CANDID TALKS

End of college days

2010-03-23T09:38:00.001-07:00

Hi all. returning to this blog after a long time. I guess this is my nth post announcing my return. Dont know till when it will last. The new farmville fever has gripped me. To admit something frankly I am not interested in continuing with this blog. Instead feel like strating something new. That will be on my new blog address which will be added here as well. I see that visits to this blog are now continuous and I have been getting close to 18 hits per week. Though the google adsence revenue seems static like the Great Wall of China.. The new blog would be directed towards my first love, comedy. I will try to entertain all through my writings and lets see how much I succeed. As about my status, this B School Graduate is now ready to leave the confines of school and join the corporate world as an investment banker. It feels nostalgic that the education is coming to an end and would never get back to college life. Now I am heading towards bigger goals in life and take a plunge in the rat race. I hate it but cant avoid it. Every phase in life is supposed to be enjoyed and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay out here (discounting some of the bad incidents). It was a life full of Ups and downs (more downs than ups). But "all's well that ends well" as the famous saying goes I will again rate my stay here 4.5 on a scale of 5. Thanks DMS IIT D for all the love......

The power of Perceptions

2009-09-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

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".

10 Deadly Sins of Negative Thinking

2009-08-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

10 Deadly Sins of Negative Thinking

The way to overcome negative thoughts and destructive emotions is to develop opposing, positive emotions that are stronger and more powerful. - Dalai Lama

Life could be so much better for many people, if they would just spot their negative thinking habits and replace them with positive ones.

Negative thinking, in all its many-splendored forms, has a way of creeping into conversations and our thinking without our noticing them. The key to success, in my humble opinion, is learning to spot these thoughts and squash them like little bugs. Then replace them with positive ones. You'll notice a huge difference in everything you do.

Let's take a look at 10 common ways that negative thinking emerges get good at spotting these patterns, and practice replacing them with positive thinking patterns. It has made all the difference in the world for me.

10 Deadly Sins of Negative Thinking

1. I will be happy once I have _____ (or once I earn X).

Problem: If you think you can't be happy until you reach a certain point, or until you reach a certain income, or have a certain type of house or car or computer setup, you'll never be happy. That elusive goal is always just out of reach. Once we reach those goals, we are not satisfied we want more.

Solution: Learn to be happy with what you have, where you are, and who you are, right at this moment. Happiness doesn't have to be some state that we want to get to eventually it can be found right now. Learn to count your blessings, and see the positive in your situation. This might sound simplistic, but it works.

2. I wish I were as ____ as (a celebrity, friend, co-worker).

Problem: We'll never be as pretty, as talented, as rich, as sculpted, as cool, as everyone else. There will always be someone better, if you look hard enough. Therefore, if we compare ourselves to others like this, we will always pale, and will always fail, and will always feel bad about ourselves. This is no way to be happy.

Solution: Stop comparing yourself to others, and look instead at yourself what are your strengths, your accomplishments, your successes, however small? What do you love about yourself? Learn to love who you are, right now, not who you want to become. There is good in each of us, love in each of us, and a wonderful human spirit in every one of us.

3. Seeing others becoming successful makes me jealous and resentful.

Problem: First, this assumes that only a small number of people can be successful. In truth, many, many people can be successful in different ways.

Solution: Learn to admire the success of others, and learn from it, and be happy for them, by empathizing with them and understanding what it must be like to be them. And then turn away from them, and look at yourself you can be successful too, in whatever you choose to do. And even more, you already are successful. Look not at those above you in the social ladder, but those below you there are always millions of people worse off than you, people who couldn't even read this article or afford a computer. In that light, you are a huge success.

4. I am a miserable failure I can't seem to do anything right.

Problem: Everyone is a failure, if you look at it in certain ways. Everyone has failed, many times, at different things. I have certainly failed so many times I cannot count them and I continue to fail, daily. However, looking at your failures as failures only makes you feel bad about yourself. By thinking in this way, we will have a negative self-image and never move on from here.

Solution: See your successes and ignore your failures. Look back on your life, in the last month, or year, or 5 years. And try to remember your successes. If you have trouble with this, start documenting them keep a success journal, either in a notebook or online. Document your success each day, or each week. When you look back at what you've accomplished, over a year, you will be amazed. It's an incredibly positive feeling.

5. I'm going to beat so-and-so no matter what I'm better than him. And there's no way I'll help him succeed he might beat me.

Problem: Competitiveness assumes that there is a small amount of gold to be had, and I need to get it before he does. It makes us into greedy, back-stabbing, hurtful people. We try to claw our way over people to get to success, because of our competitive feelings. For example, if a blogger wants to have more subscribers than another blogger, he may never link to or mention that other blogger. However, who is to say that my subscribers can't also be yours? People can read and subscribe to more than one blog.

Solution: Learn to see success as something that can be shared, and learn that if we help each other out, we can each have a better chance to be successful. Two people working towards a common goal are better than two people trying to beat each other up to get to that goal. There is more than enough success to go around. Learn to think in terms of abundance rather than scarcity.

6. Dammit! Why do these bad things always happen to me?

Problem: Bad things happen to everybody. If we dwell on them, they will frustrate us and bring us down.

Solution: See bad things as a part of the ebb and flow of life. Suffering is a part of the human condition but it passes. All pain goes away, eventually. Meanwhile, don't let it hold you back. Don't dwell on bad things, but look forward towards something good in your future. And learn to take the bad things in stride, and learn from them. Bad things are actually opportunities to grow and learn and get stronger, in disguise.

7. You can't do anything right! Why can't you be like ____ ?

Problem: This can be said to your child or your subordinate or your sibling. The problem? Comparing two people, first of all, is always a fallacy. People are different, with different ways of doing things, different strengths and weaknesses, different human characteristics. If we were all the same, we'd be robots. Second, saying negative things like this to another person never helps the situation. It might make you feel better, and more powerful, but in truth, it hurts your relationship, it will actually make you feel negative, and it will certainly make the other person feel negative and more likely to continue negative behavior. Everyone loses.

Solution: Take the mistakes or bad behavior of others as an opportunity to teach. Show them how to do something. Second, praise them for their positive behavior, and encourage their success. Last, and most important, love them for who they are, and celebrate their differences.

8. Your work sucks. It's super lame. You are a moron and I hope you never reproduce.

Problem: I've actually gotten this comment before. It feels wonderful. However, let's look at it not from the perspective of the person receiving this kind of comment but from the perspective of the person giving it. How does saying something negative like this help you? I guess it might feel good to vent if you feel like your time has been wasted. But really, how much of your time has been wasted? A few minutes? And whose fault is that? The bloggers or yours? In truth, making negative comments just keeps you in a negative mindset. It's also not a good way to make friends.

Solution: Learn to offer constructive solutions, first of all. Instead of telling someone their blog sucks, or that a post is lame, offer some specific suggestions for improvement. Help them get better. If you are going to take the time to make a comment, make it worth your time. Second, learn to interact with people in a more positive way it makes others feel good and it makes you feel better about yourself. And you can make some great friends this way. That's a good thing.

9. Insulting People Back

Problem: If someone insults you or angers you in some way, insulting them back and continuing your anger only transfers their problem to you. This person was probably having a bad day (or a bad year) and took it out on you for some reason. If you reciprocate, you are now having a bad day too. His problem has become yours. Not only that, but the cycle of insults can get worse and worse until it results in violence or other negative consequences for both of you.

