MUWCI TIMES

N.9

MUWCI TIMES N.7

Words

Photography

Layout

Editing

Cecilia Cortes

Clara Figuras

Sidd Atre

Cecilia Cortes

Jiya Pandya Sid Atre Sharo Costa Juliet Hoornaert Twisha Asher Katalin Stupek Vaishnavi Madhavan

Will Hunt

Lamisa Hossain

Brenda Wacuka

CONTENT

EDITOR’S NOTE……………………………………………………….………. 4

WELCOME………………………………………………………………..…….. 5

MUWCI WILL CHANGE YOU……………………………………………..….. 6

10 THINGS I WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME……………………….. 7

WORDS OF WISDOM……………………………………………………………9

LETTER TO MY BODY……………………………………………….………..11

TEN COMMANDMENTS………………………………………………………13

MUWCI……………………………………………………………………………14

EDITOR

To be completely honest, I have no recollection of what happened during orientation week. I cannot remember what I felt during that time and therefore might be misplaced to start rambling on about how it felt to be here. I do remember after orientation week though: I slept in every free block I had and was very specific about where I slept- it had to be in my own bed.

Never mind that I lived in Wada 1 and walking to Wada 1 was more like a journey/trek/expedition than anything else. Never mind that it took 7 minutes to get to Wada 1 and another 7 minutes to get back (meaning a total of 14 minutes had been subtracted from my sleep).

I was determined! I remember, sometime last year, when Melissa (Leong) got her bicycle, I looked at it and wondered why it wasn’t a rule that all Wada w-One-ders got a bicycle. How much easier life would be with a two -legged machine to help me move! How much more sleep I would get!

Life moved on. After a while, I didn’t have to walk around the AQ one full time to realize where my class was (and realized that I was standing right next to it in the beginning). I didn’t stand outside the library and ask where the art centre was anymore. Things got clearer.

And in the same way, MUWCI has been like a flower (this is the part where you’d expect philosophical advice, screw that though). Sure by now so many of you have gotten much advice concerning this place, about what MUWCI is like, about how MUWCI was before you came, about what’s expected, about how you should behave, etc etc (bOOring) and the only thing you should know (you being everyone) is JUST GO WITH IT.

This is the first and last September 2012 MUWCI is ever going to see. So no matter how permanent things seem to be, this is the first and last time you are happening to MUWCI and the only time MUWCI will ever happen to you. So JUST GO WITH IT and BE YOU. Have a blast. Don’t hold on to things that make you unhappy and mooooove with the beat. Theek Hai?

“The reason why angels can fly is because they don’t take themselves too seriously”

BRENDA

To all the jetlagged mornings and your roommate’s loud alarm clock. To first blocks that seem to go on forever! To chai and buttered toast and 2000 announcements on the AQ board.

Welcome to fairy lights, curtains, Maggi and other foods you will invent by just mixing it all together!; to washing machines that don’t wash and dryers that don’t dry. (How efficient)

Welcome to frogs in the bathtub that stare at you as you shower and snakes in the courtyard. Welcome to the mass emails and countless meetings about the same things! Welcome to annoying things that annoy you and yet without them, life could never be the same.

Welcome, to double blocks and long blocks. To dogs and cats and the repetitive “You are authorized.” Welcome to safes that keep self-locking and a new frape on your newsfeed.

Welcome to the daily hikes to class that leave you panting; to the faithful lice that never leave and the super-shampoos that drive them away. To long bus rides to Pune,to Wada Pav, fried rice, spices, Dal and everything nice!

Welcome to big yellow boots and our guidelines that must be followed… or else… (no… but that’s a rule? )

Welcome to the ups and downs, the valleys and the hill, the crazy and wonderful memories that you are about to make… welcome! Welcome home.

WELCOME

“To room dinners and house lunches and all the food, love and laughter in between.

Welcome home. “

By Jiya

MUWCI will change you. That is a fact. It may happen subtly and gradually, or obviously and quickly. It will change the lens with which you view the world. It will distort it, and maybe even replace it entirely. When you first arrive at MUWCI, your perception of culture, society, and the environment is akin to a freshly made lens, projecting onto the canvas of your mind. MUWCI replaces elements and adds filters and capabilities that allow you to polarize arguments and enhance your intellect. But you are the one who controls your personality. You are the one who decides which filters to accept and which to forgo. And you are the one who can control the image that projects onto your mind. Just like a camera, it is not possible for you to automatically see what is important. You must search, explore, and divine your own passions. The forefront of your perception is a shutter- open it only when you feel it is right.

