Journey begins...

UK, here comes Joy...

Joy was at the Delhi airport waiting to board the flight to UK and start a new career, a new life. But KLM airlines dint make it easy for him. The flight was delayed for several hours and then finally cancelled. Joy could hear every passenger shouting at KLM staff which was understood as the passengers were left stranded for more than 4 hours at the airport. He had to put in lot of efforts to convince the manager to book him on another airline as he would miss his first day if he waited for the same flight next day. After a long wait he was booked on another airline, and then he had to go through the entire check in and immigration process again and finally the journey began. He wondered and said to himself "Man!!!! what a start".

In UK, after hours of waiting, when Joy cleared the immigration check at Birmingham airport he found out that the belt of his bag was stuck in the conveyor belt. He saw around for a moment and asked for help but no one was really bothered. After hours of struggle and with little power that he had he was able to free his bag. Sigh of relief as he said to himself "Welcome to UK!!!!". By the time he reached his temporary accommodation, it was already too late for the get together near campus. First Party and missed but there were several more to come!!!!!

First Week at WBS...

First week was fun with lot of events, team building activities, lunches and dinners and not to forget the most important part free drinks. There were lot of alumni events and plenty of networking opportunities, which Rakka thoroughly loves. Joy's first interaction was with Appy, Fizz, Jiggy, and Vicks. Jiggy was good in picking up double meanings, no wonder, a famous Bollywood song is after his name - "I wanna do jiggy viggy with u boy". Vicks is a talented accountant and crazy about Finance.

Second day, Raj approached Joy and said "Hey I heard you are looking for a place to stay. Me and Marv have found a place nearby and there is a place for one, if you wanna tag along". Joy was surprised and said to himself "Wow, the news here travels faster then NDTV or Aajtak - 24*7 Indian news channels". There was no second thought here so he said yes straight away. In the evening he got to know his second flatmate, Marv, over a few drinks. Surprisingly, Raj doesn't drink so Joy and Marv enjoyed his share as well.

First term at WBS...

Lectures began and Joy was before time for lectures but only for initial few days, after that the usual routine started. The celebration began with a "Top Banana Party" in copper rooms at Warwick Students Union. The theme of the party was "anything but clothes". Apparently, only five guys - Joy, Marv, Raj, Kaki and Ansh in the whole crowd were wearing clothes and rest of them were wearing poly-bags, towels, dustbins and other stuffs. First party and amazing time - they all were wasted in few hours. Kaki pulled all of them out of the party to go to a strip club but it was too late.  

The party time was over soon and before anyone could imagine it was mid term exams time. Finding it difficult to study at home, due to existence of bed and a drug called sleep, Joy started studying at WBS with many others and found a study partner, Ada - an interesting person and a good friend. At times, Ada, Fizz, Jiggy and Joy left at 7 in the morning just to get ready and come back for exams and lectures. Lack of sleep has its own effects and the effect was that Joy slept while writing his Eco paper but somehow managed to finish his paper on time. 

After mid term, party started in Lemington SPA at Vikram's place. Vikram - a cool dude from outside, a tension box from inside. After a few drinks at his place people were on the streets looking for another place to party. While everyone was focusing on two D's - Drinks and Dance, Kaki was focusing on Ada. The party ended in the morning at 4 at Loose Box, a disc. Everyone was wasted even Joy's blackberry. It just jumped out of his pocket and sat on the taxi seat, no one remembered if Joy took out his phone at all. Thanks to Kaki who picked it up and saved it from becoming an orphan. 

Next was the Diwali party at Grad Deck - Drinks, dance, music, food and more drinks. This party saw an upcoming  photography talent of Kan. He clicked at a rate of One click per second in all sort of poses. He was all over the place while clicking snaps, he jumps around, he lies down on sofa or on the ground or on the table, basically he does all sort of things. One should keep clicking him while he is clicking, that would be hilarious. 

Parties didn't stop that week. This time Rakka, Raj, Joy and Marv decided to go to Coventry to party. Plenty of beers, cocktail pitchers and shots was enough for Marv and Joy to get on the streets and start singing "Yeah dosti hum nahi chodenge" (An old and famous Bollywood song which means "We will never leave this friendship"). And then was the party in Leicester (Marv's home town) for his brother's bday. Joy and Raj enjoyed the trip. They just felt like home- amazing family, good fun and awesome home made food. As all good things come to an end so did their big parties. 

