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