Abhi's Antics

No Title

2011-02-05T20:49:00.000+05:30

Funny, I seem to make more comebacks to this blog than most cricketers do to their careers - and they do a lot of them! :) What with the world cup round the corner and all, I thought a quick quip about the same was in order..

Quick quips is what life's all about these days, really. Not much to do except wait for the next weekend, and then spend that whole weekend worrying about the week thats coming. Characters in movies have more eventful lives in a couple of hours than most people in our cities do in many years - makes one think about times past.

I never really cared much for hobbies. About the only real hobby I pursued with a passion was my penchant for collecting railway time tables back in school. It was crazy back then. People would buy novels, comics, magazines, newspapers from bookstalls on train journeys...I bought time tables. I used to keep suburban time tables, zonal railway time tables, trains at a glance...even something as mundane as summer special time tables. There was a wonder in train rides back then, funnily enough I used to think growing up would be so much cooler :)

Life's not meant to go backwards though. And since it won't, one has to figure out a way to make life interesting again. Hence my new penchant for a hobby - photography, musical instruments (Still considering which one to get though), sketching, painting, cycling, writing...anything to get the mundane-ness out of life.

Not to say I'm the only one thinking this - people around me are doing very different things these days - quitting jobs, starting ventures, moving to Africa, getting a Ph. D. - things which I was taught wern't sensible things to do. But then again, these are very intelligent people!
Does it make sense? I don't know, But it sure seems to for these folks. Maybe I'm just scared, who knows :)

Actually, the past 10 months seem to have gone by without me knowing at all - maybe because each day seems exactly like the last, over and over again. A never ending deja vu, with something filling in the missing bits each day between food, sleep and work. Maybe I'll figure out a way to make those bits and pieces more than what they are, and do something besides catching another nap the next time I find myself home from work.

Or maybe I'll plot another comeback. Who knows :D

Life Post MDI

2010-09-13T02:38:00.003+05:30

MDI's over. And it has been so for over 5 months now! Although friends remain, New friends have come up, and I have actually started to work hard for a change. The weird bit is, now that I am working hard, my boss seems to hate me with a passion I can only compare with my hitherto commonplace passion for late submissions. But then again, one has to deal with such things in life, else how would one deal with such matters as irate wives, annoying in laws and kids? Guess a little training never hurts :)

The amazing bit is, what brought me back to the blog is a Salman Khan movie. A movie I was apprehensive of watching for the simple fact that I have always thought of Salman Khan as a bit of a prick. No more! read the self-styled review below for details ;)

Work's got me new friends, a new place to put up my stuff ( have had a few adventures with a "high value" PG, questionable neighbours,irate bosses too, but those are things one doesn't put in blogs) and most of all, a new workplace and cubicle. The new boss, though, is no gift. I seem to have a talent for bosses who insist on being disciplinary with me at every turn. It may have something to do with my own 'talents' as well though, I must admit ;)

The odd bit is, I keep asking myself what about me has changed so much so that the corporate world now thinks I am worth over four times what I was to the organization earlier. And I can't find answers most of the time. Is Powerpoint really worth that much more than Visual Studio.Net?

Besides that, life as usual. A well stocked fridge, a good kitchen, a laptop table and air conditioning. Besides the work hassles, life is pretty good for now. Now if only I could find someone nice to share all this nice stuff with...it would be perfect :)

Salman Khan is back - and How!

2010-09-13T02:28:00.002+05:30

It is ironic that what brings me back to blogging is a Salman Khan movie - a movie, that has erased any critical opinion I had of the man as an actor. While he may have his faults, In Dabaang, Salman Khan has brought back to Hindi cinema what it has been missing a long time, and what has kept the other film industries going - the Indestructible Hero. While real life, soft-spoken and real-issue heroes are all well and good, every film industry needs a Salman Khan, a Rajni, a Chiranjeevi or an Arnold Schwarzenegger to thrive.

I had mixed reviews of Dabaang before I went to saw it. Friends told me it is a nonsense, typical Salman movie. Some friends wouldn't stop going on about how awesome a movie it is. On a makeshift plan, we decided to go for an 11:45PM show - and got the last two seats in the corner of the front row. With the number of people in the mall at the time, you'd think it was prime time - actually, I doubt even the food court gets crowded that much during dinner.

And the movie deserved the crowd. From the opening Transporter-like water gun shootout to the mid air shooting stunts, from the shirt-ripping muscles to the shades at the back of the shirt, from the "I'll kick him until you're happy" justice to the romancing of the impossibly hot Sonakshi, the movie was almost perfectly executed when you consider its apparent purpose - to revive the true spirit of bollywood for what it is.

No wonder this movie beat Three Idiots hands down. Some movies tend to try to send a message, and they work. Some movies work because they entertain. Some demand an Aamir Khan, but as was made delightfully obvious to me, Salman Khan is here to stay!

Cheers,
The Currently Overworked and Underappreciated, but still Cheerful at 2:40AM dude.

Year Two - In a Nutshell

2009-11-18T06:13:00.002+05:30

It has been an eventful year - if not shown in the rarity with which I have written on this blog, then in the massive number of well formed, utterly nonsensical Word documents and presentations in every nook and cranny of my laptop :) I believe there are a couple of Excel sheets too, but those have been safely tucked away in a desolate corner where I myself cannot find them - neither can Google Search!

The words that can almost completely cover this whole year can be put as follows - laziness, missed meals, ruined bio-clock, early morning maggi, Age Of Empires, finicky grades, missed lectures, juniors, a brother on campus, summers in Gurgaon ( and the pain, frustration, khoon pasina and bad food that came along free :) ), Forgotten friends - and new found ones, Good music, good TV shows, Tendulkar's 20th year of mesmerising the planet, 3 pairs of stolen shoes :(, Disappointments, Exhilarating holidays with friends, new investments, pending credit card bills, Mafia Wars, The psycho term from hell ( Term 4 ), arguments, cards, marketing, information management, Thums Up, samosas, Case studies, lost opportunities, good food ( definitely not at the campus :) ), Pizza - which is NOT good food, a growing paunch, countless resolutions to attend the gym, swine flu and the trip home with the brother, encouragement, depression, organization, dismay, joy, sorrow, memory and loss :)

I am certain there are a lot of words that I am missing here - but then again, there's only so much words can say, isn't it? :)

Besides these, there was Advent - the advertising and marketing cornucopia to beat them all, which we are proud to say we organized successfully and with amazingly few yawns and sleeping attendees :)

And more importantly, Imperium, which went off with a few hitches but nothing that couldn't be handled.

And at the end of it all, here's to hoping there is a job I can be proud of.

Signing off,
Cheers!

The Match to Break All Records

2009-11-18T05:40:00.002+05:30

Whew, it certainly has been ages since I've been here. And apparently, what seems to drive me here is the pressing need to get work done :)

That aside, What I want to document here is nothing short of momentous. It speaks of a time when 11 great sportsmen - benevolent, sporting and yet well dressed - came out of the sheets of their attached bathrooms and balconies to shower their talent upon what had so far been a drab and dull tournament.

At the risk of being way too flowery, I am afraid words cannot do justice to the spectacle. The Attached Bathrooms..err, rather, The Team With Attached Bathrooms...err...actually, best to stick to "We have Attached Bathrooms" played out of their skins to give Runbhoomi its truest example of living up to its name - breaking the record for most runs conceded ever in the history of the tournament.

Not to say that it was easy. Yours truly, thoroughly convinced of his talent, very nearly got to the match on time and went out to the toss, and batted first - which would have ended up ruining what was a momentous day. Thankfully, I stayed true to tradition, and got to the match late as usual ( only 10 minutes though, I was the captain after all ;) ) - After which we began our job in earnest.

With my brother opening the bowling, we ran the risk of delivering a strong performance in the opening overs - which he managed to resolve somewhat by conceding a six off the second ball. However, his spirit broke through, and a brilliant yorker to take out the opener threatened to ruin our effort, despite all the catches we had missed. But with a line up of other bowlers who were all dedicated to the cause, it proved to be an unfounded fear. Initially, the opening bowlers threatened to reduce our chase to a paltry ( well, reasonable :) ) total. They bowled with misguided, but strong fire and accuracy to trouble the openers.

But it was not to last. With 35 runs ( not 44, 56, 60, 41 and all the others numbers floating around campus :| ) I delivered splendidly for our team's vision, paving the way along with other able teammates to a record breaking performance. 274 in 12 overs. It had to be seen to be believed!

With able support and encouragement from Purav (not to mention the continuous status updates on our record breaking performance from everyone else) we delivered a performance that made us famous - even more so than the eventual winners!

The final scoreline read -

Invincible Warriors: 274/3,12.0 Overs
Attached Bathrooms: 69/9, 12.0 Overs

Total number of runs scored - 343 ( Another new record! )

At the end of the day, the emotion was strong, the cheers were loud - but loudest of all was the exhilaration of the whole team. It is at such times that life is most alive, and joy is most profound :)

Cheers - to the stalwarts of the Attached Bathrooms!

29

2009-05-15T14:03:00.002+05:30

Now that I am back here, what amazes me is the fact that I haven't been here since last December - nearly half a year of no posts on a blog that I used to swear by!

I began writing this chronology of sorts at some point with a degree of seriousness to be able to read them back to myself sometime in the future. But then, I realise that I wrote to make sure I was doing something besides moping around back in the time when I used to post thrice a day. Now, I have much more free time on my hands, but I find myself sleeping for 3 hours a day, working for a few hours a day ( if my firm - oh, btw, I am selling insurance this summer at Max New York Life - want some? :) ) if my company's lucky - and for practically 10 hours a day ( it would be more, but I have some pretty hungry friends with voracious appetites ) , we play this obscure and (for me, it sure is ) mysterious card game called 29.

These addiction began well before exams though - We'd have one person leaving one table, just so another could join in. At one point of time, we even had two sets of chairs and tables laid out so two sets of teams could slug it out ;) That, friends, is our sort of MBA for you. Friends, games and food!

Also elections just happened - and it is amazing how very confused the Indian populace seems to be. Not that I blame them for it. One party has a thorough academician as its prime ministerial candidate, while the other has a propaganda artist with a party that exemplifies that very image. If only politics in India did not suffer from the pedigree that it has - err - enjoyed over the past half a century, we'd probably have a strong individual like a Barack Obama coming along and deciding to put his foot down. While America may have a lot of faults, the country has brought about change by challenging traditions and brings a young black president with promise to the ironically named White House. And well, no, I didn't vote. I would have, only I haven't taken the pain to go get myself registered. And yes, I know I am a big part of the problem as well.

Ahem

2008-12-16T00:34:00.004+05:30

And for those who were looking for a funny post.

I have more important things to worry about than finding girlfriends for now - like, creating reasons for girlfriends to find me :)

Endterms, Project submissions, depleted finances, a flight back home. A lot awaits me :)

Sadly though, summer internship isn't on that list yet.

And oh yeah - I am an authority on How I met Your Mother, Battlestar Galactica and Coupling :D

Signing off with a cartoon -

The shape of things to come.

2008-12-16T00:20:00.003+05:30

And for those with a limited appetite for bad poetry and abstract prose,

Here's a more descriptive post. Over the past 6 months, I've done my washing - 5 times. I've developed new standards of hygiene hitherto undefined in the annals of student history ( most probably, because of how unlikely they are ). I've promised myself I won't put a smiley in this post.

Term 2 is ending, and if anything, all I've managed is to further my reputation as a prime geek with zero practical sense or comic timing. That, and have started to love sleep and computer games. Have developed a maniacal interest in the last minute, and have developed a talent for completing assignments at the last minute and typing out piles of management theory ( read 'crap'/faff/global stuff/bull****/any other terminology you may choose to use ). The funny thing is, some people seem to believe this.

The thing about life at a b-school is, when you keep attending the lectures and try to figure things out, often you'll end up not having answers to questions you hitherto had answers to. Funny, I know. But it does happen, and most folks with an MBA will agree - one becomes more measures with opinions, looks for 'strategy', 'justifications', 'analysis', 'solutions', 'proper presentation', 'real life case studies' and 'bullet points' to justify their thought. Giving structure is alright, but when did structure take precedence over plain old human thought? There are some aspects of life one must never try giving structure to - it is the shapelessness of these elements that give them their existence and charm.

Take for example, a blog post. Can you imagine how it would look with headings? ( except for this excellent post I read once by a friend about antics one can do at a market when bored :) )
( Sheesh.Have broken my promise too. gah! )

The one thing about MBA in India that I feel is very wrong is the en masse bombardment of assignments ( not to say I do them at all - that would be desecrating my reputation for ineptitude ) - as en exchange student friend of mine pointed out, in Eurpoean schools, the emphasis is not as much on the quantity of work, as on the quality. No wonder a lot of them are miffed. We folks are good machines, but bad intellectuals.

And oh yeah. Haven't been to the gym yet! :| ( and have broken my promise too. gah! )

Summer Chill in Winter

2008-12-16T00:12:00.002+05:30

Monday Evening.

A very cold wind outside.

A very smelly room.

A couple of mice for company - Although they generally keep to themselves.

A lot of overdue reading.

Endterms :(

The prospect of going home after 6 months :)

Ghar ka khana! :D

Endterms :(

In flight meal!

Endterms :(

Credit Card bills :o

Too many smileys :|

Very little good music :(

Mango Pickle :)

Warm Quilt :)

Endterms :(

Summer Placement Ruins ( don't have a smiley for this - suggestions? )

A couple of awards won :)

Bad grades in marketing :(

Good grades in HR! ( ah, if only I had known )

Extremely depleted funds, massive loans :(

Okay, enough of that :) - You guys get the picture! ;)

Past Forward

2008-07-24T01:23:00.002+05:30

Darn. I was looking for advertisements for a marketing project the other day,and stumbled upon some old Asian Paints advertisement - the one where the father gets the children's room painted with a tree. And that got me wondering...

It is sad, really. I have all of these memories from my childhood - large joint family dinners, going out to a hotel, playing cricket all day long ( getting hit by the ball - and bat ;) quite a few times )...and fast forward to the here and now. Computer games, email, social networking and the internet rule everywhere. My year in Noida gave me a whole new insight into what counts as the new teens - and it scares me. It is like these kids grow up too soon! They were rude, unfriendly...and worst of all, totally aloof. Our landlord's kid was a case in point. A very decent, interesting kid - but all he ever seemed to do was stay around at home and listen to music. Whatever happened to tea time cinema and football with the neighbourhood kids! I see 15 year olds dealing with relationship issues....Makes me wonder, really. If I was given a time machine to use as I wanted to, would I be able to dare to go out into the future?

First Month of MBA - The Bad,The Very Bad, and the Terrible

2008-07-24T00:56:00.002+05:30

Well, I've lived through one month - and what a month it was! It had everything - intrigue, drama, failure, success, frustration,irritation,exercise (oh,a lot of it!)...and finally, it all comes down to this post a week before my first ever ( and hopefully,the first of many...okay,some successful ones ) mis..erm,midterms at MDI.

