enjoying myself

Moving on from MakeMyTrip.com to my own venture

2011-07-09T23:18:00.001+05:30

It has been fun working with MMT for last 4 years. It is the time now to allow my entreprenurial juices to flow and dreams to take concrete shape. I have co-founded www.GetMeCab.com along with a couple of my friends.

GetMeCab.com offers cab rental booking services online. We offer car services for outstation as well as local usage. As a customer you can book from a wide variety of cars (from an Indica to Mercedes Benz) online.

Do drop by and have a look. Would be glad to hear any feedback from your side!

Differentiating between a win and a loss

2007-08-15T03:51:00.000+05:30

First of all, lets complete the formalities. It has been really a loooong wait, a wait of about 21 years since the performance of Kapil's devils upstaged English team, that the Indian team won a test series in England. The series have been a real turn-around for the Indian cricket team. For probably the first time in last 20 years, India won without depending upon the performance of a single individual. None of the veterans of the Indian batting echelons scored a big score, yet we scored heavily as everyone came up with glittering performances. Everyone stood up and got counted when it was necessary.

Karthik, who was expected to be a sitting duck kind of an opener played with a lot of grit and determination to play wonderful innings in all the test matches. He needs to cultivate a habit of converting his fifties into bigger scores, before he can be counted amongst the big names. Sachin played with a great poise and determination to build platforms for towering scores in last two test matches. Boy, I miss his flamboyance and his knack of dominating the bowlers around. Probably grown seeing him murdering the bowling attacks makes it difficult for me to digest the accumulator role which he is content to play currently. Dada was the best Indian batsmen showing a great positive outlook as well as steely resolve to score runs. Dhoni played contrasting innings in Lords and Oval, with both of them played keeping the match situation in mind. n i dare not miss the century of tireless Kumble who milked the tired bowlers to get his first test century. Zaheer Khan became the brand ambassador for Jelly Beans. I am pretty sure tht the sale of Jelly Beans would have sky rocketed after the 'free ki' publicity which they got in the first test match . I just hope tht it doesnt become a precent for every mom to be give her kids Jelly Beans instead of Horlicks and Bournvita for helping them to do better in acads. Similarly the bosses might start contemplating to give their employees JB to improving their productivity :)

But as they say, Opinions are like asses and everyone has got one. I too like millions of other cricket fans have been shocked and perplexed by Dravid's decisions in the last test match. First of all he did not declare a follow on even with a lead of 320 runs. Probably he felt tht India cud lose even with such a huge lead and with opposition on the mat. In the whole history of 130+ years of test cricket it has happened just thrice tht a team with 300+ runs lead have lost. Its hard to understand tht how Indian bowlers with just one day in the field and previous night of sound sleep were deemed 'tired'. Somehow even a kid cud hv also figured tht out with less than 170 overs left and English team already on its knees, it was the time to go for a kill. But somehow Dravid took a defensive, retrograde and confidence-lacking step of not declaring a follow on on a pitch which was offering assistance to the bowlers and tht too in an overcast, bowler friendly atmosphere. The worst case scenario wud hv been tht England wud hv batted 120-140 overs and scored about 450 runs in the same. This scenario looked complete bleak given the English performance in the series and even in this case we wud hv been required to score about 100 odd runs in 20-30 overs....easily gettable.

But even this decision was sumehow digested. Everybody hoped tht India is going to score quick runs and give England a target of about 500+ runs with about 140+ overs to bowlers. But we failed to achieve any of these goals. n probably the person responsible for the same was the WALL himself. It was really sad to see Dravid playing with a single digit strike rate and wasting a number of crucial overs. 12 runs in 96 balls...man tht was totally unpardonable n unexplicable...If tht was the team strategy, then i guess he might be contemplating of dropping Ganguly in the future as he scored runs at a brisk rate. Indian already have a pathetic record in dismissing the opposition team in the final innings and the captain himself blocked any chances of doing so. This 'go-slow' strategy left us with too few overs to dismiss the English finally .

was it tht tough to digest 2 victory in the series. Why were we scared to even lap up the win which was there to be taken. why do we need to hv such kind of 'loser' attitude in the team when we had performed well in the whole series. Is this the way we need to deal with the opposition when they are totally down and out tht we dont even try for victory. I remember Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia dropped once for not playing for victory in a one day match against victory in a difficult situation. n in this match which was their fr grab we lost the plot due to the lack of attitude of the captain. Dravid needs to take responsibility of this decision. He is the captain and he cant hide behind the excuse of 'team-decision'. Had this been the Aussie team, i guess the action against the captain wud hv been taken ruthlessly. We cannot develop the habbit of winning if we keep on living with such an attitude. I seriously dont know whether it shud be deemed as a victory or a loss.

Song which is rocking everyone and everywhere these days

2007-08-10T04:21:00.001+05:30

This is the famous Pakistani singer Annie performing Mahiya. Please wait fr a while while the video gets loaded. n i wud certainly promise tht the video is really worth the wait..lyrics are below

Lyrics:
I wish you could see, the way i see you
You shine just like a star mahiya
Cos your my only pyaar mahiya

Why don't you tell me mahi
How do you wish to see the loyalty in me

Mahiya you** set my soul on fire
I felt just like a rose mahiya
When I was in your arms mahiya

I can't imagine life without you AIB
I'm your lady, i'll go wherever you take me

Mahiya you** set my soul on fire
I felt just like a rose mahiya
When I was in your arms mahiya

I don't care where we go or what we do
I'll take your pain Cos I love you

I guess most of u already know how to download videos from youtube. But for those of u (like me) who are simply bowled away by the charm, innocence and beauty of the lady singer and dont know how to download this video, use video downloader plugin from the mozilla site. In layman terms, install firefox ( another browser similar but better than Internet Explorer). u can install it from the button on right hand side of this blog as shown in the adjacent figure
or go to http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/ and download it from the website

Then download the video downloader plugin in firefox from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2390

Once the necessary setup has been done, then open the song in firefox on youtube (http://youtube.com/watch?v=A_HTP3i594o) and click the icon on the status barand just save the file on ur local drive. Using this mechanism, u can download any video from youtube on ur local drive. In fact after this plug in, I have become more and more addicted to youtube. It has become so easy to download videos from youtube now

Chalo guys...enjoy the song and happy youtubing :-)

Indian Railways Zindabaad !!!!

2007-07-24T00:42:00.000+05:30

Well all of u must have heard the turn around story of Indian Railways. In fact, Lalooji got IIMA certification for the same when he visited the campus last year. The kind of attention it generated in the media circles was nearly unprecedented. Even my nani who stays in mumbai n hv no clue of wht IIMA is also realised tht i was a part of sum decent college when she told me that 'beta tumhare yahan laloo aaya tha...tumhara college koi bada college lagta hai !!!". After tht branding exercise, a lot of ink & paper has already been put to use to sing paeans by different media channels & magazines. The 'Laloo khyati' transcended borders & reached international levels. Students from Harvard, Stanford & similar colleges started coming to Laloo Yadav to get sum real life management fundas. To cut short, Laloo became a much bigger & touted brand after he visited this campus & Railways were a success story which no one could ignore.

In fact, most of us are also very impressed by the way the Railways have started functioning. At one time the delays were an acceptable baggage which came with the railway journey. In fact i can remember that my Aunt used to come from Calcutta in summers. Her scheduled arrival according to railway timetables was 2 pm in the afternoon & I can never remember going to pick her before 2 am next morning. This 12 hr delay was considered to be a benchmark. We cribbed only when the delay used to get longer & this cribbing used to be more often than not.

Now all of you wud be wondering why I am doing so much of 'Rail pranshansa'. Theek hai guru, i wont do it any further now. In fact two very wierd incidents in the trains happened last week when i went home. naah re, there was no pretty gal sitting besides me in the compartment. she always seems to get the seat in the next compartment :(. While going to Delhi, I was sitting with that mucch waale uncle & a aged guy who kept complaining abt everything in life. The train started moving & now suddenly sum action started. A teenager came running into the compartment shouting tht sumone from his family was left behind and he pulled the chain. n the train stopped !!!! i always thot tht this chain was nothing more than an ornamental accessory, but it did work. Tht guy said thanks to us and just vanished. We were just debating abt pros & cons of individuals pulling chain when a battalion of cops arrived in seconds.

u talk abt cops always coming late, but their speed surprised all of us. More surprises were there in the offering. Now they mistook us as the people who pulled the chain & immediately threatened us with dire consequences. All our protests went unheard. n one of the lady cop took my ticket n vanished. These guys needed a bakra for stopping the train & coolly zeroed down on me. After all the passengers protested, the cops came directly to the point. wohi 'bakhsheesh/chai-paani/chunnu-munnu ki mithai' ki baat chaalu ho gayi. but i decided tht i was not willing to pay anything of tht sort.. actually jeb mein paise hi nahin the n these guys were still not technically gud enuf to accept credit card payment :) u know with all those ATM machines everywhere these days, the tendency of carrying hard cash has reduced. after these guys realised tht i was not going to pay and an hour of haggling, they filled an excuse in sum form n went away

The rules of the game
- If sumone comes n pulls chain in ur compartment, u r legally responsible
- U can pull chain only if sumone is left behind or a luggage worth Rs 10k is left behind
- You need to hv sum cash in ur pocket, dont always bank on ATM/card etc

Similarly while coming back, i booked a tatkaal ticket fr the same. In case u r not aware, this is a kind of ticket which u can book just before the 5 days of travel & u need to pay railways a cool 150 bucks extra for a sleeper. Railways recently announced a scheme to reduce this amount by half during the off season travel, n i got my ticket at ticket cost+Rs 75 only. But after the train travelled sum distance and TT arrived, i came to know tht this train was not covered in the discount scheme. Seems some manual error occured while updating the railway computer system for the list of trains coming under discounted fair. all the passengers like me who had tatkaal tickets like me were asked to shell 75 bucks extra and the poor TT was asked to repeat this explanation to each & every tatkaal guy. So it still seems tht Railways still need to continuously monitor their processes & need to come up with improvements regularly to avoid such kind of errors creeping in.

mein wapis aa gaya !!!!

2007-06-15T02:55:00.000+05:30

I am back...back after a long break, it has been almost 8 months since i posted on this blog. This lack of activity from my side has been mainly due to my unhindered laziness ( induced by the 2nd year of IIMA). Its a bit humorous, that when I was in the first year out here, when free time was available only on a premium, i used to find time to post at least thrice a month. but in my second year, when i had ample time to waste, i rarely visited this blog.

Last 6-8 months have been like a roller coster journey. I developed a number of new interests, the primary being travelling. The new year began with a bike trip to Diu( around 450 kms one way from Ahmedabad). This was my first long distance bike trip which was made pleasant by a slight cold weather, wide & clean highways, & the company of an amazing set of friends. We spent the new year eve out der lazying around. Diu is one of the places which has got a gud set of beaches which are still untarnished by a human actions. The downside being tht we did not notice any gal in the skimpy clothes as u generally expect on a beach despite buying a couple of binoculars fr the same purpose :-).

The visit to Diu was followed by a number of smaller trips around Ahmedabad. Then the dorm guys planned a trip to North-East after the final term exams.This was the best trip of my life. This visit was so gud tht describing it in the same post wud do a lot of injustice to it. So i wud describe it in detail in one of my later posts.

Then i moved on to mumbai to work fr SEBI. Immediately i noticed tht i started to get a number of phone calls from the people with whom i lost touch a long time ago. Probably bcoz, if u r working fr SEBI, people expect u to know which way the markets r goin to move. n then people treat u as a key to the goldmine. n i certainly luv all the newly found interest of these people in me. We indians tend to have a mentality tht stock markets r the shortest way of making quick bucks & its really difficult to make people understand tht stock markets r like a two-edged sword... if u r not goin to tread carefully, u can certainly lose a lot of money quickly. paisa aata bhi jaldi hai...n jaata bhi jaldi hai

Then i went to Goa fr another se of vacation. The excuse given to the parents was the engagement of one of my dorm mates. Its really nice to hv such frnds who can provide u with excuses to go to all kind of exotic places. We did enjoy the beaches with all the 'stuff' which we missed in Diu & also indulged in a number of water sports. I went for parasailing which was a very enjoyable experience & certainly less frightening after i did para-gliding last year at Manali.

I hope to be regular now on this space of mine. I missed most of my blog friends during the same period. In fact some of u wrote to me egging me to continue writing. Thanks fr those mails guys... Tell me whts goin on in ur life these days... n i hope to shed my laziness, at least on this front.

Massacre at IIMA....

2006-10-04T03:41:00.000+05:30

This was ruthless... this was brutal... yet everyone enjoyed it to the hilt....Well this was totally unexpected...or shocking, though not fr the WIMWIANs, but for the 85+ IIMB sports contingent who descended down the hallowed portals of IIMA for Sangarsh 2006- the first sports meet between the two campuses. the team fought, not literally, for 3 days for winning majority of 11 games which were played during the period.

It was a time for us to prove to IIMB as well as the others that this place is not only about acads, but certainly more than tht.... the people here do squeeze out time frm their time tables for other pursuits like sports, art, music n even social welfare activities. While the IIMB wanted to just prove the reverse. The slogans on their T-Shirts said it all....' Lets teach the NERDS how to play ball'....

tht was provoking.... anyways....sumone called me a NERD finally :)

In reponse we also prepared 2 banners whose slogans were

Congrats, u made it to IIMA,, finally :)

Sangarsh 2006: What u cud not achieve in CAT 2006

The IIMB contingent got a grt start when they chased 147 runs score by us in just 17 overs with 8 wickets in hand. But as more games unfolded, they realised the depth IIMA guys had even in the sports. In the badminton, they were swept away with IIMA winning 6 out of 7 badi matches, they lost tennis games 2-0, looked clueless in football match where the final scorelines read 4-1. IIMB guys fought well winning both chess as well as swimming, though both of them were really close & could hv gone either way.

They lost badly in table tennis, losing 6 matches n winning only one ... n when the volley ball started we had taken a lead of 5-3 in 8 games played so far. Both teams egged on by vociferous supports fought on, but in the end it was IIMA team which prevailed. IIMA basketball team was not able to match their team, but by then we had already taken an unassailable lead of 6-3. The tempers rose on both side during this match, but both teams took care to prevent any untoward incident.

The final rubber was the gals throwball match, which incidentally brought maximum number of crowd (:P) despite being a dead rubber . The massacre continued & IIMA gals won this match easily, though IIMB gals did put on stiff fight in patches during the match. One thing worth noticing in the final ceremony tht the original IIMB T-Shirt wasnt there to be seen :)

Overall, it was a real gud experiences. I believe tht more of such kind of events needs to be held among different IIMs & other B-Schools, sumwhat on lines of IIMC-XLRI annual meet. These meets help in making more friends, building networks & building fraternity among different colleges. This also provides sum free time in the gruelling schedule of B Schools.... though second year in IIMA is much more relaxing & worth enjoying as compared to the first year :)

Height of complacency...

2006-07-16T23:56:00.001+05:30

Headlines in various newspapers screamed a couple of days...
'Mumbai drowned in heavy rains in just 2 days'
' Mumbai rocked by blasts..200 killed'

n just the next day, the headlines are
' Mumbai, back on track'
'Hats off to Mumbai's resillence'
'Mumbai bounces back'

Sudden change of headlines within a spate of 24 hrs.. with pics of people going to offices, paying tributes to offices with 100% attendances, singing paeans of people who again crowded the same local trains like vegetables in a subzi mandi. Speaking volumes of mumbai's resillience & ability to bounce back from a desperate situation has become a norm of the day. n suddenly all newspapers jumped on this band wagon of 'Mumbai appreciation'. Me too initially thot it was really gud.. but there are 2 factors which started to bother me.

First of all, why this special focus on mumbai. we saw bomb blasts on diwali eve in Delhi but city behaved normally. Yes magnitude are simply uncomparable, but what was common was the shock factor & ability to generate terror n panic. Isnt this pretty obvious that people in other cities wud hv also reacted in similar manner

Second & most important, I feel tht it is not resillience, but just a complacency. This was seventh major blast in Mumbai in last 12 years after 1993 bomb blasts. n because of this strength of resillience or ability to move over, this phenomenon is getting repeated again n again.

We are not learning anything from these crisis. No wonder they are happening too frequently for comfort. The city is getting bombed regularly & rather taking some strict action we are busy praising the indomitable spirit of the city. I was ashamed to hear the innane platitudes from the mouth of our spineless PM about not bowing to terrorism & maintaining peace. These situations bring out the best in leadership & our PM was not even able to lift himself from the mundane template. After all the same govt revoked POTA sumtimes back & some of the constituents openly support SIMI..... couple of ministers went on extent of blaming this on RSS n others. ... clearly reflects on the leadership vaccum that hv currently engulfed the nation.

I feel tht time has now come to realise the importance of an Indian life now.. on one hand i can see Isreal showing its clear determination to root out terror when just 3 of its soldiers are caprured, here we hv 200 innocent civillians dying n no one even bothering to even think of taking an action. Our neighbouring state sent its condolences after the blasts n the time may not be far off when we recieve such condolences in advance, just before the incidents even. I fear the authorities will soon start taking this 'spirit' for granted and not do even the little that they are
doing at the moment. I wont support all US policies against war on terror, but point worth taking a note is tht no terror incident happened in US after 9/11. Someone said

'Khasma shobti us bhujang ko
jiske paas garal ho
uska kya jo vishrahit,
vineet or saral ho'
( Forgiveness can be shown by only those snakes which have venom & can bite. Those who are weak dont deserve to give forgiveness to anyone)
So rather than mouthing innane platitudes about restraint, criticism & looking towards other nations for help. probably the time has come for indians to take charge of their own destiny

Nice to be on campus...

2006-05-28T02:58:00.000+05:30

Well the summer training ended a couple of days earlier n i m back to the campus. i did not get a chance to go home n now it has become 6 months since i went home.... the longest stretch in my life when i hv been away frm home. It is really nice to meet the frnds at the campus ... all seems very frsh frm this 2 month break... going by typical IIMA rigorous schedule, summers were like cakewalk for most of us.... in terms of workload, pressure or endless manager expectations.