With finals approaching everyone started studying. Along with the studies everyone had to manage their POM project and start building on the project plan and scope. Lot of discussions, lot of meetings and good amount of learning. In middle of all this, Fizz made a plan to watch a movie "Breaking of the dawn - part 1". Most of them dropped out and made a smart decision to party in Lemington but Fizz, Appy, Joy, Rakka, Raj and Pat (calm and composed guy known for his speaking style and Joy's POM project teammate also) went on as planned. In the movie, Rakka was continuously passing comments until a lady sitting next to us jumped up and said "Will you please keep quite, I have waited for too long to watch this movie so don't spoil it". This was the only enjoyable and funny moment, none of them could hold their laughs. After the movie, all of them were shocked and guilty of paying 7 pounds to watch such a movie. Pat said to Joy "Man, I paid 7 pounds to watch vampire sex and its consequences.... Could you believe that!!!!!". 

Somewhere, there was another story building up behind the scenes. There was a rumour going around about Ada and Joy. It had to happen after all the time they spent together studying, working on POM presentation and rehearsing for the Dragon's den. Being linked up with his good friends was common for Joy but was new for Ada. She got to know about this while they both were studying in one of the syndicate rooms. Joy, unaware of what was happening, could hear voices from the next room. After a while, when she entered the room with red face and anger in the eyes Joy asked "Is everything OK?". She replied "Yes". It took a while for her to absorb things and calm down but when she did, they started talking and cracking jokes about it. With exams on head it was sensible to apply "Don't Care logic" to such things and focus on studies. Apart from studies, Joy formed a team to compete in Hult global case competition. Ada started working on the application essay for the competition and approached Mr. Ban for his inputs. Mr. Ban sat down on the floor next to the stairs with Ada's pink laptop and started working on it. "Mr. Ban with pink laptop" attracted a huge crowd and everyone started clicking photos while Mr. Ban was trying to hide behind the pink laptop. These snaps became quite famous later on. 

Soon, the night outs started with people staying up late, at times till morning, working and studying hard in WBS for the term exams. The exam storm passed quickly, term 1 was over and the celebration time was back. The party started at Varsity right after the last exam. Entire batch was there for few drinks and then people dispersed to gear up for the big party. Joy, Raj and Marv had two parties to attend - one in Coventry and one in Leamington at Vikram's place. Joy had to leave for London with Vikram next day morning so thought of staying at Vikram's place after the party. Joy, Raj, Marv and Dips - quite guy with strong drinking capabilities - decided to go to Coventry first and then to Leamington. The liquor started flowing at Marv's friends place where his brother Rajiv was also there. After finishing two full bottles of whiskey they all went to a club where the real party started with shots after shots then beer then champagne and then... Probably they got too wasted to remember then what. 

The next day morning was some what similar to Hangover story. Joy wasn't aware how he reached home. While sleeping, suddenly he realised his phone was missing again. He jumped out of his bed and ran to Marv's room in tension and said "I think I lost my phone. I am not able to find it and its switched off". Marv (half sleepy and half drunk) calmly replied "Its here. It was making weird sounds so I had to shut that thing off...". Joy was surprised and asked "How did it get here?". Marv replied "I don't know. You left it in the cab so I picked it up". Joy laughed and said "I don't remember taking my phone out of my pocket. Probably it got drunk again and decided to jump out of the pocket". He picked his phone and went back to sleep. After few hours, Marv walked into Joy's room and asked "Do you remember what happened last night?". Joy replied "No, lets have a look at snaps. We might get some idea". It was surprising to see what all happened that night - wild drinks, wild dance, a small fight and more drinks and oh my god where did this come from "a pic with a hot chic". Marv said "when did that happen" and as usual they both were clueless. Joy said "We were supposed to go to Lemington as well." Marv laughed and replied "Yes we were supposed to but the party and the drinks dint allow us to".

