Yearbook Entry : Basketball Diary

Chapter 1: The Beginning

When I first came to this college, I didn’t think much of my chances of getting to play quality ball. Quite frankly, nobody expects an NIT, to have a basketball team worthy of any praise. I would realise I was wrong, the moment I stepped into court on my first day. There were 4 other guys on court. As it would turn out, we were the golden batch in NITK Basketball, in more ways than one. For the first time in NITK’s recollectable history, 5 guys from the same batch would have to join the team. Alok brought his Karnataka State Captain experience along with his superb ball handling skills. Nitin brought a style element and a work ethic unrivalled by anyone. Sharan, Abhishek and I, brought to the team technique and determination that the rest of NITK was very happy to see. The Basketball team is once place where ‘jugaad’ does not exist. If you’re good, you’re in – That’s the mantra which is followed. It was safe to say a few seniors were disappointed that 5 of us had joined. But the true ballers knew that NITK Basketball was going to change, and for good.

The time had come for me to experience my first tournament. MBC is a Mangalorean Club that hosted a couple of tournaments every year. They have a sleek indoor court, with wooden flooring, shot-clocks and what not. It was quite an intimidating fact for a bunch of first years. We were told that we had not beaten MBC in this tournament ever before. This was also going to be the first time we would see our talisman Hardeep in action. Along with Bogie, Ham and Krum, Alok was the only first year who was chosen to play in the match. The finals was close, and Hardeep hit an amazing buzzer beater 3-pointer, to send the DK district into a state of shock. NITK finally had a recipe to create a successful basketball team. This victory qualified us to represent the district in a tournament in Mysore, my first out-station trip with the team. Planet X, Bopi’s Beer Bar, Old Mylari Butter Masala Dosa, were the highlights of this trip, more than the tournament itself.

Chapter 2 : First Time, Big Time

The team was chosen to represent us at the Inter NIT Games in Rourkela. Nobody knew what to expect from the other NITs. Would they be a bunch of nerds? Would they have random tall built guys who could dunk? We would find out that only Trichy had a team that they thought could beat us and we blew them out by 30 points. Highlights of the trip : Annapurna breakfast, Bogie’s admit and the never ending supply of spirit, and card games. Once we returned it was time for Inci. Now, for the basketball team, Inci is a World Cup of sorts. Playing in front of the NITK crowd is like being in a pressure cooker. Every shot you make pumps you up with 300 people applauding, but then every shot you miss is greeted with a seemingly larger number sighing ‘Ohhh’. The best of Bangalore teams turn up, and it is almost as if we have a point to prove to them that we can play in the big league. We would go on to lose to Christ, the eventual winners, in the semi-finals. Inter-Year was for the first time won by first year, who against all odds defeated the favoured third years, and the unbeatable Final years, much to the surprise and delight of college crowd. We would wrap up first year with the traditional Basketball farewell at Malpe Beach, where you get wasted without second thoughts. The final years would leave on a high note, with Krum going to Amdocs, Ham to Accenture, Brat to IIM Bangalore, NJ to Trilogy, and Bogie setting the benchmark at UC Berkley.

Chapter 3: Let’s rag ‘Em Juniors

We had finally become seniors on the team. One year after bearing the brunt of ragging and other silly chores that we had to do, just because we were the youngest, the time had finally come for the next batch of first years to feel the wrath. There were lots of players who came into this batch as well. Ewin and Nashath would make it directly into the starting 5 thanks to their sheer determination and size. Appi, Nikki, and Ravi would join the team in the following year. Our team finally looked like a strong unit. It was a team that we thought could even take on the Bangalore powerhouses. MBC and other local teams were dismantled with such ease that you would wonder, ‘Was this the team we once used to lose to?’ We decided to push things up one level by taking part in the RV tournament. After a comfortable 20 point win in the first game, we were all ready to play Ramaiah in the next. Ramaiah were perennial powerhouses in the Bangalore circuit. We knew it was not going to be easy, but we thought with this team, we should be beating them. 40 minutes later, we would fall right back down to earth. 15 point loss. More than the score, it was the way we played, we weren’t ready for the big time yet. Work had to be done, and quick, before Inci.

