GMAT terror!

Less than a fortnight away from the test date and am totally nerve-wrecked. I am supposed to have been preparing for 3 months but my erratic studying pattern [for a 3 week period in june I even comfortably forgot that I had registered for this test until one day my dad asked how my preparations were. No kidding!] has made the actual number of hours put in much lower than it should be. Anyways, I have pulled my socks up and have been preparing a bit more regularly in the past few weeks.

Still 'Sentence Correction' is killing me! and I'm not entirely confident about acing the quant section either [so much for a M.Sc in statistics!]. So what does that leave me to expect on the test day ? - I won't complain if I can muster 730+ It's a stretch, yes, but ya, that's the number I'll be comfortable with. Pray, I can do it..

A tribute

I learnt today from my dad, with great grief, that Mrs. Rani Chandran, our english teacher at PSBB KKN had passed away in a car accident in U.S on June 24th. She taught me briefly in my 12th std. All PSSBians will know the great teacher that she was and I don't have enough words to say it all. My thoughts and prayers are with her family.

A fitting tribute by one of our classmates appeared in The Hindu friday(15/07) edition. I've reproduced it here.

Exemplary life
JANANI GOPALAKRISHNAN
A tribute to a fine teacher.

Why would I want to write to a newspaper about a teacher who taught me several years ago? Three reasons. One, she was an exemplary teacher and these recollections can inspire many. Two, her death evoked deep emotions. Three, I want teachers reading this to know that their good work will be remembered by their students for many years.

Rani Chandran was an extraordinary teacher and taught in several schools in India and abroad. Starting 1991, she taught English for about a decade at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan S.S. School, K.K. Nagar, where she also served as assistant vice-principal.

Her dynamic and energetic presence was awe-inspiring. Her language was so impeccable. A student once asked "Excuse me, Mrs. Chandran, can I come in?" Promptly she responded. "Yes child, you can but you may not!" For a few minutes, we were left wondering what she meant. Later, she patiently explained that one must use `may' and not `can' when addressing an elder.

She was passionate about theatre and came up with mammoth productions for the school's anniversary celebrations. Even after she left India five years ago, due to health conditions, to live in the U.S. with her sons, she remained in touch with PSBB. On June 22, Rani Chandran, her mother and younger son died in a fatal road accident in the U.S.

Quoting from another teacher's homage to Rani Chandran, "She's in a better place now. But, what was the hurry?"


Yeah Ma'am. What was the hurry ? :(

Yippee, Yahoo!

Finally, I have a Page rank!! Moved off the long time zero to a decent "3"! Thanks to all of ya who have linked me..

Lame? I know.

Seasonal Afflictions

My flat-mate had something to say about the people from his blogging circle. His comment about me was quite interesting

"Dinx - Silent, moody, mournful, kind and gentle. Very sensitive to the slightest provocation. Total commitment to seasonal afflictions. Often does a surprisingly good job in what he does, given his quiet nature."

I agree with the seasonal affliction part. I've always had one strong crush that'll last for a while until I find another to fall in love with.

During the first/second years at the university it was table-tennis and English music. We had a table in one our halls and we used played day and night, usually going on until 2 a.m when the guard will come over to lock the room.

I hadn't heard a single english song before I came to Singapore. My room-mate though was quite a avid listener and I sorta picked up his taste. I started with, don't u laugh, backstreet boys and have graduated since to the REM, Scorpions, Dire Straits, Guns N Roses, Pearl Jam type of rock music.

Then somehow table-tennis lost its charm and it was chess then during the rest of the 2 years of undergrad life. Now chess, chess was different. I am far more proficient in chess than I am in table-tennis. While table-tennis was more like a passing crush, chess is more like love-of-a-lifetime. I got good enough to represent my hall at the inter-hall games; given another year, I would have made the university team :P

I had a few more guy friends equally crazed about chess and we used to follow all major tournaments live on ICC. Watching a chess game live is as slow as life can get! But that much was the addiction. And it was always a pleasure watching Vishy Anand's games. Unlike the Indian cricket team, vishy hardy ever disappoints. Back then, I could tell you until move 13 of the Sicilian Defense, Najdorf variation.

Upon graduation though there was hardly anytime for such leisurely following. I moved off-campus and into a condo that had a snooker table. Then it became, work->snooker->sleep kind of a routine. But I am still very much a novice at snooker. Am seriously on the look out for some club affiliation through which I could take some lessons and possibly play more regularly. It is definitely a beautiful sport. Very classy, very elegant.

I am talking here about snooker(the bigger table, smaller holes) not pool! I hate pool. Pool is the cheaper and impure version of snooker. It oftens pains me to watch Steve Davis take to pool and do badly at that after such a phenomenal snooker career.

Hmm, guess that's it.

I am re-thinking my taking to blogging. I guess blogging too was a sort of seasonal affliction afterall! I was reading a few blogs here n there, got very excited, registered for an url, managed a few posts but now I feel like I've hit a wall. Not sure yet though. Will see how....