PANACHE

New Blog Address

2009-08-29T20:42:00.000+05:30

I am shifting my blog address from blogspot to wordpress.

Please keep visiting my new blog here.

I have imported all my old posts to the new blog site.

Pursue Joy, not happiness!

2009-08-24T10:48:00.000+05:30

What is the difference between joy and happiness? How does one pursue joy and be happy? What exactly is joy and how does it impact happiness? Ever wondered or pondered about these?

Well, I recently read an article by Mr. Guy Kawasaki. He was delivering a speech to some high school students where he spoke about different things which one should do in life. One of his suggestions was to pursue joy, not happiness.

Now, as far as I could understand, happiness is a state of mind. It is a greater term which has a broader scope. Happiness is a never ending pursuit… A healthy body, a good income, nice family life etc. are some of the determinants of happiness. But do they really ensure happiness? I don’t know. Can anyone say with full authority that if he earns X lacs of money every year, his wife is the most beautiful lady on earth, he has every conceivable luxury on earth and he does not have any health ailments, then he will be happy?

A person is never sure what will give him happiness. He is always moving in darkness in his quest for happiness. Some say eternity is bliss… religions say that death will bring happiness to the soul after it coalesces with the universe. Philosophers say happiness is inside… It is deep within… Over the centuries people have tried different ways of finding happiness. Some leave their cozy jobs and move to the mountains in pursuit of happiness… Some meditated & got enlightened and spread words of wisdom. At the same time, some became serial killers in their pursuit of the so called happiness. But the biggest question is whether they were really happy?

Now for common people like us who cannot of course go to the mountains or kill people or get enlightened, what can we do to make ourselves happy? We should pursue joy, not happiness. Joy, according to me, comes from every small thing in life. You go out and it suddenly rains… You get drenched and come back happy. That is joy. You met an old friend of yours out of nowhere and you chatted with him/her for hours… it took you to your old days… That is joy. What I mean to say is that joy can be found in every tiny little & seemingly insignificant thing in life. It is doing things which make you happy. It is like trying to become a kid. Remember those days when falling rain drops mesmerized you. Remember the time when you spent countless hours chatting with your friends in a small room without worrying about the next day’s assignments. Things like that… Joy can be found in every thing that you usually tend to ignore.

If you want to be happy, try doing things which give you a feeling of instant happiness. Make a painting… get drenched in rain… take a random trip in the local train from one end to the other end without getting down anywhere… sleep on the beach one full night… Surprise some one with something special and make his/her day… spread joy and you will be happy.

That’s why, pursue joy, not happiness.

Rozen-e-deewar

2009-08-10T10:06:00.001+05:30

"Rozen-e-Deewar" is an Urdu word which means "A hole in a wall (of a prison cell) from which a ray of light emerges and gives hope & freshness". (Courtesy: Wikipedia).

It is also the name of the debut album (and its title song) of Roxen, a Pakistani band. The song has got some great guitar beats and the lyrics have deep meanings. I was randomly playing songs in my Nokia Xpress Music 5130 and this particular song took me back to where I belong. I went back to Lucknow. Rozen-e-deewar was unofficially the anthem of Manfest.

We really love this song. As the meaning suggests, it depicts hope in bleak situations. While working for Manfest, we had to face a lot of such situations which were actually very tricky. At times, we had to follow that frail ray of hope under very dark situations in a persistent manner to make things happen. Rozen-e-deewar was like our war cry.

Not only Manfest, a lot of people from my batch loved this song. Every IIM Lucknow party would have this song played over and over again.

If you like this song & you want to listen to the original version; then visit this link here

BTW, I bought an Apple iPod Classic 120 GB for 13K today. I am sure I am going to fall in love with this beauty in no time. Thanks to a friend of mine in my company, I am slowly but surely getting obsessed with these cool electronic gadgets. Earlier, I used to shut down all my temptations towards such things but ever since I started earning, I have started taking interests. Now I am looking forward to owning some more of such pieces. I would like to buy an iPhone or a Nokia E71 Smart Phone. I know both are differently positioned, but both of them make a lot of sense to me. The prospect of owning an iPhone actually influenced my decision to choose an iPod classic over an iPod Touch.

That’s how it has been till now.

I would sincerely try not to neglect my blog in future… Hopefully you readers would love to quip something on my posts.

Doctor! Please Rx

2009-08-07T11:39:00.000+05:30

Hey people, I have joined my job in Mumbai. It has been a great experience till now. Life has changed big time man… Never in my dreams had I thought that after doing graduation in Computer Engineering, I would end up in a Pharmaceuticals company. :D Probably the almighty wanted to make my father happy. He is a doctor and he always wanted me to carry his legacy forward. I chose engineering but look; here I am today, working as a Management Trainee in the largest pharmaceuticals company in the world.

One good thing about my job is that, apart from understanding the basics and nitty-gritty of business, I am also supposed to understand the functions of the human body and its different organs. To sell a product, I must know how it acts – its dynamics and kinetics. This part of the journey has been the most interesting part of my job till now. I am amazed at the beauty of the human body. It, no doubt, is the most complex machine in the world. And keeping it problem free is even more complex. And, that is the job of my company. We do researches, create block buster medicines and then sell them.

To understand more about the ground realities and the sales processes, our company sent us (seven Management Trainees) to the field for around a month. All of us went to different cities. I was posted at Indore. Before that, everyone (including the CEO, the Executive Committee, and other Head Office colleagues that we met) told us that the time that we would spend in the field would be the most impactful & enriching in terms of learning. They were very true. In the field, it is a different ball game altogether. Strategies are very often delinked from the ground realities leading to failures during implementation. So, not to let that situation happen, we hit the field.

Well… enough of work stuff now!

Life has been full of ups and downs but overall it’s been great. Maximum City sucks big time. But, then again, Mumbai is an enigma. I hated it before I left for Indore but then I started missing it. Like countless others, I am in the process of becoming a Mumbai-Hater to Mumbai-Lover converts.

It is a very crowded city… you would see people swarming everywhere. There is shortage of almost everything: place to sleep, footpaths to walk, roads to drive, water to drink, oxygen to breathe... The list is endless. Amidst all these discomforts, this city acts like a seductress. She will win your heart no matter what. The only thing she wants from you is to give her some time. It is a lively city… People are energetic. They behave well unlike people in Delhi. Also, there are a lot of options for anything and everything you want.

I stay in Bandra (West), 10 minutes by rick/bike from the sea face & the newly opened Bandra-Worli Sea Link. There are a lot of places for shopping, eating and hanging out at walking distance from my apartment. Coming to the apartment, I (along with three others) am paying 28k/month for an unfurnished apartment. :-P

That’s all for the time-being. Will catch you later. Bbye.

Adieu HelL

2009-04-09T22:47:00.000+05:30

Here I am… back in blogosphere after a long pause. I abstained from posting because of my laziness coupled with lack of enthusiasm; but for all the ears accustomed to the clichéd answers, I will say that YES I WAS BUSY.

Many things have happened over the past few months. Most important of all, Manfest 2009 came to a successful end; and to our utter delight, Businessworld rated it to be the largest business school festival in the country. It was an honor to be a part of such an extravaganza. Also, I got an MBA degree: D. I am proud to announce that I am “Partha Pratim Basumatary, PGDM IIM Lucknow” now. Hey, I also got placed. I am going to join a Pharma major soon. :)

I have a lot to write about many things but I think this post should entirely be dedicated to IIM Lucknow. I got to spend the two best years of my life (at least till now) at HelL. It was an amazing experience being among a coterie of people who were so enthusiastic and full of energy about absolutely anything & everything in life. Back in 2007, I was worried about leaving IIFT Delhi for IIM Lucknow because I was not sure about the ‘returns’ (in strict MBA parlance). Today, I can say with full confidence that joining IIM Lucknow was one of the best things that I ever did.

In the hindsight, if some one asks me to pick up a few things from my ‘IIM Lucknow memories’ – the ones which are very close to me, then I will choose the following:

· Manfest: Eat Sleep and Drink Manfest. That had been the motto for all eight of us from Manfest core for the past two years. We did absolutely nothing other than conducting two successful editions of Manfest. Everything in our lives; be it academics, parties, celebrations or sadness – everything had been governed by our aim of making Manfest successful. We played ‘games’ with others, we strained our relationships with friends, we cut short our personal commitments, we bunked classes & took grade drops in some of the most dreaded subjects- all these without any kind of remorse – only for Manfest. We fought with each other at 2 A.M in the morning but went to Taj for breakfast the very same day at 7 A.M. The best part of this team was that you could shout at anyone on top of your voice least expecting a strain in your personal relationship with that person. People will call that professionalism – I will call that understanding. The most important reason why this team had been successful was that we never stopped arguing about a particular point until and unless ALL eight of us were CONVINCED. For example, during the selection of our juniors, we spent more than 24 hours discussing ONE particular candidate – and mind it, that was not a joke. We discussed, had breakfast, came back, had lunch, started discussing again and it went on till the next day.

· Controls: Very close to my heart again, it was one group which actually redefined the term ‘hard work’ in my dictionary. A controls team runs the final placements process for the seniors and the summer placements process for the juniors. If some one has to experience pressure, be a part of this team. Before we got to conduct the actual placements process, we had to go through a lot of dry runs. After hours of bashing cum discourses being given by the Senior Controls Team, we used to spend a lot of time inside the ‘Den’ trying to find solutions to the confounding problems. The team had only two months to fully understand the ‘art’ of conducting the process and prepare itself for it. It was a small time for any team to perform to its best considering the fact that the enormity of the task at hand was unquestionable. Also, we had less time to be a ‘team’ rather than being a group of individuals. One major difference between Controls and Manfest was that in the later case, we had enough time for all of us to understand each other. But, in Controls, it was a pressure cooker situation. Anyways, We used to spend our time in the ‘Den’ till 6-7 AM in the morning, then attend our classes, come back and sleep in our rooms before going back to the Den again at 6-7 PM. This cycle continued… We missed all the Instis, we took a beating on our academics but we conducted the process which saw IIM Lucknow receiving the highest number of offers in its entire history. That made us proud… but the best part of being in Controls was that I made a lot of very good friends. These people created a lot of difference in my life.

· Instis: Ideally, we should have had Instis every fortnight. But, due to some reasons, their frequency decreased. One Insti a month or two was what we had to be contended with. For those of you who do not know what an Insti means: Instis are the institute parties. People come, get drunk, dance to the fullest, head bang to the Bhangra beats, get senti, puke everywhere in the campus, spend nights staring up at the sky… and do much more. I will miss those Insti parties. The best part of an Insti party is that the behaviors of people change once they are drunk. Some become emotional, some start giving sermons thinking they are very wise, some start speaking their heart out, some one who is very recluse also starts gelling with others… I guess alcohol puts off all your inhibitions for some time. Probably a person starts listening to his heart when he is drunk… he does not worry about the society or for that matter anything other than himself. I was at the receiving end of some of the ‘legendary statements’ made by some of my best friends after they were drunk. :P

· Football: I became a true fan of Football only after I joined HelL. I met many football lovers there… We watched so many EPL, La Liga or Champions League matches together. Fighting over clubs, trying to create Pool vs. United rivalry intentionally, passing Anti-Chelsea rants: P, discussing team selections as if we were the experts and celebrating goals – some of which were ‘unscored’ as well: P… I enjoyed all these thoroughly. I also found a way of putting all my worries and tensions on the back burner – whenever I felt low I would watch soccer videos of the clubs that I support. I have become a big fan of Manchester United. I also support Real Madrid and like AC Milan’s way of playing. BTW, I tried playing this game… as a defender. Size does matter here [: P]. I was successful in blocking some of the best players’ advances on the IIM Lucknow football ground. I also played in the inter-hostel football tournament for my hostel.

· Kababs & Pizzas: Lucknawi delicacies… Ummm… This place is heaven for non-veg food lovers. I will miss those Galawat kababs. :( They are so famous & tasty that even the companies coming to IIM Lucknow for recruitment would take a break for two hours to go to the city and have them. Tunday, Naushi Jaan, Dastarkhwaan – I will miss them all. :(. Also, my bulging belly would be a great testimony of my love for Zinger burger from KFC and Cheese burst pizzas from Dominos.

· Rural Trips: We developed this unique way of doing our bit of CSR. Whenever we found ourselves having some free time in the evenings, we ventured out into rural Lucknow with beers and bikes. Go to any random village, drink beer, watch the sunset, jump on the hay stacks, click some photographs and come back. This was our way of ‘giving back to the society’. :P

IIM Lucknow, for me, was a very fulfilling experience. I actually got everything… did many new things… got to feel every bit of emotion. Of all the points that I mentioned above, I did not mention anything about the people I met there. Off course, no experience mentioned above would have been put to sense without having good people around. I don’t want to name any one on this post but I am glad that I got to meet some of my best friends at HelL. Never did I expect that I would find such good people at the post graduate level. I have made some amazing friends over the past two years… Starting from Group-1 to Manfest to Controls to the rest, it was great to know you all. Every bit of memory that I share with that place will speak countless lines about each one of you.

P.S: This post reflects my personal opinions. Please contact me before quoting anything in any kind of media.

- Partha Pratim Basumatary

Switching loyalties

2008-10-12T19:38:00.002+05:30

Isn't it amazing how the soccer players switch their loyalties within no time?

International World Cup qualifiers are underway and the club players are playing for their national teams against their very own club mates. And they are playing alongside players who are their 'foes' for most part of the year.

It is the height of professionalism? Is not it difficult for the players to adjust? A thousand case studies can be developed on this subject...

Life roxxx!

2008-10-11T22:31:00.002+05:30

My carelessness towards my blog is unacceptable… Long time since I posted the last time. I am trying to be back.

Life has been good here… Work is there but the fun element has increased. We friends hang out together, party more often and watch movies whenever we get time. These are the days which make one feel that time should stop… Everything has been just perfect… or at least near perfect. I am enjoying every bit of my stay here at L because I know life will change once you are into the corporate world. I won’t pass any judgments on my life which is yet to come but I know one thing for sure that people do change once they start ‘working’. And most of the times, the change is not pleasant…

‘Controls’ has started again and preparation for Manfest is already underway. Oh, BTW we have launched our first event – Karvy Online -a live stock trading event which is the biggest of its kind in the country. Mega bucks to be won plus there are a lot of other takeaways like the ‘gyaan’ of trading at a time when the market is in a slump… Also, you get to trade in commodities as well… So, form a team of 2 or 3 and register here. You can also play it individually if you want to do it alone.

On a personal level, I some times wonder how long it will take me to understand my own self. I am discovering and rediscovering myself over and over again. Every other day I find something new and I say to myself, “Oh Wow! I am like this as well…” I some times think I am becoming a better person because of this but at the same time I also feel this is hampering my natural instincts… I have become more and more conscious about who and what I am… It restricts my emotions… my actions and my reactions…

FYI, College has suddenly become ‘greener’ because of ‘imported pastures’ from Europe. ;)

It is sometimes amazing how time passes by and how people come to your life and change it for good or bad. I am still confused as far as my personal life is concerned… Maybe that is how life is.

'Happening' days

2008-07-26T16:37:00.001+05:30

I feel like writing today. The last few days have been very ‘happening’ and I have had a bag full of surprise elements in my life.

Mid term exams are over. I never thought they could be as simple. Half of my exams were open books and the rest were application based. I love such papers where I get the opportunity to think and write. I hate mugging stuffs and reproducing the meaningless frameworks and theories on the answer sheets.

I like marketing. I want to pursue a career in hard core marketing. People think it is all GLOBE. I say, “No! It is not” Marketing is all about common sense… It is about understanding yourself and others. A person who can keep his eyes & ears open and who can understand others can only become a good marketer.

I had the chance to talk with a very close friend from the past. It was nice to have a feeling that I got back my best friend. :)

Life in general

2008-07-03T09:25:00.003+05:30

Some things are better unsaid but I beg your pardon for putting personal stuff on a public domain.

Before some one gets me wrong, I would like to clarify that I am perfectly fine. But, being a person who probably introspects a lot, I felt I should pen down a few things.

After coming back from summers, PGP2s have established a trend of taking long walks around the campus almost every night. I have also joined the bandwagon, though gradually I have become a regular walker… I sometimes walk even twice. The cool breeze, lonely roads and relative isolation give me enough time to think about myself and my life.

I have some very good friends here in L… And it would be wrong to say that I am lonely. I have people to talk to, friends to rely upon and ears to listen to my litanies. But, as some one rightly pointed out something is missing in life.

I don’t know why I am thinking like this… Maybe I should not. But, even amongst people who are so good, why is it that I feel so isolated… so engrossed in my own thinking that I cannot keep pace with the external world. I find myself so lonely even in between a group which cannot get better. There are no answers… at least for now. Second year for me has been relatively chiller academically. I expect the load to increase soon. Things should fall into place once I am into a lot of responsibilities. The screw is getting tightened gradually…

IIM L Ver 2.0

2008-06-14T02:04:00.004+05:30

I am a tuscha now. In IIM lingo, a tuscha is some one who is in the second year… a senior to be more precise. Before joining L, I had a lot of apprehension about this place. I heard from so many sources that L had the most rigorous academic schedule amongst all IIMs. I was really worried … More so because I was leaving IIFT after one year of MBA… It was definitely really a very big gamble then.

One year into L and being a 2^nd yearite now gives me the authority to say freely that the gamble was worth it. It was in fact not at all a gamble… it was an opportunity for me. The past one year has been so fast paced that I cannot fathom how I have adjusted and created a new family and a new life inside L.

A friend of mine from Team Manfest told me that,”Apni learning toh L se alag hi honi hai…” (Our learning from L will be totally different). What he basically meant was that we would be richer in a different way by the time we leave this place.

For me personally, it has been a great year… I joined Manfest and was a part of Controls. The kind of camaraderie that exists in both these teams is amazing and I just feel lucky to be a part of it. More importantly for me I have made some really very good friends. You get to learn so much by just being a part of some one else’s life. It feels good to know that some one missed you when you were away during your summers. It feels good to know that there are people who are genuinely so friendly without any expectations… It feels good when you know that the people who are your best friends here will be the big names of corporate world in future.

If some one asks me today about one thing that I value the most in L, then that would be the kind of people I have here with me. Just before joining this place, I was lonely in my own world. L brought a refreshing breeze of people to my life… They have made me change myself. I now understand that life is more about how you want to live it rather than living it on some one else’s dictums. Coming back to L is like coming back to my own family… to my own place… to my own people… to people who are close… and who care… Touchwood!

I kinda feel nostalgic about this place already… But before I leave, there are many things to be accomplished… Hopefully, everything is gonna be alright… by the almighty’s grace.

Trip coming... :)

2008-05-28T11:23:00.004+05:30

Just before summers, I had so many plans of visiting places in and around Bangalore. I was even planning a trip all the way to Goa... I convinced my friends from HelL that this would be a summer to remember. According to my plan, I would have seen Ooty, Goa, Mysore, Hampi and Pondicherry by now. We Indians are always good at making plans but we never execute things properly.

Come 10^th June and I will be off to Lucknow. But, before that I will be going to a few places outside Bangalore. My parents are coming… They will be here in Bangalore tomorrow… Yippee…

I will be going to Mysore with them and then will send them for a darshan of the Balaji temple in Tirupathi. The following weekend, we will be off to Mangalore and have a hit at the beautiful Western Ghats along with two other friends. In between, I will also try to show them some places in Bangalore … maybe in bits and pieces.

I am ‘earning’ but have never gifted anything to my parents. I am planning to buy a wrist watch for my Mom and a cell phone handset for Papa.

Life is a journey… and I feel like a grown up now. It seems as if it was only yesterday when papa was planning everything for a journey and look here I am making everything ready for my parents to come and enjoy this place.

Gone are the days when I used to ask papa to take me out on his Rajdoot bike to some place outside. I was a small kiddo then. He would ask me to sit on the oil tank of our bike… Strong gush of air would bring tears out of my eyes so I wore goggles made of yellow frame. Those days were so funny because I used to count the number of scooters/bikes/cars that papa would overtake. We did not have a car then and I used to dream someday papa would come and bring a beautiful foreign made car and take me all the way to some place distant…

Anyways, I hope this trip is gonna be rocking for my parents. They should take breaks more often from all the drudgery work that have become accustomed to doing…

We are the champions! :)

2008-05-22T12:09:00.004+05:30

We are the champions… the EUROPEAN champions. Man Utd has won the Champions League 2008. We have reached the ‘promised land’ of European soccer by defeating premiership ‘rivals’ Chelsea in an enticing thriller of an encounter in Moscow last night.

It’s been an amazing season for Manchester United football club (MUFC). They have won the English Premier League (EPL) for the second successive time, which created a record 10 premiership wins for MUFC under the able guidance of Sir Alex Fergusson as manager.

Last night’s victory was special in its own way:

50 years ago, in 1958, a plane carrying Manchester United players crashed on the run way in Munich. 8 players died during the accident which shocked the entire world. It took them years to recover from the loss.
Sir Matt Busby, one of the survivors himself rebuilt a team around the other crash survivors. His team was famously called the ‘Busby babes’. It was 40 years ago in 1968, that they won their first European Cup.
Ryan Giggs surpassed Bobby Charlton’s record of maximum number of appearances for Man-U when he substituted Paul Scholes last night.
It was an all English clubs final for the first time in the history of Champions League.
In all previous Champions League finals where clubs from the same country played, the club which was lower on the table in the domestic competition won the cup. Last night it was destined to be different … Man-U won the cup despite being the champions at home.
Man-U had never won a major tie on the basis of penalties under Ferguson before.
Paul Scholes, one of Ferguson's all time favorites, could not play during the famous Champions League final victory against Bayern Munich at Cam Nou in 1999 due to suspension. In this edition, he not only played but also had a crucial role in winning the cup.
Cristiano Ronaldo dismissed his critics by scoring in one of the biggest matches of his life.

Last night, Man-U dominated the first half. Kudos to Chelsea’s Cech who made two crucial saves. It was a characteristic Chelsea equalizer just before half time that brought them back into the game. Second half went Chelsea’s way as they created more chances and caused a lot of scare for Man-U. Extra time, stoppage time could not bring anything substantial and finally it was on the goal keepers to steal the victory for their sides.

Penalty shoot outs are often very unpredictable. After Ronaldo missed the 3^rd penalty and Chelsea scored the subsequent one, they were back on top. I some how had a feeling inside, “No! No! We just cannot afford to lose… It cannot happen… It was gonna be our day” John Terry missed the last penalty after slipping on the pitch… Luck was there on our side.

When Van der Sar saved the shot from Anelka, that was the bestest thing to have happened to me… I was so emotional by then that I wanted to jump with joy. I don’t know why I have become so passionate about a game like soccer which was almost unknown to me only two years back. Manchester United was something that I had heard of but I never thought someday I would become a crazy fan of this mighty club. All the time while I was fighting with my life’s own problems, I started following this club… It did really help me a lot in diverting my attention from shitty things during my free time. Thanks Man-U!!! Thanks a ton… for all the happiness.

Some Links for the game here:

1. Penalty Shoot outs: Link

2. Award ceremony: Link

3. Celebration: Link

IPL and its theatrics

2008-05-19T13:58:00.005+05:30

IPL has thrown up more controversies than any other sporting event in the country. Although, I am gradually getting bored of the same kind of matches being played over and over again, the press, the franchisee owners, the boards and the players do not stop themselves from creating some story which keeps the attention fixated on IPL.

Shoaib Akhtar had a dream debut in IPL. He took 5 wickets and took home an easy win against Delhi Daredevils although I feel it was more of a lack of seriousness on the part of the players from Delhi which lost the game for them rather than Shoaib winning the game for KKR.

Now, there is a lot of hue and cry over SRK's presence in the dug-outs. Apparently, he was there to 'motivate' his players to perform better and win the matches for him. My point is, what was the need for Shahrukh to jump and dance like a monkey on Shoaib soon after (READ: during) the presentation ceremony? The ceremony was not completely over at that time. He is just the owner of the franchisee... IPL is not indebted to him in anyway. He is also not a part of the governing body. He just cannot create his own rules and be whatever and wherever he wants to. It seems there is no rule book in place because the game's beauty is being plundered with delight by people who think they are gods. I am a big fan of SRK but I do not approve of anyone going out and doing that kind of stuff on the field which should be considered a place of importance, if not sacred.

Fun is OK. Commercialization is OK. But, at least please don't make a mockery out of this. Do players really need motivation from the likes of SRK to perform better? I don't think so. I know he has invested a lot of money on this, but at the end of the day it was his own decision.

Another laughable character is Lalit Modi. He will always be found near some one whom the TV camera is surely going to capture. Being the organizer, he should have the sanity of not openly showing support for any particular team. But, our Modi commissioner sir celebrated with SRK once a Delhi wicket fell against KKR... and he was also showing remorse (I think he was trying to impress someone) while standing by Preity Zinta when Punjab Kings XI lost a batsman.

Anyways, I probably did not have anything good to write about so thought it would be a better option to crib about the circus called IPL. BTW, I am no way anti IPL. In fact, I am happy that India brought forth this concept... But sanctity of a game has to be preserved. And things look good upto an extent... nothing should be overdone.

Sreesanth slap dashed

2008-05-13T15:39:00.001+05:30

Much has been said and written about Sreesanth and the infamous bolt being slap dashed on him by none other than our harum-scarum madcap Turbanator… Yeah, I am talking about Harbhajan a.k.a Bhajji.

I am no way a great admirer of Bhajji and his harebrained practices on and off the field but, I am also not in favor of putting the entire blame on him and letting Sreesanth run away unscathed.

Sreesanth once mocked and jeered at Sachin and Sehwag in two separate incidents during a Challenger Trophy match. A newcomer who is yet to prove his credentials as a match winner on the international stage should not resort to such behavior. It is not about performances on field. You would never see a Hayden being involved in a spat with McGrath. Being professional is more important than being uselessly aggressive.

I would say he is a good bowler and he has a great future ahead. But, rather than wasting his energy on those otiose gimmicks, he should try to learn from his mistakes. It is in fact going to hurt him more than anyone else.

Anyways, I am not here to barge on you readers with my own version of morality. But, if Sreesanth is not punished by BCCI, then I will be one of the very few persons (probably) who will be disappointed.

Glory glory Man United

2008-05-12T16:19:00.003+05:30

We are the champions.

Manchester United defeated Wigan 2-0 to win yet another EPL title. Starting the league on the back foot with a draw and a humiliating defeat against Manchester City, ManUtd has carried forward its tradition of bouncing back during the crunch moments.

Arsenal was playing really well when the league started but they could not continue with their rhythm. Chelsea, on the other hand was trailing back but their fighting spirit and the 2-0 win against Man Utd at Stamford Bridge kept the title race alive.

Now, the wait for Moscow begins. Fergy and his boys truly deserve a double. :)

A civilization going down the drain in Assam

2008-05-09T15:16:00.002+05:30

I came across a nice article by Mr. Wasbir Hussain on the demographic uncertainties facing Assam. It was published in the South Asia Terrorism Portal in September, 2004.

I have always been vocal about the problems that are arising in Assam because of illegal immigration taking place from Bangladesh. Let me reaffirm here that I am no way an anti Muslim person. I respect the religion and the people alike but here I am worried about my state. I have absolutely no problem with the indigenous people of my state including the Muslims who are there as an integral part of Assam. But, Assam is facing a crisis which might lead to a loss of its own identity and I am concerned about that. The consequences could be gruesome and the indigenous people may lose their home place forever.

According to the 2001 national census, approximately 30% of the population in Assam consists of Muslims. And the districts which are near the Bangladesh border are predominantly Muslim majority ones. Bangladesh is a small country but with a population which is far beyond its control. The easy way out for the people there is to sneak into India through the porous borders. Better 'employment opportunities' and a state government which always turns blind eye towards this problem helps them in making Assam their abode.

The BSF soldiers guarding the borders are as corrupt as any government official in the state secretariat. They compromise with the country’s own security for a few extra dimes. Once, a single member of a Bangladeshi family is IN, he will ensure that he will bribe the BSF and get the rest of his family members inside within a short period of time. After that, they spread all the way to other parts of the state… Then they either encroach into the government owned lands like sanctuaries, national parks or manage to stay on the river islands or on their banks.

The implications could be aplenty. I will divide all of them into a few different categories:

Geo-political: All of us know about the vote bank politics in the country. Now, these immigrants very well know that if bootlicker party like Congress is in power, then they do not have anything to worry about. On the other side, we have the AGP (Asom Gana Parishad) and BJP (Bharatiya Janta Party) as opposition which has never been formidable. AGP is trying to make up for its lost grounds whereas BJP is still trying to make its presence felt in the state. The opposition is not united and their vote bank is dwindling. So, getting these two parties back onto the stage is going to be very difficult unless the people of Assam realize that it is now or never. Looking at the awareness level and the lackadaisical attitude of the Assamese masses, that possibility also seems like a dream which will never become a reality. Another major issue that is arising out is the emergence of Islamic militancy in the state. There are many major Muslim Liberation jihadi factions already operational in Assam. AL Qaeda is building a follower base with help from ISI’s presence in Bangladesh. ULFA, which once fought the ‘Indian government’ for the sovereignty of the state, is now no more than a puppet in the hands of ISI. The whole media is focused on Kashmir and its politics but taking advantage of that very same callousness, ISI has built a nice base in Assam. If not controlled now itself, this will spread like a gangrene which will destroy the entire north east.

Social: I being a native of Assam can very well differentiate the Bangladeshis from the indigenous people. These immigrants are living on tight budgets. They work hard to earn a few bucks and manage to survive. But, when they see that people are relatively affluent, they resort to bad means. Theft, dacoity, robbery etc. have increased in the state. It is very risky now-a-days to walk late or leave the doors ajar. Incidents of rape, killings and other such crimes are heard more often than not. I do not put the blame solely on these immigrants, but 80-85 % of the time it is these people who are involved in such bad activities. Our social security is at stake.

Cultural: This is also very sad. These immigrants are also influencing the cultural scene in Assam. They are slowly displacing the indigenous people from the hot beds of Assamese cultures like Brotodua and Barpeta. To add to the woes, you would see modern pop songs in Assam made exclusively for these Bangladeshis in their native dialects.

Governmental: Thanks to the ‘foresightedness’ of our current CM, a crucial ministry was given to some one who is a pro-Bangladeshi. All major recruitment drives for home guards, Assam Police constables and officers have become favorable for these immigrants. There are people in the state ministry who love them and who work for them. Now imagine a situation where more than half of the Assam Police force comprises of people who are either Bangladeshis or pro-Bangladeshis. What will happen to justice for the indigenous people? Will ever justice be imparted? I doubt so… More so the same thing will happen in other departments as well. Take some 10 odd years, and you will see that these immigrants will start getting precedence in all state government run institutions like medical colleges, engineering colleges, universities and vocational courses. The government funds created for the welfare of the people of India will be wasted on these illegal immigrants.

Readers might be wondering how these people manage to show their identity as being indigenous. Forged documents are not hard to create.

The IMDT Act was revoked but the state government has come up with another replacement. I do not understand why the opposition cannot stand up to the state government. Why such laziness when they also know that nothing is going well? State bodies like AASU who have great bargaining powers should have been able to do something material by now.

I want to do something but don’t know what to do. Thinking about the state always discourages me and fills my heart with sadness. What is it that the youngsters who are good can do? There are so many talented individuals who are from Assam and who are proud of their state. These people want to do something worthwhile but it seems no one knows what to do. I am no exception.

A trip to Hyderabad

2008-05-08T15:05:00.005+05:30

I had an extended weekend at Hyderabad. My good old college buddies, the dearest of them all are there... Hyderabad is an overnight journey from Bangalore. Book a ticket in a nice Volvo bus and you are assured a good comfy ride all the way. Mineral water, chips and biscuits are there to compensate for the dinner that one would definitely miss.

The trip to Hyderabad was a long overdue. I canceled it once three weeks back due to some creepy feeling that came into my mind. After that, it took me long to pacify Sardar who was acting as if the whole sky had fallen on top of his helmetted head.

The past is not as close as it seems. It's been almost two years since we passed out... Some things though never change. I can talk with these people for hours without getting bored even once. I can hurl all kind of expletives at them... I can gauge their mood swings without much ado... Good to see that most of them are kinda well settled in their lives... and I am sure the future is only going to be better for all of them.

