Yin and Yang!

So am back after a short hiatus- my weeklong trip to Kolkata was ridden with contrasts; while it stirred some familiar memories, it also evoked some new emotions…

So it was back to good old Kolkata as I know it… same old Park Street (complete with Chinese at Waldorf), St. Xaviers College, Lake Gardens, Nandan and Bengal Club. But also the new face of Kolkata- City Centre and South City malls and multiplexes and flyovers…

Same old struggle through the crowded metro, buses and autos. But also getting my license renewed and vain attempts at driving (reverse gear and parking had me stumped)…

Same old routine of getting up at 5 a.m. and going to bed at 9 p.m. But also more freedom, late night gossiping and chatting…

Same old jokes and ideas. But big promises and bigger plans marred by middle class morality...

Same old friends and relatives (the previous generation just looks older, and the younger generation seems to have grown up beyond recognition). But discovering new friends too…

Same old cheap roadside coffee. But sinful and sinfully expensive desserts at The Park too…

Same old cheapness and penny pinching. But brushes with opulence as well…

Same old love for the sleepy city: not the kind of seductive love of Mumbai but the kind of love that grows with time and age and ugliness…

Definitely Maybe...

Just got done with exams. Now that even 3rd sem is behind us, and with only one more sem to go, it’s safe to say that we are ALMOST over with our MBA. From 18 painful core subjects in the first semester to 4 electives in the 4th, it’s been a long long journey, but in terms of learning, I honestly don’t know how (un)successful I have been. But yeah, the big achievement in this semester was that I realized how much I hate finance and that it is NOT the dream career option for me. The rest, I am still to figure out.

While the last month has been hectic (which explains the highest number of blog posts: it’s more like a stress buster than a time killer) with a lot of lectures, and both internal and external evaluations dumped on us, overall it’s been a pretty chilled out 5 months- having fun at the expense of juniors, frequent dinners and parties, hair experiments (some of them not very pleasant), running around for hard disks to store all kinds of movies and music, the whole college striving for glory in some B school competitions or the other, and celebrating about PPOs/PPIs while we sit in the cafeteria discussing the gloomy economic scenario and mope about the rise and fall of the investment banking structure (not that it affects our daily lives in any way). Of course, the hot topics of the semester were How I Met Your Mother, Prison Break, Barack Obama and FSA. For people who were smart enough not to take up the elective, did miss out on what I can only describe as the most painful episode of my life which contributed to 80% of my academic woes, which made my Wednesdays and Thursdays miserable, which spoilt my weekends and which made me feel humiliated, inadequate and anxious! In fact it was quite a life changing experience if you ask me…

Personally it’s been quite eventful, what with me discovering my “true calling”, but at the same time, giving up on a dream, settling for a compromise for the first time in life, but having enough sense to do so- may be having options is not always the most ideal of situations, because the premium you pay is pretty high! But then again, finance is behind me (oops sorry, I have a backlog in International Finance), but right now, I still have other Barbie Doll dreams to live for!

But I am going to Kolkata after a year and a half…. Yippie!!! Finallyyyyyyyyy