MEMOIRS............

What I like to Read?

2011-07-08T16:45:00.003+05:30

I have been thinking about this for a bit now... is it fiction, non-fiction, magazines, newspaper, course work (LOL.. I cant think I came up with this option) or anything else... looks like it is "something else".
I absolutely and I mean absolutely LOVE reading Blogs!!! Nothing for me is as gripping as other people's account of their mundane/interesting/depressing/exhilarating life.. Even the most boring of topics if its on a blog, I will atleast skim through it....

So to the power of Blogging and the people behind it - Kudos!! You are a life saver....

Kolkata "Night" Riders!

2010-04-05T21:43:00.004+05:30

The pic above is from one of my favorite places in Kol, something I had crossed earlier a million times but never paused to admire.. its the overbridge/walkway which connects two sub-divisions of kol - one which begins with a Lake and the other which ends with one (Lake Town and Salt Lake).. the road below is called the VIP road, one of the relatively fast roads connecting the city to the Dum Dum airport....

Atop this bridge you would see a plethora of people - the busy executive running back home, some vendors selling their stuff, lovey dovey couples holding hands, students and some onlookers (like me)... stand there for around 30 mins and you would see people from all walks of life. To top it all a cool breeze which blows will be an amazing respite from the heat... a fav place when I am too bored sitting at home and just need a relaxing moment with myself... even with all the noise and the people, the breeze is a great stress and heat buster.

Ohh just before I forget - the title is dedicated to all the two-wheelers and their riders who cross the road below @ few thousands/hr....

10 days to launch......

2010-04-01T08:50:00.004+05:30

Well the pic says it all.. in another 10 days I will be part of the Class of 2011 at ISB*applause*

A dream which started a couple of years back and culminated on Feb 12th 2010 with that auspicious email from PGPAdmissions.

Dear Avishek,

Congratulations! We are delighted to inform you that on the basis of a comprehensive and careful evaluation process, ........ yada yada yada.... you have been offered admission.... yada yada yada.....

We look forward to welcoming you to the Class of 2011.

I still remember the Friday morning, when while browsing through the morning emails on my iPhone I saw these golden words... I would have read the email atleast thrice before I literally screamed and danced all over my room. Life has zoomed past @ 110mph since then... had had a difficult time leaving my amazing set of friends back in US, leaving Kraft, Chicago and yeah even Infosys... had walked among my set of friends, relatives and acquaintances with my head held high...and had felt both great and humble along the way. In short the last month and a half had been a fairy tale... have enjoyed every bit of it (minus the heat in Kol) and glowed in all the attention and adulation I received.

Now that there are only a handful of days left before I begin my journey I cannot help but pause and introspect about what this 1 year would mean to me... will it be all positive or will I even lose something... let's begin...

Admission to a premier college is more often than not a passport to a good career... its the springboard which gives you the extra push from behind.. in an otherwise normal life this elevates you to a different level... if you are smart enough, if not anything, it does attach some credibility to your name and also gets you a network of high achievers around the world. There are other several benefits both tangible and intangible which has been written over and over in several newspapers and journals and self help books the world over. So is really everything an icing on the cake... Will I lose something or is everything going to be on the way up from here?

Well this question eludes me all the more now.. here are few things I feel will change (and I leave it open for one to decide if they are positive or negative)....In all probability I will be part of a rat race amongst a set of high achievers... the competition and pressure will be maddening... almost everyone will try to outsmart each other, learning and enjoying in the process and am not only talking about just this ONE year...ISB would just be a trailer to what lays in store for me in my life ahead.... a good job generally translates to more hard work, additional responsibilities and maybe added tension and a busier life. The bar is raised and so will your life (not only materialistic) but otherwise...

So is this what one would really want? Is this just another way of feeling self-important? well I think neither.. I am a firm believer that if you find something you enjoy then it stops being a liability... one of the biggest reasons I wanted to do MBA in the first place was to break free from the monotonicity of my life and my job, and in this regard getting back to school does give you the time to pause a little and do some self-introspection... another chance to maybe try out something new... and an entry into new avenues and perspectives which otherwise would have been either impossible or very difficult to achieve....and this is where places like ISB and other univs in the West with their diverse group help foster to a certain extent....

How far will I be successful? Only time will tell... How am I feeling at this point in time? - well both exuberant and scared.... the next 1 year is going to be crazy and also probably (as many alums say) the best year of my life yet..... I hope am able to live up to the expectations of my well wishers and yeah both learn and enjoy along the way!

ISB Class of 2011, here I come!!! whoooooooooooooooooooooooooosh

The MOTOR Recipies

2010-03-31T22:52:00.002+05:30

well the pic says it all... I happened to visit one roadside stall which sells chicken rolls (umm am hungry... yum yum) and come across this masterpiece. As most of you would have figured out this is nothing but Aloo Matar and Matar Paneer... perhaps one of the most obvious example of Bengali's fascination with everything 'O'.... honestly I dunno why.. is it bcoz we bong love rOsOgOllas or something else... whatever be it Bengali still remains one of the sweetest language on earth!!

Go BONG! Eat your MOTORs :D

this is Ovishek signing off!!!!

Auto-Pyaari

2010-03-21T23:05:00.002+05:30

Anyone who has been to Bangalore are well aware of the importance of autowallahs for the purpose of commuting in Bangalore. No matter how many vehicles you have, you will definitely be using the services of one of these quintessential auto-wallahs during your stay in Bangalore.. they rule the road so to speak.. it is with this in mind I chose to write about these "rulers of the road"….

With every passing day their costs are increasing and so are their tempers. Imagine this just around 5 years back an auto wallah used to start with a basic fare of 8.80 (yeah thats right) for 2 km and increments of around 20 p with every additional half a km. Fast forward to present day Bangalore the meter starts with 14 bucks and which keeps increasing by 50 paise every 250 metres or so… the same distance I used to travel in 20 bucks costs somewhere around 45-55 bucks… thats more than double the costs..

Okay now lets talk about something besides the cost factor… increasingly there are news of disruptive behavior from these guys… with every passing day they are becoming more and more notorious. Also there is always a 100% chance that the first auto you take will not agree to take you to your destination. You need to wait for an average 2-3 before you can get one which takes you forward....

But is everything about these guys are heading towards doom's end… absolutely not.. like I mentioned at the beginning of this post they are literally indispensable… mobility in and around Bangalore would have been a lot more difficult if it was not for these guys to help you out… they are also the saving grace in many occasions and an easy way out when you want to beat the traffic and above all the trauma of parking your vehicle in the central business district.

Back to some more stats (yeah the idea of business school is taking a toll on my head and my fascination with stats), I happened to spend around 6 days in Blore on my return from US enroute Kol… and I happened to use their services around 3-4 times a day for average distances.. guess how big a hole did I burn in my pocket… just around 1200 bucks (yeah!!!!!!)

Oh Calcutta!

2010-03-21T22:40:00.004+05:30

No this is not the shout of despair in seeing the crumbling infrastructure of the city… it is a expression of jubilation when I went to the restaurant named "Oh Calcutta" in Bangalore… this restaurant is operated by Anjan (the same guy behind Mainland China) and I believe have an outlet in all major cities of India… Its an upmarket restaurant and if you enter this place be prepared to burn a decent big hole in your pocket. Here is my review of this place :-

1. Ambience - (3 out of 5 stars) I thought they could have worked a bit more in this department. Though I like subtlety decorated places I found this a bit too plain.. c'mon you are charging a fortune atleast put in some decent amount of wall - hangings and posters of the city for the people to get a feel of Calcutta

2. Service - (4 out of 5 stars) the place has knowledgeable waiters who can guide all non-bengalis through the maze of tongue twisting bengali dishes and will suggest you something good depending upon your interest.

