Beginning of the end...

My apologies! I guess that is too stilted a title for what I am about to write. Today was the first day of classes for my last semester at IITK. So, obviously, this is quite a moment for me.

It began, more or less, like other semesters till date have begun; with the slight exception that I was supposed to try out some courses and see if I would like to take those up. Till now, it has always been very easy and proper with all courses pre-registered. But well, seems like it is not too bad an experience.

However, our attempts at convincing some profs for their courses met some ill-fate in the morning itself, when one of the profs was found to be on a pretty long leave. Hence, one "rather easy-looking" course was eliminated. The second encounter was more amusing and less disappointing.

It was the class for "Topics in Indian Philosophy". We were all seated by the time the bell rang. Also present was a chubby looking guy who was every bit like a student except that he wasn't! He was actually the instructor. He began proceedings and belted out quite a lot of sanskrit jargon, most of which was rather intimidating, and in an uncharacteristic english accent. What was more surprising that he began his boardwork with a "shri" symbol on top! Some character that... altho it seemed like a nice course, so I will take it presuming he accepts me. :D

In the afternoon session, one instructor forgot he had a class and chose to absent himself. Things got worse when a bunch of 'idiots' went and called him from his office. He, obviously, was totally befuddled and somehow managed to teach for the next 30-35 mins, much to our dismay.

All in all, it was quite amazing to see everybody in the academic area. We might not see too much of this... ever. Guess all of us have to move on. Just like this year, and the last, and the next too.

On this note, here wishing a very very happy new year to anybody who's reading this... which kinda amounts to like 1-2 ppl. So I might as well use FB & gtalk for that!

Amen!

Just another 'PoU'm

This semester, there was a choice of course,
I chose, alas, The Physics of Universe.

The earth (for all intents and purposes) was a sphere,
So were the marks, and that gave me the scare.

The class, it seemed, begun at dawn,
The prof's eyes met mine, and I stifled a yawn.

Crammed up 'astronomical' figures, I wonder why?
Galileo was confusing, so was Tycho Brahe!

I swept the azimuth, and climbed up the pole,
Burst in a 'nova, and became a black hole.

The mids, the end-sem sped by like light,
The magical 25 percent was still out of sight.

"You'll fail only if you deserve to", the professor proclaimed,
The hopes and dreams of hundreds was drained.

He'll fail me, He'll fail me not, there were rumours galore,
I'd had so much of it, I wanted no more.

Sprang up in no time, the placements and CAT,
The fear of an 'F' pinned us to the mat.

We could whine, we could explain, we could cuss,
But there seemed no way we could "Ask the Pankaz!".

But God hears our prayers, he's surely not deaf,
I now have a 'Z' and an 'S', but, it seems, no 'F'.