Solution: Let the insults or negative comments of others slide off you like Teflon. Don't let their problem become yours. In fact, try to understand their problem more why would someone say something like that? What problems are they going through? Having a little empathy for someone not only makes you understand that their comment is not about you, but it can make you feel and act in a positive manner towards them and make you feel better about yourself in the process.

10. I don't think I can do this I don't have enough discipline. Maybe some other time.

Problem: If you don't think you can do something, you probably won't. Especially for the big stuff. Discipline has nothing to do with it motivation and focus has everything to do with it. And if you put stuff off for “some other time”, you'll never get it done. Negative thinking like this inhibits us from accomplishing anything.

Solution: Turn your thinking around: you can do this! You don't need discipline. Find ways to make yourself a success at your goal. If you fail, learn from your mistakes, and try again. Instead of putting a goal off for later, start now. And focus on one goal at a time, putting all of your energy into it, and getting as much help from others as you can. You can really move mountains if you start with positive thinking.

P.S: Sourced from an email on gurlzgroup of yahoo. Just liked the content so posted it here.

Customer Care In India

2009-08-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

Customer care, the word stands for all except its literal meaning. I own an Airtel prepaid mobile connection and sent an SMS to them for activating Free SMS Pack for me. Immediately I received an SMS on my cell that the pack you have asked for will be activated on your number in 48 hours. As time passes and deadline crossed I decided to register a complaint. But I did not know that I would have to travel in a sea of IVRS options.

For English Press 1, For Hindi press 2, for this press this, for that press that. Menu after menu and submenu after sub menu, the customer can very well forget what he actually called for. No customer care executive option comes. I was puzzled how to register my complaint. I felt like shouting, but to a computer, that would not have mattered. I have talked to several people about this and the response has always been the same. Private organizations display their toll free help line number, but actually when you dial it, you come to know the futility and how all your attempts to reach the concerned person go in vain.

Apart from this I am also frustrated from the continuous recorded calls for activating caller tune on my number. I once decided to store the number from which they call and stopped picking it. But the marketers are way ahead of us. They now call me from a new number every time.

Anyways this menace does not seem to end soon and Customer care quality in India will continue to be abysmally low.

News headlines and the Media

2009-08-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

Three newspapers and two magazines, that’s what get delivered to my room the latter once being weekly. It’s really hard to find time to even glance through all of them, due to time constraints. They have so much content that I believe I will have to sacrifice my menial 6 hours of sleep if I want to just skim through them. While I continue running out of time, they do not seem to match me by running out of content.

So I decided to ponder over certain issues which are continuously making headlines and try to analyze them in my own way. First let’s take up the feud between the Ambani brothers. Well it could very well form a plot of Deewar part 2 directed by Vishal Bharadwaj. Two brothers engaged in spat of insinuations and accusations taking down business as well as politics with them. “The WAR of the Giants” is hurting the reputation of Indian industry which has not yet recovered from the Satyam saga. The advertisement campaign carried out by the junior brother indicates the seriousness with which he is taking this issue and why not. After all, 30,000 crore is at stake. It not often that a businessman comes out so openly against a cabinet minister (read Murli Deora) in office. I mean he is not afraid of the ramifications it can have for him and his business empire. But what I have concluded in all this is that it’s not the losses of the government which are his concern, rather the super normal profits of RIL, of which, he wants a share forms the bottom line. I am waiting to see who pulls this one off.

Then the case of Shahruk Khan being held at Newark Airport of US for questioning is one other news which painted the front pages of all top news papers. King Khan used to getting princely treatment at home could not tolerate the realities of the world and was hurt being treated like a normal muslim (as the US treats them). The Raj of DDLJ who has won countless hearts with his portrayal of characters who are epitome of lover boy was short of wits to convince the US authorities. The VIP syndrome in India is one of the worst in the world. Actually India has a habit of making it to the top on all negative parameters. We are the best in corruption, population, casteism, crime etc. Name the problem and we have it. India is a country where more people are exempted from frisking many countries combined. The day is not far when the number of VIPs in this country would cross the number of ordinary citizens.

BJP is another case of “LIFE CYCLE OF A PRODUCT”, and it is in a dying state. There is no internal control in the party and the succession planning which the best corporations in the world lay great stress on has been completely ignored by it. Soon Rajnath Singh will have to keep ready made expulsion letters ready with the names column left blank, so that he can throw out more and more party member, followed by complete state units, until the party has just one member that is him as the president.

Newspapers have the habit of blowing up issues and troubles in magnifying proportions but this time they are not to blame. In face the spice in the issues is reducing effort required on their part. I can only pray for some good news for this country but till then the media will continue to have a gala time…

Seminars in a B-School

2009-08-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

I just received a mail which gave the schedule of tomorrow’s seminar in college. To my horror the last line said “ITS COMPULSORY FOR ALL TO ATTEND”. This line itself indicates the importance of seminars in a B School. Their compulsory nature speaks volume about the enthusiasm shown by us.

Now I will do what I have done in the previous seminars. Catch on sleep while the speakers deliver long speeches, verbose and full of management jargon. In fact sleeping is an infectious disease in these seminars. One after another students keep falling asleep and the vigilant ones keep waking them up. Sometimes it has happened that the entire row is asleep and the “wake up your neighbor cycle” goes in chain. To this extent also the college bears with us. The real trouble comes up when someone starts snoring. Imagine a speaker, VP of a company speaking in a silent hall, being interrupted by snoring noise. He would definitely think that had the student been an employee of his organization it would not have taken him even a second to deliver a pink slip, and that too in times of recession. But being guest of college they have to bear with it. What we need to keep in mind is how it would feel speaking in front of audience which is snoring and napping. But it’s not only students who are responsible. A good speaker is a one who can create an aura and mesmerize the audience with his words. For whom people leave their cigarettes and return to the hall to listen. But good talent is hard to find and so are good speakers. Till the time this happens seminar halls will continue sleeping.

IIT Delhi Faculty on Mass leave

2009-08-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

Its time for students to enjoy a holiday as the faculty decides to go on a mass leave. The IIT faculty is demanding wages at par with government scientist and have given a deadline of September 4 to the government. As the minor exams come close the nerds out here have plans to use the day for revising the course nth time (I don't know whether they intend to pass the exam or publish a research paper on the course material). People like me who even fail to concentrate even one day before the exam will probably be seen having a gala time in this mass casual leave. Classes anyways are a burden, lesser the better.

The BJP-Jaswant Singh Partition

2009-08-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

The jinn of Jinaah has once again come to haunt BJP. Earlier it was Advani's comment on calling Jinnah a secular leader and now it is Jaswant Singh's turn to face the heat. Although Jaswant not being a mass leader would not have much affect on the future prospects of the party. Still I feel sad for BJP. The party which claimed to be different and unique has gone down and hopes of its revival are dismal. The problem with the party was that after Atal and Advani there was no number 2 in the party. So after the vetran leaders were due for retirement there was nobody in the party to claim the position, or rather too many. Thus it lead to a bloddy war of succession. This war is taking its tall on the party. Rajnath who is not a mass leader himself is holding the reigns and many under him find his authority unacceptable, the state units are on verge of rebellion and the performance of the party is in tatters. For how much time the party can survive in these conditions, only time will tell.

