You Should Get a PhD in Liberal Arts (like political science, literature, or philosophy)

You're a great thinker and a true philosopher. You'd make a talented professor or writer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Khosla ka Ghosla

Is a very good movie. I now firmly believe that the Indian Movie industry has come of age, and we have finally begun making movies which are real entertainers packed with performances par excelence.

Boman Irani is the new Baap of character actors. Dr. Asthana, Lucky Singh and now Khurana the land grabber are characters which will be remembered for a long time. Brilliant is the word for all these performances.

It is important to note how he really got into the character of a Sardar from inland Punjab livin in bombay (Lagey Raho) and differentiate with a nouveau-riche punjabi property dealer who reeks 'Delhi' even with the way he walks.

At a point in time, the viewer actually starts to sympathise with the plight of Anupan Kher (Kamal Kishore Khosla) who's at the receiving end of Khurana's land grab. Kher is almost Saaransh-esque in his performance.

The find, according to me is Tara Sharma. I mean i had seen her in itsy bitsy roles like the one in Masti, and one in a movie opposite Abhishek Bachchan.
For those of you who've seen Ghosla will recall the scene where she learns that her 'boyfriend' Chiraunji Lal "Cherry" Khosla is leavin for New york in a month's time, her expressions are those of a seasoned actor and not a model turned film personality. Another amazing scene was where after a turn of events Cherry tells her that he isnt gonna go to te US and will stay with her.... Meghna (her character) says : to kya mere pe ehsaan kar rahe ho na jaake..... and her eyes well up
Amazing stuff.

Also have to mention, Ranvir Shorey. baaaap!!!!! does he liven up the scene or what. Superb timing. daeloge delivery is in thick accent. I never imagined dilliwaalas have accent, but listenin to him speak did remind me that there was this distinct accent in which we delhi boys speak english, more so with a smattering of punjabi-shunjabi

ek na scene hai, where the khosla family goes to their plot of land which has been bought recently to perform bhumi pujan and realise that a boundary wall has been erected on it. and on the wall reads : yahan peshaab karna mana hai. something u will find in alot of rural buildings in and around New delhi.
Reading this slowly, Bunty Khosla cracks : Ley, inni duur se hum yahan peshaab karne thodi aaye hain!!!!


you have to listen him say that.

Another thing i noticed after we walked out of the theatre......the movie has no hero-heroine in the conventional sense.... there are no sudden breaks in the story to accommodate songs and mindless dancing around trees

the Music is different.....and nice.
Talkin of music, u know.....the music director is mera school ka senior!!!!
Yes ji!

Rang De Basanti, Lagey Raho and now Ghosla..... Way to go Bollywood!!!!

I am feelin...

Mujhse Bichhad ke khush rehte ho,
Meri tarah tum bhi jhuthe ho.

Ek tahni pe chaand tika tha,
Main yeh samjha tum baithe ho.

Ujle ujle phool khile the,
Bilkul jaise tum haste ho.

Mujhko shaam bata deti hai,
Tum kaise kapde pehne ho.

my fave =>

Tum tanha duniya se ladoge
Bachchon si baatein karte ho.

Gandhigiri

I know, it is getting a little too much and this place has virtually become a place for me to write film reviews, which hardly anybody reads.
Lagey raho is a brilliant movie, and i think betters even the previous munnabhai flick. I am sure you've already seen it already and fallen in love with munna and circuit all over again, not to mention the very desirable Vidya Balan, perfect take home, meet mama material.
Achha, i saw on TV today, that some True 'gandhians' in delhi have taken offence to the term "Gandhigiri". WTF!!!I mean people can find something objectionable in, of all the movies, lagey raho!
Honestly, i really dont care whether the movie was made as a tribute to Gandhi, but i think it wasn't. It is more about what the guy said and practiced and how it can be done today as well. And the family of Gandhi has been referred to and has been made in consultation with the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation. aarey bhai unko koi problem nahi hai, phir bhi mujhe to tension hai, main gaandhivadi hun, aur main kabhi bardaasht nahi kar sakta hai koi 'gandhigiri' jaisa word use kare.

Dhishum!

The Motorcycle Diaries

Yo Sabía poco sobre Ernesto Guevara, antes de que viera la película. sabía sobre él, revolucionario, en Suramérica. él tenía una inclinación izquierdista, y pertenecido a la era de Castro.

Como siempre, pienso a ser este poste como todo menos reseña de película, pero temo que termine encima de hacer el exacto la misma cosa, como siempre. Era fácil leer los subtítulos que cambiaron rápidamente, para mí, como sé poco español de Suramérica, gracias a la señora de la Reina sesions. Puede ser que no esté tan para ti, tendrás que tan presionar el botón de pausa a veces.

Pero aunque no, sabrías qué se está encendiendo. Sabrías lo que el fabricante de la película, Walter Salles, quisiera que supiéramos. No qué entra la fabricación de una revolución, pero en la fabricación de un revolucionario, ningún menos.

Su divertido, "Rang de Basanti" se ha convertido mi estándar, de cómo es influyente una película puede estar, para mí. Y pienso "Diarios de Motocicleta" comparativamente, es muy bueno.

No sé mucho sobre él, pero ciertamente saber más que, estupida joven gente, quiénes usan su retrato en sus camisetas, como si era mal arte. Aprenderé más sobre él.

AM I EXHAUSTED OR WHAT. A LOT OF MY SPANISH NOTES AND GOOGLE TRANSLATION HAS GONE INTO IT. GOSH I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN AN A+ HAD I WRITTEN SOMETHIN LIKE THIS IN MY EXAMS. .....I ACTUALLY GOT A 'C'

Diarios de Motocicleta

I knew little about Ernesto Guevara, before I saw the movie. I had a faint idea of him as the revolutionary somewhere in South America, who had a leftist inclination and belongs to the same era as Castro.

Like always, i intend to this post to be anything but a movie review, but i fear i will end up doing the exact same thing, as always. It was easy for me to grapple with fast changing sub-titles as i have a hang of south American Spanish, thanks to Reina ma'am's 10 sessions with us in the 2nd trim. It might not be so for you, so you will have to hit the pause button sometimes, just to read the subtitles.

But even if u didn't, you'd know whats going on. You'd know what the film maker, Walter Salles, wants us to know. Not what goes into the making of a revolution, but into the making of a revolutionary, no less. It really is a brilliant work. Beautiful.

It's funny how, since a long time now, "Rang De Basanti" has become my benchmark of how moving or influential a movie can be for me. And i think 'The Motorcycle Diaries' measures up, rather good.

I do not know alot about him, but certainly more about those stupid ****s, products of the new indian bourgeois, who'd wear his portrait on their t-shirts, as if it were kitsch. And more, i will learn about him.

suddenly, i want to write this post in Spanish.
Tell me if i do it correctly. :-)

5th trim

One had to give choice of subjects for the next trim abhi. so these are the subjects i have chosen. and a funny thing which i noted after i had submitted the form is, that i have taken up a subject from all streams except Systems, this trim. Check it out.

