ASB - the place to be ;)

Hmm… a month gone by in the new year…
Our last 3 months in this place that we call “planet ettimadai”..!!!
And then we bid adieu to this place that where we found new friends, developed new relationships…

I dunno.. Ever since this term started I have had this “nostalgic trip” that I keep taking down memory lane… a lane that goes down time in ASB!!! And not just ASB… each and every place in AMRITA campus…!!!

I still remember the first day that all of us (the batch of 2005-2007) came in bag and baggage to this place here… the eagerness with which I came here with my family, the contagious enthusiasm that prevailed in the corridors of our hostel, the apprehensive smile that I gave my parents when they asked me how I was feeling, nervous thoughts on whether I would be able to hold my own in this place filled with such confident, smart and self-assured girls..

Then came the facilitation, induction, ice-breaking, forum selections, and soon I realized what a different world this was… a world where I was having lots of fun…a world where learning took place irrespective of what you were doing… I mean that!!! I made a lot of mistakes, goofed up lots of times, made a fool of myself zillions of times, but in the process learnt a lot…. Learnt about life, learnt about people and learnt about myself – the most important of them all…!!! :-).

There have been lots of fun-filled moments, happy times, sad times, times when I have been frustrated (read ‘exams’) joyful times, these whole 2 years have been such a wonderful time that I have lost count of how many times I thanked God for making me choose ASB and not any other college…!!! And the most important reason for that are “my friends”… the nice, wonderful, madcap, great crowd that I have spent these 2 years with…!!! I can’t just pick one person out of these to say that its because of him/her that my 2 years have been the most happiest of my life so far..!!! That’s totally not happening, because each and every person I have come in touch with these last 2 years have added some value or the other to my life..!!!... :-)

There have been quite a few memorable moments in here…. Some of them in random order are…
Getting the first ZERO in Prof. Sahoo’s economics paper, The dread of QMM.., Working on assignments late into night…, Preparing for the first presentation (I learnt how to use PowerPoint just right before the presentation), The first SAPG class.. :-), The ice breaking session with our seniors…, The first colloquium that we attended, Getting selected into the core committee…,the meetings that went into the making of PRAGATI (that’s another story by itself..), ............
- to be continued :-)

the year gone by

That’s adios to one more year and two HECTIC quarters at ASB for us first years…its true- when you are doing an MBA, time just flies or rather you stop keeping track of time.. there’s so much work and 24 hrs a day just ain’t enough…truckloads of assignments, case studies, presentations, surprise quizzes and every now and then nightmares called “test papers”(aargh..)..then you have colloquia and workshops and extra curricular activities….phew!!! now that’s certainly not cakewalk!! But then it’s a whole lot of fun too at Planet Etti…I knew it right from our ice- breaking session when our dear Eashwar sir walked in casually in jeans and a T- shirt and started off the session with a game of Chinese Whispers….then came the Corporate workshop which helped us shed our inhibitions, unleash our creativity and discover our management skills…the trip to Thirumurthy falls was when we actually bonded with our seniors and Utsav strengthened the bond..in the middle of all this something called forum selections(gulp!!) also happened…our seniors were hell bent on giving us a hard time I guess..but then we enjoyed that too..we at Planet Etti also celebrated Onam and Diwali in style…then came the Core Committee selections and the slogging for Pragati began…sleepless nights, hectic days, drawing up plans and discarding them, developing games, inviting colleges, designing posters, rushing to find sponsors, making sure you don’t bunk too many classes in the middle of all this and somehow trying to finish all your assignments on time( no, our teachers did not spare us on account of Pragati) and the seniors and teachers forever egging us on to make sure we put up a decent show!! It was two days of pure fun…and seeing all your hard work of two months paying off is an AWESOME feeling…but then did we get time to breathe after Pragati? No!! it was time for the end term exams(groan!!) I picked up my textbooks, swept away the dust of two months and sat down to study..in the beginning everything seemed like Greek and Latin to me but somehow I managed to mug up quite a bit…whether I have done well or not my grades will tell(I have frequent nightmares these days)….and after a week of drudgery the second quarter was over…and it was home sweet home for two wonderful weeks(ah!! Now that’s bliss!!)…but now as I sit at home and think about the year gone by and my time at ASB, a small smile plays on my lips..so much has happened, so many memories, so much to cherish and so much more to look forward(am I really?) to in the coming year… here’s to a wonderful year gone by and a fabulous one coming up!!! Cheers!!! And hope the coming year is just wonderful in every way imaginable for all you ASBians and others out there!!