3. Food - (5 out of 5) if possible I would have given it a 10 out of 5 stars. the food is absolutely delightful… I for once have NEVER had yummier bengali food outside of my home in my life to date. Right from the starters to their in-house drink (Aam Panna) and to the Entre's it was a delight… a word of caution though - I am not sure how much it is going to appeal non-bengalis and specially vegetarian non-bengalis. We for one did not order even one dish which was vegetarian so am not sure how is their veggie dept. For the rest some of the fish dishes (esp. Hilsa) may not appeal to non-bongs as they are a pain in the butt to eat but as every bong worth his salt will swear these fishes are a class apart in taste.

Will I suggest this restaurant to anyone? Depends… For one you need to have money in your pocket and for two you should be ready and open to experiment with authentic bengali food… if you have never eaten beyond your home and McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Subway are your idea of outside food, then this place is not for you!!!!

As for me…. I happily burped away into the night echoing Oh Calcutta Oh Oh Calcutta!!!!

P.S. I was right.. its rated as one of the top 5 restaurants in India

The state of "Joblessness"

2010-03-20T00:34:00.002+05:30

Well its some time since I read about the finite state machines in college but my current state of activity can also be categorized as one of the "states".. maybe we should open up another branch of finite state machines and call them "life-state machines"... okay enough of nerdy PJs... here I am with few salient features of self-proclaimed life-state machine - "state of joblessness"

You know you are in this state when

you do not have any fixed time to get up in the morning
when you get up, you are at a total loss of how your day is going to be or what needs to be done during the day
you brush your teeth at 11 AM and then again go off to sleep
you spend 90% of the time you are awake staring either on your laptop or the idiot-box
you have only food in your mind the rest of the 10%
you are at the peak of procrastination
you need to kick-start your brain for the most basic of its functions
you are too lazy to do things which you swore on doing when you were busy

(am too brain-dead to think of anything else)

Also for advanced courses, the state of joblessness can be categorized into two :-

Happy - when the joblessness is self-inflicted... typically the period of inactivity before something big.. the lull before the storm... u know this is your time and you want to make the most of it because these happy states of joblessness do seldom come in your life....
Sad - when the joblessness is some third-party cause... this can be depressing as you did not want this state but was forcefully thrown upon you... typically resigning from ur job due to discontent, fired, etc are causes behind this... God forbid but I hope no one falls into this state as its not at all pleasant and probably the least wanted....

now that my gyan is over.. time to again get back to my HAPPY state of joblessness... duh I took 20 mins to type this much... thats around 2% of my daily time.... too bad...

lets go back to inactivity!!! :D

The year so far….

2010-03-09T22:17:00.002+05:30

Not very long ago, I was fighting one of the fiercest battles with myself on few issues which had been eating up my head for a long time. It had spread like a cancer in my brain and all attempts to diagnose it were failures. I happened to visit NYC to one of my dearest friend during the Christmas weekend and had an amazing time, and during the same trip he kinda remarked, that the new decade should be different for you. Though it may sound kiddish, but sometimes all you need in life is a little encouragement and an assurance that things would change for the better. So in I went, into the new decade, into 2010 with a lot of hopes and determinations. I had one of the best New Year celebrations in a long long time…. couple of my friends went to a local pub and ate, drank, made merry… and on 1st I surprisingly got up really early, went for a drive, paid regards to the Almighty and saw Avatar! Pretty much a perfect start….

Days started passing by and I was totally consumed at work… broke a number of professional records of putting in uninterrupted number of hours at a stretch and also coped up with Ishan’s travel out of the US. Jan for the most part was uneventful and I was busy planning the next phase of my life.. cursing myself sometimes of messing up few great past opportunities. An email at the end of January changed everything… yes it was an interview call from ISB… I had little hopes of getting an invite especially since I felt I couldnt put my best in the applications….the next few days around 10 to be exact went in preparing for the interview… it was easily one of the most stressed out weeks for me, with tons of work, rescheduling of the interview and managing social life left me exhausted… finally the interview happened and again I felt that I could have done better… honestly I felt I had a 50-50 chance and was cursing myself left n right for not doing a better job!

The historic day of Feb 12th changed everything…. I got an invite from ISB, actually 3-4 days before the actual results were supposed to be out. It took me some time to digest, for the feeling to really sink in that I had finally made it to one premier b-school after years of trying, deliberation and messed up schedules. What followed was to an extent unexpected – the process of exiting from Infosys and Kraft! I was not very happy the way my professional life was shaping up.. though I was currently working in a very challenging project, somehow things were not right. More than anything time was running by and I wanted to finish my education fast before I get too bored/old to study… so in that effect ISB happened at the right time. I was ecstatic and was sure that the next few days are gonna be a breeze….well it was exactly the opposite!

Today is Mar 9th, approximately 3 weeks since I informed my managers of my intention of leaving Infy and within just a few days (3 to be exact) I would bid goodbye to my friends and colleagues at Kraft/Infy and embark upon a new journey after a short break of 20 days! What has touched me is the way everyone has come forward to wish me the best in this new endeavor… my clients (absolutely lovely people) had been so supportive and encouraging… seriously this had been a dream account to work for.. seldom do you meet such an understanding and motivating group of people (clients) who make your work literally a treat!

Kraft I will really really miss you!!!

Another touching and unexpected behavior was from my friends at Infy… now that I am leaving I truly realise how blessed I was to have so many friends around me to hang out with.. watch movies.. gossip.. chat.. do anything under the sun. Even their reception towards me had been so warm… had one of my best dinners ever in BD’s and I am sure there are few more send-offs planned in the next few days….

Really people (you know who you are) I will truly truly miss you all!

Well I guess thats enuf of senti-talk for one post… have to finish off with packing and other pleasantries… clock is ticking… tick tock tick tock!!!!

Loyalty is seldom rewarded!

2010-02-07T02:45:00.006+05:30

In an age where credit card companies are stepping onto each other to come up with their most alluring programs to reward customers who had stuck with their bank, I have increasingly come to notice a lot of other closer-to-life places where things are exactly the opposite. Let me give you two examples :-

1. In the (Indian) IT industry if you stick with a company for 4-5 years without jumping around like a frog, in all probability you will be earning a lot less than the next door "Mr. FROG" (a.k.a someone who has changed say 5 jobs in 5 years). Our frog would have received atleast a 40-50% hike with every jump. Poor you, who has worked your a** off with the same company is deemed worthless. Even if you are the top 5% of the company, you would at the max get a 8% jump in your salary year-on-year. So much for loyalty. Its like if you are at the same place you must not be good enough to jump like a frog!!

2. This is something peculiar I witnessed in US especially with Cable companies and Apartment offices. Lets take apartments first, if you religiously keep jumping every 12 months, there is a huge chance that you will end up paying around 100-150 USD lesser after a year, even if you would have moved from say #421 to #420. If you stick around (poor you!) you end up paying a premium of 30 USD extra per month, so yes your rent is actually increasing though you are living in the exact same house from the past 3 years and your neighbor (yes Mr. FROG) is reaping all the benefits.