Some times I feel that the dynastic politics and the nepotism of Congress is better in this regard. Right from the time of Jawahar Lal Nehru to Indira Gandhi, Rajiv, Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka the baton always is passed to the heirs of the throne. Atleast the no. 1 spot is fixed in the party and everybody agrees to adhere to his diktat. Those who chose to rebel are quitely shown the door as in case of Sharad Pawar and gang. I know for certain that Rahul is going to lead the congress in time to come followed by his son.
If we see the other regional parties, they seem to be plagued by a similar problem. Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule are contesting to be hier to Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena is already in shambles owing to the nepotistic attitude of Bala Shaeb, SP is facing similar problem, the war in DMK is known to all. That brings me to the conclusion that the well establised dynastic regime of Congress is proving to be more robust than the dangling hierarcy of other party. Though I am opposed to the idea and many of my readers would be, still looking at the facts above the conclusion is imminent.

The Swine Flu scare

2009-08-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

Swine Flu. I guess it is a top search in google trends these days. Everybody is talking about it. It has already gripped Mumbai and Pune, where students are enjoying a fortnight long holiday on the account of the scare. But how has Swine flu affetced the lives of individuals and select groups, lets discuss. Well if you are a TV reporter in one of the 1000 news channels which exist, your main job is to create panic. This has provided you with one more "masala" to add stars to your prime time viewership. Phrases like "maut ka courier", "Mask ke peeche", "Manav jaati ka vinash" should entice you. You have to scare the public to boost up TRPs. If you are a socialite, you need to memorize few jargons related to Swine and flu to blabber in social gatherings. Although your talks might not make any sence, but who would understand them. If you are a student, well sit at home and pray for the problem and Holidays to get bigger and bigger. For employees, well I am helpless, no doughnut for you. Continue working and if you get the deadly virus, be prepared to get fired as these are recessionary times.

Swine Flu scare has entered IIT also where 3 students have been declared infected. The hostel mess is seeing a low turnout, as the students are afraid of a possible infection. This has lead to a boom in sales for paratha houses as sarsi which adjoin IIT hostel. Waiting time at Sarsi which was earlier at 30 mins for a single paratha, has now gone upto 90 mins. This has also resulted in an increased volume and bottomline for the Cig wala near to the place, as students keep smoking till their order arrives.

For the purpose of protection I would give the following advice to my readers:

1) Smoke 10 times a day

2) Drink daily

These would help to kill the virus in your body. You can thank me in the comment sections.

P.S: I have not been paid for this recommendation by the cig wala or the liquor shop outside IIT. :P

Monsoon

2009-08-11T04:14:00.000-07:00

After the comeback post its again a long time since I posted anything. I guess I always manage to find reasons to back my lazy attitude. Well this needs to change. I guess tomorrow will be the busiest day for me as the famous saying goes. But I will procrastinate now :P. I don't know whether smileys are allowed in the blog or not but I will use this privilege (being the administrator of this space on the web).

Three months just passed as if a moment. The summers in Banglore (WIPRO Technologies) was a great experience where I got to know what an IT company is, and fortunately I have made up my mind of not opting for the sector in the finals (if the market is willing to give me that leeway). This was also the first time in my life when I was in train during my birthday. But yes the cellphone kept ringing and did not feel alone at all.

As I was turning through the pages of Economic times, I found that the business world has not enjoyed the same peace which I had the privelage of having.

I have started reading "The Scam" , the story of Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parikh and how they could pull off the million dollar scam and left the infinite Indian retail investors in penury. As I finish that I will get back to post the contents here.....

A Nail Biting Finish

2009-05-14T21:06:00.000-07:00

It was a great pleasure watching the match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals. I had a feeling that the match would end in a nail biting finish and my apprehension came true towards the slog overs. Sachin and Jaisurya were on the wicket and were desperately trying to rescue their team but to no anvil. Tendulkar did play a couple of good shots but gave his leg before the stump on a delivery from Shane Warne.
Warne’s captaincy was completely impressive. The way he leads his side sets an example for the other teams to follow. If Rajasthan Royals are the defending champions and the main contenders for this years title, Warne is the person responsible for it. Warne was supposed to lead the Australian side after Steve Waugh but the s.m.s. scandals came in his way. Let’s hope he takes Rajasthan Royals to Victory one more time.

A come back Post

2009-05-14T02:24:00.000-07:00

It’s been seriously a long time since I have posted anything on my blog. It’s lying like a deserted property under litigation not maintained and silent. I still remember the passion with which I and my friends had started our respective blogs and we had kept a target of 3 posts per day. But I guess now our inactivity has brought down the average to less than 0.001 posts a day. A lot has happened in my life since I stopped putting it up here, but there is a greener side to it as well. Now I have enormous content to put here. May be for the last 4 months life was so busy that I was not able to give time to this blog or may be as I always say, its only because the blog was not high enough on my priorities.
In spite of no additional posts the blog has regular visitors, thanks to the visitor counter put by me on the blog. It made me realize what I was actually missing. But friends and my readers, now Anvay is back and you could expect some hilarious and funny content coming up in the next few weeks…..

A night without my mobile

2009-02-21T11:58:00.000-08:00

Technology has changed the way we look the world. The electronic devices have become so pervasive in nature that existence without them seems almost impossible. Sometimes they can also be compared to necessities like water and air given the extent to which their absence paralyses us.

Recently I had one such opportunity of realizing this fact which I will narrate subsequently. It was a normal Friday evening, and I was busy working on an assignment which was scheduled to be submitted late in the night. The universal law “Work concentrates itself close to deadline” seemed to follow in all our submissions. This night was no different. The task seemed arduous but somehow I had managed to get it near completion. Suddenly my cellphone rang. It was one of my friends from my graduation who was calling. I took the call and he asked me to join him for a party to be held at “The Supper Factory” at GK1 the same night. Now how could someone refuse an invitation like that? I readily agreed and promised to reach on time. The occasion was the scholarship won by another friend of mine for his outstanding academic achievement. Frankly speaking given my lazy attitude I have never been considered by any sane committee or body for similar accolades. Anyways won’t continue with my sad story and get back to the point. So I got ready for leaving and checked whether I had kept all my accessories including my I POD, handkerchief, wallet and room keys. While on my way in an auto to GK1 I realized that I had missed the most important thing I needed for the night, my cell. My heart skipped a beat and I prayed to GOD that help me meet my friends at the said venue else there would be more trouble.

Locating the venue turned out to be as difficult as the US hunt for OSAMA, but fortunately after 10 passersby (9 of whom hadn’t heard of the location earlier in spite of standing just 100m far from the same) I finally reached there. As in the Indian judiciary “Truth Alone Triumphs”, in my life “Murphys law alone does”. As Murphy has said “If anything can go wrong, it will” and it did. The venue for the party was closed owing to an ongoing marriage celebration and I had no clue what to do. My cellphone was not with me, no PCO was in sight and worst of all I didn’t remember any numbers to call. Finally I was able to locate a public phone booth. After scratching my head for five mins finally cud recollect my moms cell number faintly. I dialed the same and there it was…. Wrong Number. After a couple of attempts I could get the right number and cursed my bad memory. It was a long process. Finally through a chain of calls I could finally get back to my friends and they gave me the details of the new venue which was far from here. So again I got in an auto cursing my mistake and this time the luck played worse. The auto driver was inebriated and barely could open his eyes. I soon realized that this could be my last journey and started my prayers. Fortunately GOD listened this time and I successfully landed at the new venue. This time again was greeted with bad luck. Entry was strictly on reservation basis and I had to again call my friends who told me that the venue has again been changed and reach the new one. Oh! My GOD. Again the pursuit for discovery began and finally I met with my friends.

The Mobile blunder again played a spoil sport as I had to contact my group for assignment and the only member whose cell number I had didn’t respond. Finally the night passed with me missing my cell more and more. The next morning I could not wake up on time because my Mobile which incidentally also plays my alarm clock was not with me. Unable to contact anyone I began my journey back to Delhi and took 2 hrs for a 20 min trip owing to the lack of information availability. Finally as soon as I reached home I looked for my cellphone and held it like a mother discovering her lost child. Indeed it was like missing your girlfriend. Finally I swore not to forget it ever in future.

Rashtrapati bhavan on the republic day

2009-01-26T13:57:00.000-08:00

What republic day means to most of us is a holiday and a break from our usual working routine. Incidentally this time it was Monday, so it meant 3 days of consecutive holidays. Now who will not love that? Most of my friends are back home to cash in on the occurrence.

Have you ever wondered why 26th January was decided to be the day the Indian Constitution would come into force. Was it that just that in the nick of time on 26^th January the formalities were completed for the Constitution implementation? Here is the reason why.

Although India gained independence from the British rule on 15th August 1947 - an occasion marked with the Independence Day celebrations every year the establishment of the Republic actually has its roots in the Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress at midnight of 31st December 1929 -1st January 1930 when the Tri-Color Flag was unfurled by the nationalists and a pledge taken that every year on 26th January, the 'Independence Day' would be celebrated and that the people would unceasingly strive for the establishment of a Sovereign Democratic Republic of India. Thus by the time independence was achieved this day had already assumed a lot of importance and so the fathers of our Constitution decided to declare it as coming in force on this day.

I was having my usual snacks in the evening when a group my friends offered to go to CP (Connaught Place). Being quite bored out of the usual routine I readily agreed.

On the way we were passing Rashtrapati Bhavan (the official residence of the Indian President), and by God it was beautifully decorated. We were simply awestruck by its beauty. The glitter of the lights was making it like a newlywed bride. We decided to break our journey there and spend some time. We enjoyed every moment of it and it was an awesome feeling to see it so closely. Sure we were not allowed inside but the outside was no less attracting. Now I am planning to pay a visit to the Moughal gardens in Rashtrapati Bhavan which are opened for a month during the spring. Let’s see if time permits.

Trip to LONAVALA

2009-01-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

I was just remising an incident in the first year of my engineering when a group of my friends decided that we should go to Lonavala. And that incident I can never forget in my life.

It was 11:00 p.m. and the day was like any usual day. We were all involved in bakar (a classic term meaning gossips in student parleys in India). Suddenly one of the friends said lats enjoy the night in Lonavala. It is a famous hill station near Pune. We were all first years and most of us did not haves bikes. So they were arranged from the seniors on the pretext of going to some local places (they would never have agreed to lend it for Lonavala). At nearly 2:00 a.m. we all were ready. As the next day was a holiday, missing classes was not an issue. Now let me introduce you to the star of this story. His name is Rahul (name changed to protect identity) but was popularly known as “Bade bhaiya”. Bade was a classic character of our college. He was the Charlie Chaplin. No, no don’t misunderstand me, the guy is well built, 6 feet tall and dashing but somehow due to his comedian attitude acquired this title. Incidentally he was also my room mate.

So finally we had 7 bikes and fourteen people. I was the pillion with Bade bhaiya. We were on a splendor. After the journey finally took off in the wee hours of the night, some problem occurred and we were separated from the rest of the group. Our bike was lagging behind. Bade bhaiya who was overconfident of his knowledge of highways interpreted the directions given by our batch mates incorrectly. We were directed to take the road going straight from FOOD Junction. Incidentally Bade bhaiya knew the road till food junction, but an overconfident brat that he is got lost twice before actually we could reach there. Finally at the food junction he took a turn that led to a narrow road which was not remotely looking like a highway. I asked Bade, “Dear are you confident that we are going right as this does not seem to me as the correct path” to which he said “yes dear. I am sure, this is a short cut to Lonavala” to which I said “Man, you are great, you know shortcuts to Lonavala too.” Finally after moving at 80kmph for 15 mins we could finally see lights and traffic. I said “wow bade, you are the best, Lonavala in 15 mins?”. Then suddenly I saw E Square Multiplex (a multiplex of this name exists in Pune), I said “Bade look, there is E Square in Lonavala also” to which bade said “man this is not the E Square of Lonavala but of Pune”. I was furious on him. I abused him badly and forced him to ask directions or we would be circling Pune till dawn. Finally he acquiesced to my demand and then we were again on the right track.

Let me describe the highway. It was completely dark as it was the new moon day and there was no one to be seen on the highway. I was confident of the driving skills of bade bhaiya (something which I repent till date) and we were moving at 90kmph (way beyond the capacity of Hero Honda Splendor). He was going this fast as all the group was ahead of us and we wanted to catch up. It was around 3:30 a.m. we overtook two bikers and were moving ahead with confidence and high spirits. Suddenly we say huge rocks in front of us which were a product of a recent landslide. The distance at which we saw them was barely 20 m (thanks to the dim light of Splendor). Bade’s first reaction was “Oh! Shit” and then in barely no time our bike hit the largest of the rocks. The change in speed was 85 kmph to 0 kmph in approximately 0.005 sec. The rear wheel of the bike was in air as a torque was acting on it with the front wheel being the center of rotation. The impact on my buttocks was large enough to kick me as a projectile and I was thrown in air. The words which Bade uttered were “Sorry” and while in air I said “*********” ( sorry will have to censor it as it is a public post but you can count the letters and guess the feeling to make out the word). As I fell of the opposite lane on my legs, I was going unconscious and a truck was coming with speed in the same lane head on. Thanks to Bade he shouted “Anvay , bhag” and I saw the truck in front of me. I guess my subconscious mind told me to get off the road. But it was also not a comfortable option as adjoining the lane was a trench deep enough to have ended my life had I made a mistake. Finally the bikers we had overtaken came to us and fetched us the first aid and soon my friends were also back to the accident site and drove us to Lonavala hospital. This was my closest encounter with death. The incident became a joke after words the way I narrated it but let me tell you, it was truly horrifying.

ING Miami Marathon 2009

2009-01-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

The ING Miami Marathon is a annual sporting event hosted in Miami and Miami beach Florida. Its inaugural race was on Feb 2nd 2003 and since then it is one of the fastest growing annual marathons, attracting world class distant runners.

It is open to all males and females from any country and is an official qualifier for the Boston Marathon. Last time, January 27 2008, more than 10,000 runners from over 40 countries ran the streets of Miami in the marathon and half marathon.

