These are my experiences at the matriculation dinner held on Saturday, 20th October. Read it in conjunction with the end of the previous post on "Mushrooms with a sprinkling of supervisions", for the beginning of this post to make sense.
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Arose at 7:30 and arrayed myself in finery. Black suit, white shirt and red tie. Wore gown for the third time tonight. Went for dinner. On my left at the dinner table was a Chinese guy called Xi (pronouced she) Tan. On his left was a german guy whose name I didn't quite catch. To my right was a chinese guy called K. K. K. Lee. I think his first name was Ke(l)vin. (Not sure about the 'l'). To his right was a professor, who had been dislodged from the high table. Not sure why there were professors sprinkled all over the tables, but I guess the high table can't accommodate all of them. The German guy is doing maths, doesn't like colours and failed the Turing test, Xi is doing computer science and sleeps three hours a day and the three of us were chatting mostly amongst ourselves. Didn't speak much to KKK Lee and he probably got a bit bored sandwiched between me and the professor. Oh and the professor was the Director of Studies (DoS) of the german guy, which means the professor was a maths professor. Deduction.
There was my name on a folded bit of paper that was standing on its legs at my place at the table. It said "I Laskar". There were napkins folded like flowers. Three different sizes of wine glasses (whose use became clearer as the evening wore on), two sizes of forks, two knives and one spoon were arranged as well. (Now that I think about it... were they silver?) There was also a folded menu card and a list of toasts on the table. The first course was smoked salmon in something sauce. Then a main course of steak, potatoes, mushrooms, then the "cheese board" and finally coffee and truffles. On the second page was a list of toasts (with "proposed by the Master" in brackets). The first one said "Queen" and the second one read "New Fellows". Quaint.
So the first course arrived and wine was served. They had both red and white wines and the waiters went about periodically refilling glasses. I didn't realise it then, but the wines that were being served had names and the names were written on the corner of the menu card. I read those and thought them to be names of people written on the menu in memoria of their recipes. Anyhow, I busied myself with the salmon. It was a thin slice of pink stuff and to my surprise, it was cold. It didn't have any salt either. Ate it nevertheless.
There were times between the courses when there was no food for long durations and then we would look around and smile politely at people. I did get a conversation going leftwards with the compsci guy and the german Guy (Labelled Xi and G respectively henceforth). Couldn't see the chap in front of me too well as he wsa obscured in glasses and water bottles. Oh and the water was "sparkling water", as opposed to the other flavour of water they drink here called spring water. On Xi's comment that he couldn't find any difference between the water and the wine, I decided to try out both.
So I tried the wine. The reason I did was because there was some in my glass. The reason there was some in my glass was because the waiter didn't listen to me when I said I didn't want any. The lady who served the row of people facing me across the table was asking each person if they wanted what she was giving. They guy who served my side didn't. With the result that I had some wine in my galss. Anyway, the point is that there was some wine in my glass, so I decided to try it out. If Xi couldn't tell the difference between the water and the wine, either the wine was watery or the water was winey. I thought the latter was unlikely and that what he meant was that the wine was watery. It turned out that it was the other way round. I sipped some of the wine. It made a burning sensation on the way down and was somewhat bitter. Not particularly appetising, but I did make sure I had enough of it to remember the taste afterwards!
Up next was the main course. There was steak and as the waitress brought it around, I considered it prudent to ask what it was made of. When she confirmed that it was indeed beef, I declined the steak, with memories of the fresher's formal still fresh. "Would you like a vegarian option? Are you a vegetarian?" I said yes and no in some confusion, then clarified that though I wasn't a vegetarian, I didn't want the steak. To that she nodded understandingly and vanished. Subsequently, the mushrooms and potatoes came around, but I wasn't asked. Everyone had their share of steak and mushrooms and potatoes and I waited with an empty plate until someone came and removed the plate as well.
I understood the concept when a few minutes later, a plate preloaded with food arrived and was placed in front of me. It had brinjal in tomato curry (ugh) and some little round yellow things, which looked like bajra. I'm not sure even now what that really was. I guessed that it was some cereal, like rice, but it wasn't rice or wheat or corn, or bajra for that matter. Or maybe it was bajra. Anyway, I tried it and it wasn't too bad. Then one of the waitresses asked if I'd like some mushrooms (yes please) and some potah-toze (yes thank you). So then I proceeded to polish off the contents of my plate with considerable relish. The most surprising thing was that there was some salt in the cereal, though none in the sabzi, mushrooms or potah-toze (and probably none in the steak the others had as well) Just to verify, I did ask G how the steak was and he said it was good. Anyway, I'm still sure I didn't miss having it, such is my faith in the British kitchen.
When the main course was over, waiters issued forth once more from their recesses and cleared the table. Now I realised what all the glasses were for, for port was then brought forth and poured into the third glass, the first two having been used for white and red wines respectively. I declined the port (and the red wine earlier). Apparently, the port glasses are different and are the ones used for toasting certain members of the royal family. Suddenly a gong rang. All conversation ceased and the hall fell silent. Their was an enormous rustle as Everyone stood up. The master bellowed something. Everyone lifted their glasses and drank port. Their was another enormous rustle and Everyone sat down. Converstaion resumed normally. The entire episode lasted about fifteen seconds. It dawned on me several seconds later that what the master had said was the phrase "To the Queen". So everyone had just toasted the Queen. Hmm.
Then we had the cheese board. What that means is that there is a plate with a variety of new and young as well as old and stinky cheeses pasted on it and you can take as much as you like, with the idea of having it with biscuits. I'm not sure how universal this idea of cheese-and-biscuits is, but it was fairly new to me. It's when I saw that there were biscuits placed at the head of the table that I made the connection. Further, the head of the table was occupied with students of somewhat unsocial nature (or of obliviety to the fact that there were no other plates of buscuits on the table) with the result that whatever was placed there never made it down to the rest f the table. The truffles met a similar and unfortunate fate. They were put down at the head and the head got pretty merry on them, but they never arrived at the middle of the table. As far as the biscuits go, we just had the cheese with knives. As regards the truffles, someone from the next table finally took pity on us and passed us some of their truffles.
After the cheeses, there was another gong, followed by the same rustling and ovation. Then the voice of the master was heard over the PA system, which is pretty impressive, given that you can't locate where the speakers ar and he bade everyone be seated. The first thing he said in his speech was "I have two bits of some not so good news" and then he proceeded to elaborate. The first bit of bad news was that South Africa were beating England in the ongoing Rugby match and that while South Africa had scored fifteen, "England's score differs from them by a perfect square", as told to him by professor something. He then followed out the calculation and informed us that that meant that England had scored six. Though how he figured out which perfect square to take away from fifteen, there being three of them below that number, I still haven't discovered.
The second bit of not-so-good news was that of all the free dinners hosted by the college in our honour, this was to be the last event and that we had already met the people who were going to be important in our student life here, the tutors and the dierectors of studies and that he now had pleasure in being the last one to welcome us to Trintiy and that he was the Master. He then said that the primary duty of the master was as custodian of the Master's lodge and mentioned the Grandfather clock of Newton which is housed there and which he showed us when we went for drinks there on the 15th. The next thing he said was somewhat of a surprise. In welcoming us to Trinity, I imagined he would quote illustious stalwarts of yore who had brought fame and fortuen to the in ages past. What I was not expecting was for him to begin his solitary list of eminent members with the comment: "It has been exactly hundred years now this matricualtion dinner that Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the former Prime Minister of India entered Trinity and was seated at these tables just like you today"
The rest of the speech was a general and humorous welcome to the college and what one must and must not do, punctuated with ceremonial polite laughter and ending with the traditional clapping. As the speech came to a close, the master requested all the non-first year student (and I got confused whether it included me, not actually being a first-year student) to please rise and to drink a toast to the new members of college. A few scattrered people all across the hall rose as if on a pushbutton and toasted those who remained sitting.
The last thing on the menu was coffee and truffles. I decided to try the coffee out, making sure I got a lot of nice white milk, only to discover that therewas no sugar in the coffee, nor anywhere else on the table. So I didn't drink it. That was it for the party. Everything was eaten and all the drinks had been drunk and it was a quarter past ten and everyone was just sitting and chatting aimlessly until someone from the high table actually got up and bade us go forth. Then there was the familiar rustling and everyone lined crowded the doors.
The event was followed by departmental drinks. The Natural Sciences staff had cordially invited Natural Sciences students (affectionately called Natscis) to after-dinner drinks in the Allhusen room. I asked a porter where that was, discovered it was right next to the hall and then made my way there. That's where I found a number of people I knew, along with my Director of Studies, Prof. Malte Grosche. I got myself a glass of orange juice and stood near the door welcoming people in. That's when David Yu (The MIT exchange student who's doing Part II Physics and is at Trinity) came in as well and waved characteristically at seventyfive degrees to the vertical. We spent the rest of the evening chatting and also roped in my DoS, who later turned out to be David's DoS as well. The evening ended with the three of us being the last people to leave. As we went out, the stars were shining brightly and I enquired of my DoS if there was any Astronomy Club operative in Cambridge. He mentioned somethine, which I haven't tried to look for yet. He then pointed out the pole star and Cassiopeia and I was quite impressed, considering the fact that he's a Quantem Mechanics Prof. We said goodnight for the night and the revd. prof made his way to the bar.
