil, bcoz he can now take my trip for goofing up. He looked at me, kept his hands on my shoulder and sarcastically said “its ok kima, everybody slips up now and then…” We looked at him and said “ya man…. It’s a very dumb thing forgetting to switch off the lights. But you know whats dumber than that? Forgetting which one is your car, especially after just driving it!” LOL… u should see the look on his face as he ran to his car


Click here to go to Monu’s blog and take his trip!

Chp 23. Exams again!!!!!

Aaaaarrgh. Today was horrible. Mid-term exams. “Competition & Strategy” paper.

First of all, none of us had any clue how to prepare for this exam. The question paper could be as arbit as… chiru posting a message on bracket Thankgod it was atleast an open book exam. Although an open book exam signifies the fact that there’s no point in taking any material inside the exam hall bcoz anything asked in the paper will not be there anywhere in the book, it does give us a small glimmer of hope!

8:30am exam started. It was a 4 freaking hours exam. We had just one case. One HUGE case. It was about “Coors breweries”. 22 pages long. With lots and lots of numbers. Just one question : “Write a comprehensive analysis of the case” This was really tough, but u know what was the toughest part? Staying awake! I got up to wash my face atleast three times. So did many others. Comon, 8:30 in the morning, after staying up till 5 in the morning (3 hours of sleep!), it was not exactly an interesting paper too. I somehow managed to apply Potter’s 5 Forces Model here and there and the rest is all blurry ... Atleast one good thing was, the case was about beer, my favourite topic

Would love to write more but I have another paper tomorrow. Macro economics. Lets see how a computer science engineer is going to fare in it Right now, everything I do, everywhere I look, the only thing that comes to my mind is
C + G + I + NX = Y = YD + (TA - TR) = C + S + (TA - TR)

With that I rest my keyboard for the day.

Goodnite.

Chp 22. Love, jealousy & ex-girlfrens : A Valentine's Day Special

Long long time ago, before the invention of the wheel, the male homo sapiens left their rugged dark caves during the day in search of meat while their women remained in the close confinement of the caves gossiping away. And at the end of the day they all returned to their respective female homo sapiens with whatever they managed to lay their hands on. A dodo, a saber-tooth, or even a mammoth.

They were happy indeed. Each guy had his own woman. Ofcourse there was no courting involved. It was more a matter of brute strength. The strongest guy in the gang gets the first choice to choose who his woman will be. Sometimes he may choose more than one, but paleontologists haven’t proved that yet.

Once the two were paired up, the woman became a sex slave to the man, and he in turn became the victim of the earliest form of nagging in history This makes you wonder. Was our ancestor romantic? I’m sure he wouldn’t have given his woman a red rose, but maybe he atleast tried. Comon, I have to give him the benefit of the doubt, after all, we wouldn’t even be here today had the woman firmly crossed her legs. I’m sure he must have done something or said something to her to make her melt in his arms.

Maybe he took her for a walk by the creepy mosquito-infested swamp in the night. And then gifted her a necklace made up of dried animal skulls to show how much he care. And then one thing led to the other… and viola, the human generation continued! And ofcourse he need not worry about protection or venereal diseases at that time, the lucky bastard.

But there’s one thing I’ve always wondered. What if things between him and his designated woman did not work out? How do they break up? And if they find new partners after that, do they feel anything about their old flame?

Ofcourse the woman might have cut off his manhood to display her anger on being dumped *ouch*. Or maybe they simply stopped talking to each other again. They both definitely had a hard time dealing with such issues.

Fast forward. Thousands of years later, mankind is still struggling on how to deal with ex-girlfrens/ex-boyfrens.

I guess I am one of the very few lucky ones to have such a good relationship with my ex. We are like very close frens now. We still talk to each other almost every nite and tell each other whats going on with our lives.

In a way, although I’ve never gotten married before, breaking up with someone ur really serious about is like getting a divorce. You’re cutting off every connection you had with someone you’ve shared everything in life with, someone who knows everything about you inside out.

Ofcourse there are many downsides. Like if you suddenly have this urge to speak to her just to hear her voice again at 3 in the morning after drinking half a bottle of rum, and u see her number “busy”, It does kinda make u feel a bit... left out.