Chapter 4: Redemption

The Ramaiah loss hit us hard. We realised things had to change if we were to do anything useful in Inci. Practise intensity doubled, team bonding tripled. They say tragedy brings people together, this was the first time the team started to feel like a family. We wanted to work hard together. We wanted to win together. We wanted to push each other to make sure we achieve success. Just prior to Inci, we won another local tournament held by MBC very comfortably, which gave us some confidence. We had made the fixtures in such a way that we would meet Ramaiah in the semi-finals and that could be our redeem game. Unfortunately, Ramaiah ended up losing to Baldwin. Now the frightening part of this was Baldwin comprised of 5 African giants, all of whom were at least 6 foot tall, and built like ox. Scary as it seemed, a valiant effort from our side, we lost a humdinger of a game by 1 point. Once again our dreams were shattered at the semi-final stage, in the cruellest of fashions. But a statement was made. Teams came and congratulated us on the way we played defence. We were now considered worthy opponents. But the dream was still a dream.Yet another Malpe treat worth remembering, although our senses wouldn’t allow us to, and second year was wrapped up. Hardeep got himself a job at GE. Navin, Jeff, and G went to Carnegie Mellon, Boston and Georgia Tech respectively, maintaining the stud image of the team.

Chapter 5: Coping up

The beginning of the year was swarmed with comments from fellow college mates, other teams, referees, almost everyone connected to NITK Basketball you can think of, that we could not be the same team that we were without Hardeep. We all knew he was our star player, but we also knew, what the others didn’t, that we can be just as good, if not better without him. This served as motivation that year. Vind and Shank joined us, bringing a new dynamic to the team. MBC tournaments were swept once again with ease as people in the DK district were getting ready kill to see us lose. Yet again, we decided to step our schedule up one notch by taking part in another Bangalore tournament. As fate would have it, we had to play Ramaiah first up. We had a point to prove, more than that, we had a score to settle. A superb team game hence, we emerged victorious. People in Bangalore thought it was a fluke. We knew it was meant to happen, it just took one year more than it should have. This was by far the most meaningful and thrilling victory we had had. We now knew, there is no looking back, and up, is the only way to go.

Chapter 6 : Trophies, Trophies and More Trophies

The sem started out with Inter NIT which was held this time in Warangal. I have never witnessed our team performing a better demolition act than at this tournament. We owned each team by at least 30 points, distinguishing us as the clear winners. Our egos were well massaged when we would see teams clearing the court when we entered, teams giving us standing ovations when we entered the mess, and other acts of the same ilk. Highlights of this trip would be – Nikki’s traffic control after smash session, Bhimsingh’s downing skills, and Chennai stopovers. Yet another MBC tournament was won comfortably. We were set up for a grand Inci, which we hoped would finally be the one. The demolition continued, as we not only beat the Bangalore teams, but tore a couple of them apart, so much so that we won our semi-finals, which seemed like a perennial hurdle, by 20 points against RNS, which had just beaten Ramaiah. NITK had arrived at the big stage, but the crown was still missing. Jain outplayed us in the finals, not by better basketball, not by bigger hearts, just by pure experience. Our Cinderella run ended, but we were happy with the way we performed. Our year ended with another tournament win at Yenapoya. We had captured 5 Winners trophies and 2 Runners up trophies. This was by far the most successful year for NITK Basketball. A bigger year, called for a bigger celebration at Malpe, with everyone living up to prior standards, making wine shop owners very happy. Sam would go on to Georgia Tech, BD to North Carolina and Camel would make the trip to IIM Calcutta.

Chapter 7: The Beginning of The End

Everything that is associated with NITK peaks during Final year. For us though, it was a little crooked. The batch, being worst hit by recession, suffered during placements. GRE and CAT givers also had a slightly tough time, hence bringing a sort of irregularity towards practise. Few were beginning to wonder if we had peaked last year and the only way to go was down. Doubts were starting to creep in among ourselves too. We tried to convince ourselves that that was not the case, and we were still the same hungry team that wants to win Inci. An extended rainy season resulted in not much practise, and some unrest between players. The lack of tournaments didn’t help much either. We hosted another tournament this year, to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the institution. A confidence boosting win in front of home crowd is always welcome. Thus ended a relatively drab penultimate sem, with all leading up to the last one.

