Saturday, March 22, 2008

Drinking Alone

Why is drinking alone so misconstrued? Is such behaviour (classically referred to as problem drinking) dangerous for the individual? Or could it be very inocuous? After all people do eat, watch movies, play computer games alone. Why does alcohol carry so much social stigma?

Thursday, March 20, 2008

The Great Indian IIM Mela Part 1...

Is it possible to spew out everything you have learnt in the last few years to rank strangers over and over again all day? Is it possible to be so mindlessly numbed so that you don't even know what you are saying and yet realise that your mouth keeps moving and words are coming out? Welcome to the Great Indian IIM Mela, the weirdest potpourri of emotions that one can come across in a lifetime. Pain, agony, aggression, camaraderie, sometimes pure joy but underlying all that there is pressure. Its' everywhere. You can feel it in the faces of your classmates, in the FBI agent lookalike PRs, the trackers swarming around. And to my mind the scariest thing about the close of this life. The drooping shoulders, watching people break down, the set expressions or the forced smiles don't make for pleasant viewing...And yet there is strength and honour :)

Mar 4th (day Zee) - The holiest of holies. The day of reckoning as they put it. For some it would be the realisation of all efforts they had put in over a fairly long point of time. For others I guess not so much. I believe I take the cake in my Day zee preparedness. What with being dragged out from my room from watching 'Two and half men' straight into the Markets interview of my summers company. I think I couldn't stand their scrutiny in the brief interaction and the silent way in which they judged me. I had failed to make the PPO cut and as such had been deemed a pariah. It would have been a miracle if they had hired me.

My personal heroes of that day are undoubtedly a certain horse-like chap I love and a strong silent neighbour. Both strode like giants and won the day in very different ways. I admire their courage and fortitude, again in contrasting styles. One for the manner in which he killed the day and other for unbelievable effort.

And the the night began, a long one. You could feel the tension in the air. Cold forbidding silence. Even the victors of the day would grieve. For in every group there would be a dear friend still left in the process.

It's emotionally draining to write this. I have to postpone the next part to a subsequent post.