So this is how we dined and sup'ped
Apologies for taking s'long to put it up!
Many more stories to come, so do read!
And I'd like to get some comments as back-feed
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Mushrooms, with a sprinkling of supervisions
Thursday, October 18th contd...
In the evening, we had the Trinity singer's rehearsal. Practised a bit before the rehearsal and then went to the chapel for the rehearsal at eight. As usual, it lasted until ten. Then I got hold of the pianist and a score for Handel's Hallelujah chorus and practised it with the piano once for the audition tomorrow. Fixed a rehearsal time with James, the pianist, for 1 pm tomorrow.
Friday, October 19th
Had a QM and an REL class as usual. Then disappeared from the Cavendish as I had my Corpus Christi Chapel Choir audition at 2pm. Went to St. John's and took last night's sabzi (mattar aloo) from the fridge, brought it back to Trinity in a box and had it here with bread. Then left for the music practice room to meet James. He came soon after one. We went through the piece a couple of times and then he left and I went to Corpus. Waited outside the chapel for a bit for Leo Tomita, the organ scholar at Corpus whom I had been in touch with. He told me immediately that "there was too much of a gap" between what they wanted and where I stood in terms of singing ability and that I should try music lessons and that they'd open up a whole new world. I think so too.
Came back and worked on the REL supervision assignment, which is to be submitted on Sunday. Waited long whiles for Nandhini to come for dinner preparation. Got a mail from Pradipta, my CCT parent, saying that he was back from Arizona and would I like some candy? Gladly replied in the affirmative. He arrived at 9 as I was waiting for Nandhini. Since there was no dinner to be had and no Nandhini either, went with him to his room and helped him make a Bengali experiment. Don't know what they call it but it is made with paneer (which was readily made by putting some lemon in milk and then strainging the liquid through a handkerchief). The paneer is gathered into balls and fried (more easily said than done) and then put in a curry. It wasn't too bad, but it was an experiment after all. Had it with rice at around midnight.
Came back from Jesus Lane where Pradipta's room is, to find most entrances into the Blue Boar Court compund locked, being early am. Went around to the main gate (across the street from the Great Gate of the college) and was finally able to get in.
Saturday, Octber 20th
Slept long. Awoke at 10:30 and got ready. Went to see the Great Court Run at 12 noon. The college has one Great Gate and the courtyard it opens into is called Great Court. There, every year, on the noon of the day of the Matriculation dinner, they hold the Great Court run. In that, you have to run around the perimeter of the court as the clock strikes 12 and finish before the clock finishes donging. It goes ding-dong four times (to indicate that it is a full something-o'clock) and then dangs oclock times and finally dongs oclock times.
I went ot great court just before 12 and found to my delight that today people were allowed to get onto the grass, which covers most of the court in four patches. There were runners arrayed in running suits streching just inside the Great Gate and another group of runners in fancy dress (there's a prize for fancy dress) under the clock tower, which is to your right if you are standing inside the court with the Great Gate behind you). The idea of putting the fancy dress runners there is that they don't impede the srious runners starting at the Great Gate. It's assumed that runners beginning at the clock tower will have sufficient speed to get out of the way (i.e. cross the Great Gate) before the serious runners reach it at the end of their lap.
So it danged 12 times and donged twelve times and in that time of some 45 seconds, Sam Dobin managed to run around the court. The full story, which made headlines, can be found at: http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk
I was there to see it and to cheer Sam on :) Wish I'd made a movie.
Checked email and wrote to Nandhini reminding her about today's Durga Puja, which was being organised by the town's Hindu cultural society. Read a bit and then picekd up Nandhini and went to the Durga Puja for free lunch. I've heard it said that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Accepted it grudgingly, having to wait until 4 for the lunch. Boring puja. The mantras and even the pulic announcements were in Bengali. The whole thing was held in some sort of a hall (It's called Guildhall. Don't know what it is really. Just a hall, I suppose. In fact there are two, big hall and little hall, inside this building called Guildhall. So much for British naming conventions).
Came back and worked on the REL assignment until 7:30. Today we had the college matriculation dinner. I'll write about that in a separate post as there is much to tell. That's it for Saturday.
Sunday, October 21st
Went for a jog, for the first time on a Sunday. I'm afraid I caught a chill. It was severely cold that morning. It's a requiredment of the human bidy for the inhaled breath to be brought to a certain temperature and the cilia were hard pressed for the task, with the result that I had a headache from the cold air that morning. Is till have it, compunded with some loss of sleep, making me wonder if it may be meningitis (!) but we have a habit of personally glorifying everything. Will go and sleep in a bit and hope it wears off...
Anyway, to continue my Sunday story, I met Shivam early morning and bought some cheese-and-onion breadspread. Made some sandwiches and dropped off some at Nandhini's with the aim that I'd arrive at John's again in the afternoon for lunch. Discovered when I got there with the Sandwiches at 11 that she had already made lunch (grr) and was planning to go to the Gates Common room (lucky Gates scholars of the world have a common room for themselves with free soup - I think I mentioned it before in one of my posts) to study. Seeing my lunch slipping away before my eyes, I dissuaded her from going there just yet. Cambe back and had sandwiches. Shivam kindly offered to drop off my REL assignment in P. Wong's pigeonhole. I put a slip on the assignment apologising for the handwriting. Shivam then left with my REL assignement and I sad down to work on the Quantum Mechanics assignment, which is due Tuesday.
Worked until 2, then went to John's and found Nandhini had eaten the lunch she had made at eleven, at eleven itself and had left the sandwiches. I had the remainding sabzi with bread for lunch and she had the sandwiches. Then I decided to travel to the Gates room with her and avail of some freesoup along with finishing my QM work. Picked up my books from Trinity and we went to the Gates room. On the way I bough a calling card for 5 pounds. I can now call home (whoopie!). Haven't used it yet.
Came back from the Gates room at eight thirty. It was bitterly cold outside. Carried some cups of freesoup to warm the hands and the minds :)
Reached John's and cooked. Made Dal-palak (palak in dal) and mattar-makki. She made the dal, I made the mattar. Very nice dal and ditto for the mattar. We had it with rice. Left for the night.
Monday, October 22nd
Dragged myself out of bed for the morning run. !5 minutes is now standard. Lot of fun, but it is getting cold now. Have been running with gloves on, but wish there was something to cover my ears. Will look around for ear muffs. Had Comp Phy and REL today. REL was nice! We talked about antenna theory. Met the prof after class and told him about the radio telescope and that I had seen the syllabus before coming here and been waiting for this lecture.
Went back to college and picked up some bread on the way. Went to John's and got last night's veggie and had it with the bread. Was feeling queer and so slept a while. Then rushed at 2:30 pm back to the Cavendish for my first supervision. The (REL) supervision was fine. There were three of us and a P. Wong, PhD student studying MRI in the Radiology lab. Pauline (Wong) first asked us if there were any specific questions about any part of the course so far. Upon a reply in the negative, we proceeded to discuss the questions. Very friendly environment. She also told me there was nothing wrong with my handwriting and that she'd seen much worse. Brightened a little on hearing so. When we came to the qns on Maxwells' equations, she said let's write them down one by one. She began with div B = 0. David Yu wrote down Div E = rho / epsilon naught. Bo wrote down curl E = - del B / del t. I was the unfortunate on to get the last one, the one with the curl B and so proceeded to mess it up with pomp and flair.
Anyhow, after the supervision, which lasted an hour, walked back with Bo to Trinity. Then sat down to beat out the QM questions. Had a tough time and was late going to Nandhini's for dinner. Discovered that she'd made rice and dal for both of us, but thinking that I woulnd't come, had made palak and eaten it all. Reminded her that we'd still need something for lunch the next day. Made some mattar-mushroom and had it with the rice and dal that was left (which was quite a bit) and then packed up the leftover sabzi into her lunch for Tuesday and my and Shivam's lunch for Tuesday as well.
Left just before 10 and made it out of the St. John's Great Gate just as they were closing it, with the porter on my heels. Came back, sighed and sat down to finish the QM assignment. Got into bed just as the Trinity clock struck 12 midnight.
In the evening, we had the Trinity singer's rehearsal. Practised a bit before the rehearsal and then went to the chapel for the rehearsal at eight. As usual, it lasted until ten. Then I got hold of the pianist and a score for Handel's Hallelujah chorus and practised it with the piano once for the audition tomorrow. Fixed a rehearsal time with James, the pianist, for 1 pm tomorrow.