Banglore is a nice decent city....u feel it tht way... until u hv to pay for rent of ur house n u start to wonder abt the money n time u spend on commuting, which burns a big hole in ur wallet. i was lucky on the former front... avoiding paying rent here by staying with my younger brother, who is working as a s/w engg. he lives in a big flat with four of his company mates, two frm NSIT itself. n i can afford to hv a luxury of big flat in this overcrowded n crumbling city.

Living here with 5 guys in the same flat made me a bit nostalgic. it reminded me of my first year in engg, when i used to stay with my 3 frnds in hostel n who turned out to be amongst my best pals. tht was the first time when i lived away frm the comforts of family n learned to make a no of adjustments to accomodate others.

- u get up in the morning, somehow, get ready to go to office. u start a mad scramble fr socks to wear n u cant find a pair... i can find arnd 8 socks, but all of different variety n hence unable to form a pair... i just smile... frustrated by the scene till now... somehow manage to find something tht wud resemble a pair n then move out.

- Being on a job means u hv to be well dressed n groomed everyday... n the basics r like taking a bath everyday... n fr me it seems a record tht i had a bath regularly for arnd 2 months... usually i hv been too lazy & hv always considered bathing regularly as a luxury... dont get surprised... this is the way most guy in IIM campus wud also function

- one of the guys was himself a blogger.. n he writes 'gud' poems... the only issue is tht he makes me go thru his collection every second day... n considering tht i m as distant a conneisure of poems as i am a relative of mukesh ambani... i feel it sometimes become overbearing... but do check out his collection at www.acrossthewall.blogspot.com. He has composed a book on poems, which i felt is pretty decent

- now this guy is also an amazing cook... n he is really eager n enthu abt cooking food... no wonder u now know why i also had to show my 'eagerness' regarding reading his poems.

The weather there was really pleasant n it rained every alternate day....n i seem to be missing the heat n temperatures of delhi.... the maximum temperature there those days is around 30 degrees,... so the weather was really cool n a fine breeze blew across the whole day.. n sumtime i felt tht if i cud just fly... have a bike n go for a long drive at a zapping speed.... but irony it seems is tht even though it may be possible to arrange a bike, but it wud have been nearly impossible even for the CM here to get a empty road... traffic is a major problem here n crawling wud also be a real 'respectable' word to describe the traffic here in the evening

The protests against reservation has really picked up in these days n every weekend there have been major rallies planned in nearly all the major cities in India... n the worst thing is tht inspite of such highly educated n 'acclaimed' Prime Minister, President n the Finance Minister, such decisions are in the way of implementation. Its really heartening to see now different section of society coming n joining the movement... medicos, enggs, professionals,RWAs, traders, students, normal citizens are all joining hands to protest against the same... n this movement does not have a leader in specific... everybdy is volunteering n taking initiative on his own..

i received this pic regarding the same.... n my feelings r here not to hurt any section of the society... but this image clearly describes the fragmentation of society in the future if the reservation is implemeted

--------------------------------------------------------

P.S. : Would be updating the 'Blogs i visit' section soon... so guys who wants their name listed there could just send me a $100 cheque for the same :).... n does someone knows abt any better way of managing this list apart frm blogroll which makes the webpage loading pretty slow?

Hyderabad RAWKS big time....

2006-05-03T00:44:00.000+05:30

Lately I hv become a real infrequent blogger.... though it is not due to my workload at ITC, but the primary factor is unavailability of a PC with net at home.. With 4 people fighting for a single laptop, it is more than usual tht u hv to curb ur desire of putting sumthing on the blog.. one of the flat mates here, himself, is a blogger n he writes poems with great depths n philosophy, some of which tends to go over my head. he has also got a book published of his works... check out the link at acrossthewall.blogspot.com

Meanwhile, went to Hyderabad last weekend... This being an extended weekend, with May 1 being the International Labour day (Long Live Communism :D) . n it was a good time to catch up with my old pal Ajay who is working as a software engg there. He has recently purchased a Pulsar which we made good use of during the last 2 days.

Went to see the Golcunda fort n found this to be amazing piece of architecture. It was
- The fort is one of the best places to experience the fantastic acoustical effects, characteristic of the engineering marvels at Golconda. A hand clap at a certain point below the dome at the entrance reverberates and can be heard clearly at the 'Bala Hisar' pavilion, the highest point almost a kilometre away. This acted as the warning note to residents in case of danger though now it is a mere amusing diversion to visitors... analogous to modern day wireless system.
- There was a weight of 240Kg placed at a corner in the fort. its utility was simple. Only those guys who cud lift this weight were recruited in army. Well this seemed super human to me. If we can somehow bring some of those soldiers disregarding the time barrier today, India can certainly win a couple of gold medals in weight lifting in olympics today. but we can afford only a few of these soldiers... each of these soldier used to eat 3Kg of ration in each meal, which made it roughly 9Kgs of rations per day
- Saw a 12 feet rifle which cud fire at target 1 mile away...n cud hit them with amazing accuracy
- There was a lady named Taramati, who used to perform singing n dancing fr the king. She used to sing and the king used to listen sitting at a place 3Km away from the performance stage. The winds were strong enuf to carry her voice over a distance of 3 Kms... sounds amazing...
- In a couple of big halls, communication between 2 people cud be done by 2 people standing close to walls 10 metres away n then speaking my placing their lips on the walls... n any person standing in the middle of hall wud hv no inkling abt wht these guys were talking abt
- There was a 8Km long tunnel which stretched from the fort to Char Minar in the centre of city. n the tunnel was gud enuf fr soldiers galloping on their horses...12 ft height n 10 ft wide..... real big subway... looks like Metro guys can take a tip frm there.

I also visited other places like Qutub Tombs, Char Minar, secret lake, Hussain sagar lake, Lumbini park... But i am really impressed by the efforts govt is taking to woo investors to the state... fundoo infrastructure, wide n pot-hole free roads, no traffic jams, green city, with a lot of emphasis on cleaniness (which is pretty unusual abt any Indian city) . I also went to Hi-Tech city where a lot of software firms are setting up their campuses n tht place is also mind blogging.. prices havent still touched the roof there... also the laser show at Lumbini park was spell bounding.... which again had the basic theme- Hyderabad is developing n developing fast.

The two day stint at the city was really gud... n i m pretty impressed with the way the city is growing n developing. its difficult to judge any place within a span of 2 days, but the first impression which the city made on me is impressive... looks like we hv another Banglore in making where the investors r sure to flock in droves soon.

Do we need increased reservations.......

2006-04-12T00:05:00.000+05:30

It has been a real long break... a break of about 3 weeks since the last post. The post got published on jammag.com. n I had been really busy after tht. busy even by IIMA normal standards !!!! Loads of submissions, reports, assignments were always there, as usual. Then came the end term examinations n i got really stuck with the workload. On 5th my exams got over and I had to report to ITC in Banglore for the summer training on 7th morning. I had a flight to catch on 6th morning at 7:30 n there was no possible way tht i cud get up so early in the morning (I dont remember when i got up so early in the morning last time, though there hv been numerous occassions when i went to sleep at tht time) . So i decided to stay awake all night. Tht was nearly the fourth consecutive night out( slept very little during the 3 days in exams).

I reached Banglore on 6th and slept the whole day. I joined ITC the next day..... havent explored the city much till now.. so wud be posting my experiences regarding the city in later posts... moreover i dont hv a PC here, so i believe tht this blogging wud take a hit in coming days, though i wud try my best to remain regular

Recently, the issue which is catching all headlines is the reservation proposed in IIMs/IITs and other RECs. Out of nowhere, during the election time, the issue pops up and no political party seems to hv the guts to oppose the bill. n there is total silence from the highly respected and acclaimed PM. At this time when the whole world is sitting n taking notice of Indian talents in different sectors, there cud not hv been any worse way of tripping Indian juggernaut.

Reservation was introduced as a mean of amalgamating the deprived layers of society which suffered pain, humilliation, isolation and seclusion for a long time into mainstream. It was expected tht this wud help these classes to become a part of mainstream in a gradual flow of time. It was a real noble concept till the time some politicians realised the massive mileage tht cud be derived from this concept. So rather than addressing the failures of the system, they decided to manipulate it.

Now the bigger issue is - is this reservation going to help the cause of the needy ? i seriously doubt tht... first of all, i believe tht a certain 'creamy' layer of the backward classes is reaping all the benefits..... a person becomes an IAS owing to reservation, his son becomes an engg and this phenomenon is continuing across the generations. so rather than society getting benefitted as a whole, it is tht small section which is gaining. Also since the student has come on the basis of reservation rather than on merit, he wud find it difficult to compete with guys in his class who hv achieved their seat on merit. This phenomenon is happening in IITs and despite all efforts by educational instis, a lot of people are dropping out in the middle as they find themselves not gud enuf to compete. Probably the better way to do the same is to hv reservation at lower levels and help these guys to build a strong foundation, so tht they can compete on merit at UG & PG levels.

Then their is case of good students leaving India to study abroad... n once u spend 25lakh+ amount on ur studies abroad, it is useless to come back to India n work as u wud never be able to recoup tht investment here... so the good guys who wud hv done wonders to India's fortunes in the future ,given the increasing opportunities available here itself today, wud be forced to stay back in foreign locales and other countries r going to reap all the benefits.

Today industry is ready to pay a premium on the talent coming from these campuses. Everyday u wud find previous salary records getting broken. This is just because industry has continuously posed its faith in the current system and its ability to churn out brilliant people who hv regularly done well in the long run. Now if current system of merit is removed n newer system of 'free-riding' is going to be introduced, then there wud be erosion in standards of these instis... n also in the pay packages which lured govt to announce reservations.

Who would be real losers if this decision is to be implemented..... the students, industry n the nation as a whole. There cannot be more retrograde step taken today to hamper the growth of 'brand India'. Now tht Indians are looking confident to take on the world, we need no controversy to become an obstacle in the path of growth...n god forbids, I dont want to see any new scenes of self-immolation by students as we saw them during 1991 anti-mandal commotion. I just hope some sense prevails in the top echleons of power and this move is annuled.

Rang Barse.......

2006-03-15T04:17:00.000+05:30

Rang Barse Rang Barse
Bhige har chunarwali rang barse.....

it is one of those festivals which u always want to celebrate in hostel. i wud like to be at home on other festivals like diwali n so on, but this is one day when i wud make all kinda wierd excuses at home to make it to hostel. believe me, u can best experience it only at hostel. the youthful zest, raw enthuthiasm n energy levels there r just unbelievable.

it was an ossum(awesome) holi celebration here today. The show began around 11 in morning n guys started assembling outside the gals dorms. The cult com arranged for colours and for a change this time i played holi with only gulal. This is one of those festivals whose mention alone can drag out the most lethargic and lazy guys out of their rooms. The colours started getting splashed in air n the shouts of 'holi hai' started engulfing the environment.

n then the 'chher-haran' program began. The guys started ripping apart T-shirts of other guys n in a brief span of time all of the guys were topless. the gals were enjoying the show n continuosly giggling. in fact whenever any new guy came, the gals used to point towards him n then there used to be a brutal assault on tht guy's clothes. The T-shirt was ripped apart n the torn piece or whatever remained of the same was tossed away to a nearby tree. By the end of the session, the tree was royally covered with rags of all possible hues n colours.

Though i believe this is one of the 'psued' holi celebrations which i had in my hostel life. the merry making in NSIT used to be real wild and savage. we used to dig a big pit in front of our hostel and used to fill it with water full of colours and tons of mud. Then we wud catch hold of any clueless fellow seen around the hostel and used to dump him in that pit. n when tht guy used to emerge from the pit he used to be all black ( no racial comments !!!!!). he used to be enshrouded in filthy mud and used to come out hurling all kinda possible abuses possible on miscreants. five minutes later he wud himself be part of integral part of team searching for some more hapless fellows.

Here too gender discrimination used to exist. while the guys were thrown around in muddy pits, the sporting gals were dumped in a fountain of clean water with slight dose of colours. I still remember part of a contingent shouting( synonym for singing) all kinda of songs in front of gals hostel provoking gals to come out and play holi... though it was just supposed to be a ritual and the gals used to take a lead over the guys in enjoying this festival.

The only thing which i missed today was 'bhaang'. I remember when i was small i was given the 'dose' of bhaang by one of my uncles. i cud not remember wht happened after. but it seems my family n other relatives had real gud time seeing a kid rolling over and laughing like a hysterical person. i kept on speaking utter nonsense ( which i can do these days usually even without dose). I did a lot of 'non-sensica'l activities which makes me laugh over myself today n my cousins love to embarass me whenever they can over the same incident.

In fact one of my friends at college got laddus made of bhaang during holi n we really had a gala time after eating them. The after effects were simply bewildering. One of the guys started to dish out a career counselling lecture. Another one got senti and started blabbering out the reasons why his girlfriend ditched him a couple of days earlier. Some of the guys went berserk at those 'Uncle chipps' packets present in the room and more than 15 of those packed were gobbled up in less than 20 mins or so. most of us did not go to college next day as we were simply snoring away the whole next day. It was a really non forgettable moment.

---------------------------------------------------------------
P.S. : I hv been tagged by moonwalker, sridhar n i m finding it difficult to write sum points over myself. but i still hope to complete their tag in next post

Tremors rocks Ahmedabad

2006-03-08T08:52:00.000+05:30

Last night I was working on my marketing assignment, when one of my friend called up to inform me abt the Varanasi blasts. We were just pondering over the same when i suddenly felt earth shaking and bed vibrating. i was just wondering wht was goin on. Suddenly gals from their dorm, of which i hv a real gud view from my balcony, started to gather. aur mein sochne laga ki pata nahin kiski shamat aayi hai aaj. Then suddenly shouts of earthquake wailed the atmosphere. Some of the moments which i saw here

- A frnd in dorm who just went in the bathroom kept shouting 'Guys, plzzz wait fr 2 mins. i m just coming'.... dont really know wht he exactly meant :p
- For some guys it was totally a new experience. So they kept sitting on their bed, waiting for some more tremors to shake their bed
- An 105 Kg guy reported tht he was floating in an air for a while... he says tht he does not remember last time when he was in air... even on his BDay guys struggled to lift him to give him bumps... In fact we told him to stand in front of a wall so tht we cud kick his rear tht time after failing in arranging more than 10 people to lift him
- Then there were guys like me who kept listening to winamp as if nothing had happened. Bcoz i believe

"If God has sent everyone in this world to accomplish something, I'm so far behind that I'll never die!! ". just kiddin.... but i still believe tht i m too young to fix an appointment with God rite now

Winamp continued playing : 'Zinda hoon mein'

In a gals hostel near the campus
- 50 gals made their way out of the hostel wailing and screaming on top of their head. The stampade occured and around 3-4 got their legs fractured. apparently earthquake did take its toll indirectly.
- There were more boys near the gals hostel gate trying to 'help' the girls than actually the number of gals present

- Media people just got some more masala to continue the gossip mills running. Aaj Tak reported tht Ahmhedabadis spent their night on roads, i still wonder from which part of Ahmedabad they were reporting, as most of Ahmedabadi's were back to sleep in next half an hour

Tuchhas placements are going to start from today. These guys hv suffered a lot of pain n tribulations for last 2 years waiting for this moment. n this is one of those defining moments of their lives. All The Best to them from our ( fachhas) side. Placecom members hv been really busy sorting out all modalities n putting all necessary logistics n other requirements in place. n we wud be there to help in every possible ways like providing snacks, pizzas, acting as a PR for the companies n doing all kind of donkey's job. A lot of big companies have made a mad scramble for this place today. n next few days r going to be really hectic. Hope we again hv a rawking placement again n surpass the benchmarks we set fr ourselves last year.

Arre huzzoor, waah Taj Boliye.....

2006-02-27T00:39:00.000+05:30

Last week was really hectic, with another set of mid sems goin on... six exams over in 3 days again... pain lasted fr only a shorter duration. but i m not goin to bore u with description... they hv become a part n parcel of life here... isliye no more prattle abt the exams now.....

We went to Taj for the 'Chaos' party a week earlier. n i shud admit tht i was pretty excited by the same. This has been the first time when i got an opportunity to go to this place. I hv been to a no of so called '5-star places' earlier, but Taj's mention holds a separate charm. I called up mom n told her- ' mummy, i m goin to Taj fr dinner today.... n all expenses r insti paid' n came the terse reply: 'phir to tu aaj bhookha hi aayega '..

When i reached there, i was amazed by the ambience the place offered.... the big lawn, swimming pool where a number of us tried our swimming skills.. gud starters in food n we were really hungry fr the dinner..... all plates of starters were quickly gobbled up in a total 'junglee' fashion :p. n then came the food... a damp squib... really pathetic... searched the whole dictionary after coming back... but cud not find anything tht even remotely resembled tht crap...... worse than the food at engg mess i earlier had in my life... wonder how people r ready to pay such a high premium over such food... n how these hotel guys r able to supply this crap after charging so high.

i came back to the dorm n there was a call frm home.... it was mom on another side.... even before i cud utter sumthing... she said" beta, go to canteen n hv sumthing", n i was dumbstruck..... ab unhe kaise pata chala, i still dont hv any clue..... but one thing fr sure...... every mom knows her son best n i cud not help admiring her sixth sense :p

but the misery continue to unfold... pet kharab ho gaya....pressure started building up... n despite all my numerous attempts at releasing it, it did not left me fr next couple of days... n believe me its certainly not a 'nice' kinda situation to be in.... u go to bathroom n find its door locked.... n the inmate tells u to wait fr a minute before giving u a chance.... i realised tht how long a minute can be depends upon which side of bathroom door u r present :P. u realise everyone in the dorm is giving u tht strange n weird stare.... n the worst thing tht u feel totally powerless n dont hv any clue of how to stop it.

for next 3-4 days, i was in a totally ludicrously odd situation.... cud not eat much in the mess for the fear of worsening the situation i was already in... n people started wondering how a slim guy like me cud go on dieting... with a lot of fire fighting i was able to bring the situation under control... in the process i lost a couple of kgs in just over a span of 4 days... was just going thru the advertisement section of Hindu n saw one ad of a 'weight loss guaranteed' program n was wondering if Taj, Ahmedabad wud also offer the same package... wow wht an ad it wud be... live the luxorious life at Taj n lose weight along with it. i dont mind acting as a brand ambassador fr the same n dont get surprised if this story appears in a Taj ad in any newspaper in coming days in form of a 'weight-loss guaranteed' program :p.... when one dinner( tht too eaten in a very mild amount) can make u lose a couple of kgs, then their hospitality fr a couple of days wud certainly help u to get tht slim trim hour glass figure

another dorm is goin to Taj for Corp-D ( more abt corp-D in next post) in a couple of dayzzz..... n i sincerely wish tht they get a better deal... otherwise it wud be better fr us to stay away frm them fr a while... btw if anyone of u is planning to lose sum weight just tell me.. i wud send u all the details :) aur huzoor wah Taj boliye... mein to pichle kai din se bol raha hoon :p

Happy V-Day to all.....