Yeah, my ex is now seeing somebody and I’m really happy for her. Even though sometimes I do feel a bit jealous about it, its not like one of those jealousy waves that hits you when ur still going around and she disappears with somebody else while ur at the dancefloor (not that she ever did that, I’m just giving an example ). It’s a different kind of jealousy here. Its just that, its kinda difficult to accept the fact that someone you know so well and shared so much together, is now in the arms of another man.

Ofcourse I don’t have any rights to tell her anything about it, but I do have the rights to feel jealous. Even she told me that there’s nothing wrong in getting jealous. This is what happens to couples who break up.

We ofcourse have both gotten over each other. But I still don’t know why I am so uncomfortable with this entire charade. Is it because of the history that we had? Or is it simply because of the fact that I know her current boyfren very well back in college? Coz, one of the unwritten rule is that guys do not go for a close fren’s girlfren even if they break up. Girls will never understand this. It’s a complete guy thing. We NEVER make a move on our fren’s ex-girlfren.

But then, I am happy for her as she has found her destiny. Anything that makes her happy, makes me happy too. And there’s no other guy I’d want her to be with other than this guy she’s seeing right now. Makes me feel like a father giving his one and only daughter his blessings . But I will always feel uncomfortable being in the same room as she and her current boyfren. A couple of months ago, I was invited to one of my fren’s bday party. She has also invited my ex and her boyfren. When I heard about that, I cancelled out the last minute. I mean, I really don’t wanna be close to them when they are cuddling and coochie cooing each other. I can spend the whole day with my ex, or with my ex’s boyfren. But definitely not when they are together. Period.

On the brighter side, I am still happy with whats going on here. Coz I know so many guys out there we have mega problems with their ex. Not just guys but the fairer sexes too. I’ve even heard some cases about being stalked and stuff!

The only thing I wanna know is, is it possible to break up with someone and yet be such wonderful frens? As long as the two of you are not seeing anybody else, ya, I think its possible. But the moment one of you hook up with somebody, the other person obviously gets isolated. Reality bites.

My ex always calls me up now and then, and tells me to find a girlfren its just that, our heavy IIM schedule prevents me from finding the time for any commitments... Ok, that’s a very lame excuse on why I ain’t serious with anybody yet. The real reason is… guess I’m not ready yet. You know, this is really funny. Usually it’s the guy who gets over a relationship almost immediately while the girl is still hung up on him. After we broke up and I moved to Hyderabad, I’ve dated many times. I went out with this girl, I went out with that girl. It was a break that I needed. And while I was running around, my dear ex never saw anybody. And when she finally went out with somebody, she became serious with him. Where as, me, I get completely freaked out whenever anything is starting to become serious. And the final result: She is happily back in wonderland while I still roam the streets of brokenhearts alone.

Dating is fun, but its just not the same as spending time with someone u truly love.

With someone ur madly in love with, well, the time u spend with her seems to be the most wonderful time u’ve ever spend in ur entire life. Its as if time has just stopped moving and its just the two of you in this entire world. You don’t care who’s giving you a stare or notice the two auto drivers beating up each other in the distance. The most wonderful thing about being in love is the way you can see right through each other like nobody else can. You don’t need to put on a fake smile or a false accent. You don’t need to give any excuses for being late. You don’t need to give a rose for forgetting a date. At the same time you don’t need a reason to give her a rose; you can give her one whenever you feel like. You can take each other for granted. You don’t need to consult each other to make a plan for a party or an outing. You just know that the other person would love to go along. You know each other’s deepest darkest secrets. And when you tell each other that, well, the secret is no longer "dark"... She fills everything dark and sad in your life with light and warmth. You fight a lot too, but at the end of the day you always make up, promising never to fight again. And very soon, you fight again. And then make up again. The strangest thing about love is that, everytime you fight, you grow closer to each other. You fall more and more madly in love with each other everytime you say that you don’t want to speak to each other again. Sometimes you don’t need to say sorry for something you did that hurt the other person. You can make it out easily from the other person’s behaviour that even though he never said sorry, he meant sorry in every action that he makes or every sentence that comes out of his mouth. Love means never having to say you’re sorry – Eric Segal.

