THOSE WERE THE BEST HOLS OF MY LIFE

(Tip: Click on the thumbnails to see the original size snaps)
Well, its been a long time since i posted last.
So doing it now.

During Dussehra break had a chance to have one of my best hols in recent years.

I did what I love to do.....all things had to go my way only....

To start with gave a cool surprise at home by reaching at a time (before time)

when they had not expected me to reach and they thought that i would be giving exam in the

examination hall.......

It all started like this:

Train Journey to Delhi:

Sunset captured when on train:

In Train:

Playing "Tota Ud, Maina Ud" on Train:

Great fun durin' the journey home....

Well the hols can be divided into three parts:
Part 1: Purchase of new mobile
Part 2: Trip to Fatehpur Sikri
Part 3: Trip to Andamans

Part 1:
Well for starters I purchased the cool sexy funky looking yet a elegant looking phone....
It is I would say the phone made to look hot but still gentle....
It has features to kill, yet it gives life.
Well had Nokia 7610 in mind but just one look at this mobile and just a couple of its features....
was just enough for me to say this is the phone which I have to get....and got it.
The details on the phone can be found here: Sony Ericsson K700i

Part 2:
Then the next leg was a 400 Km drive to and back from Fatehpur Sikri.
Set out for it at around 5:30 am and reached back home around 3:30 PM....
Spent sometime while going to have some tea and something to eat at Mathura
and then spent time roaming around the fort and then while coming back again stopped at Mathura for lunch.
The best part was of the 400 Kms i had Honda City in my hands for 300Kms.....what more
can a Highwaystar ask for. While coming back was real fun after Mathura from someplace
(the name cannot be recalled the race between few of us started - cars being my City, Safaris, Qualiz, Accent and all).....That was fun and more fun when we entered Faridabad and still trying to clock 100Kmph on short distances to overtake each other......after Faridabad it was like game: Midtown Madness.

Fatehpur Sikri - Dargah:

Part 3:
Well on this we embarked the next evening - first was flight to Chennai.

At Chennai we stayed the airport acco for a night and then early next morning to

dream place of Andamans - landed at Port Blair.

The view of sky from inside the plane while going to Chennai:

The first day there we went for local sight seeing at Port Blair, the main being Cellular Jail and then to

Ross Island.

Cellular Jail: The Inside View:

Ross Island - View from Cellular Jail:

Ross Island Beach:

Sunset from Ross Island:

The Deer at Ross Island:

Also the same day we saw light and sound show @ cellular jail.

Now some bad news for people who wanted me to stay back at cellular jail....

well the cell sizes are much bigger than our hostel rooms, I would have loved to stay there,

but then tha was not possible....This is because when I returned many asked - You didn't stay back

at Cellular Jail.....

The next day ah snorkeling time @ north bay....

we snorkeled saw corals and many varieties of fishes and various other marine life near the upper reaches of the sea. The sea was so calm that one could easily swim in it without any tubes, it seemed like a massive swimming pool.

North Bay - Place for Snorkeling:

Corals:

After Snorkeling we went off to another island Viper Island.....another place where prisoners were hanged.

On the way we could see the Port Blair - port, and various other scenic islands all lush green and also while returning amazing sunset. The pics are below for this leg of the journey........just fell in love with the place. It is so scenic.....can't help saying it (and showing also how beautiful it is)

Port Blair - Port:

Gallows at Viper Island:

Sunset @ Viper Island:

Another View of Sunset:

Another view Sunset:

Well here the day got over and then dinner and sleep......since had to wake up early morning to see sunrise since had missed it this day (though mom n dad had seen and i was sleeping didn't wake up)

Woke up next day around 4:45 am and went down to the hotel's rocky beach.....and waited and waited for sunrise, but what i got was cloudy sky, so could not capture a gud sunrise.