The backdrop of the athletic efforts of the participants consists of paradise-like beaches, enormous cruise ships, breathtaking ocean views and luxurious jet-set mansions. Doesn’t all this sound like the perfect setting to film a Hollywood movie? This thought has come to a number of Hollywood directors who shot their movies in the tropical Miami scenery, and the marathon course lets the runners pass some of the movie locations. Among many others, the fast-moving '2 Fast 2 Furious', the legendary gangster movie 'Scarface' and the pastel-shaded 1980s TV show 'Miami Vice' have been shot in the streets and on the beaches of Miami. The marathon organizers highly encourage Miami citizens to come and support the persistent athletes. They even make special Cheering Zones with extra entertainment for both runners and onlookers and print each participant’s name on his or her bib number for personal cheering. So get ready for it as it is being held today.

Chokhi Dhani : The Ethnic village resort

2009-01-25T07:32:00.000-08:00

In November last year on my Pune visit 4 of my friends planned a visit to Chokhi Dhani, the ethnic village resort. The resort is an amalgamation of modern management and old traditions and attempts to bring us closer to the traditional Rajasthani culture. Originally this resort was started in Jaipur but with time opened up at many other places following the success of the first. Well I have been only to the Pune one, so it is what I am going to talk about.

The resort is located at the outskirts of Pune on the Ahmednagar road, popularly known as the Nagar road. The timings are from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. The place is completely cut off from the city and eventually is very calm and quiet. As soon as you reach there, you are welcomed in the traditional Rajasthani style with garlands and dance. The immediately you are offered light snacks which include jajeera and kachori, very popular in Rajasthan. The staff is all dressed in traditional clothes and is very hospitable. After this the place offers you an array of opportunities to enjoy yourself. There is a camel ride, puppet show, teerandazi, jadoo, pottery making, dance, traditional music, archery, massage and photography in traditional clothes. After you are content with all this entertainment, a smorgasbord is waiting for you, which will please even the most fastidious person on this earth. The staff there is fully at your service and adds a personal touch to each diner. After the dinner you can roam around a while or just leave.

And well the million dollar question now will be, how much for all this. Well the rate in Pune was Rs. 400 the last time I went there in November. But it may have increased. Personally I feel that it is slightly over priced but considering the treatment you get and the purchasing power of Pune citizens it’s certainly not a bad deal.

Well the first two pics I have put up here are of Chokhi Dhani, Jaipur and the last one is of Pune.

People and Life

2009-01-21T19:53:00.000-08:00

Pirates of the Caribbean- The curse of the Black pearl

Captain Barbossa : “Jack, I thought I had finally figured you out, but it seems that you are a hard man to predict.”

Jack Sparrow: “Me, I am dishonest and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it’s the honest ones you need to watch out for, as you do not know when they will do something stupid“.

So dishonest men are more trust worthy, than the honest ones. In real life the people who can call a spade, a spade are better people for trust as theses people believe less in conspiring. They are never afraid to speak their mind and sometime may appear foul mouthed, but remember, they are better than the diplomatic ones who will keep it all to themselves and may one day erupt like a volcano which will shake your foundations like an earthquake.

Mentem Hominis Spectato Non Frontem i.e do not judge a man by his outward appearance. Always remember that.

The OPEN SOURCE MOVEMENT

2009-01-19T11:30:00.000-08:00

It was a day well spent. First the preparation of my CFA was going on in full momentum and then in the evening we had a lecture from Mr. Venkatesh. He is working as a senior executive in Red Hat and is closely associated with Open Source development there. Although I had read about community developed software earlier also, but today I realized its true potential. He told us how Linux was developed by Linus Torvalds when he initially wrote 10,000 lines of code for the operating system. In the last 18 years through community development this code has become of more than 204 million lines in the Fedora 9 version Sold.

Another question which we asked him was that if open source software is free then from where Red Hat generates money. I meant that what was the revenue model being followed by the company, in response to which he said that although the source is free but we generate money from installation and maintenance services.

The other important aspect of the open source software is that everything is before you. I mean there can be no hidden code implanted in it. Software used in banks, defense etc. cannot work on proprietary software as they can have backdoors which can prove fatal for these applications.

The open source software also results in a great cost reduction as you do not have to pay anything to use it. The policy of software companies and Pharma companies was also taken up but we found that Pharma companies usually involves huge sunk cost and hence cannot afford to leave the patents but software which has zero marginal cost of production should not be so much high priced. He also said that the high pricing of software has lead to its heavy piracy.

Bush exits WHITE HOUSE

2009-01-19T03:12:00.000-08:00

Hey friends here comes the day when Bush will finally exit the white house and this will mark 12 years of the family in the White House. What his tenure means for the Americans I am not sure, but for the world he was not a very encouraging leader. Well lets leave this debate and enjoy some of the cartons on him.

Slumdog Millionaire: India’s Hope at the Oscars

2009-01-17T22:09:00.000-08:00

Slumdog millionaire, the story of a slumboy who goes on to become a millionaire playing on the show KBC hosted in the film by Anil Kapoor is the talk of the town these days. Based on a novel “Q&A” by Vikas Swaroop, an Indian diplomat, the movie has swept the Golden Globe awards and is expected to rock at the Oscars. The movie is made in a typical Hollywood style with no songs and shows the reality with a perfect blend of drama. The movie deserves all praises for the direction, acting, music and every aspect that has been involved with it. Kudos to Danny Boyle for the masterpiece he has created.
But then I am a bit puzzled too. Why is it so that only the movies which show India as a deprived nation win so much acclaim around the world? Why India’s true expectation at the Oscars are delivered by movies which depict India as a typical third world country where people can’t get two square meals a day. Delving into the history, we find that the first Indian entry to the Oscars which was in final five was Mehboob’s “ Mother India”. This story is about an Indian farmer family which is facing tough times and has troubles feeding their two children. The clutches of the money lender, the unpredictable nature of the rains and bad luck in tandem make it difficult for the family to survive. But mother India chooses honor over blood. India’s next entry which came that close to winning was Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay. This was a story of a Slum boy who had run from his family in the village and came to the dream city to earn livelihood and live a good life, but as the fate turned out he came to Bombay Slums. The director through his eyes presents us a picture of these slums, where in prostitution, drug dealing and child labor have been depicted beautifully and bring tears to the eyes most impassive. The last one “Lagaan” show India under the East India Company where farmers were exploited and were made to part with their hard earned bread in the form of exorbitant taxes. And now, “ Slumdog”, India’s next big expectation.
What’s common in these movies? They all show India as a typical third world country and the Indians poor. Why is it that any Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra movie have never been acclaimed? It is said that the former show reality. What is reality by the way? As per the western definition, it is the the story of the slums, the hunger, the starving belly. I am to ask, has India not progressed in these fifty years post independence. Our companies are quickly climbing the Forbes list of the best and we have one of the largest intellectual pools in the world. The list of richest people in the world is figuring more and more Indians. I agree that India has problems and farmers are committing suicide in different states and that 95% of Mumbai’s (Bombay) population lives in 5% of the area. But both are realities. The story of Jamal or that of Dhirubhai, goes from rags to riches. I just want to make the point that India is doing well and we are progressing. Definitely a country whole wealth has been plundered mercilessly by the Arab invaders and then the British it would take some time to be back on track. And as to when, I should say, yes very soon.

War on Terror

2009-01-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

The world is a different place after 9/11. The day the twin towers came down and became ground zero the world realized what terrorism was. No doubt it takes attack on the elite to the forces controlling the world to take note. This is what precisely happened. U.S led a war against Taliban, which was its own creation, a monster which became a threat to its creator. Never before did the U.S realize the plight of the nations suffering from terror.
In the name of war on terror thousands of innocent civilians were killed and the real perpetrators never could be caught by the Americans. The next target of U.S or to be precise Bush was to square of the feud between him and Saddam Hussain. No wonder that here also the American forces could not find the claimed weapons of “Mass Destruction” on the premise of which this war was waged. The U.S is playing a bully terrorizing and murdering innocents. It is this attitude of U.S which will one day lead to its downfall.
The sentiments against the U.S in the muslim world are at a peak and pacifying them in near future appears bleak. Agreed that they have the best technology and state-of- the-art defense system but even that is not enough to protect them against Fidayins. The Iraq war which was a tussle for dominance on worlds oil resources has led to more losses than gains.
India is a country that has been as much a victim of terror as the U.S if not more. We expect support from them to fight this menace and understand that Pakistan is sponsoring the terrorists. The selfish interests of the U.S are coming in the way of their providing us a whole hearted support. I hope they wake at the right time and stop playing politics or there will be more 9/11s.

Sachin not in ICC top 20 of greatest batsmen ever

2009-01-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

Little master, Master Blaster, The Little Champion are just some of the titles bestowed upon one of the greatest batsmen of all times, the hero of India and the hope of a billion people, “Sachin Tendulkar”. Today morning while reading the newspaper I was surprised to find out that he has been ranked at No. 26 in all time great batsmen rating for test cricket batsmen and at no. 12 for the ODIs. Clearly for me these rankings hold no meaning, which do not think of keeping Sachin even in the top five. I am a student of a B-School and in our business rankings are not something you tend to follow closely. Statistics is something which can be easily manipulated and changing the parameters here and there you can place even ENRON at the greatest company of all times. What is more important here is for us to realize the role Sachin has played for the Indian cricket. At one time he was the only hope of a billion plus people and was treated like God in a country which treated cricket as a religion. Bookies were afraid of him and he gave nightmares to one of the greatest leg spinners of all time Shane Warne.
Well team effort is very important but history has always been biased to favor those who have lead their team or army to victory single handed. Such heroes are called one man army and become immortals in history. Team effort has never brought glory to a single individual. Pele, Maradona, Sachin what did these people have in common, that they were alone enough for the eleven players in the opposite side and the strategy of the opposition was also to target the single individual for victory. Pele and Maradona led their sides to victory single handed in world cups. In the 1996 Will World Cup Sachin alone took India to the semis, before the turning pitch of the eden garden wiped Indians off. And with respect to pitch also I must say that till Sachin was there on the field India was doing well. It was only after he got out at 64 did the pitch started turning abnormally. Maybe the pitch also knew that it was of no use to turn while Sachin was playing. Jokes apart this shows the power of master blaster and his talent. Among the contemporary actors only Shahruk is bestowed upon the title of King Khan, when maybe even Amir, Saif, Akshay are as good as him. The reason is when the Indian film industry was going through a slowdown phase in the late 90’s , and the films of all the major stars were failing miserably, Shahrukh’s films were doing good business. His presence in the film was enough for the ticket counters to make advance booking for a week. This is the power of one man army. Talking about the Gujrat CM Narendra Modi, his party was not supporting him for the elections. Most senior leaders were jealous of his rising power and all the senior leaders of BJP refused to go to Gujrat to campaign for Modi. He was all alone in the battle field but his determination and political acumen lead to a victory for him. It was perhaps the first time I had seen that news papers had written Modi wins Gujrat instead of BJP wins as they knew whose victory it is. Hence ICC can come out with as many rankings it wants but the master blaster will still be No. 1 for India and the world.

The Satyam Fiasco

2009-01-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

The image of Corporate India has been tainted with the Rs. 7000 Crore fraud by the Raju family. The news about this incident spread like wild fire and soon Google was flooded with search strings which included all possible combinations of Satyam, Raju, Fraud etc. My dad was very much worried hearing about the news as he could not recall which IT firm had hired me for summers. An offer letter from Satyam which would have been celebrated only 2 months back would now transform into a worthless piece of paper. Fortunately I was lucky and my mother reassured my father that its not Satyam. The Satyam recruits who till few days back were crying about the delay in the date of joining are now feeling lucky to have avoided the association with the tainted firm. Now they can apply else where, a scenario which also is not very promising keeping the global slowdown in mind.

Well talking about the origin of this crisis, it dates back to the year 1999-00, when Satyam acquired a firm named Indiaworld. This acquisition was done just before the dot com bubble burst and Satyam suffered huge losses in this deal. To deal with this the books of Satyam were cooked to show the company in good health and Mr. Raju expected to fill the gap in the coming years. But as the fate turned out the gap instead of filling got widened year after year until one day it became impossible to continue with it. The Satyam Maytas (Satyam spelled backwards) deal was a plan to fill this gap. The Maytas promoted by the sons of Raju was a real estate company and Raju planned to fill the fictitious assets of Satyam through real assets of Maytas on a payment of $ 1.3 billion. The payment was not actually to be made (all in the family). But the investors and share holder fury did not allow this to happen. And finally Raju was forced the directors of the company to issue a confessional statement.

The employees of Satyam, most of whom did not have any hand in this crisis are now paying the price of the evil deeds of their employer. Raju who was a hero and a model entrepreneur has overnight become a vilon.

The employees of Satyam have done no crime the government should take care to see that the company continues to operate. It was the last thing we needed in the time of "Global Slowdown".

Trip to Manali

2009-01-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

After the grueling six months of my MBA life finally came some respite as the winter vacation. A time to breathe easy and loosen yourself. But as usual this time was misused to the fullest extent. Most of the students had left the campus barring a few and the IIT campus bore a deserted look. I just had Kshitij, my batch-mate who decided to stay back and chill out. We became more and more "AALSI" day by day. Our body clock was completely out of sync. with the sun, i.e we slept at 8:30 a.m and woke up at 4:00 p.m. The hostel mess refused to cooperate with us and consequently having lunch in the mess was out of question. Yes definitely the NESCAFE counter in the campus had all praises for us as we became his regular midnight customers and a big source of revenue for him.

As time passed and boredom started gripping in, Kshitij came up with the idea of Manali trip. Usually people go to HOT places in winter and cool places in summers but we being engineers decided to go against this popular trend. Varun, another member of our group was called in who was doing some project at Standard Charted (as per his version), and he readily agreed to join us. So the group of 3, backpacked and boarded a bus heading to Manali. It being a favourite honeymoon sopt the bus had a dominant couple population and we were feeling out of place or misfit. The journey to Manali was of 16 hours and our VOLVO was quite comfortabe for this journey.

The next day we reached Manali at 9:30 a.m. Immidiately we were surrounded by a group of guides who were hell bent on convincing us about getting the cheapest deal for the hotel. Finally we found a hotel quite reasonable in price (i guess the global slowdown was showing its effects) and we checked in. The first day was spent discovering Manali and places like HIDIMBA temple which is the most popular one there. The food was simply awesome and the locals were quite friendly witht the tourists.