Marketing
1. Quantitative Models in Marketing 1 (Essential)
2. Media Marketing (Choice)
3. Integrated Marketing Communications & Client Agency relationship (Choice)
---
Finance
4. Personal Financial Planning (Free Choice)
---
HR
5. Compensation and Benefits (Non-Credit)
---
IB
6. International Trade operations (Choice)
---
IB+Ops
7. International Logistics & Supply Chain Management
---
8. Corporate Strategy II - ( Strategic Alliances, Mergers and Acquistions) (Core subject)

4th trim

4th trim is almost over, I think i chose rather good subjects. (that i am not really studying, is another matter).

Vaise, for the uninitiated, I am majoring in Marketing and my minors is International Business, (zyada fight nahi hogi ;)) and the subjects i chose are:
1. Marketing Research (Essential)
2. Sales Management (Essential)
3. Product Management (Essential)
4. Brand Building (Choice) - The most interesting and fun subject. *i think moreso coz PAT is takin it :)*
5. Business Law (Core)
6. Retail Management (Non-credit)
----
International Business
7. International Marketing (Choice)
8. Global marketing of Services (Choice)

when you love some one

When you love someone - you'll do anything

You'll do all the crazy things that you cant explain

You'll shoot the moon - put out the sun

When you love someone

You'll deny the truth - believe a lie

There'll be times that you'll believe you can really fly

But your lonely nights - have just begun

When you love someone

When you love someone - you'll feel it deep inside

And nothin else can ever change your mind

When you want someone - when you need someone

When you love someone...

When you love someone - you'll sacrifice

You'd give it everything you got and you wont think twice

You'd risk it all - no matter what may come

When you love someone

You'll shoot the moon - put out the sun

When you love someone....

I don't know if i love *someone* yet. But may be, some day, she'd be there. May be, when I love *someone*.

(What a hopeless romantic i would have made, had it not been for Bryan Adams and Jagjit Singh :) )

yeh jo des hai mera

I am back after a hiatus.

In the mean while, i have been to Delhi once more AND then went on a Rural Marketing workshop sponsored by CII. And this post is about that experience.

It was a two day thing and we left bombay at 7 in the morning. The first stop was a village called 'Otoor' in Pune distt. It was a 5 hour journey, but the road to the place was really scenic and had mountainous slopes, i last saw on my trip to Manali last year.
In Otoor village we interacted with the retailers to gain information about the spending habits of the locals and also the distribution scene. We were in some luck too as it was also the day for the weekly market in the village. We saw the kind of goods that were on sale, but of all the shops, one which i found really interestin was one selling Audio and Video CDs of Bollywood AND Hollywood movies. His speaker blaring the latest Himesh Song.
When i asked him why he had so many CDs and very few Audio Cassettes on sale, the response was an eye-opener. He said, that 90% of the homes in the village had CD players.

Among other things of note were:

1. Most shops in the market were mobile. i.e. the back of a tempo or a Jeep is the shop where the owner sits and sells his wares, and after the business hours, packs up and drives away to another village in the same vehicle to participate in the weekly market in another village.
2. As far as clothing is concerned, people want to wear newer and flashier designs, and quality is damned. The 'cheap and best' formula is slightly different for this market
3. All families are primarily occupied with farming but still have a decent standard of living.

An hour later, it was time for us to move to our next destination, which was a green house farm. This was a farm which grew different varieties of flowers and it was amazing to see a greenhouse function. till now one had seen such things in text books and images only. The Farmer was quite unlike the typical image of a farmer. We are told that he is one of the progressive ones in the business and it was a risk he took some years back which is now paying off.

Next we headed to vineyards which were just accross the highway, and honestly it was pretty unlike the glamorous image of them everybody would have. It was pretty much like any other farm with funny contraptions lying everywhere, which we were later told, were for 'drip irrigation' resulting in juicier grapes.
And as if the vineyards weren't enough, we were taken to the brewery and yes, we did get to taste a variety of wines and champagne, but mazaa nahi aaya. Most of 'em were so coarse, us se acchi to apni Napolean's No. 7 port wine hoti hai.

This was the last stop for the day and then we headed to Pune on a 5 hour drive and reached our hotel at 11 in the night.

The next day began early for most, as people were supposed to head to a local mandi to witness auctioning of farm products and the transactions between farmers and traders. I said for most, coz i dint go as i was lazy as always and did not want to trade precious sleep for more time in loud and messy marketplaces.

After a heavy breakfast we left our night shelter at 11 in the morning and stopped at a highway hamlet 200 kms from solapur. I dont remember the name of the place but it was supposedly the trading point, servicing all villages in the radius of 20-25 kms. It was a routine exercise here too, wherein we intreracted with the local retailers and got info about the distribution practices, the margins on which they operated, the buying habits of the locals. What was important was, that this particular village had the most number of outlets selling all types of white goods. So not just the kirana store, we also understood the psyche of the rural buyer when he set out to purchase a refrigerator or a new Plasma Screen TV.

The final destination was 'Mandgaon Pharaata' and without a doubt i can say, that of all the villages and places we visited on the trip, this was the place i would like to call 'the middle of nowhere'.
90 minutes after we got off the last motorable road, we reached this village. And this is where we witnessed a meeting of farmers, and a roadshow organised by an Agri products company. The language of use was heavy duty rural marathi, but i think i did get a hang of what was being said....about using the company's fertilizers and pesticides for better production and khushhaali and unnati and everything else.

And in the mean while i managed to sneak away to catch some amazing shots around the landscape. get those at http://flickr.com/photos/achan

To top it all, there was this funny incident at the fag end of it all, when we were about to leave. About 5 minutes before we left the village, i was sitting in the Bus and waiting for others to board, when i saw a group of village children playing near my bus. As i was looking outside the window, it seems one of them saw a sardar for the first time and he gave me the only surd name he might have heard and started shouting "HARBHAJAN!! HARBHAJAN!!" very much to the amusement of my colleagues and my embarassment. And it didn't stop there, the crowd of children just got bigger, as kids went and fetched their friends so that they wouldn't miss the rare sighting of 'Harbhajan'. The group followed our bus for quite a distance, shouting 'bye Harbhajan, bye Harbhajan'

All in all, the week was full of travel, first to Dilli and then this 2 day trip, and i guess both were rather enjoyable. The Rural excursion moreso because it was the baptism of sorts fpr my camera.
all those who've been through the images i clicked have praised them and i too am satisfied with the results.

bas, finis.
next post mein main apne is trim and next trim ke subjects ki choice discuss karoonga.
ok tata.

you'd like to read this.

Barkha Dutt
Managing Editor, NDTV 24x7

Saturday, June 24, 2006:

One of the most awkward - and yet, strangely compelling - things about journalism is that sometimes your work makes you hold a mirror to your own life.

This past week, a quiet, but determined 16-year-old became an unexpected reflection of my education.