Some of the things that could be termed as leftovers (Would like to do these with friends some day in future)

Go on a trip to Mauritius. We planned an entire trip to Mauritius in between our end sem exams during engineering days. :P. Now, you know the reasons behind my lack of good grades. The plan was so exhaustive that the only thing that prevented us from making the trip was a passport;
Have a Dil Chahta Hai style trip to Goa from Mumbai on an open hooded car some day.

I always say that the college friends are the ones who have the greatest influence on one's lives. Maybe because we grew up, faced ragging, experienced defeat, joy and all kinds of emotions together.

Coming back to Hyderabad, it is a nice and growing city. The software engineers swarm every other place... like they do in Bangalore. Except for the summer heat which is unbearable, everything is good out there. The roads are broad and beautifully maintained. Amenities are not aplenty but they are OK. One sad thing was that the Hussain Sagar lake stinked so bad that even olfactory adaptation could not prevent us from running away. God knows how people were having culinary delights on the Eat Street sitting by the side of the lake where we could not stand even for 5 minutes.

It feels good to be with friends all the time. But, as life moves on, work pressure, career and other options take precedence and probably take the fun portion out of life. One should take a few days off and try to re-energize himself for all the chores that one is entitled to do.

When it rained...

2008-04-30T12:25:00.004+05:30

Last night, it rained cats and dogs here in Bangalore.

And, Yahoo! locals was also launched... :)

We had an all hands meet at the Hotel Ashoka Grande in the evening yesterday. It is a quarterly meeting (is it?) where all the achievers from the Yahoo! offices in Bangalore get recognized. There was a small beer cum snacks party after the meet. We were there when the cake was cut and it was nice to see people celebrating their efforts which made Yahoo! locals a reality.

Ummm... coming back to rain... It was simply awesome. The smell coming out of the raw soil when rain drops kissed it took me back to my childhood days. We used to have this big green field in front of our home where I used to play cricket, football, hide and seek etc. etc. There was a nice beautiful river that flowed by an embankment that was erected to prevent floods. Whenever the weather turned rainy, I and my friends used to swirl around running with arms wide open to feel the soothing effect of the soft wind that blew just before a heavy downpour. The whole atmosphere used to be so exciting… dark clouds up on the sky… air oozing perfume of the flowers that traveled distances…

Ours was like a small farm house then… We had some goats... some hens… a small orchard consisting of guava, mangoes and some other fruits. Now as a habit, goats fear water like anything. A small rain drop falls and they used to scream on top of their voices. They had ropes tied to their necks and the other end would have big pegs made of bamboo which would be put inside the soil to prevent the goats from moving away. When rain came, Maa would ask me to extirpate the pegs and release the goats. I would not take umbrella because I used to love running in the rain. Goats used to scream more when they saw me… When I released them, they would waste no time and run as fast as they could to their shade where some tree leaves would already be in place for them to eat.

Those days are gone… The beautiful home where I grew up belongs to some one else now because it was a government bungalow for doctors. I am grown up… We have shifted to our own house… We don’t have goats anymore… But, I miss those days… There was only happiness around. It was a small village where everyone knew everyone else… Festivals were celebrated with great enthusiasm… New Year picnics were annual affairs… Life was so devoid of complicacy. Thinking about those days, I feel growing up has only been a curse.

Since I cannot relive those days, I decided to get drenched last night. Rain started falling down as and when I stepped out of the cab. But I did not rush to my apartment… Instead I was taking my own sweet little time and looking up on the sky while walking. The rain drops were hitting me on my face… the wind was blowing… It was a nice experience after a really long time.

I have a suggestion: If you are coming back from office or you don’t have anything very urgent and rainfall starts, then get drenched in it for atleast once. Feel the tiny droplets of rain hitting your face… See how beautiful nature is and how great a feeling it is to be like a kid when you are grown up!

Commitment

2008-04-29T15:37:00.003+05:30

It's been almost two years since we left SVNIT Surat. At that time, only one or two of my friends were "committed". Here commitment means that people have found their "soul mates". It is not just a casual brush with love, instead it is something which tends to be permanent and demands some kind of seriousness from them who are involved.

Now, as I was thinking about all my friends, I found (to my dismay) that barring one or two (including me), rest of them have found their girls. They are kinda "well settled" in their lives.

Now, to quote one of them, "it feels good u know?".

That is probably nice. I have had some brief experiences in the past but never got myself involved in any permanent kind of a relationship. Looking at some pairs, I feel it is a complete waste of time because I am no way an entertainer who would like to talk the same old story every other day. Sometimes I feel, maybe it is good to have some one who has time for you or who likes to listen to you when you are frustrated ... Some times you need some one close enough to celebrate your happiness...

Bhajji Paaji slaps Sreesanth 'the Saint'

2008-04-28T12:13:00.001+05:30

The recent controversy involving the spat between Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh was funny, yet humiliating to Indian cricket. Controlled aggression is always healthy but these two perpetrators have not been able to substantiate their aggression with similar performances on field.

Now, it will be interesting to note how BCCI reacts to this controversy. I sincerely felt that Harbhajan was being over-protected during India’s tour down under. The fallout of the same is in front of every one to be seen. Here Sreesanth is also no saint and both of them should be dealt with strong fists…

What irritated me the most was the reaction of Sreesanth… He proved that he is a cretin of sorts, who could cry when being slapped on face by a fellow team mate who played along side him for his very own country.

This is gross and frustrating for fans like me.

Just another blog post...

2008-04-25T12:33:00.001+05:30

The last few days of any sporting season are full of thrill and excitement. EPL countdown has begun and the Champions League final in Moscow is less than a month away. Man-U is on its way to grab its second successive Premiership title and it is still in the race for another European glory. I am a die-hard ManU supporter and I would love it if we can make it a double this time.

ManU plays Chelsea at Stamford Bridge tomorrow. A win would ensure that the league is ours… I hope we can seal the fate tomorrow itself without waiting for too long and then go and outplay Barca in the Champions League semi final at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Soccer is a beautiful game. The intensity, fervor and passion make the game so special. Sadly, the situation of soccer in the country is not as good. Recently, I came across a piece of news saying that India has signed a treaty with Brazil where we will be teaching cricket to the Latin Football giant and in turn, they will return the favor by teaching football to our players. This is a positive step but in India, we are always good at making plans and strategies, whereas execution always takes a back seat. Let us see… We can always hope for something good.

India is a huge country. We definitely have a great scope for another sport where we can excel. No, I am not talking about eating away any fan following from cricket. Fans are not exclusive as far as sports are concerned… But, a game like soccer can have mass fan following in the country. There are pockets like Bengal and Goa where soccer is being followed locally with unmatched interests. The same can happen on a global level provided; people get to see some quality games from quality players.

Well, after quite a bit of prodding, I thought it was high time I should get a Manchester United jersey. Although, the price tag always repelled me, I decided to keep my senses at bay and bought one at the forum mall here in Bangalore. It did cost me some 2300/- odd bucks but a credit card payment ensured that I did not feel it when the money was actually going out of my pocket. But, I guess, it was worth it. I love the club and the team… Hope we win and after that, I would be eagerly waiting for another soccer delicacy, the Euro 2008.

A bad day...

2008-04-24T09:23:00.003+05:30

Yesterday was a rough day at work. Things were not going as per my expectations and to double the trouble, I had a scuffle with an auto rickshaw driver last night...

The traffic system in Bangalore is worse than any other place I have been to. The commutation costs are simply exorbitant and the auto drivers are like thieves who can manipulate the meter...

Frust ho gaya hun! :(

IPL mania grips the nation

2008-04-23T09:12:00.002+05:30

A few months back, I predicted that cricket would be taking an altogether different route of commercialization. It is not only about media, hype, money, glamour and glitz anymore. Cricket is changing. The gentlemen’s game has transformed itself into a far cooler version of what it used to be. With the advent of T20 cricket, the time taken for the completion of a match has reduced from a day/5 days to 3 hours. Cheerleaders, pyro-techniques, colorful jerseys, and players defying nationalities… wow… things look a lot better now. India’s triumph in the T20 world cup final brought the latest version of the game to India and here we are now facing the dawn of a probable change in the way cricket will be played in the years to come.

After that epoch triumph at Lord’s in 1983 against the mighty Windies, Indian cricket changed for good. Indians started believing that they had the ability to discern themselves as a major competitor on a global stage. That win gave a major push to cricket in India and the 1996 world cup made the subcontinent, the powerhouse of world cricket. Indians are cricket crazy and the players like Sachin, Sourav, Rahul, Yuvraj, Dhoni etc. are like demi-gods. The greatest reason behind so much fan following could be the lack of any other sport where India has a potent presence. Even Indian hockey has lost its grace and thanks to the utter nonchalance being shown by IHF and Mr. Gill, we could not qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

Zee group’s rebel ICL raised alarm bells in the BCCI camp. It realized that it was sitting on an opportunity which was similar to a potential gold mine. Right from denying access to major stadiums to imposing restrictions on players from playing in the ICL, BCCI has played all the dirty games. Eventually, it came up with its own version of IPL…similar to the EPL of soccer. Eight franchisees and a unique way of buying players through competitive bidding laid the foundation for a competition which has been riding on the hype and hoopla surrounding it.

Today is the fourth day of IPL. Till now, apart from the Mohali match, where the stadium was sparsely filled, almost all other matches have seen full attendances. Though it would be too early to talk about the future of the competition, one thing that cannot be denied is that the kind of money involved and the fan following that exists in India for cricket is nowhere to be found in the world. Therefore, if any thing like this can be done to world cricket, then only India can do it.

It would be interesting to see how fans adjust to the new mode of fan loyalty. Whether Indian public is willing to support one particular entity or they will be confused for a long time is still a big question mark. It is good to see Punter hugging Dada and cheering for Ishant. At the end of the day, it will be a victory for cricket.

Those cricketers who usually do not get the chance of playing in the national side because of stiff competition would also get to learn a lot from the big shots of international cricket by playing alongside them in their respective clubs. I hope IPL has a long life…

Caught 'purple handed' :)

2008-04-17T16:10:00.006+05:30

I am back. A lot many things have happened over the last one month or so; at least in terms of changing locations. I went home and now I am here in Bangalore for my summer training @ Y!

The end term examinations went well… in fact much better than how I fared during my mid terms. I remember my last MIS examination when after doing my packing (as I had to put my stuff in a common room before leaving for summers), I went to the library only to study but started bakar with Chellu and APee. Our talk went on and on… Only when I went to the loo and saw the early morning sun rays coming inside through the window panes that I realized, it was already 6 A.M. Who gives a damn when you have intellectual bakar mates like Chellu and APee? Although I am really doubtful about the 2^nd name. :P

My brief journey home was full of power failures at home, lots of guests coming to meet me, my visits to relatives for the sake of sustaining relationships, and total lack of private time. Not even a day passed by when we three (Maa, Papa and me) got enough time to sit down and talk properly. But even amidst all these problems, what makes a visit to home always special is the feeling of being in the company of the people who love you unconditionally. I miss my folks some times but life and career have defined a route which is probably taking me away from them.

Assam, is not heading anywhere. I see a total lack of opportunities in the state. People have nothing to do… young people are sitting idle and they hatch bad plans in their minds. The crime rate has increased… It is unsafe to even walk around after dusk. The natural beauty (that I was proud of once) may not exist for too long. The hills are already losing their green covers. And the worst of it all, I see a lot of demographic changes taking place in the society… :( Among the positives, a four lane road (under the East west corridor project) is coming up which will connect Assam with the rest of the country. Broad gauge railway lines are being laid and maybe within the next few years, we will have a local railway station as well. But all these things will bear no fruit until and unless the people back there learn to do a bit of hard work.

Back from Assam to some thing lighter. I bought a 500 GB external hard disk and I am using it to store as many movies and TV serials as possible. I am watching Heroes, Prison Break, How I met your mother, Coupling, Hustle, Sex and the city, Wonder Years etc. etc. After watching all these, I find everything related to the Indian TV scene so silly.

A typical Indian TV Series goes like this: A young bride (who is the 'awesomest' lady on earth in every sense) gets married to a good guy. Then there is some one from amongst her in-laws who does not like her and she hatches a lot of plans to do all kinds of torture to her. She survives each one of them… her hubby who was initially good also suddenly becomes her anti and he also starts hating her. But she is still the sati, savitri types. He unfortunately meets with an accident and dies but before she comes to know about that, there is an alter ego of her husband who comes to take his place and derive some undue benefits. Suddenly her relatives (who were her biggest enemies once) become angels and her only well wishers on the planet. But hold on, some other villain has to come into picture. Then suddenly the dead husband (whose body was definitely not found) is alive and kicking again… the confusion of the alter ego is solved as he comes out to be the twin brother of her husband who was given to some other family because of some promise the mother of the husband made to some bloody crap… Huh… I cannot go anymore… People die, take rebirth, and become good, bad and good again…Add to it, the pathetic actors… They do not know how to even cry… I also notice one very common thing… The goons who are shown in the serials always have dark body color, wear some old style goggles, tie a knot with the two ends of their shirts, don a pair of rugged jeans, use a red piece of cloth to roll over their necks and speak in a very typical accent which I cannot describe here now… Do we really want to see these on TV? Before the story comes to an end, the producer stops paying bucks to the channel and so the show is stopped and another serial starts… :P

Okie… what else…??? M doing my project here @ Y! It is a good one… I cannot say too much but, yes I am working with some of the best people from the web space in the country. One good thing about this place is that, people here encourage independent decision making even at an internship level. This is some thing which would be very difficult to find otherwise. You can go through the video below: (something very relevant to me and my project)

Section D - Adieu to first year @ Hel(L)

2008-03-20T20:42:00.007+05:30

Group - 1 sans Chaddha!!!

Prized 'commodity' here @ Hel(L) :P

The camera could not catch the shape 'D'

Hel(L)'s 'D'evils :P

Officially, the last day of first year's teaching got over today here at Hel(L). Section D will never be the same again... In fact, there is no fundae of sections in the second year. We had a quiz today... After the quiz, we all assembled at the convocation ground and clicked photographs, gave bumps to the unfortunate 'bummable' guys. We have a party tonight... after some time... to be precise, it starts exactly 9 minutes later. :)

We still have one more year here at L... Hope life is going to be full of fun, frolic, learning and happiness like the way it has been till now.

Pensive

2008-03-08T14:35:00.003+05:30

Final placements are over. IIML rocked! Congratulations seniors!

Controls 23 was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. Placing some one and being a part of the process is a matter of self satisfaction. I am lucky to be associated with the team controls.

Now everything is over. I have 24 hours for me myself. But, I do not know what to do. I loved it when I was there in the tent for 5 full days and nights. I made some new and good friends. A group becomes more united when they are up against some one who is screwing their happiness. In our case, it was the seniors' team... The 'screwing' made us gel more and more. And the interaction with the seniors' team after their placements was also too good...

Now, again and again the question that is coming to my mind is what is happening to me? Manfest seniors are going to leave... I just could not comprehend how fast time passed by. I came here, the hoax period, the induction, the committee selections, P&G Live project, Manfest, Controls and seniors are gonna leave... Never thought I would not get even one f&***king second to talk to each one of them after Manfest... Will miss all of them. :(

India Wins

2008-03-05T22:13:00.003+05:30

So finally we belted the Aussies on their home turf. What is more exciting is that, all these things have taken place after a string of controversies... both on and off the field.

Indian cricket has definitely taken a new turn. I am not saying by conviction or this is not some thing which has come out of an ardent supporter. In fact, I am sure and I believe, Indian cricket is more professional now. There is no place for emotions... One has to play and perform to stay in the team.

One act of professionalism shown by the team was to select youngsters for the One Dayers. I know many of us were unhappy because Rahul and Sourav were dropped. Even I was critical at that time... But look at the situation in 2011 when India hosts the world cup. How many of these senior players will be in the team till then? I am not sure whether India will tour Australia before WC2011 again... Aussies will come next. So, to give our "team of future" the best and the toughest experience was a good decision indeed. Australian cricketing conditions are far tougher than they seem. It is not only about cricket down under... It is more about handling pressure and the obstinate media. Aussies often demoralize opponents by making 'off the field' remarks...

Anyways, congratulations to the entire team. I hope this is just the beginning.. It is always easier to win than winning continuously.

On a personal front, I am happy and hopefully getting more matured with every passing day. :) But I don't know why there is some kind of an emptiness inside... Too much of work has ensured that, I don't have free time to think... That is good but again it happens that, at the end of the day, u want to talk with some one who is close and who understands u truly. It is hard to find some one of that kind...