It has bee nan odd month, really. It all began with the horrors/thrills/chills(literally ;) )/discipline/good habits and (at that point of time, it was ) great mess food of the induction. That was one experience, I will take a while to forget ( unless of course, I screw up all my midterms, in which case the depression will take over all )..well,on to the story so far then.

It all began after the induction with my first day of actual classes - and I managed the unique and rather embarrassing distinction of mssing my first ever MBA class - because I was one minute late! :(

This, from a person who got to an office that paid him 2 and a half hours late - to make matters worse, there was a quiz in the first class, and everyone realised that prereads actually did mean prereads....luckily for me though, almost the whole class scored a 'perfect' score - in terms of shape, not numbers ;) - and I was the only one who got to boast that "I would have scored a 5 - had I been allowed to take the test" - I have a feeling though that I was the only one who faintly believed it.

With this sort of start ( and also, I stayed outside the classroom for the entire one and a half hour (another first, apparently - no such stunt was pulled at MDI before that, everyone else had the good sense to go to the hostel and get some sleep )even I was jolted...for a few days. Subsequently, I proceeded to miss my second statistics quiz too, leaving me with the lowest mark on statistics in the entire 2008 batch - including HR. I'll not mention the mark, since this is my blog, after all ;)

Besides this, I've started to work on my lack of exercise. I regularly ruin perfectly competitive games of badminton, football and tennis - and also, get a walk to the canteen now and then. I've got a lot of friends here, but I seem to be having the same problems I've always had - too many friends, too few langotiya yaars :( - I hope I have things to look back at come the end of two years.

Classes have been rather tough, but the faculty for most courses here is great! - that only means my already inane questions end up sounding even more desperate ( actually, in the LAB classes, the professor smiles even before I ask my questions now :) ) except for statistics and microeconomics though, all seems ..erm..passable for now. Will report further on the exercise later.

Things have been a bit tumultous on campus lately, with selections on for the various clubs. Didn't make it to Placecom ( tip for future students here, the engineering practice of expanding "I will work hard" into 250 words doesn't work here. ) or the IRC. Hopefully, I get through somewhere, since I won't have too much academic to show on my resume anyway ;)

And oh yeah. The weather sucks. Although its nice when it rains. And I am still single. Oh well.

Cheers!

Who is the terrorist?

2008-05-27T21:15:00.003+05:30

This is a post that has been 7 months in the making ( honest - i wrote the title 7 months ago and its been a 'draft' ever since ;) ) - but I felt with recent events ( the Mumbai blasts, and my endterms - both, exceedingly sad events ) I should complete this post.

Enough shenanigans then. What happened in Mumbai was not only sad, but also a prime example of the cowardice and malice that humanity is capable of - and while I am saying this, it also speaks volumes of the meticulousness of the planning that went into these attacks. However much we may decide to abuse our establishment, it cannot be said that they blindly let the enemy stroll into the Taj. Some form of security still does exist, but more than that, it is the sheer confidence with which the attacks were carried out - in broad daylight.

It is a war that cannot be won. And why? for the enemy lies within - and there is no operation that can take him out. When one sees a spot on one's skin, one knows what to do. But when there is no sign of the disease, what is one to do? - we saw the terminal stage of the disease manifest itself at Mumbai - but what one needs to understand, is why do human beings do this at all? We are the only species that kill our own kind - and not through any sort of biological programming, but through the emotions and intelligence that we prize. If intelligence has made us the one race capable of killing our own selves, then one is forced to question the point of intellect itself.

Organized terrorism is a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of the planet - and it got world recognition with the 9/11 killings in the US. Why is it that people seek to destroy to build anyway? Organized terrorism is a simple case of the manipulation of the mind by the misguided, yet superior intellect - the so-called 'eccentric'. Leaders who choose to assert themselves through mass killings. Every goonda king, every mafia don in this country is in essence a great leader drawn astray by the malice of greed, jealousy and hatred. Apparently, God did not mean for all leaders to be good.

There are those who say that we must understand the method to the madness of these radical individuals. But what method is there to indiscriminate killing. A person is hanged for killing someone - even if that act is revenge for grave personal harm. But what does one give to people who kill for the sake of glory?

...and the tale ends - with another beginning! :)

2008-05-27T21:02:00.002+05:30

And with all of that, we come to the end of the season of me cribbing about work and CAT - and begin a new season of me cribbing about assignments and grades ;)

The season ends, and I find myself at MDI Gurgaon for my MBA this year. I am already in the spirit of the place, and have seen and fallen in love with the campus over and over again.I am sure I will have an awesome two years...

But there remains things that are ....undone. Although I always was waiting for the day when I would leave my job, there is an odd thing about everything that makes up life - when one leaves anything, the one thing one seems to remember are the good times one has had :) Funny how that is, but since we are lucky enough to remember the good times, we are unlucky enough to never really have them again too. Sad, how that works....no matter how many times I have read "Who moved my Cheese? " ( a phenomenon in marketing, how they got a children's story to sell in such massive numbers is beyond me...for now ;) ) - I still find it difficult to deal with change. Hopefully, this improves with time.

Then, we move to the auxiliary aspects of what I am expecting from B-school life - a satisfying social life ( which, considering my present situation, would mean even a date with a female tortoise would count :) ), a good academic scoresheet ( fat chance, eh? ;) )...and most of all, a great job! I am looking forward to this, and a lot of other aspects of bschool life I haven't discovered yet. :)

While leaving, I found out my boss does have a lot of respect for me. Sadly, he never really chose to show it earlier....oh well.Alls well that ends well,I guess.

So, again,I have packing to do, moving to a new place - Gurgaon ( even if it is the same NCR...it is still moving across three states ;) - and costs as much too ). A big thank ytou to all those who've encouraged,chided, been annoyed and frustrated by me - thank you for putting up with me! ( and hopefully,you continue to :) )

Cheers!

While we wait...

2008-05-04T23:42:00.003+05:30

...I have to pass more time now - and since my laptop is barely able to show the opening credits of a movie without shutting down ( heating issues...apparently, my laptop is 'seasonal' now - won;t work in summers :( )...I am now forced to go to theatres for entertainment ( and ah, do they entertain! bless the people who thought of having movies at malls :) )

Anyway, have seen three movies over the past week, all of which merit atleast a smallish review each. Iron Man, The Forbidden Kingdom and last of all, Khuda ke liye - which was one of the more serious movies I have seen recently. Awesome movies, all three of them - especially the scene in Forbidden Kingdom when Jackie Chan and Jet Li fight in the temple!
( But then again, the Iron Man flying in all his glory was awesome too ;) )

Finally, results....In a manner of speaking

2008-05-04T23:35:00.002+05:30

Well,I finally am doing my MBA - after a lot of permutations, decisions ( mostly bad ones ), statistics, data gathering..and other such boring stuff I'll be doing over the next two years, I am finally doing my MBA from one of three places, depending upon waitlist clearance.

In the end, I've managed final calls from MICA,IMT Ghaziabad,IIT Kanpur and was waitlisted at MDI ( WL-24, pretty much certain ), IIT Madras, IIT Roorkee and IIM Indore ( gah! the big fish ). So, no all I have to do is wait.I have already dropped my admits to MICA and IMTG, and will now be at one of IIM Indore, MDI Gurgaon - or IIT Kanpur depending on circumstances

P.S. Excuse the lack of even my vapid brand of humour, but this was an informational post only :D ( See, there's proof I wrote this - a smiley! :) - oops, there's another...)

My Experiments with Truth Part I

2008-04-13T20:01:00.003+05:30

Truth:
I absolutely cannot cook. I am a disaster waiting to happen whenever near the kitchen.

Situation: India- SA Test Match - India doing pretty well - instant popcorn packet :)

Proceedings:
Leave stuff in cooker . Admire your (hopeless) haircut in mirror. Goof off watching TV for a bit.
Smell burning corn. Stare in horror at kitchen door. See smoke. Smell popcorn. Go nuts.
Take cooker out. Get inspired. Bring camera :D

Result:
Scene 1,2 and 3:

Nagpur ki garmi...

2008-04-10T13:38:00.002+05:30

Ah, my (hopefully) final assignment with my firm...a place where I have learnt a lot, both professionally and personally :) My time here at Nagpur served as a very nice way to pass time until the IIM results (hopefully) get out tomorrow; I've chased away dogs, writted dodgy emails to clients whose content even I didn't understand, and for the first time ever, stayed at one of the best hotels in town for a whole week :D

Not that everyone thinks I did the sane thing. My roomie still thinks am a blithering idiot :) ( I kind of am - but hey, he exaggerates at times ) - but the thing that is gratifying is the fact that I AM going to college this year!

Besides that, life as usual ( Orkut,cartoons,more orkut,cartoons,some facebook,gtalk,sleep,food....and putting on weight :D )

Of Results and Quotas...

2008-04-10T12:34:00.010+05:30

And while the wait for my IIM result winds down to its last day,I am gripped....by tension and uncertainty. The Supreme Court today vacated its stay on the 27% quota for OBCs in central educational institutions. How does this affect my chances now? will the results now be delayed indefinitely? - it beings me back to the issue at hand - why reservations?

Honestly though, I feel the merit scenario is misquoted. I doubt the people who get in through reservation are any limited so far as talent goes when it comes to the courses themselves. They may have some difficulties, but not all of them will pass the course. The problems I have are two fold. Firstly, the creamy layer reservation issue. How in the name of god can it be justified? and secondly, it has a hidden effect. The competition for top institutes such as the IITs and IIMs has made the entrance exams so difficult that sometimes, the tests tend to be far more difficult than the courses themselves. Thus, the quota essentially gives the individuals who get it a bridge of opportunity into these premier institutes - but how fair is it for the government to dig a hole under the general population to make this bridge possible? And why is there no quota in Parliament?

One thing I would like to point out:
Percentile cutoff for General at IIM Indore : 98.09\
OBC : 96.XX
SC: 85.XX
ST: 75.XX

I have a bad feeling - A feeling that reservation for OBCs will mean that 96 will fall to 85 or below...is this empowerment at all?

Eventually, this must end. The Supreme Court should have refused to vacate the stay until a parallel program for grassroots level improvement of education was put into place. Well, guess that is just another thing we'll shall all have to live with.

more on the issue here :
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/30587-sc-upholds-obc-quota.html
a nice read here too:
http://gleez.com/articles/general/arjun-singhs-interview---india-of-our-dreams-deserves-a-better-hrd

Hope springs eternal though - praying for my result tomorrow! :D

P.S. Anything written here is my personal opinion.

P.P.S A smallish update! - here's what I read in the judgment - a ray of hope for folks like me!

Updated:

( This is from four judges - there were 5 judges on the bench in all )
From Justice Bhandari:

10) At what point is a student no longer
Educationally Backward and thus no longer
eligible for special provisions under 15(5)?
Once a candidate graduates from a university, the said candidate
is educationally forward and is ineligible for special benefits
under Article 15(5) of the Constitution for post graduate and any
further studies thereafter.
See para 273.

from Justices Arijit Pasayat and C.K. Thakker:

136. Thus, the interest of no person, class or region can be
higher than that of the nation. The philosophy and
pragmatism of universal excellence through equality of
opportunity for education and advancement across the nation
is part of the constitutional creed. It is, therefore, the best and
most meritorious students that must be selected for admission
to technical institutions and medical colleges and no citizen
can be regarded as outsider in the constitutional set-up
without serious detriment to the `unity and integrity' of the
nation. The Supreme Court has laid down that so far as
admissions to post graduate course such as MS, MD and the
like are concerned, it would be imminently desirable not to
provide for any reservation based on residence or institutional
preference. However, a certain percentage of seats are allowed
to be reserved on the ground of institutional preference. But
even in this regard, so far as super specialties such as
neurosurgery and cardiology are concerned there should be no
reservation at all even on the basis of institutional preference
and admissions should be granted purely on all-India basis.
Further, classification made on the basis of super-specialties
may serve the interests of the nation better, though interests
of individual states may to a small extent, be affected.

some more from the same:

Public health can be improved by
having the best of doctors, specialists and
super specialists. Under-graduate level is a
primary or basic level of education in medical
sciences wherein reservation can be
understood as the fulfilment of societal
obligation of the State towards the weaker
segments of the society. Beyond this, a
reservation is a reversion or diversion from the
performance of primary duty of the State.

it is my contention that no matter how it is interpreted, the judgment of both these judges indicates that they are against any form of societal reservation in higher learning. They are willing to accomodate preference for particular institutions which serve a niche course. But DEFINITELY not for caste-based reservation in PG courses.

However, in the CJI's judgment ( this one says 'reportable' below the judgment notice) we have:

"..it is idle to contend that the backward classes shall be
determined on the basis of their attaining education only to the
level of 10+2 stage. In India there are a large number of arts,
science and professional colleges and in the field of education, it is
anachronistic to contend that primary education or secondary
education shall be the index for fixing backward class of citizens.
We find no force in the contention advanced by the learned
Counsel for the petitioners and it is only to be rejected."

So, atleast 3 of the judges find that reservations in postgraduate studies
are not desirable - but, significantly, the CJI does not - that is to say,he does not think 10+2 is enough to remove educational backwardness - however, he does not comment on the graduate cutoff.

What does this mean? any lawyers around?

Interviews - MDI

2008-03-27T00:08:00.002+05:30

Well, things have changed since my last post - I am through at MICA! :) the feeling is quite euphoric...but I still have things to look at before finally deciding. Well, onto business then :D

MDI - the day of the interview began in typical fashion for me, with me getting the chap I was going along with ( thank you PG and phoenix25! :) ) late - by getting up at the exact time I was supposed to be meeting my friend at to get to MDI. Thankfully, he was reasonably understanding and waited for a bit. And we got to MDI an hour early ( me, without a bath, a tie or belt - thankfully,I had clothes on) - and I promptly ran off trying to find a toilet and eventually, to buy myself a tie and belt.

NO success on the purchases front, but did manage to tidy myself up. The process began in earnest at 9:30 with us being asked for out details form. Then, we waited...and waited...(rather nice airconditioned classrooms :D - and very nice campus! )..and we eventually got called for the GD/PI - our panel had two professors on it, who I guess were bengali. Very cool and chilled out folks.

Our GD topic was "Both Divorce and Remarriage should be encouraged" - most of the discussion revolved around sati and divorce and western influence and India,until we got reminded that there is a rest of the world to contend with as well ;) - I tried bringing in an abstract angle to the discussion ,but it didn't get picked up terribly well, except for a couple of people - but I did get a reasonable amount of airtime :)

The process went at a very good pace. This was one of those interviews where the panel tried to put everyone at ease - one of the profs actually discussed the interview process with me!