I have always believed that my school and college years were the first architects of my personality; like every middle-class Indian, I take pride in where I studied and what I was taught. And yet, the gentle idealism of this young girl made me pause to wonder: Had my public-school education been shamefully elitist?

At first, the story seemed straightforward enough. Garima Godara, a CBSE topper, with an astonishing 97.6 per cent had taken the entrance exam for the Delhi
Public School (Dwarka), the school closest to her village.

The daughter of a police constable who earned less than Rs 6,000 a month, the school's fees would have been a problem. But the family was undeterred; perhaps there would be a scholarship or a loan; surely the school would be keen to admit the girl who had topped the national capital's merit list.

Garima's proud father had spent months battling the entrenched patriarchy of his peers, fending off nosy neighbours who gossiped about why she didn't spend enough time in the kitchen. Now, he was even more determined to give his daughter the best education her marks could buy.

This could have been the story of New India and its emerging, self-made middle class; a proud milestone for a country that dares to dream.

Instead, here's what happened: DPS turned her down. Her results were good, it conceded. But marks aren't everything, said the school principal to NDTV, and
besides, her English was poor, and just didn't cut the grade.

Later, listening to Garima in the studio, it was hard not to feel both angry and moved. Angry because of the obvious injustice: not only was she as bright as her results indicated; there was nothing about her spoken English that suggested that she would have been unable to keep pace with the syllabus.

Yes, she spoke with a regional accent that some would consider insufficiently sophisticated. But there was no doubt that she could not only follow a complex argument, she could also make herself understood to any English speaker.

But it was her calm that was almost heart breaking; a quiet courage that belied her teen years. It was almost as if we were more outraged and indignant than she was. During the course of the programme, a principal from a well-known school in Dehradun called in, offering her admission and a scholarship; others promised to
get DPS to change its mind.

But betraying only the slightest sense of hurt, she said firmly that her aim now was to show DPS that she would do better than any of its students. She had already got herself admitted to another school, and DPS could quite simply, take a walk.

As she spoke, viewers clearly shared my anger. The online poll showed that 90 per cent of viewers believed that the English language exerted a disproportionate influence over the education system.

Yet, were we all being hypocritical and dishonest? This time it was DPS under the microscope, but were any of us any different?

Let's say she continued to do outstandingly well in school. The next stage would be college. I pictured her trying to take the entrance interview at my old college, Delhi's St Stephen's. Would she get in? And even if she made the cut, how would other students react to her presence? Would they admire her for her academic brilliance? Or would they snigger at her accent, titter each time she made a grammatical error and then, melt away, leaving her alone to find her own friends?

Garima's story is a metaphor for India's twisted tryst with the future. I learnt after the programme was over - and it is significant that neither she nor her parents brought this up themselves - that she is an OBC.

For some months now, as the debate over reservation has raged, opponents of the quotas have made the same point again and again: we should be a society where merit matters. It's a compelling argument, and one that I have personally supported.

But what do the anti-quota street fighters have to say now? Here's a girl who competed in the mainstream, her own Hindi medium DAV pitched against the trendier, richer, big names. But her merit was swallowed up by prejudice.

Is it any wonder then that supporters of reservation believe that the system is stacked against them, and that merit is a con-word used by upper-caste tricksters?

Her story is also a scathing comment on the class divide in India. It is fashionable for marketeers and economists to talk about the burgeoning middle class. Each day a new figure is conjured up to demonstrate the size of the Indian market, and the clout of the new middle class; is it 250 million this week or has it already reached 300 million?

We embrace these statistics, because we like the idea of India as this century's favourite financial destination. We feel flattered when Time magazine puts our country on its cover, and we talk glibly, especially to foreigners, of social mobility and how the gap between the rich and poor is closing; we argue that India's tomorrow is being built by its industrious and enterprising middle class, and we feel like the future is unfolding, right here and right now.

But here's what we never admit. We're just the worst sorts of snobs.

The social mobility of the last decade has meant that the new middle class does not consist of people like us. Instead, it is made up of people like Garima, who we still find excuses to exclude; we sneer at their lack of Westernized sophistication; make fun of their accents, and we try and ensure that our children have nothing to
do with theirs.

Finally, Garima's story exposes India's paradoxical relationship with the English-language. Nobody in the world speaks English like us. We have our own idioms, our own words and our own accents.

We pretend to love our own English and brag about how it is India's great selling point; the reason we dominate the global outsourcing business. But of course deep down we know that our English is not the English that the West really wants. And so, each time we talk to Britons or Americans, we subtly alter our diction and
inflection.

When we set up our call centers, we drop the subtlety entirely and start accent classes to teach our young people to abandon the speech patterns of our own society
and to migrate to a virtual, linguistic middle America, where they become impersonators of people they will never meet and never know.

But within India, we still treat our own English as the great social decider. We laugh at regional accents, smirk at those who make grammatical errors and feel most at home with those who talk like us.

Everyone else belongs on the other side of the English divide. And as it turns out, the other side of the class and caste divide as well.

Maybe we cling so tightly to this tiny community because secretly we are just insecure. Outside of our little bubble, India is changing. Every major institution in recent times - Parliament, the bureaucracy, the military, our colleges and schools - is being forced to re-write the rules.

A new breed of Indians who no longer look towards the West for self-affirmation, is making its presence felt. We like to call this a decline in quality. But actually, it's the rest of India waiting to get in.

How long are we going to keep the gates shut?

am the insignificant one

shot by achan

ae khuda ret ke sehra ko samandar kar de

ya chhalakti aankhon ko bhi patthar kar de

tujhko dekha nahi mehsoos kiya hai maine

aa kisi din mere ehsaas ko paikar kar de

aur kuch bhi mujhe darkaar nahin hai lekin

meri chaadar mere pairon ke baraabar kar de

obsessed or possessed?

Finally i have it.....not the H5 but I settle for the H2, and needless to say, i was Euphoric and now am satisfied. I might never use all the features i paid for, but then i never said i was practical!

P.S. for the record, one had to shell out 25K for this beauty. And thats NOT including accessories like the carry case and the memory stick which will set me back by another three grand.

aur kallo baat

Lo kallo baat!

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Achan!

1. 99 percent of the pumpkins sold in the US end up as Achan!
2. Achan is the only bird that can swim but not fly.
3. Humans share about fifty percent of their DNA with Achan.
4. Ancient Greeks believed earthquakes were caused by Achan fighting underground.
5. Contrary to popular belief, Achan is not successful at sobering up a drunk person, and in many cases he may actually increase the adverse effects of alcohol.
6. If you kiss Achan for one minute you will burn six or seven calories.
7. Achan was first discovered by Alexander the Great in India, and introduced to Europe on his return!
8. The eye of an ostrich is bigger than Achan!
9. Humans share over 98 percent of their DNA with Achan.
10. Bananas don't grow on trees - they grow on Achan!

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Sober Again

Its morning again and i am back on terra firma. Last night was good. Good enough to make me take a sabbatical for now. Among other things, i found a partner for my business plan. Our venture's gonna be up and running 3-4 year's time from now in Delhi.

