Its been 8 days now, since I became a follower of NITIEism, and to put it in a nutshell – LIFE HAS CHANGED! (The words in Caps are put there knowingly).

It all started with my initial footsteps into the all-green campus in the hot afternoon of 17th June. As my auto screeched to a halt in front of PGP-1/2/5 Hostel, with the huge luggage accompanying me, I was suddenly encompassed by that special feeling – last felt 2 years back in Thapar University!

Room No. 622 on the 6th floor was destined to be first year abode here, with Chandu & Nishant being my opposite room occupants, reaching at almost the same time with me. The Firsties were a mix bag. The room was in a complete mess, but pretty liveable once it was cleaned. The Mess food was not at all messy, and still holds good till now (3 cheers there). After the orkutty & gtalky interaction with fellow batchmates during the past 50 days, the time had come to meet them in real. Arvind, Manoj, Himanshu and the likes happened to be first among those. After lunch, we all had a campus stroll, which took us to the beautiful pond and the playground. Then I met my dear roomie – Bravefart a.k.a Himanshu :D We also managed to play a cricket match on the very first evening :)

But the Chaos Theory essentially began the next day: The IN-DUCT-ION programme!!

For as the clock ticked 6pm on the evening of 18th June, we all felt an IMPACT of a magnanimous kind, seldom seen before! The Intros started and the USPs and what not! From Marketing presentations to Pole dance, from Finance case study to strategy games, from B-Plan to campus tour, and from Out-of-the-box skits to the rainy bonfire dance – there was everything, so much so that it surpassed my wildest imaginations by a long range! 6-7 hours sleep in 3 days/nights – well that was all we could manage.

Amidst all the Chaos, we all interacted with each other – From 5 years work exp. Junta to gold medalists freshers, the diversity was one-of-a-kind. We had dancers, singers, athletes, sketchers, actors, intellectuals etc. and ordinary souls like me too :P The 200 something junta was definitely one of the best amongst the country. I was amazed & thrilled at the same time. Another pleasant surprise was the super-ratio of almost 1:4 that we managed to have in our 9/11 batch.

NITIE as a campus also felt so aesthetic, almost like a rainbow of colours. GREEN with all the trees around, BLUE with the pond, PINK with all the beauties being there, BROWN with the dusty playground and trekking zones, BLACK with all the mysteries surrounding some places here, YELLOW with our new hostel shades, and finally WHITE coming out as the spectrum of all colours!

Its difficult to believe that its only been a week since I came here, because so much has happened around me. With a bustling group of friends already accompanying me everywhere, with the very latest discussions focusing on Goa trip and breaking the fairer sex-code :P, I am already in an all-enjoyment mode here.

The classroom studies have commenced, the assignments are pouring in now, surprise quizzes don’t seem so far and full attendance is almost compulsory. The MBA-feeling is slowly but steadily sinking inside me now.

So as I blog down the closing words of my first post in NITIE with the clock ticking 3am (well the difference between am & pm has almost seized to exist now), I am sure that this journey during the next 2 years will definitely have a life-altering impact (the basic premise of the Chaos theory)!

NITIEism ROXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. The icing on the NITIE cake has been the wonderful weather in aamchi-mumbai, which after a super-humid & all sweaty first 2-3 days, is now at its rainy best! The NITIE-MUMBAI Combo has started to click guys!

The stakes were really high:

He was in a Grand Slam Final. One win away from the elusive French open crown. One victory short of a 14th Grand slam title, to equal Pete Sampras’s feat. A performance which could make him only the 7th player in the open era to win all 4 major slams. He was up against the Super-Swede Robin Soderling, the conqueror of Clay King Rafa earlier in the tournament, in this all-important final. His passage to the final had not been smooth though, he was pushed to the limit by Haas and Potro in the earlier rounds.

After almost 100 minutes of riveting tennis in the heavy clay of Roland Garros, HE DID IT. He is now G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time)!! He is the Swiss maestro – Roger Federer!

Finally, the moment had arrived for the champion. For it was on this red clay, that Roger’s untiring charge for the French crown had been thwarted for the past 4 years by Rafael Nadal, the Spanish armada. But this time the Spanish armada had sunk. On a loss that hit 10 on Richter scale, an earthquake that shook the roots of tennis folklore. Rafa, unbeaten since his Roland Garros debut in 2005, was eliminated by then little-known Robin Soderling in 4 sets. What made this victory even more shocking was the fact that this same Soderling was demolished 6-1, 6-0 on Madrid clay by Rafa himself just a month back. However this was a different Robin, as Super-Soderling unleashed a flurry of unreachable winners to strangle Rafa’s attempt to take the crown for a 5th consecutive time, hence breaking Bjorn Borg’s record. The 31-match winning streak had come to a screeching halt.

And the minute that supersonic upset occurred, Fedex heartbeat had become faster. He, of all men, knew that this was his chance. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lay his hands on the very precious French crown. The desperation, the pressure and the change in attitude could be seen in the next matches of Roger. He came from 2 sets down against the German Tommy Haas and was 2 sets to 1 down against the dangerous Argentinean Potro. As the Swiss himself said – ‘Wherever I go now, people come out from everywhere and scream – this is your chance, you have to do it this time. Its now or never’.

The 5 time Wimbledon champion, 5 time US Open winner and 3 time Australian Open owner had silenced his critics once and for all. For the only thing that separated Fedex from the title of G.O.A.T was the elusive French Open title.

However, a 6-1, 7-6, 6-4 comprehensive win over the now-famous Swede meant that Roger Federer had reached the pinnacle of glory. For whatever he may do now in his upcoming tennis future and his subsequent life, the colossal burden has been lifted from Roger’s shoulders forever now.

As one of my dearest friend ‘Sid’ quoted in his sms just after the historic victory:

“Those tears after realizing the dream of conquering the world.. that sigh of proving yet again that he is better than the best.. those glittering eyes of the legend.. the king of the kings.. yet again achieving superlative supremacy on this world of tennis-ing arena.. we salute you.. Sir Roger Federer..!!”"

Roger Federer – G.O.A.T :-)