2006-02-14T15:39:00.000+05:30

A lot of things have been happening in last one week. Urs truly made debut on TV featuring in a zee news analysis on ongoing Indo-Pak series telecasted live from IIMA yesterday. n was able to hog a lot of limelight... chances tht if u watch zee news ( which are fairly average) n seen yesterday 9pm analysis of yesterday's match u wud hv seen a spectacled, yellow colour T-Shirt wearing guy who did manage to ask a question or two to Abdul Qadir and Salil Ankola, the hosts. got a couple of calls frm the friends after the show... gud news fr zee people- sum people still watch this channel :p

Lots of amazing questions were asked.... especially when India hv won n Dhoni had belted the bowlers all around the park n u get a Pakistani showering applauses on Indian cricket team. But the best question of the show was when the presenter asked Bakul sir, IIMA head about which player wud he love to take into IIMA based on current performance....... n prompt came the reply- 'IIMA has the reputation of providing world class output...... so it does not matter whom we take in... the product or the player delivered after 2 years wud be world class' :p.... just to add tht this reply was not frm Bakul sir, it was one of the my friends who commented frm the back......

Vaise to everyday some or other media party is here, ready to take interviews on every minor n major issues including IIM's move to go international, V-Day celebration in IIM, placements n wht not.......After a few days from now GD/PI for this year's aspirants are going to start and it wud be again a common sight to see hoardes of media people coming in droves to know abt the experiences of the bewildered aspirants. Then the budget wud be out n u wud be again hear the students n profs giving their 'expert' opinions over the same......... This place rocks in terms of media coverage...... a couple of days earlier one of the aspirant told me tht IIMA does a lot of PR activities.... n i replied IIMA does not need to indulge in any kind of PR activities.....jarorat hi nahin padti alag se kuch karne ki, hum jo bhi kaam kartein hai, woh apne aap khabar ban jaati hai :p.

now u wud all be fuming and responding- ' ki theek hai... bas bahut ho gaya.... ab boasting band kar'. so i wud stop here. just one more self ego boosting fact....... My GD/PI tips wala article got published at iimcatwalk.com n its nice to pain others at sites other than this blog :p. achha just before u start getting ready and impatient to throw tht mouse at ur monitor, i wud stop here n prevent u from getting troubles for searching fr a new monitor.

achha moving on, let me catch the mood of today..... if u hv still not recognised its the 14th feb n people here already hv a lot of plans fr today. Half of the campus wud be vacant this evening ..... fr the other half this event is just a kind of time-pass...:p. n no early bird prizes fr guessing to which half i belong to. I really cant understand the logic of naming just one day as a special day. If u hv a valentine, then each day shud be treated special.... why do u need to treat just one day as very special... meri dimag ki batti nahin jalti.....even the economics does not make sense.....eg. the same rose which u might hv gifted her a couple of days earlier fr 10 bucks wud cost u hefty 100 bucks... sumtimes i wonder abt fate of those guys who hv multiple roses to give.....poor guys. :p. Then every restaurant seems to be full, every movie seat seems to be taken ( without caring fr tht if it is rang de basanti or a C-grade flick..... n again no prizes fr guessing why so happens :D), the normal disc entry fee doubles... so u r ready to premium fr everything.

meanwhile the essence of this day cud be probably captured in these pics. The three pics capture totally 3 different prespectives of the day and i have good reasons to feel I wud be able to appease all 3 categories of people out there -the enthusiastic protagonists, the vehement antagonists as well as the people showing indifference.

and this one is the most humorous .......n i believe the best

Pros n Cons of having a GirlFriend

2006-02-05T02:30:00.000+05:30

First of all disclaimers : This post is written just fr fun and is not there to hurt anyone's sensitivites. Neither does it says anything about my current status - Commited/ Single and ready to mingle/ single but not interested. So please do not make any assumptions n deductions. just total time paas.... considering its just 2:30 am and its a bit too early to sleep in WIMWI...... so just writing all crap which is going around in my mind.

pata nahin ajeeb sa mausam aaya hua hai. Most of the blogger friends whose blogs i visit are writing over the similar stuff- 'the kind of partner they want'. if u dont believe me then go to any of these - ruchi, sayesha(yeh to pata nahin kitna likhti hai.....:p), abhinav n a number of others........ the list goes on. dont know ki achanak sabko partner ki kya zaroorat pad gayi... i was a bit confused abt this new trend..... thought it was a long time since 'i love u' virus striked....... but thoda dimag( yeah i bet tht i hv one) khujlane ke baad i realised tht a special date is approaching - the 14th Feb n everyone is busy 'pataoying' sumone. so i was just wondering whether i shud give it a shot too...:p.

first let me start with my dorm- my new close family, a home away frm home. coming to the point, there are 18 people in my dorm, consisting both of fachhas n tuchhas( IIMA lingo fr seniors). n around 7-8 of them hv tht 'special' friend, or at least pretend to hv one...:). so i decided ki zara in 'experienced' logon ke lifestyle par zara nazar rakhein n analyse the pros n cons of having a girlfriend. this wud give me an idea whether i need a girlfriend now or shud i wait fr sum more time

coming to the pros-

- u get sumone with whom u can talk. yeah if she is not frm Ahmedabad this is probably the only way u can remain in touch with her. This place provides u with such varied kind of experiences tht u wud always would like to share. There are moments when u need someone someone to talk to..... sumtimes when u screw up the quizzes ( tht does happen a lot), lots of night outs when u wud love to call her in morning at 6am before catching up the 2 hr sleep before the class, talking abt the crap which sum of the profs throw at us ( most of the profs here r really gud), regular parties we hv, n those different kinda experiences which any guy wud hv experienced in a Boy's hostel ... n its not only abt sharing ur experiences..... u also come to know whts going on in the world outside the campus.... n if she is from delhi, i cud get all the news regarding the events going on in 'saaddi' delhi. i do hv my set of close friends with whom i share most of my stuff, but sumtimes i hv to think twice before calling them up- reasons being they being busy during the day at office( though one year stint at s/w industry hv taught me tht a s/w engg is busy only during the canteen session.) or during nite when their mom looks at them with those strange looks ' kabhi to gharwalon se bhi baat kar liya karoge'...... at those moments u like to hv a frnd whom u can ping n disturb at any moment n who wud be ready to listen to all crap n arbit chattel u r going to throw at her.

- one of my tuchha's girlfriend sends lots of chocolates and cakes every 15 days, n we being the 'caring' n 'obedient' fachhas make sure tht the whole supply does not last more than a week..... the dormmates wud fight over a lot of things, but on this account the viewpoint is unanimous - their relationship rocks, at least does well fr the dormmates :p !!!!!! now this is a real big advantage as well as incentive of hving a girlfriend. imagine sumone sending u a lot of gud stuf to eat after every few days..... u get a chance to forget the crap u r forced to eat in the mess.... this is a real big big fayda i m looking fwd to :p

- the personality changes n u become a bit more responsible person, at least try to become one . i m a real lazy n laid-back kind of guy.... one who does not like to take bath before 2 days n doesnt shave regularly.... but u start feeling obliged when sumone cares fr u...so when she asks whether i had my dinner properly, it wud be difficult to lie n say tht the food was gud. difficult not to execute the 'room-cleaning operation' which hv been pending fr a couple of months now. a person start to become mature in the way he talks, he dresses, he carries himself n all other similar stuff.

- One of my tuchha's GF acts as a morning alarm fr her.... yeah she religiously calls him up every morning half an hour before the class waking him up n motivating him to go to class.... another incentive fr me as i hv started to miss classes more regularly.... not a bad way to be woken up..... better to hv a sweet, mellifluous voice acting as a morning alarm than to hear tht cacophonous alarm of tht clock which i want to crush everyday while getting up.

coming to the cons, i can see a long list of them too

- first of all the inflated phone bills... most of these guys get a phone bill of around 4K per month... bahut badi amount hai.... i may be offered 'premium membership' by airtel guys, but itne bade bill ke paise kaun dega..... aur agar mere pitashree ko pata chal gaya then voh bolenge- 'beta wapis aa jaa..... shaadi may be a cheaper alternative'

- then all those rona-dhona n getting senti- now i m a fun loving,chill kinda guy who gets well with everybody.... a bit emotional sometimes but certainly not tht kinda person who can 'bear' with all those 'mushy-mushy' tantrums all the time.... bahut frank aadmi hun... n wud be really find it difficult to say -'u really look awesome n gorgeous' when she puts up couple of kgs on her body n a couple of inches across her waistline :p

- time -yaar there is one thing tht is really at premium at IIMA n tht is time.... whenever u get sum free time, it is probably better to hv a nap than talking endlessly with sumone on the other end. if i m going talk to her fr an hour everyday, she may say 'IIM ki seat kyun kharab kar rahe ho, useless fellow just spending time on phone' n if i did not talk fr tht one hour specified limit then she wud say ' wht careless chap i hv choosen... moron cant find sumtime fr me ...alas....iim ka hai to bhaav kha raha hai'

- variable costs go up - yeh roz-roz gift dena, chocolates, dresses- bahut headache ka kaam hai. n then wishing her on a number of days is really painful. a couple of dayz earlier one of my tuchha had a fight with her girlfriend over phone. the reason came out was tht the guy had forgotten her to wish 'Happy Rose Day'.... now i really felt pity fr tht guy... he had 2 painful assignments to submit the next day... he did not remember whether he had his dinner, so how was he expected to remember the Rose Day.... n then more n more new concepts r flooding the market apart frm the traditional ones - Valentine's Day, Friendship day... the days r not really far off when we wud be hving 'Father -In-Law Day' n 'Pet-in-law' days.... pata nahin tab kya hoga.

i m really confused at now... kahtein hain - 'this is kinda ladoo.... jo naa khaaye woh lalchayee n jo kha le woh pachtayee' :p. but its really fun fr us when we observe n tease those guys regarding their relnships

Its the 'Chaos' time out here

2006-01-24T03:38:00.000+05:30

Dates : 26 - 29 January
Venue : IIM Ahmedabad
Scene :'Chaos', the cutural fest of IIMA

'Chaos' is not about lawlessness or anarchy . Its represent a moment....the time to break free, mak merry, listening to a number of national and international singers, making new friends from different campuses around the country, and also about winning cool prizes. some get a chance to enter into new 'relationships',others keep trying to remove their name frm 'i am still trying' list :p

Preparations are in full swing. This year, around 30,000 people are expected to swarm the beautiful campus of IIM Ahmedabad during this four day cultural extravaganza. Dozens of events will be organized and prizes worth more than rupees 5.5 lakhs would be won.

Star cast : International music bands Strings and Jal from Pakistan - Performance by Indian Ocean - ace drummer Shivmani, sitar player Niladri Kumar, and the jazz pianist Louis Banks unleash their magic - And that’s not all; the event would be inaugurated with a classical performance by the ‘sarod brothers’ Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan.

Other attractions : The events include dramatics, fine arts, choreographed dances, musicals, fashion shows, literary events and workshops on dance, theatre and grooming. To add a distinct B-school flavour to the proceedings watchout for some management games as well.

Foreign participation : This year participants from Asian countries such as Pakistan, Hong Kong, Singapore are also expected to come down. so if u really want to give a shot at a foreign 'chick' this may be place to be at this time.

So frnz its time to chill n enjoy. I m currently working in Logistics and security team fr the same. n one of the duties wud be to catch hold of any 'intruder'. Totally reversal of roles for me as compared to my engg days. Those days we were a bunch of guys who used to 'barge' into a lot of fests in delhi. name any college, any fest, we wud hv been there. n usually it was without any pre-arrangement of passes fr the entry. try all kind of 'nuskhas' fr gaining an entry. acting relatives of any students (acting relative of any girl studying there was a sureshot way of gaining entry, fr the security volunteer could always later impress upon the bewildered gal ' look, i let ur cousin in despite all security taam-jhaam :D )), jumping over the wall ( tried this in AIIMS fest 'Pulse', by arranging a ladder from sumwhere in vicnity in 12 at night), posing as sons of profs there( name of prof Verma seems to be so common tht it used to work everywhere u used it). At sum places we tried catching som gals without passes n then the entry as a group was really breezy. hazaar nuskhas n wht we call in mgmt -'Just In Time' ideas.

looks like ' making the naughtiest boy of class the class monitor works sumtime' funda is getting applied here. n i wud try to tap all my 'experience' in 'similar acts' to prevent people from making unsolicited entry. But fr all u people posting a comment here wud be given free passes....:D. So in case u decide to make most of the coming wekend just tell me a bit in advance n i wud try to arrange passes fr u.

A nice fwd....

2006-01-19T01:27:00.000+05:30

When I was working as a software engg, around 20-30% of my time was spent on one particular task - reading the fwd sent by other friends working in different software firms and then fwding these fwds to other friends. My official job responsiblities changed time to time during the year, but the time spent on executing the said task remained the same. It was fun, first waiting fr the fwds, checking mail after every 10 mins, after every coffee break, complaining n cursing when u dont receive a mail fr sumtime, n smiling . n it happened many times tht a fwd sent by u comes back to u after doing many rounds, sometimes on the same day...... n i cud not do much except smiling about those mails n wondering, ' comunication hv really become faster thesedays'. I was planning to write on a broader classification of those mails, but ships somehow managed to stole the thunder by posting her classification a couple of days in advance. Next time i hope to beat in her own game. i wud be writing or try to write something on the topic which she may be planning to write. Beware ships, i wud hv my revenge soon. :p

After coming to this place the quantity of fwd sent n received hv dipped a bit. My friends still dont miss a chance to send me a lot of junk...:). n i too loooove fwding the same junk to others. But in last couple of days i got 2 gud poems, one of which i wud like to share with u

MAINE POOCHA
MEIN NE US KO SALAM LIKH BHEJA,
HAAL-E-DIL TAMAAM LIKH BHEJA...

MAINE POOCHA TERE HONTH KAISE HAIN,
US NE IK LAFZ JAAM LIKH BHEJJA...

MAINE POOCHA TERE BAAL KAISE HAIN,
US NE QUDRAT KA INAAM LIKH BHEJA...

MAINE POOCHA KAB HO GI MULAQAAT,
US NE QAYAMAT KI SHAM LIKH BHEJA...

MAINE POOCHA ITNA TADPAATI KYON HO,
US NE JAWANI KA INTIQAAM LIKH BHEJA...

MAINE POOCHA TUJHEY NAFRAT KISS SE HAI,
KAMBAKHAT US NE MERA HI NAAM LIKH BHEJA...

I really liked the poem.... represents feelings of a lot og guys being rejected by gals..... though urs truly hv never been lucky enuf to be counted in this list of guys....... oh, i forgot, i too had my same share of this 'misfortune' when i was in school, but thts a different story altogether. may be on some other post sumday

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. : meanwhile i m really busy on a sting operation. More details in next post.....keep waiting.... shor naa machaana otherwise usko pata chal jayega...:)

Some GD tips.....

2006-01-10T14:26:00.000+05:30

CAT results are out and I have been receiving a number of mails regarding GD/PI prepn in these days. Since it is not possible to send a individual reply, i thought i would put a post on the blog regarding the same.

Following are some of the tips for GD from my experience:

* GD is usually not an elimination procedure. The evaluator evaluates you on skills like communication in group, leadership, assertiveness and most importantly listening. Remember you have one mouth and two years. So the communication should also be on similar pattern. A group discussion is your chance to be more vocal. The evaluator wants to hear you speak. So you do not have to sit quitely and hope that someone would give you a chance to speak up. Stand up for your opinion.

* Regarding the content- TIME told us a strategy which I found very useful for every topic -SPELT. Think about a topic from five different prespectives -Social, Political, Economic, Legal And Technological, u wud be able to generate a number of good points.

* Take time to organize your thoughts. Think of what you are going to say.

* Don't start speaking until you have clearly understood and analyzed the subject. Seek clarification if you have any doubts regarding the subject.

* Work out various strategies to help you make an entry: initiate the discussion or agree with someone else's point and then move onto express your views.

* Opening the discussion is not the only way of gaining attention and recognition. It is a high risk, high return strategy. The move can backfire badly if you make any goof up. I personally preferred being second or third speaker.

* Your body language says a lot about you - your gestures and mannerisms are more likely to reflect your attitude than what you say. Gestures like pointing a finger or pen, sitting cross legged, playing with pen, tapping with feet needs to be avoided. Maintaining an eye contact, smiling faces are always welcomed.

* Try to know as many as people before the GD. This helps as familiar faces may not interrupt you as you speak.

* Language skills are important only to the effect as to how you get your points across clearly and fluently.

* Be assertive not dominating; try to maintain a balanced tone in your discussion and analysis. Don't lose your cool if anyone says anything you object to. The key is to stay objective: Don't take the discussion personally.