Friday, October 19th
Had a QM and an REL class as usual. Then disappeared from the Cavendish as I had my Corpus Christi Chapel Choir audition at 2pm. Went to St. John's and took last night's sabzi (mattar aloo) from the fridge, brought it back to Trinity in a box and had it here with bread. Then left for the music practice room to meet James. He came soon after one. We went through the piece a couple of times and then he left and I went to Corpus. Waited outside the chapel for a bit for Leo Tomita, the organ scholar at Corpus whom I had been in touch with. He told me immediately that "there was too much of a gap" between what they wanted and where I stood in terms of singing ability and that I should try music lessons and that they'd open up a whole new world. I think so too.
Came back and worked on the REL supervision assignment, which is to be submitted on Sunday. Waited long whiles for Nandhini to come for dinner preparation. Got a mail from Pradipta, my CCT parent, saying that he was back from Arizona and would I like some candy? Gladly replied in the affirmative. He arrived at 9 as I was waiting for Nandhini. Since there was no dinner to be had and no Nandhini either, went with him to his room and helped him make a Bengali experiment. Don't know what they call it but it is made with paneer (which was readily made by putting some lemon in milk and then strainging the liquid through a handkerchief). The paneer is gathered into balls and fried (more easily said than done) and then put in a curry. It wasn't too bad, but it was an experiment after all. Had it with rice at around midnight.
Came back from Jesus Lane where Pradipta's room is, to find most entrances into the Blue Boar Court compund locked, being early am. Went around to the main gate (across the street from the Great Gate of the college) and was finally able to get in.
Saturday, Octber 20th
Slept long. Awoke at 10:30 and got ready. Went to see the Great Court Run at 12 noon. The college has one Great Gate and the courtyard it opens into is called Great Court. There, every year, on the noon of the day of the Matriculation dinner, they hold the Great Court run. In that, you have to run around the perimeter of the court as the clock strikes 12 and finish before the clock finishes donging. It goes ding-dong four times (to indicate that it is a full something-o'clock) and then dangs oclock times and finally dongs oclock times.
I went ot great court just before 12 and found to my delight that today people were allowed to get onto the grass, which covers most of the court in four patches. There were runners arrayed in running suits streching just inside the Great Gate and another group of runners in fancy dress (there's a prize for fancy dress) under the clock tower, which is to your right if you are standing inside the court with the Great Gate behind you). The idea of putting the fancy dress runners there is that they don't impede the srious runners starting at the Great Gate. It's assumed that runners beginning at the clock tower will have sufficient speed to get out of the way (i.e. cross the Great Gate) before the serious runners reach it at the end of their lap.
So it danged 12 times and donged twelve times and in that time of some 45 seconds, Sam Dobin managed to run around the court. The full story, which made headlines, can be found at: http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk
I was there to see it and to cheer Sam on :) Wish I'd made a movie.
Checked email and wrote to Nandhini reminding her about today's Durga Puja, which was being organised by the town's Hindu cultural society. Read a bit and then picekd up Nandhini and went to the Durga Puja for free lunch. I've heard it said that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Accepted it grudgingly, having to wait until 4 for the lunch. Boring puja. The mantras and even the pulic announcements were in Bengali. The whole thing was held in some sort of a hall (It's called Guildhall. Don't know what it is really. Just a hall, I suppose. In fact there are two, big hall and little hall, inside this building called Guildhall. So much for British naming conventions).
Came back and worked on the REL assignment until 7:30. Today we had the college matriculation dinner. I'll write about that in a separate post as there is much to tell. That's it for Saturday.
Sunday, October 21st
Went for a jog, for the first time on a Sunday. I'm afraid I caught a chill. It was severely cold that morning. It's a requiredment of the human bidy for the inhaled breath to be brought to a certain temperature and the cilia were hard pressed for the task, with the result that I had a headache from the cold air that morning. Is till have it, compunded with some loss of sleep, making me wonder if it may be meningitis (!) but we have a habit of personally glorifying everything. Will go and sleep in a bit and hope it wears off...
Anyway, to continue my Sunday story, I met Shivam early morning and bought some cheese-and-onion breadspread. Made some sandwiches and dropped off some at Nandhini's with the aim that I'd arrive at John's again in the afternoon for lunch. Discovered when I got there with the Sandwiches at 11 that she had already made lunch (grr) and was planning to go to the Gates Common room (lucky Gates scholars of the world have a common room for themselves with free soup - I think I mentioned it before in one of my posts) to study. Seeing my lunch slipping away before my eyes, I dissuaded her from going there just yet. Cambe back and had sandwiches. Shivam kindly offered to drop off my REL assignment in P. Wong's pigeonhole. I put a slip on the assignment apologising for the handwriting. Shivam then left with my REL assignement and I sad down to work on the Quantum Mechanics assignment, which is due Tuesday.
Worked until 2, then went to John's and found Nandhini had eaten the lunch she had made at eleven, at eleven itself and had left the sandwiches. I had the remainding sabzi with bread for lunch and she had the sandwiches. Then I decided to travel to the Gates room with her and avail of some freesoup along with finishing my QM work. Picked up my books from Trinity and we went to the Gates room. On the way I bough a calling card for 5 pounds. I can now call home (whoopie!). Haven't used it yet.
Came back from the Gates room at eight thirty. It was bitterly cold outside. Carried some cups of freesoup to warm the hands and the minds :)
Reached John's and cooked. Made Dal-palak (palak in dal) and mattar-makki. She made the dal, I made the mattar. Very nice dal and ditto for the mattar. We had it with rice. Left for the night.
Monday, October 22nd
Dragged myself out of bed for the morning run. !5 minutes is now standard. Lot of fun, but it is getting cold now. Have been running with gloves on, but wish there was something to cover my ears. Will look around for ear muffs. Had Comp Phy and REL today. REL was nice! We talked about antenna theory. Met the prof after class and told him about the radio telescope and that I had seen the syllabus before coming here and been waiting for this lecture.
Went back to college and picked up some bread on the way. Went to John's and got last night's veggie and had it with the bread. Was feeling queer and so slept a while. Then rushed at 2:30 pm back to the Cavendish for my first supervision. The (REL) supervision was fine. There were three of us and a P. Wong, PhD student studying MRI in the Radiology lab. Pauline (Wong) first asked us if there were any specific questions about any part of the course so far. Upon a reply in the negative, we proceeded to discuss the questions. Very friendly environment. She also told me there was nothing wrong with my handwriting and that she'd seen much worse. Brightened a little on hearing so. When we came to the qns on Maxwells' equations, she said let's write them down one by one. She began with div B = 0. David Yu wrote down Div E = rho / epsilon naught. Bo wrote down curl E = - del B / del t. I was the unfortunate on to get the last one, the one with the curl B and so proceeded to mess it up with pomp and flair.
Anyhow, after the supervision, which lasted an hour, walked back with Bo to Trinity. Then sat down to beat out the QM questions. Had a tough time and was late going to Nandhini's for dinner. Discovered that she'd made rice and dal for both of us, but thinking that I woulnd't come, had made palak and eaten it all. Reminded her that we'd still need something for lunch the next day. Made some mattar-mushroom and had it with the rice and dal that was left (which was quite a bit) and then packed up the leftover sabzi into her lunch for Tuesday and my and Shivam's lunch for Tuesday as well.
Left just before 10 and made it out of the St. John's Great Gate just as they were closing it, with the porter on my heels. Came back, sighed and sat down to finish the QM assignment. Got into bed just as the Trinity clock struck 12 midnight.
Thursday, 18 October 2007
Of Chapels and Leture Halls
Monday, October 15th
Had two lectures in the morning, as usual. QM was boring. REL was fun. Went to Shivam's and practiced some more of the Hallelujah Chorus. Had some bits of last night's dinner that was left. Then I went to Trinity and booked a music practice room for an hour and tried out the notes of the chorus on the piano. Pity I didn't have the score with me. Tried to figure out the chords so that I could play at least the chords during the audition. Went for the audition at 1:15 to Queen's College. Didn't go very well. I was asked to sight-read a piece, which means you have to sing by reading the notes a bit of music you may never have heard or seen before. Failed miserably. Was told they'd be in touch.
Tuesday, October 16th
Woke up to a cloudy morning. Sneaked a jog before it started drizzling. Trudged through the rain to the department. Had a comp phy and then a thermal phy class. Met Dave Green for projects during the winter. He didn't have any. Almost forgot we had a Theoretical Physics - 1 (TP1) class at 12. Rushed to class 15 minutes late. Discovered that the class had also begun 15 minutes late.
Had lunch in the cafeteria (pasta again, terrible and expensive). Then we had a TP1 examples class, where we were supposed to solve problems given at the back of the handout and ask supervisors if we got stuck anywhere. Just like a supervision, except that the whole class was together. That was fun. Managed to solve 7 of the eight problems, before 4 pm. It rained all day today. Came to college at 4:30 and studied a bit. Met Nandhini at 8 at St. John's and we made peas and mushroom, gobi-aloo, dal and rice. Good food.