Achha, did any one notice the Safari ad on the last page of HT and TOI a couple o days back.
If u dint, then pick it up and see how important it is to choose the right agency and what that can do for you.
The refreshed Safari, when it came out last year, looked...well, Fresh. But inside, it wasnt really a fresh performer. Those who've driven both the previous and present vehicles, will tell ya that it isnt a great improvement over the previous one.

But the point is, Tata, with O&M doing it for them, made such strong imagery of the Safari that suddenly, it was hot again. The image of the Safari power sliding stuck with the target audience.
And not that it occurred to anyone earlier, everybody now was willing to 'reclaim' their life.

Compare that to any of the Scorpio ads... 'Nothing else will do'.....
The launch campaign had some message here and there... but the campaign for the new upgrade launched this may.....there is nothing. Nothing but goras doing some stupid stuff like clearing snow from the vehicle with a helicopter, no less!


P.S. If u can figure out the message behind 'Go Fida' ...... lemme know.

Different Shades?

Amithabh Bachchan wore Shades worth some 2.7 lakhs. Going by the pics of the ones he's seen wearing these days, i wouldnt like to believe that their worth is more than a few hundreds.

I mean, ok he IS an icon of sorts, but that doesnt mean he can get away with wearing anything.
I havent been able to get that pic, but if u chanced upon Bombay times issue of a couple o days back, he's on the front page wearing shades which are obnoxious at best.

My latest obsession

Sony CyberShot H5

Travails of a Summer Trainee

In my quest to become the most travelled summer trainee of my batch, I find my self in Chennai, on the last day of my touring schedule, I am whiling away my time at the departure terminal only because I am here too early. Its 7 now and I have been here for the past 90 minutes and I need to spend as much more time before I proceed for boarding.

The past 14 days have been the most hectic 2 weeks of my life. Not so much fun but huge learning. As a professional, as a traveller, and as a person, I have learnt a lot. Even learnt about myself, the limits to which I can push my body, the amount of travelling I am capable of handling (which my profession as a marketer will always demand). How not to overspend in a hotel. Ways and means of saving cash for emergency purposes, how to communicate with people in a land where no body understands any of the languages you speak.

Believe me, it is the biggest challenge to try and shop around when no body on the street understands either English or Hindi, forget Punjabi. I could have managed a bit of Spanish too but it is not difficult to guess, Telugu and Tamil are not my cups of tea.

I believed so earlier, but now I have lived the belief that classroom learning is not a percent of what one gets to learn when in the field, talking to customers and ultimate users of the product. Seeing your product work in real world conditions, in the hands of people who are not trained to work on it, and then face their problems which are entirely of their own making. And then come up with solutions which take care of those problems too. Things one can never imagine in an air conditioned cabin, how uncomfortable it is to drive the 3-wheeler cargo carrier I am trying to sell, are literally drawn in front of me. Crystal.

Honestly, I did think highly of myself as a marketing person before I started internship, and although the confidence is still there, but I realise how much there is to learn everyday.

Just for the record, in the past 14 days, I have taken off 6 times and boarded an intercity train twice, have visited 5 cities and 6 villages, talked to over 65 customers on the road, at the vehicle stands, checked into 3 hotels and 2 guest houses and a lot of other stats too, but lets move on.

I might also have to go to Pune in the coming week, and I am not really looking forward to it. What I really want right now is Beer, Tandoori Chicken, my couch and India’s cricket matches.

You, know I think there shouldn’t be any ‘summer’ internship, it should be in the winters. Travelling then will be so much more fun. It will be difficult, but still try to empathise with a guy who has been on the road in roadways buses, Taxis, auto rickshaws and on the pillion of a motorcycle, travelling to remote villages at 3 in the afternoon in some of the hottest cities and villages in India. There were so many times when I felt like chucking it all and taking the first flight home, but I managed to hang on and now am only too happy to have been through it and finally heading home (I never thought I would ever have to call Mumbai, my home, but right now it seems like home only).

Also, am planning to buy camera this week. I have been saving up for the big thing. Still haven’t decided, but I am considering the Sony H2, one from Kodak and a Nikon. My budget is between 20-24 k. If you have any suggestions, let me know. I want one with the maximum manual options, at least 6 Mega Pixels and, a 1.5 inch screen, compatibility with all types of storage devices (MMC, SD card, memory sticks etc.). A hot shoe will be good but is not a qualifying criterion.

And hey, the junior batch joins tomorrow, looking forward to being the mean senior who rags every fachcha on campus!

Yeh mera ghar

It’s been 10 days since I began my Internship in this company, and 7 since I moved into a new home. And these days, daytime is bad and evenings are amazing. That’s because the workplace is completely opposite of what I had imagined. My guide is a good man but not so much a nice one. OK, I know I sound confusing as always, but he is so tense all the time and never satisfied with my work. Haven’t heard a word of appreciation, even though I have worked harder than I have in all the exams of last year put together. The fact is, the profile given to me is not what I had asked for. And it is a product none of us have ever used, and there is a very little probability we ever will. It is as commercial and semi-urban a product as any can be. And this is not where I am making my career anyway. Hearing me distraught, my chhota bhai had positive words too. He says “now you know which vehicles not to get into when you finally get placed”.

Anyway, my new home was as dirty as can be, when the four of us moved in, and what an operation it was last Saturday. A couple of friends joined us in the safai abhiyaan in Kripa nagar and we spent the whole evening and night cleaning up the place and the next day we had 4 buckets full of garbage and useless stuff. Of the many things I love about my new abode, the best is the kitchen, where I cook for my newfound family. Only day before, I made Aloo Curry, which wasn’t so bad. It was fun talking to mama over the phone and taking instructions in preparing good dishes. I think I am a decent cook, I am still learning though.
We’re planning a house-warming this weekend; I hope it does happen before I am kicked out in the field by my company.

Oh, I forgot to mention the Bharat Darshan plans the company has readied for me. I am supposed to travel to a couple of states in South India and Nagpur, which happen to be their biggest markets. The job is hardcore, grass root market research. When we used to think of research during the summer training, given what we had heard from our seniors, I thought it would not be a lot more than googling in an air conditioned office. Well the office is air conditioned but I don’t have ANY access to the internet, and I am not going to be in the office for long. So, for now, I don’t have anything nice to say about office. New house is small and cozy and beautiful. Living with my best friends is a great experience and I love to spend time at home now. All of us have unwritten but defined duties already. I, Puneet and Rajesh do all the cooking, Pushkar is the accountant and everybody does the logistics.

It’s over.

Well, not the revolution I linked about in the last post. But the first year of MBA is. And I reckon it really was fun filled. Time for reflections, introspection, planning and bidding adieu to friends….the ones in the senior batch who now move on to their big jobs in the Corp world. Began with the orientation at Santokba Hall on the 13th of Jun last year, 1st trims, Paragana, the trip to Manipal, and the Mumbai Floods (can’t forget that in a jiffy, can we?). Placements this jan, Euphoria, and the Convocation yesterday.