Joy left for Leamington where Vikram was waiting to go to London. They ran towards the station with Vikram's big and heavy suitcase and managed to catch the train with just a minute gap. Vikram was going to India for his marriage and looked very much excited and happy while Joy was on his way to meet his relatives in London. On his way, Joy was thinking about the three months that passed quickly and was wondering what's coming ahead. He was aware that lot of efforts and hard work was put in but still there was a lot to improve and learn. He looked forward to enjoy the Christmas break and few events including an amazing house party, exciting road trip to Scotland and first new year in UK.

"In the End, all that really matters isn't the things you did, but what its effects are today, not the knowledge you have gained, but how you applied it, not the words that were said, but how they made you feel, and most of all, not the moment of occurrence, but how its now just a part of our memory... Everyday, we make memories... Few fade away and few remain with us forever..."

6 months down 6 more to go

Exactly 6 months ago, a guy called Joy, was about to make a new start leaving the past behind. He was excited, he was anxious, he was happy and was looking forward to join MBA course at WBS. 

The term started with a fun filled week. Joy made some good friends and had loads of fun with incredible cohorts. Working with several groups at a time and exiting one meeting and entering another was fun. It wasn't that easy though being in one meeting for hours and then going for another one. Hult competition was the biggest highlight. Though winning the competition would have been the best but coming second was also a big booster for Joy and his Hult Team. Sleepless nights before exams and late night studying with Ada and her pink laptop in WBS syndicate room was not at all stressful. Exams followed by several crazy parties and night outs was entertaining. Varsity or Leamington were the two hot spots for the gang to party. Trip to Scotland, London and Leicester was an amazing experience for Joy. Driving at 120mph on UK motorways was a dream come true for him. New years on London street without a beer in hand was a little disappointing but then the night turned out to be good. The house party at Joy's place was extraordinary. The party started at 7, went till 5 and the aftermath was unimaginable. A corner of garden was full of beer cans, almost 70 of them.

The cohort had lot of variety and variations. Kan was famous for his Drama and wild imaginations, Mr. Ban and his talks about "paradigm shift". He has shifted "The Paradigm" so much that "the paradigm" itself has forgotten where it originated from - "Poor paradigm, sweet mother of god". Everyone was scared of Fizz - the girl can rip you apart anytime anywhere with her talks, Kaki's dancing moves are hilarious - his bums go round and round and round and down and down and down. Joy used to have long discussions with Appy about syndicate group at midnight in front of library. Rakka had a killing smile - really it kills everyone. Raj was finding it a little difficult and was a little worried and tensed most of the time. Joy and Marv, more of Joy's brother than a friend, discussed almost everything. Marv became famous for his phrase "batao na (tell/show me)". Vicky was one of the most hilarious guys, he and his non stop comedy made everyone laugh. Hitesh's kitchen was the tea spot for most of them. If anyone wanted to have an amazing flavoured tea, Hitesh was the guy to look for. The talent doesn't stop here. Ansh and Joy were the ones who were anytime ready for beer, getting wasted was the motto here. Ansh was a guitarist and good singer too. After drinking guitar was the only thing he would need of-course apart from more beers. All the memories were captured by Sneha, who was a good photographer.

Lecture breaks were something everyone used to wait for. Rush for banana first and then for coffee was the strategy. There was a time when Joy dint even know who Porter is, now he knows it so much that he thinks - World would have ceased without porter and his 5 forces . Porter is everywhere and in every subject. Seems like MBA course would have had no value and no discussions without Porter and Tesco. The MOP project was another highlight and crucial topic for gossip. The board of directors meeting of aXelleo, a virtual company that Joy and his marketing group owned, was entertaining. Well all this was gone now. Before anyone could blink two terms were over and two more were to come.

Now, six months later, he is sitting at the Birmingham airport waiting to board his flight to India. As he awaits the boarding call, he recollects all these memories of last six months, few of the best moments of his life, that passed by so quickly. Joy feels that it was just yesterday that he came to UK but for his surprise 6 months were already gone. The months passed so quick that he now wonders whats coming next. He realises that one day morning he will wake up and the next 6 months would have also gone and these times would be missed as everyone would enter the corporate world. 

to be continued (Joy goes to Flash Back)...

"We all have our own time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams."