Paonta Dairies - 01
It has been a few months since I managed to put pen to paper, or rather, finger to keyboard. To be honest, I was busy writing code for a paper that was in the revise and resubmit stage. I managed to complete and submit that on the 30th, and I think I have done a good job. Whatever the outcome may be, I think I learnt a lot in the process and those learnings are going to stay with me.
Having said that, I have quite a bit to report. My 50 odd day unemployment window came to end in late June. After having received offers to join from four different colleges/universities from across the country, I decided to join the Indian Institute of Management Sirmaur. There is a lot to tell about this place. Most interestingly, IIM Sirmaur is the only IIM that has been named after a district and not the town/city. The name of the actual town is Paonta Sahib (it took me a while to get the spelling correct). Paonta is a beautiful town that is big enough to have the essential services yet small enough for you to get home in 5 minutes. I reckon the town should be no more than 4 or 5 km in radius. The small roads, the large SUVs that are characteristic of the north, and cows all over the road are all part of the Paonta package.
The best part of the town is its location, on the banks of the river Yamuna. For me, this is a gentle reminder of home – Madurai. The city with the Vaigai river that “dries to a trickle every summer”. Unlike the Vaigai, Yamuna is a perennial river that is supposed to have water throughout the year. But the river here does not always have water. When I landed here in June, I was able to cross the river by foot without getting wet at all. It does have plenty of water since it began to rain last month. Legend has it that Guru Gobind Singh built a beautiful Gurudhwara here along the banks of the river and used to sit there watching the river during the evenings. Just by the Gurudwara, there is also a beautiful Yamuna temple. On the other side of the river, there stands a large mosque colored in green and white. The rest of the city basically surrounds these buildings. There are so many other places that I want to learn about. I am planning to document some of these trips. While I do that, here are some nice pictures.