Wednesday October 17th
Got up at 6:15 to find it was raining. Went back to sleep blissfully. Missed the morning jog. Today we had QM and REL again. Slept in QM. REL was nice. We discussed dipole radiation. Got a mail from Queen's saying thanks-but-no-thanks and that they had been looking only for tenors anyway. Didn't have lunch. Shivam left for eddies and I hung around the department until 1:30, when Dr Rachael Padman (comp phy teacher) was holding her research review meeting. Attended that and then left for college. Made pasta and soup here in college and lunched at 4 pm. Tried to study a bit but wasn't too successful. Booked a music practice room and practised from 6 to 7:30. Came back and stared a bit longer at the REL problems when Nandhini came knocking.
Went to Sainsbury's and bought some shelled corn and 5kg of potatoes. Went to John's and made some delicious beans-aloo-makki, rice and dal. Came back and went off to sleep.
Thursday, October 18th
Went for jog today. Had baked beans for the first time in the hall for breakfast, along with customary cereal. Not bad. Went to the Cavendish for lectures in comp phy, thermal phy and TP1. Then had lunch in the cafeteria. Lamb pasta bolognaise. Today is the last time I am eating there. Small portions of horrible food for exhorbitant prices (Rs 210, if you wish).
Then we had the first compy phy practical class. We just had to sit in the computer room and pretend we were doing something useful. Actually, even that was not necessary. There were supervisor-like people floating about and you could call one if you wanted help in something. The computer room is nothing but a bunch of computers, which students use to check email and stuff. So there were people doing different things on the comps and not just people from part II Physics. The entire thing was not bad - we just have to show our face once a week there. Lasted three hours. Just came from there.
Will have some bread and beans-aloo-makki I saved from last night for lunch today (but didn't take it this morning). Then practise for the Trinity singers rehearsal tonight. Then the rehearsal itself. Have written to the Corpus Christi College CHapel Choir incharge, on a suggestion from the Queen's chapel choir incharge and arranged for an audition tomorrow afternoon. My fourth audition here. The previous three for the Trinity Chapel choir, Cadenza (acapella singers) and Queen's Chapel choir being unsuccessful. Let us see how it goes.
Have to finish the REL and Quantum mech questions also before supervisions on Monday and Wednesday respectively.
More soon.
Tanmoy
Had two lectures in the morning, as usual. QM was boring. REL was fun. Went to Shivam's and practiced some more of the Hallelujah Chorus. Had some bits of last night's dinner that was left. Then I went to Trinity and booked a music practice room for an hour and tried out the notes of the chorus on the piano. Pity I didn't have the score with me. Tried to figure out the chords so that I could play at least the chords during the audition. Went for the audition at 1:15 to Queen's College. Didn't go very well. I was asked to sight-read a piece, which means you have to sing by reading the notes a bit of music you may never have heard or seen before. Failed miserably. Was told they'd be in touch.
Tuesday, October 16th
Woke up to a cloudy morning. Sneaked a jog before it started drizzling. Trudged through the rain to the department. Had a comp phy and then a thermal phy class. Met Dave Green for projects during the winter. He didn't have any. Almost forgot we had a Theoretical Physics - 1 (TP1) class at 12. Rushed to class 15 minutes late. Discovered that the class had also begun 15 minutes late.
Had lunch in the cafeteria (pasta again, terrible and expensive). Then we had a TP1 examples class, where we were supposed to solve problems given at the back of the handout and ask supervisors if we got stuck anywhere. Just like a supervision, except that the whole class was together. That was fun. Managed to solve 7 of the eight problems, before 4 pm. It rained all day today. Came to college at 4:30 and studied a bit. Met Nandhini at 8 at St. John's and we made peas and mushroom, gobi-aloo, dal and rice. Good food.
Wednesday October 17th
Got up at 6:15 to find it was raining. Went back to sleep blissfully. Missed the morning jog. Today we had QM and REL again. Slept in QM. REL was nice. We discussed dipole radiation. Got a mail from Queen's saying thanks-but-no-thanks and that they had been looking only for tenors anyway. Didn't have lunch. Shivam left for eddies and I hung around the department until 1:30, when Dr Rachael Padman (comp phy teacher) was holding her research review meeting. Attended that and then left for college. Made pasta and soup here in college and lunched at 4 pm. Tried to study a bit but wasn't too successful. Booked a music practice room and practised from 6 to 7:30. Came back and stared a bit longer at the REL problems when Nandhini came knocking.
Went to Sainsbury's and bought some shelled corn and 5kg of potatoes. Went to John's and made some delicious beans-aloo-makki, rice and dal. Came back and went off to sleep.
Thursday, October 18th
Went for jog today. Had baked beans for the first time in the hall for breakfast, along with customary cereal. Not bad. Went to the Cavendish for lectures in comp phy, thermal phy and TP1. Then had lunch in the cafeteria. Lamb pasta bolognaise. Today is the last time I am eating there. Small portions of horrible food for exhorbitant prices (Rs 210, if you wish).
Then we had the first compy phy practical class. We just had to sit in the computer room and pretend we were doing something useful. Actually, even that was not necessary. There were supervisor-like people floating about and you could call one if you wanted help in something. The computer room is nothing but a bunch of computers, which students use to check email and stuff. So there were people doing different things on the comps and not just people from part II Physics. The entire thing was not bad - we just have to show our face once a week there. Lasted three hours. Just came from there.
Will have some bread and beans-aloo-makki I saved from last night for lunch today (but didn't take it this morning). Then practise for the Trinity singers rehearsal tonight. Then the rehearsal itself. Have written to the Corpus Christi College CHapel Choir incharge, on a suggestion from the Queen's chapel choir incharge and arranged for an audition tomorrow afternoon. My fourth audition here. The previous three for the Trinity Chapel choir, Cadenza (acapella singers) and Queen's Chapel choir being unsuccessful. Let us see how it goes.
Have to finish the REL and Quantum mech questions also before supervisions on Monday and Wednesday respectively.
More soon.
Tanmoy
A-punting we will go...
A punting we will go (2)
Hi ho a merry-o, a-punting we will go!
The peas stand alone (2)
Along with some blinky beans, the peas stand alone!
Sunday, October 14th
We went punting today. All the CCT scholars. Well, almost all. We gathered at 12:30 at Queen's college and waited for the others to arrive. People were taken batchwise, five at a time along with a CCT-senior for a punter and dumped on punts and pushed into the river. I was wrenched from the affiliated-student-group boarding a punt (Nandhini, Nandhini, Umang, Girija) as I was told I was needed to book some Trinity college punts, since the number of punts was short. So I went with the CCT-senior-in-charge-of-organising-everything, Sriram Govindan to Trinity and booked a punt. When I reached Trinity, found the affiliated-student-punt waiting there. Merrily got in and pushed off.
We had loads of fun. Each of us took turns punting. All except me got a chance on the down trip. It was a nice sunny day for a change and the ducks followed us on the river, craning their necks for titbits. Umang had fed them a whole muffin by the end of the down journey and thereupon earned flak from several hungry co-passengers on the punt, myself included, for none of us had had any breakfast. I had the oar for some time and the idea was to push away other boats or push at the banks, to prevent collisions. We alighted at Jesus Green, a huge park behind Jesus College and lined up for icecream. We all got cones with vanilla/chocolate icecream and a chocolate 'flake' (looked like a piece of bark to me - managed to convice one of the CCT scholars that it was. Had fun while she was trying to figure out what it was doing in the middle of her icecream.)
After ices, we started on the lazy trip back. Me took the pole this time and got my sleeve all wet with the water that would trickle down the pole it time it was pulled out of water. Mighty heavy pole. Kept making the boat go round to the right and bumping the bank. Nandhini had the oar and was kept busy keeping the right bank away, which had developed a strange afinity for the boat. Girija suggested that we might try racing the ducks. Punted long and hard (shoulders still aching Thursday). Was de-puntered at John's. Joined the gang in singing O-majhi-re tpe of songs. An Indian in a passing punt yelled to us to sing louder :)
Came back tired. Went to Queen's College to attend their evensong and catch hold of their conductor. Found their conductor. Expressed interest in joinging the choir. She called me for an Audition the next day.
Went to Edmund's and practiced the Hallelujah chorus for a bit. Had dinner and came back to room. So was spent the Sunday.
Hi ho a merry-o, a-punting we will go!
The peas stand alone (2)
Along with some blinky beans, the peas stand alone!
Sunday, October 14th
We went punting today. All the CCT scholars. Well, almost all. We gathered at 12:30 at Queen's college and waited for the others to arrive. People were taken batchwise, five at a time along with a CCT-senior for a punter and dumped on punts and pushed into the river. I was wrenched from the affiliated-student-group boarding a punt (Nandhini, Nandhini, Umang, Girija) as I was told I was needed to book some Trinity college punts, since the number of punts was short. So I went with the CCT-senior-in-charge-of-organising-everything, Sriram Govindan to Trinity and booked a punt. When I reached Trinity, found the affiliated-student-punt waiting there. Merrily got in and pushed off.
