Ive another 17 days till my last paper - UNIX and WINDOWS NT . That will officially bring to an end my 4 years as an engineering student , assuming I dont do something stupid like get an arrear in my final sem. Man , anyone who gets an arrear in the final sem in UMad ( thats University of Madras for the uninitiated) can hang himself . Because this is the last batch in UMad , and word is because of that , they are trying to pass everybody in this batch .

And since I have a lotta time b4 what would hopefully be my last paper , Ive been catching up on 2 of my favourite hobbies - reading and watching movies .

Read a couple of good books . First one is called " The IITians " . The author - Sandipan Deb has what I believe is the killer combination degree . IIT Kharagpur (Elec) and IIMC . The book traces the growth of IIT as an institution , its students , faculty , admin procedure , the success of its alumni , etc . The book radiates " eliteism " , but if your cool with that , then its a pretty good book to read . The author is a journalist with Outlook , which is kinda wierd : IIT --> IIM --> Outlook ???? . Dont these people usually work with Mckinsey or Goldman Sachs ??

The other book is Snapshots from Hell by Peter Robinson . Its about his experience at Stanford Business School . Its also a pretty good book , but highly overrated , I must mention . When I first heard about it , my friends were all ooh and aah about it , as if it were the bible for B-School aspirants . But its NOT . Its just a "good book" . But Id definately reccomend it for B-School aspirants . It gives you a pretty good idea of what B-School life will be like .

As d-day for the IIM results approaches , Im beginning to feel the heat . Things are getting pretty rough , and I cant stop thinking about these results . I think Ive done a pretty good job . But reports from friends and seniors suggests that the selection procedure is pretty arbit and many guys with fantastic profiles have failed to crack A/B/C .

But I guess there is no point in thinking about this . Its out of our hands . Only TIME will tell . Until then , I gotta go watch some more movies .

Till later

da STIFFmaester