Chapter 8: The Swansong

The final sem started on a good note with placements, and admits coming the team members’ way. Inter NIT victory at Surat would follow, reinstating our dominance at the NIT level. Nitin got his second successive MVP at Inter NITs. Highlights of the trip included Bombay Thanni, Sasumaa Gujarati Thali, The forgetting of Swami incident and our epic journey from Bombay to Surat in the general compartment. A couple of months of heavy practise was required to reach optimum levels for Inci. Prior to Inci, we had a confidence building win at KMC Mangalore, where a couple of differences in the team were settled, to show the emergence of the complete team game. Organisers almost always gave away best player awards to the losing opponents, because each player in our team would have scored the same amount of points. The final Inci had arrived. Bigger than the prior editions, this one witnessed some really close matches and a superb exhibition of stylish basketball. There were a couple of annoying incidents, but what’s an Inci without a controversy? We sailed through the group stages to reach the semi final against Josephs. Josephs were one of the co-favourites to lift the title. We knew we had to bring our A game to the court, and by god we did. The entire team played at a level we ourselves did not know we could reach. To take such a team to overtime is no mere task. We would eventually go on to lose by 3 in OT, but we went out with our heads held high. This was our last chance to win Inci, as the outgoing batch. It is nagging when college randoms ask you why we never win our home tournament, but how we perform above our expectations and limits year after year and give it our best, is difficult to explain in words. The year ended with a victory at the Manipal tourney, one that had eluded us the first 3 years. Not only was that fact special, but also the way it was achieved, a stroke of genius from Alok and a lot of luck is the only thing that could have saved a hungover team from losing the finals at 7 in the morning. As I write this, I am wondering how my last Malpe will be, because this time it will be the others bidding farewell to us, something I don’t want to happen as soon as it seems to be happening. Resigning to the fact that all good things come to an end, I would always look back to my days with the basketball team of NITK, where teammates turned to friends, and friends in turn became brothers. This team shaped us to what we are in this college and it would only be appropriate if I said that We may not be a part of this team anymore, but the team will always be a part of us.

Batch of 2010

Alok Shankar
Nitin Chandra
Abhishek Premkumar
Sharan Basavaraj
Kaushik Lakshman(author)

Inci Bball Review

It's that time of the year again. When everything that you looked forward to in the year is over. You are terribly bugged and experiencing a hangover of sorts. You tend to look back and think of how you got to where you got. You tend to look at what you wanted to achieve and whether you did. You think about whether you justified all the work that you put in. You finally boil down to whether you are happy with what happened or not. Before you think I'm getting really philosophical, all I'm thinking of is just reviewing how Inci went from the viewpoint of my team.

People said our team wouldn't be any good. Every now and then we heard 'Oh - What will your team do without him?', 'NITK team is not that strong this year right?' etc. We wanted to set and end to all that. The way we trained changed, the way we played changed. And the results showed just that. We've made a few friends, a few enemies as well in the course of the year. But all that seemed worth it. Until last year we were known as a team that plays fairly well at home, a team that has some great shooters and not much else. A bit of that changed when we went to PESIT this year, and all of it was about to change during Inci.

We were a little apprehensive while making fixtures this year. Because the standard of the tournament was going to be so high, we had to take on a semi-decent team in the quarterfinal league itself. After lots of speculation and arguments we decided to put PESIT and MVJCE in our group. Our debut game was against PESIT. Although we beat them by 20ish we had a big team talk after the game because clearly we could have played a lot better, and wouldn't get away with the tougher teams if we played like that. Next day our previous captain arrived with the idea of helping us in the form of a coach. Apart from that we went out with the intention of seeing to it that we did not make the same mistakes as we did the previous night. Also, we had no idea how MVJCE were and usually not knowing the opponent has always worked to our favour. A nearly perfect game was played that night by us, resulting in another 20 point win. Now for the hurdle of semi-finals that we hadn't cleared ever in the previous five years of our home tournament. RNSIT did us a favour by beating Ramaiah, Jain and Josephs would meet in the other semis as we had planned it out earlier. The prospect of playing RNS was scary, yet comforting. Scary because they had 2 huge 6 foot 5 giants and a good defence. Comforting because they are a poor offensive team and we are one of the best defences in the tournament. Come Saturday evening, we had a good chance to finally break the jinx and reach Inci finals for the first time. The first semi between the two powerhouses Jain and Josephs was a humdinger of a game. A buzzer beater three pointer to settle it says it all. That was followed by arguably the best dunk contest performance ever seen live for us here in college. A little tension was in the air, but that had to be gotten rid of. Smart play and some sweet shooting by our star shooter made sure of another 20 point win. Finally, we were there. A hurdle for all these years had been passed. There was so much joy that it felt as if we were content enough to have got this far. But we wouldn't let that ruin a golden opportunity. We could feel the nerves even before the game began. A tough game, after which a little inexperience probably showed but a lot of character was also shown when we lost to Jain, Basketball royalty in the state just by five, thus bringing to a close, by far the most successful year for our college's basketball team.

