The power of Perceptions

I was just flipping over my book of finance when an idea sparked in my mind and in no time, I am here, putting it down. I was thinking about perceptions. How important they are. It’s all about how you think, you look at a situation. A winner finds a solution in every problem and a loser finds a problem with every solution, as the cliché goes but it holds true. If an intern is expecting a PPO from a company, he would look for every possible signs of his Guide, and would consider them as an indication of his positive chances. On the other hand a pessimistic would always find a reason to convince him, why he will not be offered the same. When we set out to do something big, you are sure to have a majority saying “this can’t be done”, but there would be few who would give their heart and soul to make it work. It’s about how much you can hold on. Narendra Modi, the Gujraat Chief Minister had the whole party against him in the last assembly elections. They did not want him to see him victorious. But he did not give up. Fought the election all alone without any help from the center and when the party emerged victorious, the newspaper headlines read “Modi Wins Gujrat” instead of the conventional “BJP wins”. If a single man can steer his party to a landslide majority in a state like Gujraat, imagine what we all can do.

Perseverance is the word. I have seen people who are almost as adamant as “The Great wall of China” when it comes to pursuing their dreams. The journey from dreams to reality is usually completed by those who are either very lucky or have a strong will and determination backing their commitment. A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step, but there would be many who would leave this journey at 100,200,300 miles etc. And the worst are those who leave after covering over 900 miles, failing to realize how close they were to victory.

So before setting out to achieve big, see the goal, focus on it, and get on with all your might and victory will be yours.

Nescafe : The Unsolved mystery

After a fairly long time I was back at my favorite place in my college, the reading room. Don't mistake me for a nerd, but thats the place I have spent most of my time in my P.G college. The magic of this place along with studies is meeting classmates, gossips, chats, watching beautiful girls, debating world issues, criticizing the administration, and yes last but not the least "The Nescafe".

Now the Nescafe is a chain of outlets which serve coffee and Nestle items across India. In my college it had two out lets, near boys and girls hostel respectively. No prizes for guessing which was the more crowded one. Apart from the hot spot for night outing it was also a place where there were informal gathering, birthdays were celebrated and above all you met people, who were never seen in class. Though the mandatory criterion for attending exam is a 75 % attendance in class barely 50% students satisfy it, but when it comes to nescafe, a majority can boast of greater than 100% (taking into account multiple visits in a day). The place was a heaven for couples who could spend hours, holding hands, oblivious of the surroundings, lost in each others eyes.

On the last day of my 1st year, as we were leaving for our summer internship, my group was unanimous over the thing which they would miss the most in Holidays (Nescafe). But suddenly one fine day, the shop was shut, they had packed their bags and left the campus, leaving the student hangout committee in a lurch. Now the only place left is an IRCTC canteen which provides food till 1:00 a.m. Yes after that if you feel hungry only water can help you. The place is an absolute hell with food prices defeating rising Indian inflation and quality as dismal as that of chinese goods. The long queues at the token counter gives an impression that some freebies are being distributed. Couples do not prefer it as it faces one of the most notorious boys hostel. The waiting time reminds you of average litigation period of cases pending in Indian courts. All in all a pathetic place to eat, sit or chat.

On the reasons why the counter was removed from the college there are several conspiracy theories doing rounds in the campus. If I post all of them, they can definitely would make it to the unsolved mysteries of the world. Though none of these appear cogent enough, still they all have their own USPs. The theories also reflect the background of the students in terms of their department. Lets have a look at some of these.

A student from chemical engineering department suggested that Nescafe was caught adding a chemical "spoil brain acid" to its coffee to lower the intelligence of the geniuses bred here. This was a plot by the CIA under the anti immigration policies of OBAMA. Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) exposed this scandal and the counter was shut.
The civil engineering students claimed that high FSI claimed by nescafe for renewing their contract was responsible for this.
The management students (considered outcast and misfit in this institute) as usual decided to crack this case. They first formed a 10 member team to study the possible cause of this incident. Then for the next 5 days they structured the hierarchy and appointed a coordinator, 2 junior coordinators, 3 analysts and 5 data collectors. This was followed by a 15 day deliberation of the research methodology to be used for it. This was followed by a series of meetings at locations like TGIF, Barista and 38 FM lounge for discussing the data gathered. The progress of the case very well imitated the growth of manufacturing companies in recessionary times. This was followed by the coordinator firing 3 data collectors. Every meeting had just a single agends, "discuss the time and place for the next meeting". Finally with the deadline for the project nearing, they all sat on google, and copied all data related to closure of any outlet in an educational institution. The report was compiled and submitted to the institute after 120 days. The report had everything except the reason for the closure of "NESCAFE".