* Always be polite: Try to avoid using extreme phrases like: `I strongly object' or `I disagree'. Instead try phrases like: `I would like to share my views on;' or `One difference between your point and mine' or "I beg to differ with you"

* In case of a ‘Fish market situation’, first and foremost- make sure that you don’t contribute to the mayhem. If the group is too disorderly wait for the right opportunity to make your point. Also a valuable tip - If a GD/Case study is more than 15 mins duration, it would not turn into a fish market. So act accordingly. IIMA case studies do not turn into fish market. There is a lot of time and people are really hesitant to create fish market kind of situation.

* Brush up on your leadership skills; motivate the other members of the team to speak, and listen to their views. Be receptive to others' opinions and do not be abrasive or aggressive.

* Read a lot for generating content. Go thru newspapers like Hindu, mags like Businessworld etc to get a familiarity with current topics.

* Modulate the various aspects of your voice viz. volume, pitch and tone so as to suit the nature of the point you are making. Make sure you don’t sound rude or arrogant.

Apart from the above points, the panel will also judge candidates for theiralertness and presence of mind, problem-solving abilities, ability to work as a team without alienating certain members, and creativity. An old cliched but valid adage says -'Practice makes a man perfect'..... n GD is one of the places where it is most apt.

Naya saal mubarak ho !!!!!!

2005-12-31T01:11:00.000+05:30

Exams over......Second term ends

GUUUUHHHHHAAAAAHHHHHAAAAA ....( if u have seen Ramanand sagar's Ramayan during ur childhood u can relate it with Ravan's laughter)

Me off from the campus..... Back to home.... sweet home

GUUUUUUUUHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAA (The bigger one)

Checked mails after a couple of days..... n was quite shocked to see a lot of them with 'Happy New Year' kinda subject. I never realised that 2005 is now getting set and now its time for rise of 2006. Was just wondering how quickly this year 'passed away'. As sumone rightly said- 'Life is not measured by the number of breaths u take, but by the number of moments which take away the breath'. i m also trying to recall sum of the major moments fr me in the 'to be soon' last year

1. Sat in an aeroplane for first time in life....... infact had 2 rides in 3 days. The excuse was the convocation ceremony. The rides were not as royal as they r shown in TV....... not exactly very pretty air hostesses with those long, never ending legs.... no royal cuisine, no girl in the 'bagal wali seat'..... but the first experience was gud enuf

2. Fired first resignation letter of my corporate life....... was quite happy to see the relief on my manager's face.......reaction seemed- 'off u bugger !!!!! Bahut tolerate kar liya tujhe.....ab kat le..... now a couple of years u wud be also in manager's role and wud realise how tough it is to handle guys like u'. But i really got senti while leaving the organisation. have made sum gud friends and relationships which r going to last for times to come.

3. First time in my life when i dont hv to 'explain' my educational credentials....... i came from a small school.... then those 'idlis', i mean, the southies asked me with an inquisitive smile-'Dude wht is NSIT ?' Have not met any guy in last 6 months who dared to ask me ' man wht is IIM Ahmedabad ?'....GUUUHHHHAAAHHAAA

4. Another 'crush' in the year..... n again did not gather enuf courage to 'speak' it to her........the excuse was different as compared to earlier excuses which i gave to myself to satisfy my ego and hide my fear....... may be some more details in some of the later posts

5. First time in life felt sum real competition..... n realised tht how tough the life can be n the kind of impact it can make on u.... u go without food,sleep, other amenities in life....but with still fire in ur belly n ready to fight fr every inch.... made me a better, disciplined person.... i never had words like deadlines, time management, scheduling, priorities etc in my dictionary before coming to this place..... n now i m a bit different today.... mujh jaise nalayak ko bhi is jagah ne dho daala...err... mera matlab badal daala :)

6. First time lived away from my family. was a 'fraud' hosteller in NSIT. Being a pukka hosteller has got its charms n moments to relish... those relishing dorm moments... the naming ceremony, endless chatting in the night n then sleeping during the class hours, the birthday session( painful, yet enjoyable) .... really made me an extrovert and highly confident guy

7. Got a new name- 'Tatva'....... the dorm name given to me in IIMA..... dont ask me wht it means...... how i got tht name ........ no this tradition in IIMA can't be revealed........ wht the name means........ let the horses of ur imagination run wild......... the wierdest thing u can think about..... u r really close to find it

8. became an active blogger. the blog gained a lot of popularity in last 3 months... made a number of new cyber friends-the active bloggers like- sayesha, ruchi, Venks, aashtha, ships...the list goes on !!!!! n the number of visitors have grown leaps and bound....... Thank u guys....... n gals !!!!!

9. First time in life a wore a suit..... u may be surprised to hear that !!!!! But i feel suit to be very restrictive in motion for a free flowing guy like me.... may be i wud hv to change a bit of myself to become a better corporate citizen.

10. A lot of other things... which i cant remember now... may add as n when i remember them

wht hv been special occassions in ur life in this year.. do write in n share with us

Like every gud as well as bad phases, this year too hv ended. Happy new year to everybody. Wish this year brings happiness,joy and prosperity in ur life. Chill out n make most of this occassion with ur friends, relatives n others... me too off for partying fr a couple of days....... like a chitrahaar....See u at the same place, same time next year... till then enjoy n take care

Winters are here, but 'thand' kahan hai !!!!

2005-12-20T03:35:00.001+05:30

This is the month of December. This has usually been the time in last 23 years when i used to be loaded with woolen clothes. The first 12 years in vast sands of Rajasthan where nights used to be bordering on other extremes of what a day would offer you. A temperature of 40 degree in the daytime and 1 degree in night was very frequent in winters in the same place on the same day. So i wud be switching between the T-Shirts in the day to warm jackets in the night. The next 10 years in the concrete jungles of Delhi, where the variation was not so high but still gud enuf to force u to stuff woolens to survive.

But here in Ahmedabad the climate is very moderate. The temperature hv rarely touched even 10 degrees even though Delhi is literally freezing. Last weekend when i went to Delhi for the convocation, i cud literally feel the difference. Even after a couple of sweaters i was literally shivering. as i mentioned tht i attended the marriage of a friend's sister n even though i was complaining vocally tht i dont like 'shaadis' in small banquet halls, i prefer them in big tents and pandaals, internally i was still happy tht i was relieved of facing tht harsh chill during the night in the open.

So when my mom enquires about how is the climate out here, i casually reply that i am roaming around the campus in T-Shirts and shorts, she gets really angry. and as usual she cannot find a bigger idiot than me in this world. I dare not tell her that the ceiling fan in the room is still working fine. when my 'friend' calls up, n i sheepishly tell her of the situation here, she says that i am the most careless guy she has ever seen, then i start wondering about the number of guys she have 'seen' till now.

IIMA has really got sum diversity. On one hand we have the north Indians like us who have already been hardened by the winters n r really enjoying the moderate temperature here. On the other hand we wud find the 'idlis' or the south indians who wud be shivering with cold and taking all kind of precaution. So it is not very uncommon to find two friends walking together, with one walking nonchalantly in a loose cotton T-Shirt and other loaded with a couple of sweaters and jackets, shivering along the path.

But even this mild cold is having its affects on me. I m sleeping a lot these days, earlier i used to doze off during the lectures. but now this situation does not arises. I find it really difficult to carry myself even to the morning clases. as a result i hv started missing my morning classes. n i need to be careful..... authorities here can tolerate everything but the 'academic indiscipline' n not attending classes is considered a very serious offence, at least in the first year.

tring...tring... the cell phone rings..... its again mom on the other side.....I need to put on the sweater n.... need to switch off this rickety fan before she hears krrrrrrrr.....

Yahoo ! Mein Engineer ban gaya

2005-12-13T00:01:00.000+05:30

Some pics first

me, Shanky n Rajiv

Getting ready fr the show.......

Me, Himanshu, Garg, Jiggs, Midya

n the caps go in the air...... one of the most awaited moments of my life

Oops, mera haath beech mein aa gaya...

At present i dont hv more pics... wud upload them once i get them.....Garg send them fast

So finally a degree at last. A degree which says that I hv passed out as a computer engineer from one of premiere engg colleges of India, NSIT to be a bit precise. After nearly wait of one n an half year, I officially became an engineer. I am very lucky to hv a convo so quickly. Some of my senior batches had to wait fr about 4 years to get their degree. In fact i too had a feeling tht I wud be getting my MBA degree just before officially becoming an engineer. Long live the 'efficient' Delhi University....;)

Last week I just got a feel of how my future life is shaping. Just in time flight bookings, attending various events in a span of a couple of days, n then returning back to the base. On friday night, around 11:30 pm, I decided tht I wud be going fr the convo on monday. booked a flight on sat morning 10am. This was the first time I travelled by a plane. yeah, the air hostesses were not as pretty as they r usually shown in movies, but they were kind enuf to give me a lot of chocolates....n i love chocolates !!!!!! after all the best way to a man's heart goes thru his stomach;)

one of my close friend's sister's marriage was scheduled on sunday. So i decided to spring a surprise on the friend. I called her up on saturday night to tell her tht i was in Ahmedabad n was unable to make it to the marriage, the reason being cited was 'academic pressure at IIMA'. Next day when i turned up at the marriage celebrations her face was worth watching. She was literally shocked n was really stunned. Anyways a gud party which was followed later in night by dad's scolding in home fr not spending any time with family.

Monday we had the convocation. Surprisingly a lot of people turned up. I never expected such a big turnout. With a lot of familiar faces around, reminicient of the life which i went thru for 4 years, when there wasn't much tension in life, 'academic pressure' was a lot unheard of, missing classes was the order of the day, planning of a future career was prohibited, lots of nightouts conducted just gossiping around, lots of discussions around babes, bikes n beers ( though i remained a teetotaler thruout). wearing those black convo dresses with the yellow apron n the cap certainly was thrilling. The best part of convo was tht a couple of speakers were unwell. So we were spared of a number of long, tiring speeches. I still cant understand from where do these leaders find enthu to deliver those stale, uninspiring speeches. The ceremony got over in 2 hours flat n then we took a tour of the campus n the hostel. A lot of memories did come up n the moment was all nostalgic. We took a number of snaps n then the custom of throwing the caps in the air took place( I donnow whts the name given to this process).... missed a couple of friends..... ajay,mallu, achint were not there

I had a flight to catch around 5pm on monday. So had to leave a bit early. So the weekend was pretty hectic, with a lot of running around to do. But overall it was fun n these moments are going to be cherished thruout the whole life. Now i m back in IIMA campus, sitting in front of Kotler, somehow hoping to finish the marketing assignment fr tomorrow. Hope tht i just dont doze off in the class tomorrow( thts wht i hv been doing the whole first term)

Birthday Blues

2005-12-01T15:58:00.000+05:30

Let me walk u thru another aspect of IIMA- the 'fun fr all' n 'pain fr one' aspect. The life here is tough n a lot of stress is always present, but given an opportunity we try to derive the best out of it. The aspect i m talking about is the birthday parties. Anybody from outside the campus who wud come and watch any BDay party wud never accept the fact tht these same bunch of hooligans are going to 'decorate' the top positions in business scene tomorrow.......... n urs truly was at the receiving end of the barbarous assault of these hooligans yesterday

My dorm mates were exceptionally enthusiastic about celebrating my birthday..... many of them had been at the receiving ends earlier and thr revenge was the first thing on their mind. The process started with the dorm birthday manager booking the 12 am slot( yeah even the BDay parties here hv their schedule.....) and posting the birthday invite in DBABBLE, the institute's online notice board.

Now we hv the concept of GoH or Guest of Honour. This is basically to invite any person of opposite sex as the special attraction on the BDay. She also has her role cut-out fr the same. But before her roles starts, it was the time for these hooligans to take over. more than 50 people turned up fr the 'show'. It all started with customary bumps..... and was kicked around really badly..... n then i was turned over with my face facing the ground. I was taken around the dorm like an aeroplane on the shoulder of four guys.... n then the dormmates decided to hv some fun. A lot of cold water was poured on me with special preference given to the rear section. It has been really cold out here recently n getting dunked by cold water was really scary..... but the more scarier part was about to start. These people took out their slippers and started to test the strength of their slippers n chappals against my rear.... this went out fr sumtime n i felt enormous pain..... they stopped fr a while when i pretended tht i cud not take it any more..... but soon they realised tht i was acting and lo! the 'slipper act' stopped only when they got tired n when they cud not give it any more.........

more was yet to come... they placed me 3 feet away from the candles n asked me to blow them off. After the sound thrashing i got, i was in no position to force any jet of air out of my mouth...... n then those tenacious guys started again..... i was still on four shoulders and was pushed around till i finally managed to blow off the candles. Only then i was allowed to land, i was 'put' on my feet now.... struggling to stand, i thot i did a good job of reciting a couple of 'poetic' lines for my GoH n the crowd seems to hv loved those 'romantic lines' after the 'war session' they enjoyed...... i started to feel a bit better. After i had cut a reasonably big piece, she took that in her hand and smeared them all over my face and hair. Moreover, she wiped her hands clean on my shirt. This i guess was the best part of the night for me. ;)

Now its time for the 'jubilant' junta to leave (after they had their cake and eaten it too). I washed my face and came back to cut the second cake which was exclusively meant for the dorm mates. It was quite late now n then the cermony was over... everyone retired to their rooms n i also came back... time to rest now....... wht i was left with was a battered and torn jeans, a smeared t-shirt and an injured rear.......;)

amit

P.S: Its been 18 hours now ... but my whole body is still aching. :(((.... i really found it diificult to 'sit' in the class today n everyone seems to be smiling at my uneasiness.......;)

Relax...........CAT ho gaya na !!!!!!

2005-11-24T14:12:00.000+05:30

Went thru CAT paper yesterday..... no i m not planning to take CAT again n go thru tht grinding schedule of written exam, GD/PI once again. I already hv my hands full here. Just the curosity of seeing the paper, which haunted me twice earlier made me go thru the paper once again. And again these people managed to throw a surprise. With the number of questions showing a downward trend, I think the focus hv shifted from speed to the 'content' part. speed is not going to matter. With -ve marking going upto 2.66 marks per question the street smartness which involved making intelligent guesses would be curbed.

Regarding the paper i feel the toughness level has increased. . Another year that the "great divide" between the quant-haves and quant-have-nots increases. Another year when no more punterbaazi (cracking questions by sheer common sense and presence of mind) not will work. Sumtimes i feel very happy n blessed tht i scraped thru when these things still ruled the roost......:)

I m suddenly facing a deluge of mails regarding my prediction of cut-offs. man i m not an astrologer. and it wud be really tough even fr ur neighbourhood 'swamiji' to predict the cut-offs. But after going thru the paper n seeing the scores of junta at various forums like pagalguy, my take wud be

VA-RC -20
Quant - 11
DI -10

a total of arnd 48 + wud start fetching the calls. I wud like to add the standard disclaimers..... so please do not sue me if u do not get a call even after achieving these scores. But IIMs hv known to follow 'mysterious' ways of giving calls taking a host of other factors like background, past education, sex ( yeah tht matters), work-ex n so on. Also sum people who do extremely well in 2 of the sections but do not perform well in third one also get calls as criteria which every IIM hv for sending calls is different. urs truly got 99+ percentile in his first attempt with 90+ percentile in each section but still did not get any call. but i m not complaining now after making it to the best in next attempt........:).

i think its time fr u all to put CAT behind n focus on upcoming exams. doesnt matter how u did this exam, its time to leave all this behind. chill out, watch movies with ur friends for sum days, party hard !!!!!! after all it wud hv taken an enormous effort from ur side. so u should relax.... visit all ur uncles n aunts who must hv been complaining tht they havent seen u fr sum time now. take ur girl/boy friend to movie .....basically enjoy urself n indulge urself in the interests which u missed during this struggle. For the guys who r working sumwhere, u wud hv to back to the office.... i can sense tht frustration. I hv been thru the same phase a year earlier.....

Still a number of exams are to follow, with XLRI, FMS n a host of others lined up, its not the time to lose focus. nor the time to lose hope. I hv seen many people who were screwed royally in CAT but cracked other major entrance exams. So its not the time to get engrossed in the feeling of being let down by a single exam. Do well in those exams too n hope fr the best

Amit

woh saat din ......

2005-11-18T21:12:00.000+05:30

May 05, 2005- Blog 'http://enjoyingmyself.blogspot.com/' is incorporated

July 09, 2005- Blog hit counter touches the 4 digit mark

November 16, 2005- Blog hits touche the 5 digit mark

I m really thankful to all of u guys who really bore the incessant blabbering for the last few months n i hope to trouble u for some more time. Despite some of the long breaks tht i had to take, the blog have been able to survive n the no of visitors hv really grown. Thanks to all of u..... u all deserve a pat on ur back...:)

Meanwhile another major thing happened in ur's truly's life on 16th. The summer placement procedure was over and I got thru ITC. really lucky to make it thru one of top 3 marketing firms in the country and going by last 5 year trends the best marketing firm in the country. Had offers from a number of other firms from various sectors including finance, marketing as well as IT ones. now u wud be really wondering wht a non smoker like me wud be doing in primarily a tobacco company, but ITC hv really changed in last 5 years. from a 'cigratte' only company, they hv diversified into hotels, agro business n FMCG goods. n i may be placed in one of these growing sectors. The profile expected is sales n marketing. So please dont get surprised, if on a nice sunday morning in next summers, when u wud be watching a India- Pakistan thriller, with India requiring 9 runs of last 5 balls, Dhoni going great guns, suddenly u hear ur doorbell ringing. u open the gate in a really pissed off mood n u find a guy claiming to be an IIMA student working with ITC trying to get ur preferences over 'Aashirwaad Atta'...... Please dont beat up tht guy as tht guy may eventually turn out to be ur's truly....:)

The placements here hv been really wonderful this time. The placements here at A have been really gud always, just the fact that the no. of quality firms hv increased in recent years. Other IIMs are also making resolute efforts to catch on with us.Going by the placecom rules, i m not really allowed to disclose a lot of information about the placements here. But the quality as well as the quantity of offers hv increased a lot. The students hv become a lot choosy about the firms they want to join. Even big firms like McKinsey etc saw tht a major number of offers given by them were not accepted. The no. of day 0 offers increased to 73 with day 1 offers also touching 125. The whole batch got placed by the end of day 2 and a number of companies hv to go back with a sense of dejection as the students were not available.