Sun Rise (Clouds Disrupted it):

Then we went of to Havelock Island, the island where scuba diving is done (though in october scuba diving had not started, starts in month of November. The beaches here were lovely and for a change for the first time in Andamans saw a beach where there were some waves.....and water was so clear (shown in one of the pics in which wave has been captured)

Havelock Island Beach No. 7:

Havelock Island Beach No. 7:

The Dolphin Resort beach was amazingly different from the other beach above. This is also in Havelock, but had a great combination of rocky and sandy beach. Water had so many shades of green and blue (try to identify in the snaps below)

Dolphin Resort Beach at Havelock:

Dolphin Resort Beach at Havelock:

When we were leaving for Port Blair from Havelock Island, sunset had started, and could not resist to click it.....

Sunset at Havelock_1:

Sunset at Havelock_2:

The next day we made a trip till Baraghat on a bus. Basically, this trip was done in order to see the tribals - Jarawas who reside on the Port Blair island. Taking their snaps is not permitted so for a change decided to follow rules. For entering the tribal area, a vehicle is not permitted to enter alone, it goes in a set of 7-8 vehicles with a police van at front and also at the end of the convoy. This is basically for security. Though the tribals have been disciplined to a large extent, but still why take risk with tourists. Got to see many Jarawas, think it was a lucky day, spotting them is really difficult. At end of one leg of journey we reached Baraghat. There we decided to do some local sight seeing - so there were two major spots - Tota Tikri and Mud Island Volcano. The journey to Tota Tikri (Parrot Island) is done on a small canoe like motor boat. The Journey is amazing, travelling through untouched greeneries of the island. Though we were in open sea, but there were so many islands small and medium sized together that the effect of the sea had been transformed into a feeling of backwaters. It was beautiful. About Tota Tikri it is said that the island has a speciality that all the mangrove trees there have been trimmed by Parrots themselves and thus the island looks like a huge table. The pic is below.

Then there was Mud Volcano, these are rare volcanoes, and this one was an active volcano and erupted last year also. The next nearest volcanoes are over 2o000Kms in Russia and in US. About mud volcano, the detail is given in one pic below.

AT BARAGHAT:

Tota Tikri or Parrot Island:

Mud Volcano:

About Mud Volcano:

Mud Volcano Beach:

That was our last day of trip, we came back and had dinner and slept of at our pad in Port Blair. The next day we left for Chennai. From Chennai we went to Tirupathi for darshan, and stayed there overnight had darshan early morning around 5:30 am (we were in queue from 4am - with special tickets). then that day itself we came back to Chennai and had an evening flight from Chennai to Delhi. We reached Delhi around 8:30 pm and from there went straight to station, to catch my train to Bhubaneswar. The trip was real fun. To Andamans i still wanna go, lovely place........missed scuba there, and i have to do that......so someday i will be there again....

Our Pad in Port Blair (Hotel Sinclair):

On Route to Tirumala (Tirupathi Temple):

Tirumala at Night:

Some Family Snaps:

Mom, Bro and Dad

Mom and me in a cell in Cellular Jail

Dad, Bro, Mom and Me on Viper Island

Mom, Dad and Bro as soon as we reached Havelock Island

Me, Bro and Mom

Snaps Taken using Mobile:

Sky while returning from Chennai to Delhi (from inside the plane):

Andaman from Sky:

Chennai Coastline:

Chennai from Sky:

Waterfall at the start of Tirumala road:

Sunset on a Railway Station:

Just Like That:

MAKING OF 2/3RD OF AN MBA

Voila....today i am 2/3rd an MBA or to be stated in better terms,
i am 4/6th an MBA.....
Well MBA does this to everyone...everyone doing MBA starts to put
same thing in as many ratios as possible...haahhaaa

Hota Hai

So todays Dish is MBA....

Ingredients:
- 6 months of preparation for the entrance....
- Determination
- Luck
- Cool
- Concentration
- Attitude
- Confidence

Process:
Well this is the interesting part....
Mix 6 months of preparation with determination, concentration, attitude and cool and stir it hard.
It is not necessary that they actually mix well and none of them is identifiable in the mixture....
If it were smooth, then where will the ingredient "Luck" figure in.
After this mixture is prepared, you need to do a quality check on it, to test whether it meets minimum standards or not. Here is where the "Luck" figures in. A lot of "Luck" is required to pass this phase
and a person's cool is also tested here.