I am waiting for the moment... :)

Valentine's day...

2008-02-15T17:47:00.002+05:30

Yet another Valentine's day passes by. There was nothing extraordinary for me... except for a sms that came and wished me to actually make me realize that there was something special about the day... that people also wished each other on this day.

I was in 'The Den' (Some secret society location at IIM Lucknow :P) and working till 5-30 in the morning. The team broke for the day and I came back to my room and tried to take a small nap before attending my class at 11:45. I did not wake up for MatMan... I bunked it and finally woke up at 1:30. It was good though..

I had to be inside The Den again at 6'o clock. That meant, I had only 4.5 hrs for me myself. I had my lunch, came back, arranged my laptop and displaying the characteristic of a true boring person that I am, I started reading blogs on the web. In between I thought about talking with some one, or sending mails or sms but some how I felt, there are some of the things which have gone forever... and probably there is no one who would be willing to talk or reply to my mails or smses.

Valentine's day in college was celebrated with full 'masti'. There was an insti party in the night but we could not attend ... Again, it did not bother me too much because being a non-drinker, it anyways would not have been that great for me. I liked one line that our 'El Capitano' spoke: "We are a bunch of losers who are working while the whole insti is partying..."

I could only think that it was worth it!!!

Bizzeeeee

2008-02-06T19:59:00.000+05:30

I have not been regular with my blog for quite some time now. Life has been really very hectic. I sincerely feel that a day for me should have 48 hours... :(

Manfest 2008 got over with a bang. Outsiders & insiders have spoken positively about the event. The competitions, informals, professional performances were very well organized without major glitches. Apart from the serious management types events, we also had three bands performing live at IIM Lucknow during Manfest this year. Silkroute, Parikrama and Euphoria rocked the campus. Side by side, we also had our annual alumni meet - Nostalgia which saw many distinguished alumni members coming down to the campus. Three days of enjoyment, thrill for the spectators and participants alike but; sadly for us (14 of us Manfest CORE), we could not enjoy anything. No time dude! But it was an experience which will be cherished for the rest of my life...

Every good thing comes with bigger challenges. Manfest 2009 will have to keep up the tradition of being bigger and better... And this time, it will be entirely upon us.

Life in a B-school is fast paced. I just do not have any free time for my own self. Controls, submissions, projects and suddenly the mid terms have come. This is the mid term week going on and I am through with three of the exams. Just imagine, free time comes only then when you have exams ... :D

Anyways, I am bored of studying MatMan (BTW I have two exams tomorrow). Thought, I should scribble some thing on my blog...

Over the last few days, I have gone through a lot of mood swings. And the worst of it all, I have started thinking that, I am good for nothing. Maybe everyone feels like that at one or the other point of time... I am having my time now.

One more thing, life some times becomes so artificial and devoid of feelings. Everything is so mechanical... Work, work and only work and a corporate culture where if you show emotions, people tend to consider you weak. I now understand why people become hypocrites and paranoids after they join jobs ... Because, you cannot be what you are and there is always a conflict between what is probably 'good' and what you actually are!

Anyways, I am glad to say that I am making some good friends who have made me feel that all is not bad. Otherwise there was a time, when I lost hope on all these things... Slowly life is back on track (touch wood). Even in midst of so much craziness and insanity, 5 minutes of laughter makes life worth it.

Ciaos... BTW! Congo to my IIFT batch mates for rocking placements!!! Kudos to u guys!

Happy New Year :)

2008-01-01T13:38:00.000+05:30

Wishes for the new year. May all of you have great time throughout... May God bless you...

Since it is time for new resolutions, I would also like to put forth some of mine:

I would like to say NO more often than not. I just cannot say 'NO' to anyone...
Learn to take less responsibilities so that more time could be given to what I am currently doing
Speak... speak and speak... Be a chatter box... :)... Lately, I have become very conservative as far as talking is concerned
Not to hurt my own self due to stupid reasons
Second year of MBA is approaching... This means, there will be no college life (in typical sense) after this... Enjoy with friends as much as possible.

And yeah, there is one more resolution... I would like to talk to this senior of mine at least once before she leaves the campus. Meri fat jaati hai usse dekhte hi... :D

Every child is special

2007-12-26T00:31:00.000+05:30

I watched "Taare Zameen Par" a few days back. To describe it to be good or excellent would be an understatement. Aamir has given yet another block buster. I just loved the movie... In fact, it was so emotional for me that I could not stop my tears... LOL :D

The movie reflects the greater problem facing the society in general. Every parent wants his/her kid to be a world beater. Every family would want his/her 'prodigal' son to be an IIT/IIM pass out. Specially in modern societies, intra family 'rivalry' and societal rules increase the pressure all the more on the frail shoulders of the 'unfortunate' kids. I some times wonder, why is it so tough for people to understand that the seats in IITs/IIMs are limited or the number one position anywhere is only one?

The songs in the movie are too good. They will strike a chord definitely... The movie also shows one very important thing that recognition is indeed a very potent tool which can change people's lives. It can be effective anywhere and every where. It can transform lives.

Like all Bollywood movies, this one also ends on a positive note. But unlike most of the Bollywood movies, this one is quite meaningful and is definitely worth a watch.

I am not going home

2007-12-22T20:38:00.000+05:30

2nd term exams are over... The most grueling term ever. Manfest, Live Project, College Acads, Summer Placements, Index, I-brands all squeezed into one small term... One can only feel it. Finally, it is all over. Now looking forward to Manfest'08. Many events have already been launched and I won't even think twice before proclaiming it to be the largest B-school festival in India. Be it the number of events, the amount of prizes - We are the Numero Uno!

I am not going home... Will have a lot of work related to Manfest. My mother was saying that the situation in Assam is worsening with every passing day. She is in fact happy that I am not going home... Because you hear about train blasts, blown up oil pipelines, accidents, protests, police firings... My dear state is literally in tatters.

I some times wonder what would happen to the future of Assam? Where are we heading? Is there any future or there is nothing to be seen? The political leadership in Assam has always been the lose factor. They cannot stand up in front of the Central Govt. and ask for their due rights. In fact, according to me, the greatest reason behind Assam's lack of development and penury is the absence of a quality leader. A leader has to be a visionary. He should have the ability to gauge the future... No point cribbing about it though.

Recently, there was a protest march in the state capital by a group of under privileged people from the Tea belt of Assam. Now God knows why, but they came with spears, bows and all those primitive arms to display their angst and solidarity. They were placing a demand for Scheduled Tribes status... Whatever maybe the outcome, suddenly due to some mischief makers in the group, things turned violent. The protesters started vandalizing the shops near the city roads, burnt vehicles, beat up people and created a scene which the state government or the leaders (of that group) should have foreseen. But as usual, things are always slow in Assam. It started getting awry... The police came late and there was utter chaos on the roads of the state capital. As per reports, the police came around 1 hour late... which was very surprising because the location of the incident was hardly 1-2 KMs away from the state capital complex... which has a good and "well equipped" police station nearby. Atleast the government should have anticipated some troubles... Rapid Action force or CRPF could have been put on guard... Anyways, what irritates me the most is that the government always turns its eyes blind to these problems. Their statements are the worst ones... simply put forth irresponsibly.

My greatest fear is that this is only the tip of the ice berg. My childhood was spent near the beautiful tea gardens. I remember the days when every day after school, I used to ride my bicycle through the small curvy roads between the tea gardens. Now the situation is that you cannot allow a kid to go alone in those places... Leave aside bicycling, it has become risky for non "tea people" to venture into those areas during dark. What is happening? "Tea people" were kind hearted and jovial people who always displayed a "happy go lucky" attitude. My first set of friends from the childhood days were sons of tea garden workers. I know them very well... What has gone wrong? Is this a prequel to many such civil problems in Assam or is this just another story? I think the worst one is still to come.

The demographic changes in Assam are creating havoc internally. You don't have employment. The natural resources are depleting... I feel like crying when I see the beautiful hills gradually becoming bald. Apparently, the Assamese tea industry is also not doing well... Thanks to competition from Ceylon. People do not see any future... basic amenities are missing. No food, no housing, no health treatments, nothing... What will the people do? They indulge in crimes... I am not saying what they are doing is correct but this is basic economics. When there is no future, you see a civil war. Yes! Assam is slowly and gradually moving towards a civil war. Sigh sigh... The leadership is asleep... and it will be always.

I do not know what needs to be done. But I want to do something. But I also do not know how to do... but there is no hope. I just hope Assam does not become another promised land ... this time for US!!!

Dreams - Continued...

2007-12-15T02:08:00.000+05:30

I know I should go and start studying now... My end term starts exactly 31 hours and 17 minutes later. Wish me luck!

I was going through the blogs of a few friends when I came across Satyada's blog post on "Om Shanti Om"... There he wrote about his dreams and how he motivates himself using them. I also had a post on a similar topic a few days back... But what motivated me to write this post at this point of time is that I suddenly realized that I have actually stopped dreaming. I don't know if it is maturity, or complexity or the oxymoronic existence that we are getting used to but I felt a shiver run down my spine.

I used to be a great day dreamer. There were days when I would imagine myself playing cricket alongside Sachin and Sourav. And those dreams were not small for me... I would spend hours thinking about them... and I used to extract immense happiness out of those "never to be a reality" kind of thoughts...

No qualms though; but I definitely miss being that kid... :)

"Projects are much better"

2007-12-11T00:34:00.000+05:30

I just came back from the CC. We have our ECO presentations on Wednesday... We were preparing our project report for that. As usual is the case everywhere, we don't take anything seriously until the 11th hour approaches. The topic that we chose was: Micro-credit.

We are supposed to study the existing models of Micro-credit (MC) in India, understand the business model of Grameen Bank, do a few paper reviews and suggest a new model based on our study. In the group I have a fair knowledge about MC, thanks to some IIFT projects. These academic projects are actually very good and students can derive immense learning out of them, provided work is done without plagiarism. In a b-school environment, stress should be more on live projects and "learning through experimentation" kind of methodologies. I don't want to crib here but I hate seeing people running behind marks even at this stage. Probably, those people are also not the ones to be blamed. The system is such that scoring marks becomes the sole motive and learning takes a back seat.

I know why I lost interest in studies during engineering. The teachers were unable to generate any interests in the subjects. There was lack of any proper methodology in the teaching back then... Here these things are much better. Everything is scheduled and people who study can actually score a lot of marks. I am not that kind of a chap who would run after marks... That has been reflected in my 1st term grades here... :P

I don't know the teaching methodology being followed in the Harvards, Whartons and INSEADs of the world, but I am sure the way teaching is being imparted over there is much much different from what is being done here in India. Practicality is the most crucial aspect missing from the Indian education system...

Hope time changes everything FASTER!!!

M-23!

2007-12-08T01:01:00.000+05:30

Happy Birthday to me!

It is hard to believe that probably I have already lived more than 1/3rd of my life on this planet (Assuming I won't last for more than 60 years). I won't like to be too philosophical at this moment but looking back at the past one year, I can very well say that the journey from my 22nd to the 23rd birthday has been the most eventful one till date.

The last year has been a fast paced journey where it all started with the CAT GD/PI calls and continued with vivid experiences like my first corporate experience @ Wipro, IIM L and IIM I converts, joining Hel(L), Idee Fixe, village trips, Manfest, Yahoo!... and most importantly a new set of friends.

Birthday celebrations here are different... Bumps are O.K. When one gets hit by fast paced sticks, sandals and football kicks alike, he realizes that birthdays are also occasions of realizations that taking birth on this earth was probably a mistake. :D

Nothing extraordinary otherwise... I still remember the old days when I was a kid. My parents would pack a gift for me and keep it at such a place that I when opened my eyes, that would be the first thing I would notice... Love ya Maa and Pa!

Do I sound very childish? May be it is better to become a child sometimes... :)

Bye bye!!!

What do I dream of?

2007-11-29T21:38:00.000+05:30

Every one has dreams... Some may be achievable while some remain as they are until the complexities of life erase everything from one's brain. I also have a few dreams which are different... if some one asks me, what are the three things I would like to do before I die? My answers would be the following:

Flying a F-16 fighter on top of its speed at 32000 feet. I would be flying over the alps or the grand canyons and slowly I would love to do some kind of somersault... I want to have a feel of weightlessness and speed at the same time...
I want to watch matches LIVE at Old Trafford, Wembley and Bernabeu. I have started loving soccer like never before... The team jerseys, the unbelievable goals, the dramatic turnarounds and the passion of the players are few of the things which characterize the game...
I know it would not be a good thing to speak about it here (knowing my own limitations) but I want to write a book some day... I want to be rich with enough experiences from life so that by the time I sit down to write something, I want myself to be full of ample amount of thoughts which are worth writing about..

Dream is not all that bad... :P

My "bestest" experience being here @ Hel(L)

2007-11-25T02:05:00.000+05:30

Life just cannot be better. College is off for two days because of the index fair this weekend. No tension of exams for the next few days at least... spending time with friends like never before... clicking photographs anywhere and everywhere in the city (as late as 12 in the night) ... riding on "Amma's" scooty, cycle rickshaws and Vikram... Drinking coffee in CCD just for the heck of it and then spending some boring hours watching two amateur Salsa dancers... :).

A B-school life is otherwise very boring. One has classes all year round... Peer pressure, summers, CP, CG, RG, PPOs, PPIs, Exchange, Finals, Farewells, Faschas, Tuschas and what not define every day time tables... Life is not all that bad always... One has few moments which need to be enjoyed thoroughly without any worries. For that one needs good friends in and around him/her... I am loving it here at L only because my friends and my team makes me feel good.

My batch-mates here say that I am passionate about IIML... I can only say the reason behind it is probably because I know the value of this place in my life. This phase of my life is like a spring after a very very long winter which went on for ages... This particular winter started after I wrote my Class - X exams... Looking back, I can only say - These 6-7 long years have been very helpful for me in the sense that I have learnt a lot from every small thing that has taken place in my life. Today, I sit here in my room and thank the almighty for everything... I thank him for all the learning and love... which has made me stronger and taught me everything about life.

Two years at IIML and I want to be full of memories which will be worth looking back. Live Life King Size!

That's my brand!!!

Index Stage

E-Baba and Bhai !!! :D

CCD and cuppa cappuccino!

Yahoo!

2007-11-13T11:18:00.001+05:30

Hola Ladies and Gentlemen! I am good and rocking here at IIM Lucknow. I have good news for all of you. Thanks to the almighty, I have made it into Yahoo! India. I always wanted a sales and marketing profile for my summer training and I got that. The best part is that ever since I attended the Yahoo! seminar at Leela Palace in Bangalore last summer, I started loving the company. It is a dream come true and I am feeling great. J

I would like to congratulate the seniors and the placement committee for organizing an absolutely flawless process. It is never easy to manage more than 20 companies in the campus in one day WITHOUT even one single issue coming up. IIM placements’ week is one hell of an experience.

I would like to delve a bit more into how placements happen in an IIM. Inevitably the time allotted for placements is less than a week. The number of prospective companies would be around 200 and the actual number of companies depends upon the conversion ratios of the participants. If you look at the structure, there are three main sets of volunteers in any placement process. There is this control team which has information related to anything and everything about the students, their status, the room they are currently IN or the process they are currently involved with. Even if some one is in the loo, you can get that information from the control room.

Then there is this company liaison team which is always with the company officials who come for placements. Since there are so many companies in the campus at the same time, their duty is to receive the company officials, take care of their needs, take them to the required places (library, faculty cabins, computer center etc.) and be with them till their process gets completed. They also inform the controls desk about which participant or group is currently IN for interviews or GDs respectively.

The student liaison team takes the student(s) for interviews or GDs from the waiting rooms to the required location. They also familiarize the interviewees and the GD participants about the kind of questions being asked in the process or the kind of discussion the companies are conducting.

Apart from all these, we have a team which prepares the ‘RG docs’. Whenever a company comes, this team is ready with these ‘RG docs’ which talk about the company – its history, current offerings, future trends, annual results, latest news, last year projects etc. This helps a lot because even if some one has a look at the ‘RG docs’ even once, he would feel confident about the company process.

The best part of this process is that both the batches are involved fully. I personally feel a lot of ownership about the college and the seniors. When it would be the time for final placements, we would do the same and contribute back to the seniors. People are so motivated… Seniors who are proficient in different verticals are conducting small sessions in the waiting rooms on how to deal with the processes. Pep talks always help.

