Change of *Plans*!!!

"Manipal University has 2 campuses in India, the biggest being in Manipal, Karnataka. This campus is spread across 1000 acres and has 6 million sq. ft of built-up space, which has complete Wi-Fi connectivity…………… "

Shrieked Dr. Ramji, Dean of Manipal, dramatically on the podium

Day - The Orientation Day for the new batch of students entering the college life.

Year – September 2004

Oh, How I hated that day!! I was completely in a horrible mood and sooo wanted to run away… far far away… but no, here I was sitting in the huge auditorium listening a silly man, with a fake American accent (or so I thought) and dreading the days to come.

I never wanted to complete my higher studies in Dubai, I never did, I wanted to go to India and join JJ College of arts for my Bachelors in Architecture degree. I wanted to live alone, try and be independent, wanted to do sooo many things, but I was going to Join Manipal University in Dubai that toooo for an Interior Design Degree... Urghh… How angry and annoyed I was, I was so bitter that I refused to even look at the other girls and guys in the Auditorium. I mean what was the use anyway, my dreams (I felt at that time) were getting thwarted!!

After that long melodramatic Speech of lava turning into cocoons and what not, we were all asked to *proceed* our classes to get acquainted to our classmates and Faculty. And there for the very first time I saw, Mr. Ashok Ganapathy Iyer!! My *Acting* HOD, and Senior Professor and the immediate reaction I had was… Hey this guy looks like Tushaar Kapoor… LOL Little did I know I m going to spent the next 5 years of my life, fighting, laughing, listening, hating, loving, teasing, teaching his MAN! He is one hell of a guy… I have noticed that I have many Capricorns in my life, both guys and gals, and Mr. Iyer is one of the prominent ones… : D

My first impression of him was not a very pleasant one, well, that’s Mr. Iyer, no one likes him at the first, and then slowly you start developing a liking for him with time... :) The first thing that he said was… “Dear Parents be ready to keep your wallets open, as your girls have joined for a course that is going to prove extremely expensive for you…your wallets are going to have HOLES…your money will need to flow like water…. “LOL... Mom was flabbergasted! She was like, “is this Man MAD???” LOL… Well… Yup he is and yes Money did flow like WATER!! :P :P

There have been times I had been angry enough to want to KILL him, there are times we refused to talk to each other when we didn’t agree on something, lol… that was the kind of relationship that we shared… or still do... We could barge into Sir’s Room and say, Sir your wearing BLACK tomorrow… and that’s it… he would… : D

There was just a brief period of about 1 year or so in between when I got extremely close to another faculty member, my HOD, and my most favorite Professor, who truly inspired me, motivated me and got me hooked to Design…. Sorry I digress, Will write about her soon enough… :D

Mr. Iyer, has been a good friend, teacher, guide, brother, protector, bully and father figure. He is not a perfectionist, but who is? HE openly flaunts his imperfections and constantly makes effort to rectify them as well. At times I used feel like a guinea pig at his hands, when he used to drop bombs on us… As in Assignments… At times I used to feel, does this MAN even know what he is talking about? :P Most of my classmates could see him only for 3 years, a few unfortunate ones for even less than that, where as I have been lucky enough to be a part of his life for 5 years, every single day!! :D

Oh… God!! I miss him… terribly so… HE was like the salt in my life… Personal, academic, You name it and he has helped me on all those fronts…

He is extremely lucky that he has such a wonderful life partner who completely understands him, his personality and his odd work timings… and so deals with a LOT of girls being around him at all times… LOL

It’s Sir who helped me deal with my Change in PLAN… in life as well as in class… It’s he who realized that I would ace the class from day one… and he told me to as well, the very first day… and at that TIME…. I thought he is just being CRAZY, who can I ace a class where in I have NO interest??!!

Thank you Sir, for having Faith in me!!