Well, this is a general synopsis of the interview:

P:Hi Abhishek - WE will talk for a few minutes about subjects you are confortable with, and then eventually move on to the more analytical part. Is that alright with you?
Me: Absolutely Sir :)
P: Okay Abhishek - what are you passionate about?
Me: Computer games Sir! besides that, I enjoy community sites like Orkut, and also do a bit of reading and writing.
- I moved to show him some of my poems - but he gave a very unusual and understanding comment " I would say I understand the poem without reading too much into it - but that would be an insult to your talent :) - we are not evaluating your artistic talent here, only your passion :)"
Me: Alright Sir - in reading,I enjoy science fiction and humor - especially, P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves novels - I like the central character Wooster a lot :)
(a bit of discussion here - very friendly )
P: Looking into the form - so,a control engineer eh - do you watch television?
Me: No Sir - we have a very ancient and odd sort of TV, which has a very distinct hum when used...we only use it infrequently to watch cricket matches :D
P: Ah, where did you manage that TV from? :)
Me: Landlord sir - he gave us a lot of hand-me-downs ;)
P: He seems like a pretty nice chap - tell him we said hello too :)
Me: Sure Sir ( very jovial mood here :) ) - also talked about our broken water heater ( which we fixed ;) )
P: Hmm - so you've worked with Databases eh? - can you tell me the difference between form and form?
Me: :O Sir, I work with SQL Server -but have never had a DBMS course. :(
Oh..Web services too. Can you tell me how pages are ranked?
Me: Went on about meta tags and site crawlers -reasonable, but wasn't sure of a lot of things :) - should have volunteered some information.
P:Ah.Can we ask you a couple of probability questions?
Me (gulp) sure sir
P: How many interviews have you attended?
Me: 6 so far, sir
P: Well, lets compare IIM Indore, IITK and IITR. what would be the probability of you making it to each based on your experience?
Me: 0.7,0.8,0.8 respectively Sir.
P: Lets say the avg. salary 2 years from now here is x.xx,x.xx,x.xx. What would be your expected salary in 2 years?
Me:(gulp)Did some calculation - should have factored in stuff like weights and all - I was rasonably confident, but could have done better here :)
P: You won a prize at IIM Indore for Klueless -what was that all about?
Me: Sir, an online 20 level puzzle game..
P:Ah.Puzzles - can we ask you a couple of simple ones?
- got asked first about the 3 bulbs in a room problem - did with ease :)
- then got asked about a fork in the road puzzle ( city,jungle ) ,which thoroughly confused me - then got asked to read alice in wonderland for the solution ;)

Very chilled out interview - I was pretty happy, even thoug I missed the puzzle at the ned - except for the fact that one of the profs (hopefully, jokingly) recommended that I look at it philosophically and say to myself that MBA is not all there is to life :-|

Thats all - cheers! :)

HAPPY HOLI! - Interviews: MICA, NITIE and the Great Train Ride to Hell :)

2008-03-17T08:09:00.007+05:30

Ah, more things to write about! I definitely need to go out more - I seem to have (mis)adventures whenever I step out of the house. From being swindled at the station to getting lost, I've managed everything this past week :D

First, I must begin with my experiences this morning - after what was probably one of the worst train rides of my life ( 32 hours from Mumbai to Delhi - man, I could see an ant crawl on the side of the track without difficulty )...I manage to leave part of my baggage on the train :(

Then my morning today went as follows:

1. Realise the booboo at Mayur Vihar.

2. Deliberate with auto wallah for 10 minutes :)

3. Finally decide to go back to New Delhi! ( slow train - stops for very, very long :D )

4. Get to New Delhi - pay rickshaw guy 200 bucks, ask to wait ( and he does! bless him ;) - guess he knew when he found a golden goose ) and run with my luggage over 4 platforms to find out the train left for Old Delhi.

5. Rush over ( with the same rickshaw ) to Old Delhi - wait from train, get my stuff, pay rickshaw guy another 100 for getting me to a bus to Noida, and finally...get back home :)

Now that that escapade is 'recorded', lets move on...

Well, had interviews at MICA and NITIE (Ahmedabad and Mumbai, respectively ) to contend with.

To begin with, NITIE....( on the 14th )

The arrangements were awesome! Especially the quiz and the funny movies - man,I want that 750GB toy ;) ( me,and a lot of other folks....)

Anyway, was lucky enough to have my process scheduled pretty early - My group was among the second set to be called for verification,so I got done with that pretty quickly. Also had to get a character certificate undertaking :( Anyway, after verification, we moved to the GD. My panel consisted of 6-7 male professors, who all looked pretty sombre - I was number 1 in the group, and picked out the topic - " Fluctuating Sensex - Where is the Indian Economy headed? ". Made a lot of good entires, but felt there was a lot we didn't delve upon. The GD was rather one dimensional, mainly moving around the influence of the subprime crisis and how increased domestic investment and investor maturity is essential to avoid being badly hit by problems around the world, and how the fundamentals of the economy remained strong. The moderators did ask a couple of those who'd kept quiet to speak :)

On to the PI then. Well, this one had 6 professors - felt like facing a CBI panel, this! the desk for sitting was sit a little further apart - they could see clearly even if I twitched my feet! Anyway, the discussion began,as ever, with my name...
(I'll generalize and use P for panelist :) )

P: RVRK? What does that stand for..
Me: Ahem...blah,blah, blah :D
P: (smiles all around) Well.You are from Andhra Pradesh eh?
Me: Yes Sir - But have been all around the country - since my father is in the RBI :)
P: So, you work at HCL then. What about your work there made you decide to pursue a career in management?
Me: Sir, I have a minor managerial position at HCL, where I train a couple of juniors and give them knowhow on the tools that we have been using. I am generally recognized as being an effective communicator and technically skilled.
P: What sort of Knowledge transfer? and what sort of content management?
Me: Described work, told about some tools we are evaluating...
P: Hmm.If you are offered a seat, what field of management would you be interested in?
Me: I would most probably go for Systems Sir - since it is a core competency of mine - but I also have developed an interest in marketing
P:( perks up - apparently, a marketing prof ;) ) Ah. Any ads you liked, young man? seen the latest Fevicol ad? ( saw the one after getting back :( - the one with the tree leaves hanging on ;) )
Me: No Sir - but there are other ads I like - UTI Bank Home Loans,for instance - and I remember the Fevicol ad featuring a politician.
P: UTI?
Me: No Sir - Axis Bank.
P: Okay, do you read any business magazines?
Me: Have only recently begun sir. Read about things like the subprime crisis
P: What is it about?
Me: (talked about it, accidentally said 'disinvest' instead of 'disburse'....corrected upon prompting :D - pretty good here - although I bored them a bit ;))
P: What are 2 essentials for a good ad?
Me: (started talking about humour being essential, tried to cite examples - but was interrupted by another prof and asked to get back to the question :D ) - Hmm - possibly Sir, it must inform the consumer of all terms and conditions involved - and it must highlight some distinguishing factor that spearates it from the rest :)

P: Right abhishek, you may go :)
- Also some mention of a prize I won at IIM Indore in there somewhere :)
Dunno - a very okay interview, in my opinion :)

UPDATE : Eventually, screwed it up - never be too verbose in an interview! ( also, some confusions about my role at the office. Anyway,leant a lot - all not lost, MDI still to go :)

right, onto MICA then -

The group task here involved thinking of measures to improve political awareness amongst youth - then evaluate and pick the best three solutions as a group - pretty amicable, and we arrived at 2 pretty much unanimously - but the third was a bit random :D ( I contributed the 2nd - bachoon ko school me hi netagiri padhao ;) - although, not in the same language )

Nice group task - and the campus is, in one word, awesome! ( they even have pudding and great mess food! yum! :) )

Well, onto the PI...
Had to wait a hell of a long time for the PI- but was sufficiently entertained with friendly banter and the fact I had some Pagalguy friends along ( one of them got a spot offer! )...passed time pretty well - my friend Vineet had his interview just before mine ,...a pretty long affair. I was impressed with the campus, very spacious and 'attractive' - in all respects!

Well, my interview then. A typical grill, with me in the centre and three profs giving me all the heat I needed - was asked questions about work ex,and the one everyone got asked - Why MICA? - I spoke about my interest for marketing, and droned on a bit about my classes and stuff...( they asked if the classes really helped ;) ) ...was complimented for my good CAT and MICAT scores...but was then asked why exactly I wanted to do management ...and was a little stuck - but I felt I was pretty convincing for the most part save when I got asked to be more to the point since I was droning on a bit :D

Well, aroun 16-18 of 47 got rejected the same day - I wasn't one - neither was Vineet. 3 got spot offers (yettobepaid got one!) - I wasn't one here either :D

Lets see how things develop - for now, this is bumbling Abhishek signing off :D

IIM Indore - meri kahani ( ka anth? :D )

2008-03-10T15:38:00.001+05:30

My IIMI interview experience :)

Profile:
Name : RVRK Abhishek Sharma
Organization : HCL
Work Experience : 18 Months
Graduation : B.E. Electronic Instrumentation and Control, University of Rajasthan, year 2006 - 70.47%
Schooling and Junior College : Mumbai,Jaipur
Extracurriculars and Co-curriculars : Pretty good.
10th : 80.6%
12th: 70.2%
CAT2007 : 99.31 %ile (QA - 81.11%,VA - 99.89%,DI - 97.41%)
Calls : I

Where: ISI New Delhi, 8:50AM

the case study we had was a 'study' in complexity...something regarding a guy called Abhishek ,who's been picked up for misappropriation by the CFO upon a complaint from Sandeep, who's friends with Yogi, who own a software firm, whose help Abhishek needs for starting a new venture with Sunam motors....Very long, and one felt very difficult to piece together. I made 3-4 good entries ( it was tough, everyone was cacophonous since no one had anything to say :| ) and raised some points regarding Abhishek looking at other options , how he needs to convince Sandeep etc.Wrote a pretty good summary. I felt my contribution was significant, and I was pretty happy with myself - although I should have been a little more assertive, and a little less jumpy.

On to the PI:
3rd to go into the death chamber...randomly called.
My longest interview yet. Had its good parts, and its bad ones.
P1: Old Professor ( possibly Prof. Shubhamoy Dey )
P2: Young Alumni/Prof ( I assume it was Prof. Scalem )

P2: Hello Abhishek.
Me: Good Morning Sir. Sorry for the delay.
P2: thats alright. So, you're from Chennai eh?
Me: No Sir. My parents currently stay there. I am originally from Andhra Pradesh ( big mistake 1 8-) )
P2: So you changed your hairstyle? ( different in photo )
Me: Yes Sir
P2: And you don't seem like an introvert
Me: Umm, I used to be sir ( significant incident) - being candid, I was not very assured when speaking to strangers and girls :D ( a little laughter :D )
P2: Oh. What does your father do?
Me: He's in the RBI sir
P1: (Looking at form) you mean IDBI?
Me/P1/P2: A little confusion here. Eventually generally understood that both my parents worked - mum for IDBI, dad for RBI
P1: Your mother is in IDBI, or IDBI Bank?
Me: IDBI earlier sir, she was in accounts then. Now she manages SMEs in IDBI Bank.
P1: Is she a CA?
Me: No Sir, she's done her CAIIB Part 1 - but she tried for CAIIB - 2, but was rather unenthusiastic :)
P2: Well. So you've stayed in Jaipur for a long period eh?
Me: (gulp) yes sir
P2: Hmm. Why is it called the Pink City?
Me: Erm Sir, am not certain.I'll hazard a guess. Because of the buildings in the old city all being painted pink/orange? ( ah, lamer )
P2: Think..some person visited the city, for which it was painted
Me: I am sorry sir, I do not know, possibly some foreign dignitary ( later found out - 1876,to welcome Prince Albert and Queen Elizabeth II :cry: )
P2: Hmm. What is the education capital of Rajasthan?
Me: Kota sir?
P2: No, that is the training capital.
Me: Jodhpur?
P2: No..the state board..
Me: Ajmer. :|
P2 ( finally) hmm.What are the 3 regions of Andhra Pradesh?
Me: Telangana, East Godavari...sir I am not certain of the third
P1/P2: Rayalaseema? you do not remember?
Me: :oops:
P2: Okay - so what do we ask about now then?
Me: Sir, work ex! :mrgreen:
P2: Hmm. HCL then. What is the new innovative initiative taken up at HCL my management..not in technology?
Me: :mrgreen: The Employee First policy sir. It puts the employee at the top of the organization chart, with the opinion that happy employess make happy customers and happy shareholders
P2: ( Satisfied) And what is the general operating strategy of HCL thats different from other players?
Me: Sir, they tend to move into unexplored markets - such as into the remote infrastructure space - by pioneering, they get first mover advantage ( needed to use the term Blue Ocean here )
P2 ,P1 Nod ( finally, a score! )
P1: ( ab shuru hoti hai kabaddi...academics) How is your branch..Electronic Instrumentation and Control - different from Electronics?
Me: Sir, the electronics courses taught are more cursory - as in, they relate more to control and instrumentation applications.
P1: (rather skeptical) really? what sort of courses?
Me: Semiconductor theory,edge effect transistors, digital electronics...( i muddled up here a bit)
P1: Hmm. If i wanted to design a temperature control system for a boiler plant - what would I use - tell me what you would include in the block diagram)
Me: (some technical discussion - i proposed a thermocouple based manual/ PLC f/b system...some discussion about whether a thermocouple is apt or an RTD can be used. then, discussion on applications of PLC...was pretty good here, except at the end when I got asked about a thyristor replacing a PLC - got confused and forgot that a thyristor is an SCR :(...overall reasonable)
P2: So, you have been to IIM Indore for IRIS eh? ( Klueless 2 winner :mrgreen: )
Me: No Sir. Klueless was an online competition...a friend sent me the link ( was about to elaborate, got cut off )
P2: You write about soccer being an interest. ( why not the rest computer games, blogging,reading..he had to pick soccer :( ) How is soccer different from football?
Me: Sir, soccer is what they call it in the US - essentially similar games.
P2: Any differences in rules? player count,time?
Me: Possibly in time of play sir. Not certain.
P1: What are there starred subjects? ( 2 supplis in 1st yr :( )
Me: Did badly in my first year sir - cleared the papers next year.
P1: How would you rate your performance the second time?
Me: Sir, it was reasonable, but not very good..because I had to take those papers with my other 6 4th semester papers.
P1/P2: Hmm. Right then Abhishek, you may go.

I may have missed a few details, but that was about it :) Comments welcome. A tough shot at a call, but I hope I get it.

PG meet @ dilli!

2008-03-03T00:03:00.003+05:30

Well,i finally got to meet others like me.Looking for liberation from long hours.Looking for more from life ( more money,I mean :) )...looking to rejuvenate their social lifes ( hopefully )...mostly, looking for an encouraging change. Gah, thats oo much bakwas. Essentially, a few guys ( and a couple of girls ) out to have a good time - thats what a a Pagalguy meet is!

Here's a picture of almost all of us - almost,that is, for the poor chap clicking the picture ;)

P.S. I am the guy in formals in blue, sitting down:)

IIT Kanpur :)

2008-02-25T23:45:00.002+05:30

Had my interview at IITK on the 24th in the morning slot.

JMET : 1098
10th : 80.6%
12th: 70.2%
B.E. : 70.47%

Morning Slot, 24th. 7:15AM

- Me, outside the hostel, in my suit, super-nervous thanks to the scary stories of the technical interviews being faced by all the earlier interviewees ... then went to L-13 for a nice presentation on the MBA programme at IITK - a rather nice presentation, it got everyone awake for sure if nothing else!