Now comes cable companies - almost all of them have promotional tariffs for the first 6 months. Also prices for the same kind of service reduces over time but who gets these benefits?? NO, not the loyal customer who took this connection 3 years back but the cheesy Mr. FROG who had been religiously changing service providers every 6 months.

So what do we do? Is it good to be a Mr. FROG?

P.S. And yes - you guessed it right. Both of the above are chronicles of first-hand experiences.

The decade that was!

2010-01-01T07:34:00.003+05:30

Its 8 PM Central on the 31st day of the 12th month of the last year in the first decade of the new millennium! Sounds complicated.. eh! Fine - its 31-Dec-2009 20:00 CT and I just thought a blog would just be a nice idea to wind up this decade. For most, a New Year is either a reason to party hard or just another day in the calendar. It had been the latter for me most of the 26 odd years of my existence. So what's special about it this time around? Well a couple of reasons actually!

I hate to admit but the last decade - yes the entire 10 damn years had been primarily an era of under-achievement(strictly by my standards) for me with some minor exceptions here and there. The first 5 years professional and the last 5 personal. My belief system had been shaken a bit and also life has taught me some important lessons; 'not to take life for granted' being the most important one. On the positive side, I think I had come out as a much stronger person than I ever was determined to turn things over more than ever. Also I have grown out of a shell - from a shy immature teen to a decently smart chap (again strictly by my standards LOL). It had been a learning experience, and also a time to perform under pressure and live upto expectations.

All in all now that I am armed and hopeful that I can turn things over - its time to party! So in just a couple of minutes I am off to a sports lounge to dine away into the New Decade/Year. I think this would be a fitting way to welcome something which could very well be considered "life changing". The Yard House - here I come... CHAO.....
And yes!
Here's WISHING EVERYONE A GREAT NEW YEAR AND A ROCKING DECADE AHEAD!

Love Happens....

2009-11-01T11:12:00.005+05:30

Okay this is a recommendation from me to everyone who wants to watch a nice emotionally inspiring movie. Pick up a DVD and watch "Love Happens". The title is definitely misleading.. yes its about love and it does happen out of the blue but still the movie has a message. Its like a self help book on the silver screen and I definitely know and relate to people who would benefit themselves with the ideas of the protagonist of the movie. So without much thought, go ahead and watch the movie....

IMDB Link

Njoi!!

A waste of a weekend!

2009-08-11T00:48:00.004+05:30

Duh! What a weekend!! [8th/9th Aug 2009]
Generally such exclamations are symbolic of a great weekend but mine was juuuust the opposite.. it seemed I got up on the wrong side of the bed (hey wait a minute! I didnt even sleep on one!!) okay then must have got up on the wrong side of my couch!! Whatever may be the reason it was a disaster!
Here goes the list :-

Suddenly out of the blue, got the news that there is a faint possibility that I may have to relocate for some time.. Where my frenz are finalizing their Miami trip, I have to just keep waiting for my manager to confirm his plans for me!! (gimme a break!!!)
Caught up on tennis just 1 out of the 3 days.. that 1 time I did play somehow did not enjoy 1 minute of the game...
Exercise - ZERRROOOO! The maximum I walked was from my apartment to the parking lot!
Study for GMAT - sucked biggg time.. am now behind schedule more than ever!
Study for certifications - ZERRRROOOO!
Visit to the theatre - nah!! this was atleast 1 thing I used to do religiously but this week even this eluded me...
Socialize with friends - Negligible!
Had kind of an argument with my cousin 'sis and Raj for not visiting Blore the last time I visited India!! What more it was on my sister's bday!!
Cooking - ZERRROOO! Weekend is one time I cook properly and have a nice 3-course meal. This weekend was shit load of junk food... what more yesterday wanted to have a Sub and literally toured the whole of Greater Chicago to find one damn 'Subway' OPEN at 10 PM but returned empty handed... panera bread (closed).. even Taco Bell (dont they advertise "Open Late" and crap!! So where did 'yours truly' finally manage to eat - BK (Burger King)! again full junk....
Finally had some pending office work which I thought would assign my offshore and sleep peacefully on Sunday night but damn.. he 'supposedly' is down with fever.. Incidentally he is sick once every damn week.... the other one is happily on vacation and then I have to listen to their pep talks!!! aaarggghhhhhhh

The only 'worthy' thing - watched Frost/Nixon!! Looooved the movie.. what acting!!
Hopefully for my coming weekends I have something better to write about... cant afford another disaster in this crunch time!!

In Maharaja's lap!

2009-06-18T09:53:00.007+05:30

Okay, a post on something which happened a month back... it was on my first trip back home after coming to US. An honest confession - I loove aeroplanes, had always been fascinated with these mean machines and man's ability to be able to fly something weighing hundreds of tons and (ironically) made up of materials all found on ground! I have a habit of reading reviews, I find them amazingly informative, insightful and also amusing at times. So even in this case I read up couple of really interesting TRs on www.airliners.net before deciding upon the airline I wanna fly. A particularly great Trip Report (you can read it yourself here ) caught my eye and drew me to "new" Air India. Like Air India's self promotion, the TR seemed to scream its lungs out "Have you tried the NEW Air India?".......

So against the suggestion of practically everyone I knew in US, I went ahead and booked my return ticket from Chicago to Delhi on our national carrier. As an added bonus the tickets were quite competitive too but I guess the perks of flying AI would end here... Below is a small review of my experience on AI (few pros and relatively greater number of cons)

First the GOOD news :-
1. AI has started flying the state of the art B777 on select US routes - NY and CHI. These aircrafts have quite a generous seat pitch (almost 34" in Economy!!!) and decent leg space too.

2. Mood-lighting - these B777s have mood lighting and man the cabin looks beautiful n soothing once they are switched ON.. snaps coming soon.....
3. In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) - great AVOD screens with decent headphones... the flip side - bad collection of movies!!!
4. Food - For enthusiasts of desi food, no airline in this world will serve you better Indian Food than Air India... absolutely no comparison in this regard....Also AI is one of the very few airlines which serves free drinks on board (again in Economy).

Ok enuf of pros.. now for a larger list of cons.. I will only mention the select few which kinda perturbed me :-

1. In-flight service - the thing which according to me makes or breaks a good carrier. The sevice level in AI was below average. I flew 2 sectors - ORD - FRA and FRA-DEL and return, and the only time I got acceptable service was on my way back to US from FRA to ORD.... rest all were very very ordinary.. More so I was really irritated with the Behenji's (read Air Hostesses) on board the flight.. most of them were just too casual and indifferent.. one thing which particularly pissed me off was none of them had the courtsey to say "Welcome" after I said "Thank You!" Ok folks back home, please dont think I am being finicky here.. u expect these basic courtsey from air hostesses atleast!! They are India's ambassadors in some sort of way and when you stay abroad you take these stuff for granted... also there seemed to be a major underdose of "smiles" floating around!!

