FIRST WEEK AT IAF

I had plans of watching and ogling Bindi,Ghungroo,Payal,Kumud,Banno {typical northie names} back in March but then realised that I will have to settle down with sighting Thamilselvi,Kanimozhi,Muniamma when i learnt that Avadi wil be my place of interns.The first few days have evoked mixed reactions.4 of us-3 guys and one girl, were selected for the interns at IAF base in Avadi.1st jhatka-No aircrafts here as this place basically deals with not the aircrafts but with the supporting vehicles and some ground equipment like starters etc .The most fascinating equipment seen so far has been the arrester barrier.My project will in all probability deal with arrester barrier.{Google it for further details}.And as always I wont go into the details of tech stuff ,not because you might get bored,but mainly because I myself wont know what I will be blaberring then.

3 of us have been put up in a small 2 bedroom flat type quarters.The facilities are pretty good.Atleast I dont run the risk of being caught in the loo with air gushing out of the taps which is a very normal occurence in IITM.We get tea and newspaper in the morning and like I used to do in my school days have been spending more than necessary time flipping through the pages,berated by friends and consequently getting late.We have a Sumo to transport us from the house to the hangars at 8 am.We were told to get ready by 7-45 and the old habits of walking in late to the 8am class have embraced me and like a leech refuse to go away.After 2-3 warnings we did not yield,and our Sir no longer asks us about the delay and has accepted it.We,on our part have not been capitalising on the generosity and go only 10 mins late.But we have been very punctual in leaving on time.We pack the work by 1-45 and assemble outside the hangar for the Sumo which comes at 2.Food,something for which I live,and which has been denied to me in good manner thanks to the authorities here in college,has been awesome.Lunch has been particularly amazing with a proper 3 course meal being served.A bulged waistline surely in the offing.

We seem to be world-famous in IAF with almost everyone asking us "Ohh you are those 4 peepal from IIT naa?" .We chorus in unsion "Yes" .99% of the times the next question has been "IAF jaain karoge kya" and a chorus "No" has been the answer.They seem to be having wrong notions about our making a ground-breaking discovery there and so the non commensurate respect.The fox will soon show its true colours. A tea meeting with the Commanding officer {He is the Head of this place} was the high point of Day One.Tea seems to be flowing like a river here and has been following us wherever we go.Most of the technicians are Northies here .So the mechanism,parts etc were explained in Hindi mostly.I didn't have much of a prob and dont think will have it either unless he hurls bouncers like "vidyut chumbkeeya tarang"{ EM waves}.Of course the Biharis do chip in with their "vheri pphirst " and the Bongs have been explaining stuff like "taarbines".

One of the main difficulties in being with the fairer sex is the lack of freedom of speech.I have been forced to curtail,nah totally stop the usage of four lettered words,addressing the kith and kin etc and their corresponding translations in other vernacular languages.These actually are pasted on my lips thanks to my hostel life.On many occasions I have been uttering half the word,realizing the presence of females,being embarassed like a kid being jeered by his peers for peeing in the pants and wishing the earth opens up and swallows me.The other thing which beats me is the abysmally low amounts of food girls eat.I know the basic psychology is to stay slim {*and attract guys*} but that should not be at the cost of food.My co-intern has been having almost 1/3 rd of what I eat every session{or the other guys for that matter}.I shall devote an entire post towards this one as I cant do justice in one paragraph.

We have not had much work so far and boredom in the nights has been one of the few cribs.Having been accustomed to a life full of activity{read net},people all around ,etc this deserted and lonely quarters did disappoint me.I was teetering on the brink of madness in the first week not knowing what to do.Now Wodehouses,Forsyths{also Feminas,Womans Era etc :P} have provided some respite but still nothing rocks like free net.The weekend just flew away and its off to Central now to catch a train to Avadi.Hopefully next update after one week.

DONE WITH MY B.TECH

Last last thursday I wrote the last exam of my B.tech in IITM.I wanted to blog about that since then but slow net at my cousin's place prevented me from doing so.So I am done with my B.tech for all practical purposes.Wait,my engineering is not yet over.I will be entering the world of uncles-M.tech in August and have two more years to go to get the coveted degree from a "premier" college.Somehow M.tech in IITs is not at all "kewl".I mean B.tech has a pretty good brand image whereas M.tech in IIT has been suffering from an identity crisis.M.techs are fondly referred to as mataks or matkas in IITM by us and are synonymous with uncle like guys and a stitched trouser that doesnt run through the entire length of the leg.I do not know what the mataks call us B.tech.If its a similar process of christening then i guess we all would be called bataks ,which rhymes with a part of the human body.Due to the aforementioned reasons I somehow donot want to be called M.tech.Probably calling myself a designer{no ,not the Manish Malhotra genre} is a better bet I guess as my M.tech is in Product Design.

Well I guess you all dont want to hear the same story about my exams so even I wont delve much into that.Anyway a few lines will do no harm.The first three were very painful with me sleeping only for max 2 hrs in the night.After that the rest weren't so difficult.One thing I have been practicing ever since my childhood is not sleeping in exams and I can proudly say that I have never slept in any of the exams here.We had a pass-fail course this sem and pretty obviously complacency creeped in as a result of which i was inadequately geared for the exam and finished the 3 hr paper in 45 mins.In order to keep up the record of not sleeping I started cleaning all parts of the cell phone and reassembled it and also cleaned my calci.I also played antakshari with myself by singing in 3 different languages.To the best of my knowledge the only exam in which i dozed off for a considerable amount of time was a totally crap exam called DA-IICT{Dhirubhai Ambani's Engg Coll at Gandhinagar} entrance exam.I had no enthu in that and after completing the easy questions I dozed off after 1.5 hours.I think many others also slept accross the country because I found my name in the 1st list of qualified candidates.

The vacations are on now and visited a few of my cousins in Chennai and Bangalore after totally lazing around in my room watching lots of movies.As I have already mentioned if you have no work to do then IITM LAN is a total heaven.You can choose from eng,tam,gult,hindi movies,videos,songs,cricket and footer clips,amazing documentaries,hazaar e-books etc {and of course "you-know-what"} and all this comes without any price tag attached to it.My summer internship was originally scheduled to be at the IAF base at Palam near New Delhi and the Dept office dropped a bomb a few weeks back saying it would be at Avadi near Chennai.New Delhi became No Delhi and Avadi became KLPD.I have to report on 14th and I hope to atleast catch a glimpse of the fighter jets and defence related stuff.Of course I have absolutely no idea what a mechie is going to do there.Updates about that will be given after a few weeks.

I am back after a 4 day trip to Bangalore.It was mainly to kill time {and blow up money as I have spent a lot}.I came to Chennai this morning and will be leaving to Avadi at about 9am.I am already a day late!The seniors have said that its a very good campus and that we get royal treatment there.One thing for sure is that there will be no net there.I guess i will be posting sporadically this summer on the days when I get back to my room.I do hope to get back to my room on weekends and catch up with a few hostel mates,orkutting,chatting,movies etc.Will blog about Bangy trip soon.Now all set to leave.All you guys enjoy your summer and get roasted and fried like me.Ciao folks.