Day 2: We headed towards Solang vally and Gulaba. We hired a Maruti Omni and started heading towards the snow clad mountains. After we reached there the view was simply awesome. There was snow all around and the view was simply breath taking. And yes not to forget the friction on the ice was absolutely non existent. That made it quite dangerous too. Having played over the ice and tredded over difficult terrains, it was time to leave. Although I wasnted to stay there for ever, but the dropping temperature made me change my mind.

Day 3: There was nothing much to do except we visited the river passing through Manali and were waiting for the bus.

Finally we were back in Delhi and all that was left were the sweet memories. I hope there are many more such trips to some in my 2 years at Delhi..............

Friends are similar

2008-08-20T10:52:00.001-07:00

New Delhi. The capital of India is my playground now. IIT as it is known as. Its been 3 weeks that i have been here. I have made some new friends. I am still in touch with my old friends whom I miss a lot, but I have started getting along pretty well with few people with whom I am going to spend the next two years of my life. I was walking with one of my new friends at 3:00 a.m in the morning (ya we do stay up that late) and suddenly he said something to which I replied "Hey i had a friend exactly like you in my last college" to which he replied "I too had a friend who was very similar to you". Is this a mere co incidence? I don't think so. To test this just recall mentally all the friends you had in the past. If they were from different places even better. After you carefully analyse their traits a strong correlation will appear between them. Why do you think this happens? This is because the friends you chose depends a lot on your behavior and some latent psychology peculiar to you. You will always go for similar type of people with whom you will enjoy to stay with. Of course exception to this rule are there but aren't exceptions a part of life. You might make some friends arising out of compulsions or selfish motives but such people are of the type "out of sight is out of mind". The once you will truly chose to hang on and be in touch even when you are far off will follow a pattern.

I am so fortunate

2008-08-20T10:22:00.001-07:00

We had a very senior official from coca cola to lecture us today in our campus. He was telling us about the Operational Excellence. It was a brilliant lecture. Between the lecture he said " In order to be successful in the future you have to selectively forget the past". On coming back to my room I was thinking about it. We spent a lot of our time thinking about the mistakes we have done in the past not realizing that it is destroying our present. In the majority of the free time we get, memories of the past keep haunting us. Why I couldn't make it to IIT? Why I was not able to tell her my feelings? I should not have said that to him. The list is countless. Now if we replace it by the questions : What can I do further in my career to get a better salary?, How should I go about finding a girlfriend?, I will say sorry to him tomorrow. Not only will this result in a better future, it was also make us more confident. As a famous saying goes "I was in blues for I had no shoes , until I went on the street and found a person who had no feet." . Whenever you feel dejected and low in your life look out for people who were not as fortunate as you are. Once in the morning assembly my principal was addressing me. At that time I was cribbing a lot as I was given Computer for my class XII as the seats were full. My principal pointed out to a bunch of street children who were watching us standing on the wall of our building. He said students, look at them. Ask them how much they wish to be here standing at your place. You are fortunate that you can afford to study here, so don't waste the opportunity God has bestowed on you. It was a very emotional moment for me , as I had tears in my eyes after seeing them. I never realized I was so fortunate. That day changed my life at school and I happily accepted the subjects assigned to me. I follow that practice to this day....

ITS A BAD IDEA

2008-08-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

Well MBA is hectic and demanding. After two weeks in DMS IIT Delhi , I have realized that. From the last three days I have zero balance in my cell phone but I have not been able to go to the shop just in front of IIT main gate to buy a new sim. Why I need a new sim? Thats because I have brought a pathetic IDEA my gang connection. So lets me describe "what an idea :)". As I entered IIt Delhi campus I found a stall promoting Ideas MY GANG connections. They promised very cheap calling rates and nearly free messaging (@1p) within the gang. I couldn't resit the temptation and went for it. As a part of the promotion I was also given a parker Beta pen on which the cost price was mentioned to be 125. As I have used parker in the past I knew that the market cost of the pen was Rs. 50. As I turned the cover the reason wes evident. it was written in bold letters "Specially packed for IDEA". This is a case of cheating. Its only in a country like India that a brand of national level can blatently afford to flout laws.
If it was limited till here that was O.K The nighmare started when I started using the connection. The network of Idea is like Electricity in U.P. It goes and you dont know when it will come back. similarly network of Idea also disappears without any prior information and as the murphy law goes it happens when you need it the most. The call connecting rate is also really low. I sometimes had to pray to God to get calls connected. The gang rates are not applicable from 5 :00 p.m to 11:00p.m again a time when you have to make most of the calls. The free sms scheme is not available for Independence day, friendhip day, Rakhi, rose day, sari day and any other day which Archies and Hall mark have ever thought of. So all in all a request too all Delhi residents -->> "ITS A BAD IDEA".

Abhinav Bindra wins gold

2008-08-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

The long wait for an individual gold for a country of a billion people is over. Abhinav has done it for us and made the country proud. But merely basking in this glory and thinking this will mark a new beginning for the Indian Olympic endeavor would be wrong. The truth is we are still lagging far behind in training our athletes to expect anything out of them. What has been achieved till now is just a result of their individual efforts and perseverance. India where cricket is a religion and Sachin is God, other sports are largely neglected. The training infrastructure provided by our sports ministry is nil no form of encouragement from them is expected.
To analyze this subject lets go down in the history. India has been taking part in the Olympics since 1920. The first gold has come after 88 years. Contrast this with China, which won its first gold medal in the 1984 Olympics and today it is challenging the U.S in the medal tally. The Chinese government concentrated on training and nurturing the talents of their sportsmen and provided them world class facilities. They concentrated on medal rich sports and the result is before all of us. Indian sports arena is dominated by politics and controversies. The people holding posts for different sporting federations just misuse their authority to the largest extent possible. The athletes have to rely on their personal finances to pursue their dream. Abhinav owes his success to his generous and encouraging father who supported his child to chases his dream. Mittal Foundation had also come forward and helped Bindra with finances. These collective efforts bore fruit for him. Now that he has won everybody is coming forward to reward him. probably he will receive gifts in excess of few crores. What needs to be done now is an introspection as to why are we lagging behind. The system need a complete overhaul. Otherwise India will continue to finish among the last in the medal tally.

Engineer. Are you sure?

2008-08-05T05:15:00.000-07:00

I just got my final year marksheet. Pappu engineer ban gaya. I was successful in incrementing the total number of engineers this country has produced by 1. Ironically today when one of the professors asked me "Who is an Engineer?" , I looked at him as if he had said something in French or Mandarin. Actually I have never thought on this subject. This question was ignored right from the day I joined my engineering college. I am expecting to find the answer to this question in another 5-10 years. In the mean time I will avoid being referred to as an engineer. We are getting close to B.Sc day by day. I think the governement will one day end the B.Sc degree and we all will be engineers. Till that day the diffrence will continue to exist on papers.