As, I reflect back upon these memories, I only wonder of what's to come next year. As of now, I'm just sitting, wishing and waiting.

Inci Preview!

SlamDunk was first added to Inci 6 years ago. What was once a small time tournament has now become one of the biggest college level tournaments in the state. A total of 20 guys teams and 10 girls team meet in this exhibition of professional basketball every year to produce some great matches. And boy, do we have some awesome teams coming this year to contest for the prestigious title and cash prize.

The guys tournament has always witnessed some of the closest, some of the most fast paced, some of the most tactically played out games you can see. The best teams from Bangalore, a certain team from Kerala and local teams along with us round up the participant pool for the tournament. This is what we have been waiting for the entire year and here is a preview of what you can expect from the basketball court during Inci.

Let's have a look at the teams. In no particular order, a jist of some of the favourties.

· Jain - Defending Champions, surely this year too a frontrunner for the title.

Star Players : Kaushal, John, Puneeth

Strengths : Scoring machine with tremendous experience in tournaments.

· Ramaiah - Always strong contenders in any tournament, known for their game intensity, they are always a force to be reckoned with.

Star Players : Abhishek, Chandy

Strengths : Intensity. They have a chant that goes 1-2-3 Team and that is the essence they play with.

· Nehru - The second most popular team among the NITK Crowd after the home team, who give us the match of the tournament year after year.

Star Players : Rahul, Mahesh

Strengths : Tremendously fast paced game with incredible ball movement.

· NITK - Home team. Home Ring. Great shooters. Makes for an almost perfect recipe.

Star Players : Alok, Ewin

Strengths : As mentioned earlier home team and crowd support coupled with the fact that shooting is very accurate especially on own ring.

· RNSIT - A very beautiful team to watch, on their day can beat any of the other strong teams.

Star Players : Krupesh, Pradeep

Strength : Excellent team game and a pleasure to watch.

· Josephs - They have the most superior record in Bangalore tournaments this year and will be looking to add to that.

Star Players : Markesh, Sood, Chimpu

Strength : Superb team game, Superb accuracy, Superb speed, arguibly the best team when put on court.

· MVIT – A team that has grown over the years and have a reputation to be very motivated during important games.

Star Players : Abhishek
Strength : The above mentioned player can at times single handedly turn around games and lift up the entire team’s spirits in no time.

Potential Surprise Packages : PESIT, NIT Trichy, BMS, Surana, Dayanand Sagar, MVJCE, NITTE, PA College, Aloysius, RV, NHCE, BMS, Father Muller and NITK-B

With added attractions like the Dunk Contest, a record high of 10 girls teams, and a debutant planned for this year – A three point shootout, SlamDunk promises to truly live up to Inci’s punchline – BEYOND EXPRESSION.

Endurance Running

It was the usual Friday evening when we had collected on court for practise. After a tiring 2 hour work out, with exercises with and without the ball, someone thought aloud, asking what it is that we would be doing the next morning in our first proper morning practise session. First proper in the sense that it was the first holiday that we would wake up in the morning, and do something productive. Immediately, almost as if it came naturally, the think tank of our team suggested an idea. We would aptly name it Endurance running. Now, for an average sportsman what we do may not be termed as endurance running, but then again we are students who play, not players who study like the ones who are regular favourites at tournaments. That said, for an average student in our college, what we do is of quite some magnitude. Endurance running, if we were professionals would have probably been a run that lasted say 10 rounds around the football field. That would be 10*700 metres = 7 kilometres. But as always we do things with a twist, a twist that makes getting tired so much fun, you don't stop even if its completely exhausting. What the aforementioned think tank suggested was a really nice break up of running. First a warm up for 4 rounds, not the usual rounds around the field but again with a twist. The twist being everyone runs in a straight line and at every turn, the last guy in the line overtakes the first guy. This can be really hard, but also is fun. I suck at it, but then that's a different story altogether. Right, so that was warm-up. Then there is the best part. To put it simply it was five 100 metre sprints. Then four 200 metre sprints. Three 300 metre strides. Two 400 metre strides and a final round the pitch 700 metre jog again. Doing the math, it comes up to 6.5 kilometres of running, subtract a little for laziness and cutting of the track, also some inconsistencies. 6 kilometres of running could never be made this interesting. As we finished, we were barely able to walk and carry our arses back to the block. Thankfully as some sort of reprieve, Captain Camel Calcutta and the aforementioned think tank decided to treat us breakfast. Benefits of hard work you could say. That rounded up a week that was never short of anything - morning practises, evening games, 2 people quitting the team and eventually coming back realising that the pros of staying in would always outweigh the cons if you stayed out. Oh, did I forget to mention, I love this game, and this team.