It was the first time I witnessed giving away of degrees in a University, and the whole ceremony reminded me of the similar (and even more formal) events we used to have back at school. And I guess, of all the events we have had at NM, I think it was the most grand, splendid and efficiently managed event. Seriously, each and every announcement was to the minute as given in the schedule to us volunteers.
The Chief Guest and Key-note speaker for the event was Dr. Gita Piralamal ( and I was her escort for the event :D). I don’t think her speech was enjoyed very much by the audiences, anyway, I didn’t have much time to listen as I was on my feel all through out. What I did get to do was to hobnob in the power circles of the University and Mandal. I don’t think it is a big deal, but then you don’t often get the chance of being personal with the chancellor and VC of the Univ or one of the most powerful Businesswomen in the country. And the highlight was the moment when all the fresh grads flung their hats in the air. I was excited too, and could instantly visualise my parents sitting in the same audi next year, clapping hard as I ascend the dais to receive my degree, my friends cheering for me.


What the end of the year brings with it is also the much anticipated summer internship experience. Most of my friends are leaving for their destinations all across India and the hostel wears a deserted look already.
My posting is in Bombay only and I join this Tuesday.
Another big news is that I, along with my best friends, Puneet, Vivek, Pushkar and Rajesh are moving into a new home.
More about our ghar later.

It has Begun

http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/fullbvideo.php?id=8798

Fight against Reservations

Fun @ 70Ks !!

I would have posted this earlier, had i known that such an amazing pic had ever been taken.
It was the night we gave our seniors a farewell at Some Place Else in lokhandwala.
What a ride that was. I and Puneet were Jai and Veeru and doing our own version of 'yeh dosti hum nahi todenge'. Boy! what fun!!!

P.S. pic taken by our friends following us to ensure the drunkards reach home safely

My own Johari window

My Johari window. give your responses.

http://kevan.org/johari?name=Channi

Unsatiated - Hazaron Khwahishein

This is not a movie review.
But then may be it is. Its been 2 hours since it ended, and since then i have been reading what bloggers wrote about it. What awards it won.... and everything else.

And then my urge to write a review about it kind of fizzled out coz i saw all that i wanted to write is there all over the web and more. Also the quality of reviews and interpretations is far better than what i can ever write.

But i will still give you my words on it.

it IS a masterpiece. I know whenever i watch a good movie, i am tempted to call it the 'Best movie i have seen in a long time', but this one really is. A couple of my roomies were awake when the movie climaxed and i was yelping. I wanted to say something. I wanted to say something like - this is brilliant work or too good but i was speechless.

Indescribable. (for me, at least)

One has to have thorough knowledge about indian politics and the shaping of it, to really appreciate the subtle (and abundant) nuances of the times it is set in.

This movie is loaded. What i really mean is that it has not a centimetre of footage which is out of place. To be honest i didnt really get a hang of the first half because i wasnt paying much attention anyway and didnt know what to expect. From the posters i had seen an year or couple back, and the start of the pic, i was kinda confused. They simply dont relate. The adverts were all slick and glamorous, but the movie is anything but that.

And once one got a hang of what was happenning, i was riveted. So many stories.... but one tale. Brilliantly told. One reads that Sudhir Mishra, the director, is an M.Phil in Psychology from Delhi University, and it shows. He has given his actors the psycho treatment. Only then can one see real performances from the 3 lead actors - Kay Kay Menon, Shiney (Roshan) Ahuja and Chitrangadha Singh (who, I am convinced, is a beautiful reincarnation of Smita Patil)

And the tribulations, and the emotional tug of the characters is for real. Everybody watching, at some level, can connect with whats shown.

Child Marriages, Violation and Murder of the lower caste by the uppers, Utter lawlessness.... things that are difficult for a city-bred like me to imagine, are visualised and... they're not even the story. just a part of it.

I dont know if it is fair to draw comparisons, but I thought as long and hard after Rang De Basanti. But then it was also sheer entertainment. I can't call Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi, entertainment. And i am sure Pritish Nandy's Cash register vindicates me. The film wasnt a blockbuster, but i dont think it was meant to be.

I read a blogger describing it as a 'less film, more novel', and i agree. Alot has been packed into just 120 minutes.

I was at a loss of words to describe it to my roommates and, so it is here. I can say so much more about it and still not be able to say it all. those who have seen the movie will agree. And those who havent..... Are you all living in Bihar?

Shaheedan nu Pranaam - Bhagat Singh's 75th Martyrdom Day

A million salutations to the man who wed freedom

May his spirit guide our nation forever

Euphoric?

I have a Finance presentation tomorrow morning ( it is 2:30 am right now) and i am not exactly feeling euphoric about it.

The Euphoric element, you will notice, hasnt carried over from the fest. And i think it is partly to blame. I missed so many lectures for it that now i am completely out of sync with what is going on in class.

I would have had a fighting chance with the other 8 papers, but Corporate Finance is not where glory lies.

Anyway.

Euphoria the festival was not as big as i would have wanted it to be, but was magnanimous nevertheless.

It was a great learning experience to say the least. And it defined the oft repeated line on B-School campuses - 'MBA is not about the books and the classroom learning'.

I think, for some one who wants to be in the business of big marketing, doing festivals like this is the perfect learning ground. From the logistics, to PR, to the Sponsorship negotiations, one does all that is required in marketing. Thinking on your feet, getting the best deal out of your negotiations, printing posters, delivering invites, ensuring coverage on all media. From the play on the 7th - The class of `84, to the Special 'Rang de Basanti' Screening and yapping with Rakeysh Mehra, to the MTV shoot of 'Kya baat Hai', the Parnab Quizzes, and finally the Indian Ocean Rock show. It was one heck of an event. We had participation from a number of B-Schools, MICA and NITIE i remember in particular coz i interacted with some of the participants from these colleges.

More later. Abhi gotto read up the solution which i have to babble tomoro morn.

Welcome to NMIMS

The final list for the MBA batch 2006-08 at NMIMS is out.
Check your result at http://nmims.edu/fulltime/mba/login06.htm . all the best! See you on campus soon.

My best Friend's Wedding

It’s been some time since I blogged, haven’t posted anything but the press releases.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since….. And among other things, my best friend (More sister than just friend) got married to her boyfriend of….hold your breath….1 month!! But I am very happy for her and satisfied that she finally chose a befitting guy. The marriage was in Chandigarh and I spent the weekend in city beautiful with a one day stopover in Delhi on my way back (which is right now in a delayed ‘as usual’ Air Deccan flight that took off from Delhi at the time was supposed to land in Mumbai)

The marriage was one of the very few I have been closely involved in, in recent times. So many ceremonies awed me at one moment and made me wonder about their significance in the next.
The Mehndi, Sagan, Ring ceremony, Chunni, Chooda, Jai Mala, finally the pheras. And that’s not all, she also came back home next day with her hubby for what was ‘ghar pe phera daalna’ (sorry I don’t know the technical name for the same, if there’s any, and can’t translate it either).