As I mentioned in my last post tht summers provide u with an excellent opportunity to test waters in the profile which u want after u pass out from here. I also wanted to go towards marketing. My job was also made easier by the fact tht a lot of people here hv become finance oriented, sum due to the interest, sum due to the lucrative offers available but most due to the herd mentality.

Those seven days hv been really hectic. U cud see all kind of emotions of people's face on those days -anger, escatsy, frustration, despair, relaxed, depression....... People hving to attend 15 interviews in a single day n also still not making it in tht day n then hv to wait for their turn on the next day. This was really painful, but these experiences clearly shows how difficult and competitive the life can be. While sum of us converted the sole call of the day....... n cud see the expression of joy of making it. Lots of kudos to the placecom who deftly handled the show n avoided any major glitches. Finally everbody got placed by day2. n u cud see the smiling faces all around. I think these smiles were not merely due to the fact tht they got thru wonderful companies but also because of the fact tht the ordeal got over.

Chalo its the time to relax a bit this weekend. Classes hv started the work load again seems to hv increased a lot. This place doesn't give u an opportunity to relax, but as somebody rightly said ' Opportunities r not offered, they hv to be created'..... n i m busy thinking of doing somthinh different this weekend

amit

P.S: For all those guys who love singing the 'sutta na mila' song would now know whom to contact if they do not get their 'dose'.....just kidding....:)

Whats going on here

2005-11-10T16:21:00.000+05:30

The exams are over today. somewhat similar to the first term though the number of papers was less. 3 days n 6 exams.....n everything gets over very quickly even before they cud realise wht's happening. also we have started to become immune frm this pain now......

Exams were there, but the focus for them was just not there. The summer placement process are is going to start just immediately after exams. So many of us wud finish the last paper last paper at 4:30 pm and they wud rush to attend ppts from 6pm onwards. This place is really hectic and you hv to really move fast to catch up with the system. First 2 days are known as Day 0 where there wud be multiple i-Banks like GS, Lehman, Barclays n consulting firrms including BCG,MCkinsey, Bain etc wud be participating. Most of them are foreign offers and there is a mad scramble fr these offers in the campus.

Then comes the turn of the Indian firms on day 1 and day2. Most of them are also really gud frms to work with n give excellent opportunities to know abt the business during the 2 months in summer. This is just the kind of opening u need to know abt various functional areas of business. It provides a gud opportunity to explore - see if u feel more comfortable in a particular domain n r u ready to pursue a career in tht domain in the future, or was it just a fad n then u realise that ur strengths n capablities do not fit well with the domain u choose. Some firms require to to sit in cosy air-conditioned rooms, designing glamourous ppts, 'trying' to make strategies which the companies may explore in the future.....sum others require u to 'hit the road' starightaway. u talk to people, know wht they want n then help company realise how it can provide the values customer want to derive from a product.

from today evening the shortlists wud start to come out. n then there wud be real stampede. people checking mails every 5 mins, people who dont believe in God starts praying, some real hard competition, people start communicating in English n so on.... i cud just hope tht everybody get good job, but one shud know tht if he doesnt get his dream job, then also its not end of everything. Every job is as good as what u get out from it. So though a 'good' job gives u an initial advantage, but finally it boils down to the person's capablities and wht he aspires to achieve in his life and how he goes thru in achieving it. As sumbody rightly said- 'Ur attitude determines ur altitude in life. Skills and knowledge can be gained any time, but wht matters in the long run is ur attitude towards achieving ur goals'

The tears that you spill, the sorrowful, are sweeter than the laughter of snobs and the guffaws of scoffers."
- Kahlil Gibran, "A Handful of Sand on the Shore"

Best of Luck to everyone

wish me luck !!!!!!!!

Amit

Happy diwali

2005-11-01T02:29:00.000+05:30

'Amit, you lazy bum, get up, we have to go for the presentation'

'But i am just coming from a presentation'

'Doesnt matter, that company was from IT sector. This one is a finance one'

'So wht........ i dont want to go now......... i m getting a bit tired of these ppts. cud u just go n note down all the gyan they give. n then u cud give me a 5 min ppt on wht they said in an hour's lecture. i cud give u a treat in canteen for tht'

' no way....just get up....we r getting late'

'k, hang on.....i am coming'

this was part of a small conversation between myself n my neighbour an hour earlier. n thts one of the major reason i hv been away frm this blog fr a while n wud remain away for some more time. busy attending ppts, filling application forms n goin thru websites...... initially this seems very exciting...... high ranking employees of top notch firms coming and pitching for the students here.......u start to feel the power the IIMA brand exerts n there is sumthing which gives a lot of boost to the egos......but gradually the fatigues sets in....... n then u start feeling tht i cant take it anymore. But this is the beauty of this place. u think of giving up n then suddenly from nowhere get tht latent energy to get up n go to auditorium to attend the ppts.

meanwhile tomorrow is Diwali.... n there is sumthing different n sumthing peculiar i m feeling abt this diwali..... this wud be the first one i wud be spending away from my family. no younger brother here to pester me to light more crackers, no cousins here to egg me on to get more crackers, mom is not here, i miss her n her advice, 'beta, take care while playing with crackers. they can be be dangerous'. papa is not here, otherwise he wud hv been calling me to sit in the diwali puja. life can be sumtimes be very ironic. u work hard, study hard, so tht u can keep ur family happy, but fr achieving the same thing u hv to stay away frm ur family, sit in ahmedabad n just think abt the next form u r going to fill....... i m seriously missing my family now, yes mom - i never tell u this thing on phone, but i really miss u.

fr the cricket fans there hv been certainly gud news.... the god is back in the field n back to perform wht he is best at- murdering bowlers with tht nonchalant arrogance. n back r the exquisitive drives, blazing pulls, charges down the wicket n tht hunger to regain the no 1 spot which has been truly his. gone r the self-doubts which had plagued him fr 2 years. n we r getting to see the same sachin whom we had been earlier accustomed to. the mood in in the indian team has become positive n there seems to be new vigour in the team. seems we r in fr treat fr sumtime now

meanwhile happy diwali to all of u, ur families, ur friends, chachas, chachis, mamas, mamis n ........... enjoy urself n take care while burning crackers..... hv i started sounding like my mom.... seems time to log out

amit

wht one's mom can teach one

2005-10-18T03:45:00.000+05:30

was just going thru an article which said tht how a person behaves depends upon the learnings imbibed, implicitly or explicitly, during his childhood. n the parents hv a major say in shaping the future behavior. looking frm indian context i think its a person's mother whose role is really important during that phase of the life.

was thinking of how a mom can shape a number of attributes of a person.....
i think a number of u wud also be relate to incidents mentioned.......

This is how my mom taught things to me...

My Mom taught me To APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning!"

My Mom taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that stain will come out of the carpet."

My Mom taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"

My Mom taught me LOGIC.
"Because I said so, that's why."

My Mom taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I've told you once, I've toldyou a million times - Don't exaggerate!!!"

My Mom taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying and I'll *give* you somethingto cry about!"

My Mom taught me THE CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world,and I can take you out."

My Mom taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper!"

My Mom taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you *look* at the dirt on the back of your neck!"

My Mom taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunatechildren in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do!"

My Mom taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is finished."

My Mom taught me about WEATHER.
"It looks like a tornado sweptthrough your room!"

amit

He came, saw and conquered her......

2005-10-09T01:48:00.000+05:30

Well i just got this link in one of the fwd n i m really shocked.......How can be media be so insensitive. Check out the link : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1249434,curpg-1,fright-0,right-0.cms

I am just attaching a snapshot of the news article, just in case the article is removed from the site

TOI never had reputation of being a 'family' paper.......with the emphasis primarily on scantily dressed models.....the focus has shifted from the news content to masala. but this is the height of apathy...the brazen, shameless act which have ruined the life of a happy couple is being potrayed as an act of bravado....as if that man has won a gold medal in the Olympics or hv scaled Mt Everest. n the woman is being depicted as the prized catch.

it shud hv been the responsiblity of the media to raise voice against such kind of barbarous acts, but it seems TOI has decided to look the other way........... maybe by this they wud attract a few more hits on its site, may even get sum users to switch from the porn sites to its site, but they r doing a great damage to the society. The media has got a great pull on the society. n the faster the media realises this, the better it wud be for the society.

In my opinion rape is the most despicable act of crime a man cud ever commit. Sometimes wen u hear bout these kinda incidents u feel that u r so lucky whereas as some others are not. Suddenly u dont feel like crying for ur own troubles but for others...... the lady in the article wud hv given the hunter food n shelter considering him as husband's friend, n he did everything to shatter her trust...... now it wud be really difficult to trust anyone else in her life.....the mental pain n agony the lady wud hv to bear all through out her life....... n this incident wud continue to haunt her fr the years to come.The world has become so greedy and selfish that we don't care for anyone else anymore other than ourselves. Its just that for some people this greed overcomes their senses to such an extent that they are incapable of differentiating the right from wrong. And innocent people suffer........

maybe after the public outcry, TOI may remove this link from their site....may claim tht it was an error on the part of sum journalist.......... may be sum other news story got mixed this one......... but the damage has been already done.... an appology on their side wud help to soothe the nerves.

amit

Is it the time for Ganguly to move on

2005-10-02T03:14:00.000+05:30

i hv written a lot abt abt IIM Ahmedabad in my last posts, but its the time now to move over something else which i like........ something which most of indians like to profess their love abt ......... catch any indian n one of the top 3 things which wud be running across in his minds wud be certainly cricket.......... want any gyan abt cricket n u need to just ask an indian to speak over it......n i wont be amazed if u hv to really beg him to stop.......this is one of the things which hurts the most whenever the performance is bad.

Last week another dirty game was played . It was a spat between the captain and coach. n wht made it interesting was the opinion of the coach tht captain was incapable of securing a position in the regular XI based on his performance. For near on two weeks now, everyone -- the media, the pundits, the fan blowing his hard-earned cash on beer to fuel his arguments -- has been analysing the Greg Chappell-Sourav Ganguly standoff. The problem, some said, is a clash of cultures -- Chappell is the quintessentially abrasive Aussie, who does not know how to sugar coat his messages. Nope, said others, the problem is Sourav Ganguly, who is in the midst of a form slump and desperately keen on holding on to his position.

Lets start with a SWOT analysis of the captain.....i know its a bit technical, but being an MBA student i cant resist giving this a shot.......mentioning the name of the captain draws extreme reactions from this nation full of cricket fanatics. its like George bush saying 'us' vs 'them'. either u r on captain's side or u r against him. no wonder the captain has been a great cricketer........he has been one of the top scorers in one day matches scoring more than 10000 runs...one of the most stylish batsmen to watch.......he built the current team from the stretch.......which looked once next only next only to the might aussies.........ready to take the throne which belonged to the ponting's side.... brought new young blood to this side......backed younsters like kaif, yuvraj n harbhajan to the hilt.......who can forget his 'shirtless' show on Natwest finals which marked the arrival of new agggressive indian team.....in short a man who took india to new heights in the cricketing arena

but the captain's own performance has really dipped........his weakness against the short-pitch balls hv been over-exposed.even the 'medium-paced' bowlers from 'test' teams like Zimbabwe hv started fancying their chances against him n are trying to intimidate him with short-pitch deliveries........the deluge of sixes he used to hit against spinners hv reduced to a level which can at best referred as a trickle......he seems to be scoring only against weak teams like kenya n Bangladesh........n he recently scored a painstaking century against Zimbabwe......scoring a 101 in 263 balls against a mediocre bowling attack on a rather dead, flat pitch............earlier no body noticed as the team was winning.....but with the team now on the losing spree the daggers are out.......the column writers hv started exploring the options of replacing him...... n his position in the team which he has assiduously built is being questioned.

coming to the options who r capable or at least seem capable of replacing him-dravid,tendulkar, any of the fresh blooded player like kaif. dravid is hotly projected today as an inherent n implicit successor.....but i dont feel Dravid is gud enuf to take the fight to the opposition camp as ganguly took in the aussie tour.....making steve waugh waiting at the toss........matching sledging comments delivered by the aussies .......... dravid is more seen as a player who can make runs by staying on the field but probably not as a captain who can match aggression of the competitors ........... he is a wonderful player, no doubt..... but a captaincy material ? i doubt.......... sachin has burnt his fingers in the past by taking this onerous task of shouldering the expectations of one billion dollar people. n i dont think he wud like to repeat it. moreover with the number of injuries plaguing him, it wud be better for him as well as the indian cricket fr him to focus more on his recovery.......... now after senior players seem incapable to take the lead, the onus is on the junior players like sehwag, kaif etc......... take the example of south africa who banked on the new talent Graham Smith to lead the team.... this is a long term decision n wud help the team in long run.....similarly i wud prefer to select a younger captain who can build a team of future rather than making a ageing team....look at wht happened to the aussies in ashes......the age factor of their players went against them.

the major problem with indian cricket has been the laid back attitude of the stakeholders- the selectors, players n the general public.....the selectors r afraid to make changes, not ready to pick the players on their current forms ...... rather they choose the safe way of picking 'big' names based on the past reputation........... lot of factionalism also comes into the place.....this allows the players to develop a comfort zone.... so a player has to deliver in just one match n he wud be assured of his place in the side fr next ten matches.......... this all has to be shrugged off if we want to make a gud team or even think of getting closer to wht the aussies hv achieved.

this post may draw extreme reactions...... but remember tht its my blog......... its my birth right to explore to express my feelings abt the issues tht concern me on this web log...... u hv been given the comments section to evince ur feelings ...... so make a judicious use of tht section on whatever u may think over the issue

Its nice to be back

2005-09-22T14:11:00.000+05:30

The vacations are over n i m back at WIMWI. For the ignorant IIMA is also known as 'Well known Institute of Management in Western India' n we all r proud WIMWIans. The session starts from tomorrow n we hv sum interesting subjects like Marketing getting introduced. We were given a big pile of books fr the next sem.... once i thot of hiring a rickshaw to carry those books from the admin office to the dorm....:). n seeing guys carrying those books to the dorms made me remember the scene in Bollywood movie 'Border' where Sunil Shetty moves fwd with a tank mine clutched in his hands to destroy a Pakistani tank.......:). n the miserable part is tht we hv sum books of last term to carry fwd in this term.....n the other sets of case materials which is usually handed to us every second weekend.

when i reached back home, i expected my parents to be delighted. but they simply looked at me in horror . i looked like a kid frm somalia- deprived of basic amenities of life like food n sleep....looked like a real junglee with those long, unkempt hair n unshaven face..... i hv lost sum weight in last 3 months here....... my tummy which i had cultivated so assiduously during my stint as a software engg was gone ...... suddenly i needed the crucial support of belt to prevent my pants from falling........ n my parents were simply enraged....... considering the fact tht i m a real lazy person, my parents simply pounced on me n i had a series of long lectures during the whole vacation whatever the little time i was at home...:). the final lecture had the indirect threat of getting me out of the insti if the similar trend continued in the next term........ i m just hoping tht they did not really meant wht they said. i cant afford to be out of the inti after the gruelling 3 months i had till now....:).

meanwhile the timing of the vacations was gud.......one of my friend (garg) had returned from US a couple of days back......2 others( Ajay n mallu) had just celebrated their birthdays...so i had a number of parties to catch up n 5 days were simply not enuf......... adjusting 3 big parties within a space of 5 days was a real herculean task considering tht i had to meet my friends from my earlier organisation, relatives ( chachas, chachis, cousins......), juniors eager to take 'gyan' over CAT. i thot tht the vacation wud help me to take rest n catch the much needed sleep. but the vacations were as taxing as the first term....with so many people to meet n so little time on hand.......but sumhow i managed it all.

The series of late night parties continued....... with garg having multitude of stories to tell abt his 'adventures' in US, abt the places he visited, the cars he drove n the innumerable successful n unsuccessful attempts he made to make 'friendship' with 'firangi' girls....abt saving money even by hving a torrid time in cooking the food n then eating it.....certainly not the case of having ur own cake n eating it too.......considering the kind of food a normal guy is 'capable' of cooking....:).

anyways the vacations were gud....helped me to unwind...recharge my batteries.....this term is goin to be another hectic one. with summer placements approaching there wud be a numerous ppts to attend, a lot of companies whose profiles need to be browsed over, CVs to be made n so on...time to change gears again......

On winamp

Aankho mein sapne liye

Ghar se hum chal to diye

Jane yeh rahein ab le jayengi kahan

mitti ki khusboo aayi

palkon mein aanson layein

palkon par reh jayenge yaadon ka jahan

manzil nayi hai, anjaana hai kaarwan

chalna akele hai yahan

Tanha dil.........

cant really think of a better song to descibe my feelings......

amit

End of a phase- the 1st term

2005-09-15T12:42:00.000+05:30

Half an hour from now i wud be writing the last paper of my first term, the 8th paper in last 4 days...... n then this term wud get over..... the toughest phase or at least the the perceived toughest phase wud be over..... the experiences hv been really humbling.... totally new, totally different but all worth remembering....

i havent been doing tht well as i expected when i came here...... the first time in my life when i really felt competition...... other places where i hv studied earlier hv also been competitive but their competition level was peanuts as compapred to this place........ fr me the results hv been similar....not exactly in topmost guys in term of acads but in the list of guys who hv been doing 'just ok'.... life has been always been of this kind to me..... i dont really remember in last 5 years if i scored heavily in any of the engg term exams or exams here......just managing to score decent enuf to keep my head above the water.....:). the only exams in which i did really well were the CAT n FMS...n probably thts the reason why i m here....

chalo i m now goin back home....away from all assignments,quizzes, submissions, presentations, reports....... where i dont hv to compete, just relax n unwind myself, meet old friends......dont hv to think abt deadlines apart frm the date on which i hv to come back to Ahmedabad.......

so Delhi, here i come

amit

Innovative ideas

2005-09-05T04:40:00.000+05:30

Well just got a mail consisting of the funny one liners....seems people hv got very funny and innovative ideas to sell their products and services......