Revenge : B'ball Game Review

In an attempt to not get bored in the holidays, along with the idea of establishing the fact that we can indeed play without our ex captain in Bangalore level tournaments, we decided to enroll ourselves in the PESIT tournament which was to happen in the middle of the holidays. That would mean 2 things. Firstly we would not go with our first choice team, with a couple of our International models missing out. Secondly, since everyone in Bangalore is in a different corner of the city, we would not have much of team practise. That said, when the fixtures were out, almost as if destiny had it in store for us, we were drawn against Ramaiah. Ramaiah for starters, is one of the best teams in the city, boasting of 3 VTU players, and excellent tournament records, and regarded in most tourneys as potential winners. To add to this, there is a certain feeling of desperate revenge, because of a loss to Ramaiah in a game last year, which was a scar on our team that we wanted to erase. We were praying to get a chance to play them at Inci last year, but we had got that chance only now, and we were in no mood to let it slip.

The final day had arrived. Ramaiah, as confident as they always are, brought along their second jersey for the evening game, expecting it to be a breeze against us. Little did they know how much this game meant to us. Since one of our first 5 players were not available we had to do with a makeshift lineup. Ramaiah too in all fairness was a makeshift lineup, but that shouldn't have made any difference. Camel, Alok, Nitin, Sharan and Ewin lined up for us. Ramaiah, known for their high intensity game were up to it from the first minute. Full court press, physical rebounds, Clutch shooting, all in an attempt to psych the opponents out like they always do. But this wasn't going to be another 'always'. Simple screens and some intensity from our own end, and there we were leading 10-8 at the end of the first quarter. Team huddle's message was to keep up the intensity and not let this chance slip. Second quarter did not go as expected. We slacked, they picked up intensity and it was slowly beginning to slip away. 21-12 at the end of the half. Disastrous second period, but it was pointed out that we were going wrong in basics. Simple screens could break that defence. Fundamental basketball would do the trick. Third quarter and Bloke went beserk. Three three pointers and there we were back in the hunt again. Good defence coupled with the fact that they were getting tired too, meant that we took complete advantage and lead was back with us at the end of the third. Final quarter, we were ten minutes away from what we wanted so badly last year. Bloke continued his streak, with a few more sweet three's. With about 3 minutes left we were leading by 6. It was not done, we had lost the Inci semis in the exact same scenario. But it was not going to happen this time. Raphael shocked us with a couple of clutch three's and there it was. It was looking like the dream would slip away. Just a couple of seconds later, Bloke puts up a shot, misses, and almost as if it is meant to be, the ball lands right into Sharan's arms under the board for an easy finish. 2 Points, and there we were, 11 seconds away from what we wanted so badly. The referees came to us and said just 11 seconds. Surana coach told us the same thing. 11 seconds later, it was over. We had finally beaten Ramaiah, in the process handing them probably their first ever first round exit, and probably their first ever loss to an Engineering team. Ironic we did it without our martyr, Singh, but we achieved what we wanted badly. Revenge, does taste sweet.

Although we went on to lose the semis to a really bad team, in an equally close affair, which shouldn't have been the case, the first victory was something special for all of us. Something we dedicated to Singh. Something that showed to the people that we can play outside our own tournament. With the required effort, surely, a sign of things to come.

MinRel

Wednesday 12:00 -
C: We got screwed man, That AL was taking our thing and HOD suddenly walked in because he was terribly pissed off with some other group. He checks all code, everything and be careful.