Yeah! The placements time is like a festival here. The whole mess has shifted near the PGP block where the waiting rooms are there. There are only three nodal points where announcements regarding company shortlists are being made – the two waiting rooms and the mess. Even the mess workers are dressed in uniforms and the way they behave shows how considerate and understanding they are. They are ever ready to help. One good thing about this place is that the authorities and the officials are very pro students. I have not seen such kind of a behavior before.

This is one experience I would never forget. Life has been good here for me. Thanks to the blessings of the almighty and elders and the love of near and dear ones, I have been able to survive well till now.

I will come up with some more updates soon… I will post some photographs as well… Till then BYE BYE!!!

Snapshots from Hell - 2

2007-10-12T23:21:00.000+05:30

How do I start this post? I have so much to write ... So many things have happened since the last time I posted here. The first term @ IIM Lucknow went off peacefully without creating too many problems for me. Thanks to the almighty, I am still surviving.

I have never found myself being so busy... Invariably I have been sleeping for less than 4 hours a day for the last so many days (I have lost count of the same). My old buddies would laugh at me saying that a lazy ass like me would never do that. Friends! This is true. A typical day consists of four academic classes but life does not stop here with the end of the classes... There is much more to a day than class room sessions here in IIML. As some one rightly pointed out, our day starts at 10:00 p.m. in the night.

Take a small example: I have this live project of one FMCG major for which I have been to villages quite a number of times. I am not new to villages... In fact I am born and brought up in a beautiful village back there in Assam. But the sheer experience of going there as a 'guy from the city' with villagers and kids following me (rather us) while we were conducting the primary research was an exhilarating experience. Now we have been to villages which are around 30 - 35 k.m away from the campus. The surveys are usually long and take at least 15-20 minutes per respondent. The major hurdle is to convince people to respond to our questions... If they agree to respond, then the second hurdle is to speak in dehati language so that they understand what we are asking. I have realized a few things which any marketeer should understand:

The people living in villages are not fools... They are smart and we should treat them as smart people.
Never approach ladies in villages for surveys (in this part of the country) if you don't have any girl in the group. You could be chased down the road... We were almost close once... He he :D

The photo above shows an interview in progress. I am sure all of us in the group must have thoroughly enjoyed the process of going and conducting surveys in the places where true India lives. CK Prahalad correctly talked about "fortune at the bottom of the pyramid". We could see that! Apart from these surveys, the whole project has given us an unparalleled experience of doing a live project. I am sure that next time we do it , we will do it even better... the learning has been immense here.

The day does not end here. I have the additional responsibility of being a Manfest core committee member. I must say I am enjoying working for it... People having similar experiences would acknowledge that working for such a mega event is not easy at a time when you have a demanding atmosphere on the other hand. I just hope we can do well and make the event a huge success.

Apart from all these, you always have projects, quizzes, assignments, CP etc. in a B-School. I personally cannot be a free rider. I feel that if I cannot manage to do this bit, then I cannot become a good manager. All these things culminate into a very packed schedule which have resulted into the following:

A huge pile of ET in my room which have remained unopened for the last so many days
Nervous break downs... (Over stated :D)
Daily morning blues where I wake up every morning worrying if I missed the first class. The table clock comes to the rescue...! :P

Leave these aside. The summer placements are approaching. There are so many good companies coming down to the campus for the Pre-Placement Talks. There are many international profiles up for grabs... But looking at the arbitrary nature of the summers' process, no one can say where one would go. I think that it is better to be a bit focused about the field where one wants to end up... or selecting the companies whom to sit for. That would help a lot from the point of view of preparation.

I ought to devote some time for my summers preparation. Making CVs, framing answers for the commonly asked questions, filling in company forms and what not...?

I will wind up now... Have lotza work to do. I don't know when I will be able to post again... But I hope the next time I post, I have some better news for you all.

Ciao! :)

Of "friends" and relationships...

2007-08-27T22:52:00.000+05:30

How many friends do you have? How many 'good' friends do you have? How many 'close' friends do you have?... How many 'best' or 'bestest' friends do you have? Well... Hold on! I do not want to compare your list of friends with that of mine. The reason I am asking all these is because I feel we should introspect and reflect upon the very basis of this relationship called FRIENDSHIP. My motivation for this blog:

After all the humor, philosophy and Gita's slokas that we learnt in our BIO (Organizational Behavior) lectures, the greatest learning that I derived is the realization to reflect upon the theories put forth by the social scientists and correlate the same with my own personality so that I can understand my own self better. Our BIO professor very nicely said that this would help us in building perspectives which would ultimately help us in taking decisions quickly and effectively.

Lately, I have been wondering why do we like someone to be our friend or just cannot stand the sight of some one else? I had a great respect for this relationship earlier. I used to think that friends constitute your family members outside home. But looking at these things objectively, I feel that friendship is situational, need-based and full of desires to satisfy one's needs.

We like people who have similar thinking pattern or share a common heritage or show some care for the other person or something on the similar lines... We tend to stay away from people who are non accommodating. People look for company to discuss trivial issues or crib about their jobs or talk about a broken love story... they search for people who can give them some time. If the frequency matches or situation makes them feel so, two persons become friends.

There is no concept of having a 'best' or 'true' friend(s). If some one says, "I am your best friend"... ask him/her: "For how long...?" I sincerely believe all these relationships are not at all permanent. People tend to forget their friends as and when they are out of sight. I have felt that... I too have done that probably. There was a time when I used to boast of myself being a friendly guy having lot many friends. But I have seen with experiences aplenty that whatever I thought was wrong.

Think about it... No more "friendship" gyaan for the day...

After a month long process of tasks, reviews, further tasks and further reviews, yours truly got selected into the core committee of MANFEST, the Annual flagship B-School festival of IIM Lucknow. It is a prestigious role but like every good thing, it has got huge amount of responsibility and I will have to stretch myself up to the limit so as to maintain a balance between studies and work.

MANFEST'08 is coming in January... I hope our team does well and puts up a much better show than the previous edition.

Idee Fixe - Together We ROCK!!!

2007-08-04T23:00:00.000+05:30

Our team Idee Fixe has won the proposal for the first Marketing project in the campus this year. It is the largest of its kind offered by any major player to any B-School in the country.

The team rocks... It is a great feeling to be a part of such an enthusiastic mix of people!!!

This news came like an icing on the cake as our mid terms came to an end today. The day was really good. I went to the city with my friends. We watched the latest Harry Potter movie. It was good enough.

Feeling tired now... But we have our Insti party going on where the in-house band 3.4 is performing. Gonna shake my legs a bit... Ciao!!!

Heyyyy!!! How You Doin'?

2007-07-14T22:19:00.000+05:30

I have been here in L for over one month now. Just cannot imagine how happening life has been over the last one month or so. Time is money and I am poor... That is very clear from the fact that my frequency of writing blogs has decreased.

Well.. It is not only about academics. In fact, academics are not really taking toll on me... Probably I am finding things very redundant and I do not have the excitement of unfolding the mystery of a first year MBA course like my batch mates here because of my one year experience at IIFT. I today realize how IIFT had helped me in changing my perspectives. I am happy to say that I am more practical and independent now.

I was talking about something other than academics here in Hel(L). Here we have 10 committees and clubs. Each one of them is full of activities... The campus is always abuzz with one or the other thing. I participated in two events already... It was fun. Then you listen about the seniors doing well in the summers... What would you say when you hear some one still contemplating whether to accept a PPO offer from T#$ which is paying around 65k per month? And this is not uncommon... There are many such stories which are there to inspire us for our summers placements.

The selection process for the membership in different committees is going on. The process reminds me of the CAT GD & PI sessions... For every committee, we have multiple round of interviews and task allocations before the final selection is done. I love the process because unlike the previous colleges where most of the post holders were elected, this process gives opportunities to people like me who do not really like to stand for elections. I have personally applied to quite a few committees... Let us see where I end up! The tasks are exciting... but they require some seriousness and time devotion.

Bhavishya is the social club @IIML. It is supposed to be the largest of its kind across all the B-Schools in the country. I have reached the task round of Bhavishya. This one is my favorite among all the tasks allotted to me... I have to devise a marketing strategy for the poor women Self Help groups in UP who have to sell their products. I hope my contribution comes in handy... and it helps the cause.

Apart from these... yeah I have made quite a few number of friends. It is fun meeting new people and learning from them.

IIML has an unique marketing research fair cum competition called Index. I have joined one team for the event to be held in December. We will fight it out with 9 other teams... Each team has 10 first year juniors and 10 second year seniors. The picture above shows our first Index team outing where we went to the city at around 8 and came back as late as 1.

Life has been good till now... I hope this is only the start... I want many more such experiences to follow.

Snapshots from Hell - 1

2007-06-24T14:46:00.000+05:30

Hel(L) finally broke loose. Our formal induction process is over. During the last three days, I could sleep for only 5 hours (and that is a cumulative statistic). These are memorable days. The first few days at any place are always special. We were virtually raped inside out but at the end of the day, we felt it was good! I remember a famous quote by some one who said, "If you are being raped and you know you cannot escape, then lie down and enjoy".

Day 1: 21st June

We had to collect our induction kit by 9:15 A.M in the PGP block. Most of us ended up reaching the place at the same time. It was a long queue and I had to wait for more than 30 minutes for my turn. Class room 203 was jam packed. Frankly speaking the place was smaller for a batch size of 300.

Our director Dr. Devi Singh gave us the welcome speech. A swamiji from the Lucknow branch of Ramkrishna Mission followed him. He is not a typical spiritual leader. He is a Doctorate from some university in Canada. His speech was good and most of it related to the concept of self development. I liked one thing which I would like to write here:

3 Cs are important for a person's success: Confidence, Concentration and Cooperation.

This was followed by a session taken by the PGP Chairperson. This one was scary. She made us realize that life is not going to be very easy here. We will have to work hard because the grading system is very strict and one bad performance can kick one out of the college. "Stretch out or Clear Out" is the fundae. I will have to be serious all the time.

One professor introduced us to the case method of teaching. It was good in the sense that most of us are used to the art of normal class room teaching before coming to a B-School. After these sessions we had a tour of the library and the computer centre. In the meantime a notice was being put by the Students' Council in the mess about a health run at 6:15 and then an aptitude test at 11:30 P.M.

We had to run around the campus twice. It was 5.5 K.M in total... But I managed to be among a few guys who could complete the run. After the run, I was totally stressed out. With no energy left, I had to prepare something for the test as well. Had dinner and then tried to study something. I wanted some sleep so badly but did not have that leverage. The exam started at 11:30 and it went on. The paper was going over my head... The paper was a combination of objective and case based questions which tested us on the three functional areas: Marketing, Finance and Operations. There were GK based questions as well. Well hold on... we are not yet done for the day. After the test got over, we had a video session of around half hour duration. We had to write a 1000 words article on the video and submit the same by 8:30 morning. It was already 3:30 by the time we finished. We rushed back to the room and tried to recollect whatever we saw in the video. It was on some accounting facts which were very complex... I some how recollected something and wrote an article. I could not write more than 400 words.

Finally slept... set the alarm at 7:30 A.M. Time was 4:30 A.M.

Day 2: 22nd June

I rushed to the students' council office and submitted the write up well before deadline. Had breakfast and had to go for the registration. It was again a long queue and my process got over at around 1 P.M. I had lunch and then there was the second class on the case discussion that we had the previous day. Oh! I forgot... We also had to prepare for the case. We did that while we waited for our turn during the registration. The discussion was good.

After this, we had a briefing by the Students' Council. They did nothing other than scaring us. We were being told that every year around 40 people get kicked out of IIML... That was intimidating. Post this session, we had a small interaction with the institute doctors.

In the meantime we were given a CV form and allotted four mentors. We had to fill in the "too long" CV form, have it reviewed by the mentors, have their signatures and then submit the same to the students' council office the next day.

At 9:15, we had a case discussion. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The whole class was not going anywhere but I don't know somehow I liked it. Probably I was rude at one girl as was being pointed out by many... But hurting someone was never my intention. I spoke bluntly because I wanted that lady to improve. She probably took me in the wrong sense but that is OK with me... My motive was not bad.

After the case discussion, we had a group discussion. We had to dress ourselves up in formals. My GD was not that good... Lack of concentration and I was fed up by then. It was a truly long day.

After all these things got over, I had to search for all my mentors one by one and then have the CV form reviewed. It was like a treasure hunt... I had to collect the room numbers from someone and the phone numbers from someone else. Finally by 4:30 A.M everything was done and I had to submit the form at 1:30 P.M (later that day).

I was off for the day.

Day 3: 23rd June

I woke up and completed the final CV form. Then we had a session by one professor. It was good. Prof. RK Srivastava has been with hel(L) for the past 17 years. He showed us some pics of Hel(L) from the good old days: The first year, the first graduating batch and then how things changed. It was nice to see the transition that has taken place over the years and how my dear hel(L) has become so beautiful and lovely now.

He gave us some nice and interesting facts. The best one is:

Gayatri Iyer, the singer in the movie Bride and Prejudice and wife of Kunal Ganjawala is an IIML alumnus. She is a successful model and a singer now. The prof told us that she did not sit for placements. Instead she followed her dream.

Then we had an interaction with the IIML Alumni Association president. He is the global business manager at JP Morgan, London. He was friendly and nice in his approach. He spoke about his days at L and then how things have been changing with time. The best part of his presentation was the account on the traits of so many star alumni that IIML has produced. He did a nice analysis of what helped those people to be so successful in their careers. He told us about the DOs and the DON'Ts here and how a person can utilize his time so that he can gain the most from L.

The interaction with alumni was inspirational and enlightening. After this we had an interaction with the placements' committee. It was usual gyaan.

Then we had a presentation at 6:30. Our topic was "Red pill or White Pill". There were ten teams in our panel and the presentations went on till 10 PM. We faschas got to make presentations and the seniors made fun of us and asked questions... But it was good. We enjoyed it.

After all these, all juniors and seniors assembled in one room. The president of the students' council said that they analyzed our batch during the last three days and our performance was "dismal". He read out a list of names who would not be allowed to be a part of any committee during his/her stay at IIML due to bad performance. Then there was the list of students who who would not be allowed to attend classes on Monday due to so called "cheating". Thankfully, my name featured in none.

The whole room was silent for around 2 minutes. All faschas found it hard to digest and there was a natural feeling of sadness inside everyone. Then suddenly all seniors started laughing... All at the same time. Then we realized that those lists were fake. There was a general sense of euphoria... The seniors invited us to a party that was soon to follow. I loved the last few lines spoken by the council president:

The last three days gave you a taste of the reality at Hel(L). This is the way we welcome all new batches in IIML. Things will be similar for you for the next two years to come but with only one difference... Now onwards, you all will find us seniors on your side.

That was too good! The seniors rock! Yooooooooooo!

The party was good... People danced to the tunes of the DJ's "cacophany". Apparently, there seemed to be differences between rock lovers and Indi-music lovers in the party. He he... That is always there in any Indian "insti party". People drank enough... many people touched alcohol for the first time. I was happy and contended with Miranda and Real juices.

Day 4: 24th June

We did not have too many things to do in the morning today. JJ Irani, the director of TATA sons is the Chairman, Board of Governors, IIML. We had an interaction with him in the morning. It was nice.

Nothing much today... I am in my room now. Classes start tomorrow onwards. Have an interaction with an alum from Price Waterhouse Coopers today in the evening. Then at 10 PM again we have a session with the alumni association president. It would be fun...

Winding up for the day... Ciao!!!

Nithari Killings: Is it the end of hope?

2007-06-18T19:41:00.000+05:30

Once again CBI has shown its imprudence and incapability in putting a criminal under the guillotine. It has given clean chit to Maninder Singh Pandher, the prime accused in the Nithari killings.

Initially he was charge sheeted with 18 cases out of which he has already been absolved of in 6 and the CBI has clearly stated that it would be next to impossible to convict him in the rest because of his mobile data records which show that he was not in Noida when the crimes took place. That means the whole blame will be put on Surendar Kohli, his servant and Pandher will be freed with a little or no punishment.