# Sign on a railway station in Patna:
Aana free, jaana free, Pakde gaye to khana free.

#Seen on a famous parlour in Mumbai:
Don't whistle at the girl going out from here.
She may be your grandmother

# Seen on a bulletin board:
Success is relative
More the success, more the relatives.

# Sign at barber's saloon in Juhu, Mumbai:
We need your heads to run our business.

#A traffic slogan:
Don't let your kids drive if they are not old enough - or else they, never will be ...

#Seen at a Coffin maker shop:
People are dying to use our services!!

#The last & the best one from the Indian Armed Forces:
"It's God's responsibility to forgive the terrorist organizations.
It's our responsibility to arrange the meeting between them and god".

amit

T-Nite rocks...Part 2

2005-08-28T03:05:00.000+05:30

Well before starting out with my experiences of tht unforgettable week, i wud just like to thank vishy for poining out abt a 'gigantic' mistake which i made on one of my earlier posts 'How to get through an IIM '. Actually the title shud hv been 'How to get 'to' an IIM'. Even after studying fr 2 months I find it pretty difficult to predict abt getting 'thru' an IIM. There is a hell lot of difference between 'getting to' and 'getting thru' an IIM. n u realise tht difference only when u spend sum time here. if sumone knows abt getting 'thru' an IIM, plzzz post it here..... yahan bahut saari pareshaan,dukhi junta hai jo aapko bahut duaiin(blessings) degi....:)....may be i selected tht title when i was half asleep...or say half awake....( i hv already accepted tht i belong to PDS(People Deprived of Sleep) club here.......with a lot of peers sleeping ....err......trying to remain awake besides me....:))

now coming to T-Nite...... prepration started a couple of dayz before the event started....first of all there used to be a lot of gyan from the tuchhas abt the events and the performances.......... u approach any tuchha fr anything, even fr sumthing tht is as related as mallika shehrawat is related to decency, the gyan u wud be getting wud be abt how to perform well in t-nite..... n why not......even though the name stands fr Talent-Nite, it was actually fr the fun n enjoyment of tuchhas....n no wonder a lot of them (n us) branded it as Tuchhas- nite.....

each section booked a classroom fr its preparation.... where the people used to draw posters, banners, practise skits n plays n all other kind of 'items' which we performed later....... first of all there was a mad scramble fr newspapers in each dorm......as i mentioned in last post tht these newspapers were reqd in the 'pub run' to be pasted all over the mess walls to be replaced later by eye catching posters........ n suddenly the dorms started looking cleanier.....the pile of old newspapers which was stacked shabbily in front of my room for such a long time vanished in no time n most of the guys of the dorm initially had no clue where it went...... each dorm hv students of different sections....so this sectional rivalry temporarily spilled over to the dorms........though the first thing taught over here is tht dorm loyalty shud be preferred to all other kind of relationships u hv in ur life........ wud post sumthing abt the dorm culture in some of later posts....... n suddenly u find ur neighbours giving u tht strange n 'hostile' looks......... u need to see those eyes to feel the passions fr their sections.........

there r various teams fr co-ordinating different activites - logistics team fr all resource related issues, creative teams fr making posters n banners, skit team fr the skit n plays, Fashion show team fr the fashion parade n so on....... a lot of other teams r made n broken as the situation demands... this is totally a team event....n u require support frm the whole section to carry it thru.......

the poster making started with a lot of fan-fare. there were arnd 50 posters made fr 3 nites.....n since the marks depended upon creativity n innovativeness, a considerable amount of time was spent on design. a lot of people discover tht they hv a no. of hidden n latent talents in them. there r a no. of things which they haven't done in their life n sum of which they felt were not their cup of tea......... ur truly never knew tht he do draw n paint a poster which cud be labelled as decent....... all he remebers abt his 'drawing skills' was the unlimited no. of 'C's n 'D's, he got in the primary classes...... n one day my primary drawing teacher advised me to forgo my 'drawing instincts' fr sumthing tht cud be labelled more 'productive'. i did manage to draw n paint sum gud posters . in fact we won the maximum no of points in t-nite fr the posters.......i hv kept a couple of posters after tht event. when i wud go back to delhi, i wud show them to my drawing teacher n she wud certainly be very happy with the 'progress' i hv made.........:).

then the auditions fr the dance team started. though the audition team made 'valiant' attempts to select me by giving more n more retakes, i cud not give them any gud reason to select me....... i did a public service by not singing in public....:). so i tried my hands on the skit....i was part of the team which wrote the skit n gave voice over. but due to the fewer no of people available we ourselves took part in skit..... the role i was given was tht i never imagined of.....the role of emulating a gay......this was supposed to be my first role of my life to be played on stage......... n after the role sumone commented tht i i looked pretty natural in tht role.... now i don't know whether to take tht comment as commendation or an offense.....:).

as i mentioned earlier tht the no. of marks scored by each section depended upon the 'enthu' level they displayed....n since this enthu was displayed primarily by generating lots of noise... we made our own 'hulla bol' brigade n guys like me who cud not find better opportunities joined the bandwagon....:). fr making noise we devised our own instruments..... since it was not possible to buy drums within the limited budget constraints we decided to purchase empty metal oil tin cans....... suddenly all 'kabadis' in Ahmedabad became hot properties....i still remember sitting behind a friend on bike, wearing the IIMA tshirt, trying juggling 6 big n dirty oil cans to prevent them frm falling, while sumone on the nearby bike commented- 'yaar in logon ne t-shirt to IIM ki daal rakhi hai, par kisi bhi angle se IIM ke to nahin lagte' n we cud respond only by sheepish grins....:).

we had a number of memorable performances during the fest - the wonderful dance on 'Kazrare-Kazrare' made the tuchhas sit n take notice of our section...then there was all-time hit-'mere angane mein tumhara kya kaam hai' which forced audiences to match their steps with our dancing steps....... the 'Class Act' in which we scored highest no. of points n so on. overall we won 2 out of the 4 nites n were runners up in the final nite but we managed to screw up the third nite in a big way.... so we did not win the t-nite despite the efforts we put on.

but it goes more than winning the nite itself..... u start knowing a lot of people of ur section better..... u make a lot of new friends out here....otherwise it becomes difficult to reach out to new people in the taxing schedule out here.... i got the opportunity of criss-crossing the city fr the various dresses n other resources we required, u come to know a lot abt different seniors...... the section bonding improves....... most of guys in the section working, a few others studying to give remedial sessions in the night at 4am....... half of 'junta' sleeping during the class lectures, which till now was a very rare sight here........ n suddenly the atmosphere start looking very entertaining n relaxing. there r a still a number of guys who dont participate in this fest, who keep away from these activites n keep mugging......but i really dont blame them, everybdy here has different set of priorities n is guided by them

n one more thing which was gud was the 10 hr sleep which i got after the fest was over.....:)

T-Nite rocks !!!

2005-08-21T02:14:00.000+05:30

Whew wht a week tht was...... simply amazing... truly breathtaking........ u rarely get time away from acads here, at least in the first term n gettin a full week 'off' can be simply bewildering..... k... it wasn't a complete week off. the classes went on as usual... but there were no quizzes... suddenly the supply of assignments reduced to a trickle....most of the profs suddenly turned very student friendly ( most of them indeed are, apart from the acads...). so the level of prepration needed to be done fr the classes touched rock bottom ( if there was any preparation...., i can't remember)

Now those of u who r still wondering wht was this T-Nite mania tht hit the students of first yr here , its the annual cultural show put up by the fachha log here fr the senior junta- the tuchhas. Its a lot of masti, fun, enjoyment as well as fierce competition all around.

now coming to the way how this fest is structured..... there r four night performances, oops......, performances on 4 nights put on by the fachha sections. The students are divided into 4 different sections fr all purposes here. there r different set of weightages fr each of the different nights. the first two r on the smaller scale with each section reqd to perform fr abt 25 mins each, the third one is on the bigger stage with a 20 % weightage n the final nite has got the weightage of abt 40% in which each section has to perform fr around 90 mins .

The run-up to the T-nite begins with an event called 'pub run'.... sorry, dont get mistaken...there are not any 'official' pubs in Ahmedabad, certainly not in IIMA....:) . just see tht i hv emphasized on the word 'official' here. now coming to the pub run..... In this event 20 people from each section are reqd to run from a particular point towards the mess to capture the maximum of mess wall's space fr their respective sections. within a space of half an hour, u wud see the whole of mess walls r covered with different kind of newspapers n even bedsheets. now whts the use of newspapers to cover the walls...? these newspapers r later replaced by the posters of each section... the more visible n creative the posters r , more the number of points the section scores.....

After the pub run, comes the two mess nites with a weigtage of abt 12.5% each... different sections hv their respective time intervals to showcase their 'talents'. actually it goes further frm just showcasing the talents, the points r allocated on the basis of not only ur performance, but also the kind of 'enthu' shown by the section. n this enthu is majorly measured by the amount of noise the section can generate......:) n this noise is certainly deafening........ the tuchha community is present there in gud numbers n is ready to boo u preety badly, even fr minor glitches......they r a totally impatient at this stage n any minor glitches during the performance can become totally unnerving fr the section performing...... one thing which matters here r the catchy slogans n tempo shouts of each section. the better these things are, the better response the fachhas get frm the tuchhas. Since there r points fr entry n exit, every section tries to capitalise on these points by trying to shout other sections down.....

after the first two nights, the events move on to the bigger stage, the auditorium..... the audience r ready to be a bit more patient.....now the sections get sum opprtunity to show sum real talent rather than just shouting hoarse fr the tempo shouts as in earlier nights. the time allocated fr the performances also increase... so there r a no. of gud performances.... n u suddenly start realising tht people here r really gud in skills other than acads n 'brain- exercising events'.

this was just the structure of the T-nite..... wud be posting my experiences of tht unforgettable week in my next post

amit

How to get through an IIM

2005-08-11T05:18:00.000+05:30

there r 3 kinds of people i know
- the people who are already doing their mba or hv completed it. i wud request these guys to share sum of their experiences, strategies n other gyan
- the aspirants, who want to make it big......
- the junta who is uninterested in doing mba. these people shud just sit n watch with great amusement, how a simple exam of maths, english n reasoning can be made complicated thru application of various game plans n strategies....:).

well frnz, the title may be a bit misleading. This is certainly not a key to crack CAT n get thru a good B-School. this is just a portion of my experiences with this exam, considering the fact tht i went thru this ordeal 3 times including the leaked one...:).

VA section

RC- u shud make it a habit to read newspaper daily. n reading newspaper means going deeply into various events happening in different sectors like politics, finance, sports n so on. reading newspaper means reading 'Hindu' rather than just browsing the glossy n scantily clad models in DT section of TOI. This wud not only build good understanding of various kind of topics, also improve the reading speed. later during the GD/PI portion it is certainly going to help a lot. if u dont hv a habit of reading this transformation can be a bit painful but it is certainly going to help in the long run. dont waste time on reading fiction...... thts generally useless, unless provided u r an avid reader.

RC section tests :
Take up a regular RC section test.smthing like (30 mins 5 passages),target shud be to attempt 4 passages. 3 passages thoroughly + easy qs from 1 passage.(if u think ur better thn that ..target 5 passages..u can tone down targets depending on the kind of passages/diffculty level/type of qs etc). u will most probly be leaving 1 passage(look at the passages first ..lengths,glance thru content ..decide which u will leave.(maybe first 1 min for it..) alternatively if a pssage looks very easy jump ahead and do it(better). for each passage u attempt....get a hang of the passage and a general idea abt wht is being talked abt in which section of the passage.Go ahead to the qs.If any answers seem very evident mark it.Else go back to the part of the relevant para -re-read it slowly try to identify the answers.u shudnt be taking more thn 8mins for any passage.So 8*3 = 24..remainng 6 mins pick up the passage out of remainng 2 which looks esier/has more direct qs..try to read the qs and pick the answers.Simple isnt it??!If u read qs first..since u generally dont know wht the passage is abt u wont be able to relate to the qs.2.If u read the passage thorughly once b4 attempting qs...it is a waste of time..cos thr may be tough sections in the passage which u pored over and absoloutely no qs abt....many of the answers might be fairly direct and cud be picked up ina rough reading...u go back to the passage only if u absolutely need to.Usually wht happens is..u will complete a passage in abt 4 mins ..read qs..then hv to again go back and read parts of the passage cos ur not sure of the answers.this is total timepass.

vocab - this is one of the most over estimated portion of CAT exam. cat do not ask directly vocab related questions. but sumtimes u need to hv a good vocab to hv a better understanding of passage. start with norman lewis n then move on to Barron. try preparing ur own flash cards with arnd 20-25 words written on each card. try to relate words with something to improve the recall. Eg. relate word 'bacchanalia' to amitabh bacchan to improve recall its meaning of being drunkard. carry those 'word cards' (TIME issues them.. or still better u can make them urself!),

verbal ability - parajumbles shud be attempted by finding out the suitable link b/w two sentences . try to find a sequence of 2 or more sentences n then eliminate the choices. try to find if a pronoun is used fr a noun used earlier. The other way would be to take a holistic view of all the sentences and try to arrange them in your head, till it sounds right. Although this is tough, it takes a little time to get used to, but it will help in getting a higher accuracy level.

Arranging the 6 sentences type :
It is actually easier when the 1st and 6th sentences are given as now you have more ways of solving the jumble.Since the 1st sentence is given, it is not always tough to find the next sentence as it will logically follow. Use this method and then again go on an elimination spree.Also, the 6th sentence is given. Once you get the flow of the sentence, to guess the preceding sentence is not again too very tough. So all you have to do is battle with the 3rd & 4th which again should fall in place once you have guessed the others right.

grammar -its not necessary to hv a detailed knowledge of grammar. u do not need to know abt gerunds n other similar sounding stuff( i do not know abt them till today). just try to hv a decent understanding of various grammar sections i.e. where to place an article n which article to place. the basic grammar knowledge helps in finding the correct/incorrect sentences

Further few links for VA/RC I gathered from internet.......
1. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html
2. http://esl.about.com/cs/beginner/
3. http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

the post has already become a bit big. so post on other sections wud be posted later, depending upon the response i get...:).

amit

P.S. -sum part of the above post has been taken from pagalguy.com. I dont hv any intention of claiming it as my own. all disclaimers apply...:)

T-Nite on

2005-08-10T04:13:00.000+05:30

frnz,

T-Nite, the cult competition is going on. n urs truly is participating with a lot of zeal n enthu. so next post wud be available in a couple of days. It wud be on CAT prepn.

amit

Mid sems over !!!

2005-08-04T01:36:00.000+05:30

i m back... after a break..a long one indeed. had mid sems fr last 3 dayz. so had to suppress my burning desire to make another entry at the blog fr sumtime. we had six papers, 2 each day fr 3 dayz n believe me this system is much better than having them on six different dayz. the marks u score does not changes much. at least the pain is for lesser no. of dayz...:).

the first phase of the ordeal is over n we hv got a royal break of one day. frm now onwards, we wud hv classes on saturday also. one more subject wud be added to the time table. frm now onwards we will hv 8 subjects to 'browse' thru. but there is a lot of things to look fwd now apart frm acads . mainly its the t-nite- the big inter section cult competition extending on fr a week or so. more on it as the the event approaches....

meanwhile it has been raining heavily fr last sum dayz here. it seems tht monsoon gods have diverted their fury after creating a lot of havoc in mumbai. the news n the pics reaching here abt mumbai clearly shows the large part of city has undergone ruthless distruction. It took only one full day and whole of the Mumbai and, I would rather say, India, understood that there is nothing bigger and devastating then nature's fury, its anger. u can build dams, control flow of rivers n do all kind of stuff, but when the nature retaliates we are just succumbing with our knees bent.

The crux of the problem thus lies in the attitude of people who implement such public services directly and indirectly. There is nothing wrong in becoming rich as along as it doesn't affect other individual or bereft benefits of ordinary civilians. but if the govt 'servants' cannot serve their 'masters', the so called 'janta janardan', it becomes very tough

It is good to see India's GDP growing and businesses and share markets flourishing but same time it is pathetic to see that no parallel developmental programs on ground for the civil society happening leave alone the grandeur plans of Golden quadrilateral and airport modernization which are to allure businesses and ease their logistics.It is time that our Government concentrates and turns its head on to proper implementation of basic services and shapes the infrastructure of cities and towns. It has to wake up for a grand facelift in terms of proper roads and well built planned structures.

anyways hats off to mumbaikar spirit. the people helped each other in the time of crisis. it is the basic essence of humanity....lending ur handing to sumone in need when u urself need one. i m pretty sure tht the city wud bounce back in a few dayz. but lets hope fr the best fr these people for these few dayz.

amit

P.S. -As promised, i intend to hv a post on CAT prepn. So whatever doubts u guys hv n whatever urs truly feel he is capable of handling, he wud include it in his post.