Wednesday 16:30 -
K: Maga, how was project submission?
S: Don't ask maga, HOD came. We got raped.

Wednesday 20:00 -
Call from M : Let's meet and discuss about the project. I'll explain the code and stuff so that we can confidently tell HOD about everything.

Wednesday 21:00 onwards -
A: Any idea how the others did?
K: Most did okay, but whoever got HOD, better not talk about it.
Sources: You are group 25, so you will get HOD only
M: Maga, full tension if HOD comes, I don't know what to say only.
A and K : If you only don't know what will we say man!
All : Okay how do we divide functions? You do destroy, I do Load, He'll do select. No man, I can't do this.
A: Okay I'll do Select Insert and Join, He'll do Create,Load and Project and you do Describe Drop and Print
M: What about delete!? Delete is bevarsi maga. lol
All : Hey Let's make a PPT and go show him, might be impressed and all. Ohh nice idea!

Thursday 8:30 -
A: I've started making the PPT. You'll present it to him?
K: Yeah okay.
M: Don't take tension maga. Whatever happens will happen.
A: Yeah, let's just distract him and be confident so that he doesn't get the feeling we haven't split it.
M: After today, whatever happens let's go put Golconda in Garuda!
K: Sure!

Thursday 10:30 -
M: Cha, I wish this help file would work, that way we he'll be more impressed.
K:Okay, arbit idea, lets open the ppt when you click on help file. But is it easy to do?
M: Shit, yeah man, let's do that! AJ How do you open PowerPoint in DOS Prompt?
A: powerpnt
M: This isn't working man.
K: Ayyo, chuck it da, big deal.
M: No da it will be sexy if this works!
A: Idea! Create batch file and call that.
M: Fak! Sexy maga, yeah we'll do that only.
M: Works!
K: Shit, this is the first thing that all 3 of us have done together!
A: Haha, that's why you need three people.

Thursday 11:00 - Enter HOD
HOD: You all look very happy. Why is it so? Completed the project?
All three: Yes sir
HOD: Let's see. Okay why do you need a PPT?
After some explanation and some time
HOD: Good work. But tell me just for argument's sake why are you using this load?
M: Sir, you can't access physical memory, so we load it into the RAM
HOD: But you have to go to a lower level for that.
M: Sir, that is a typical C approach. The purpose of using Java is defeated if we go to low level.
HOD: Who asked you to use Java?
*Shock*
HOD: Just joking, I wanted to just listen to what you have to say.
All Three: Sir, these are the join, project and delete functions.
HOD: It's okay, I don't think I need to see it. Proceed.
All Three: Sir, some extra features are there that we couldn't implement because we didn't know if it was apt.
HOD: No you have done everything. You want me to cut marks?
*Silly Smile*
A: Sir, what about the implementation of the other part?
HOD *Smiles* : No need. I'm sure you would have done that. Just copy your project in a CD and give it to me.

Thursday 12:00
All : Yess!! *High 5's all around*
M: Maga today GB for sure! Once again, for the second year in a row, DM's project gets stored in the dept.
M:That's enough maga. Now balls to end sems.
A and K : Haha haha.

Thus ended our dramatic project story. So much for all plans we had in case HOD was in belting form. With all the imbalanced fun we had and even more imbalanced code of the Java Guru this is something I thought I'd pen down to read sometime and feel nostalgic.

Be Brave. Be Dave.

Last evening something really shocking, fearfully shocking happened. When a friend called asked me if had heard about what happened to Dave, I panicked. After a series of phone calls I found out what exactly had happened. As dramatic as it may sound, this was the story. Dave went outside college to a nearby store to get a recharge and he heard a lady scream. He went to see what it was and saw to his disbelief that there were three guys on the verge of sinning. Instinctly he picked up whatever was next to him and tried to hit them. Meanwhile the lady runs away, and the gang in disgust sways their knives in random directions causing random cuts on Dave's body. He somehow escapes the scene and his truly wonderful friends take him to hospital to get the necessary treatment. What I would like to stress upon here is that, any of us would have normally just run from the situation, but this guy, potentially put his life on stake to perform the rescue act for a lady who he has never seen. Some of his wing mates called it foolishness, I would like to interpret it otherwise. It's courageous. It's manly. It's what someone who goes by heart and not his mind does. And that is the perfect description of Dave. I don't know if I would have done the same. I would have probably run away, and I'm sure many others I know would have done the same. But thank God for people like him. As some sort of consolations, the wounds are barely serious. But what matters is that he did what he thought was right. Be Brave. Be Dave. Get well soon mate.