If you are not lucky, keep in mind MBA is not the end of the world,
from the Horse's mouth "MBA's SUCK"

But if you are lucky,
no need to jump around, you were just luckier than others....
clearing test is not enough....

So, next process is Group Discussion and Interview....
My personal belief here is to keep oneself updated on general awareness thats all...
Also confidence is needed.....
So here mix confidence in the mixture....

Here now again comes luck factor when final admission results are given out....
If u succeed good enough,
if u don't u can have another shot, and this is not the end....

Now comes life at B-School,
Ok the work load sucks big time.....
but its just a small part of life...
What u really are in a B-School is nothing more that our favourite term "VALUE ADDITION"

What makes one survive the B-School life is Attitude, Cool, Confidence, Determination,
and most important of all, "THE FRIEND CIRCLE".

Studying is secondary in a B-School,
though there might be studious people around you.....
but then someone has to get high grades also na....

Assignments are there, classes are there (sleep in class also exists),
but then early morning (1 AM) tennis games or TT games are real fun....

Making best use of LAN, Age of Empires, NFS and Unreal Tournament will rule....

MBA is best done in hostels, this is because in hostels only is the real MBA learnin done.....
Here is where one is interacting with max people......here is where everyone tends to
develop on interpersonal skills and here is where learning in groups is facilitated....

Exams come and go, after first term exam all exams will look like a nice phase,
they will look like breaks from normal schedule and most of us watch loads of
movies during this period.....

Its the attitude, determination and cool (and not to forget Luck - especially during exams) to
become a MBA.....

well i still have to tread on the 1/3rd of the path left for me to cover......2 sems, a placement season, Xpressions, Maxinations, more of AOE games, 4 term exams (movie mania session),
wow..loads to look forward to.....and maybe a trip to north-east after 6th term end exams....
and den coming back to XIM-B for convocation.....

Looking forward to all this....
Making of an MBA surely is interesting........
Its the lifestyle which makes MBA out of a person, not the studies he does.....

dats all rest u all put in comments.......

THE RISE OF THE DRAGON

When I had taken a decision that XIM-B was a place to be in, it was not merely a decision based on all admits I had, it was a decision in which I had mapped my personal attributes with the instis (one can develop most at an institute with whom they match perfectly). The decision was taken very early, while instis were being shortlisted. The Xavier tag...itself is a big influencer....I atleast once inmy life wanted to get this association....

Then biggest of all, I while shortlisting, personally had faith that XIM-B is a institute which has been highly under-rated (just because its in Bhubaneswar - people thought companies would not come here)....
But, then it had built a different kind of reputation, rapidly rising in ranks and still not being rated highly by people (because they have not heard about it - lesser mortals)...I loved it....it was a big attraction....

When dragon is sleeping calmly, no one seems to notice it, but when it slowly wakes up and starts making moves (aggressive ones), everyone seems to take note....some on a good note and others just stare in disbelief (How can XIMB be there?)....

This is what I would say our institute has done. It has woken up.....

Since we entered, we decided to take on the aggressive stance.

Kudos to both Placement Committee and Media Committee for getting XIM-B the dragon to wake up (yes this is just wakening up).....

With Business World top 10 ranking, people though its just a mistake by one mag, then comes AIMA-Business Standard survey, which states that XIM-B enters the Super-league category, now this cannot be a mistake from two surveys.....

These rankings are not just one off, there is a cumulative set of activities over the years which have led us here....

Well evolution is a way of life, so I would say we are still evoluting while others need to learn to cope with changes.....

Even our immediate seniors if they today visit campus, they will see change.....

I also don't believe in the rankings, but then what has to be seen in them are the patterns and similarities....

Hope to see XIM-B grow much more bigger in future....

From far away, it may seem, how active can life be in XIM-B....

well u have to be here to Xperience it.....

So, if u wanna Xperience, your chance lies in clicking here.