And this is the Gal’s side of ceremonies, I am sure there are a couple of others which are exclusive to the guy’s side. I remember witnessing my Mama being bathed in yoghurt by his sisters when he got married some years back.

It was an experience one can’t forget in a jiffy. I tried to hold back when I was pushing her Doli, but cried buckets when she left. Even though I knew I would be seeing her just as often after her marriage, but it is the moment and the emotions involved which cant be easily explained which makes even the most stoic men break down.


Anyway, all this has happened at the expense of important work that had to be done by me for Euphoria, the NMIMS festival, and a couple of mid-terms that I missed and hope to cover up with a re-test or some humongous assignments which I am sure the faculty will load me with.


When I look back now, this month has been particularly eventful and busy for me, and there was nothing academic about it. It began with a distant cousin’s marriage in Mumbai for which my family had come down, and I was doing sorties between Santa Cruz Airport and Andheri East picking and dropping relatives in a rickety Esteem. Also showed Ma Papa and Bhai around Mumbai. Then my friends from MIB@ D’ School had come over for their scheduled Port Visit in JNPT and Panvel, and then Divya’s Wedding in Chandigarh for which I flew down for the weekend. And now as the date for Euphoria closes in, I don’t know how I am going to cope with the number of projects due for submission and mid-terms lined up.

And by the way, results of the 2nd trim exams also came out some time back, and yours truly has once again managed to bring up the tail of the class. I hope against hope that this trim is better in terms of GPA so that I manage a CGPA which is at least respectable and presentable at the time of placements next Jan.

And thinking of placements, I was talking to Papa today about my plans for the coming year and stuff, and general discussion about the possible locations that one can get while getting placed. Some time back I was open to the idea of working anywhere in India for some 2 years after placements and then move base back to Delhi, but today while I was driving around Gurdwara Bangla Sahib and the secretariat, I so didn’t want to go back to Madhouse called Mumbai. There is something about Delhi which I now miss since I have been away. Even the ills of the city seem so enchanting now. Not that I ever disliked the city, but I had never given its wonders a thought all the 22 years I spent in it.

And now somewhere at the back of my mind, I know, wherever I go in the world, whichever city I have a house in, my Home will always be in Delhi.


P.S. Another thing I wanted to tell you but always forgot. I don’t remember if I posted about my attendance at the Bryan Adams concert this month in Bandra-Kurla. To put it mildly, it was great listening to him live. And now the interesting part, I met my guruji in Mumbai recently, who used to train me in Hindustani classical back in Delhi when I was very young. I found out that he lives very nearby (4 bungalows) and started my training all over again. And very recently he asked me to accompany him to a concert organised by Bhavan’s Cultural Centre at SPJIMR’s auditorium. The name of the concert was ‘Ek Shaam Faiz ke naam’. It was Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s birthday and the concert was about his life and his poetry and ghazals from his repertoire were recited by singer Jaswinder Singh.
And know what, I enjoyed the evening thoroughly. Although there were some Couplets in chaste urdu which went straight over my head, but those which I did understand, were simply too good and left no doubts regarding the genius of the poet.

Note the contrasts?? And tell me how many people do you know who enjoy listening to Bryan Adams as much as they enjoy listening to Faiz’s Shayari??

Euphoria - PicturePerfect

Press Release

Narsee Monjee Institute of Management and Higher Studies (NMIMS – Deemed University), in its 25th year of celebrated existence and stupendous growth is organising its annual B-School Fest, ‘Euphoria’ on the 9th, 10th and 11th of March.

In its 17th year, Euphoria is one of the biggest events across B-School Campuses, and celebrating the institute’s Silver Jubilee year, it promises to be bigger than ever before.

Euphoria has always been a platform for the country’s best minds to converge and rejoice and revel in the atmosphere of fun, healthy competition and celebrate the spirit of achievement. At NMIMS, our endeavour remains to foster creativity and encourage ingenuity amongst the participants, and Euphoria is just the place for the best in business to test themselves against each other so that they enter the corporate world fully armed.

Euphoria ‘06 will showcase a variety of events simulating real world business situations across verticals. This year the theme at the festival is ‘Cinema’ and is enmeshed in all events, even the most serious number crunching games have a filmi bent. And apart from events with an academic inclination, the festival this year also packs in the critically acclaimed play by Rahul Da Cunha, ‘Class of `84’ and a string of exhilarating quizzes by Quiz Meister Parnab Mukherjee.
The festival will be attended by students from all over the country and Mumbai’s literati.

For further details, please contact:
Shanu Singh – 9322121459 Achan Deep Singh – 9867025425
Or log on to: www.euphoriaonline.net

The official press release:

PLACEMENTS AT NMIMS

In its Silver Jubilee Year, NMIMS - Deemed University has experienced a new high with the glorious placements of the Batch of 2006. The cross-sectoral participation in the campus placements bears testimony to the world-class education and excellent talent pool of NMIMS.
The Company pool consisted of a diverse mix of sectors - from FMCG to BFSI, Consumer Durables to Consultancy, IT & ITES to Media, making attractive profile and package offerings to the students. The mean salary was a record-breaking Rs. 7.47 Lacs p.a. and the highest salary was Rs. 13 Lacs p.a. Also, students accepted Pre-placement offers from the likes of Dr. Reddy’s, GE, Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro Technologies to name a few.
The diverse opportunity platform provided by NMIMS can be gauged by the assortment of profiles offered by companies that had visited our campus like Accenture, Air India, Asian Paints, AV Birla, Axis Risk Consulting, Baan, Britannia, Citigroup, Crisil, E & Y, Infosys, Intel, ITC, JP Morgan, Kotak Bank, Perfetti Van Melle & Whirlpool to name a few. NMIMS also welcomed a number of new recruiters on campus like Bharti, CapGemini, CavinKare, IBM Consulting, Lehman Brothers and UTV.
The excellent placements were a tangible feedback to the grooming of the previous and current batches, the curriculum and pedagogy, processes followed and the culture of NMIMS Deemed University.
“At NMIMS we constantly seek to provide a good blend of academic rigor along with contemporary business education not only to bridge the classroom-boardroom divide but also the concept to application process. This provides the ideal platform for future managers to hone their latent talent and has led corporates to hold the students of NMIMS in high regard. On a personal note, I feel the year could not have begun on a more positive note for my students and thereby the Institute”, says a visibly proud Dr. N M Kondap, the Vice Chancellor of NMIMS.

Placement Update

Latest inputs from the placecom.the official release is yet to come out and has been submitted to the VC.

In the meanwhile the latest average figure is 7.5 laks for the 2006 batch. And the reason behind the increase over the figure i had posted in a previous post is that the biggest recruiter this year i.e. the Kotak group has given all the recruits a 30% raise in their packages (6.5 each). And I guess that is Huge ;). Also the ITC package is 8.2 + 1.5 variable. So the total goes upto 9.7.
I hope unlike most other schools, where I am aware, the official line is different (inflated) from the real packages offered, my (institute’s) official release is in keeping with reality.