We had loads of fun. Each of us took turns punting. All except me got a chance on the down trip. It was a nice sunny day for a change and the ducks followed us on the river, craning their necks for titbits. Umang had fed them a whole muffin by the end of the down journey and thereupon earned flak from several hungry co-passengers on the punt, myself included, for none of us had had any breakfast. I had the oar for some time and the idea was to push away other boats or push at the banks, to prevent collisions. We alighted at Jesus Green, a huge park behind Jesus College and lined up for icecream. We all got cones with vanilla/chocolate icecream and a chocolate 'flake' (looked like a piece of bark to me - managed to convice one of the CCT scholars that it was. Had fun while she was trying to figure out what it was doing in the middle of her icecream.)
After ices, we started on the lazy trip back. Me took the pole this time and got my sleeve all wet with the water that would trickle down the pole it time it was pulled out of water. Mighty heavy pole. Kept making the boat go round to the right and bumping the bank. Nandhini had the oar and was kept busy keeping the right bank away, which had developed a strange afinity for the boat. Girija suggested that we might try racing the ducks. Punted long and hard (shoulders still aching Thursday). Was de-puntered at John's. Joined the gang in singing O-majhi-re tpe of songs. An Indian in a passing punt yelled to us to sing louder :)
Came back tired. Went to Queen's College to attend their evensong and catch hold of their conductor. Found their conductor. Expressed interest in joinging the choir. She called me for an Audition the next day.
Went to Edmund's and practiced the Hallelujah chorus for a bit. Had dinner and came back to room. So was spent the Sunday.
Friday, 12 October 2007
Music and Pizza
Wednesday, Oct 10
... contd.
3:00 pm: Slept. Discovered that there was no food available at the Gates movie screening. Abandoned the plan. Wanted to study a bit too. Studied a bit. Went for dinner. Had pizza :) and potatoes and bread(!) Booked a music practice room and practised for an hour this time. Came back to the room and went to sleep.
Thursday, October 11
Awoke at 6:30. Gave a pass to the morning run. Got ready. Today's cereal was cornflakes. Plain Kellogg's cornflakes. Classes. Comp phy and then Stat mech. Both were good. Then theoretical Physics (Lagrangians and stuff. Tough course). Then lunch at the Cavendish Cafetaria. Hmm. Discovered after Shivam and I had taken the food that neither of us had any money. Ate on credit. Got our names written down in an enormous logbook (actually, only Shivam's name was written, what can I say). Pasta. Then had to meet Astro-prof (Dr Buscher). Shivam left to get money. I went to meet Buscher. He was holding his Research review meeting. Listened to it, then talked to him about prospective projects. Said "Europs" or some such thing, which was a programme for funding undergraduate projects during summer, was the best bet at the Cavendish, if I wanted to do a project here. I said I could try somewhere in the southern hemisphere. He mentioned the Anglo-Australian telescope. Will look it up.
Supervisors have been alloted. Got two profs and one PhD student. The PhD student is supervising REL. Got a mail from her informing about supervision schedule. 5 supervisions, four in this term and one in Easter (?!) one hour each. Other two supervisors have yet to write.
After meeting walked back to Trinity. Studied a bit. Then practised music in one of the music practise rooms. Went for dinner. Misread the menu again. Drat. Had turkey. Smelly turkey. No more turkey. Came back and some more studying. Slept.
Friday, October 12
Got up just in time. Went for a run. Raced a garbage truck. Chased a solitary pigeon. Startled the daylights out of my bedmaker (oh-a dee-year! you-a may-ed me ju-ump) She was coming out and I was going in the door. Got ready. Breakfast. Was the third person to enter the hall for food. Jam was late to arrive. Had toast with butter. Today I tried Kellogg's "Crunchy Nuts", with brown sugar. But there weren't any nuts, just cornflakes covered in brown sugar.
Classes. QM was terribly pathetic. Slept on and off. Covered my forty winks. Next was Relativity Electrodynamics and Light (henceforth REL). Dr Cooper pairs well with the subject. Brilliant lecture. Then was to meet Martin Longair for a research review (part of coursework) talk at 2:00. He's offering some reviews on astrophysics (he's just offering the topics, you have to do all the paper-searching and reading and writing. Plus other profs (such as the Dr Buscher mentioned before) are offering reviews as well.) Sat in Cavendish Library (called the Rayleigh lib) and studied. Met Longair at 2:00 pm. Talked also about possibility of projects. Strongly advised me not to take up anything during Christmas or Easter break, but that summer was a more viable option. He said Christmas and Easter will be required for studying. Will have a look to see how long the study break is before final exams :p
Went to Ghosh's. He was in the Edmund's library. Found him courtesy his college's Bursar, who said, "Who, Shivam? I know him! He went to the library." She took me there to find him. Came back. Terribly hungry. Made some sunfeast pasta bought back at home. Wrote a bit of this. MEt Shivam, Umang and Vidya outside Trinity. Bought some food (crumpets, beans, chopped mixed veg) and went to St. John's. Woke up Nandhini and made an absolutely scrumptious dinner of rice, dal, mixed veg and beans-aloo. Went back to Edmund's and spent the night there.
Saturday, October 13
Awoke at Eddies, jogged to Trinity, washed a shirt for the first time here, got ready, went for breakfast. Thought I'd tried all cereals there were. Was mistaken. Picked up 'bran flakes' today.
Got a mail from the flute player. We might meet today. Me off to do some bit of studying now :)
Catcha in a bit:
- Tanmoy
... contd.
3:00 pm: Slept. Discovered that there was no food available at the Gates movie screening. Abandoned the plan. Wanted to study a bit too. Studied a bit. Went for dinner. Had pizza :) and potatoes and bread(!) Booked a music practice room and practised for an hour this time. Came back to the room and went to sleep.
Thursday, October 11
Awoke at 6:30. Gave a pass to the morning run. Got ready. Today's cereal was cornflakes. Plain Kellogg's cornflakes. Classes. Comp phy and then Stat mech. Both were good. Then theoretical Physics (Lagrangians and stuff. Tough course). Then lunch at the Cavendish Cafetaria. Hmm. Discovered after Shivam and I had taken the food that neither of us had any money. Ate on credit. Got our names written down in an enormous logbook (actually, only Shivam's name was written, what can I say). Pasta. Then had to meet Astro-prof (Dr Buscher). Shivam left to get money. I went to meet Buscher. He was holding his Research review meeting. Listened to it, then talked to him about prospective projects. Said "Europs" or some such thing, which was a programme for funding undergraduate projects during summer, was the best bet at the Cavendish, if I wanted to do a project here. I said I could try somewhere in the southern hemisphere. He mentioned the Anglo-Australian telescope. Will look it up.
Supervisors have been alloted. Got two profs and one PhD student. The PhD student is supervising REL. Got a mail from her informing about supervision schedule. 5 supervisions, four in this term and one in Easter (?!) one hour each. Other two supervisors have yet to write.
After meeting walked back to Trinity. Studied a bit. Then practised music in one of the music practise rooms. Went for dinner. Misread the menu again. Drat. Had turkey. Smelly turkey. No more turkey. Came back and some more studying. Slept.
Friday, October 12
Got up just in time. Went for a run. Raced a garbage truck. Chased a solitary pigeon. Startled the daylights out of my bedmaker (oh-a dee-year! you-a may-ed me ju-ump) She was coming out and I was going in the door. Got ready. Breakfast. Was the third person to enter the hall for food. Jam was late to arrive. Had toast with butter. Today I tried Kellogg's "Crunchy Nuts", with brown sugar. But there weren't any nuts, just cornflakes covered in brown sugar.
Classes. QM was terribly pathetic. Slept on and off. Covered my forty winks. Next was Relativity Electrodynamics and Light (henceforth REL). Dr Cooper pairs well with the subject. Brilliant lecture. Then was to meet Martin Longair for a research review (part of coursework) talk at 2:00. He's offering some reviews on astrophysics (he's just offering the topics, you have to do all the paper-searching and reading and writing. Plus other profs (such as the Dr Buscher mentioned before) are offering reviews as well.) Sat in Cavendish Library (called the Rayleigh lib) and studied. Met Longair at 2:00 pm. Talked also about possibility of projects. Strongly advised me not to take up anything during Christmas or Easter break, but that summer was a more viable option. He said Christmas and Easter will be required for studying. Will have a look to see how long the study break is before final exams :p
Went to Ghosh's. He was in the Edmund's library. Found him courtesy his college's Bursar, who said, "Who, Shivam? I know him! He went to the library." She took me there to find him. Came back. Terribly hungry. Made some sunfeast pasta bought back at home. Wrote a bit of this. MEt Shivam, Umang and Vidya outside Trinity. Bought some food (crumpets, beans, chopped mixed veg) and went to St. John's. Woke up Nandhini and made an absolutely scrumptious dinner of rice, dal, mixed veg and beans-aloo. Went back to Edmund's and spent the night there.