2. Delays - On my flight back to US, the flight was delayed.. I am not denying that this is something unusual on transcontinental routes but the worst thing was no one communicated this to us. I had a flight from CCU-DEL-ORD and I was supposed to change planes in DEL. In CCU no one cared to announce what is happening where the flight was delayed for around 2 hours (same as my transit time in DEL)

3. My ordeal with IFEs continued.. FRA - ORD the IFE wont start after the initial 10 mins.. and worst of all the collection was pathetic and exactly the same as that of my outward journey.. outdated movies and they did not even change the collection (I heard they are supposed to revamp the collection monthly) On the +ve side, I was not feeling that bad about the condn of the IFE

4. Co-passengers included 85% senior citizens, 10% foreigners and 5 % youngsters (and I am being generous here and counting people TILL the age group of 35 as "young").. May not be a big deal for many but helloooo it was for me!

All in all a pretty dissapointing experience.. Was I expecting more because of Mr Abrelosojos's TR or was I just being irrational? US carriers are notorious for their below average service whereas it is a common belief that Indian carriers and their service are the best in the world. Whatever it is, will I fly AI again? Unlikely... definitely it will not be my carrier of choice......

Sorry state of affairs!

2009-06-16T22:22:00.005+05:30

I am frustrated and angry... and all because of Apple Inc. Suddenly since Tim Cook (COO and acting CEO) had taken over the reigns of the company, Apple seems to be coming up with these amazing (for some, weird for me!) promotions. 3 months back I bought my first Mac (an aluminium 13-inch one) putting in almost half of my month's salary and just yesterday got to know that these guys are shipping a MacBook Pro for the same (or wait, an actually lesser) amount. Damn these guys!!!

Next they come up with the new iPhone3G S and bring down the price of the current iPhone. OK, I have nothing against technological innovation and I knew this day would come and the newer products would be a lot cooler, but then that is not what I am angry about. Why cant Apple let the older n loyal users of iPhone 3G (like ME!) upgrade to the new software or even better the phone itself. I checked with ATT and they asked me to pay a freaking 500 USD for a shift to 3G-S. Ridiculous!!

Update : Apple did allow us to download the new iPhone v3.0 software which has few of the important tools that comes up with 3G S. Sorry Apple! you still are the best and I am a loyal fan! :)-

On a side note, take the auto industry of US for example. I think as per reports, US has the maximum number of cars per household in the WORLD. Buying a brand new car is relatively cheap as compared to most other parts, and it has a thriving used-car market. You get real good deals in the 7.5-10k USD range for an average user. Now lets just change gears and concentrate on the service side of this industry. If your car needs a repair (which it most probably would over a course of 1.5-2 years) you will be broke. Some figures :-
Used Honda Accord 2000 model - Around 6000 USD [Cool isnt it!! Read on!!!]

Service Costs :-
Catalytic Converters - Around 1500-2000 USD
Brakes (All 4) - Around 1000 USD
Auto Transmission - Around 2000 USD
Simple Rear body work - Around 1000 USD

It is highly probable that you will end up doing atleast one of the above. If you are particularly unlucky and end up doing more than one, time to buy a new car buddy!!!!

Alas!! India practically out of T20 World Cup! '09

2009-06-15T10:28:00.004+05:30

India's early exit in the T20 World Cup had left me quite dissapointed... it was not quite long ago (in 2007) that we all cheered for India in the finals of the inaugural T20 World Cup against arch-rivals Pakistan and enjoyed every moment of India's victory...

I followed the last 2 games through cricinfo and for some reason it never felt that they were in control in either.. anyways without sounding too judgemental I wish Dhoni & Co better luck and games ahead!

"The Hangover" after "Taking Pelham 123"

2009-06-14T19:49:00.004+05:30

Today was a historic day! For the first time in my life I watched two back to back movies in a theatre. What started as a very lazy Sat afternoon had an exciting ending. Yours truly along with a handful reached the theatre at around 5 deciding which movie to watch "Pelham.." or "Hangover". The former had Hollywood heavyweights but the latter had a huge fan following among my friends.. nevertheless I convinced my friends to go for Pelham.. it was an OK movie.. another one of Travolta's movie where he is the bad guy and have a hostage situation.. I am a bigg fan of Travolta but somehow I feel there was nothing in this movie which I did not anticipate... anyways after the movie, one of my friends came up with this idea that lets go out and get back in for Hangover... In the beginning I thought he must be joking but I was wrong and in a miraculous way we convinced the whole group to walk back right in for another movie... "The Hangover".

Hangover was a hilarious movie... one of the good comedies in a long time.. no fancy actors, no new story line but the whole package was quite good... it might be a bit "guy" kind of a movie so to say but was a perfect movie to end an otherwise ordinary Saturday night...

P.S. I just realised that the last 3-4 posts of mine had always been about movies.. maybe an indication thats all I am doing right now! Until next time.....

I too watched the Watchmen!

2009-03-10T02:42:00.013+05:30

Last Saturday I watched the "Watchmen" on an IMAX screen, on the 2nd day of its release. Well for many back home in India it would not even ring a bell. Who would have heard of a comic series which came in the mid 80's and known for its graphic nature in a country already too prone to censorship left, right and center. Frankly there are only a very few 'elitist' comic heroes who leaves the shores of predominantly the developed world namely the trio of Superman, Batman and Spiderman. Even yours truly's first tryst with the Watchmen was during the screening of "The Dark Knight" (IMAX).. where the unique style in which the trailer was shot and an awesome soundtrack (yes I am talking about the track - The beginning is the end is the beginning by Smashing Pumpkins, which incidentally does not even feature in the movie but is there in its official trailer) make me sit up and notice. I would bet that the majority of the theatre would have had a similar effect.

Directed by one of my favorites, Zack Snyder (the man behind "300") this movie is different than any other "super-hero" movies which ever came out, quite like the comic itself. Christopher Nolan showed the world the first time in "The Dark Knight" that the world of super-heroes can be every bit twisted and scary as any other human being... even seasoned movie goers would have come out of the theatre feeling heavy and mesmerized after the movie... well "Watchmen" had quite the same effect on me... I guess this very well may be the beginning of an era where super-heroes dont just stay with the kids.. it becomes serious adult business.... at least Watchmen does... its one movie where one should seriously consider the rationale behind its "R" rating..... where on the nudity department we have Dr. Manhattan's attire and super-hot Malin Akerman, the movie also has numerous gory scenes which might disturb young viewers. None of the gore is misplaced however, it goes amazingly well with the overall mood of the movie and quite like 300 the shots shown in slow-motion just exemplify the visual experience.

There are some amazing reviews floating around for this movie - from the user reviews on IMDB to some amazing professional ones. Few of my favorites are the one on CNET Review and Roger Ebert's independent review and follow-up. A thing quite noticeable in the case of Watchmen is its selected and very loyal fan base... and you would find people who absolutely either love or hate the movie/comic book.

I am still mid-way through the actual comic book and am sure by the time I finish the whole book I will have something to add to this post.. so watch out for an update....

Before Sunrise and Sunset!

2009-01-20T03:15:00.004+05:30

Last weekend I was one of my laziest self... the only thing I did was cooking, a lit' bit of cleaning and the rest of the time watching movies.. I could have easily watched over 5-6 movies in approx 1.5 days.... It was during this expedition of mine that I pounced upon a movie - Before Sunrise (1995).

Its a tale of 2 people who meet on a train as complete strangers and end up spending an unforgettable evening in Vienna. The whole movie is just about ONE day - beautifully portrayed and directed. It stars Ethan Hawke and a not so well known French actress - Julie Delpy and has a running time of around 100 minutes. The characters are one of the most honest I have ever seen in a commercial movie.