Till how long will criminals like him go scot free? It is clear from his past track record that Pandher is some kind of a psychopath. Is it not understandable to the CBI honchos that a servant cannot commit such heinous crimes with the owner of the house being in oblivion for such long time? Are mobile records sufficient enough data to absolve a criminal when there are other proofs against him? Skulls and skeletons were found in the back yard of Pandher's house. If he was not at all related to these crimes then why did not he inform the police about the carcasses found behind his very own house? Plus the killings took place not in one day. Instead the poor kids were being murdered brutally one by one over a period of one or two months.

Had it been for the kids of some rich people, I am sure Pandher would not have been acquitted. The poor daily wage laborers whose children became the savages' prey cannot do anything because of their social as well as economic backwardness. This again brings to light the continuing discrepancy in the Indian society where the poor are denied justice at every step. This is a shame on the part of the country that criminals like Pandher can live peacefully when they ought to be behind the bars.

For me I have lost faith on the Indian judiciary. My family's personal experience has also not been good. I agree there are instances where people who deserve justice get the same but in more than 80% of the cases, the people on the wrong side win. And the rest 20% who are lucky enough have to toil real hard and that too not for one or two months but for years at a stretch.

Delay in justice is equivalent to justice being denied. Cases go on for years... maybe for decades at times. Common people lose track of their cases after one or two years and this is when the opposite party (usually the crooks who are expert in dealing with such situations) take advantage and tilt the case in their favor without the other party knowing anything. Corruption in all levels of the judiciary starting from a peon to the judge upholds this trend.

There is one another issue which poses big problems for the commoners. The common people do not understand the rules of the game and end up committing mistakes. There is a big need to make things transparent so that atleast the educated people can understand what goes on inside the court room. Otherwise what happens is that they are left in the mercy of their lawyers who are more interested in extracting mega bucks from the clients. Leniency on the part of the lawyers also delays hearings etc. which lead to the ultimate delay in the final verdict.

It is high time when the judiciary becomes more professional rather than being political in its approach. It should look at the improvement of its own 'processes' rather than wasting time on every small issue being raised by some Tom Dick or Harry through PIL.

DISCLAIMER: Strictly my opinions above! :)

Enigma!

2007-06-17T00:16:00.000+05:30

I ask myself a question. The person whom I probably hurt the most is also the one for whom I care the most! WHY? Relationships are complicated and life is long. It is difficult to find answers to many queries ... Probably that is the enigma of life. Smarter few can overcome this but the fools get veered away by the tides...

I love you all my friends. No matter what happens, you all will have the same importance in my life as has always been... :)

For a change, I took some pics of the campus today. Check this: http://picasaweb.google.com/pratim.partha/IIML03

Hel(L) is paradise in disguise :)

2007-06-13T17:43:00.000+05:30

I suddenly wake up and see the time by my watch is 7 AM. I felt my bed was moving and then I realised that I was about to reach Lucknow. It was 10th June morning, my reporting day here @ Hel(L).

I was traveling from Delhi where I stayed for a day. I came to Lucknow from Hyderabad via Delhi because I had to collect my baggage from IIFT hostel. Meeting my IIFT mates was a like a small home coming. I never thought that I made some good buddies there... but I am happy now chasing my dream at a new place.

10th morning was quite eventful. I reached the Lucknow station and felt as if I was a VIP. There were people from a bank to receive me. They handed over a bottle of mineral water and offered me a seat reserved by them. After some time, I was given a draft of 49K for my registration. They were distributing drafts like pamphlets. After all these things were done, I got a free cab ride from the station to IIM Lucknow. Got to save around 150 bucks on travel.

Now this is the worst part. IIML is situated outside the city. In fact, it is 23-25 KM away from the station. SOB SOB :(

When I entered the campus, I suddenly felt a bit of pride inside. It was a moment of happiness and I felt how much I longed for this moment. I thank HIM for everything that he has bestowed upon me with so much love.

All formalities were carried out sooner than latter. People here seem to be very cooperative. Even a mess walah tries to behave nicely. My hostel registration was done and I immediately paid my advance fee for the mess services. I got my room in the CITY*. For all those who don't know, City is the group of new hostels at L and the slums are the older ones. Rooms are allocated purely on a lucky draw basis. I was lucky enough to get a room in one of the newer hostels.

It was around 10 AM and we were very hungry. I was accompanied right from the station by Nainish (my NIT Surat senior who made it to L this time). I also met some other faschas who reached L that morning like me. We went to the mess and had a nice breakfast. The mess is awesome. I had a feeling of being in Hogwarts. Everything here is unlimited. Juices, sweets, fruits, milk, desserts, appetisers... sab kuch. The only thing I am worried about is that I am surely gonna gain more weight if I do not work out.

The campus has good sporting facilities. We have courts for tennis, badminton and basketball. There is a huge field for soccer and cricket as well. I hope I can utilise my time properly to tone myself down.

There are some shops in the commercial plaza for daily needs and if someone wants to visit the city, then buses ply within a gap of one hour from L to the city office of IIML and vice versa. 17 of us had a small and nice outing yesterday. We went to the Sahara mall and Hazratganj area of Lucknow. I did some shopping and it was pure fun with new friends. We returned back as late as 11 PM.

Coming to studies I have understood one thing that it is going to be two years of tension full life for me. You cannot chill out here... That is good for me infact. I want to be very busy with my academics. I have done a good thing by attending the prep classes because I forgot many things which are being taught here now. It is nice to build a base before the actual rigour starts.

Lucknow was steaming hot till yesterday. Rain came and it is all good now. The weather is pleasant and everything looks greener. To dodge the heat, I used to come to the Computer Centre or the Library. Library rocks here... It is beautiful and big. The Library has a central AC and those who want to sleep in AC are more than welcome here as they allow people to sleep 180 degrees flat on sofas. That came as a relief for me...

The actual classes will start from 25th June. Before that we will have an induction by the alumni and seniors.

I will TRY to come up with some more posts but I am not sure if I will get enough time when Hel(L) lets itself loose upon us. Optimism is the key now and I hope I do well here. Ciao! :)

Adieu Bangalore :)

2007-06-05T10:18:00.000+05:30

My summer internship is coming to an end. Tomorrow I will be off to Hyderabad enroute Delhi-Lucknow. I feel it was only yesterday when I came here with so much enthusiasm about the 'first' corporate experience, excitement about meeting old buddies and also having the much sought after 'Bangalore' experience.

My project started and I immersed myself into work during the first month. I used to stay back here in office till 8:30 when my fellow interns left as early as 12 noon. I found my work pretty challenging and I wanted to give in my best.

Our buddy asked me and my project mate Sheleja to study the *** industry and make a presentation on the same within the first week itself. I was a bit apprehensive initially. It had to be a quality presentation and both of us wanted to make the best impression on the first go itself. We divided our work and started 'googling' here and there. I personally downloaded some 200MB worth of data from different sites. We compiled our data, formatted the slides, gave a structure and made the presentation. I was not really happy with the presentation. The observers gave good feedbacks but I did not like the way we structured our content. It should have been more concise and crisp. Probably it was not coherent. We seeked some time for improvements and then we modified the presentation. The second presentation was satisfactory and we were on track.

Second week onwards, both of us got our individual works. I had to develop *** and Sheleja had a similar work. The beauty of our project was that both of us got live topics. When you get a live project, you ought to be more responsible because the stakes are usually high and the fall out of the project is treated with importance. Initially I was being told that I would be traveling to Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad on project related purposes but later that idea was scrapped.

Amidst all these, I was worried about the impending CAT final results as well. Thankfully after much of bull shitting around, the government gave the go ahead to the IIMs to declare the results. I made it... IIML! Here I come. After the initial euphoria settled down, I had a wait for the IIMB waiting list clearance. I could not clear but then it is ok. I am happy about having IIML.

In the first month, my weekends were usually boring. I would go to Suman's place and have lunch with him. We would chat for hours and then take a siesta before coming back to the hostel. At night, I would play badminton with some friends in the IIMB court and then watch a movie before sleeping for the day.

IIMB has a lush green campus. I used to stroll around all alone talking to myself. I tend to become spiritual and philosophical when I am with myself in such serene and fresh environments. I keep talking to myself assuming someone is listening to me. Again sometimes I feel there is some unknown power which is participating in that conversation in a subtle manner. While taking such walks I could realise what would make me happy in future. I could become optimistic again which gave me enough confidence inside.

One month into Bangalore and Anshuman (my very very good friend) came back from Orissa. He is working in IBM. Typical to his style of being a responsible friend, he would not stop criticising me for all the mistakes I had committed. At the end of the day, my self worth would be reduced to zero and I would feel as if I am the worst person on earth having nothing good left in me to be alive here. But I would come back again the next day to face the same old criticism which very often gets complemented by his strong punches on my biceps. A strange thing about him is that he is blatantly true in whatever he speaks. And that has helped me. It is always good to listen to people criticising because not everyone does so with so much accuracy.

Meanwhile, my project was well on track. I could complete my work properly and all my deliverables met deadlines. I used to have great time in office as well. Sheleja has become a good friend. A few summer interns (5 or 6 of us) would have lunch together in the cafetteria. Not really interested in work... take a break. Roam around the campus. Want to leave early... Tell your buddy and leave. I had full independence to live my life... I really enjoyed a lot here . Probably my best times since I left NIT Surat would be the 'Summer Internship' days. A friend rightly pointed out yesterday that it was not an internship/project period. This period went past like a short and sweet summer break.

Ahem... went on a 'semi' date as well. It was great... We talked more than we ate. :D

Monsoon made me love this place more. I agree I had to wade through dirty water more than once but really, Bangalore rocks. Weather here will take away every pain of yours. Anshuman taught me one good thing: I was averse to the concept of travelling by bus but he made me travel by the city buses which helped me in saving lots of bucks. Thanks 'Bandov'!

People say that IT companies become monotonous with time. I agree but believe me if some one wants, then he/she can avoid that feeling. Do not have any fixed schedule... Try to change the way everything works. Do not go to the same food court everyday. Try some other menu today. Talk to people around when you are bored. Walk around and see how things work... Try to day dream. Do not make anything look 'routine'. Life will be beautiful.

I am full and content with my experiences here at Bangalore. There will be many memories associated with this place but the best thing is that not even one of them is bitter! Life is beautiful! Live it love it! :)

Man carves his own destiny

2007-06-01T14:19:00.000+05:30

Why do our eye brows get raised when we hear some one (not from a priviledged background) doing well? Is it so hard to digest or don't we tend to look at these kind of things from a very narrow perspective?

We often hear such morale boosting stories where people have fought against odds to achieve incredible success in their lives. Lionel Messi, the Argentinian soccer player suffered from growth hormone deficiency when he was young. His family did not have enough money to pay for his treatment and the collapse of the Argentinian economy added to his problems. Look at him now. He is one of the most promising players in the world of Football now. He plays for Barcelona FC and the Argentinian National team.

There is one another example of my personal favorite: Kaka. He is a Brazillian but he plays for AC Milan. He scored the first goal for Brazil in the 2006 world cup. He is considered to be the next one who will be taking over the reins from Ronaldo and the likes. Kaka suffered from a career threatening injury which induced paralysis due to fracture in his spine. Surprisingly, he recovered well and the rest is history.

Lance Armstrong fought cancer and he recovered when the actual chances of his survival were merely 3% as put forward by the doctors. He even went on to win his first Tour de france three years later.

What exactly is common among these achievers? Is it their strong will power or is it simply luck? I believe luck favors those who are brave. In my opinion, the following factors could guide these people to achieve heights amidst harsh circumstances:

Strong grit and determination
Never say die attitude
Willingness to perform
Patience and persistence
Faith in themselves and their abilities
A dream which is high and which drives them to its completion.

Life is not always about luck. It always accords a person with chances... It is upon individuals to grab them and do well. A hero could be made in a day but just look at the efforts put behind in making of the hero... That must have taken no less time.

What is in a name?

2007-05-31T23:10:00.000+05:30

Have u ever wondered how ‘googleable’ your name is? Wow! This is getting interesting every day. I sometimes wonder how things have changed over the past few years. Information Technology, more commonly internet has changed the way people tend to behave in their day to day activities.

No doubt, Google has the greatest contribution here. For all those who think I am a die hard Google fan, I would like to clarify once again that you are absolutely right. He he… I won’t glorify Google here but one thing I would like to say that every product that comes out of the company is unique and amazingly user friendly. I will write something more on Google and its products in some other post later…

I am coming back to the concept of ‘googleability’ now. I was flabbergasted when I read an article in TOI a few days back where I came to know that people are naming their newly born kids only after checking the ‘googleability’ quotient of the names. I heard about intelligence quotient, emotional quotient et al but what is this ‘G’ quotient all about? It means when you type the name, how precisely Google replies back with the results. It is basically a measure of the precision with which a name’s search queries are returned by Google. Wow! People have started thinking about the future already.

Everyone knows that the future is going to be paperless. Digitization of everything will take place gradually. Now, people who want their kids to have a private life in future might keep a common name so that when their names are searched on Google, then millions of pages are returned. For people who would like to see their kids’ names being returned in the first page itself can have a totally grotesque name so that the Google web crawler does not find it difficult to locate them out.

This is just the start. What other interesting things could happen?

Brides searching for the groom’s track record on Google before accepting the marriage proposal. Guys beware! Your better half could be watching you. Don’t send too many odd requests on Orkut to unknown fairer sex. ;)
A girl’s father tracing her movements through live Google Earth. Imagine what would happen to the love birds in Gujarat who do (what not?) during the navratras. The sale of condoms will fall… unfortunately for Kohinoor and the types.
Cops will try to locate criminals through Google. They will search for information and then proceed according to the directions shown by Gooogle maps.
Bollywood will go for a sample testing of its trailers on Google users and will continue with the movie only when they get satisfying response.
USA will pay billions of $ to Google for helping them in finding Osama.
Pakistan will consult Google to help them in finding solutions to their unstable domestic problems.
Indian cricket team will have an online dedicated coach created through a paid Google account which will help them in learning new and scientific methods of fielding.
Politicians will campaign through their blogs on blogspot and they will take the comments into consideration before finalizing their agenda for the elections.

Informationalization has truly changed the way we look at things. Information access has become so simple. Web is going to be the exciting thing in the years to come… Hope Google’s philosophy of converting the internet into a giant Operating System becomes a reality.

India... Renditions from my quaint heart!

2007-05-22T16:06:00.000+05:30

I recently read a McKinsey Quarterly article on the MNCs originating from Latin America. The authors say that the reasons why the companies in Latin America are not going global are the following:

The companies in Latin American countries have been living inside a shell for too long. They are yet to come out of that protective environment and venture into the global market. They never had the global mindset.
The capital market in that part of the world is not really very well developed. So that could have hampered the prospects of expanding abroad because a company takes time to develop a base for its global initiatives.
Another interesting reason put forth has been the lack of expertise on the part of the management team in the companies in that part of the world to take the bold step of global expansion.
Latin America is famous for its economic problems. The memories of the Argentinean economic crisis are still fresh. These problems could be attributed to corruption and the lack of good economic policy makers in the governments in those countries.

The report however does not discount the fact that there are some companies which are going global and doing great in their fields. Brazilian CSN is one of the largest steel makers in the world. Embraer (the Brazilian aircraft maker), Compania Vale do Rio Doce (Brazilian Minerals giant) and Tenaris (Argentine maker of steel pipes) are remarkable players in the global market. There are many more which are trying to expand thanks to the changing economics and increasing global competition.

Reading this article made me ponder about the Indian corporations which are going global. Our marketing professor at IIFT Delhi often said that in today’s global world, a company has to be competitive internationally to be successful domestically. More and more companies are coming to the country and these give the consumers a lot of options to choose from. So, every domestic company has to be an innovator as far as their offerings are concerned and they should give value to money because the ‘monopoly’ word does not exist anymore. I still remember how Maruti used to be a huge monopoly in India’s car market till a few years back. Liberalization changed everything. Now see how Maruti has changed itself. Hyundai is making India its export hub for smaller cars. Industry is calling Chennai by the name: “Second Detroit of the World”.

What are the fall outs of this?

India’s GDP is increasing. We can proudly say that the GDP has crossed the psychological $1 trillion mark.
More people are getting employed directly. If you look at the indirect employment being generated, then it is a huge figure.
India as a brand is being recognized abroad.

