DHAR DHAR

I share my LSE Sidney Webb abode with five other girls and a guy. The guy is from Vietnam, one girl is from Germany, one from Russia, one from Hong Kong and the other two girls are from mainland China.  The tragedy of my flat is that apart from the fleeting ”hello” and the half hearted attempts at small talk in the kitchen, nobody knows each other at all. Aside from the German and the Russian girl, I even have no idea what the names of the other girls are.

The Vietnamese boy calls himself Sky (not his original name though) but speaks horrible English, so any attempt at initiating any thing resembling what we call meaningful conversation is always thawed by the requirement on my part to repeat everything twice. Initially when I first met him, I got totally confused about my accent. He is the person who made me, one of the most active chatterboxes alive, doubt my ability to speak properly. Sky…

The German girl is Christiane. I’ll remember her as the coffee addict and the one having the craziest and the loudest laugh. When she laughs, I can hear it from my bathroom – that is a good three sound proof doors away. As it is the only sound from another flat that is audible from my bathroom, comparing it to something is very difficult but if I try,  it will be something similar to the fire alarm at Sidney Webb. However, having said that, I have to tell you that beneath it all, she has a heart made of gold. A very good person to know, albeit slightly crazy…

The Russian girl, Svetlana, is doing her Phd at the LSE in Economics and Mathematics. She is the the second prettiest nerd I have seen in my life but, that is just it. Her dress sense is almost non-existent. The other day I saw her wearing a fluorescent orange jacket with matching fluorescent orange running shoes and a beige pant. To top it all she was also wearing fluorescent orange ear muffs. That might look hot in some other planet but in Earth, the combination looks horrible. However, she cooks really nice and good looking food and in the eternal hope that someday she will offer some of that to me, I will stop here.

This brings us to the three Chinese girls. One of them is like a ghost whom I have only seen twice during my 7 months stay here. If that assertion is true then I don’t want her to come and haunt me anytime in the future. So, it is better not to talk about her. One of the remaining two (I am not sure which one) is called Wei Wei. I know this because the first time I saw this name in a letter in the mailbox, I was totally awestruck. It’s like naming me Dhar Dhar or Sid Sid.

These two Chinese girls are the youngest and the sweetest in the flat. As a matter of fact, they are the life blood of the flat. They are the ones who play loud music, shout like crazy and cook exotic dishes. Without them, the place would turn into a God forsaken cemetery. God bless them. So, what will I remember them by? Noodles… From the daily analysis of the kitchen garbage bin, I have come to realise that both of them are total noodle freaks. One of them once showed me four different kinds of noodles based just on the diameter of the strands.There is also something called the glass noodle and it is transparent. How amazing is that? Noodles…

We are all from different part of the World, with different pasts and backgrounds. Destiny brought us together at Flat no 704 of Sidney Webb house. Even now, our only meeting place on a day-to-day basis is the kitchen. Now a days, just by the scent in the kitchen, I am able to tell who has cooked food and who hasn’t. That is the connection… and I am pretty sure it is the case with all of us. All this will come to an end soon and we all will go our separate ways, but these smells and personality quirks will always stay with us… suspended in the ether of memories…

As a part of my curriculum at the London School Economics, I am doing a case study on BMW AG Germany. I need some data to answer a few questions regarding the case and for this I need your help.

I have set up a small survey HERE

The survey will take around 2 minutes and doesn’t require any registration. I would be very grateful, if you guys could take some time out of your schedule and help me with this.

UPDATE: Thank You everybody for participating. It was great having your opinion.

Every Thursday evening after everybody is gone, about 10 people meet at room G208 in 20, Kingsway Building at the LSE. Their purpose – secret. Their deeds – hidden. The room – small and the blinds- covered.

What do they do there? What is the secret?

These are the torch bearers of an ancient and continuing sect, one whose legacy goes back to time immemorial, the life form appreciators or in simple words – the artists.

These people meet for the weekly Life Drawing sessions conducted by the LSE Student Union Visual Art Society. The society arranges for the models and other supplies for the sessions and people – LSE as well as non-LSE – join in for 2 hours of sketching extravaganza.