JMET and DMS IIT Delhi

2008-08-05T04:53:00.001-07:00

Time: 7:30 a.m. Place: C-36 Aravali Hostel. The alarm clock is ringing for the third time in the last ½ an hour, as it was snoozed on the previous two occasions. Thankfully this time I wake up. Oh my God! I am late again. I finish my morning chores in the next fifteen minutes. No time for breakfast, still I manage to have a couple of slices of bread en route to college. I reach the class just in time and get back to the hostel after a 3 hour lecture session. After lunch the classes continue till 7:00 p.m. Do I feel tired? No, rather I am even more energetic after the great lectures by some of the finest professors of India. The lectures are followed by dinner and a meeting with placecomm which lasts till 11:45 p.m. This is followed by working on assignments till 2:00 am. Suddenly my inbox shows a new mail which asks me to write an article for a magazine, and the mail has come from the senior who has not been generous looking at my packed schedule. I have to submit the article by 04:00 am. So I am able to catch on sleep only from 4 to 7:30.
Welcome to Department of Management Studies IIT Delhi. The account mentioned is a typical day in our life. Going back in time, the journey of admission to DMS started from August in 2007 with the JMET form, which was to be filled online. As I satisfied the eligibility criterion which was a “First class in Engineering”, I went ahead and filled the form. The syllabus was nearly same as that of CAT so it did not need a very special attention. JMET exam was on the 9th December, and as my CAT was a debacle I was left with no option but to perform. The paper had 150 question divided into 4 sections (English, Reasoning, DI and Maths). Along with the knowledge of fundamentals, speed was also an important constraint. Each of the sections had a minimum cut off marks which was not known to us. I just came out of the examination hall with my fingers crossed.
IIT people used to conducting JEE believe more in AIRs than in percentiles. In the results which were declared one month after the written paper I secured rank 173 with 61.75 marks clearing the cut offs for all the sections. Now we were required to apply into the IITs of our choice with an SOP. Fortunately I received a call from DMS for GD/PI. The moment I entered the campus, I was completely mesmerized by its beauty. You just can’t resist the desire to belong here after a single visit.
On the D day I got ready and walked to the DMS building. The candidates were divided into groups of 8. The topic of the GD was abstract “Nurture nature at what cost”. After the GD I headed for PI. The PI was a grilling session where I was questioned on my engineering subject, the projects I had done and some current affairs. I was lucky to have the dean of DMS in my panel and it was a great pleasure interacting with him. I left the campus with a strong aspiration to be a part of this B School and the IIT campus.
My hope transformed into reality when I received the offer letter from DMS to join its MBA program. It was not only signified that I will be an MBA but also brought me the coveted IITian tag all of us dream of.
Time flies here. Its been 2 months since I joined but it just feels as I came only yesterday. Here at DMS we are being taught by the finest faculties who command huge respect in the industry. Prof. P K Jain is considered the best teacher of Finance in India. I feel really lucky to be a part of this DMS family.

Nostalgia

2008-07-07T10:28:00.001-07:00

I m really gonna miss these days

I am gonna miss my college days

This song by 'Gaurav Dagaonkar' is a one which comes too close to the spirit of nostalgia and could have been composed only by someone who really was missing his college life from the bottom of his heart. I heard this song in the farewell function of our class where this was used as background music to a very beautiful video of our college life. Only then did I realise that yes it was finally coming to an end and would never get back these days. The journey which had started four years back on a rainy Sunday morning is now over. The engineering course is divided into eight half yearly semester, and each of them had a different flavor and aroma which is still fresh in my thoughts. The classes, the teachers , the assignments and last but not the least some great buddies, all of them are very difficult to forget.

These four years were characterized by learning in a new environment, loads of fun, chit-chats,time pass and yes some studies. When I joined the course I was not knowing what is Computer Engineering, and I still have no clue in this regard. But this does not mean that I have not learnt any thing in college. I have learnt how to remain awake till 6:00 a.m in the morning just watching movies and playing games, I am now an expert in finishing a 400 page book in a single night, I know how to attempt a paper of 100 marks even though I am not knowing a single question, I can play with deadlines, I know how to manage myself with the money which my father used to send me (by cutting all expenditure related to studies) and much more. Well sure I have changed. I read somewhere yesterday that the one thing constant in life is change and I am in no mood to defy that.

College life was not only about studies (in fact it involved anything but studies) but many other activities. My attendance used to range between 55-65 % in class but at 'NOW and THEN' (a cafe in the back side of campus) it was little less than 100%. Even though many of my teachers refused to recognize me but there was no chai-wala in the campus who was not knowing me. The discussions on the table ranged from international issues line 'war in Afghanistan' and 9/11 to personal issues like how to secure placements with such low aggregate percentage. The other very important agenda of our meeting used to be strategy making for survival to criticizing the system. For each of our problems we used to blame people or organizations. The targets of our blame game ranged from American president Bush to the roadside cigarette wala (for not providing cigarette on 'udhar'). This blame game was the best past time we had (of course other than sitting on net). This was the scene of the life outside class.

Coming to the classes part. A general engineering class resembles a movie hall because the back benches are more in demand then the front ones. In a movie hall we have to pay more to get the rows at the back (like gold , silver etc.), similarly in class you had to pay the price of coming early to the class to bag a back bench. Late comers were forced to sit on the front benches (because the last ones were already occupied) and sitting there they were left with no option but study. Also sleeping on the front benches was difficult than it was on the last ones. But I am an exception to this rule. I hold the record or sitting on the front bench and falling asleep. The incident goes like this, a teacher who considered me a good student was taking class and I was sitting on the first bench. She had kept her text book on my table and was teaching. In the mean while I put my head down on that book and fell asleep. When that page was finished she tried to raise my hand from the page but it had become heavy as I was having a nice nap. Suddenly she pushed me and I woke up highly embarrassed. Well what better can you expect caught by your teacher sleeping in the front. Coming back to engineering classes, the other very important aspect is 'never be on time : it might harm your reputation' . People seldom came to class on time. In fact some time students were so late that professor used to ask them 'beta are u late for this class or early for the next one?'. Still the student next day would unabashedly used to ask may I come in 55 Min's. late.

So this was how these days passed. Although discussing all that happened would generate more text than 7 volume of Harry potter novel. But all said and done college days were the best of my life.

A New Begining

2008-07-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

I was just sitting in front of my PC from the past few days refreshing the orkut home page 10^16 times in a day. The number of scraps and community messages seemed to be as constant as the adamant attitude of the left on the nuclear deal. Gmail was also not very encouraging although my memberships to different yahoo groups (I know its a sin to subscribe yahoo groups in Gmail) and some other sites ensured at least some activity. Suddenly I went through the orkut profile of one of my new college to be batch mate and I found a blog link in it. This gave me a third site which could provide me more means to kill time and ensure that I do not put the same load on the orkut servers. I opened my blog which seemed like I was taking a rusted car out of the junk yard and which was irreparable. Hence I decided to delete it altogether and went on to create a new post with a new URL.

Selecting URL was the first hurdle I faced. No matter how strange my URL was a message used to appear on the screen which said

"URL already taken".

No matter how strange my URL used to be it was already taken. Even a dictionary refused to help. Still after some 50 unsuccessful attempts I have got a hosting URL. After that the word verification proved to be the second problem. The word image for verification resembles some text which could very well be certified by a leading archaeologist of the 'early man era'. It seemed that Google had snapped them from some encryption's found in the prehistoric caves. But after asking for a new word thrice something remotely resembling English appeared on the screen. But still retyping it correctly was a far fetched dream. I think Google must take a cue from the famous show of Big B the 'KBC' and provide us with 4 options and 2 life lines. I finished this task also but only after I had used a magnifying glass of some astronomic focal length. And finally here I am. Hope the fate of this blog is not the same as my last one.