A bloody mess indeed!

Everybody who has ever lived in a hostel knows that the most painful part of hostel life is the mess food. Since I had barely survived the chow doled out in the hostel mess at IITK (with severe psychological and physiological scarring to show for it!), I was really apprehensive about the 'delicacies' that I would be subjected to in the mess at IIMK. Add to it the fact that this college was nearly 2,400 kilometers from my native city and, consequently, located in a totally different gastronomical belt...to say that I was dreading my first meal in the mess would be an understatement. Here's how it unraveled...

Day I
Typical North Indian fare!!! I was pleasantly surprised...even appreciated the meal, reasonably palatable. And a nice dessert to cap the meal too, maybe life here won't be so bad after all!

Day II
Hmmm...what is this weird dish on the menu today? Lemme try it...
Aaaarggghhhhhh!!!

Day III
OMFG...do they have leftovers from yesterday??? They must have some left, they MUST!

Day IV
Why didn't I die before trying this!?
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Day VIII
How the hell did I LIKE this on Day I! F**k...
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Present day
F**k...

P.S: Let us take a moment to thank the greatest establishment in (almost) every campus, the eternal savior of the famished, the disgusted and the late night vigilantes...the CANTEEN!

The Anomaly

Adi almost fell off his chair. Rohi had to stifle a cry of amazement. Himan hardly moved a muscle, yet his eyes betrayed the emotions of shock and pure incredulity rising within him, forcing his brain into a state of wakefulness. Guls, on the other hand, stared at "The Source" with his eyes wide open, mouth agape. Others seemed too far away from consciousness to note "The Anomaly"...however, the intensity of it all was too strong to be ignored. All around me, people were stirring, disoriented and numb, as they returned from their foray into the Land of Nod. A slight rustle filled the room, one that accompanies a large number of bodies either stretching or striving for more comfortable resting positions."The Source", meanwhile, continued with the propagation of "The Anomaly", apparently unaware of the sea change occurring around him. It was good that he remained ignorant of his surroundings...because had he glanced at the multitude of half-open eyes staring at him in amazement, he might have stopped dead in his tracks.
Eventually, someone articulated the thought crossing everybody's mind, albeit in the form of a whisper..."What the f**k, he asked a question in a MIS lecture!!!"

I'm going to K!

I had a feeling that the day was going to be good. Woke up nice and fresh (nearly 9 hours of sleep...bliss!), went through the daily rituals of getting ready for office, reached office in a good mood! Logged on to IIMC's website to check the result. After a wait of 10 seconds or so..."Your name does not appear in the list of selected candidates or the waitlisted candidates."
Heartbeat quickens, but still sure that I made a mistake in entering the details, I go back to the previous page and enter them again, more deliberately this time. Again the same dreaded message!
The world slows down around me...heartbeat rises further, mind goes numb..."Jeez! What now?"
I check the result at least 8 times that day, hoping against hope that there had been a mistake, I must have done something wrong earlier.
Eventually look at other results, no go in IIMA (as if I didn't know), waitlisted in IIMI, got through IIMK! Something to ponder about...
I went at 11 PM, feeling confused and a little insecure. Probably one of the most important decisions of my life (right up there with "whether to buy a PSP!") lay ahead...join this year or wait for next year.
Over the next several days, asked loads of people about joining that year or not...got mostly positive opinions, along with the profound but practically useless statement - "Ultimately it is your own decision that matters!". Tried to sit alone at home and think; tried visiting the mall and sitting among the milling (or mall-ing, whatever) crowd..waiting for the mythical bolt of enlightenment to strike me. No success...
How did I finally decide? Hard to say how the decision was made, may be the fact that I did not want to go through the horrible GD/PI phase again was drilled in my subconscious...but what happened was perhaps akin to the Kekule and Ouroboros incident! Still undecided, I went to sleep one night and woke up the next day with a crystal clear thought, "I'm going to K!".