New Role

It's been a mixed past week. And it ended in a very mixed way too. After the bizarre cancellation of club event, to firing from team, due to lack of balance of two equal passions, as a blessing in disguise I felt how it is to be something like a coach to a basketball team. The experience was enthralling. Although it didn't finish in the best possible manner, the whole feeling associated with the job was good. When it came to calling the plays, I was not very much involved, thanks to a certain national player on the team and a few others who are sound with the game and have practised more together. The important job was to call the necessary timeouts and make substitutions if need be. Keeping the guys updated about the scores and time situation was also an important part of the job. The feel this gave was simply amazing. I believing in giving back to whatever makes you a better person, and this just increased the want that I already had to get to Basketball coaching at some later point of my life. Today, after the players I had almost as big a responsibility, for one I had to choose the replacement for the injured national player, apart from the above mentioned jobs, but nevertheless this was a challenge, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The sad part is that we lost, but it's just our first tournament and we obviously will improve by a huge margin. Huge trophy, team photo session and Akshaya dinner was nicely rounded up by a truly amazing truck ride back to college, thus ending this very bittersweet week.

War

The war is over and it was stressing physically and mentally. Lots of things could have been different if the approach was a little different. Standards were dropping. The gap was getting closer and closer and finally has been turned upside down. But what's done is done. Have to pick up and grow around this now. Good thing is that how to rectify is known. The master, we are sure has a plan. It needs to be known to the troops for being more effective. Time to nurture troops and plan on new and better strategies and aim to win next time we go to war.

The Cat and Mouse Race

A couple of nights ago, to celebrate the weekend, 7 of us sat together and played Poker. The game was interesting and went on till about 3:30 in the morning. We were all hungry and wanted to wait till Thadambail opened. While waiting for time to pass somebody remarked on the fact that how an MBA can change your life. One thing led to another and we ended up at the topic of CAT going online when my batch writes it. That's what 'the race' is about and I wanted you all to think about the difference this will create. In the last few years the CAT has been referred to as the most competitive exam in the world. With percentages of people getting in with respect to the number of people attempting very low, its supposed to be harder to get in to an IIM than to any of the Ivy Business Schools. So since, the CAT is going online next year, we were discussing what all the pros and cons of this would be. For one it is easier for the organisers to hold it because it will cut out the labourious and expensive tasks of transportation and correction. One of the more important aspects is that there will be no more of paper leaking and other unscrupulous things figuring in the scheme of things. The test is to follow the adaptive pattern that GRE and GMAT follows, except that a score will not be given immediately after the end of the test. It remains to be seen whether the percentile system will still be used, because technically percentile talks about the number of people you did better than in a particular test. Since everybody does not take the same test, percentile may not be apt. The adaptive pattern has its own advantages and disadvantages. It's better than the written paper in a sense that its more accurate in testing a person's intelligence. But, it also depends on the first few questions, so if someone screws up there, it might not be the best test for him. CAT has always been about speed and time management. Nobody knows how this will work. With the adaptive system you cannot comeback to or skip a particular question, so it might not be about speed anymore. Besides this, there is the psychological feeling about being more comfortable with a pen in hand and solving a paper than clicking answers on a mouse. I want to know what's your take on this, do you think the online system is better? or its better to have the good old pen and paper test. Will the 'cat race' be any different once you have to use the mouse to catch the CAT? Only time will tell.

Whats up?

