Life @ SPJIMR

Life @ SPJIMR

At the stroke of midnight ….. please do not drift towards the Tryst with Destiny and the speech made by Jawaharlal Nehru …. when the clock strikes, something hits my ear drums…. Its Anurag or Murtaza’s word “Chalo”…. And that’s the first ritual for the new calendar day…. We go to the canteen below our hostel building to have our tea / coffee / milk / maggi / bhurji / bread masti, etc etc depending upon our dinner status. We reach the canteen to find that we are not the only ones there… but there are many more following the same ritual. We spend some time having TCM (Tea / Coffee / Milk) and chit chatting and discussing major issues like what is to be done for the next class, which prof is teaching what and why, etc etc.

(L to R: Uday Shankar, Gopal Gupta, Anurag Yadav, Ajay Kulkarni & me (Niket))

On my way back to my room I find some of my friends reporting to their wives or girl friends. Don’t know till what time their reporting continues. Once back to room, the readings, assignments reappear on the screen. After spending some time (read a couple of hours) trying to make some head or tail out of what is to be done for the next day, eyes give up and the body starts drifting towards the bed.  

Once the exhausted body rests on the bed, it takes just a few seconds to go in deep sleep. Sleep such deep that even if some fire breaks in the night, everyone will tell the fire to ‘statue’ itself and then ‘release’ it in the morning when everyone gets up. I had similar experiences during my M.Tech days at IIT Kanpur (IIT K), but with a slight difference – here I have to wake up in the morning for my classes, there was no such compulsion at IIT K during my last sem at IIT K.

For me the day starts at around 630 am when I hear the sweet voice of my wife who calls me when she goes for her morning walk. This means that my reporting happens in the morning. When she is back home, she has to sever her phone relation with me as she has to do the household chores before going to office. And then the things get in motion for me too.

After the morning duty of bathing (needless to say that I am among the early risers in the hostel – because of my reporting time, and hence among the first to use the bathrooms) I go for breakfast. It is said that ‘change is constant’, but one thing in our breakfast menu never changes – idli, sambar and chutni. Seeing so much of idli daily for the last 6 months, I have started to dislike it. But my saviors are the other dishes served for the breakfast, though there is not a long list of items served for breakfast, viz Poha, Upma, Aloo paratha, bread pakoda, etc etc to name a few.

After breakfast, starts the long day from 9.00 am, full of classes of 70 mins each with a break of 20 mins in between. After 3 classes we have a lunch break for nearly an hour. At times the lunch hall is so crowded that it feels as if all the batches have their lunch break at the same time. It seems as if even an hour is less time to feed all the students. But then it’s never happened with me that I was late for class after lunch.  After lunch the class grills restart. At times classes end by lunch time, but if there are classes post lunch session, then they extend till 5.00 pm or 6.30 pm. And if there is a guest lecture after that, then it even extends till 8.00pm. Normally the classes end by 5.00 pm

That brings an end to the classes. But the day has not yet finished. The real day starts after that… there are quizzes, submissions, presentations, etc to be done the next day. After getting back to hostel after having tea n snacks at the canteen, groups start meeting in rooms to work on their deadlines or timelines I should say… (some of my friends have developed a phobia to the word deadline… so we normally use timeline in its place)… After classes some prefer having a short or long nap… depending upon their preference.

After working for some time, it’s time for dinner. After having dinner, it’s time for a small after dinner walk. Then again the group work, individual work, etc etc till 12.00 midnight.

And the cycle continues….