Why did TATA go for the Corus acquisition? Why did Hindalco pay so much to acquire Novelis even though this deal would affect their balance sheets for the years to come? Why is it that Mahindra tied up with Renault to manufacture cars in the country? Why is RIL showing interests on acquiring the plastics business from GE? The answer lies in the changed business scenario:

A company needs to grow big so as to increase its value. This would help them in entering more markets and making more profits. But at the same time, it would also make them more secured from hostile takeovers because a smaller fish is always an easy prey. And a bigger one is always the one which goes in search for the preys. Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures also give strategic advantages to the companies. Suppose a firm wants to bring in a new product into its kitty and it does not have that required expertise, then it usually goes for the M&A or JV route to establish that know how.

Comparing India Inc. and the Latin American companies, I can say without any doubt that Indian companies are performing way ahead of them. Even India Inc. was within the strangleholds license raj system for too long. Nepotism, corruption and politics impaired the corporations in the country. Even then the Indian companies have started making their marks in the Global space within a short period of one and half decade post liberalization. I could think of the following reasons which helped the India Inc.:

Indians have great risk taking abilities. This has helped them in competing with their global counterparts.
India produces a good lot of skilled managers who have a broad and dynamic outlook. This helps the companies to strategize and march ahead in the global space.
India again supplies a great amount of skilled engineers and low cost diploma or ITI pass outs. These have helped in the country being a very big player in the entire outsourcing market including the services and manufacturing outsourcing.
According to a London Business School Survey, Indians show the second best entrepreneurial spirit in the world. That means Indians are more into starting their own businesses which definitely helps the country in every direction.
Last but not the least, the rigor of facing and sailing through the Indian corruption and politics makes the Indian companies prepared for any sort of competition globally and domestically.

Here, I am not eulogizing the India Inc. but we must give credit to the companies who have done and achieved so much within a short span of time. Incidentally, China has very few global players. China’s development has been driven more by investments from abroad but it is not true in the case of India. Off course we are not self sufficient. We also need FDIs in infrastructure; otherwise the growth cannot be sustained.

One another striking feature in Indian’s economy is that our growth is more of consumption driven. Most of our goods produced are consumed within the country. That again means we have a great opportunity in terms of increasing the GDP by increasing exports.

I as a person can visualize so many things at this point of time. I see the scopes of improvement everywhere. I believe in one simple philosophy: “If you cannot innovate any new thing, then try to improve upon those things which are existing. Nothing is perfect… Everywhere one can see chances of improvement”.

I can give you an example. India is the second largest producer of vegetables in the world. But do you know that due to the inefficiency of the supply chain (from the producer to the end customer) and lack of proper storage facilities, we waste around 50% of our produce? That means, you improve your supply chain and you will have more to export and that means more revenues. Organized retailing is hopefully going to change this within the next decade. Just imagine the opportunities in front of today’s youth.

I always believe we as a generation are lucky enough to be born in an era where we are seeing a resurgent India. We have opportunities which are not defined even by the sky. We need to ROCK because we are the flag bearers of our country.

Air Sahara to Jet Lite

2007-05-15T23:41:00.000+05:30

Finally, the deal is over. Jet Airways, India’s largest airline buys out 100% stake of Air Sahara. It really took a long time. There was a due diligence, and then talks for the acquisition failed after Jet backed out. Air Sahara registered a case against Jet and finally Jet buys Sahara for a sum of $500 million.

‘Kingfisher Airlines’ has already brought a change to the Indian air space. Very typical to Vijay Mallya’s aura as a party man, he has positioned Kingfisher as a carrier with a difference. Kingfisher is aristocratic and sexy. It is stylish and premier. Although Jet is the leader, Kingfisher started taking its share of the business class market and the low frills carriers are always there to bleed the industry. Jet needed to grow real big. It was losing its share in the domestic market. Infrastructure is a big constraint in the Indian civil aviation industry. This deal will help Jet in terms of increasing the number of aircrafts, giving access to the parking bays and ground staffs in the air ports. Additionally, economies of scale will always help the bigger airline. The two airlines will also be complementing each other on the routes common to both.

When the deal was done, the first question that came to my mind was how would Jet position Sahara? Would it go for a rebranding or would it stick to the same old name? The second option was highly unlikely. They are going to change the name of ‘Air Sahara’ to ‘Jet Lite’. How is that going to help the merged entity?

Jet is changing itself into a stylish and premier airline and going for a head on collision with Kingfisher. It is also concentrating more on the international routes. The new and refurbished Jet will be positioned more towards the Business class travelers who are ready to shell out pretty pennies for elegance, ambience and style. With the Indian economy booming, the number of business travelers is only going to increase. This will help Jet and similar carriers. Plus, tourism has immense potential. Indians are beginning to spend a lot on travels abroad. With newer routes coming up due to many agreements with different countries, the situation is only going to improve. However, there are challenges as well. There are competitions from foreign airlines in the international routes. Jet will have to constantly re invent and make itself more desirable by cutting costs and giving more value for money to attract passengers.

Air Sahara (or Jet Lite) will not be positioned as a low frills airline. Instead, it will operate in the tier II and III routes where there is no need for full time service carriers. These routes usually have middle class travelers who go for the lowest cost tickets. Naresh Goyal, chief of Jet Airways says that Jet Lite will not be fully positioned as a low cost airline. Its fares will off course be lower than the full service airlines but it will serve complementary beverages as well. It will try to bank upon its better services to attract passengers. I believe even middle class travelers are ready to pay 200 bucks more to travel on time. If they get some complementary beverages on flight, then that is always an icing on the cake.

I am sure Jet Lite will be giving tough competition to the likes of Air Deccan and Spice Jet. With better service and timely arrivals and departures, Jet Lite can give a new definition to the low cost sector of Indian civil aviation. Jet Lite will also ply on the international routes where budget carriers are preferred more over the business class service airlines.

I can only say, the space is getting more and more exciting. Airbus A-380 coming down to India testifies the fact that India is no more on the sidelines. With the commonwealth games going to be held in Delhi in 2010 and the prospects of India becoming a major economic hub within the next few years, the need for a robust airlines industry is imminent. There is a plan to develop Nagpur into a world cargo hub. The government will have to take drastic steps so as to make the city ready for such a project. If it turns into reality, nothing can be better. A cargo hub means more business and that means more revenue… more employment… more prosperity!!!

In my opinion, more consolidation will take place in the industry in the near future. That will help the aviation space. Jet also plans to roll out a cargo airline of its own. That will be great because they have the expertise and looking at the trends, they really have great prospects.

Comments Please…

Ma Tujhe Salam

2007-05-13T23:14:00.000+05:30

Today is the World Mother's Day. A friend of mine reminded me in the morning to wish my mother saying that, "She is a wonderful mother". So true... I sometimes wonder if I am forgetting my responsibilities towards my mother (or my father)?

I have been staying away from home for the last 5 years... Yes! I do visit home for one or two months in a year but somehow I feel a gap has developed... I find it strange to adjust for the first few days... Probably it happens because of the kind of environment we live in far away from home. Back there in Assam, my parents are always dealing with their day to day businesses... Here we are hardly worried about those things... We are career savvy... worried about moving ahead in life... without thinking what would happen if we forget our roots... i asked this question to a very close friend of mine... he replied saying, "This is very natural... The most important thing at this point of time is how you as a person try to keep the relationship intact". He is right... My parents won't be able to comprehend my view points so easily... So it will be a display of sagacity on my part to understand my parents rather than expecting them to understand my changed lifestyle or way of thinking... After all, i can do this much for them who have taken so much pain for me!

Leave that aside... No one can question how much I love my parents... Every move of mine is to make them happy... I want to do something so as to make them proud...

I was interested in knowing about how the custom of mother's day started... I browsed the net and found the following theories:

The earliest celebrations of mother's day go back to Greece during the spring times when Rhea, the mother of Gods was honored.
During 1600s, English people started celebrating mother's day. The day used to be called the mothering Sunday. It was (is) celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent. The custom even included the poor servants who worked in the homes of the rich people. The servants would take leave from their masters to visit their mothers to honor them on the occasion. It was customary to take a cake alongside to give the atmosphere a festive look.
Slowly and gradually, Christianity influenced the celebration of the mother church. That gave a spiritual touch to the concept of mother hood.
In the US, Mother's day was first celebrated as a day dedicated to peace. In 1872, Julia Ward Howe wrote the words of the Battle Hymn for the US Republic. Later on, in 1907, Anna Jarvis campaigned to start the celebration of National Mother's Day on the 2nd Sunday of May in West Virginia. That day was the second death anniversary of her mother. Next year, the state of Philadelphia also celebrated the Mother's day and by 1911, every state in the US started celebrating the day to honor the mothers.
I wondered if there is any such tradition related to India or Hinduism in particular. I tried searching but I do not have any information on that. I feel Hinduism does not have any special day dedicated to the mothers because we consider the worship of God as a MOTHER. We have many deities whom we preach as mothers. We even treat cows as mothers. That's why it is not really necessary to celebrate any special day because we always pray to our deities as mothers. It is customary in Hinduism to touch the feet of our parents every morning (We hardly do that); treating them as Gods. Even if we don't do these things, we should treat them with respect in our hearts so that we can make every day special for them.

I loved reading on this topic because no matter what happens, a mother is the only person on earth who can do anything for her child. She deserves our love... One should respect every mother on this earth... Even if she is your wife, she is the mother of your child. Rather than celebrating another day, we should try to make every day a mother's day for our mothers... We owe a lot to them!!!

Cheers to all mothers on this earth!!! :)

Bangalore 2.0

2007-05-11T11:23:00.000+05:30

After I got to know that my summer training would be in Bangalore, the only thing that worried me was the ‘forthcoming experience’ of the infamous Bangalore traffic. I was otherwise happy. My office location is the Electronics City (EC) campus of Wipro and I heard from many friends of mine that it would take me three hours from IIMB(the place where we are putting up) to reach the office. That means six hours of traveling by bus during the entire day. I asked many people who had been to Bangalore but never got a convincing answer. Everyone had his/her own theory and it ultimately increased my tension. I started planning for some accommodation near the office so that it would not be difficult for me to travel.

I reached Bangalore on a beautiful morning. It was a nice experience seeing the beautiful empty roads so early during the day. I was dropped by my Volvo bus (coming from Hyd) at the FORUM mall. I took an auto and came to my friend’s place. Everything was nice; I was just worried about the “traffic” problem because I was not clear about the situation by then. My induction was done on 13th April. That day many of us who were inducted a day before told me that it did not take them more than 40 minutes in the morning to reach the EC office. In the evening however, the bus takes a different route and so it would take around one hour and fifteen minutes. Thank God!!! I am relieved.

Bangalore’s population has increased tremendously over the past few years but the infrastructure supply has not been able to keep pace with the demand. With the IT junta willing to spend a lot during the weekends, they find very few places to hang around. I had the unfortunate opportunity to visit the FORUM mall during one of the weekends and I was shocked to see the human rush over there. I had to walk carefully lest I step on some lady’s delicate feet. I saw people everywhere… the only places which were empty were the shops. People here do what we Indians are good at doing, i.e. Window Shopping! J

One another problem which is severe is the lack of sufficient parking spaces. A friend of mine brought his car one day and we had tough time trying to find a parking space for his car. He told me that there is no parking place near the all famous MG and Brigade Roads. Very unfortunate…!!!

While going from IIMB to the office one morning (Hosur Road), I tried to analyze what is worse in case of Bangalore’s traffic situation: The infrastructure or the traffic sense of people? The answer was very easy. People here are real rash drivers. The buses change lanes without following any order. There are no blinkers near the crossings. People do not follow the traffic signals… Usually one would see one or two poor traffic ‘people’ who would try to moderate the traffic motion. Pedestrians would find it difficult to walk on the roads here because there is hardly any ‘foot path’. There are heavy vehicles plying on the roads which make things worse. One evening, I had to stay back for sometime in the office. I took the 7:15 bus instead of the 6:15 bus. This bus takes the normal route through the Hosur Road. The weather was bad and it was raining hard. The traffic situation got worse… I thought it would be better for me to take a nap. I was really very tired that day, so I could sleep easily. Before sleeping I saw one hoarding at an angle of 60 degrees from my eyes. I slept for around half an hour and when I woke up; I was shocked to see the same hoarding this time 60 degrees (negative) from my eyes. That meant, all the time I was sleeping, the bus could proceed only around 400-500 meters. That was my worse experience with Bangalore traffic. It took me around 2 hours 30 minutes to reach IIMB that day. A friend who worked here before told me that sometimes walking takes lesser time than going by a bus. Very true!

Being a manager, I should be a part of the solution. As far as my understanding goes, the traffic situation in Bangalore is worse during the morning and evening office going time. To reduce the problem, the government can block the heavy vehicles from plying on the roads during that time of the day. Apart from that the companies like Infosys, Wipro and Siemens which have many buses carrying employees at the same time can change their timings with a mutual agreement. Wipro is planning to go for flexi timings which will definitely help in improving the situation. I believe discipline in driving habits can also save much time. Lanes should be specified for smaller and heavier vehicles so that time is not wasted. Usage of modern technology like traffic sensors etc. can help people in guiding themselves regarding the traffic situation. Apart from these things, the government should be proactive in dealing with the problem. The metro project has taken years to start. The flyovers are being constructed at snails’ pace. I never understand why a city like Bangalore has such a corrupt municipal body in place.

Looking at the slow pace of work in the so called silicon valley of India is very irritating. The city needs changes. Otherwise, it would not be far when the city collapses.

What is a LOGO?

2007-05-09T08:40:00.000+05:30

What comes to your mind when I say: “Apple Computers”? I am sure in 90% of the cases all of you will see the following picture flashing across your memory within the spur of a moment:

This is what a logo is. I have been thinking about writing about this for quite sometime now because logos have always fascinated me. What is a logo then?

First of all let me tell you what the meaning of a brand is. A brand is like an identity. Any product or company develops its identity in the minds of the consumers/customers. A company can be a brand in itself or it can have many products or offerings which are brands themselves. For example, “Apple Computers” is a big brand. But at the same time it has Apple i-Pod which is also a brand. In simple language a brand to a product or company is what a name is to a human being.

Logos and brands are very closely associated. Again if a brand is the identity, then the logo has to be the face of the brand. When I say “Partha Pratim Basumatary”, you will remember my face. Here my face would be my logo!!!

You would ask me the difference between a logo and an icon. There is hardly any difference in practical usage but going by the definition an icon is to a picture what logo is to a word. However companies use logos and icons interchangeably and their logos are combinations of some pictorial symbol(s) and one or more motto/tagline.

Look at the picture above… The kingfisher bird is the icon here and the tagline “Fly the good times” and “Kingfisher Airlines” are the logos.

Wikipedia describes a logo very nicely:

“A logo is a graphic element, symbol, or icon of a trademark or brand and together with its logotype, which is set in a unique typeface or arranged in a particular way. A typical logo is designed to cause immediate recognition by the viewer. The logo is one aspect of the brand of a company or economic entity, and the shapes, colors, fonts and images are usually different from others in a similar market. Logos may also be used to identify organizations or other entities in non-economic contexts.”

Why is a logo so important?

The logo is the face of any brand. The importance of logos is related to the human psychology. We often tend to remember flashy and beautiful things than boring words or assortment of some characters. Logos are easier to remember for one and all and that’s why the brands prefer them to be their representatives.
Again another important thing is that a logo’s style or design should be in sync with the image of the company/product. If a company is targeting the youngsters, then it should display a sporting and colorful logo. On the other hand if a brand is more sober and targets serious things, then it should have a logo which displays the essence of the brand by being discreet.
Logos are used to create an indelible impression in the minds of all the stakeholders. At times companies go for changes in their logos. The reasons could be many. Old and outdated logos stop appealing to the customers. A matured company could see changes in its vision and mission. The logo should vary accordingly. A very good example would be the change in the logo of the TATA group. TATA group realized that it came a long way from the old Indian company to a dynamic and vibrant global corporate group in the era of globalization. Their logo had to reflect the same attitude and so they paid a big sum to Wolf Ollins consultancy to do a complete overhauling of their logo thereby changing the company’s image. “Their new logo was meant to signify fluidity; it may also be seen as a fountain of knowledge, also as a tree of trust under which people can take refuge”.

The new TATA logo

Some of my favorite logos:

I am IN...

2007-04-30T17:47:00.000+05:30

Well, I had been thinking about posting for the last couple of days but due to some unnecessary work, I have been keeping myself busy. The CAT results are out and thanks to the almighty; I am going to study in one of the prestigious IIMs.

