Chapter 3
Griha Pravesh (House warming) and other escapades
The night seemed to have slowed down for some reason. I realized the secret to my wholesome quota of sleep was my Lemon Yellow painted room but more than the room was MY BED and my cylinder pillow which I lovingly called Gol Takia that were prime catalysts.
I was woken up the next morning with a knock on the door. Yawning and stretching lazily on my new crib, I took my wrist watch from under my pillow to check the time.
“Oh God who wakes up a sleeping soul up at 7:45 am!, I wondered as I yawned some more.
Heading towards the door and cursing myself for being so courteous, I was surprised to see 2 early birds on my doorstep.
“Good Morning Raina, we came to fetch you for breakfast, brush and hurry down”.
Yes those two Early birds were Poonam and Reshma, who looked as enthusiastic and bubbly as a child would jump at the sight and smell of new school books waiting to be covered!
Dragging myself out of bed felt like pulling a dead body out of the grave, somehow pulling myself together we reached the mess. Being at SIMC, or rather any other residential campus, getting up early h as many perks:
a) The key to making it on time to class is to have breakfast first and then get ready. Saves one a lot of time especially if you have roomies who are comparatively late risers.
b) The most important point is witnessing and consuming the edible meal of the day- BREAKFAST – the ONLY time of the day when the college mess doesn’t live up to its name thankfully!
Today was one of the many formal occasions of Symbiosis Knowledge Village had to offer, the very first induction of SIU graced by the founding father of brand Symbiosis himself, Dr. Majumdar. His opening lines still haunt me. The image of him on the podium asking “How many of you are from outside Maharashtra?” followed by 99% of the audience raising their hands, to which he graciously smiles and says “see!! This is the beauty of Symbiosis..!!”
After the event we had our seniors requesting us to stay back for some important announcements, not knowing that staying back would cost us heavy. When we saw two people shutting the huge Auditorium doors, with the villains showing their lusty eyes to us, we knew we felt like damsels in distress!
On the podium was Nalin Agarwal a tall guy with long hair and a moustache---a typical mask of Zorro look (minus the mask and cape of course). Being one of the coolest seniors on campus, he spoke with confidence,
“Batch 2012..welcome to your official ice-breaking session”.
“Ice breaking session AKA Ragging on stage..aii yii yii! ,” my heart echoed. That did not sound right at all.
“First of all no session is complete without its hosts so,” he picks up our attendance sheet and says “ Rishi Doshi and Chintan Buch would be doing the honours . “
There stood two people I had be-friended on SIMC Pune 2012 group in person; both Gujjus but both equally different like London or Tokyo. With a flower on their heads and a formal attire they divided the batch in groups of 10 and assigned us a task to entertain the audience and find the group leader assigned to us.
As simple as it may sound, finding the group leader was the toughest of all, considering we had an auditorium full of seniors misguiding and talking irrational to us so as to create a distraction. On finding our first task, we were assigned task number 2—entertain the audience.What I resorted to as means of entertainment is best reserved within the walls and my classmates in college!! As they say say 'Parde mein rehne do, parda na uthaao'
The week followed with umpteen number of classes with umpteen number of teachers, telling us the same thing umpteen number of times-----“ Media line is not a walk in the park it requires a perfect mix of smartness, hard work and of course dedication.”
Suddenly I felt transformed in the sets of Shahrukh Khan’s Mohabbatein where there I stood among my other classmates and in front stood Narayan Shanker (In this case my director Chandan Chatterjee) dawning a black sherwaani, bearded and red vermillion on the forehead bellowing out the 3 P’s of Marketing…oops sorry values of the institute----Parampara (Tradition) Pratishtha (Perseverance) and Principles (Anushasan).
Warping back to reality, I realized one very important thing that day----- SIMC doesn’t follow the 3P’s…more of 3 C’s ---- Connect, Converge and Communicate… *my bad*
Week changed into a month so soon that by the time one said READY…STEADY….it GO-ed! Time just flew past meeting new faces and new faces everywhere who later on became an integral part of my life.
I remember seeing Prakrit Dhondiyal ---who doesn’t know till date that his ‘Naah’ accent made me smile and Rishi Doshi-- who automatically made me smile sitting right behind me in class, and teasing the shit out of Reshma singing the RKJ song and asking for her precious Qua bottle that she guraded with her life..sigh the sudden twist of fate.