Saturday, October 13
Awoke at Eddies, jogged to Trinity, washed a shirt for the first time here, got ready, went for breakfast. Thought I'd tried all cereals there were. Was mistaken. Picked up 'bran flakes' today.
Got a mail from the flute player. We might meet today. Me off to do some bit of studying now :)
Catcha in a bit:
- Tanmoy
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
Toes First
Monday, October 8th:
Morning jog, got ready, breakfast of rice crispies and milk, bread and egg, went to class - we had Quantum mech and Light. QM was very drab. Light was fun as usual. Nice prof. Shivam had to meet the Duke of Edinburgh at St. Edmund's. Went to Eddies with him. Stayed in his room while he went to meet the Duke. Turned a round a while later to find him still sitting in the room reading. Asked why he didn't go. Said he couldn't go alone. (How tacky is that?) Didn't have any food at Edmund's. Came to city center, deposited my scholarship check at the bank, enquired why I still hadn't got my chequebook, was informed that there was a postal strike, went to Sainsbury's (supermarket: mentioned before, has everything, except belan), bought some spaghetti, 945 gm of peas and a carrot. Went to Edmund's again. Made one-third of the spaghetti with the peas and the carrot. Not too bad. Was 5:30 pm. sat and studied.
Wrote to a prof in astro, asking if I could meet. Aim is to discuss projects in astro at Cambridge during winter months. 6:00 pm: Nandhini appeared. I studied some more. She made some stuff to eat, we left to go back home. Another day.
Tuesday, October 9th:
The usual, morning jog (16 minutes, 2.5 kms in toes-hit-the-ground-first mode), got ready, discovered it had begun raining, gave a lift to my bedmaker under my umbrella, ("cheers for that" (!)) breakfast of "Wheat toppas" (I'm trying out all the cereal packs they have in the mornings one by one) and milk, egg and toast. Trudged through the rain to the Cavendish lab, lectures on Comp phy and thermal phy were boring as usual. Trudged through the rain to St. Edmund's, made Spaghetti again, ate, came back to room, discovered it had been cleaned, wrote more of the question paper.
6:50 pm: went to Gonville and Caius college for the introductory talk of the Cambridge wireless society, which I had signed up for during the societies fair last Monday. Discovered a notice "college closed" outside. Waited for someone to appear through a side door, then smartly nicked in. Found the auditorium. I was the only new member. There were ~ 4 old members present, including three profs. Everyone was waiting for the club secy to bring the keys. Chatted awhile with Martin (a prof member, not to be confused with Martyn-with-a-y, another prof member). Told him about the radio telescope. Said they'd like to hear more about it.
Chap arrived with the keys. Went in, chatted more with Martin, watched and heard the presentations, saw videos of excursions to remote islands and hills. They society is basically into amateur radio: everyone gives (three) exams (in succession) and gets a call sign and a license to broadcast. The club provides study material for the exams and helps you get the license. Then you can take part in competitions, which basically involves contacting as many amateurs around the world in a fixed time as possible. There are technical aspects as well, such as designing your own equipment, but it really depends on the individual, how much you participate and on your own ingenuity, if designing projects. Filled a form for the first level exam, but told Martin that I will think about it. Told him I didn't know how much time I'd be able to spend. He replied by saying, "get the license, then you can decide for yourself how much you want to get involved." The top level of the licensing is recognised worldwide. He said he'd send me a ppt lecture-like, describing what you need to know for the foundation level license. Let us see...
Went to Edmund's again. Found Nandhini, who said Shivam and Umang were out, and we'd plan dinner when they return. Shivam and Umang arrived a moment later. No one seemed interested in making dinner. So went and made some aloo-mattar for the gang. People turned up to help. Put in some tomato puree into part of the sabzi and had it (dry and curry) with bread. Quite good. Just like we make at home :)
Nandhini says she will stay here during winters.
Rushed back (10:20 pm) and went to sleep.
Wednesday, October 10th
Today's cereal was coco pops. Turned out to be chocolate-covered rice crispies. Yum. Was asked to pay for the jam (?!) Wasn't raining. Went to Cavendish. Had lectures on QM and light again. QM was horrible. Light was great. we discussed optical activity. Prof had got a beaker of glucose solution and polarisers. Brilliant demo. Came to trinity after class with Shivam. Thought we had Chicken Jalfrezi and fried rice in the hall today for lunch. Probably read the wrong day's menu. Anyhow, found a different chicken dish (chicken and pasta bake (with cheese) : yum) and free bread :) (Shivam discovered that). Had nice lunch. Discovered astro-prof had responded. meeting tomorrow at 2pm possible. Let us see.
Plans for the afternoon and tonight: will finish the first question paper. Another half hour is needed, study a bit, at night am invited by Nandhini to a Gates scholars' movie screening. Looking forward to the food :)
Cheers!
Tanmoy
Morning jog, got ready, breakfast of rice crispies and milk, bread and egg, went to class - we had Quantum mech and Light. QM was very drab. Light was fun as usual. Nice prof. Shivam had to meet the Duke of Edinburgh at St. Edmund's. Went to Eddies with him. Stayed in his room while he went to meet the Duke. Turned a round a while later to find him still sitting in the room reading. Asked why he didn't go. Said he couldn't go alone. (How tacky is that?) Didn't have any food at Edmund's. Came to city center, deposited my scholarship check at the bank, enquired why I still hadn't got my chequebook, was informed that there was a postal strike, went to Sainsbury's (supermarket: mentioned before, has everything, except belan), bought some spaghetti, 945 gm of peas and a carrot. Went to Edmund's again. Made one-third of the spaghetti with the peas and the carrot. Not too bad. Was 5:30 pm. sat and studied.
Wrote to a prof in astro, asking if I could meet. Aim is to discuss projects in astro at Cambridge during winter months. 6:00 pm: Nandhini appeared. I studied some more. She made some stuff to eat, we left to go back home. Another day.
Tuesday, October 9th:
The usual, morning jog (16 minutes, 2.5 kms in toes-hit-the-ground-first mode), got ready, discovered it had begun raining, gave a lift to my bedmaker under my umbrella, ("cheers for that" (!)) breakfast of "Wheat toppas" (I'm trying out all the cereal packs they have in the mornings one by one) and milk, egg and toast. Trudged through the rain to the Cavendish lab, lectures on Comp phy and thermal phy were boring as usual. Trudged through the rain to St. Edmund's, made Spaghetti again, ate, came back to room, discovered it had been cleaned, wrote more of the question paper.
6:50 pm: went to Gonville and Caius college for the introductory talk of the Cambridge wireless society, which I had signed up for during the societies fair last Monday. Discovered a notice "college closed" outside. Waited for someone to appear through a side door, then smartly nicked in. Found the auditorium. I was the only new member. There were ~ 4 old members present, including three profs. Everyone was waiting for the club secy to bring the keys. Chatted awhile with Martin (a prof member, not to be confused with Martyn-with-a-y, another prof member). Told him about the radio telescope. Said they'd like to hear more about it.
Chap arrived with the keys. Went in, chatted more with Martin, watched and heard the presentations, saw videos of excursions to remote islands and hills. They society is basically into amateur radio: everyone gives (three) exams (in succession) and gets a call sign and a license to broadcast. The club provides study material for the exams and helps you get the license. Then you can take part in competitions, which basically involves contacting as many amateurs around the world in a fixed time as possible. There are technical aspects as well, such as designing your own equipment, but it really depends on the individual, how much you participate and on your own ingenuity, if designing projects. Filled a form for the first level exam, but told Martin that I will think about it. Told him I didn't know how much time I'd be able to spend. He replied by saying, "get the license, then you can decide for yourself how much you want to get involved." The top level of the licensing is recognised worldwide. He said he'd send me a ppt lecture-like, describing what you need to know for the foundation level license. Let us see...
Went to Edmund's again. Found Nandhini, who said Shivam and Umang were out, and we'd plan dinner when they return. Shivam and Umang arrived a moment later. No one seemed interested in making dinner. So went and made some aloo-mattar for the gang. People turned up to help. Put in some tomato puree into part of the sabzi and had it (dry and curry) with bread. Quite good. Just like we make at home :)
Nandhini says she will stay here during winters.
Rushed back (10:20 pm) and went to sleep.
Wednesday, October 10th
Today's cereal was coco pops. Turned out to be chocolate-covered rice crispies. Yum. Was asked to pay for the jam (?!) Wasn't raining. Went to Cavendish. Had lectures on QM and light again. QM was horrible. Light was great. we discussed optical activity. Prof had got a beaker of glucose solution and polarisers. Brilliant demo. Came to trinity after class with Shivam. Thought we had Chicken Jalfrezi and fried rice in the hall today for lunch. Probably read the wrong day's menu. Anyhow, found a different chicken dish (chicken and pasta bake (with cheese) : yum) and free bread :) (Shivam discovered that). Had nice lunch. Discovered astro-prof had responded. meeting tomorrow at 2pm possible. Let us see.