I recently went to one such session and the result is this sketch of the female body. Though we did about 5 sketch from various different perspectives, this is the one which I liked the most.

So, here it is, the nameless sketch.

Female Form

and coming to the title of the post, “The secret sessions”. Well, there is actually nothing secret about the entire business. If you want to attend one such session and want more information or check out the timings, then visit http://www.lse-arts.com/. The website is well maintained and has all the necessary information.

So, see you there.

You can’t look at the Sun or a bulb or a very bright star directly. It will burn you eyes for sure. An almost similar thing happened last night. The stars of Indian Politics and Industry lined up together at the LSE for the launch of the book, “Not by Reason Alone” by Nand Kishore Singh and their collective brilliance was enough to blind my vision and overwhelm my senses.

In attendance were Dr Montek Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Government of India; Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries; Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director, the Hindustan Times group; Professor Lord Meghnad Desai, Professor Emeritus of Economics, LSE; Barkha Dutt; Group Editor-English News, NDTV; Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, The Indian Express; Ed Luce, Washington Bureau Chief, Financial Times; Lord Patten, Chancellor, University of Oxford; Nand Kishore Singh, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha; Professor Lord Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics, LSE; Nita Ambani, Chairman, Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation; Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways; Praful Patel, Minister of Aviation, Government of India and many more.

I guess, this is the indirect advantage of studying at a very prestigious university, you get to see and experience this for free. Next month, Amartya Sen in conversation with Vikram Seth. Kill me… this is unbearable.

Life here in London is, whatz the right word… ahhh… dynamic… no… happening… no… ahhh… well, you get the picture… There is something going on somewhere, everyday all the time. LSE and its surroundings are no different.

Protests:

Protests are a way of life here. We all know how the Royal Mail workers went on a strike and caused a whole lot of inconvenience to all of us.  Just the other day, the Israeli Deputy foreign Minister Danny Ayalon came to the LSE to deliver a public lecture on “The Situation in the Middle East: The view from Israel” and it seemed as if the entire Scotland Yard and Mossad were there in the campus. I mean, com’on, when the Hungarian Prime Minster came to the campus, there wasn’t this kind of a security cordon. However, the anti-Israeli activists somehow found their way into the Sheikh Zayed theater and started protesting and chanting anti-Israeli slogans. Luckily, they were eventually brought under control by the students and the FM was able to present his point of view. Read more about it HERE

Yesterday, I was passing by the Indian Embassy in Aldwych and I saw these people protesting about the atrocities the Indian Army has committed in Kashmir and demanding that it vacates J&K as soon as possible. Now, considering all the wrong information and mis-understanding there is among the Indians and Pakistanis regarding the situation in Kashmir, who knows how justified their protest was? But, whatever it was, it lacked steam and soon the entire premises was cleared by the police.

Protesters near India House, London

Contests:

Well, there is no shortage of these either. Today morning, Ernst & Young was in the campus with their big yellow chubby piggy-bank and coin-shaped candies informing all the students about their Profitunity campaign. It is about coming up with a business plan, which if successful will be supported by E&Y and the entire proceeds will be donated to Prince’s Trust Charity. Check it out here.

E&Y Profitunity Piggy-bank

Then, LSE Student Union  Elections are going on currently. The voting is online and by tomorrow the fate of all the candidates standing for the various posts that are up for grabs will be decided by the students. I have already cast my vote but I wonder how many will participate in these elections. After all, almost half the students are from countries, which don’t follow any sort of democratic system. Anyways, we will know the outcome tomorrow and hopefully the best will win.

I am learning all the time.  The tombstone will be my diploma.  ~Eartha Kitt

Now a days, every new day brings with it a whole lot of, well new things. Each day is a new learning experience. So, what have I learned today?