Meeting Aabeer Choudhury and Nimisha Mishra for the first time made me realize that I wasn’t even meant for this place, considering the form of teasing and jokes cracked on me were harsh and fore mostly blunt! Today however these two are an integral part of my life and life without their punches (jokes + sarcasms) seems tasteless :)
And how would my initial escapade be complete without meeting the man who showed SIMC through and through his lens-----Himanshu Punjabi , without whom my ailing grandparents would not have been able to see my new abode.
Faces faces everywhere…Classes classes none to spare…As my 1st assignment and class test approaches, will I be able to sustain what comes my way???
Griha Pravesh (House warming) and other escapades
The night seemed to have slowed down for some reason. I realized the secret to my wholesome quota of sleep was my Lemon Yellow painted room but more than the room was MY BED and my cylinder pillow which I lovingly called Gol Takia that were prime catalysts.
I was woken up the next morning with a knock on the door. Yawning and stretching lazily on my new crib, I took my wrist watch from under my pillow to check the time.
“Oh God who wakes up a sleeping soul up at 7:45 am!, I wondered as I yawned some more.
Heading towards the door and cursing myself for being so courteous, I was surprised to see 2 early birds on my doorstep.
“Good Morning Raina, we came to fetch you for breakfast, brush and hurry down”.
 |
| Poonam, Reshma, Me and the LOVE!! ;) |
Dragging myself out of bed felt like pulling a dead body out of the grave, somehow pulling myself together we reached the mess. Being at SIMC, or rather any other residential campus, getting up early h as many perks:
a) The key to making it on time to class is to have breakfast first and then get ready. Saves one a lot of time especially if you have roomies who are comparatively late risers.
b) The most important point is witnessing and consuming the edible meal of the day- BREAKFAST – the ONLY time of the day when the college mess doesn’t live up to its name thankfully!
Today was one of the many formal occasions of Symbiosis Knowledge Village had to offer, the very first induction of SIU graced by the founding father of brand Symbiosis himself, Dr. Majumdar. His opening lines still haunt me. The image of him on the podium asking “How many of you are from outside Maharashtra?” followed by 99% of the audience raising their hands, to which he graciously smiles and says “see!! This is the beauty of Symbiosis..!!”
After the event we had our seniors requesting us to stay back for some important announcements, not knowing that staying back would cost us heavy. When we saw two people shutting the huge Auditorium doors, with the villains showing their lusty eyes to us, we knew we felt like damsels in distress!
On the podium was Nalin Agarwal a tall guy with long hair and a moustache---a typical mask of Zorro look (minus the mask and cape of course). Being one of the coolest seniors on campus, he spoke with confidence,
“Batch 2012..welcome to your official ice-breaking session”.
“Ice breaking session AKA Ragging on stage..aii yii yii! ,” my heart echoed. That did not sound right at all.
“First of all no session is complete without its hosts so,” he picks up our attendance sheet and says “ Rishi Doshi and Chintan Buch would be doing the honours . “
 |
| Chintan |
 |
| Rishi |
The week followed with umpteen number of classes with umpteen number of teachers, telling us the same thing umpteen number of times-----“ Media line is not a walk in the park it requires a perfect mix of smartness, hard work and of course dedication.”
Suddenly I felt transformed in the sets of Shahrukh Khan’s Mohabbatein where there I stood among my other classmates and in front stood Narayan Shanker (In this case my director Chandan Chatterjee) dawning a black sherwaani, bearded and red vermillion on the forehead bellowing out the 3 P’s of Marketing…oops sorry values of the institute----Parampara (Tradition) Pratishtha (Perseverance) and Principles (Anushasan).
Warping back to reality, I realized one very important thing that day----- SIMC doesn’t follow the 3P’s…more of 3 C’s ---- Connect, Converge and Communicate… *my bad*
 |
| Prakrit |
Week changed into a month so soon that by the time one said READY…STEADY….it GO-ed! Time just flew past meeting new faces and new faces everywhere who later on became an integral part of my life.
I remember seeing Prakrit Dhondiyal ---who doesn’t know till date that his ‘Naah’ accent made me smile and Rishi Doshi-- who automatically made me smile sitting right behind me in class, and teasing the shit out of Reshma singing the RKJ song and asking for her precious Qua bottle that she guraded with her life..sigh the sudden twist of fate.
 |
| Aabeer |
 |
| Nimisha |
 |
| Himanshu |
Faces faces everywhere…Classes classes none to spare…As my 1st assignment and class test approaches, will I be able to sustain what comes my way???