Was slotted in group A - the dude with the longest name, and the biggest set of initials ...everyone was wondering what an Abhishek was doing amongst the Rs

GD:

Case study, involving M.Krishna Rao, a 4-month old employee with very good intentions, brings out changes for a more professional and efficeint environment in the office - the changes are appreciated by his peers, but the employees are unhappy! - we were randomly asked to speak for 2 minutes first, and I think I did pretty well with my time...although I felt those at the end were disadvantaged
Then the 6-minute world war - it was chaotic, but I did manage 2-3 good entries - although ,I may have been overly aggressive a couple of times.

PI:

This was what scared me the most - 2 years of IT had wiped away all (mostly scary) memories of college exams and subjects...but I think I handled myself reasonably well. Here's how it went. (Panel 2)

L: Lady Prof.
M1, M2: male professors.

Me: Good morning ma'am, Sir
L: Good Morning Abhishek. Please sit down.
...looking through my profile....hmm..when did you finish your engineering?
Me: 2006 ma'am
L: Lets just write that down here....well, I see you had a couple of courses on Humanities and Social sciences and Industrial Economics in your engineering course - can you tell us something about them? ( lo chale hum... )
Me: Described the need for the communication course in general english....was cross questioned, asked why those who speak Hindi cannot be efficient communicators...I referred to the lack of confidence amongst hindi-medium educated individuals. Was reasonable convincing. Described my basic course in economics.
L: (while discussing, pushed paper and pencil towards me - i took it and continued talking ) ..I see your communication is fine...you understood I meant to ask you a question
Me: (sheepish smile ) yes ma'am...
L: Please draw us the plot for the function...(it was x/2 mod x - 1, so far as I remember )
Me: Drew it, was reasonably certain ,but now seem to feel that I may have plotted the zero value wrong - did okay though, she didn't complain.
M1: Hmm.An intern at Microsoft - also working at an IT firm? Why instrumentation?
Me: Rehearsed answer about always having an avid interest in computers- pointed to several awards.
L: Hmm. IIT Delhi, Mumbai, IIM Indore,BITS....none at IIT Kanpur?
Me: Er ma'am , it is pretty far off....
L: But IIT Delhi? ...oh, direct buses eh...
Me: sheepish grin
M1: So, can you write us a program to calculate primes from 1 to 25?
Me: yes sir, I think I can - dawdled a bit, they asked for pseudo code..i was just writing when I asked " sir, does it have to be efficient? " - the question seemed to impress them ( L said "brute force coding...this chap seems clever " )- although, i screwed up the program a bit...
M1: *Looked rather sternly at the program*...I wasn't maintaining very good eye contact ...
M2: So...control engineering...can you make us a system for controlling temperature ?
Me: tried making block diagram, told some silly story about a paper in engineering...was cut off "i asked about controlling, not measuring" ( was going on about wheatstone bridge )...first tried to draw, then he took the paper and said " just tell me a method you would use.."
mentioned "Thermocouple" and his face lit up ...then encouraged me "yes..then maybe a feedback system..." then i mentioned about a switch controlling the water's heating mechanism...he seemed satisfied.

Panelists: thank you Abhishek, you may leave now.

Overall, a far better interview then I had expected. Comments are welcome ( I may have misinterpreted some of the interviewers' reactions )

The hospitality was well arranged, and the hostels were awesome! the IITK campus is to be seen to be believed. The seniors were amiable too.

Rediscovery :)

2008-02-23T00:02:00.003+05:30

It appears I have written everything I ever pondered upon over here - and yet, new things keep coming up :)Recently,I have been wondering why being an MBA demands that you rediscover every silly thing you used to do during your youth ( I doubt making paper boats counts, else am pretty talented there :) ) - So I've been reading books, catching up with the world, planning to learn the guitar, figuring out ways to prove a computer game is really educational ( well, its a tough ask for the sort of stuff I play ;) )

And well, it is actually fun. It feels like taking a break, simply thinking of the stuff is exhilarating...one read of Wodehouse can make the whole world seem pointless for a while - even if you are reading in the toilet ;) Rediscovering the rest of what life meant....that is the beginning of the holiday I needed...hopefully, the course I eventually join is just as much fun!

P.S. Side Note: Termites ate through my college texts ;)....funnily, leaving Murphy's Law and Wodehouse alone!

Interview update :)

2008-02-23T00:00:00.001+05:30

Had another one at IIT Roorkee :)

Here's how it went

Well then, here goes - had my GD/PI scheduled at 1 on the 18th...roamed about the rather nice campus for a while in the morning, then reported for the process at 1. After hanging about for a while, the process started at 1:30 - The seniors were very nice to everyone, engaging people in conversation and basically making sure everyone felt confortable. This, was very appreciated

Incidentally, I ended up being one of the first to be interviewed ( maybe they liked my name - more on this later!)...
Interview:
Panel 1 - HOD(H), another IIT Prof (very nice guy - will refer as NG )and a Lady (L)

Myself: Good Morning Sir/Madam
Panel: Good Morning.
NG: Please sit down..Abhishek Sharma, is it?

Me: No Sir. RVRK Abhishek Sharma ( and the expansion - wouldn't want to bore you too )

NG: Oh - smiles - rather long name. So Abhishek, you're working at HCL for 18 months now. Why do you want to do an MBA?
Me: Spewed forth gyan - nothing out of the ordinary.
NG: Where do you see yourself after your MBA then?
Me: Well Sir, I might take up an entrepreneurial venture - or move into the industry, maybe do a further specialization in management.I am undecided as of now,since I don't know what the future holds - BUT I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ( this, screwed me a bit )

L(perking up at that last sentence) : Ah? I would disagree - I would think knowing the future might be pretty scary!
Me: gyan about usefulness - two edged sword...
L:But then, would it not scare you to know when you might die?
Me: more gyan - depends on circumstances - being optimistic - reasonably logical
HOD: Abhishek, is this your normal hairdo, or have you just not combed your hair today ? ( )
Me: Erm Sir, I've been trying for 22 years to get a decent hairdo - never did succeed ( HOD says "Good one " - general laughter )

L : 22 years? how old are you?
Me : 23 ma'am
L: so you combed your hair at the age of one?
Me: Erm, no ma'am - but I doubt my mum had any better luck
More discussion on one year olds having hair
A couple of questions about my role at work.

And then, a punch at the end by NG - " Instrumentation and control? - know anything about a CAT scan?"
me " Oh...Computer Aided TOmography..medical diagnostics..similar purpose as MRI scan...(stammered a bit, though )"

Panel: Oh okay..you may leave

Overall, reasonable, in my opinion.

GD:

Topic: Decided mutually, "Violence in video games encourages aggression among youth"
GD: Was very well-behaved, actually - I put forward some very good points, and led the GD. I also shamelessly invited a girl who wasn't speaking to join in too

Holiday :)

2008-02-22T23:49:00.003+05:30

Woohoo! life is most certainly fun these days :) what with a big change coming up in a couple of months( am going back to college! ) and new experiences to look forward to, am at a loss to figure out how exactly to mark this time - maybe learn the guitar? go hiking? start writing that novel i always have wanted to? find good stuff to watch all day? go on Holiday?

Lol. Guess a good dose of comedy about a holiday can do that sort of thing to you ;) if only the taxman had been kinder, I would actually have been on vacation right now - but well, the truth is , college is a little while away, I still slave away at work and I still hate mondays ;)

But well, I have a feeling I'll hate them a lot more come b-school. There's so much to life thats left undone! once all the worry of admissions is over, am taking a one month all-india vacation - seeing the sights, hopefully getting lost the way Mr.Bean did on his holiday :D

It is funny, really. One cannot appreciate what one ever has. The folks inthe country want the convenience of the big city - the big city person wants the solitude of the small town. Strange paradox, that. All that I know for certain now is, that there are lots of folks I need to go ahead and meet! ( hope a few of them are reading this :) ) Life's too short to keep hoping for coincidences :)

Here's to life!

IMT GD/PI :)

2008-02-16T16:40:00.001+05:30

Had my GD/PI for IMT today at IMT Ghaziabad. Here's how it went ( They must be reading pagalguy - some of the chaps asked us who were 'active' on PG )

Got to the venue at around 8:15 - waited for a while, they were reasonably good with time - although, the arrangements could have been better - having no refreshments for around 2-3 hours is no fun, especially when you leave home at 6:30!

Registration of the candidates was done, all of the documents ( Degree certificate, mark sheet, work ex,CAT admit/score card,personal form,preference form ) were checked at IMT. After this was complete, we were allocated different panels - there were 6 of them.

Our panel had three males, 2 professors and one industry IMT alumni.One of them was a Finance professor at IMTG - the topic given to us was "Markets left to themselves encourage greed" - as was the norm, 5 minutes for thinking and 8 minutes discussion time. two of our members were absent, so we had 13 folks in our GD - 3 girls, 10 boys ( bad ratio,i know )

Well, it wasn't a terribly good GD - average at best - I did manage some airtime and get some points across ( regulatory bodies, failures of AICTE,TRAI,SEBI, how improper monitoring is causing the creation of mock institutes offering professional degrees etc..) overall, I did okay, got to speak clearly 2-3 times. - the GD got cacophonous at times, but it did get reined in later.

On to the interview - i was 7th in my panel, and our profs seemed to want a quick lunch ( I saw one of them heading off for lunch when I was leaving) - I was there with a pagalguy buddy, Rohit Garg(gargkrohit). He was on the 3rd panel, we came and left together - score two more for PG!
Anyway, since they needed that quick lunch, interviews were pretty quick with our panel - I had a mostly non-technical interview..

P1:Finance prof
P2:industry guy
P3:2nd prof

P1: You have a nice CAT score.
Me: Thank you Sir . I wish I could have done better on QA though.
P1: was this your first CAT?
Me: No sir. I took it twice before, and had similar QA scores each time.
P1: So you didn't improve on QA over all this time?
Me: answered well - explained about bias for VA.
P1 and P3 nod - I guess they bought it ( wish i could have put in the fact that work interfered with prep though..)
I am a bit muddy on who asked what after this, so I'll do the best I can.
P1: Any other calls? you must have an IIM call?
Me: yes sir, one IIM Indore call.
P1: Best of luck with that.How do you like your present job?
Me: told him about reasonable work profile, but lack of scope for making decisions and leveraging knowledge better..told how it is a prevalent scenario in the IT industry...eventually came over to why MBA
P2: Would you define yourself as a leader or a follower?
Me: Would depend on what I am doing Sir.If the task involved is one where I hold sufficient domain knowledge, I would love to lead - else, i look to follow and learn.
He seemed satisfied with the answer. more nodding heads
P2: What would you define as your greatest achievement?
Me: mentioned microsoft internship, difficult to get etc...etc..i thought iexpalined pretty well
P3: describe one disappointing thing about your past
Me: mentioned acads suffering at times due to bias for co curricular, explained why. more nodding heads
P1: Okay Abhishek, you may go now.

Well ,that was it - no GK,acads,hobbies....just PR. I guess they must have managed that quick lunch...but mera hua kya?

i got a feeling people with reasonable CAT scores were being grilled more...but then again ,there were different panels,and some seemed to get very academic too - i will await rohit's post

Well, Cheerz then - comments are welcome!

Office!

2008-02-12T23:01:00.001+05:30

Here's a pic from the office - I look a bit harassed, but thats how I am all the time in office :)

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-02-12T22:43:00.000+05:30

Well, another birthday came along and passed - and this time, I didn't even know it did! - I guess as one gets older, one gets wise to the fact that letting another year of life go is not something to celebrate...but I would love to celebrate the rest of the whole year :D

So how did the year go? Not too eventful, really - although I did finally manage to do pretty okay at CAT, I don't really feel any different when I think of studying at IIM ( well, I didn't think I'd grow horns...but well..) I guess it is as such with most things one looks forward to in life - when you get something, it ceases to impress. No wonder folks who manage to get over this emotion manage to live with almost nothing...I don't think the term satisfaction exists for most individuals...

But then, it is this emotion that drives individuals to greater heights, isn't it? Then should we be deploring saints who manage salvation and freedom from desire?

funny really, the sort of questions an idle mind can bring :) Besides all that, I prepare for a lonely valentines...although, its cold enough here to keep me in bed even if it is Valentines and there were hope for me :) Best wishes to everyone around though!

On the MBA front, I've been reading voraciously - and read this article the other day by a guy who asks us to chuck our vehicles for buses. - A viable thought, but then, who will improve the callous attitude of the people driving the buses? If buses could get people to work on time ( and not to mention, in shape :) ), folks wouldn't need cars. Also read about a lot of other things, bird flu ( see,I told all those non vegetarians the chickens would get back at us someday :( ) and the Stock market crisis - man, you should have seen the office the day it began - I saw half of the managers on my floor close to tears :)

And well, I have interviews coming - for those interested, so far IIM Indore, MDI Gurgaon, IMT Ghaziabad, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee and MICA have been nice enough to call me over for discussions. I'll keep posting after each farce :)

And in the end, a small request to the females among my extremely miniscule reading community - please, study hard! - 30 guys on an IIM GD class just doesn't help my prospects :(

Cold,Cold Night...

2008-01-11T20:47:00.000+05:30

I've noticed that I have found a lot of other crap to do once I got to Noida - and here I was, thinking there really is nothing to do in this sub-city (thats the best description I have for this place, the girls have clothes too short for a town,and the place has too few sights for a city ;) ) - The fact that I have a whole flat and TV and two computers, may be helping this 'crap' of mine expand :).

In any case, I haven't been around here much - and I'd like to say sorry to my 60 year old self, for whom this was meant to be a trip back in time ( it'll most probably tell him what a bored chump I was, but hey, I am what I am, right? ) - Anyway, there hasn't been much to the Noida story, really. No mood swings ( too much work to think about those - no 12 to 5 office hours :( ) and yes, girls at the CAT classes - which means I had to work myself crazy ;)

When I first came here, I tried a lot of suave and rather clever tactics in my vain attempt to find someone to go out with - No orkut-hunt here, but well, there were some other things I tried that were downright inane - including hitting on a product manager :( - But well, thats a story for another day. After little progress ( which also involved managing to get friendly with the prettiest girl in class,only to find out she is - as all else in life is - committed ) , I decided it is best if I let life ( for myself and for the 16 girls across the street - ah, life is cruel :( ) go on as it will :)

As it does, it went off pretty okay for me :) - Had a good new year with friends, managed an IIM call, and also, have a good salary - and some body mass! social success would have been the icing on the cake, but I guess cartoons and Discovery Channel must do for now. In any case, two months to go for IIM. I have a lot of prep to do!

And oh yeah - its bloody cold here! reminds me of that song in the title for the post. ( yeah,that is why that is the heading - not because am stuck out in the cold )

IIM Call! - Aakhir aa gaya!

2008-01-09T23:22:00.000+05:30

And finally, things do happen :) - The new year did bring happiness and good cheer, it got me a good CAT score and..an IIM call!!

