m s e reminiscences

When you realize that you may no more have an MSE mail box to check every other day, it feels quite nostalgic. Leave alone the fact that the mail box may have exceeded its storage limit with just 13 messages in it. No more warnings that say you have only 14 days left to change your password. Just as you realize that you won’t be around to witness the worms crawl out of cauliflowers, you also come to terms with the fact that a meaningful journey draws to a successful close.

I recollect conspiring with Gayathri that we quit this insti that ruined our lazy, non-studying lives that we had the privilege of leading in our undergrad years. I mentioned that we should in fact have an option that permits us to get our admission transferred from MSE to Vidyasagar if academics get too stressful. Looking back, I wonder what made us think that this course was so terrifying. It has been quite challenging I agree, but the value-add has been worth the exam eve torture, hasn’t it?

The comfort level that we’ve experienced here is something that can never be matched by a corporate set up. I remember during our internship at Roulac, Myth’s system crashed. She swirled around on her swivel chair and asked me in desperation, “All my data is gone! Where’s Sahoo?!” “For heavens’ sake, we are in Hyd and there’s no Sahoo here”, was what I’d have been tempted to say had she been in a more cheerful state of mind then. The tragic situation however demanded that we go in search of a Sahoo substitute there.

If not for Geetha Ma’am’s untiring administrative efforts, MSE would have come to a screeching halt by now. And I’d probably get a hall ticket to appear for the M.Sc Econ exams instead of Fin. Econ for the fourth time in a row. God bless her! It would be quite difficult to forget Geetha Ma’am shooing us away from comp lab into the audi to attend a seminar which at that point in time seemed like the last thing we needed the day before an ecotrix quiz.

Another memorable part of MSE has been the several hours spent studying together before an exam – the burden does seem lighter when you have others to share it with. I’ll miss the remarks about how my dissertation is, but should not be. More than that I’ll miss the intermediate comments “Oh! That’s a smart outfit that you’re wearing!” Then we’d get back to discussing currency futures that are not traded in India.

We could write volumes about the bottles smuggled in and the spirits that have lighted up the sometimes boring evenings on campus, but lack of first-hand experience prevents me from venturing into it. But I just cannot miss out Viney Sharma’s amusing reason for not being back at the hostel post 11pm. – he claimed that he’d gone to buy bananas, to the warden!

Even as I write this piece I wonder what else I should incorporate in it to make it truly reflective of MSE, but I realize that it takes a whole 2 years to experience the richness that MSE has to offer. An article however elaborate it may be is bound to be incomplete in capturing the liveliness and cheer that we’ve been a part of. If reading this has been even remotely enjoyable, then I’m sure you’ve loved your stay at MSE. To take it one step further, let’s get together one last time to set up a fund that supports MSE activities, as suggested by TVS... Shoot any ideas you may have, we'll make it work.