The movie ends on a note where the protagonists promise to meet each other again after 6 months at the same place... which unfortunately does not happen but they do meet again.... after 9 years... thats where the sequel to the movie comes - Before Sunset (2004). Noteworthy too is that the film takes place essentially in real time, i.e. the time elapsed in the story is also the run time of the film. Furthermore, the sequel was also released nine years after Before Sunrise, the same amount of time that has lapsed in the plot since the events of the first movie.I am yet to see this movie but whatever reviews I have read it seems to be equally fascinating and lovely... Can't wait to lay my hands on its DVD.....

For folks interested, here are the IMDB links for both. One suggestion - PLEASE see the movies in chronological order to really appreciate the magic and the story.

Before Sunrise (1995) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112471/
Before Sunset ( 2004) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381681/

Definitely, Maybe

2009-01-17T21:00:00.002+05:30

Sometimes you enjoy certain movies you least expect to be good...yesterday was one such day when I saw a movie with the same name as the title of this post and what should I say... it was serendipitous!!!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0832266/

Changing face of Indian Cricket.....

2008-11-07T21:35:00.006+05:30

I would be honest here - I am not as crazy about cricket as some of my other friends who would give away anything just to watch a match. blame it on the last few years. Once upon a time I used to play this game every single day but during college and beyond it all just became distant....

Off lately we had seen a lot of change in the Indian Cricket team and many of the original stalwarts have gone making room for a new generation of cricketers... nothing wrong with that.. but for people who used to identify Indian cricket with these stars its a shift which would take time to adjust to.

Without writing any further on this, I would direct you to an amazing article on this in CricInfo.... The author writes beautifully and echoes sentiments of a lot of Indian people for whom Cricket is synonymous to nothing short of a religion....
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/376791.html

Love and Hate

2008-11-06T06:36:00.004+05:30

While surfing at the local library, I accidentally pounced upon this post Love and Hate on one of the top economic blogs - Marginal Revolution (#2 in fact based on Technorati rankings). Please don't ask me what was it doing in a blog dedicated to economics!!

For lazy bones who don't want to take pains of linking to another site this is what it says -
According to some recent scientific study, there is a thin line between LOVE and HATE. The same brain circuitry is involved in both extreme emotions - but hate retains a semblance of rationality.

Dunno how authentic was the study and the parameters considered but it is an interesting observation. We seldom know/understand why we love someone but generally are sure of what we hate in a particular person/thing!

Just my 2 cents...............

Ooops! I did IT again!

2008-10-20T22:44:00.012+05:30

This is Part-2 of my previous post "AND I finally did IT" Not long ago I was narrating the heroic attempts to cross 100mph on US roads...I was pretty proud of the fact that I escaped all those watchful (cops') eyes and drove at such high speeds. I had realised towards the end I was getting more and more arrogant about the same.. had been driving quite fast on all roads...I am not a rash driver and even my worst critics have praised my driving but As they say.. someone up there was watching....

I went on a trip to Washington DC recently... had gone to Connecticut to a friend's house and drove to DC from there... it was a short but nice 3 day long trip where we made halts @ Univ of Maryland and Baltimore. The "IT" above happened while we were driving back from DC to Stamford, CT on the last day of our trip. I had a flight back to Chicago the next day morning.

We rented a mini-SUV Pontiac Vibe.. Initially I was very excited to hear the name SUV (it has been a dream of mine to drive one) but when I sat in it... I felt more like driving a Maruti 800 or a small car in India... Average pickup and below average traction control.. the whole car was shaking at around 85 mph.... Anyways it was during one of this attempt of mine to test the vehicle's performance (read max speed) that the "Oooops" happened!!!!!

For people scratching their heads - I got a speeding ticket of (a freaking) 290 US Dollars (thats around 15000 INR).... in Maryland... The cop who caught me said I was at 87 mph (Speed Limit - 65 mph) and the first question he asked after pulling me over -" Why are you going so faaaast?" I didnt know what to say.. I am definite I was between 75-80 @ the instant he saw me but arguing doesnt help in these cases...

I am yet to pay my fine.. maybe will do so in a day or two.. am so so so inclined to contest this in a court but have to go to Maryland for that...which is impractical... people say that cops esp fine higher amounts to out-of-state people as they know they will not bother travelling to the state just to contest a speeding ticket...

What you see above is the "sadu" car (err.. mini SUV) and next to it is the "famed" Oooops (speeding ticket)... must say I have started driving within limits now... only yesterday I saw a cop (full camouflaged) with his radar gun waiting for few more preys.....

Life's changing colours

2008-10-05T11:20:00.003+05:30

I am writing this post with absolutely nothing in mind or should I say nothing "specific". Maybe that is the reason I think I should write about something which had hovered in front of my eyes like the rain clouds. These clouds becomes a part of everything you do (during the rainy season).. you dont really give its existence a seperate thought but every now and then you cant help but acknowledge them...Its been a little more than 9 months that I have been in US on an onsite engagement. I had experienced a variety of things during this time, travelled to umpteen no. of places.. did things which would have seemed impossible a couple of months back but in the midst of all this there had been something which had kept disturbing me...There had been no sign of any relief as far as I could see. All my attempts of bringing it back on track had seemed futile or even counter-productive in some cases. Thinking about it had led to a state of disbelief, surprise, anger, fear, helplessness, misery, injustice, .. ( I am seriously running short of words here....)

Around 7 months back I lost something very important. By now you would have understood that the sense of loss had been unbearable. Its not that I am weak and this had been the first time I had been through a crunch situation but this had been different. It had ached in places which I never knew existed. Long before I had read a book "The Alchemist" which had talked about following the signs, that the whole world conspiring in favor of you when you really want something in life. Well I had never wanted something more........but I always felt that in this particular case the whole world had conspired against it!!

People talk about "Destiny being decided!" I couldnt agree more.. there are certain things in life which are just destined to happen.. no matter how hard you try, how much you cry it is not gonna change. I do believe in 'Karma' in doing what you are supposed to do to the best of your abilities but maybe that too is not enough. So should you stop trying - well absolutely NOT! Never give up on your dreams as nothing is left without them... there is no difference between you and a dead person. But the trick is to stop at some point of time.. to let go of things which you somehow cannot control. That brings about a question - what can you actually control? Frankly I dont know the answer and the one I know is too cliched... but thats what it is.. sometimes I feel the Bhagwad Gita is one of the most practical book of all times.. even if you leave out the mythological part (and the GODly stuff for people who are atheists) there are lessons to learn from it. You are only as good as your actions.. thats the only thing which is in your hand.. which you can "control".. something which we know as "Karma" [A word gaining prominence as I type all over the world] Do your job.. and just leave the rest! More often than not you would see the pieces falling into place... all the fuzzy stuff (the ones which are not "meant to be") fading away.. being replaced by the important ones.. and life moving on.... There will be this occasional pain.. the sense of loss.. the void which might always remain or maybe pave way for something far more meaningful.. but still life would be progressive.. you would move in the right direction - something you should have done long ago but maybe didnt/couldnt or wouldnt!!!! Nothing is more worthless than chasing an irrelevant dream.... but we all do these.. thats what make life's experiences and maybe not everyone is so fortunate to have them. These events add the so-important spice in your life.. make you jump out of the page.......

