“Hey Handsome!!!
.............I was just kidding. You’re definitely ugly.” – Professor Vinaysheel Gautam
The very first takeaway from Professor Gautam’s class (most of the people are smarter than you), was enough to convince me that things here will be different.
Life before DMS was smooth, but I hated smooth. I wished always to charter into those untreaded non smooth territories – perhaps a by product of my mathematical training, where smooth is boring and kinks are excitement personified. The first week at DMS was fast; almost blindingly so, especially after a 3 month long vacation.
It was a time when almost anything ranging from broken desks to dusty floors could be your fifteen-minute-power-nap-bliss; when the taste of semi-cooked rice after a day’s tire could be sheer awesomeness; when the possibility of getting a full 3 hour sleep the day after, seemed like a word from heaven.
I come from a background were conventions are looked down upon. Scientists, for example have a lot of ego (a consequence of their notion of being the master of their domains). I realised (after a lot of penalty assignments and fines), that management is one stream where you couldn’t do without conventions. As a researcher you have the freedom to decide your time limits, your word limits. But that freedom, I guess, makes you inefficient. Living the life of a potential manager, even if it’s for a day, teaches you the value of time, food and sleep.
I feel that life is a speciality gift store, but the stocks are limited. Everyone wants to grab the gifts, so if you want some, you need to run. And run I did (especially on the treasure hunt day).
The After-Math:
Memorable-event-count-in-the-last-2-weeks
= (event-density-at-DMS)x(2-weeks)
= (event-density-prior-to-DMS)x(2-years)
= Memorable-event-count-in-the-2-years-before-DMS.