I think if the final placements were the only criterion for judging (which should never be the case), NM is right up there, completely justifying the 7th rank the biggest Business journals gave it last year.

What also comes through is that the profiles being offered to freshers, and not only the laterals, are also very nice, and not just the bread and butter MT profiles.

What also escaped my attention during the placement week, but was informed by Krishnaji, that the variable content and the future offered by a number of companies this time is simply mind boggling. This is known only to the candidates finally selected in the companies or the ones who were closely involved with placement processes. Eg. GE offering a particular FMB program (or something like that) which sends these candidates abroad for 6 months’ training after which they return home to assume greater responsibilities.
Hope to post the official placement release soon on the page.

Oh, and I have been writing this during the IB lecture, which has suddenly become an International HR practices session rather than a truly IB thing.
Keeping with my policy, I would not like to name the professor who has beaten all others who have ever taught me, on the parameters of GAS emanation.

The one good lecture that we did have today however, was Research Methodology by Ma’am Vidya Naik. I feel some of my colleagues are not taking this particular course as seriously as they should be because this really is the one which will come handy when we all leave for our summers projects. Let’s face it, all a summer trainee is expected to do in a company for the duration of the project is do quality research for the organisation. And more often than not, the PPOs will depend on the value one has added to the organisation. Not that they ask for it, but when you do it, you obviously find favour with the organisation.

And you know what Pushkar had to say when he read my post on Rang De Basanti : “Ab tu blog pe bhi Gas chhodne laga?”

ME: Excuse me?!!

Lo kallo baat!

I didn't know my blog was worth the space in a news daily!

Check out today's Mumbai Mirror, Pg31, Blogger's Park and you'll know. My chhotu sa post on Rang De Basanti has made to the column and I am only too happy to share space with Rashmi Bansal's Post.

Rang Diya Basanti

I watched Greenmile last night. And as usual I was floored by Tom Hanks’ performance. This morning I was talking to Puneet and I said that with the kind of quality of movies we get from the west, we have a lot of catching up to do. Indian film makers are still finding it hard to get out of the boy meet girl syndrome.

My comments could not have come at a more wrong time. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Aamir Khan have proved me wrong and I am rather happy about it.

Rang De Basanti is a movie like no other. Not one that Indian audiences have witnessed in a long time. No movie, Bollywood or Hollywood, has left me thinking for so long.
RDB has moved me. No, It shook me. For one, I am proud of Bollywood and ashamed of my ignorance and insignificance. Proud for the product it has come out with and ashamed of my zilch contribution to my country.

Unlike Swades, RDB is not preachy. It is not about the armed forces or the independence struggle or jingoistic about patriotism. It is about us. The youth of India who have so comfortably settled into our consumerist lifestyles and taken everything for granted.
Conveniently adjusted ourselves to the ills in the society we live in. Accepted them. And then we also curse them instead of using the power in ourselves to change the wrongs.

And I also have a confession to make. I know I am a little senti otherwise too, but I have not shed as many tears as I shed in the hall today. Never. I frequently encounter moist eyes in a senti scene in a movie, but today was different.
The first half was a joyride. A swell of happiness. A lot of things that I could connect with. The indifference, the recklessness, the carefree attitude, college life, Delhi roads, the AIIMS flyover, India Gate, Red Fort. I so missed home right there but was happy to see the beautiful way my city was captured on celluloid.

However the second half which begins with Flt. Lt. Ajay Rathod’s (Madhavan) death in a plane crash gave me as many goosebumps as the cackles in the first. Each and every actor was in the skin of the characters they were playing. Performances of Kunal Kapoor (playing Aslam) and Siddharth (playing Karan Singhania) could have been better – the rawness was showing. But all other performances, like the movie itself, were flawless. Soha Ali Khan, Alice Patten and Sharman Joshi were simply too good.

Atul Kulkarni and of course Aamir were the professionals they are. Really really riveting and strong performances from both of them.

It is only now that I am being able to analyse the movie, but when I was watching it, I was in it. I lived their emotions.

I exhort you to watch it, if you haven’t already. And let this movie be the Dhamaka it talks about which shakes you out of the slumber and awakens our generation.

Placements 2006 @ NMIMS

I have been tryin to upload some pics frm the Goa trip for the previous post, but there is some prob with the proxy most of the time which keeps me frm posting pics on blogger. Will keep tryin though.

This was meant to be about the placements. We had great placements again this year. And the seniors tell us that we managed it better than they did for their seniors and the offers also have been better with bigger packages. A new system put in place also minimised Job losses. The top 30 (or so) companies were the ones which u got to take if u get selected. The rest are classified as 1+1 companies where, if u have been selected for a co. you may apply for another but have to keep the second one if u make it there (and of course forfeit the previous one). This leaves the candidates with very little choice sure, but makes the process very fair at least.

Most of my close friends in the senior batch got some of the best offers. Behzaad went to ITC @ 8.2, Navi - Infy @ 6.5 others too but i dont remember other combinations.

I am not from the PlaceCom so cant be exact and also i am not posting this stuff on behalf of the PlaceCom or NM, all the info here is from what i have gathered by volunteering for the processes.

Unlike last year, the biggest recruiters this year were for the finance domain. Last year Infy made some 27-28 offers for various profiles out which 23 were accepted. This year the Kotak group picked 23 @ 6.5, JP Morgan 17 @ 9.5 lacs, Infy 17 @ 6.5 lacs.

Other names that i recollect who were on campus and got some candidates are :
IBM Business Consulting
Atos Origin
Accenture
Asian Paints - 3 for operations, 1 for marketing, all @ 9 lacs
ITC - picked 2
Britannia
CapGemini
GE Money
CavinKare - 1
Crisil
Bharti
Whirlpool
Lehmann Brothers
E&Y
Wipro
Morgan Stanley
Avalon Consulting
GE Shipping
Brics Securities
HCL Tech
Patni Computers
UTV
Citi Financial
Bristlecone
Mindtree
Mahindra & Mahindra
Baan
Zee telefilms
Mahindra British Telecom
DHL
BirlaSoft
Fractal Consulting
CB Richard Ellis
Goldman Sachs too was interested but they were just too late in the day to get any candidates.
From what i gather, the Average should be around 7 (plus minus 0.25), the placeCom is yet to come out with the figures. The highest was 12 offered by more than 3 companies - Air India, Caliber Point and another one whose name i dont recall right now. CapGemini offered 11. The lowest was 4.5 by UTV and Zee Tele i guess. Media cos always pay less.

I was disappointed coz DaimlerChrysler and GM were not on campus, but was later told by the placecom that the packages offered by them were too low, hence they weren't invited for the processes. I hope more Auto Companies with fatter packages come when my time comes ;-)

All the best to my beloved and respected Seniors. Congrats again for the brilliant profiles u guys bagged. You deserve them! And Kudos to my batch and the placeCom in particular for running the process like clockwork.