I guess people who know me well have surely understood what had I been writing about... many of them would have also frowned.. some would have laughed, some sympathized, some would be thinking "I always knew this is gonna happen" and some would have just not cared.... none of which mind you, takes away anything from the situation I am in nor does it reduces the grevity of the matter. The fact remains and so does my resolution to leave back the "fuzzy" stuff and march ahead!!!!

P.S. I am sorry if the tone of my post seems pessimistic and sad.. Despite what someone would feel after reading the above I am at heart a true optimist!!! Hopefully as the topic of the post suggests - the colours would change soon!!!!!!

AND finally I DID it!!!

2008-06-09T09:12:00.005+05:30

Well people! before you start imagining the "it" lemme warn you its not something which most of you would have in your mind ;)... well during the Memorial Day weekend I happened to go out on a bigg road trip.. covering around 2400 miles (approx. 4000 kms) in 4 days.. and IT was not like we were driving all the time.. we had enough time to visit places... so it was a trip to NYC, Boston and New Jersey... Awesome trip but will not get into the details of it (as that's not the "it" I am talking about here :)- )

Okay enough of beating around the bush.. While driving back home (to Chicago) from NYC.. we were fighting against time and I had the most crucial strech to drive.. and it was then that while driving in Pennsylvania, I CROSSED 100 mph (I touched around 105 mph (170 kmph)) and cruised at that speed for almost 10 mins.... From the time I have learnt driving, my only dream had to see the speedometer going past 100... A couple of months back I would have been happy if it would have been just 100 kmph but HERE I went way beyond... Speedometers in US are in miles per hour and when the pointer crossed 100 in it, I was at 170 kmph (way beyond my earlier dream of crossing 100 kmph)... and what you see above was the MEAN machine which helped me reach it - A Chevy Impala!!!!

Off to the land of opportunities.....

2008-01-20T23:06:00.002+05:30

Around a month back I landed in the so-called 'Land of Opportunities' on December 23rd, '07 at ORD, Chicago. Well in the current scenario India is as good a land of opportunities (maybe better than US in many ways) but thats completely a different debate all-together. Ya so where were we.... actually I guess its a good idea for me to give a brief of events which happened earlier in the day so that you do get to appreciate this post.

This was my first onsite trip... finally after roughly 2 years of working my a** off in the IT industry my superiors decided that the time had come to send yours truly on a 'phoren' trip... maybe partly out of fear that if they dont I would quit and partly bcoz in all companies now-a-days we are part of a pipeline.... the beginning of which starts with some training, then project, then onsite, then project lead, n it goes on and on with a lit' difference here and there... and mind you the story is no diff in the so called "dream" companies.... so there I was all set to fly to US on a long-term assignment. Normally under such circumstances people are overjoyed but I had a mixed reaction...bcoz I had an amazing group of friends back in Blore n the thought of leaving them n the good times we spent behind was kind of overwhelming... but since this was the most logical thing to do I packed up my bags (temporarily) from blore and embarked on a journey to the 'phoren' land.

I have a habit of getting too excited at times and the same was the case with my first intercontinental flight... where regular fliers dont even bother checking the time of the flight more than a day in advance... I had done everything under the sun... be it filling up the information sheet online (this is generally done at the airport).. choosing my seats... checking the menu... and even the movies on the in-flight entertainment for both the routes (not that it helped in any way.. in my BLR- london (LHR) sector there was some problem with the screen and it kept shutting down in between movies much to my annoyance and in the LHR-ORD sector it was a pre-programmed one so I had no control other than just switching channels).. anyways as you would see later that would turn out to be the least of my worries....

Okay back to the day of my departure from Blore... I was flying British Airways via london and the flight was at 7 in the morning (much to my relief I was saved the pain of boarding a flight at 2:30 AM in the night in a semi-conscious state). I had asked my parents to come down to Blore to help me with my packing and man wasnt it the right decision. Thank GOD for them I did manage to clean up all my mess and pack everything within 3 days, a no mean achievement considering the amount of work I had left pending :)- One thing I like about my parents is that they are least nagging... my mom is really strong and she understands how this world works n my dad is ever-supportive (touchwood!).... so no tears were shed at the airport... they were more than happy to see me go out of the country FINALLY!!!! So after clearing the tons of formalities I sat there waiting for my flight to leave... it was delayed by half an hour.... I had a heavy heart (personal reasons) but at the same time was quite excited to leave... eventually the moment came and I entered the flight... well wasnt I shocked.... me being used to seeing Jet Airways n Indian Airlines was quite stunned with the huge aircraft which was waiting at the tarmac... but to be honest the economy class was equally cramped in this case maybe a tad better but nothing extraordinary....

Finally I settled down in my seat...well to tell u frankly it did feel a bit alien... I am used to seeing mostly indian faces on a flight with (more importantly) an indian crew at the helm... but here it was diff, there were more phirangs than indians and the crew had a weird accent. I dunno if you wud aggree with me but I am more comfortable with an American accent than a British one... I am not really going into the debate of british english being superior than american english but blame it on the pseudo-american living in Blore/India, american accent is easier to understand.... so there I was in the middle of an alien population with people speaking a known language in an alien tone and I was already feeling homesick (rather Bloresick).. anyways my flight was pretty ordinary... I had ordered an asian veg meal which was okay.. in-flight entertainment had options but I had an annoying screen n headphones which spoilt it... I slept intermittently in the 11 hour long flight which finally gave me a headache. One thing which I liked was the view below... I could see these amazing snow covered mountains n towards the end I did get a glimpse of the Big Ben and the Giant London Wheel before it went all foggy... I always wanted to see Heathrow from air but sadly the weather was really bad with visibility under 2 mtrs....

Finally I landed at Heathrow and after an irritating round of security checks (where they rip you off everything other than just a top n a bottom) I went into the lounge... I found LHR beautiful to say the least... it was huge and had a grrrrrrreat varietly of shops n lounges... but you do get bored of all that after a while... thanks to the horrible weather my connecting flight to Chicago was around 3 hrs late so my total transit time was close to a horrifying 7-8 hrs... After what seemed to be an eternity I boarded the flight and after another eternity the flight finally left... I was dead tired by then... I was up since 3 AM (IST) on sunday and my flight to chicago left at approximately 1 AM (IST) the next day 22 hrs without sleep.... and more was yet to come.

My second leg of the journey was on a smaller aircraft, with crappier food n in-flight entertainment BUT better seats n to an extent crew n fellow passengers. Anyways I was too glad to leave London that I would not have mind anything at that moment. I slept most of the flight and woke up an hour before we were supposed to land at Chicago. We finally landed around 10 PM CST (9:30 AM IST).... AND just before disembarking my worst fear came true... I was dreading all along the sub-zero absolutely crazy weather of Chicago and to my dismay the weather had been particularly bad that night.. with snowstorms n a severe weather warning doing rounds.... all this sent a chill up my spine... just a day before I was a part of the beautiful maritime weather of Blore and now the Captain's voice announcing "Welcome to Chicago! blah blah blah the weather outside is -15 deg Celsius .......... " was enough to drive me crazy....