The day began as it always does for me - by getting to the office late as ever ;) I had developed this method to relieve stress during the hectic post new year result season - and it worked like a charm! - I've been downloading and watching cartoons all day these days - and since I figure they got me through the results, I'll keep watching then ;) - 150 episodes to go! :)

Anyway, JMET shd give me 4 IIT calls - in any case,I hope to be an IIM/IIT dude in a few months from now!

Besides that, life as usual - except a certain 'swagger' in my walk these days ;)

While I'm here...

2007-12-25T16:17:00.000+05:30

A film review!

Haven't been watching too many films lately - courtesy, my efficient and over demanding boss. to his credit though, pretty much every boss at the office is :)

Went and saw I Am Legend the other day - Will Smith and a dog, it had to be interesting - after all, there was a dog in Independence Day too right? :) - Anyway, the movie felt like the story that might have happened if the aliens won - only, they wern't aliens, it was a virus that wiped us out here. Yeah, been there, done that for most - But this one's interesting for the following reasons:

1. The hero dies - (No "Ma,main tumhe bachaonga" )
2. The dog dies too :(
3. Will Smith hunting deer ( was it? ) at Times Square
4. Meeting a lion - at the same spot
5. Scary - man, do not watch alone - if you have to, and you're a girl, do your boyfriend a favour and get him to watch with you - he'll appreciate it :)
6. It really does give one the chills at certain times.
7. Will Smith here, is a hero,yes - but a hero on the verge of giving up - thats what differentiates this movie from Resident Evil - that, and the fact the hero is not an uber-hot female ;)

Sorry for the apparent female bias - hope you folks understand :)

Cheerz!

Some things in life are better left to themselves :)

2007-12-25T15:53:00.000+05:30

Hi,

Hello again - Its been a long time since I was here with anything meaningful, and by that I mean something you didn't need to go anywhere else to read :) Life's just been like that - apparently, my boss here believes I have no social life ( which is,sadly, mostly true - even my lame efforts at getting one have been largely unsuccessful :( ). So I have relegated my self to the melting pot that is the world today and decided to go wit h the flow for once. Instead of making things happen, I've been letting things be - Talking to people I see,instead of people I don't. Reading expressions on faces, not on smileys :)

I find one makes enough friends this way too - albeit, you don' get to pick and choose as much (honestly though, when it comes to online friendship, I am pretty certain I've managed to befriend a couple of serial killers on Orkut :). Anyway, life goes on - CAT results are close, and there's an actual chance this time that I might be writing here from some decent b-school ( well,thats what they're called ) instead of taking time off on a Christmas holiday.

And well,there are the auxiliary benefits - Someone once said to revive a friendship, tak the first step - But yeah,the first step needs to be taken WHEN the friendship needs revival - not the first step pushing it into decline in the first place! In any case, I have been rather lethargic getting in touch with friends of late - and funnily, they seem to miss me when they eventually call - Go figure, am not alone on the planet :)

Besides that, have had many adventures at wrk - from the innocuous to the inane and stupid - mostly, courtesy yours truly - but hey, I still have my job - and an increased paycheck :) MY manager here's teaching me a lot about good management - something that I hope will stand me in good stead in the time to come - thankfully, he's building a work ethic in me too. A friend of mine actually called me mature recently! :)

Yeah yeah, too many smileys, I know :) Anyway, Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

BHARAT JEET GAYA!!! :D

2007-09-24T22:02:00.000+05:30

ah - a great day indeed...India finally win a world cup!!

even if it was 20-20...India ARE Champions!! :)

Chillin...

2007-09-09T00:37:00.000+05:30

Recently,I asked a friend what she was upto ( in life,as usual - its a standard hello for me :) )

she was like " chillin'...as usual"

chillin eh? mostly,it means i have nothing to do with time...annoying when that happens doesn't it? and weird how everyone is looking for just that in life - to have nothing to do....

I've been doing nothing my whole life - somehow though,nothing is only fulfilling if one condition exists - something 'productive' that I could do with the time I am doing nothing on

Wouldn't all of you agree? :)

Home, truly sweet home! :)

2007-08-31T19:40:00.000+05:30

Ah - getting back home truly is bliss! ( although, the emails from work are a minor annoyance ;) - I guess a necessary pain though, to remind one how much home really is home :D ). I never really thought I'd prefer mum's cooking to a pizza ( okay alright already - that was a very emotional moment,not to mention having had pizza for 4 days before that day :) ) but there you go - it did happen....Being fussed over by mum was always an annoyance,but I am the one fussing her now.Growing up certainly brings one new experiences!

Anyway, another great thing happened when I came over to Chennai.I saw ACTUAL rain! considering how the weather has been in Delhi these past few months, seeing rain has definitely been an experience in itself. besides the fact everyone here speaks a language I don't understand, I don't notice much of a difference from Delhi otherwise - except for the fact the streets here are so crowded you need help clearing a way through. Driving a vehicle? Thats well nigh impossible here.

Yet, I like the place.Its fun place to be, it has everything one could need. Plus, my mum's around here too :)

To put the icing on the cake,My mock scores are going through the roof. Hope the IIM does happen this year!

Ah. mum is calling. It definitely is good to be home! :)

Dream Diary - Weird Dream #1

2007-08-03T18:09:00.000+05:30

Ohh,had an extremely weird one today - found myself talking to a bull :)

then,got gored by the bull :)

then,got taken to hospital by the bull! Lol.

Diary Entry #1

2007-08-03T17:46:00.000+05:30

Well,this post's for myself - So I have stuff to read when am 60 from back when I was 22.

Hows life these days? - I find myself pining for a lot of things - from more money to more love - From more choice to more gadgets - from more fun to more parties...from more friends to more purpose :)...

Is life actually better these days? I have found myself wondering whether all the things that make life simpler simply make sure that we have a more lazy and sedentary life? - I find myself walking to save money on rickshaws, going out of my way to buy stuff I could easily get close to home - to save a few rupees...

My friends call me thrifty and some, miserly - But hey,it gives me two things - exercise,and money in the bank :)...I mean,when did trying to save money go out of fashion anyway? and wel,that brings me to another thought - Does this mean staying stingy is staying healthy? ;)

More Fun!

2007-08-03T17:42:00.000+05:30

Oh well,Life's way too short ( and currently,rather happy and oh-so-full of icecream and cakes and all thats good :) ) to spout forth more philosophy - So here's a bit of Calvin to amuse you all :)

Another day,another mood...

2007-07-26T11:44:00.000+05:30

Ah.Had one of my (rather common) blue moods yesterday - Ever notice how moods seem to have a life of their own,bringing themselves onto a person for no reason at all? My mood was so obvious,my boss had himself thinking I was stuck on a girl somewhere...(which might have been the cause some other time,but I am pretty certain it wasn't this time ;) - After all, one can't go gaga and into a blue mood over ALL the girls in Noida,can he? )

Anyway,a lot of times for me, there is no explanation for happy moods either. I've always wondered...what is it that brings these moods along? Is it the weather? Or India winning a match ( man,those happy days are rare....)? Or a pretty girl smiling at you ( rarer than the last one for me :) )?

My boss just caught me at this - He reckons it has all to do with phases of the moon - But then,is there really a reason?

I guess,if we ever figure that out,we'll probably be able to create artificial humanity :)

Knowledge...is confusion :)

2007-07-24T15:25:00.000+05:30

I've always been asserting that knowing too much only means you have complicated life beyond comprehension

Here's documented evidence from the greatest repository of wisdom on the planet - cartoons ( oh well,what did you expect,coming from me? :) )

Call-me-vin :)

2007-07-24T09:04:00.000+05:30

Been sending people at the office Calvin in the mail every day - and it has made me quite a few friends ;)

here's a little for myself :) - and for anyone else who may care to read.

More on life :)

2007-07-24T08:57:00.000+05:30

Well,finished reading Harry Potter 7 - and my concise review would be -

Its great! cleared out a lot of loose ends, and dunno about others, but personally,I liked the ending - the aura of Voldemort would have been damaged,if I may say so, without such a specter of death - and yet, the book was always hopeful - and full of action!

A nice ending too,tying up the package nicely. I hear Bloomsbury lost around 151 million pounds on the day the book was released,such was the impact Harry Potter had on their bottom line ;)

Been prepping again for CAT,attending morning classes,playing pool with a vengeance, hitting on girls at classes and in office ( with, as can be expected of me, very limited success :) ), and reading up on books I've been meaning to for a long time now.Thanks to this blog,I have found out how much putting ones thoughts in words can mean. Thanks SG,you taught me that :)

And so,I take leave - and promise to try to keep up my earlier pace - though with my new boss being as demanding as he is, that hardly seems possible ;) Cheerz!

Good to be back!

2007-07-24T08:45:00.000+05:30

Hey,hey,hey!

I realize it has been a long time,my dear blog.And as with most of my kitchen accessories and a lot of my clothes ( not matter one wants to put,even on a personal blog ;) ) - I risked the blog decaying and getting infested with.....erm,as I said,not to be put in words :)

But well,life's been...busy lately.It is funny,how work and a few other things that need to get done can take one's mind off the vagaries and cares of life :) Although infused with (occasionally,hopefully) interesting bits of humor,a lot of my posts have been melancholy and contemplative - and a lot will be in the future, too.But for now,a busy life keeps the gears of the mind ticking - And things to do keep me grounded and happy :) ( not work of course - but it does give me an excuse to crib - and in turn,a reason to talk ;) )

Life's kept me so busy,friends I used to practically annoy to death with requests for conversation have now decided its about time they found out whats up with me - And for the first time I see,I am not the only person who needs friends.Every person, no matter how influential,good looking or wealthy, needs friends - if only for good mental and social health. Being in Noida for the past few weeks ( and dealing with problems more in line with daily life - power cuts, no fridge , how to get talking to the 16 girls across the street - something,I have yet to figure out ) has brought me a refreshing simplicity in life.And I intend to keep it going.

I'll end with this.It is refreshing,magnificent,simply enthralling to be a kid at heart.

And oh.finished reading Harry Potter 7 today. Anyone want spoilers?

And,a little humour :)

2007-06-01T15:40:00.000+05:30

how to sleep undisturbed in office ( please,do consider the view and orientation before attempting this) :)

Business Ideas when you get laid off :)

Back..From the Dead !?

2007-06-01T15:24:00.000+05:30

Ahh.Its good to be back,isn't it? :) Although life's still very much the same...With the sadistic boss(es - yeah,I've got two of them! :( ),thoroughly unnecessary workload,and my nonchalant ignorance of the same :D

Anyway,work's been killer lately.What with having two saidstic bosses hell bent on killing my social life ( and not having one in the first place :) ),high prices,a delayed salary ( If this goes on - anyone willing to lend money on moderate terms - Do contact me :) ) and the weather,life would have been hell had it not been for the cook we've got...She makes the best dum aloo I've ever had ( after mummy dearest,of course ;) ).

Good Music,good literature,and time away from the boss.Manna for life,these are! And yeah,CAT prepping is going on well too.As also,my aspirations for social growth at the classes.I know academic achievement isn't always the best way to making female friends ( good humour,timing,good looks,personality....sadly,the list goes on.Figures,I took it from a girl :| ).Butthe start has been good,to be perfectly honest.I hope I do get third time lucky.

I do honestly love pineapple.Be it in cakes,apstries,juice,or the fruit itself.Its a wonder how my brother manages to not like it,but well,that only meant I got to have my fill and more when my mum got it for me ;) And oh yeah - I love chocolates,Pizza and Coke too.Just a small list of stuff people can use to get stuff done by me.

MY boss cannot seem to figure this out.He seems to hope ridicule and threats alone could drive.Ah,if only he knew - Darn,here he comes.Over and out!

Oh yeah...Planninga vacation.Got an Outlook book on 52 holiday destinations in and around Delhi.Sadly though,my roommate is very rluctant to come along,since those holiday destinations are where he has been working the past 10 months ;) - thats a story for his blog....Anyone up for a trip then? :)

Grr-Field.

2007-05-17T14:15:00.000+05:30

Lol.More proof there's a flip side to every practical joke ;)

Comic Relief...

2007-05-14T14:36:00.000+05:30

Things to Do!

2007-05-14T14:03:00.000+05:30

Know what? Cribbing about life is what people do when they are one of two things:

1 .In Drunk Devdas mode ( or something similar induced by depression ;)
2. Bored!

Its all about finding things to do with life.I mean,I was blank on weekend plans since I ambroke this month and the next thanks to my MBA class fees,and hence cannot indulge in too much Saturday night revelry ( not that I get any,but hey,its nice to think of it that way ;) ) - I rediscovered computer games! There's so much to things one does not see,and so much to find once one sees them,isn't it?

Lol.Anyway,Nowadays am off playing pool or Minesweeper with friends on chat,or ( most of the time ) killing mindless bots or Building massive Greek cities on the PC ;) It is a running joke with my roommate and other friends that am a 'geek' god these days ;)

Plus,there's poetry.Painting with words,thats what I'll refer to it as.And well,A blog post by a friend ( she has to know - she is the only one who bothers to comment here ;) ) got me feeling that I ought to go back and touch another of my likes in school - Art! I even won a prize over there,but that was more due to running errands for the teacher and selling his 'supplies' than for any artistic talent...but hey,Anyone can do art right? ;)

Hmm.And life goes on.I saw SPiderman 3 yesterday.Definitely not as bad as most people said! Although the girlfriend boyfirned breakup,the jealousy and the stereotypical sunset ending reminded me a lot of our own 'Wild Wild West' bollywood ;) - Okay humour though :)

The stunts were great! Especially the fight scenes :) Go watch it,it really isn't all bad!

Nerd...is gooood!

2007-05-08T11:34:00.000+05:30

Ah.The next time you see that Smirnoff ad about jumping out the window and embracing life,Go switch off the television.Because seriously,big city life,is very overrated.Unless you've got oodles of money to spend ( I don't,so am dropping my ire on this page here ;) ) there's hardly much one can do out here.There's far more economic sense in sticking to a good game on the PC.What one needs in life,is a passion.

You want to 'not' be bored eternally? Go find your passion.Whatever it may be ;)

Woohoo!

2007-05-08T11:25:00.000+05:30

...And life goes on.It is weird isn't it,how one flips to the movie pages before any other page on the newspaper to see the pretty pictures? You know what it shows about human beings?

No,not that they are inherently sexist.Not that they are prone to desire and temptation.Or even continued fantasies ( although,they aren't too bad,really...) The thing is,We enjoy beauty.True,we appreciate some forms of it more than others ( like,going out of our way to check out that girl walking across the street,but turning a cold shoulder to a million dollar painting.Unless you're a crook,of course.)

