The Big Blank

Bhutan se Gangtok tak

The wingies got placed and we finally got off for some holiday making. Even before we finalised to go to Bhutan half the campus knew we were going there. So had to go there only. I brilliantly booked the special weekly train starting from Bangalore and reaching Kolkata on 3rd day to go to nearby New Jalpaiguri. As expected(not by me) the train was late and we had some real good early dinner at the station. After a few hours of waiting at the station we even decided to show our long faces back on campus but thankfully the train arrived just before we were ready to giveup.

Indians need a permit to go to Bhutan and we were just in time to reach the border town in office hours. But then we realised it was a saturday and we won't get a permit. I was the chief architect of this trip and the wingies were impressed by the gloden touch. Though I would just say that I always like the uncertainities of life. It keeps everybody interested. There is nothing interesting in going on a reserved ticket to a reserved hotel to hop on a reserved taxi to few recommended destinations. I mean come on ....let there be some adventure. Lets enjoy the joys of uncertainity. After all we are managers who always deal with the "gray area."

So now it was either a wait till Monday which was not possible or some other destination. We decided to go to Gangtok and Darjeeling. The weather in the mountains at this time of the year is really wet. But we were lucky enough to reach there in a spell of better weather.

The way to Nathula pass was blocked because of a day's heavy snowfall. We just went to Changu lake and the snow was absolutely amazing. This was the first time I had been in heavy snow. A light snowfall happened when we were there. I had been to Changu and Nathula in October too. And that time is the recommended time to go there, Nathula was freezing then too. But this Changu trip was great. We rolled around in the snow, went down to the freezing lake water and had some nasty snow fight. Though the casualties were minimum, one down with cold, a few doubting about frost bites and one hobbling due to a (mis?)directed snowball on the delicate parts of human anatomy.


From there we went to Darjeeling. The taxi driver took us through a not so often used route. His village being on the way and what a scenic route it was. The tea gardens and the mountain sides were beautifoooool !!! The clouds and the fog was amazing.

The drive from Darjeeling down to the plains was mostly in dense fog. Visibility was not more than 5 meters ahead. But the daredevil driver would not let the speed needle go below 40kmph. A few were barely able to sit on their seat edges and me in the back side was half the time hanging on the support handles to avoid bumping or going down on the floor. The driver was sometimes too interested in the village beauties and needed reminders about the bends on the roads. The drive down was quick, adventurous and dangerous. We were having bets on our speed once we reach the plains. The driver grossly disappointed us there. He barely corssed 95kmph in the Sumo. We got back to Jalpaiguri well in time for the train, which was on time for a change.

One of the more memorable trips I would say :)

posted by Pankaj Jain @ 10:58 PM 8 comments

The Aftermath

The D-day for a lot many of the people was today. The placement process went into the "Slot-1". The so called boom in the economy showered its blessing on the job scene too. Hell lot of offers made on the campus this time but still the people placed in the slot was less than the last time. All was going on in between the news from A of legendry $185,000 pkgs. People here were trying to inflate the packages to a respectable and comparable number. So around $180,000 was arrived at. I guess it must include the per head expense for cleaning the toilets people might be using on the job. Afterall it is an indirect component of the salary!!! The placement process was as bizarre as ever. After first few hour nobody really cared whose GD/interview one was taking. You are my first priority and yours is so fun palce to work at, I will get a kick working there, I get a high doing this. Same old shit and same old answers. Can there be a sizeable fraction of people working who like their jobs. Job means you wont like it PERIOD.

Though after getting the dream-jobs and just-get-out-of-the-process jobs, half the campus was not on campus. Poor Kolkata infrastructure could not take it. And there was a severe shortage of taxis. People have nothing to do. Discussions move on from the salaries to thrid grade movies of Salman Khan and even the comics released on these movies. The good old days of Dhruv and Nagraj and the gully cricket. There is footer volley going on in one of the hostels.(Though it happened otherwise too) Booze is flowing like anything.(Flowed all the time) Teetotallers have dropped the bad habit and can be heard cracking really really bad "shers".(Now this is a new one) Its good for this campus to shed the eternal worry of something or the other, once in a while and enjoy. But can never enjoy as much as the care free and the We-Are-Invincible days of the undergrad. The burden of growing up and the responsibilities thereof.

Sorry cant keep out the routine complaints about life and stuff.

posted by Pankaj Jain @ 12:47 PM 6 comments

Will visit (and must visits)

I was tagged for my top 5 "will visit" destinations by Varun Singh. So here you go.

1. Eskimo Settlement
2. African Safari (for the lions).
3. South America (Argntina, Brazil, Peru, Chile etc.)
4. Western part of Malaysia.
5. New Zealand.

Among the recommended must visits for others

1. Beach cities of Spain
2. Austria/Swiss for the Bavarian Alps.
3. Beaches on the islands of Malaysia.
4. Rome, Italy
5. Paris, France

posted by Pankaj Jain @ 5:36 AM 0 comments