Mid-sems now over

Whoa...what a relief. The mid-sems are over and though I did not fare particularly well in any of the exams, it seems that I might scrape through. Given the fact that the weights attached the mid-sem exam scores vary, I might now have to depend on other forms of evaluation (quizzes, assignments, course projects, etc.).

Of course, my strategy was to get as good scores as possible in the mid-sems. The reason was simple: there are fewer topics during the mid-sems than the end-sems. Again, another strategy was to get "good" grades in the earlier semesters - there is always the danger of not being able to keep the required CPI later.

It seems to me that I am back to my old habits again - faring very nicely compared to others during minor tests and doing badly compared to them during the important exams. Anyways, it should not matter as long as I pass and keep the grades at the minimum required level.

*cha Raja : the carnival ends

This year's Mumbai "carnival" (this is the word used by some journalists - actually that's what it is now) has come to an end. A nightmare for the security forces, luckily no attacks / disasters during the period. While some attributed this to the Lord Himself, others felt that it was a job well done by the security.

As usual, some of the people accompanying the processions seemed to be disinterested in the religious nature of the festival. One could see drunk people dancing and leading the processions.

The naming convention seems to have caught on...most Ganesh pandals now had the "*cha Raja" suffix. For example, "Powaicha Raja", "Ghatkoparcha Raja". Others went a step ahead and had "*cha Maharaja" as the suffix.

One could see numerous hoardings put up by all political parties. In some of these hoardings, numerous pictures of the various local "thugs" were displayed - some of these banners had a very small photo of Ganesha - much of the space was taken up the "thugs" themselves.

I could see many North Indians also keeping Ganesha idols in their homes - this might be the effect of Bollywood and other actors popularizing by walking to Siddhivinayak, etc.

Learning to "stay afloat"

A month has elapsed since the courses for MTech have begun. With so much of "load", it is quite difficult to get a break to do anything other than studies. Suprisingly, I haven't had to stay back in the hostel...I am still commuting to / from home. The mid-semester exams are just a few days away and the strategy is to just try and keep "afloat".