It has been a bit more than a week since I got back to college. Lots of changes. For one, it is a bit of mixed emotion when you think upon the fact that you are a third year. The upper half of college, you have 2 batches below you, all that is fine. But it also happens to be potentially the most difficult year academically, not just because we might have more classes or anything, but just because people tend to take things a lot more seriously and by that they really step up and I might have to actually put in some effort to get through the semester. On other fronts there is a lot of anxiety. Club recruits, Basketball team, a new La Liga season, amongst many other things. There are some changes in college. Placements are going haywire. Bad combo of recession + Shastri in charge. Scares me what will happen this time next year, but then again that's a whole year away. Elections are approaching and the politics and all other nonsense that goes along with it have already begun. It is shocking what people can do to obtain fame, power and some underhand money. Basketball practice has started way before it has in previous years. Of course we miss Singh, but i think the team will go far this year as well, we're a closer unit than ever before. Coming down from home food to mess food is a hard task semester after semester. Usually what helps that process are the other eating options in and around college. That's been a disaster this year. NFC has some weird self service system, 3rd block canteen hasn't started yet, Kalash has gone under project renovation, and Amul samosas have lost their charm owing to them being duped of 18 grand last year from account debts. But such stabs are always expected, and that is what makes this place as lovely as it is. It feels great to be 'home'. Second year was full of events, some insignificant, some life changing. Third year only promises more, and hopefully ends up just as good.

Best of Mangalore

Two years into engineering, and staying away from home, one would have learnt to appreciate home food. Thanks to the rather bad quality food that is offered at our hostels, and even our canteens, it is not surprising why people flock to Mangalore at every given opportunity. I have often been a victim of this, and even though its hard on the pocket at times, food at Mangalore is the only sort of compensation one has when home food is not available. So I decided to make a list of the 5 best things I have eaten in this wonderful city, that has done justice to my lack of good food. It has seen me evolve from a staunch veggie to one that almost eats anything now. But the fact is that I have never been disappointed at the quality of food this place has to offer at any time of these two years. I will most certainly miss these once I am out of college. Here's to Mangalore, my second most favourite city.

5. Chicken Dum Hyderabadi Biryani at Palkhi
During my first trip to Mangalore as an NITKian with some seniors, Palkhi was often mentioned as the most expensive restaurant in the city and it is not often that people can afford to go eat there. I have been to Palkhi a few times after that, few times enough to know that this dish is brilliant. The closest you can get to authentic Biryani, priced at 100, is quite a steal for the quantity and quality it has to offer.

4. Dal Makhni at Rinku Punjabi Dhaba
There's a good chance you have not heard of this place. But one hungry day, I found this place and I thought to myself I struck gold once done. Roti's are probably a rip off at this place, but the Dal Makhni is simply superb. It even tastes better than the one at Palkhi and its costs just 40 bucks. Now that's a deal for a hungry person who carries a light wallet, which of course describes most NITK guys. The Dhaba is a little hard to find, it is located near KMC Hostels at Attavar, in case you want to give this dish a go.

3. Murg Kali Mirch at Palkhi
This is a regular for me, I probably have had this almost every time I have eaten at Palkhi. Its a little expensive at 120 bucks, but is the best non-vegetarian side dish one can find in Mangalore to eat with Rotis. Oh by the way Palkhi offers a 10% discount on all bills if you flash your NITK Id card. Now that surely is an incentive to at least try this dish once.

2. Paneer Shazlisk at Liquid Lounge
People either do not understand me or brand me an idiot when I say I like LL for the food more than anything else. But trust me, the food there is simply out of the world. There are many dishes that could fit this list but this one beats them all, by a big mile that too. Its a little expensive at 120 bucks, but it is very filling. This dish is a combination of what looks like Ghee Rice in the dark setting of LL along with the most wonderful gravy which has almost innumerable paneer pieces. And they do indeed make a great combination. People who do not drink, who have things against places like LL, have come here to eat this, that should speak volumes.

1. Kori Rotti and Curry at Kori Rotti
Your probably shocked at this. and you probably ought to be if you haven't eaten this. But that's where I tell you to go eat it. This dish is a Mangalore speciality, it basically comprises of what is known as Kori Rotti, which looks something like fried rottis. These rotti's are placed on a plate and hot spicy Chicken Curry is poured over it which makes the Kori Rotti soggy and my god, it is a match made in heaven. It costs 45 bucks and you are full at the end of one plate. The place is located opposite Empire mall and is on the main road, so it is easy to find as well. I have eaten this dish at a Mangalorean home as well, and this place makes it as good as the home version.You just have to try this.

Honourable Mentions: Twister at Cherry Square, Auflauf at Diesel Cafe, Chilly Chicken Lasagna at Froth on Top, Cheese Burst Pizzas at Domino's, Foot longs at Chef's

If you have not eaten any of the above mentioned, please go ahead and do so, you have less than two years left! And please if there's anything I have missed out do let me know :)