Plans for the afternoon and tonight: will finish the first question paper. Another half hour is needed, study a bit, at night am invited by Nandhini to a Gates scholars' movie screening. Looking forward to the food :)
Cheers!
Tanmoy
Sunday, 7 October 2007
A-live weekend
So here's what's transpired over the weekend:
Saturday, 6th October
Got up at 6, morning run, got ready, breakfast of fried egg, fried mushrooms and fried egg, along with milk, which I stole. (It's funny. Milk, black tea and black coffee are kept on a side table and anyone can take as much as they want. If you carry a cup along with your tray of food to the payment counter, you have to pay for "beverages". I used to carry a bowl and cornflakes, so they charged me for cornflakes. Now I didn't have cornflakes today and so I didn't carry a bowl. I wanted only milk, but realised so after I had eaten. So I just went and got myself a cup for the milk) Anyway, I got my free milk :)
Studied a bit. Wrote out 40% of the 1st qpaper. What's the difference b/w Fresnel diffraction and Fraunhofer diffraction for a single slit? Where is either valid? How exactly does the transition take place? I realised I wasn't too clear on this, so went and researched a bit, though unsatisfactorily. Any ideas?
Went for lunch. Planned on "Glamorgan sausages" and "Cauliflower Mornay". Instead had the surprise dish of the day, which turned out to be rice, chicken and papad. Mistake. Chicken was good, but the rice was kachcha. Ugh. No more hall rice for me. Went back and studied a bit. Booked a music practice room and practiced for 30 mins. Was getting restless so thought I'd go to Nandhini's room at St. John's. Just then met Nandhini and Shivam coming up the stairs. Providence. Went with them and found a big reception party outside. All six of us (Girija, Umang, Nandhini, Shivam, I and a girl in Eco called Vidya) then went to Edmund's. Discovered that we didn't have much to cook there. So went to Lucy Cavendish college (Vidya's place) and made a scrumptious dinner. Mixed veg (aloo, gajar, broccoli), dal, rasa, and rice. Ate, came back and slept soundly :)
Sunday, 7th October
Awoke at 9:30. Took a break from morning running. Got ready and went for the Sunday morning communion in the Chapel to see what it's like and to hear the choir sing. All kinds of rituals were performed and we were made to say "I believe in one God...". My first and last communion. Went to meet Nandhini and cooked lunch. Discovered that the peas had got spoilt. (I told her to put then in the freezer x-( ) Made cabbage w/o peas. Made scrambled egg also. And also rice and Dal. Best lunch I've ever had :) Then went to Cadenza audition (the acapella singers, remember? I posted a link sometime back!). Went well, they said "very good " though I don't know if they were being so nice to everyone (?!)
Came back and loafed around a bit, today being Sunday :) Then went for the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust (CCT) welcome party hosted by out CCT scholar-seniors. Just came back from there. Nandhini, Umang, Girija and I introduced ourselves and sang a medley of Tanha Dil, dhoom pichak dhoom (yar meri dhadkan), Dil hai chchhota-sa and Ek dusre se karte hain pyar hum - ek dusre ke liye bekarar hum. Just as well that we spent 10 minutes outside figuring this out. The others who hadn't come with anything planned were asked to draw chits and do interesting stuff like sing, dance and ask people out for dates...
Met someone from Maharashtra who is learning to play the flute. He wanted to schedule practices, so I've given him my email. Perhaps we'll meet once a week.
That's it for the week. Escaped when the party started becoming overly boisterous. Got three lectures tomorrow. Lunch is still a problem. Asking around for a belan...
Tell me if you're reading, so I'll keep writing. Silence makes me think I'm talking to walls :)
Until next time!
Tanmoy
Saturday, 6th October
Got up at 6, morning run, got ready, breakfast of fried egg, fried mushrooms and fried egg, along with milk, which I stole. (It's funny. Milk, black tea and black coffee are kept on a side table and anyone can take as much as they want. If you carry a cup along with your tray of food to the payment counter, you have to pay for "beverages". I used to carry a bowl and cornflakes, so they charged me for cornflakes. Now I didn't have cornflakes today and so I didn't carry a bowl. I wanted only milk, but realised so after I had eaten. So I just went and got myself a cup for the milk) Anyway, I got my free milk :)
Studied a bit. Wrote out 40% of the 1st qpaper. What's the difference b/w Fresnel diffraction and Fraunhofer diffraction for a single slit? Where is either valid? How exactly does the transition take place? I realised I wasn't too clear on this, so went and researched a bit, though unsatisfactorily. Any ideas?
Went for lunch. Planned on "Glamorgan sausages" and "Cauliflower Mornay". Instead had the surprise dish of the day, which turned out to be rice, chicken and papad. Mistake. Chicken was good, but the rice was kachcha. Ugh. No more hall rice for me. Went back and studied a bit. Booked a music practice room and practiced for 30 mins. Was getting restless so thought I'd go to Nandhini's room at St. John's. Just then met Nandhini and Shivam coming up the stairs. Providence. Went with them and found a big reception party outside. All six of us (Girija, Umang, Nandhini, Shivam, I and a girl in Eco called Vidya) then went to Edmund's. Discovered that we didn't have much to cook there. So went to Lucy Cavendish college (Vidya's place) and made a scrumptious dinner. Mixed veg (aloo, gajar, broccoli), dal, rasa, and rice. Ate, came back and slept soundly :)
Sunday, 7th October
Awoke at 9:30. Took a break from morning running. Got ready and went for the Sunday morning communion in the Chapel to see what it's like and to hear the choir sing. All kinds of rituals were performed and we were made to say "I believe in one God...". My first and last communion. Went to meet Nandhini and cooked lunch. Discovered that the peas had got spoilt. (I told her to put then in the freezer x-( ) Made cabbage w/o peas. Made scrambled egg also. And also rice and Dal. Best lunch I've ever had :) Then went to Cadenza audition (the acapella singers, remember? I posted a link sometime back!). Went well, they said "very good " though I don't know if they were being so nice to everyone (?!)
Came back and loafed around a bit, today being Sunday :) Then went for the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust (CCT) welcome party hosted by out CCT scholar-seniors. Just came back from there. Nandhini, Umang, Girija and I introduced ourselves and sang a medley of Tanha Dil, dhoom pichak dhoom (yar meri dhadkan), Dil hai chchhota-sa and Ek dusre se karte hain pyar hum - ek dusre ke liye bekarar hum. Just as well that we spent 10 minutes outside figuring this out. The others who hadn't come with anything planned were asked to draw chits and do interesting stuff like sing, dance and ask people out for dates...
Met someone from Maharashtra who is learning to play the flute. He wanted to schedule practices, so I've given him my email. Perhaps we'll meet once a week.
That's it for the week. Escaped when the party started becoming overly boisterous. Got three lectures tomorrow. Lunch is still a problem. Asking around for a belan...
Tell me if you're reading, so I'll keep writing. Silence makes me think I'm talking to walls :)
Until next time!
Tanmoy
Friday, 5 October 2007
Beginnings
Sorry for being out of the league for a while, with the consequence that much has happened over the past five days.
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Mon, Oct 1 : Tried getting up at 5:00 am for my morning run. Failed.
Had meeting with tutor at 9:20 in the morning. Turned up prompt. There people there coming straight out of bed, after all the partying the night before (remember the formal hall and the chaplain's squash?) One person said he'd awoken in someone else's bed, with no clue how he got there. He was still wearing the same suit as the night before.
9:20 am: met tutor along with the rest of her wards in her room. Nice big room. I don't think she stays there. Is a lawyer. Tutors are supposed to care about the general well-being of the wards. The Director of Studies (DoS) takes care of the academic well-being. Meeting lasted about half an hour. She went through an enormous list of points she'd received from the university. Nothing much, calculators and stuff. Random.
Got a message from one of the Physics Directors of Studies, saying that since a Dr Malte Grosche was in charge of Part II this year, I should write to him directly. Did so. He replied saying I should meet him on Tuesday at 11 am.
Wrote to Stephen Layton, the DoS of music as the chaplain had suggested. He replied promptly asking me to meet him at 7 pm on Wednesday. Made another mental note.
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Tuesday, Oct 2 :
Tried getting up in the morning for my morning run. Couldn't. Woke up at 7, had a bath and went for breakfast. Then went for a first-year Natural Sciences meeting in College. Found out that it was literally for first years - those joining part 1a of the course. Humoured myself with the antics of the profs and the obvious differences between the righteous exaggerations of the chemist and the ponderous whispers of the mathematician. Found my to-be DoS Dr Malte Grosche to be there also. Afterwards, the DoS's were assigned to all freshers. At that time hailed Dr Grosche, reminded him I'd meet him at 11 and escaped from the room and from being assigned arbitrarily to some other DoS.