And then,there are the other forms of beauty widely appreciated.Food,for instance :).Who does not adore the sight of a chocolate cake in full bloom? ( typically,they don't last too long in isolation though - I realized from personal experience it never is a good idea to leave well made cakes unattended ) - But then,any food well made is an expression of joy.Ah,for a well made plate of pav bhaji right now :(

And what else? Architecture,for one.What puts it into one's head to design such structures of innate beauty.There is a symmetry about everything,simple or complex,bland or pretty.Life in itself,is an expression of art.A beautiful one,at that :) Sadly though,We've also got a virus put in our heads.The tendency to notice that which is above,and notice the ones below.Funny it is,that a person with a 1000 friends is lonely,and one with 10 is ecstatic and at peace with life :)

Oh well.Woohoo,and cheerz to life it is then ;)

More Dilbert! :)

2007-05-04T16:43:00.000+05:30

Kisses? Bad? Naah ;)

2007-05-02T15:40:00.000+05:30

Know what cynical is? The Media.The Politicians.The 'Gods' of India.Thats why they raise a hue and cry about kisses on public television ( Not even french kisses ;) ) But rush in truckloads to watch Mallika get naked on the big theatre screen next door.Or go ahead and watch prono all day.Boast to friends "Oye dude...got that new DPs clip? I got it the day it came out! ".Freaky really.Hell,I would think any girl in India would kill a few hundred people to get kissed by Richard Gere.After all,what was so bad about one of the sexiest men in the world appreciating a very pretty Indian girl?

Since,essentially,that is what Shilpa is.An epitome of the new Indian girl.Attitude,Poise and Class all rolled in one,yet keeping a hand behind the back i ntouch with Indian culture.What really exasperates me,is the downright disgusting way most politicians and people in wont of freepublicity will say.Makes me think whether they ever had primary education.I mean honestly,while you're out protesting a pck on the cheek,your son's out there raping some schoolgirl.Why raise a hue and cry about something one begs for in the movies anyway? Having torrid affairs and breaking trust on screen is okay.I bet even the censors jerked off to Mallika in Murder...And one little peck on the cheek got dissected into individual frames for the entire duration! :D

The media really is weird.Imagine how many more peopl would watch the news,if they ran the latest Indian porn movie! What with the sex education drive on lately.It ought to be on DD too ;)

Cheerz,Good to be back ;)

I'm Goofy! yay! :)

2007-05-02T15:30:00.000+05:30

Abhishek, your sense of humor is Goofy Humor You have your standards: They may be low, but at least you have them. Sure, subtle wit makes some people grin and say, "Now that's funny." But you know the Three Stooges makes people howl with laughter. It's the physical stuff, the poop jokes and funny voices, that get you going because you have a goofy sense of humor. You have no problem making a fool of yourself as long as your moves to "fake" a fall break the ice and make people feel comfortable.

Wit, sarcasm, and satire can get lost in the translation, but a whoopee cushion is universal. Yes, it may be lowbrow — heck, it may even be nobrow, but getting laughs is what matters to you. From ye old court jesters to the kids of South Park, you and your goofy sense of humor are in good company.

150!!

2007-04-19T00:42:00.000+05:30

Lol..no,not the latest flick about a 150 soldiers killing a gazillion persians..just a milestone for my little blog ;)

Hmm..Funny how all my efforts to rejuvenate life have ended up making me more miserable most of the time.I tried having some old fashioned fun today,for a change.I laughed.I played.I worked,for real! And guess what I managed.Made a few new friends,which was good.Ended up getting homework to do,which was bad.But you know what? Life's simpler when one won't care about the rest of the world.When one dresses the way one wants to :) when one talks to those one wants to talk to.when one does not care about someone having a pretty girlfriend.And to stop caring about anything except for what's good about one's friends.I really need to learn to feel well about others.

The thing is,the way I go about things,makes me feel like I don't deserve friends a lot of the time....

Cheerz to 150,anyway!

Sultans of Swing!

2007-04-16T21:20:00.000+05:30

...yeah yeah,I know.its the same thing I got on Orkut too ;).But hey,I've just found a song I've loved ever since I was 5 and my Dad used to listen tothe song,and so,a little celebration shouldn't be amiss eh? Even if,pretty soon am peobably going to find another song to celebrate.Music really is magnificent.It surprises me hoe much detachment and joy one can experience with but a few strings of wire and a hollo wooden tube.....

Music transports one to meadows and gardens,throws one into tempests and envelopes you in the warmth of love,it stirs and soothes,gladdens and saddens at the same time....I truly savour these emotions and moods that music brings me....everything from Himesh Reshammiya,to Bon Jovi has a message for me! I adore Nirvana and Kishore Kumar!!

Always,that is,up until I try singing the stuff myself.I thought I'd audition for Indian Idol once.Then I recorded myself on the PC once,just so I'd know how I sounded.It reinforced the opinion I'd wavered upon ever since I tried singing Summer of 69 in a chat room once.I now realise the only thing that prevented my friends from sending hired goons after me was friendship ;)

Anyway,went over to Jaipurfor the weekend.Had a blast! there never is enough time when one has friends to visit and schedules to keep at the same time :)....And work keeps getting scarier.Am having fun,but I have a very,very funny feeling...that this is the calm before a massive storm.....:D

Broadband,here i come!

2007-04-11T23:44:00.000+05:30

Lol.a few weeks in Noida,and I have what I never had before ( Not a wife,sadly ;)....)

I finally havea landline,and broadband internet!! So I can now post for real when i want to,without having to worry about the connection,and the mobile phone bill,and most of all,whether the page will ever load ;)

Anyway,life's not hot as a good cup of coffee ( the weather sure is,though ;) ) but life is looking up from my last post :) GOt a great team of individuals to work with ( along with the customary obnoxious and workaholic,but good humored,thankfully, boss :D ) and became the butt of jokes all day! ;)

Noida's a fun place after all,I;ve finally realised.No,not just thanks to the fact good movies here are 10 rupees cheaper than at Kolkata ;)...and not just for the 'view' the malls abound with :D But for the simple fact that I finally feel part of this city,like i was in Kolkata :D....

Its sad,he friends tend to drift apart at times.Despite one's best efforts,it does happen,and when it does,its is pretty depressing.Am in a quandary right now.Do I go ahead and become an obnoxious creep by calling constantly,or should I do what isso obviously the wrongthing to do,and keep away?

Life can get pretty confusing sometimes :(

Complicated Simplicity....

2007-04-06T00:22:00.000+05:30

Life can seem such a burden at times.So many things one thinks,that one wishes one could pack and put up in the attic,but things one really cannot seeem to forget....Things one would like to ignore,things one would like to cut from one's make-up,yet cannot.Why is it that life gets so complicated without any effort? and why is it that the complications complicate,when one tries to simplify life?

For a long while now,I have tried being someone that I was not before.Have tried to learn the ways of those who I have always clamoured to be.Tried to prove to myself,that I can do what they seem to do with ease.But you know what? I feel out of place.I feel left out.

The friendship I got,and the happy times I had in Kolkata were far preferable to the lost and depressing times I have here.Why do I need to have people comment on the way I look ? Did the same person who was the picture of joy in Kolkata turn into a morose individual in a matter of days? Life confuses me.No matter how much I try,I seem destined to be the sort of person who revels in the small town.Who prefers chappals and badly ironed shirts to brands and chic fashion.I tried,but I seem to have failed.It seems a lot like me when I read this to myself,and it does not mean I will not try to right my wrongs..I have always been cynical and excessively critical with myself,the sort of whimpering idiot who bleeds pity fom every friend he has.And eventually,ends up hating himself for the way he sounds.I simply had to write it down.So I don't wake up morose tomorrow.You know who keeps the world going round? :) It is lost,moronic souls like me who have nothing to do on saturday evenings ;)......

Movies,Masti Magic ;)

2007-04-01T01:45:00.000+05:30

Maybe it is just me ;) I mean,I guess I have a gift.I gift for feeling emotions and expressing joy and sorrow,anger and relief in extreme moods which surprise and (often ;) annoy people.....Maybe I just have a gift for living life larger!

Movies seem to bring out so much emotion in me,I become a hazard for folks hanging out with me and form a disaster zone with my physical antics around me.....But I do apologize,so you can expect a sorry after I break your finger with a whoop of joy :D

Anyway,was watching this movie Namastey London today ( with two folks I just met - Been out up until 2AM with two dudes I barely know - four different chaps - for two days....draw conclusions yourself,but not perverse ones ;) ) - Rather fun movie really.Showed how much it actually pays to have an identity of ones own.I mean,I know I've said this before and it may be rhetoric,But it occured to me...No matter how much I denied the fact,I do like punjabi.I do like Himesh Reshammiya.Then I also like Nirvana and Dire Straits.Does that make a cynic,or a confused soul,or a geek,or a loser...

Or does that make me me? Things put in prespective,The essence of the movie as I saw it was,underneath all the lip gloss and pretty dresses ( no,not porn,chump ;) ),underneath the deodourants and jeans,everyone is essentially a human being,but a sum of one's emotions.The meaning of life is simple.Find yourself,and you will find meaning.Then,everything else just seems like a joyride ;)

First thing on the agenda tomorrow - Am going to go talk to EVERY person on the floor :) - Hoping every person HCL employs,is a human being ;) - Adios!!

...Train Rides Part ...Ahh,I don't remember ;)

2007-03-29T00:40:00.000+05:30

Ahhh.I have finally figured out that the best way to have stuff to write about,is to let stuff happen to you.And give things time,too :D

Thats exactly what worked out for me too....Two train rides and I have a wealth of material to drone on about :D....

Hmm...Well,the thing began with a typical thing for me,and a frustrating event for most others...what does one do when one runs across 11 platforms so he an get to the platform just in time to catch a train,and realises tat the train is going to start two and a half hours early? Now I really know how all those people I used to keep waiting all those years used to feel ;)...

Anyway,it did help me in a weird sort of way.I made friends with this gentleman from SAIL in Hisar,who chated with me like I wasa a colleague thrughoutthe trip...this,from a person with 17 years of experience as an engineer,and a wife and kids.It was thoroughly refreshing to meet a person like him on the trip,and we had coffee and chatted away the two hours.To compensate somewhat,his ticket got upgraded.Typically though,I had no such luck ;)

Then,the journey itself.One of the hottest,sweatiest and most sickening train rides I've ever had...the fact I knew that gentleman did help to keep the effects a little controlled ;)....I used to run off to the AC to say hello every time things got too messy around :D

Thenwe eventually got to Kolkata a whole 5 hours late....with the packing being a nightmare of planning as is everything with me,we had a hell of a time and didn't sleep through the night.There's so much that went wrong while coming back,I should probably just use a list ;)
1.Paid coolies Rs.500 to carry my stuff to the train and have it packed ;)
2. Got mugged by a eunuch and lost Rs.50 :(
3. Overflowing toliet in the first hour of the trip :(

Although the little kids around mitigated the effect a little...Funny how children can find things as mundane and commonplace as newspapers and a handkerchief interesting,eh? :)...

All In all,am finally here for good.Cheerz Noida!

...To Infinity and Beyond!!

2007-03-21T22:41:00.000+05:30

Ahh.From the throes of laziness and short work hours spent bouncing profilkes on orkut,to what is purportedly going to be the toughest work of my life ( did he really say 15 hours? )...but i guess the scenery and airconditioning helps things...the food doest hurt either,a far cry from the limited menu ( khichdi with the occasional hair follicle and chapatis and aloo sabji ) I had over there,...

But you know what? I cannot but hate Noida right now.I had friends,schedules,a life back in Kolkata.But sadly,Life has to be rebuilt now....and I could not possibly have picked a worse place to find a life.....Noida,where every person is so busy with everyone else,there is no semblance of the essence of what a friendship is....but I guess that only gives me more cause to impress my boss with my hard 'ly' work ;)

Oh well.There is always orkut and blogger to keep me company ;)....And folks to read these thoughts at times too.....Despite the predominance of smileys ;)

For now,all i have to look at is the big picture,and cheer myself up!...To Infinity!

Step By step guide to losing Depression

2007-03-16T12:56:00.000+05:30

I've had a ton of friends come up to me and say "Dude,how come you're this carefree? " or "Man,am plain annoyed with life " or variations of the same.For those folks,here's a simply step-by-step to happiness ;)

1. Figure out why you'e depressed.If you have no idea,skip to step 5.

2. If the 'reason' is a person,Call up that particulatr person,right now.Have a cola handy,so you can partake of it whenever you're exasperated.But try to hang up while the other person has a smile on their face.Voila,problem solved ;)

3. If the 'reason' is an object, ( Note : Objects of Affection do not count ;) ) Go ahead and try to go buy it.If you can't buy it,don't go and get a loan,trust me,it get back and hurts even more.You could try stealing and running though;)

4. If the 'reason' is psychological,get drunk ;)

5. Okay,so You dunno whats wrong.Hmm.Well,in this case we need drastic measures.Go out to a coffee shopwith a friend.A female friend,if you're a guy.A pretty one if possible.Trust me,the envious glances from people around you should perk you up ;)

6. If you aren't a lonely,depsreate pervert like me,well,then just go watch a decent movie with any friend you can manage.Or maybe go to a mall.Or a restaurant.

7. If all those things managed to do was lighten your pocket,then get a can of Ice Cream/popcorn/potato chips,lie in bed all day and watch cartoons ( Tom and Jerry,Johnny Bravo and Dexter work well ;) ) - or,if you think cartoons are for kids ( they aren't really,but everyone has their opinions ;) ) - Go find a few funny movies.

Call me for recommendations. ;)

8. If none of the above work to rid you of depression,call your girlfriend if you have one.Because at this point,she's probably the cause for the depression ;)( For the ladies,its vice versa.Simply dump the guy ;) )

9. If nothing else works,take a vacation.Preferably with friends.

10.If you at vacation,and still depressed,get one of the friends to push you over a cliff :) No you,no depression.Simple eh?

For all those who are still here after step 10,congratulations,I hope this made your day a little brighter ;)

For all those reading from Heaven ( aah.Loser ;) ) - Hmm.They got Internet there too? And Do they have fast food?
For all those in Hell - Is it really as bad as they say? I mean,it can't be all bad if you have the Internet ;)

Mobile phones and Hard work...

2007-03-16T12:47:00.000+05:30

Ahhh..The mobile phone's gone berserk again :( It stopped sending messages,just when I was about to shoot off a "Yay,I just saw Jhankaar beats! Happier than ever ;) " message to everyone I know at 2 AM ;)( This,in turn,is a warning to all those who get to know me in the future :) )...So now,I again find myself shuffing my SIM between the two phones I now have,with the exact same features ;)

Ahh,I guess my life's like that.A joke of sorts,but hey,so long as the 'joke' is happy,its fine if people find it funny! Anyway,Talked to my future boss too.From the looks of it,am goingto be impossibly busy when I get to Noida...He's probably asked me if I know about everything under the computing sun,except for printers,scanners and mice ;) But the job sounds like fun!

I've also been wondering.Is it just me,or does it happen to everyone else that when one watches a good movie,it perks up the imagination,excites and makes one ponder upon the any faces of life ( depending on what sort of person you are,it might have you in hysterics on the floor and dancing in the aisles too ;) )...I mean,what is it in sound and light that isn't in text anyway?

Anyone who's read and seen the Lord of the Rings movies,knows what I mean ;)...

The World Cup Joke ;)

2007-03-16T12:29:00.000+05:30

Lol.