By Sid Atre

MUWCI

CHANGE YOU

WILL

10 THINGS I WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME

6. You will arrive at MUWCI sleepy, excited and slightly dazed. Wandering around the AQ with your overenthusiastic second-year, and responding to the queries of other overenthusiastic second years will not seem like your idea of fun. But, once you reach here, that’s exactly what you will do.

7. You will get a hard lump in the inner parts of your throat, every time your eyes find themselves glued to the tackily placed photographs of home. And, trust me, swallowing does not help.

8. You will feel the impulsive urge to jump at your roommate because she/he forgot to close the fridge door tightly. AGAIN. Then, you will remember last night’s Koka Ramen that the two of you shared. You will then decide that 3 bottles of too-sour Yakult is worth a wacky roommate.

9. You will nod politely when your second-years reminiscence about their oh-so-awesome second years, and will silently wonder if they’re plain lying or if your third years were actually retarded. day.

1. You, never having entered the kitchen pathway in all your life at home, will attain legendary status for messing up a simple recipe for Maggi noodles, and inadvertently, making it taste better.

2. You will learn to submit a Chemistry lab, finish an Econ IA, submit an English essay, give a History test, meet up with your Triveni group, attend college meeting, discuss your G-4 project and socialize with your friends after check-in. All in one day.

3. You will shed tears of disbelief and disappointment over your first failed test, wondering how this could have happened to you. After all, you were a straight A student all along…With the passage of time, your reactions will improve. Don’t get me wrong. The tests stay the same; you just learn to accept failure gracefully.

4. You will figure out (eventually)

that people here have a hard time accepting wallflowers and queen bees. So, you will strive, to the best of your ability, to fit somewhere in between. If only fitting in was that easy…

9 You will jump out of bed at 6:30

on the first day of school. By the end of your first year, an A for attendance on your transcript will be a miracle. [I speak from experience.]

10. You will swear, just before winter break, that you are sick of everything in MUWCI. The place. The people. The food. The work. Everything. But, when you get into the jeep and journey onward to Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport, you will be aware of a dull ache in your chest. A very faint, very dull ache.

Sharo Glani Costa

WORDS OF

WISDOM

Exactly one year ago, I myself was hiding in my room with the curtains shut, repeatedly having maggi noodles for dinner as a means to avoid the “where to sit”-caf dilemmas. “Hello, I’m Juliet from Belgium- nice to meet you” became an automatic response to any new face that presented itself to me. There’s no point in fighting these feelings of awkwardness- embrace them. This social battlefield will be over before you know it. It took me countless hours of AQ-disorientation, Paud chai and post-3 AM courtyard madness to get on track. These quotes of advice from our wise and experienced secondyears might help you do the same thing.

“Stop shaking hands- give hugs. And examine the toilet carefully before you sit on it. Some people here are pure evil.”

“We just said goodbye to an entire batch of people we grew to love, and all of a sudden this campus is crowded with unfamiliar faces. We’re excited to embrace all of you, but give us some time.” “Don’t bring too much luggage. It really pisses me off.”

“Chill out- small talk only lasts so long.”

“Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to socialize and be friends with everyone. Take your time, it’ll happen naturally.” “Remember- when you play mud games, you get dirty. Release your inner savage!” “For those who are aspiring to be spiritually enlightened, please go and receive a blessing from the D-Lama.” “Keep the triangle balanced- sleep, socializing, studying,… sometimes it’s hard to prioritize.”

“Keep the triangle balanced- sleep, socializing, studying,… sometimes it’s hard to prioritize.”

“Don’t engage in conversation with Anya. She’s socially handicapped and feels intimidated by everyone who’s bigger than she is (a.k.a. everyone)” “Spontaneity is golden. This is new, this is exciting… just go with the flow”

“You’ll notice soon enough that this is a place where you can do what you’ve always secretly wanted, but never had the guts to do. Plus, never wake up after 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon. You’ll be eaten by regret for the rest of the week. And if you want to make instant friends, bring cool exotic snacks.”