I got down from the flight after wearing every piece of warm clothing I had (panicky!!!) I went on to clear the immigration. I was greeted by a huuuuge queue which eventually took me around 2 hrs to reach baggage clearance... this was the best part - after waiting for a freaking 1 hr I got to know that both my luggages have gone missing... these BA dumbo's have left them in London itself... this was it... I had gone nuts first of all nothing was going right that day and on top of that I am in an alien land with no luggage other than a check-in bag. Anyways after a 2.5 hr long wait I finally got my luggage (they had sent a lot in a diff flight)... it was already 1:30 AM CST (1 PM IST) and I could barely stand on my legs... now the part was how to reach my senior's house with whom I had planned to stay the initial few days. No one came to pick me up (cant blame them as the weather outside was scary) and I could not find/book any taxi after repeated tries. There is something funny in the US - all public booths work only with quarters and TRUST ME they are the most difficult to find in US. Obviously I had no quarters with me and to manage one (for calling) I dont remember how many times I had to buy a coffee (to get the change). Eventually I did manage a taxi - a guy of pakistani origin who had been in US for 18 years now. He was nice and sweet and we struck a conversation. It was during the course of discussion that he managed to ask me about my monthly income and guess what was his reply, and I quote " well you see we make something similar driving a taxi" TRUST ME I dont care how truthful his statement was (in all probability it wasnt) but at that point of time after such an ordeal that was the last thing I wanted to hear!!!!!!! Finally I reached home after a 38 hr long ordeal.....

Well to everyone who did read so far :)- let me tell you that I have plans of writing the sequels to this post but they would paint a better picture. Actually nothing can beat my first intercontinental experience.... it was unique in more ways than one!!!!!

WINNING!

2007-06-28T16:36:00.000+05:30

Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t do things right once in a while; you do things right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.

There is no room for second place. There is only on place in a game, and that’s the first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don’t ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.

Every time a football player goes to ply his trade he’s got to play from the ground up- from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That’s O.K. you’ve got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you’ve got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you’re lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second.

Running a football team is no different from running any other kind of organization-an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win- to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don’t think it is.

It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That’s why they are there-to compete. To know the rules and objectives when they get into the game. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules-but to win.

And in truth, I’ve never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.

I don’t say these things because I believe in the "brute" nature of man or the man must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in GOD, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour- his greatest fulfillment to all the he holds dear-is that moment when he has to work his heart out for a good cause and he’s exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.

---- Vince Lombardi
(P.S. For those of you who dont know, Vince Lombardi was one of the most successful head coaches in the history of American Football. He was the driving force of Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1967 and won 5 NFL tournaments during his 9 year tenure.

The 153rd day of 2007

2007-06-03T03:16:00.000+05:30

Today was a different day not because it is the 153rd day of this year (for those of you who are still scratcing their heads trying to figure out the date its June 2nd) but because how this day made me do certain things I would never normally do.

What started as a very ordinary and to an extent boring day ended to be one of the more fulfilling days. After getting up horribly late and having one of the laziest afternoons in recent times, I had got ready to go for my cross-country walks ( a desperate attempt to burn up those extra calories, or maybe more of an escape route to make me feel less pathetic about my growing waistline). Well I was just about to leave when I got a call from one of my friends who actually had got his long awaited car delivered and was proposing if I am up for a drive. I could already see a silver lining :-). Incidentally Aerosmith was performing LIVE that day in Bangalore (and even though I never made a sincere attempt to get tickets for the show) suddenly the whole idea of going to the show (of course without ticket) seemed quite appealing. And the whole idea of driving a new car on Sat night in Blore roads (incidentally thats the only time Blore roads are a bit empty) was just too much for me. So off we went, 3 of us for the concert and after some moving around reached the concert venue. Well we started walking towards the stage, expecting anytime a cop would spring up asking for tickets and we might as well have to end our adventure there. To my surprise none came, we kept walking in till the point where we were next to the VIP entrance of the concert ( a freaking 1800 bucks). And what served as the perfect icing on the top was the fact that the show wasnt over and we got to see them performing arguably their most famous number "I dont wanna miss a thing".

Well I am an optimist but I guess this exceeded all my expectations. We returned after the show feeling like warriors after winning a battle, proud of our accomplishment. Well that was not all, after the show we ended up going to one of my friend's place (who was leaving for US the same night). We reached at 1, scared her mom who mistook us for some thugs :-) helped him pack up a bit and after exchanging the normal pleasantries finally reached home (ya this time I meant my home sweet home) at around 2:30.

Incidentally this was the first time I properly drove a car in namma bengaluru........

300 Dor

2007-04-17T17:52:00.000+05:30

Well to everyone wondering what the title all about, its simple. I happened to watch 2 awesome movies on the same day and couldnt stop myself to write about them. They were 300 and Dor. Hugely different subjects with magnanimous differences but nevertheless a class apart in their own right.

300 based on the book by Frank Miller, directed by Zack Snyder is a masterpiece from every sense of the word. The story as most of us knows was about the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC between a humongous (close to a million soldiers) Persian army led by King Xerxes and King Leonidas of Sparta (with only 300 of his elite guards and few others). The battle is said to have inspired all of Greece to band together against the Persians, and helped usher the world's first democracy. Whatever be its historical/mythical significance, the movie is just awesome. Right from the first scene to the end, you just sit down holding your breath. Great direction, just awestrucking performances never let you forget the movie. Gerald Butler does complete justice to the role of King Leonidas and is quite impressive throughout the movie.

DOR on the other hand is a timid love story,shot at the backdrop of Rajasthan and Shimla! yes thats correct its as vibrant as the desert of Rajasthan to the greenery of Shimla, to the oppressed, simple village girl from Rajasthan (Ayesha Takia) to the "never say die" girl from Shimla (Gul Panag). The story was so cute and so elegantly picturised and portrayed that you cant help but feel spellbound. Indian cinemas have really come a long way and it is these directors like Nagesh Kukunoor who are leading the way from the front.

Cracking CAT for Dummies

2007-04-17T17:44:00.000+05:30

Before I begin, a honest confession. The post below is not my original creation, received it as one of the forwards but I was so impressed with the same that I couldnt help posting it in my blog :-) Here it goes .................

Few weeks back the CAT results were announced. For those of you fortunate enough to not have had a brush with this monstrosity, CAT stands for Common Aptitude Test,something that these Indian Institute of Management blokes hold once every year to have a good laugh with the complete expense borne by the participating jokers.This time round there were nearly quarter of a million of these jokers who usually come from all walks of life for their 2 (now 2 and a half) hours of tryst with destiny.CAT is something like the Daddy-promise to get the He-Man toy on my birthday if I stay good for the next six months and do my homework everyday and help mother out in the kitchen and.....and .....(Parents always have their camouflaged win-win conditions. don't they ?). Anyway quite similarly,this bunch of jokers slog for their He-Mans to come and make life simpler for them.

These jokers,and I'd restrain the discussions to the ones originating from the engineering sector, hereby referred to as Jawans,usually start talking about CAT during their first years in college with the firm decision that they'd specialize only in finance and nothing else when in all probability,their extent of knowledge about the financial world is comparable with Mallika Sherawat's affinity for clothes.Gradually once the ragging period is over though and no one anymore feeds you with information of the type that Balubhai who sells eggs in the First hostel is also an electrical engineer passout from our college,the Jawans usually ease out and dedicate the next three years in search of pornography in the internet.