Thats the only thing that comes to mind when I talk about the world cup so far.A farce in mismatches and echoing stadiums,it has been ;)

I mean,look at the record so far -

India - Netherlands 182 runs? Sounds like they actually got set to the Netherlands
Australia - Scotland - 206 runs?
And the best so far ;)

Sri Lanka - Bermuda ( you should see the size of some of these fellows - man,the look like a truck,some of them ;) ) - 243 runs.Darn.

These aren't cricket matches in the true sense of the word...they were exhibitions....what good does this do for these teams anyway? :) I think this cricket thing ought to be a two-tier league of sorts,with teams getting elevated and demoted,much like the EPL ( not that I like the EPL,but the girls are cute ;) )...I mean,what sense does it make for Zimbabwe to be a part of the top flight,when they tie with Ireland (barely)?

Anyway,ardent cricket lover that I am,I shall still keep watching....England NZ today,that ought to be fun..although,I dunno about South Africa - Netherlands ;)

Secret to loving your job ;)

2007-03-15T15:11:00.000+05:30

Am I really that old?

2007-03-12T16:48:00.000+05:30

Is there a definite benchmark for how mature a human being is? I mean,A lot of the time,I go around reading stuff that people write.Things they do.Thoughts they have....And honestly,I have seen no real relation between a person's physical age,and their mental ability...Is there a benchmark at all?

Or,is intellect a function of experience?

Intellekt!

2007-03-12T16:41:00.000+05:30

So much to...

2007-03-12T16:21:00.000+05:30

Ahh.Why is it that there's so much to life that remins untold? Why do I have the feeling at times that education is pointless?why is it so difficult to figure out other human beings,despite there being such a vast amount of study being done on the subject?

No matter how much one tries to simplify life,complications keep coming up.Things that remain untold.Emotions never understood.Conversations left incomplete.Letters never posted.Why is it so easy to complicate life,yet so difficult to simplify it?

Trying to find a straight road through life,I've found there really is no straight road....Life will keep throwing up cards one cannot trump againt,things one as to face without the knowledge of light at the end of the tunnel....

Sadly,humour and cable TV cannot carry one through life,atleast not when one's concerned about 'enriching' one's experience of life.To enrich,one has to tolerate hurt.To enjoy,one has to fall and get up,and then reach for the sky!

After all,what is a human being,but moods and emotions?

Holi Hai!

2007-03-11T01:25:00.000+05:30

Holi For me ;)

...the clock counts down..

2007-03-09T16:04:00.000+05:30

and the mistakes keep mounting...;)

Anyway,what with my last few days in Kolkata coming up,I've suddenly found things I ought to have done a long time ago,but never really got around to doing :)....Meeting friends,getting reimbursements,clearing accounts...

And well,planning a holiday with the guys.Hasn't worked out yet,but did manage yet another movie yesterday.And since my life is more boring than that of a dog onthe street ( atleast he scavenges for food ),I'll make do with a review ;)

WEll,Honeymoon Travels. Pvt. Ltd.I'd had mixed reviews of the movie,but felt it sounded funny,and was pretty sure a movie about a 60 yr old dude and an 18 yr old girl would thoroughly depress me.So there we were,at 8:30,watching the movie.And a weird movie it was too...

Sample this : 2 guys end up accepting gaydom (if thats what it is called ;) ) - No,actually,ne of them is kinda bi-sexual - because he sticks to his wife but fantasizes about another dude,who is also on the same tour,gay,and marries so avoid social issues.Funnily,the wife sticks.Maybe she was hoping for a threesome someday :)

Add to this,the fact one of the wives runs off with her lover on (wonder of wonders) a bike of all things ;) Sadly,someone compaer me to the forlorn husband of this very same leading lady :( ( Diya Mirza )...

And as if this wasn't good enough,we have,of all things,a SUPERHERO couple!! lol.I mean,okay,they wore specs and lived and loved through school and college...but it took them 16 years to figure out whos who? ;) and they even fly off into the sunset! ha!! :D

But that one song where KK kinda goes wild after a brief drug trip was pretty cool.The song's cool,the humour is okay,the movie overall is good timepass.Good for boys who want to impress girls with catchy humourous comments ;)

:) More of the same...;)

2007-03-08T15:02:00.000+05:30

Mediocrity...is fun!! ;)

2007-03-08T12:29:00.000+05:30

Want to know what the ultimate recipe for joy is? Forget ambition.Forget being the best you can be.Forget beating everyone else,sly underhanded tactics that prick the conscience,forget about not knowing how old your kids are ;)...

The trick to happiness is accepting,and reveling in mediocrity.Living for the smaller joys in life.Having pani puri with friends instead of whisky with the boss.Driving around in the small town rather than going to a pub with empty pockets ;)...

You know,people tell me at times..I lack ambition.But why is the pursuit of happiness not ambition in itself? :D I am perfectly happy with my mumdane existence,going out with the guys to watch a movie now and then,going to cuttack for holi and driving around on a broken down scooter....After all,the joys of life exist for everyone,right?

If there's one thing I've learnt from life so far,it is that one does not need to achieve to be happy.All one needs to be happy,is the ambition for happiness,and a mind prepared to accept it when it gets to you ;)

..to friends...

2007-03-06T14:36:00.000+05:30

You know,one thing about the big city ( and myself,for that matter) I hate...

I used to feel having a lot of friends is a boon.But eventually,you end up never doing enough justice to any of your friends.In Kolkata,I have had real friends for a change.Friends who're always around,even if all you want to do is go get groceries from the supoermarket [;)]

Am pretty sure am going to miss the sort of friend for whom you're the best friend,and vice versa.I know,selfish,but.....

Am sad,despite possibly going back to friends.....becasue of those friends I now leave behind..
(Darn,am making this sound like an obituary.Ram,Sounak,Paul,Vedika,Toral,Sejal and all my other great friends here....I promise to keep in touch!! )

To friends...new and old!!

A Few Laughs to go with that sob story ;)

2007-03-06T14:08:00.000+05:30

Dil chahta hai...

2007-03-06T13:48:00.000+05:30

This post was overdue, life's changed again...anyway,it is nice to be nostalgic once in a while...

Ah.ad the time of my life in Cuttack.The thing about big cities is,behing all the glamour,there's extreme loneliness...no matter how hard you look,it is hard to find real friendship...the sort Veeru and Jay had in Sholay...

Well,Cuttack was refreshingly different....getting coloured in the face by strangers on the street,folks dumping buckets on colour onto one while we were driving around the small town....dahi wadas in the evening,driving by the river bank...darn,whoever said life in a small town in bad?

What one needs is to keep moving from the small to the big and back again...because eventually,most places end up being great places to visit but not to live in...

And just like that,had Dil Chahta Hai moments ( the full moon being reflected inthe waters of the river....surreal that....empty streets...),found new friends...and life takes a new twist.

Have been transferred to Noida.So,Life begins anew....and well,I'll probably have to work harder.Bummer :(

Happy Holi Evvvvelyone! :)

2007-03-02T17:14:00.000+05:30

Lol...for once,I actually have something to say...MY blood sucking,forever bitching boss wouldn't give me a day's leaveso I've had to drop my plans for a home sojourn and have decided to finally check out Bhubaneshwar courtesy my office bud Ram. [:D]

So,Over and out for now..am headed to Bhubaneshwar for the Holi weekend!!

Been having a nice couple of days...went out for pizza with a friend after office,got yet another scolding for being late,yet again ;) ( but hey,am improving....only 20 minutes this time,it was 40 minutes last time ;) )

And still,am way way behind on my reading.Need to find better things to do with life than lying around in bed watching reruns on Cable TV ( Star Waaaaaarrss!! :) )...although,now that i think of it,it isn't half bad,really ;)

Maybe join a gym.Maybe begin jogging.Maybe buy myself a new suit.Maybe do an MBA.But for now,the only 'Yes' in life.is having fun ;)

Happy Holi,Evelllyone!! :D

Complications Confusions....

2007-02-28T22:27:00.000+05:30

Why do things get so confusing at times? ( and why am I so bad at making up things to say? ;))

What made the day all that bad,was the fact I was running all over this ( very unclean,I must add ) city all day long....first Brabourne Road,which is about as real as 'the cesspools of calcutta'...or,'the black hole of calcutta' ( got that from Wodehouse ;) ) can get.There are more people there,than items on sale ;)

Then off,to a very obnixious manager,who seemed hell bent on making a simple network diagnostic turn into an FBI investigation.After all of these annoyances,was stuck in the office dealing with problems up until 6 ( which,for me,is like working through midnight ;) )

Well,on to the confusions then.You never really do know,what a single word can do ( or destroy ).I mean,why is it that simple statements like " yes,I did do that" have so many parallel meanings?

I mean,imagine these situations:

Guy : Hey,want a coffee?
(hoping for a friendship...ah alright.Hoping to pick up a girl)
Girl : Tere saath? you sure you know how to spell that?
(Looking for an excuse to pick on ;) )

Ah.Not the right kind of example...Hmm....

Guy: Hmm.I was glad you broke up with that guy.
(Honesty is the best policy )
Girl: What? I can't believe you call yourself a friend.
(Umm....?? )

Prime Minister : We can offer you aid and support
(Decent Diplomat ( not sure that exists...))
Musharraf : sorry,we'd rather have our folks die on our flight rather than live in your hospitals.
(???)

Guy: Anything you get will be good.
(essentially,doesn't care so long as the person makes it ;))
Girl: What! Why would you say that if you cared for what I think?
(???)

Hmm.When I look back at those,I realise I've been getting a kind of one track mind lately ;) Maybe I need to work on that too,and get a few more Bill Gates and ilbert comics to read.Up until then,here's a little something for all you folks who do tolerate me.

Bad Bad day....:)

2007-02-28T22:04:00.000+05:30

Hmm...Guess this happens to every cartoon strip loving Jim Carrey clone on the planet sometime or the other.Have had two of the kind of days which make the erest of life seem rosy....

The kind of days that while they're still here,make life seem not worth living...and when they'vve gone by,remind you how rosy life really is ;)

Guess its just the way one looks at it.Had the boss scream his heart out at me the whole of the last two days,and going to bed reminding myself I had tons of work to do first thing in the morning....But well,a good movie remedies almost anything ( expect for something a friend wrote in her post.The only healer for that kind of thing,is a lot of time and space :) )

Anyway,the day's gone and past...and am back to my blog ( finally ;) ).Still can't figure out why I ever began working though.....but am getting used to it.

Over and out for today.Cheerz folks ;)

Office Ki Gharelu Sacchiyan ;)

2007-02-26T14:12:00.000+05:30

Shallow Hal...

2007-02-26T03:18:00.000+05:30

Is anything but a shallow movie.Tells one a lot about life,doesn't it?

Hmm.I mean,think about it.You find a nice,pretty ( but invariably,not too intelligent - After all,she fell for you ;) ) girl to maryy someday.But hey,2-3 years down the line,she's going to be a non-too-attractive mother of two.Then what keeps life going? :) One needs a friend through life,not a beautiful,but mute work of art ;)

But then again,why is it so difficult for myself to believe this? Maybe i need to find a hypnotist for myself too ;)

Dil Chahta hai....

2007-02-26T00:39:00.000+05:30

Ahhh,for a flight to Goa right now ;) Watching Dil Chahta hai and listening to music on a real desktop system brought back great memories......of college,of life with friends,of things I have never really done,but have always wanted to...

Dil Chahta hai is probably my favourite hindi movie of all time.And that contention got confirmed yesterday :D went off to this quaint suburb of Kolkata called Konnagar.And for once,had great fun on a weekend for a change:D ( although,the rat size mosquitoes did make life pretty difficult ;) But when one stays alone in a room uncleaned for 8 months,one learns to deal with these things...;))

Anyway,another weekend goes by in Kolkata without incident.And I am still a zero at bengali,but then,am not starving to death either ;) So long as I can manage a vegetarian meal without incident,am merry! :D

About the game...

2007-02-24T16:13:00.000+05:30

Hmm.Well this thing I was doing is called 404 not found.Pretty decent effort by the chaps at SIBM,consideringthey're in their last year :)...

Similar to Klueless,this should keep puzzle addicts busy for a while :)

http://www.sibm.net/404notfound/index.php

Also,check out
http://klueless2.blogspot.com if you're wondering what Klueless is all about :)

Cheerz!!

Yay!! Another fine performance ;)...

2007-02-24T14:59:00.000+05:30

Ahh.A big apology to all the readers of my frustrating,annoying and yet interesting adventures and thoughts :) Been doing a puzzle lately,all over again.Didn't win,sadly.But did make it to third place ;)

Anyway,Life's been okay.This thing gave me something to do over the past few days,and also,stuff to think about.I delved into encyclopedias and dictionaries all over again,and rediscoved my 'thirst for knowledge' as it were ;)

Now that that's done,its back to good old work.Been tough lately,what with things going wrong all through the day.Went and saw Ekalavya to,and simply can;t seem to figure out why people like it so much.I mean,yeahI was annoyed by the jeering crowd when the lights went off in one scene,and the guy behind me 'whispering' to his girlfriend ( double blow there...me,who went to watch a movie with a dude on valentines :( )....

It may just be that I had too much camel poop and cracked forts in Rajasthan,but the ambience of the film setting didn't impress me too much.If that was the only thing that is good about it,well,maybe south indians might like it :) Vidya Balan was nice,though ;)

But it was a disappointment,atlest for me.I felt there was way too much overacting.Ah well.Mabe i needed to pay more for a better theatre.Or am simply a Comedy sort of guy...;)

Oh well.Just another misadventure added to life :) Another small part of my retirement fund down the drain ;)

Have also been thinking ( Very dngerous thing to do people.....stay away!! :) ) How easy it is to misread people.I mean,you assume things about someone,and eventually,somerthing you say or do based on those assumptions makes a lot of things go wrong.I once tried an experiment where I dcided that human intuition is well nigh always right.And deicded that I would do exactly what my intuition told me to when i was stuck at anyplace.Lol,it was a good thing i was only 10 and at my grand parents.Becuase if iI had had this instinct elsewhere,I might have had a tough time explaining myself,and received a sound thrashing too ;)

Ah well.Good times sadly,never come and go.All they do is go :(

Ah.For a Jeeves in life..:(

2007-02-21T13:34:00.000+05:30

Hmm...Life does suck a lot at times.I've always wanted to be as nonchalant as Wooster from Wodehouse,and he's been my ideal ever since I began reading wodehouse at a friend's place ( Dilbert and Garfield are close seconds ;) )

But then,I see I have two major stumbling blocks in this regard

1. I don't have a resonably large income to splurge ;)
2.I don't have a Drones Club...

But most of all,I don't have a Jeeves to pull me out of trouble,to be a companion through life.One always needs a Jeeves to pull one through life...i guess that is what the institution of marriage is all about.I wonder...what would wooster have been without Jeeves? ( other than sad,depressed and married to Madeline - unless killed by Spode ;) )

What I wouldn't do for that sort of carefree,fun life.But oh well,life is full of weary annoyances and weird coincidences,not to mention responsibilities ( which i usually ignore ;) )

The thing that bugs me about life is...it is so darn easy to go wrong! If we are the logical gods of our planet,how is it that we are the only species killing each other?