PDS Club

2005-07-23T16:39:00.000+05:30

i came across this term, PDS, in fifth standard... or probably a year later. It stood fr Public Distribution System. it symbolised those people who cud not buy from the open market. differentiating them from the other people........

i hv come across a new description fr this term in last one month. it symbolises the people at A. not the professors......but the tuchhas and the fachhas here, though the context fr both of them is totally different..... both r supposed to be honorary members of PDS club. PDS stands for- People Deprived of Sleep......people whose average quota of sleep is much lesser as compared to the normal people...... differentiating us frm other conventional, sane janta...

the tuchhas spend their time in the night watching movies...... though there r sum who keep slogging sincerely fr completing various projects and assignments . the number of this breed of tuchhas is quite scarce .... similar to the number of fachhas u wud find relaxing and watching movies.

did i hear sumone saying that night is meant fr sleep.... or it is the time to relax ur aching body... to rest ur brains ( depending whether u hv one...) ....or sum crap like 8 hours of gud sleep is a must for a healthy body and a healthy mind...... in fact i used to believe in similar fundas before coming here... but my perceptions hv really chanaged in last one month or so.

the quantity of sleep hv reduced drastically in last one month. though the quality of sleep hv certainly improved. i hv learnt the art completing the sleep in short spells here. the coaches say tht fast bowlers are most effective when they r used in short spells. same seems to be attitude towards sleep here. u get a break of 20 minutes n guess how u decide to spend this time... not chatting with frnds, no yahoo,msn msngrs, no sms-ing, but to catch a small burst of the precious entity called sleep. people usually sleep fr arnd 6-7 hrs a day here, but the 6 hrs is a cumulative figure. it includes 3-4 hours of sleep in the night, 1-2 hrs after coming frm college and the remaining time fr sleep is covered during the classes. though the system is so designed tht u cannot and should not sleep in the class, but 'honi ko kaun taal sakta hai' n 'sone waale ko kaun rok sakta hai'.

meanwhile went to watch 'sarkar' last weekend. my first movie at A to be completed in a single stretch. had sum free time last weekend n decided to go out of the campus. n the movie was gud....a typical ram gopal verma movie... with a fast storyline,minimum focus on song n dance sequences.... of course a theme abt the underworld .... a RGV movie these days cant be complete without sum kind of underworld stories. but wht i liked abt the movie was abt the way junior Bacchan has really shaped up. he oozed confidence, which he lacked in his earlier movies...... dialog delivery was impeccable...... n he was able to hog his share of limelight despite the presence of senior Bacchan...... the girls nearly swooned over him... the dark looks.... the unshaven half beard.... n i cud hear the girls screaming over top of their voices in the hall. i hv a friend in delhi who is ever ready to give a party whenever AB's movie garner decent collections..... till now she did not hv much chance to throw one...:) . but seeing the last few of AB movies in recent times -dhoom,bunt n bubbly,yuva ..... and a number of release lined up, i feel i wud hv a big number of parties to catch up when i go back to delhi.

Sting Operation - Salman & ash

2005-07-16T00:31:00.000+05:30

Salman Khan- Ash 'conversation' is generating a lot of news in the media circles. Pick up any newspaper, browse any magzine or use ur remote to switch between the news channels - the same stuff is placed in front of you, though hashed,rehashed n packaged in a new form. there seems to be a competition in various media publications to gain cheap publicity through this 'latest' sting operation. I m using the word latest in a bit sarcastic tone. though the incident took place sumwht four years earlier, it is 'served hot' to the public now.

already a lot of ink has flowed down the drain on writing abt activites of salman khan. n going by the trends i think this phenomenon wud continue fr sum more time. either media is obsessed with this brat or the brat himself loves to hog the limelight. this guys name evokes extreme reactions - on one hand there r people who luv this guy passionately, who feel he is a 'victim' of the media and on the other hand there r guys who just hate him, abhor his misdemeanours . but one thing is fr certain- luv him or hate him ... u simply cannot ignore this 'bad boy'. or even if u try to do so, the media wud not allow u to do so.

well the latest news abt his long list of accompalishments - abusing our loved ash( i certainly luv her, though my loyalty has shifted to amisha patel these days) n forcing her to do a 'show' in front of the famous bhai logs( do i need to name them ? ). n the conversation contains a lot of smearing frm both sides.

a lot of furore has been created over his (mis)handling of his girlfriends. but does the fault lies with this guy alone. when one of the best female faces of country -Ash, put up with all his nonsenses for 4 yrs before calling it a day. she is supposed to epitomise the new indian women- beautiful, intelligent, 'world conquering' , independent..... n when ladies like these r ready to go to any lengths to 'befriend' him, one after the year, then shud salman alone be made responsible abt the 'happening relationships'. when these ladies know, how this guy has treated his earlier girlfriends, beaten them black n blue, abused them physically as well as mentally, why r they ready to mingle with him. as far as i can think, this is a simple case of 'aa bail mujhe maar' n after the relationship gets over, u start crying hoarse-'wolf,wolf'. n these lady loves wud try to potray him as a blood thirsty individual, who cud go to any lengths to satisfy his desires. n paint themselves as innocent victims to gain sympathy. n now he has got another hottie - Katrina Kaif. is he lucky or is this his charm which works wonders. do women find him so irrestible tht they r more than eager to walk in the trap n endure all pains n tribulations to 'get' him.

again why is this made a national issue,such a big fuss being created out of a non-existent issue which occured a long time back ??? yes he had been involved in the issues which merited national attention- poaching, driving over the innocent,hapless people sleeping over the pavements. but shud every issue be blown out of the proportions to gain cheap publicity.

guys plz do not get me wrong. i m not a ardent salman khan fan . certainly not of his 'shirtless' acts.....neither i luv to hate him. i m part of tht small minority who believes tht this is a personal issue between ash n salman. if ash has any problems she shud complain to police n if she is not able to solve this issue on personal level, then media cud take this issue on her behalf n take it forward. but the focus has been on sensationalism n garnering cheap publicity.

our society is now probably on the last stage of "modernism" where we have openly accepted 'YELLOW JOURNALISM' as a a part and parcel of our lives and actually enjoy such issues which are a clear breach of democratic foundations..WHO KNOWS,TOMORROW I MAY BE TALKING TO MY BEST FRIEND AND CALL GORGE BUSH A B*****D AND IT MIGHT BE TAPED AND SHOWN ON NATIONAL TELEVISION CLAIMING THAT I M HAND IN HAND WITH AMERICA'S ENEMIES!!! may be i wud be declared hand in glove with Al-Quida n Osama bin laden. n the american intelligence agencies who hv not been able to catch osama may mount a search fr me. This entire issue is just an extension of the recent MMS and HIDDEN CAMERA series with no motive other than CHEAP PUBLICITY.HELL,WE ARE ENJOYING IT!!!

wht do u think guys ?

amit

The milestone

2005-07-09T17:17:00.000+05:30

the small milestone........ the blog hits crosses the four digit barrier....... though arnd 200 of those hits would be by yours truly. not a bad start for me .... a person who hv mundane writing skills n who started writin just fr fun. with arnd 350 hits for last 2 posts, my IIM Ahmedabad experiences seems to be rocking... thank u guys

from where did i get this idea of blogging.
i think this idea caught my fancy when i used to prepare for cat i used to read the experiences of various guys studying in different B schools in India. i wanted to hv a feel of the atmosphere there. i yearned to see wht motivates these guys. how did they managed to crack it ? CAT is amongst the toughest exams in country with 1.25 lakhs students aspiring for those 1200 coveted seats. so wht differentiates these 1200 odd guys frm the rest of junta. there were a lot many questions which i used to think of...also with a heavy workload in the office, it sumtimes became difficult to maintain the same level of enthu n motivation thru out the preparation. reading those blogs helped me to retain my zeal fr the same.

then there were friends like abhinav who cud potray their feelings and emotions so beautifully on the web. i used to be totally amazed by the way these guys used to depict every simple experience in their lives in their posts. so i decided tht if i got an opportunity, i wud hv my own sphere on the web. where i can put wht i really feel abt life,abt the various activites goin arnd myself n simply...... enjoy myself.

i got this opportunity when i got thru IIM Ahmedabad. with this major breakthrough my workload in the office simply nosedived( in fact it used to be all play n no work in last few days in the office.....:) ). i decided to utilise my time n company's internet facility fr sum better avenues. i was literally enjoying myself during tht phase n my blog derived its name from that phase in life. n thts the way this blog evolved.

though with acads in full flow now, i feel tht blogging will hv to take a backseat. so the frequency of posts may start coming down. though i wud try to hv a post every week. I enjoy sharing my experiences here with all who hv made it to different B Schools, who havent made it n all those who are aspiring to dream big. i hope this blog continues n provide me with a way to unwind myself, take a break from the frentic life here.

amit

P.S. - I am receiving a number of mails with people soliciting advices, tips n tricks n strategies for CAT preparation. it is very difficult fr me to reply each one separately. so i m thinking of posting my experiences with CAT on the blog,may be in sum of the next few posts. So keep ur fingers crossed n pray to god tht i get sum free time to post my experiences.

Tempo shouts

2005-07-01T16:04:00.000+05:30

The computer taskbar reads 3:21 am n i hv just completed my MANAC assignment....MANAC......Wht is tht ? Ask any engineer or for tht matter any non-commerce guy doing his mba, the shiver in his pants wud tell u the story. it is amongst the most dreaded course in the first term . fr the records, it stands for -'Management Accounting'. with a lot of accounting fundas thrown in at a hectic pace, u need to learn balance sheets, profit n loss statements n so on. so wht a normal chartered accountant has done in his 4 years, we r expected to catch up in just 3 months flat. also accompanied r a number of surprise quizzes,tests,assignments..... the list goes on.

Ok the first assignment is done n now i need to move over to the economics case study. but i feel too weary n exhausted. ok.... time to go fr a break. now my dorm room is at a very strategic location. it is right opposite to the girls dorm. plzzz dont be mistaken..... i m not tht kind of guy who wud pass a lecherous stare or any lewd comment on a girl, but seeing a gud looking girl in these trying times can be a bit refreshing...:). so i just head towards my balcony.

suddenly a bunch of hooligans arrive near tht dorm . n these hooligans r none other than some of my batchmates....the 'tempo' shouts begin.... the tempo shouts r pretty standard in iima. different fr tuchhas, various sections, dorms n so on. everybdy enjoys them n they make this place more lively n happening. more abt these shouts sumwht later in the blog ...in sum other post.....hopefully.

the tempo shouts begin...the decibel level goes high... n u start seeing smiling faces. the ringleaders provoking n egging on others.... people teasing each other....n this goes on fr sumtime.... suddenly sum girls arrive in their balcony.....the decibel level goes further high.... n now the girls start assembling down, ready fr the combat ..... the environment has become more n more charged...... now both sides start the tempo shouts...... each group trying to shout down the other grp..... the decibel level reaches crescendo.... n it really becomes hot out there..... the participants start sweating...... but no side is ready to give up the battle.. n i stand there watching the show .. making most of this shrieking duel.

after 10 mins of howling n yelling, the girls realise tht its tough to beat guys in this domain...:). so they retreat back to comforts of their rooms. seeing them drawing back the guys also decide to move on. the smile on their faces ......the gleam in their eyes.....clearly indicating their feeling of victory..... the sense of achievement..... somewht similar to a guy after having conquering mount everest. the show heads fr the climax n i also head back to my seat. got to get busy with 'economics'. sleep ..... i think can wait fr sum more time..

amit

The new life

2005-06-24T23:22:00.000+05:30

the rain gods smiled. it has been pouring here incessantly fr last 3 days. the heat waves which used to burn us earlier hv been replaced by cool breeze now. the environ again seems very fresh n very green. The heavenly earthy smell wafting up the air, the pitter patter of the raindrops, the cool breeze tickling your face, the lush green faces of swaying trees, the first bath in the first rain …. Feels heavenly, doesn’t it? Come rain, and the earth regains its youth and beauty, with all the flora and fauna dancing away to glory, welcoming the respite from the scorching heat. .the only problem - the campus has become water logged. the football ground has turned into a big swimming pool. the drainage seems to be a issue here.

The registration is over n now i m formally a part of phenomenon called IIM Ahmedabad. the process went on smoothly. the formalities hv been completed n a 'huge' set of books hv been given to us... the classes r goin to start frm tomorrow....... the seniors hv promised tht next three months r goin to be toughest months of my life. they r goin to stretch my limits , take me to the edge of exhaustion, both emotional and physical. the deadlines r pretty tough n i wud hv to show good time management skills to survive. chalo now time to go fr sleep........ wish me luck guys.

sun, sun burning bright

2005-06-21T17:58:00.000+05:30

the room has been set. the curtains now hang over the windows. took sum effort to clean it up n make it worth fr a human to stay comfortably. room is quite spacious n i hv the luxury of a balcony in the room. the food here in the mess is also decent, much better than the crap i had at nsit hostel. tuchhas say people generally put on sum weight provided u can manage time fr hving food...:). a lot of scary stories r doin rounds here n the tuchhas enjoy hving a sadistic smile on their faces while 'enthralling' us with those stories. after all they hv passed thru the same phase a year earlier in their life.

at present i m having a 'relaxed' kinda life here. just making frnds with the guys who hv been already here fr their prepratory courses. the atmosphere here is pretty cool, sumtimes reminding of the lull before the storm. the only problem which i am facing presently is heat.

i hv just come out of bathroom after taking a 3rd bath today. not tht i m tht kind of person who considers bathing to be a pretty useless activity. but it is really hot out here. if delhi is hot then this place is really a furnace. the temperatures hv been soaring n the room fan seems to be sending the flames of fire. the coolers r not allowed in the student rooms. so u wud see a lot of guys moving 'topless' in the dorm. people try out different tactics to beat the heat here. the 'air conditioned' library here is used fr 2 purposes - one fr extracting gyan frm the unending rows n columns of the books n other, more importantly, beating the heat. u can easily find a no of guys sleeping here with those thick books acting as a pillow. tuchhas say tht it takes sumtime to get acclimatised with this place. chalo lets hope i make it fast.

amit

What sumone's mom can teach him....

2005-06-19T17:51:00.000+05:30

was thinking of how a mom can shape a number of attributes of a person.....
i think a number of us cud relate to examples mentioned in the incidents

This is how my mom taugh things to me...
"Things My Mom Taught Me"

My Mom taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning!"

My Mom taught me about INDIVIDUALISM.
"I bet if all your friends jumped off a bridge, you would too!

My Mom taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that stain will come out of the carpet."

My Mom taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"

My Mom taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'mgoing to knock you into the middle of next week!"

My Mom taught me LOGIC.
"Because I said so, that's why."

My Mom taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, incase you're in an accident."

My Mom taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I've told you once, I've toldyou a million times - Don't exaggerate!!!"

My Mom taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying and I'll *give* you somethingto cry about!"

My Mom taught me THE CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world,and I can take you out."

My Mom taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper!"

My Mom taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you *look* at the dirt on the back of your neck!"

My Mom taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunatechildren in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do!"

My Mom taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is finished."

My Mom taught me how to solve PHYSICS PROBLEMS.
"If I yelled because I saw a meteor coming toward you;
would you listen then?"

My Mom taught me about WEATHER.
"It looks like a tornado sweptthrough your room!"

Bye Bye Delhi

2005-06-18T23:28:00.000+05:30

The day began on a very positive note. A no of friends from FSS ( formerly HSS) called up to inform me abt smthng they hv been waiting fr a year now - appraisals n salary hike. let me not disclose the figures but the hike hv been pretty substantial n all of them looked quite happy over this. fr last one yr most of them hv been cribbing abt money they hv been getting, but it has all changed now. i simply wonder how a salary hike can do wonders to the employee morale.... congratulations to all of them.

meanwhile i hv packed my bags to head fr my destination - IIM Ahmedabad. this packing thing took sum time. actually this is the first time i wud be staying away frm my family fr such a long duration of time. did my schooling here, got admitted to one of the premier engg colleges in india( yeah NSIT RULEZ ) , got a decent job in gurgaon... i never had to move away frm delhi. my world has been limited to delhi n ncr region...... so i never had to this packing thing . but now i was forced to do the same. another interesting thing was a lot of people giving plethora of advices.

' beta take 2 alarm clocks . in case if one goes bust, u still hv a backup'

' take ur own nail cutter. dont hv to run to the neighbours asking fr sharing this stuff'

' take this press with u. but dont try to use it,otherwise u wud burn ur clothes. u may become a fashion statement in ur college if u give it a try.....:) . '

a lot of gyan came fr washing cloths. from the type of detergent to right combination of detergent n water - the gyan included everything. i seem to hv become a more learned person now.

the journey was a peaceful affair....apart frm 2 small kids on the adjacent seat continously fighting n crying n their mother trying to pacify them. well its certainly difficult to manage young kids. no wonder a lot of govt compaigns say -' bachhe, do hi achhe'. but their antics kept me amused throughout the journey.

My registration is on 23rd. so till then i wud hv some time to explore this city, meet a lot of fachhas n tuchhas ( iim a lingo fr seniors) n hv a feel of the campus. i intend to buy a new PC here. wud be getting the new PC by the end of this month. so wud be dependent on computer centre of college fr net access.

So fr next 3 months- Bye Bye Delhi. Ahmedabad- here i come....

Fun n Food Village

2005-06-14T00:32:00.000+05:30

another weekend passed in merry making. my last weekend in delhi ....... before moving on to Ahmedabad. went to fun n food village in gurgaon on saturday. apart frm the minor hurdle in the beginning , everything went on smoothly. n the minor hurdle was 'arranging' girls. before u start getting any wierd dreamz i wud put it straight. the stag (only boyz) entry wasnt allowed. n we had to request a no. of groups, hving a sufficient no of girls, to bail us out.... :).

anyways we did manage to get an entry. we had been expert in making these kind of 'unsolicited' entries. right frm the college dayz we did manage to break in a no of college fests when we did not hv entry passes fr the same - sometimes jumpin over the boundary walls of the college, sometimes posing as relatives of sum unknown student ' amit kumar'( amit is pretty common name in india.... :) ) n so on. we tried myriad tactics fr the same. i can go on writing on the same, but presently wud like to say only one thing- if the same kind of motivation wud hv been there fr acads, i wud hv certainly been in toppers of my college. if u need to know more abt these tactics just send me a mail with subject line containg ' Tips required fr breakin in'. n chances r pretty high tht u may hit a goldmine.

the water rides were fun. it was an excellent way of beating the scorching heat of delhi. splashing water all over like young kids..... shedding all inhibitions ...... lot of screaming n yelling. the best part was tht the place was not crowded but the 'crowd' was there :). it was unlimited masti all over.

these hv been my last few relaxing moments before IIM-Ahmedabad hits me with full force. n i seems to be making most of them. chalo i still hv another week to go before goin there . lets see wht r the surprises comin this week.....

