An evening to remember; a day not to forget

It was around five in the evening. I was getting ready to leave for the railway station to board the train to Hyderabad. The train was at 18:10 hrs - Charminar Express. I was travelling light as I had moved most of my stuff to Chennai. Just as I was about to step out, I decided to look at my ticket...wanted to know my coach number. Coach S9, seat number 30. And then, for some weird reason, I took my ticket out once again to check the train number. I had a smile on my face for I knew that I wouldn't, couldn't, make the dumb mistake of mixing up my trains. That smile faded rather quickly. The ticket said Hyderabad Express - time of departure 16:45! I had never missed even a bus ever in my life and here I was, in Chennai, feeling stupid on the eve of my last day at my current workplace in Hyderabad. Absolute horror.

I rushed to the station in the hope that I will get at least an unreserved ticket on Charminar Express. I had no choice but to get to Hyderabad. Had to complete my last day formalities. My manager had joked on Thursday last week, just as I was leaving for Chennai, that it would be funny if I didn't turn up on Monday. What is she? Some kind of a fortune teller?!? :-)

There was a long queue at the station and only half an hour left for the train. There was no way in the world that I could have got the ticket. So I started thinking about other options. Option One - Bus. I have never been too fond of bus travel. I usually wake up feeling rather grumpy and with a bad back. Option Two - Air travel. Flights are expensive. Normally, I would have been pretty pissed with myself but not this time. I didn't mind spending the extra dough. I was actually happy doing it. It would get me to Hyderabad much quicker. So Option Two it was. I got into the nearest Internet cafe, booked my flight, and then headed out to the airport. On reaching there, I called up mom to tell her that I was going to reach Hyderabad after all. She seemed more worried that I will not be able to eat the parathas that she had packed for me! :-). So I first checked in, then ate her parathas (delicious ones by the way) and finally cleared security.

The evening had already been quite eventful. However, there was more to come. As I was waiting for my flight's announcement I saw a familiar face walking in my direction. His charismatic and beaming smile is quite unique. Lakshmipathy Balaji was on his way to South Africa to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He is a nice person and a cool customer. I had a pleasant conversation with him and wished him well in the most awaited tournament. My rendezvous with celebrities didn't end there. Actors Shriya and Vishal were my co-passengers! They were on their way to Hyderabad to shoot for their upcoming film Thoranai.

So, eventually, I reached Hyderabad - quite comfortably and happy :-). As mentioned earlier, today will be my last day at my current workplace and after three and a half years with the firm the separation will be a bit emotional. I have good memories with this company and have learned a lot in these last few years.

My next post will be from Chennai. So until then...Tc.

PS: Yaaaaayyyyyyyy...that was my 50th post!

Stanford ding and other updates

The big news is that the Stanford admission decisions for Round 1 are out and I, unfortunately, do not fit in their scheme of things. I am not disappointed though. A call from Stanford would have been a bonus in any case. I am, nevertheless, glad that I applied there. Their application process sure did make me think deep and hard and connect with my inner self. I attended the Ross Waitlist Online Chat today. It was hosted by Linda Abraham of the Accepted.com fame and had members of the adcom and current students taking questions. A nice initiative. The chat's transcript will be available online in a week's time. I'll post the link as soon as it comes alive.

Onto other news now. My team and I played in a soccer tournament a little over a week ago. We finished Runners-up. We did bag some of the big individual prizes though. My teammate won the 'Golden Boot' for ending the tournament as the highest goal scorer. Yours truly bagged the 'Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament' award. Then, on Sunday we played Satyam Computers in our first match of a corporate cricket tournament. We won quite easily but I didn't contribute much. Had an off-day. We are playing the State Bank of Hyderabad this Saturday in our first match of another tournament. Hope I score a few runs there.

Moving onto dance - I'll be dancing, with my team, on-stage at HICC Novotel, Hyderabad, on Jan 30th. Will be performing the salsa and the merengue. I'll try and upload pictures of the dance, if possible. Work has been rather hectic. I have a deadline to meet on Jan 30th (yep. same day as the dance). So you can imagine the kind of schedule that I have before me. I am having to balance work, dance and sports but the good part is that I am enjoying it. It has taken my mind off the recent disappointments.

Oh...before I end...did I mention that I am applying to a couple of European schools? More on that in a later post at a later time.

Runners-up at Mir Khasim Ali Cricket Tournament!

The D. E. Shaw cricket team played brilliantly today but lost to a superior team, TCS. The TCS team has been our nemesis on previous occasions as well. But today we ran them close. Scoring 25 runs of the last over was a tall order and we failed to knock them over. We beat HSBC, the tournament favourites; for the first time in the company's history; in the semi-finals. As the Captain, I am extremely pleased with the team's performance. It is a good start to the season - reaching the finals of our very first tournament!

Some good news on my MBA app front. My one-page killer resume is READY. It comprised two pages earlier but now the one page thingy looks absolutely fabulous...I hope it does its bit in helping me get into a school of my choice.

I have one more essay to write for my Stanford application - "What matters to you most and why?". I have the answer ready. I just need to pen it down and weave it into my application's theme.

The Ross essays are done. I am waiting on my current supervisor to submit the recommendation. I'll probably submit the application this coming week.

That's me signing off...