What can I say. We guys are lousy with words when it comes to love. Its up to the girl to understand what we really mean

Valentine’s day. Another dogged day for the lonely hearted. I don’t wanna call up my ex and ask her what her plans are for the day. As long as I am surviving out here and she’s having fun down there, all is well.

Maybe I’ll spend the day with my frens. Get drunk and crib about old flames… or go to Club X with my frens and dance the night away... who the Hell am I kidding here? We have our freaking exams on 14th, 15th and 16th!

IIMB truly rox!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Chp 21. Addendum to previous post

To add to my previous post (read my earlier post FIRST, and then only read this! ), today I was called to the PGP Office for yet another “meeting” with the Chairperson.

He was very happy and impressed with the improvement that I’ve shown in the second semester. He also told me to stop playing soccer for the 3rd semester and show an even much better improvement. I assured him that I won’t play soccer this semester. I just didn’t have the courage to tell him that I’m a basketball player and not a footballer

It feels good to know that he’s happy with my performance. But you know what really made me happy today? The fact that he called me “kima”.

“Kima” is what all my close frens and people I know well call me. But the professors call me “Vanlalruatkima” or “Vanlal”. I hate that name. And I really don’t know why I hate being called “Vanlal”. Maybe bcoz all my life, people I know call me “Kima” and I guess I want things to be that way.

Today I was a bit taken back when the PGP Chairperson called me “Kima”. I have never told him that people call me “Kima”. But here he was, fraternizing with me and addressing me by the name that I am so familiar with.

Feels really good you know…

Chp 20. Plagiarism!

Just how do u think I’ll feel when the PGP Chairperson calls me to his office and tells me I am the most talked about student in the faculty lounge? he he he, in a way it feels good coz ur leaving some kinda legacy behind in this prestigious institution. Imagine two IIMB students having this conversation somewhere in the future.

Student 1: “Hey I heard the PGP office wanted to see you personally?”
Student 2: “Yup, guess I got kimaad”.



A couple of days ago, I received a letter from the PGP office.

It started with “Dear Vanlalruatkima…. “

I always wondered why they always address me with a “dear”.

Many of the professors have mailed me “Dear Vanlalruatkima, I am afraid I will have to grade you a “D” because your performance was not up to mark” or “Dear Vanlalruatkima, your presentation was not well prepared, hence I got no other option but to judge you as unsatisfactory”.

Nowadays, whenever I receive a mail from any of the faculties that start with a “Dear Vanlalruatkima”, I know at once that it is bad news its not just about being addressed as “dear” but also the fact that they used my full name.

Anyway, back to the letter I received from the PGP office. It goes like this.

Dear Vanlalruatkima,
The course Instructors of the Managerial Communication-II course have brought to my notice that you have lifted one phrase from the internet magazine without any acknowledgement, in assignment 1 of the MC-II course. As you know, the Institute takes a very serious view of any such incident of cheating by students. The PGP Committee discussed this matter and has decided to give you a zero for this assignment.

WTF! All I did was copy one single sentence as my introduction from the net. And I have no freaking idea how the management found out about it. They must be using some Hi-Tech state-of-the-art software to detect just that.

It really sux. And for that single sentence which I lifted from the net, the institute had a faculty-student meeting just to discuss what kinda punishment must be met by me and a couple of other guys who lifted phrases from the internet without any acknowledgement.

Well, anyway its all over now. A couple of heads had to roll. An example was set. And life is back to normal here in IIMB.

This is the institute’s way of reminding the rest of the students that ethic sense and value is treated with the top most priority here.

At first I was a bit sore at being penalized for such a trivial offence. Comon, it was just one frigging sentence. But then, when I think about it now, yeah, it does make sense. Coz most of us have been copying extracts from articles off the net to add to our own work. And we always get away with it. In India, this is not a serious crime. What the heck, its not even a crime. But in the US of A or any other place for that matter, plagiarism is dealt with severely. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can sue you for publishing anything that’s not yours. Makes me proud to be an Indian

At the end of the day, I have just one thing to say. Thank God the subject where I was penalized for copying, was just a 1 credit course and not 3 credits like the rest of the other subjects!