The Life

2005-06-07T01:01:00.000+05:30

June is supposed to be month of summer vacations......... a time when each student ought to be relaxing at home ........ in front of his/her coolers n fans ............ gulping down 'shikanjis' n 'neembu paani'...........trying to beat the suppressing heat of the summer. but goin by the newspapers this doesn't seem to be case with the delhities.

everyday i can see the pics of long queues of students in the scorching heat........ mind u - these queues r not fr movie tickets outside a pvr but fr getting admission forms fr different colleges under delhi university. there is a mad scramble fr limited no of seats . the cutoff percentages r soaring each yr. the students with percentages in higher 90s r worried abt getting a course of their choice in a college of their choice, those wud lower percentages r hopeful of making to any of the decent colleges...... everybdy seems pretty concerned. u can see this distress on the faces of their parents. the familiar question heard these dayz has been ' mere bete ka admission kahan hoga'.

fr people in the science stream - also goin on r the entrance exams of various institutes- iit,nsit,aieee,medical n so on. people hv put in a lot of effort over last 2 yrs or even more.....juggling with both - board exams on one hand n these entrance exams on the other.

life has become very fast n too competitive. u can see the small kids with those backbreaking bags . when it shud hv been the time fr playing with the neighbourhood kids in fields these kids r huddled together in a tution class... when they shud hv been sitting in the lap of their grandparents n listening the stories abt angels they r sitting on their study table -mugging fr a test scheduled a few days later..... when they shud hv been watching the antics of the birds in the sky they r reading abt animals getting extinct on the planet earth. getting up early fr the school, coming frm school only to go fr the tuition classes n then goin to their study desks - seems to hv become a laborious routine fr them. cant really blame the parents fr tht . the career life has taken a ascendence over the personal life. so people r ready to sacrifice today fr the pleasures of tomorrow.

sometimes the life's experiences can be described in 3 simple words - life moves on. the time which has passed is gone n cannot be retrieved. so rather than just thinking abt the big achievements u r goin to accomplish in future one shud savor the small light moments of today. it does help to be concerned abt ur future but this concern shud not be allowed to wipe out one's present. Life is not JUST about a few big moments , but ALSO about a million small ones.

Adjusting to Dial Up

2005-06-01T01:56:00.000+05:30

well i m back to the same posn as i was a year earlier- on a dialup internet connection. one of the implicit advantage of being a s/w enggr is the availablity of a high speed net connectivity in the office. u r free to browse all day, googling on the wierdest things one can ever think of, checking fr mails every 5 minutes or so, reading other blogs, downloading all kinda softwares .......... the list goes on .

but now i m back on dialup again. the overall scene in delhi regarding the net has improved in last 1 yr. there r a no of service providers jostling amongst each other to provide the broadband connection n the prices hv also come tumbling down . but my cable wallah is not ready to provide the net thru cable service .. n i dont really blame him fr tht. the problem in my area is the poor penetration of computers . it doesnt seem profitable fr the cable wallah to provide this service here.

so i m now forced to make judicious use of the limited resources available to me . with a pathetic downloading speed n inflated telephone bills it doesnt make sense to be online fr a long time. it takes a hell lot of time to open even the normal sites like google n rediff. disconnections r also as frequent as smooches in a mallika sehrawat's movie. so wht i hv done now ?? the googling has been stopped, mail checking hv been reduced to once a day n the habit of reading other blogs has been discontinued. this transformation has been really painful. initially there was a lot of frustration but now it has started becoming the habit. anyone who has been on dialup can easily empathise with me.

chalo , its time to disconnect again.............

The Picnic

2005-05-27T01:23:00.000+05:30

well........ my last post seem to hv created sm flutters in the company. sum people found it too mushy-mushy , a few did complain tht they did not get enuf space on the post n others simply enjoyed it.

went to nainital with my Netman team members ( ok....... ex-team members) this weekend. hv started spending my weekends outside delhi lately n my mom has threatened to cut-off my 'ration-pani' at home if the same trend continues........ :) trip seemed a great idea to escape the scorching heat of summers in delhi. but the main objective fr me was to spend sm more quality time with my frnds of the company. so we a grp of seven- vani, mona, archana, rohit, vikas, somnath n myself, hired a qualis n set off. uttar pradesh's roads r in a pathetic state n its a real torture to label them as 'highways'. we did manage to avoid any major accident though there were all varieties of vehicles on the highway frm bullock carts to rickshaw drivers n it was really difficult to miss them on roads deprived of basic facilities like street light n dividers.......

we reached nainital arnd 1 am in night n then the real fun began. we immediately got mobbed by a grp of touts, each offering us to get a better deal fr the hotel n sight-seeing. after a lot of wrangling we did manage to zero in on a decent hotel. the roads in the city looked deserted n i just wondered whether this place has lost its charm fr the tourists. but later on i found out tht all the hotels were nearly packed to capacity n we were lucky to get a decent room tht night.

the 'isolatedness' of the place vanished when i woke up in the morning. people swarming all arnd n the place seemed very lively. boating experience in naini lake was amazing n added another skill to my cv- rowing. did it very well n the boat owner said tht fr a amateur i did pretty good job. also went fr horse riding on those treacherous tracks arnd the foothills.

then we left fr Jim corbett national park. fr the ignorant, it is a big wildlife habitat in uttar pradesh. if u r lucky u can spot diff form of wildlife there - tigers, elephants, leopards, 'neel guy' n so on. we were not lucky enuf n it was difficult fr us to remain amused by antics of peacocks n 'neel guy' fr a long time.

anyways i really enjoyed the trip especially teasing both rohit n vikas n remainin members actively supported me in this cause. just want to mention one thing- planning needs to be better when u take off to these hill stations during the summer vacations.

Last Day as Software Engineer

2005-05-18T16:13:00.000+05:30

today is my last working day in the company n i m feeling nostalgic . i had joined here on 15th July 2004( ya i can remember tht date..). just a engg. graduate,ready to dive in the world of coding,technical designs and presentations. from a happy-go-lucky chap to a responsible ( this word usually doesnt rhyme well with me ...) software enggr. but all my concerns were blown away on first day itself when we had a big bash at 32nd milestone. this was the best way of entring the corporate world, tht i cud ever imagine.

i hv formed some really good relationships here, made some fantastic friends. everybody here seemed so different and yet so special. first of all our fresher group ... Somnath,mitali,suresh,purnima n myself.. we bonded well right from the word go. in fact even sales n marketing people complimented me a few dayz earlier fr having such an amazing group. then there was rohit, the guy who handled my module during my interview prepn. this helped me to focus solely on the interviews. thank u rohit fr tht. he is very experienced guy n i learnt a no of things frm him though his company turned me into a passive smoker .....). then there was Vikas, who blended his tech skills well with his extra-tech skills( read party skills..). The team has total faith in this guy n they can do anything he asks fr. this is amazing as this ability did not come from position in company but frm the trust people put in him . this is what anyone can only dream of. Abhijit is also very friendly guy ( inki tvacha se inki umer ka pata hi nahin chalta.....)).

Mona is the most enthusiastic gal we had in R & D . party hard n work harder seems to wht she is following in her life. tht enthu drives other members including 'masoom'. 'masoom' is pretty cute but i wud like her to be a bit more proactive. may be in a mould of kanika who is usually a bit reserved but when she speaks everybody notices. n she knows when is the right time n right place to speak out. kakkad wud also be soon joinin another B-School ...he takes sumtime to open up....how can i forget mutthhu, whom a taught a few lines in hindi like 'thank u' can be said in hindi as 'mein tujhe bahut maroonga' n cudnt control my laughter when he uttered same in front of another person.....).

i did not hv much interaction with the node side. but my little experiences hv been pretty gud. manpreet is very approachable n wud help u in every possible way he can. then amar,vivek,amita n dhiren r also quite outgoing and friendly people. amit kumar helped me during gd/ip prepn. Our admin-staff - vani n saya r also pretty cheerful persons.

the 'system testing' team is the most 'zindadil' team in R & D. these guys r really cool n amicable. sood is there to send those 'different' kind of fwds in mail. i formed good bonding with dogra n dhiren while playing tt. dogra used to generate work ( read troubling MRs... ) fr me n then i had to really convince him pretty hard to get them verified. ranjan,ravikant,bansalji n pathak hv all been all very wonderful persons.

now my manger...... i can see the smile on all ur faces. i hv heard people saying a lot of nasty things abt their managers. but i hv been lucky to get a pretty considerate n sympethatic manager.... a person who gives u a lot of freedom to work with.... who puts a lot of trust in u..... n u simply cant let him down. really vishal is a gem of a person n the manager whom anybdy wud like to work with.

kehtein hain a person doesnt forget his first love n his first job. i havent experienced my first love yet. but my experiences at my job hv been really wonderful. n i m goin to cherish them all my life...... wud be writin abt these experiences in my blog later. i m too overwhelmed with emotions right now.

Just humming :
'Chalte-chalte mere yeh geet yaad rakhna
Kabhi alvida na
kahna rote- hanste bus yuhien tum gungunate rehna
kabhi alvida na kahna'

achha doston.......alvida....... phir milenge.....

amit

Wah Taj !!

2005-05-16T11:18:00.000+05:30

yes !!! we made it this weekend. i had lamented in the last post that generally our plan go haywire. but this time we did manage to break out of the vicious circle which our companies hv forced us to be in. we went to agra and fatehpur sikri.

enough hv been written abt Taj by a no of people and more will continue to write on it. But words fail to describe the feelings which i experienced there. for some it is symbol of eternal love. fr others it is an emblem of patience, pain, conviction, love and passion. taking over 22 yrs to build this monument............ with arnd 20k workers involved fr the same.......... the architect was specially called from Iran fr this purpose....... and best objects were imported from all over the world.

we were pretty mesmerised by the view in the sunset but nothing can beat the view we saw during the sunrise next day. with a cool breeze blowing across the monument, we stood there just adoring the beauty in silence. Its curving, gently swelling dome and the square base upon which its rests so lightly is a familiar image from hundreds of brochures and travel books. Renowned for its architectural magnificence and aesthetic beauty, no wonder, it is invariably included in the list of the world's foremost wonders.

i m not a kind of person who believe a lot in this mushy-mushy chatter abt 'pyar', 'Ishq' n 'mohabbat' but after visiting these kind of places u certainly get a different kind of feelings. i m describing my feelings thru a 'sher' i heard somewhere............

'Ishq ke chiragon ka har taraf Ujala hai
Ishq mil gaya jise samjho wo kismet wala hai'

amit

planning for the weekend

2005-05-13T10:38:00.000+05:30

another week has just passed away and the weekend is approaching. just luking back i realise this has been another of these weeks in which i haven't done anyhing 'constructive' and 'productive' for my company. theek hai...... a no. of releases have gone by recently and everbdy here seems to be in a pensive mood as of now. vaise bhi.. this is friday n the enthu fr the work just vanishes from the morning itself.

today i m busy planning fr the weekend with my 'chandaal chaukdi'. ya we hv been a grp of 4 close frnds from the college time. a lots of plan hv been made in the pasts also but none of them really materialised. this has been the problem with my grp. we make a lot of plans but then fizzle out at the last moment. The professional life has got its own charm but it also brings a lot of pressures which we never experienced in our carefree college life. we make some plans and then sum wierd assignment comes out of nowhere. the client is yelling n the manager tries to convince us tht work reqd is critical fr the project. i hv now worked fr 10 months but i still cant understand how everytask can be labelled 'critical'...... the pressure is there to meet the deadlines and we like, 'all good guys', try to meet the endless expectations of our managers. Needless to say that all the planning goes completely haywire. the fact tht we all 4 r in different companies doesn't help our cause to schedule a trip to sumwht far away from Delhi.

meanwhile i watched West-Indies vs South Africa 3rd one day yesterday. there r not many west-indies fan around but i feel sympathy for this team. This was the team which had held numero uno position in world cricket for more than a couple of decades and cud demolish the opposition at will. Their passion for the game, calypso music, fast bowlers, stroke playing batsmen and the never say die spirit stood unmatched. But the decline over the years have left the team in shambles. anyway i was talking abt the match and phew !! what a cracker of match it was. West Indies chasing 285 for victory came within a striking distance of the target. They reqd 4 runs in last over with 3 wickets in hand, 2 singles on the first 2 balls ...... and the match ,seemed as if, was in their pockets. but cricket is a great game and it has its own moments of uncertainities. These tough situations create new heroes, they require people to hold on to their nerves and make a significant difference in feeling of winning and being almost there . Charl Langeveldt produced one of the most sensational finales in one-day international history, as he plucked a hat-trick out of thin air to steal a one-run victory. It was a lion-hearted effort and certainly worth enjoying even if i had to wake up till 4 am in the morning to watch it...but i m not complaining.

chalo i m busy planning again. hopefully we wud be goin out sumwhere...may not be very far away from delhi,but who carez ...... its not the amount of time u spend with each other but how u spent it makes it more memorable .

amit

DDLJ still going strong

2005-05-12T12:54:00.000+05:30

This has been one of my favourite movies. Seems to have created a sort of record for running consecutively for 500 weeks on a cinema hall in mumbai. That makes it roughly 10 years on a trot. man this is simply amazing !!!!!!

Check out the link at
http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2005/may/05ddlj1.htm

I hv seen this movie 'n' no. of times. There is sumthing in this movie which touches my heart. It is difficult to pinpoint anything particular. The story,serene locations, mellifluous music, powerful dialouge delivery ...... all r gud and the list keeps on growing. The whole movie is so refreshing and entertaining. The movie has got a good rhythm and u simply get swayed by the flow. The songs are wonderful and Lata Mangeshkar is at her best. Both Kajol and Shahrukh hv given wonderful perfomances in this movie. i loved every second of it and even shed a few tears when i saw it for the first time!! Honestly speaking, i have never seen a more romantic movie than DDLJ..!! SRK is both funny and romantic in the film, and he plays a very nice son..the scenes with him and his "pops" are just heart-felt..and his scenes with kajol just ooze chemistry..my fav scenes would be during the "ruk ja" song. srk does an amazing job in dancing..never better!!

A lot of u may feel tht the movie was gud but not gud enuf for 500 consecutive weeks, then think again because 'Bade-bade deshon mein aisi choti-choti baatein hoti rahti hai' . Just sit back fr the movie and u wont realise that 3 hrs hv passed.

Adding a few stills from the movie

2005-05-12T12:53:00.000+05:30

2005-05-12T12:52:00.000+05:30

The 'sweet pair'

Traffic Jam

2005-05-10T11:03:00.000+05:30

Yeah u got it from the name. i am not very sure abt the janta from other cities but delhities can immediately draw vivid images of the same. Especially the poor guys like me who hv to do daily up-down from delhi to gurgaon on NH-8.This highway remains pretty busy during whole day,but during the peak hours the traffic can be unnerving. During these peak hours the 'avg density on the road' goes pretty high The summers are really hot in north india and in the middle of a traffic jam u are bound to feel the heat. The harsh sound of those blaring horns,the shouting drivers and the sweating commuters makes it really tough. Especially if u r sitting in one of those rickety DTC(Delhi Transport Corporation) buses,u r in a state of despair. However powerful u may be, u realise ur helplessness in this situation.

Gurgaon has been growing like anything in last 4-5 yrs.Call centres,malls,software companies,consulting firms....-- u name them and they r coming here in big numbers .With the mushrooming of call centres u can see the cabs on the highway all night. The no of people commuting on NH-8 hv been growing exponentially in last 5 yrs. But the infrastructure reqd to support these have not come up tht quickly. The much hyped Delhi-Ggn highway construction is already delayed by a year or so and i dont hv any idea when its going to be completed. Work has been going on at a snail's pace.

But the traffic jam do hv its own advantages. when the life moves at a frentic pace,it gives u an uncalled opportunity to relax and wait. u get a chance to observe a no of things- the two wheelers manoeuvering their way in a zig-zag fashion in a little space available to them and surging ahead, people getting opportunity to flash their mobiles and talking in high pitched voices to show how busy they really are and how their 'precious' time is getting wasted, some people using this time to hv a nap, some simply enjoying bollywood songs on FM on the small radio set they carry and others simply getting down the bus and perferring to walk to their offices. I have even seen sum executives playing solitaire on their laptops.

ya the wait is quite agonizing. but now i hv got used to it and it has become a part and parcel of my life in last 1 year. so i m not complaing. Afterall i hv to go back home and i wud be facing the same situation in the today evening....:) .

The Weekend

2005-05-09T12:06:00.000+05:30

The weekend started on a bit disappointing news. The company's first quarter results were announced and they were disappointing.The sales are up by a decent margin but the profits have taken a big hit. The bitter news is that the company have decided to go for restructuring and there wud be reduction global workforce by approximately 1,400 employees, which will be accomplished by a combination of position reduction and attrition. This is something arnd 17 percent of people.The share price has also nosedived. I can see the anxiety and fear of unknown in eyes of my colleagues here.The future seems a bit uncertain.Meanwhile I have done my bit to help company achieve its target of downsizing by resigning a few dayz in advance... :)

There was nothing to do on saturday.I just slept in the afternoon and decide to just laze around in the evening.On sunday it was TIME workshop and I was invited on the stage to share my experiences with 'wannabe manager' aspirants.The feeling was pretty strange and nostalgic. A year earlier i was sitting with the aspirants listening to all those 'god' like people who had made big,wondering whether i wud also get a chance to hog the limelight. Anyways the 'stage show' was followed by a hearty treat by these TIME guys at Pragati Maidan. The meet gave me a chance to meet all my frnds who had prepared alongside me and hv now secured admissions in various B-Schools. It was nice to see the smiling faces all around and sharing all kind of jokes n experiences.

amit

Welcome to my world

2005-05-05T12:20:00.000+05:30

Hi everyone

This fine day I thot I wud start writing a blog. The fact that I hv nothing much to do today is also helping my cause. With a seat in one of the most prestigious B Schools in Asia, IIM Ahmedabad, in my kitty , I can afford to take a break. For last 10 months I hv been working as a software enggr (that may sound geek) but resigned a couple of days back. Now I am on a month notice period and having nothing short of paid vacations in the office. Just coming to office, checking mails and chatting with friends on yahoo msngr and phone is fun. I am leading a pretty chilled, relaxed kinda life rite now. So I decided I wud try to have a little space on the cyber space as well.

ok.this is the start of a momentous new phase in my life as a blogger.

amit