• hmmm, first, never, and I have to repeat this, NEVER, underestimate the use and power of salt in your food. It is better to put less of it than to ruin the food by putting loads.
• Second, the word “accounting” comes from word account, which comes from the Middle-English word acounte, accompte, which comes from the Anglo-French word acunte. What a mouthful??
• Thirdly, Game Theory is not about designing and playing computer games. It is just a fancy name invented by crazy scientists for some thoery that has got something to do with strategising and that uses some sort of logical table  to do some otherwise very mundane things which even my granny can do with her octogenarian brain. huh!!
• Fourthly, I shall have to leave my habit of procrastination behind if I want to survive at the LSE. Feeling lost and moronic in a class full of geniuses is the last thing I want to remember myself by. (and drawing your lecturer’s face in the notebook is not called modern art)
• and finally, LSE is turning out to be just too much for me… its almost time to press the SOS button… anybody out there!! please help… HELP!!

I have been at the LSE for about a month now and I have met lots of people here. You go to any party, occasion or gathering and the chances are that all the people chatting with you will be from differrent countries.

What I find amazing is that human emotions are same everywhere.  It is beyond colour, creed, religion and everything in between. Interacting with the people from all over the world has been a real eye opener. All the prejudices and pre-conceptions have to be flushed down the gutter once you experience the kind of internationalism that you find here.

Thanks to all my LSE mates  for introducing me to this wonderful world. Let’s hope we will be able to make the most of it.

This is an imported version of the original post. The actual post was posted on September 2, 2009.

Yesterday, after more than a month, my UK Student Visa finally arrived. The scary thing is that it arrived just at the very last minute. I was almost ready to cancel my ticket and re-plan my travel itinerary, when it finally showed up and spared me the travails.

I have put up a photo of the visa with all my personal details covered (pardon me for this). All the captions are self-explanatory, but I am including a brief summary of the various fields.

1) Visa Number: The unique number each visa carries with it.

2) Place of Issue: The British High Commission from where the visa was issued.

2) Valid from: The day from which you are allowed to enter UK.

3) Valid until: The day till which you are allowed to stay within UK.

4) Number of Entries: The number of times you are allowed to enter and exit the country within the validity period without needing to apply for a fresh visa. (MULT means multiple times.)

5) Type: The type of visa issued. Here it is Tier 4 General student visa. This field also notes the License Number of the sponsor, generally the University.

6) Name, Passport Number, Sex, DOB and Nationality are quite obvious.

7) Obsrv: Here, they spell out the restrictions imposed in the visa. For example, I am not allowed to  have any access to public funds, which are generally reserved for Citizens and other permanent residents. They  also mention here whether one is allowed to work or not. I am required to follow the Work/Business guidelines meant of the Tier 4 Visa catagory. (No more than 20 hrs of work during the term time and full time work during the vacations). This is the place where they also mention whether you need to register with the police on arrival or not. (Apparently, I don’t)

8) Number of Dependents: If you are accompanied by your family or relatives, then this section includes their details and other information.

To say that I am afraid or scared would be a gross understatement… no, understatement would itself be another… I am almost like a vegetable now, paralyzed by the fear of unknown. The forthcoming issue of travelling to UK and setting my abode there is visibly taking its toll on me. Add to that the delay in my visa, the exuberant finances involved, the logistics of planning, the ritual goodbye trips to distant Aunts and Uncles, the tremendous pressure of finishing all the pre-sessional reading, and what you have is a recipe for a perfect Bheja-Fry (Fried Brains).  

But, hell no… I am excited as well. This is by far the greatest adventure of my entire life. It’s like setting out on your own, à la Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings. Totally on your own in an entirely new place with its own culture, own heritage, own customs. That is what scares me the most. The endless adjustments to my way of doing things; my way of life. But, Change… that is what actually matters, that is the only thing constant, and that is what I have to do.

LSE has the reputation for being the most international unversity in the UK. The range of networking opportunities here is more than perhaps all the Social Networking sites combined. Their alumni list is the Whos-Who of the World who routinely dictate International policies and many other such important stuff in the World. I am thankful to the Almighty for giving me the opportunity to be in their esteemed company. It’s said that you learn more by travelling than by reading an entire book. I hope that I become a better person with all the shamelessly extravagant learning (actual reading and travelling included) that I am going to undertake. I hope that I achieve all that I am setting out to. I hope that I make my parents, teachers, family and friends proud. I hope I do well…