11:00 am: time to meet Grosche. Couldn't find his name on his door. Though I was at the wrong place. Tried all other doors in the courtyard. Then though I'd go to the porters (like gyps, except that the head porter had a car) to ask where he stays, when I met the Doc himself coming up the stairs. Said he was ate since he'd gone to print out some part 1b (second year) question papers for me to look at. Went to his room with him. Got fixed some coffee with milk but w/o sugar (ugh). Showed him my syllabus. He showed me the papers. Chatted with him a bit about where to join. He was convinced joining third year would be fine, except that it might be too much for me. He advised me to attend the classes and see for myself. Happily acquiesced. The he said he wouldn't want to get into trouble himself and so asked me to work out some of the problems in those exam papers and give them to him. He's given me two weeks to do that. Yippee :)
Lunch: don't remember where I ate. Met Shivam and others and went to the Cambridge University societies fair. Stood for 45 minutes in a kilometer-long line to get in. Inside the hall was jam-packed with no place to stand. Spent an hour and signed up for many socs, including the Cambridge University Music society, Queen's College choir, Homerton college choir, cambridge chess club, Cambridge Wireless society (amateur radio enthusiasts), the Ceilidh Band (instrumentalists, putting up gigs in various places during the year), Cadenza (a-capella singers, i.e. they sing w/o accompanying music: listen to this: http://www.societies.cam.ac.uk/cadenza/music/blue_moon.mp3 !!). Came back. Went to John's and surprised Nandhini in her room (she hadn't been to the societies fair with us).
7:30 pm : started making aloo tikkis, though Girija insisted they were cutlets. Finished by around 10 pm, with a soggy mass of potatoes and peas. Some of them did turn out not too bad, but others, especially those made w/o any bread for a binding agent (my idea to put in the bread :D - should have remembered on time :( ), were a disaster. Woved never to try anything more complicated than a butterscotch cream cake with cherries, nuts and pineapple, again. Dislodged ourselves from Edmund's. Came home and fell asleep.
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Wednesday, Oct 3 :
Tried getting up in the morning for my morning run. Failed a third time. Got ready, went for breakfast. Had cereal (rice/wheat flakes) with milk, half-fried egg and toast. Not bad for a pound.
Pushed off for the Cavendish lab at ten to nine.Shivam had asked me to be there at nine. Got lost on the way on the road he's suggested. Couldn't find a JJ Thomson Avenue. Turned out I hadn't walked far enough. It's FAR from college. VERY far. At least on that road. Reached at 9:30 just as the intro talk was about to begin.
9:30 AM had introductory talk on part II Physics in the Cavendish lab. They basically outlined the course structure, stuff I'd already read and re-read many times before coming here. They put up a list on OHP of people registered for part II physics. Found my name absent (understandably) and Shivam's name present (inexplicably). turns out he's registered at some point. After the talk, when and met the teaching-office secretary. She asked if I'd do the registering or if she should. Tried to be smart and said I'd do it. Came back to college and tried. Couldn't.
1 PM : met tutor for lunch, along with the rest of her wards in a restaurant close by. Had "Char grilled Chicken Caesar Salad with Fresh Anchovies, Parmesan & Croutons. Didn't find any anchovies, Dessert was "Chocolate and Peanut Mousse Cake in a biscuit and sponge base, served with cream". Didn't taste very different from a chocolate pastry. Quite nice, though the 'salad' part of the chicken Caesar salad was bitter.
3 PM : went for Trinity college library tour. Librarian was more interested in telling us that there were over a quarter of a million books in the library and that Trinity was so rich that if there were a book not there that we wanted, "tell us and we will buy it for you", than telling us how to get around the place and how to issue and return books. Hung around in the library for a while
5 PM : Finally unpacked and put all the stuff away. Emptied all suitcases. Folded newspaper to put in the drawers. Nandhini appeared. Chatted and unpacked simultaneously. Went with her to look for notebooks to write on.
6:15 PM: Got late and rushed with her to the St. John's College choir evensong. Left in the middle to go and meet Stephen Layton, the music DoS. Found his place in the college with a bit of trouble. Was made to stand in a corner and give an on-the spot audition (!) Was told that chapel choir would not do and that I could try the Trinity Singers or the university choir. Drat. Went back to St. John's. Bumped into the chaplain on the way, jogging. Informed him of developments. He was surprised I'd been given an o-t-s audition. Met Nandhini again. Left with her for St. Edmund's where they were having a barbecue night. Stole some food, polished it and then returned. Dropped her at John's, came back to Trinity and went to bed.
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Thursday, Oct 4 : Tried getting up in the morning again and this time succeeded. Planned a jogging route, which looked a bit short, but went for it anyway. In no time was back at the door of Trinity. Gave up and went in, had a bath and got ready for the day. Went for breakfast. Had only milk and cereal, wanting to reach the lecture on time, today being the day of the first lecture. Found the way to the Cavendish lab from Trinity myself. Reached in 20 minutes. Found a number of cardboard boxes with printed handout sitting outside the lecture theater. Found Shivam inside, reading them. Then had the first computational physics lecture. Terribly boring. Beginning with Babbage (father of computers), all pictures and history. LCD was used. Couldn't decide if the prof was a sir or a ma'am. Not sure even now. Next lecture was on thermal physics and stat mech. Fact that I can't remember anything about that lecture says how much fun we found it. After lectures, went up to the department library and registered. Then sat in the sun inside the building and read up the comp phy handouts. Finished them and went with Shivam to Edmund's.
Took him and his bundles of cash and deposited both in the bank. Bought some chicken salami and buns at Sainsbury's. Took them to Trinity to heat, but didn't have sauce or knife. Discovered note from college parents inviting me to dinner at 7:15. Got a mail saying Ceilidh band freshers meet was today b/w 8 and 10. Pushed off to Edmund's again. Made and ate three salami-burger-sandwiches. Got sick of them by the end of the second. Came back to college. Found email saying Trinity singers rehearsal was today at 7:30. Moments of some confusion. Decided on the Trinity singers. Sent no-thanks note to college parents. Missed dinner. Rehearsal in the chapel lasted from 7:30 to 9:30. We're doing Brahms' "A German Requiem". Concert is on the 26th of Nov. Missed Ceilidh Band freshers. Made friends with the pianist at the end. Asked where one could practice. Was informed of the existence of music practice rooms under the clock tower.
9:45 PM : Back to room. Used some more emergency rations, this time a pizza-flavoured pasta. Went off to sleep.
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Friday, Oct 5 : Went for morning run again at six. Came back, had a bath. Fire alarm kept ringing for brief snatches. Gave me a start. Each room has a siren inside. Dunno why it rang. Went for breakfast. Had cereal, milk, egg and toast. Went to class. Reached in 17 minutes this time. Got another bunch of handouts. Today we had Advanced Quantum Physics and "Relativity, Electrodynamics and Light". First guy repeated Schrodinger equation. Second guy repeated Maxwell's equations. Enjoyed the second. Prof had got some polarisers and make-shift quarter-wave plates (a polythene bag). Fun lecture. Again in a dilemma as to where to lunch. Came back to college with Shivam. Went to Sainsbury's and got some sandwiches. Shivam picked up a chicken tikka roll. Came to Trinity. Sandwiched. Shivam left for his residence at Edmund's and took the tikka roll along. I slept a bit. Fire alarm went off. Grudgingly went down the stairs. Found a porter coming to turn it off.
2:30 PM: Sat down to study. Worked out some problems of the first question paper. Went to Senior tutor's clerk and got my maintenance allowance. Check for 2300 Sterlings! Yippee :D Took the Brahm's requiem, went to get the key to a music practice room from the porters lodge, was asked which room I wanted, said I hadn't seen any, took key for room 1, wasted ten minutes trying to find where the practice rooms were, then another couple, peeping in at all of them, to see what the difference was. Each room has a piano and a conductor's stand. Could hear a soprano trilling in room 6. Sat down in room 1 for my allotted 30 minutes and made learnt half of the first song.
4:30 PM: Returned the key to the porters. Came back to room and studied a bit more. Couldn't recollect why you can't reach absolute zero. All kinds of things blow up, but don't remember what. Went to supervision assignment meeting. Was afraid I'd miss dinner, since they were scheduled at the same time. Waited until my DoS appeared. Was told I wasn't needed, since the Univ deptt would asign supervisors to part II students. Escaped to hall. Had sauteed potatoes (56 pence), french beans (cut in long pieces, boiled and with some nice boiled corn: 56 pence) and one red shimla mirch stuffed with rice (179 pence). Everything was very bland, except the shimla mirch, which had cheese, but it was better when I added some salt to it. Damned expensive. Why don't they subsidise hall food?
Back here and writing mail thereafter. Will go back and study. Planning to finish one qpaper today. Any help on the absolute zero? We all know we all know all. So no problem if I ask a know-all for a bit of know, no?
Tanmoy
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