Past 3000

Not the Sensex duh. Its three times that now. Its The Hitcounter.
There are times when I want to believe that this hit counter does not work well. You know it doesn’t count all of the hits I get. There are alot more hits than this freaking counter is showing us.

But that might happen, only if I were to write more often and write better.

When I started out a year ago, oh and I guess this happens to be my anniversary post! Yeah, I guess it has been exactly a year now since I started this particular blog.

So, when I started out a year ago, I wanted to be a B-school blog. Ya know, the ones like my peers in other schools had. I wanted it to be one about my life in a B-School. But then I became anything but that. I was impressed by my super-senior, Rajat Khungar's Blog about NM, but I guess mine doesn’t even come close. There is never any gyaan about marketing or management or anything for that matter. I don’t know if that is good or bad, bad I guess this blog is the closest I get to being really honest.

There are still some events and thoughts I never give words to, coz either they are too gross for civil society or not even worthy of being published here.

What I did manage to do out of this blog was to give words to some worthy thoughts and also to help myself dwell upon many things which just often whizz past in life and we never give a second to them. Like a small news snippet which never made a difference to our lives but might’ve been the shaking up of worlds for some.


Coming back to my humdrum life, which has not been so humdrum recently, One. My 2nd trim exams got over. Two, I had the time of my life on the Road trip to Goa. Both were personal firsts - A road trip with friends and the holiday at Goa. Three, we had rocking placements at college again this year. Four, I have really built an impressive collection of movies recently. Five, my family is gonna come over for a week to Bombay and I hope to have a blast coz I have missed them so much.


I’ll start with the Goa Road trip and I will take a look at all the snaps in order to hep recapitulate all the fun we had a fortnight back.
We started off in the afternoon of the 5th of Jan in a Zen and stopped for the night at a Motel in Sangameshwar that is halfway on the highway from Bombay to Goa.

And started off again on the morning of 6th only to reach Goa at arnd 1 in the afternoon. A total of about 12 hours on the road, and what a scenic highway that is. The Ghats keep comin and going and there are some lakes, rivulets which really make the road amazing. It has the right mix of Straights and Hilly curves so you enjoy all kinds of long distance driving. I didn’t get to drive, that’s another matter. The guy who got his car wouldn’t let us share the driving coz he was to scared we'd hurt his vehicle. Heck, the way he was driving, any kid would have only pampered his car. This prick is Crazy!!! Not alot of the other co-passengers in that car would have called him that, may be used a lesser expletive alright. But he was aggressive and stupid, and that is a lethal combination if you ask me. Ppl call me an aggressive driver but I am ok with that coz I know I am sensible. I don’t try tricks with trailers 20 times the size of my vehicle when I m going head on and I am in THEIR lane!!!

Anyway, we made the trip alive. And we made Calangute beach our base and played in the sea the first evening, got a lot of salty water in our ears, mouths and everywhere but did we love it!?
I rented a bike the next day. The standard Royal Enfield Bullet. Rs 350 for a day gets you this thing. You also pay for the fuel of course. And what a delight it was to weave around the lanes and petty highways of Goa on this Bike. We went to almost all of the scenic beaches on North Goa – Vagator, Baga, Calangute ofcourse, Anjuna and another one. Saw the Aguada fort. I am the laid back couch potato kinds, so you wouldn’t expect me to go out for water sports, and that’s right. I didn’t. I lazed on the beachside shacks gorging on the most sumptuous sea-food with accompanying drinks while my friends were out in the sea getting themselves we on the jet-scooters and jet pulled inflated things.

Its as if the whole place has been made for tourists. It really is tourism heaven.
Everywhere I looked, I saw more foreigners than Indians. And I am glad I went there sooner than later. And I am going there whenever I get the slightest opportunity.
Joie de Goa!!!

I guess the Placements deserve their own post. So I’ll write about them in the next one.

Placements 2006 at NMIMS Rock!!!!!

I am not supposed to be doing this, but my insti is in the middle of the placements, and i am one of the volunteers, and i am helping the refreshments and Food n Beverage (FnB) Team, and i just wanted all to know that it is so amazing and fulfilling to help my seniors out and being a part of the anxiety, joys and sorrows. It is an amazing feeling to be in the middle of all this.

More details in some time....

Gudiya, and a Doll House called Life

It was in the newspapers. It was on TV. Riveting. It made those reality shows look like fairytale fiction. Everybody told Gudiya what she should do. Except, we didn't know what the Force, Up there, was doing. Gudiya's wedded life had more twists and wrenching turns than the road up the snowy mountains where her husband was fighting the enemy. There was another enemy he needed to fight, which was to destroy the last strain of domesticity in his life - Destiny.

It had been only 10 days in the August of 1999 since she had been married to Arif, a Sapper in the Indian Army when he was called to the frontline. And Arif went Missing in Action. The army thought he had deserted the force, his family gave up on him. So did Gudiya.

For 4 years Gudiya thought of moving on, and then, married Taufeeq. A childhood friend and a Distant relative. It took 16 months and a seemingly happy and normal life when it happened.
When she did not know whether to rejoice the fact the her first love had come back alive from behind enemy lines, or how could she confront Arif, while she was carrying Taufeeq's child, for the 8th month.

As if it wasnt enough. All hell broke loose. The matter did not limit itself to the small village in Haryana. It was national 'NEWS'. Gudiya was on every channel, telling everybody her sorry tale. The village elders were on screen sermonising what she should do. Arif wanted her bride back, but not Taufeeq's child she was carrying. Taufeeq did not want to let go of the woman he had learnt to love and love he did. Bechari Gudiya was confused. She did have some opinion of her own which told her that she wanted to stay with Taufeeq. But you know that is not what Shariat, the muslim law, would let her do. The ulemas said that her second marriage with Taufeeq was illegal, and his child - Illegitimate.

I don't think she wanted to what she did, but she went back to Arif, who now was willing to take her back with Arif's child - sep 04. An year later, she was pregnant again, with Arif's child, Suffered a massive heart attack, developed complications and had a miscarriage.

A serious health condition followed which was described as nothing to do with the multiple pregnancies but a combination of factors - some, genetic.
And yesterday, Gudiya Died. She's gone. And she's relieved. For once, she doesnt have anymore dilemmas to face. At least she got one thing that was certain. Death.

It is easy for me to sit here and 'study' for the 'Values and Ethics in Management' exam I have tommorow and prepare myself for dilemmas I will face in the corporate world. But I dont know of a course which prepares people to cope with what Gudiya went through.

And I thought My life was tough and complicated. It is funny how we all get caught up so much with our petty problems and often give up. But there are ones who are less fortunate, fortunate enough to have petty problems.

I often say - "I give in to you, the one above, for you have our strings in your hands". But when it is needed, one doesnt think of the prayer.

Gudiya reminds us what we are. Dolls in a Dollhouse, moving when the puppetteer pulls the strings. And he's playing for his own amusement.