By Juliette

Mouth. You talk too much. It’s not that you

don’t have good things to say – you do! It’s just that not all the things you say are good things. For example, the other day in Literature and Language when you made that comment that rephrased exactly what had already been said a moment before, did that really move the discussion forward? Were those thirty seconds of authority really a valuable use of twenty other people’s time? Maybe if you had taken a moment longer to think over that comment you wanted so desperately to make, you would have realized that nobody really needed to know how emphatically you agreed with everyone else.

Or take that time when you couldn’t wait to be called on during a UWC Life and Learning meeting – you were compelled to contradict everything that had just been said, only to realize moments later that you had misinterpreted most of it, and you actually kind of agreed with the rest. You could have waited. Even if the conversation moves on, it wasn’t the last you’d hear on the subject. And the longer you waited to speak, the more ideas from your fellow students you could have drawn upon, and the more clearly developed, articulated, and timely your point might have been when you finally do decide to share it. In the future, be patient, hold your comments to a higher standard, and have a little humility.

Arm, you’re almost as bad as Mouth sometimes. You seem to be under the impression that it’s impossible to interrupt without vocal chords. When

you disagree with a point someone has made, you reach straight up in the air without letting your classmate finish his thought. Remember that an action says a thousand words, and the second you’ve caught the attention of the rest of the class, nothing your classmate says will be heard over the din of your body language. Oh, and politely and innocuously raising yourself for ten minutes does not necessarily entitle Mouth to a chance to speak. If Mouth’s point is no longer relevant, give yourself a break – there’s no shame in returning quietly to your lap without letting him make a contribution that’s outlived its usefulness.

Hand: don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’ll remember all the points that have been made, or that Mouth will remember everything it wants to say and how it wants to say it when the time comes for it to speak. There’s no need to write down everything that’s been said, but be proactive about summarizing the

A LETTER TO MY BODY

By Twisha

ideas of others and using them to fill out your own. You’ll notice that Mouth, Ears, Eyes, and all the rest do a much better job when you’re writing: the more engaged you are in the conversation, the more the rest of me will be. So, to my body as a whole, my message is fairly simple. Critique yourself harshly, critique others constructively; think deeply, not quickly; focus on processes rather than outcomes; be respectful to both the others participating; and understand that conversation is an art form, that beautiful conversation is an end in itself. In summary, Dear Body: when it comes to communication, never let your ends compromise your means.

THE 10 MED COMMANDMENTS

1. Thou shalt have no other healthcare before me.

2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Med in vain.

3. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, the weekend is no Med-time.

4. Honour the Sister and the Doctor in his High Chair.

5. Thou shalt not kill anyone's good mood, and remember to smile when Angel is around.

6. Thou shalt not commit adultery in the med, thou might get infected.

7. Thou shalt not steal toast from the Med kitchen.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against the free man.

9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours bed.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours illness, treatment, vitamins, gargles or anything

that is thy neighbour's.

Katalin

MUWCI

Its hard to sum up MUWCi in a few words for you guys, Because a single story is something that I despise. But by next May, you’ll have your own memories, some good, some bad; So here’s a heads up to let you know it’ll be the best year you’ve ever had.

This first month may be a bit tough in terms of adjusting, And you might have a few experiences that are outright disgusting. But you’ll get used to the exotic animals, or merely showering with frogs And of course Herbert the Pervert and other campus dogs.

You’ll learn to appreciate the food here- whether it’s the Sunday brunch. Or simply chicken a-la-princess for our Monday lunch. But at some point, I guarantee that you’ll be on Maggi diet- Plus, there’s vada pav down at Paud, and I suggest that you try it.

Make sure you make a trip to the pagoda, and Internet Hill as well. The places you can go over travel week or exeats, you may dwell.When you’ve got the sniffles, or even athlete’s foot, take your vitamin C -And enjoy the luxuries at the med- cause the chocos there are for free!

You’ll attend your share of college meetings, and deal with silent minorities And in this year, you’ll learn to respect and create your priorities. Be it your trivenis, classes or socializing around the clock, Leaving you sleep deprived and running in late for first block.

With the risk of sounding like a wise-ass, make the most out of this year Because you have nothing to worry about, no E.E, no TOK, no fears. Whether it’s theatre season or wada concert, dive into the opportunities, And get a better understanding about our beautiful and caring community.

What you make of your next two years is entirely up to you, But be aware that under your cabbage patch, might be a gold mine, too. Ultimately, we are what makes this place; so remember: You are MUWCI. I apologize for this ending, but there’s nothing else that rhymes, but “spooky”.

By Vaishnavi

THE END