Ah well....Life's like that,i guess :)

Been stuck on another puzzle lately.Besides that,a spat with a good friend ( who i hope gets over it ) ....and an impending transfer ;) Also,a bad movie :).....

Soo...What else is new??

2007-02-19T00:34:00.000+05:30

I've always wondered...what is it that people do to keep conversations going? Especially since I seem to have a horrendously tough time doing it myself....How is one supposed to keep having things ahppening in one's life,and avoid ending up as a natural disaster,while still being interesting?

Maybe a life away from everything is a good life after all...I used to feel life in a metro is the hippest ever,But I find it is far too uninteresting for my sort of person ;)

Someone,send me on a vacation! :)

Another fine Sunday ;)

2007-02-19T00:17:00.000+05:30

Ahh..another thoroughly dis(urbingly)astrous Sunday.Why do I always listen to my inner voice,and go ahead and do things I invariably seem to regret later? After two decades of knowing to never trust reviews,I went ahead and saw Ekalavya...and well,it was one of the weirdest movies i've ever seen.

Actually,I do have a friend who liked it.He tells me it wasa drama...frankly though,thanks to the fellow going on behind my back explaining " This is a clan sworn to..." every single nuance to his girlfriend,and the fewllow in front playing with his SMS...and the jeering crowds below,all i ended up doing was being confused for (thankfully,the producers et all put in some thought here ;) ) just over two hours.I was so confused,I ended up asking "Is it over?" at the interval ;)

I mean,it generally doesn't take much to confuse me.But oh well,Guess these things must happen to remind me that there are worse (?) things than boiled bhendi and raw cauliflowers ;)

The day ends,with me watching a Vampire flick while pottering about next to a graveyard.Weird,eh? :)

Lol.Ladies,look before you leap ;)

2007-02-17T00:42:00.000+05:30

Day night, I thought he was acting
weird. We had made plans to meet at a
cafe to have some coffee. I was shopping with my friends
all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that
I was a bitlate,but he made no comment.
Conversation wasn't flowing so I suggested that
we go somewhere quiet so we could talk, he agreed but
he kept quiet and absent.I asked him what was wrong -
he said,"Nothing."I asked him if it was my fault
that he was upset. He said it had nothing to do with me
and not to worry.On the way home I told him that I loved
him, he simpl smiled and kept driving.I can't explain his
behavior; I don't know why he didn't say,"I love u,too."
When we got home I felt as if I had lost
him, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore.
He just sat there and watched TV.;
he seemed distant and absent.Finally I decided to go to
bed. About 10 minutes later he came to bed. I decided
that I could not take it anymore, so I decided to
confront him with the situation but he had fallen asleep.I
started crying and cried until I too fell asleep.
I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts
are with someone else. My life is a disaster.

---------
HIS DIARY
---------

Today India lost the cricket match against bangladesh .

DAMN IT

More laughs!! :)

2007-02-16T14:18:00.000+05:30

Life seemed so so simple at 6...:(

Selfish Selflessness...

2007-02-16T13:48:00.000+05:30

You know,I've been wondering lately.Watching all these heroic movies on television once made methink...what is it hat makes people do the right thing? I mean,people do the wrong thing all the time in life and still end up being happy.Why do we celebrate heroes who put sacrifice and others before self?

Some may feel my analogy may be flawed,But I internd to prove that every human being on this planet is intrinsically,selfish.The thing is,one does what one does because that is wat one feels is the right thing to do at the time ( well,in most cases.Am not referring to cases like my job ;) )....heroes are heroes,because if they don't do what they think they ought to,they cannot rest soundly when the time comes,knowing they failed someone....somewhere...one does what one does,be it for self,society or civilization so that one,when he leaves this world,leaves with a smile and a conviction that one has done what one must do.For some,this comes from a strong family.For others,from a successful career.A great discovery,A lifetime of financial success,Spirituality,Athletic excellence...eventually,everything comes down to the one real question....Happiness of self..

Worth pondering on,isn't it? So,make sure you find your own Waterloo :)....

Cine-Reviews..

2007-02-16T02:08:00.000+05:30

Hmm.Here goes,my first real attempt at reviewing a movie I liked for a change ( I mean,yes,the fact I've seen Umrao Jaan may have made the rest of film making past,present and future seem rather acceptable,but then again.This one was okay :) )

Anyway,went to go see what all the fuss was about at our local mall,and ended up watching 'Music and Lyrics' with a friend from office [:)]....I mean,admittedly,the two things that dragged us to the movie were

1. The picture of Drew Barrymore on the posters :D
2. The prospect of ogling pretty girls in the theatre :D

Well,the second got mercilessly crushed when we got seated next to a 40 something couple :( but well,the first was nice.I mean,it wasn't the hot,steamy sort of thing we get in Bollywood these days,but the generic,good natured ( and by that I mean,NOT american pie ;) ) romantic comedy which makes for good viewing and an instant mood lift at any time of the day.

Essentially,that is all people who hate people who tell you film stories before you go watch them would want to go....But for the others,The movie is essentially about an oldish pop star ( lol,I believe the band was called Pop too ;) ) who formed the lesser known half of a popular band,decided to resurrect his struggling career by writing a song for an up-and-coming shakira-esque lady. (ironically,one of the dialogues goes " Shakira's breathing down my back!!" ;) )....and with Hugh's typical nonchalant humour and Drew's charm,this movie is good natured fun for everyone.Eventually,they end up writing the song and convincing the shakira lady ( I won't tell you her name....atleast you'll go watch for that ;) ) that some songs sell for more than clothes made from a single strand of thread :D

Excuse the large number of emotes on this post,people who know mw well enough know to expect those....And hope you like the movie as much as you did!!
============================================================================

And oh.Also saw Black Friday today - kinda a documentary on the Bombay 1992 riots ( no Koirala and catchy Humma tunes,though :( - this was real life drama,bombs,bodies and blood et al ) - Go watch it if in the mood for a little reality.

Signing off,(with a cheerz ;) )...

Office Intelligence ;)

2007-02-15T15:47:00.001+05:30

The solutions to all of everyone's problems :

Office: Dilbert ;)
Kids : Calvin
And last but not the least,love: Garfield ;)

Rejoice,lost souls.Here's salvation :)

For a hope...

2007-02-15T15:23:00.000+05:30

Aaah..finally,something good happens.Funny how a single moment can change ones mood,stop a disaster ( or,cause one ;) ) ,ruin a person,make one rich and famous,end someone's life....I mean,if every moment has such great significance,then why is it that I feel achievement is so rare?

After a whole day of depression and annoying close friends,and getting on people's nerves,came the 14th of February...A day which,with my extremely dismal record,I dreaded.Not the best day to dawn after a whole day of depression.I mean,there were so many things that could go wrong!!:

1. India Sri Lanka match.always a coin flip ;)
2. Valentines's Day.For people like me,probably one of the most depressing days of the year ;)
3. Unsure career prospects
4. Being away from friends too long....and finally,the fear of ending up 35,bald and with a bad job...

Anyway,there was a lot to worry a crowd,leave alone one (idiotic,albeit nerdy ) fellow.But then,thats the way with things.they have a weird way of working out all the time...I mean,it can't be all bad when you've ended up merrily discussing office gossip with a friend at 12 in the night :)....And had a nice cup of hot chocolate with a friend who you've just got to know pretty well....and hopefully,found a new good friend.

And on the plus side again,I got a good post offer at Noida...nothing's for certain yet,but it certainly did help the day become a very good one for me.And the icing on the cake was,India won,and Pakistan lost ;) Lol,for any cricket worshipping Indian chap without a girlfriend,could there be any greater joy? ;)

Then I realise....achievement happens in those few moments when one makes,and lets things happen...every moment has its potential,but only a few have real significance...:)

The Meaning of Life....in my own terms :)

2007-02-11T19:46:00.000+05:30

Ahh...there is so much about life that's unclear...And weird how the greatest of revelations hit you at the weirdest of times ( like,this one,albeit not earth shattering,hit me in the shower ;) )

Why,despite knowing all the answers,we keep doing the wrong thing all the time? Why do people shoot for the stars and fall to the ground when they fail? One needs to stop looking at other's lives...One needs to start looking for the only life that concarns one,own's own life :)....Why is it so difficult to go ahead and stop looking at oneself through other's eyes?

Everyone has their friends,problems,relationships,social life....Its about time one stopped trying to find other's lives,and found ones own....Why,then,is it so difficult for me to do this,despite knowing what to do? :(

Everyone grows old,everyone becomes fat ( well,eventually ;) )...and,everyone eventually dies.One does not have to make sure one leaves a mark after one leaves...but needs to ensure that when one leaves,one has enough to remember from life....Whats life without a little snakes and ladders anyway? :)

The meaning of life,is not to leave a legacy behind ( not bad if you manage it,though ;) )...but to make sure life has meaning,when you're still here...Live life,the way you know you enjoy it...never let anyone else live it for you!!....

Another (un) eventful sunday...:)

2007-02-11T19:22:00.000+05:30

Ahh...another weekend ends :(.....Why do weekends end anyway?...isn't the concept of there being an end to an 'end' a paradox in itself??

Ah.Anyway,India loses...again...and again,when victory seemed certain ;)...Am pretty certain we are used to it by now,but I must also say,Australia losing thrice to England and eventually,losing a home series again can be nothing but happy news...after all,the greatest joy for an Indian,short of India winning and beating Pakistan,is Australia losing :D

Hmm..what else? Life can be so many things at the same time....a single picture,a single thought can influence life so much....Truly,every moment has the potential to influence,and change life!! Anyway,got my 4th ( yeah ;) ) mobile phone...here's a short description of the fiasco with my mobiles :D....

one's got an antenna broken,and is about the size of a miniature brick...one's really small,but pretty useless since it never manages to keep calls on for too long without dropping them....and the battery never runs beyond a day,the network seemsto have a mind of its own,and plus,the phone's monochrome too ;)

oh,the two that remain,ones a 6600,and the second..well,thats my new one....a phone i bought a week ago,and which i must have switched with my 6600 about 25 times so far :)....whenever I find one thing one can do that the other can't ( or,i haven't figured out how yet...then,i waste a few hours of life trying to figure out how :D )
I switch phones again ;).....

Hmm..what else did I do? :) what would i do on a leisurely sunday? jump off a cliff? slept in,ordered pizza,get depressed watching heroines on TV,switched to cricket,got more depressed still watching India lose...and now,am trying to figure out how Amitabh Bachchan was such a hit with the ladies .....have almost given up,though...

And,justa few minutes ago,found out I haven't made it to the FMS shortlist :)....ah,lost cause anyway :| Oh well,life goes on,I guess :)

Oh so low...

2007-02-09T14:04:00.000+05:30

Ahh....has any of you ever had a feeling of extreme emptiness,despite being surrounded by tons of people? Where you seem to feel like the the most unfortunate fellow on the planet? The way people work,living by how others live..can do weird things to the mind..

Why is it that people today are depressed,lonely,jealous and dissiatisfied with life in general? what will it take to detach oneself from the world anyway? No matter who you are,there are so many things one cannot have on this planet...a rich middle aged man has probably had very little of a family life to talk about....A school teacher however,is one of the richest people when it comes to quality of life....it really is simple to forget all the cares of the world surrounded by a bunch of shrieking children i guess ( dealing withthe children however,is outside the scope of this post ;) )....

I wish I had the strength of will and fortitude to be able to detach myself,to stop being jealous,to stop being all that I would ratehr not have as part of the human spirit..but sadly,despite my best efforts,the best i could manage is to put my feeble protests here in writing... :)

On a happier note,the birthday went off well.Notwithstanding the fact I lose another year of life,still single :D

Fun @ the company picnic!! :)

2007-02-09T14:02:00.000+05:30

Ahh.me and a friend at a picnic.For mature audiences only ;)

More strips for the bored,irritated and mentally unstable ;)

2007-02-09T13:53:00.000+05:30

Lol,hope those three encompass everyone on the planet ;)

Hmm...Here goes...

First,the answer to all of life's problems :)....

Then,more proof that TV,is,in essence,the answer to everyone's social problems ;) - After all,this is one of the greatest literary works of our age :)...

Hehe....no comment,this is just me being me ;)

And finally,this is what happens when you think way too much ;)

Yay!!

2007-02-08T12:03:00.000+05:30

Yes!!...the day when i grow a year older,lose another year of my youth and vitality,move just that little bit closer to middle age...is here...

And why am I so happy? ;) because of all the friends and relatives who took the time out to wish me and make me soo taken over by phone calls,I nearly lost my job ;)...I've made a few new friends too!! had a great morning today,slept well,smelt the roses ( erm,plastic ones,but i did smell them all the same ;) ) and yet,am at the office like a diligent employee( hey,1 Mbps broadband,i'll do a lot for that ;) )

Ahh.Birthdays sure can lift the spirit...even if you're a depressed wreck the next day ;)

Hmm.Anyway,On to more commonplace chitchat.why is it that people seem to want morethan they get,then get depressed and do stupid things like commit suicide when they don't get them? :) We look for pretty,beautiful girlfriends,but still,it hurts when you walk around alone and see a middle aged,fat couple in the park exchanging little nothings and walking the children :)....Is compromise such a bad thing,after all? :)....

Funny isn't it,how much joy friendship can bring? I was never happier than in the morning today,when i had 4 phones calls,on two different mobile phones,all at the same time,from friends calling to wish me happy birthday :)....I may have overdone it,but today I have realised that friendship,can never be amistake :)..Thank you,everyone!! :D

Just had to post these :D

2007-02-07T15:44:00.000+05:30

A few thoughts....

2007-02-06T16:48:00.000+05:30

Alright,alright already.Thats two for the day,but I have a few assorted thoughts I'd like to record ( and no,none of these is the loo-thought.I'll keep that for later :) )

I have always regretted the fact that I have had very few real friends...Travel can be agood thing,but one necessarily has to settle in life,if one is to truly enjoy life...isn't it? :) I've constantly been moving throughout my life,which means I now have very few friends who are truly dear to me....I have a lot of acquaintances,but very few friends...a lot of rupee coins,but no real notes...:(

Rather depressing,this revelation has been.Can one really make friends who stick with you throughout life in a month? What s truly essential in a friendship anyway? :) And since I still don't know,I keep at it continually.Try making friends with everyone I meet,and keep conversations going,in the fervent hope the other persons remembers me sometimes :)....some call it attention addiction,I call it an insurance policy ;)

Why is it that the world categorizes people? I mean,when one barely has an idea of what one truly is,how can one actually decide about others anyway? The human brain works only in relatives,never in absolutes....we're always ugli'er',bright'er'.....but how is it that we really know the quality of life another person leads..is it an actual concept at all? What one needs,is people to share life with,and a small part role in the great play that is life ;)....

Behind all the glitz,money,glamour,make up.....everyone is still human,right? :)