Then comes June of final year ...its 5 months to CAT and many rediscover their long subdued passion for feenance. This time round the Jawans come armed with loads of Business world magazines and months of Economic Times which all of course goes to Balubhai who uses it to demarcate his omlettes from the half-frys.Red paper-Omlette,White Paper-Half Fry.Simple rule of finance.

The poor souls lead a non engineer's life during the next few months trying to figure out things like who was Ramu's father if his second cousin was married to Sheela who had three daughters,all females one of whom was a school teacher and neither of her cousins Jatin and Rani were doctors. The lawyers in the family were not vegetarians and Deepika was the only ShahRukh Khan fan. Their pet dog Jimmy was allergic to vodka without any lime cordial and Ramesh and Jiten were not brothers!!!

They compare and analyse the sugarcane production, wool generation and alluminium output of 12 South American countries with bar diagrams, histograms,Chi-Square tests,normality tests and remaining sanity.The hapless souls burn many a candle to try and figure out what Carl Gustav Jung meant to say when he spoke of integrating spirituality and appreciation of the unconscious realm and then deciding whether the tone of the author in the paragraph was fuzzy,pedantic,obstreperous or regressionist.Four unknown words as choices are all that he had till last year! This year they added the choice Confucian and so Jawan has 5 choices now to direct his destiny.

Jawan takes simulated exams named after all available species of Cats and by the time he reaches the actual exam hall on a nice November Sunday morning ,he can barely remember his name and it is for this purpose that such cases are provided an Admit card with a name,photograph and address so that people can help these poor souls find their way back home.What happens during the next three odd hours will certainly need another post so I am skipping that portion here.

A month or so from that Sunday ,the results are announced in a website and if you wished to see your score on the same day that the results are released, then you might as well type the website's address, press enter and accompany your mother to her long awaited trip to Amarnath and on the way back maybe make the visit to Rishikesh and Haridwar and then if you've washed away some of your sins of this life and the one previous to it,then you may be blessed with the home page of the IIM on your return.Now you may click the link which says CAT 2006 results and doesn't Dad always talk about the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry and the serenity there? So why not make that visit with family and the Rameswaram temple is something to be seen to be believed !!

While some Jawans come back from their trips, type in their CAT registration number, ask their mothers their date of birth, type that in and wait for their results to appear.......some, like ME, just wink and go on with their lives.

Keep Walking!!!!

2006-12-14T18:19:00.000+05:30

Check out the figure above! You must be wondering what is this pic doing in my blog. Well I just got this as a forward and found it worth sharing.

Many of us already know that the Organs of our body have their sensory touches at the bottom of our feet, if we massage these points it provides us with relief from aches and pains as can be seen from the figure. Note the organs on the right and left foot, such as the heart which is on the left foot.

These are covered in great detail in Acupressure studies or textbooks. The nerves connected to these organs terminate at our feet. God created our body so well that he thought of even this. He made us walk so that we will always be pressing these pressure points and thus keeping these organs activated at all times. So, keep walking...

Team Building

2006-12-13T01:56:00.000+05:30

Last weekend we finally had our Team Building activity at my fav Mysore DC, some sort of a dream esp after a series of postponements... we started from Ooty, to Kodai, to some resort in Bangalore and finally settled with Mysore.. then came the issues with dates but finally my colleagues (the event organizers) could put two and two together and it became a reality.

Although I was a bit sceptical in going to Mys with a bunch of oldies, aunty ji's and probably only a handful of youngsters but I just couldnt resist the temptation of spending my night at the warm n cozy rooms out there something I have missed after coming to Blore. So off I went with my projectmates (some 55 of them) in two AC (supposedly) luxury buses. After a 3 hr long not so great road trip we finally reached Mysore and somehow I could feel the excitement within me. There is something abt that campus, something which makes u fall in love with it, that aura of belongingness, the fond remembrance of those amazing (fun as well as tension-filled) 4 months with which I started my professional life, something which never lets you forget the place.

We checked in and to my pleasant surprise we were not staying in the ILI Hostels but at the Infy Guesthouses (this was like my dream come true!) The gueshouses were the only place on campus where I had not been before and now I was actually going to stay in them for a night. Cooooool! Predictably it exceeded all my expectations and had all the comfort of a 5-star accomodation but the most amazing part was the BED... I had always maintained that there is something abt those beds which are in Mys be it hostels or guesthouses... u cant get a more comfy well made bed... nothing relaxes me more than the thought of sleeping in one of them with the AC on and the quilt over me... and how can I ever forget the shower.... simply amazing....

After I had checked in and was done with admiring the room it was time for our lunch, supposed to be a buffet in ILI... well things I had always wanted to do as a trainee in Mys were coming true now... not bad! The whole team building activity I mean the so-called boring part (where u sit and listen to lectures) was outsourced to a event management company Stanley David & Associates and man I guess that was by far the best decision we took. Those people were FUN and kept us really on our toes with a string of out-door games (YES for the first time we didnt have any boring sessions in the audi), something I enjoyed thoroughly..

After the sessions and dinner, we set out to re-live those magical moments of which I was a part of only a year back. We cycled around the campus and I very proudly took some of my leads (who hadnt been there before) around the place. Some of the auntyji's wanted to watch the movie "Baabul" screened at our in-house multiplex so off we went... needless to mention the movie was pathetic but we had fun passing comments and tearing it apart... he he... we finally gave up and left (just after the interval) for the most happening hangout in the campus... "The GAZEBO!!!!!" basically just a small bakery opposite our labs open 24x7, where we would have had the most amazing time during training.

Next morning, a Sunday I had plans to get up early and play badminton for a couple of hours before the sessions would start... so I left (yes! I left my comfy bed surprisingly early) for the courts... We would have played close to three hours, was literally dead with cramps all over my body so much so that I had problems walking for the next three days. The rest of the day passed in Bowling, lazing around the pool (see above) and some other fun-filled sessions......

All in all we had a great refreshing, nostalgic and an awesome time out there.. probably the best after joining this project and I hope there are many more to come!!!!!

Why Dreams!?

2006-12-03T00:12:00.000+05:30

DREAMS seems to be kinda cliched for the title of a blog page.... but still I thought of going with this name! Why the heck!!!!

Well there are quite a number of reasons why I would do that - first of all because I am a dreamer, I love to dream it gives me the strength to move on in life, to ignore my miseries and problems and concentrate on the great things it has to offer, to be able to believe..., in short to be an OPTIMIST.

The dictionary puts 'Dream' as a visionary scheme, a wild conceit, an idle fancy, a revery applied to an imaginary or anticipated state of happiness/bliss, in short a series of thoughts or imaginary visions which occupy the mind generally during sleep. But is it really that simple! Many psychologists believe that interpreting one's dreams correctly can give a sneak-peek at one's own subconscious self, something not possible in any other way. Fascinating isnt it! Who wouldnt want to know oneself better? A site which I accidentally pounced upon provides some interesting info about dreams - http://www.dreammoods.com/. Whoever is the creator of the site had done a decent job in helping one interpret their dreams.

Well there seems to be a problem, not everyone remembers what they dream, so how do one interpret it? A simple solution - if its a nice dream, something which brings a smile to your face, who cares what it really means!! Its not really necessary to take it so seriously, just be happy and fascinated.

So welcome to this intriguing and mesmerizing world of Dreams! KEEP DREAMING!.......... :)