After a rather long and tiring wait which was capable of giving nervous breakdowns to many, the IIM results were out on 27th April. IIMC came out with its results first and to my utter shock; my name did not feature in the list of the successful students. My interview and GD went well but I do not know what happened… The Joka professors did not like me. Nevertheless I was satisfied when I saw the following:

CONGRATULATIONS !!!
You have been selected for admission to PGP 2007-2009 batch at IIM Lucknow.
Note: Formal admission letter is being sent by Speed Post. You will have to send us your formal written acceptance on the prescribed form enclosing a Demand Draft of Rs.30,000/- (non-refundable) in favour of IIM Lucknow payable at Lucknow, so as to reach us latest by May 14, 2007. Failure of this will be construed as withdrawal of the candidate, and the right of Admission will be forfeited.

OMG! I am in! I just could not express my happiness… I called up my mother and the moment I told her, I could feel her expression. I could almost see how tears came out of her eyes. Last year, when I could not convert the lone IIMK call, I did not dare call my parents… not because they would have scolded me but because I could not stand that feeling of telling them that I did not make it. I instead sent them one SMS and later they told me that both my parents cried that night. My father is usually very phlegmatic. He does not express his emotions… My mother told me that even his eyes were full of tears… Even today when I think of that sight, tears fill up my eyes. But thankfully that period is a past now. My parents have faced a lot from everybody. They are two very simple human beings who are easily gullible. Many a time people have taken undue advantage of their simplicity. I always wanted to do well because I am their only hope. I am the only one who is their path shower. They have given everything to me… I have got everything that I have asked for. I had never been satisfied with my own performance before I got L. I feel they deserved it and the almighty has listened to my parents’ prayers rather than mine. I can only say, “THANK YOU!”

Now is the time for me to stay focused. I will have to perform because I know life is not going to be that simple… IIFT was much easier but I am sure the atmosphere is going to be different there in IIML.

For the time being, I am saying L because Lucknow is my best convert till now. I have converted IIM Indore as well but will prefer L over I. I am waitlisted in IIMB… I have a feeling that I will be through in IIMB but as of now, I am really happy and satisfied with whatever I have.

The waiting list status will be cleared after 16th May’07. So that is going to be another wait as far as B is concerned. I am going to send the money to Lucknow because I cannot afford to lose one seat because of 30k bucks.

Rest everything is on the almighty… I simply hope I do justice to the almighty’s blessings. I have realized one thing over the last one year… I have got practical proofs in my own life not in one but numerous instances… If you really want something, then want it in such a manner that you do not want anything else. Life will give you everything… It is just a matter of time and the moment which is right for you to get what you deserve.

Dear God! Thanks a lot!!!

Wait...

2007-04-25T22:54:00.000+05:30

The wait is becoming unbearable for me. I want the IIM results to come out as soon as possible. This stalemate is wasting away my precious time and making me addicted to pagalguy again. I simply do not understand why things become so complicated at times...

I am in Bangalore... I have been unable to savour the so called beauty of the place because there is always a tension lingering behind my mind...

Traffic congestions, poor drains which start over flowing when clouds start forming in the sky, the auto and taxi drivers always willing to plunder you... all these things accompanied by the worries are making my life a mini hell here.

I sound negative but Bangalore came as a huge shocker to me. I was thinking that traffic would be the only bad link to the city... But here, there is no place to enjoy. At times I feel it is worse than Hyderabad. At least food was not a problem there... Pollution, chaos, commotion, lawlessness make Bangalore a nasty place to live in. The only good thing here is the weather which becomes pleasant in the evening... but one cannot expect me to look at the sky during the evening without any place to sit and enjoy...

OMG! I should not have written so bad about this place... Probably I am venting some frustration out here... LOL...

But yes! There are some positive things as well. I met a few old friends here... One very good friend from Assam stays here near IIMB... It is always nice to be back among the old frens... Made some friends here in Wipro as well... My project mate is an excellent companion... having great time with her...

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Here in Bangalore

2007-04-14T21:15:00.000+05:30

I am in Bangalore finally. Hyderabad was a nice experience, thanks to all my friends. The journey from Hyderabad to Bangalore was too good... I enjoyed the same.

I stayed at a friend's place for one night here and then I shifted to IIMB. I am writing this blog from the IIMB Computer Center itself. The campus is beautiful and serene... It is a pleasure to watch the greenery around specially when you come from a place where only the concrete beauties exist. I am missing Assam and my parents... Hopefully I will be able to see them soon.

Yesterday (April 13th), we had our induction programme. It was my first corporate experience and I did really like it. We had an interaction with the HR lady then with one Mr. Ranjan Acharya (he is one of the only 21 PCMM consultants in the world). His speech was by far the most entertaining one because he mixed content very shrewdly with humor. I and Chino were talking in the lounge and we could see Azim Premji, the Wipro Head walking across the building. Actually, the induction was done at the Sarjapur office of Wipro which is the corporate head office of the entire group. We played a team game which was pure fun. Then there was a small treasure hunt thing... although the name was wrongly put. We were being divided into 5 teams and each team had to visit the different branches of the WIPRO group and then speak to the whole group about the same. It was not fun but absolute GAS!

We also had a photo session of all the interns who got inducted that day. It was good...

Have not yet met too many bangalorean friends of mine (from college). Want to see them soon.

My project starts from Monday onwards. I have been told that the Electronics City is a huge office where 30000 people work for WIPRO. It will be a great experience hopefully and since I have always been interested in the IT field, I want to do well in the project.

I am anxiously waiting for the IIM final results to come out. That tension always prevails. Just praying to the almighty that every thing goes well this time...

:)

One minute @ the American Diners

2007-04-04T00:14:00.000+05:30

All my IIM interviews are over and I am a free man now. My last one (Indore) was in the Indian Social Institute, Lodhi Road. It did not really take me too long to find out the place because of the smart “mapping” by some friends from IIFT.

The interview went well… I spoke quite well in the GD. Once or twice, the points were being carried forward as well. That proved that I spoke substance. The case given to us was really very confusing. I used the whole discussion to understand what the case was really talking about. Interview was nice and a very cordial lady (from the panel) started by asking lots of questions on my hobbies, Wal Mart, Sam Walton, Assam, photography, blogs etc. etc. I had a few hiccups in answering to some questions on International Finance because the questions they asked were primarily fact based, which is like G.K. I anticipated questions on the concepts… Anyways I covered up well and I ended it with satisfaction. I now have a long wait before the IIMs give the final verdict on the same.

Right now, I am on my way to Hyderabad. As usual is the case, everytime before boarding the train, I looked at the list and was really happy to see some “F22”. Fate was bad and when I encountered the reality, I felt I was doomed. It sucks man… I don’t know when the so called adventure would happen to me… LOL… J

I wanted to write something about my experience in the India Habitat Centre and the Khan Market post my last interview but believe me the 12 hour sleeps over the last few days prevented me from venturing out into the act of writing something worthy. I planned something with GG and I hope it turned out well and nice albeit in an adventurous way.

My interview was over. I dialed GG’s number. GG picked up and the conversation started…

GG: Hey Honey! What’s up? Where are you?
Me: Hey! M done… can you come over here to ISI?
GG: Oh yeah! Just go to the top floor and wait for me in the canteen.

(I took the lift and went up to the top floor only to get dejected because it was stuffed with so many people and all were looking at me because of my Englishman style dress. Probably someone might have thought that I was being mad wearing coat and tie when it was terribly hot in the Delhi Summer. There were a few others who were in formals… Probably they were waiting for some other interviews… I removed my tie and put my coat over my right shoulder and came down and waited for GG to appear. GG’s home was 20 minutes walk from ISI.)

Suddenly my phone vibrated and it was GG.

GG: Hey honey! I will take some 10 more minutes. Where are you? Enjoying up there in the canteen?

Me: HELL NO! Come over here soon and we will talk.

GG comes and we went out. It was pleasant and I discussed something with GG… all about my GD and PI. I was happy it was all over and I was ready to launch myself into a great big break to redeem my lost pride… (Wow! That was extraordinary… Not pride… It should have been lost … ummm… err… I don’t know I lost something)

My purse was empty and I wanted to fill that up with a few currencies. For that I need an ATM machine which was no where nearby. Me and GG went and asked many people but nobody had an idea about an ATM… precisely SBI’s ATM. At last, I withdrew some bucks from AP Bank ATM.

We went to the India Habitat Centre directly. GG told me that he would take me to the American Diners. I initially could not understand what he was talking about. I thought he was talking about some place where we could give some soothing effect to our tortured out eyes which were desperately looking for sources of enjoyment. I also thought that experience would not be very taxing on my finances. We went inside... It was cool. I was dressed semi formally and GG was in his usual hang out dress wearing a spiderman T-Shirt which reminded me of our apna Sardar. The guard at the door was looking at us with his prowling eyes probably thinking that wrong people went inside a wrong place.

I seriously did not have any idea about that place. We went inside the restaurant and the waiter comes up to us offering a seat. One another came to us and asked if we would be taking mineral water. GG said no and looks up into my eyes. We understood that a great deal of embarrassment was on its way. The menu came and I saw the cost of one small burger was Rs. 250/-. I guess that was truly American… Believe me it was very much apparent that they were simply taking loads of money from people without giving anything in return. That place did not even have any proper ambience per se. But GG was constantly telling me it was high time we ran away without giving any orders. I was feeling very shy initially because I had never faced anything similar in the past. We waited for some more time and when the waiters were busy with some other customers (or consumers?) that we decided to run… Thank God! There was another door near the table which was an easy way out for us. I did not look back and rushed out as soon as possible because I knew the waiters would be looking at us with confused eyes. It was my first such experience but it was bound to happen when I was with our DON of IIFT Delhi, i.e. GG.

It was independence and I asked GG not to take me to any such place any more because I was very thirsty inside. We headed towards the Khan Market and had a glass each of fresh juice. I must confess that was the worst glass of juice I had ever taken in my life. Khan Market is all famous for its kababs. I and GG went ahead to an all famous shop “Khan Chacha”. It was a very small one we ordered Mutton kababs. One plate had eight pieces and believe me those were the best pieces of mutton I ever took in my life.

I know vegetarians would not understand what I am talking about. :)

I was not in a mood of coming back so soon to the hostel so we decided to talk a walk around the market. I also secretly wanted to taste those kababs once more after some time. We were walking through the same place over and over again. There were small streets between the tall buildings. Somehow I felt as if I was in some European city. The roads were clean and neat. There was no direct sunlight. The area was peaceful and cold (not cold but it was pleasant). The buildings were old but the brands were new. There were bill boards and posters that spoke of the resurgent India. There was some beauty which cannot be described but only felt. GG went to London around a month back and I asked him for some expert comments on the same. He also seemed convinced that I was talking sane. Plus, there were many foreigners out there shopping in those small shops. It was nice and I got time to be a bit philosophical.

GG told me that God has been very unkind to India on two fronts. One, they have given the best climate to the Europeans. Second, (which is more important to us :D) God has been very partial against us in terms of female population. GG and others devised a formula about what kind of girls would be termed as good looking in London.

Good Looking = All females (1 – % of females who are FAT or OLD)

That is certainly not the case here in India. I used the term “good looking” to keep modesty in this blog. Otherwise the readers can derive as many meanings as they want. J

There were many good looking foreigner females in the Khan Market and it was only the capacity of our brain that mattered because “downloading or uploading” every thing into your brain is not humanely possible.

We were gradually tired of making rounds of the same place over and over again. We went to Khan Chacha again and had one more plate of Kababs. We completed our feast by having cold packed juice which was sort of a toast for both of us.

I took an auto rickshaw back and took a nice sleep for the day before I realized that it was 10:00 at night.

Like every good thing, it was really a very nice experience for me because I enjoyed a lot. Life is beautiful and there are many things which could be cherished in life. People are not always bad… and places don’t always suck!!!

Hyderabad Calling...

2007-04-02T14:32:00.000+05:30

I am going to Hyderabad today. My train is at 5: 45 p.m from the New Delhi Railway Station. I hate this lonely travel... I will be going to Bangalore after Hyderabad for my summer training at Wipro.

Well... all my interviews are over. Got some free time but to be frank enough, I am so tensed inside. This long wait for the results is tiring man! I will put a blog on my experience at the Khan market post my IIM-I interview. It was a good one.... :)

I have forgotten the exact lines of a quote which touched me inside out when I read that last year... It is tough to forget many things... I am no doubt much better now than before. I am happy.. have made some friends.. enjoying as much as possible.. But one cannot always control emotions... One misses the special one who means a lot to one's life... The best way out is to find solace in things which seem to be small and go unnoticed but which mean a lot!!!

Ciao!!! :)

What is there in my hands?

2007-03-27T00:18:00.000+05:30

Gita says, "Do your work judiciously and do not think about the results"! I am trying to do the same. Many things are at stake this time.

I won't say that I do not have anything as a back up option but a lot depends on the results of my interviews this year. I am already in a good place but I have always thought that I deserve something better. This feeling is intrinsic. I do not compare myself with others. I feel that certain things are very important to me and I do not see myself compromising on them at any point of time.

I do not have fear of failures because I have seen many of them till now. Those failures have never been able to reduce my vision of future in any manner. I have always dreamt of doing something different and I feel I will be able to do so. But what I fear is the loss of credibility and the shattering of hopes. I see a new ray of hope in my parents' eyes. They are keeping their fingers crossed. I do not know what to say. It has happened many a times that I behaved like a choker during the crucial moments. Life is too long and these things are parts and parcels of life but when you think of accomplishing something and you have put in your efforts genuinely into it, you do not want to lose. If I lose this time, I will not be able to look into my parents' eyes in my life again. They will not speak even one word of sadness in front of me... They will try to motivate me... They will show in front of me that these things do not affect them. But I know the truth and that will hurt me for the lifetime...

Why am I writing this blog? I am fearing the outcome... I feel that I should get what I want this time but again there is always a probability of failure. I do not want to see that failure coming into my way again.

I just pray to the almighty to pardon me for all my sins for this moment because victory this time will rebuild the castle of hopes inside me. I pray HIM to grant me his kindness so that my parents get what they deserve from my side.

Just help me... Please!

Good Times...

2007-03-18T11:51:00.000+05:30

Of late I am feeling very happy inside. There is no reason as such but the general mood and atmosphere is very positive. My end term has started and I have done well in the first three papers. My interviews were also good. Probably all these factors have culminated into this mood transforming agent.

I am going to Bangalore this summer for my internship at Wipro. Thankfully they have increased our stipend to 20000 bucks per month. I have got my project details also. It is related to the Asia Pacific region where I will have to work under the infrastructure services BU of Wipro. I have heard that IMS is the biggest revenue earner for Wipro. That is good for me I guess. Before Bangy, I will be going to Hyderabad and spend some time with my old buddies.

You know something. I have become hopelessly romantic also. Don't take it in the wrong sense... I am not dating anybody. What I mean is I don't know... I feel there is some beauty in everything... Probably one cause for this change is that I am denigrating the effect of past on me. I have lost my friends... I cannot meet them more often.. Then what the heck? They were not supposed to be with me for my entire life. Being emotional is one issue and being overtly sad due to something like I was is one different issue altogether.. and believe me that is not the best of the things. One another reason could be that frankly I am over with the notion that the lost love was the best... Maybe some one did not deserve me or it could be the other way round. Probably the almighty is conspiring something good for me... I also feel that what I thought was ideal was just a mirage... What i thought of to be perfect came out to be short of everything... I don't care... I simply don't care... There is no place for emotions in the corporate world... I better be ready and yes I am confident I will fare well... There are many stakes.. Many things to be done. I won't stop before completing them...

I used the "romantic" word... Yes! I am being one because I feel there are many things which are eluding and the search for those things is limitless. They play games with one and all... I am excited by the prospect of that adventurous search...

Tomorrow I have the International Finance paper in the evening... It is the toughest one in this trim. But as is the normal case, it is very interesting. Futures, SWAPs, Options and Arbitrage... Oh my God! I am already confused...

Bye :)))

Before ...

2007-03-17T01:42:00.001+05:30

I watched "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset" a few days back. The first one is a prequel to the second. The beauty of these movies is that the second one has been made after a gap of 9 years and the story also aligns itself to the actual time gap. The actors have grown old naturally but anyone who has seen the first movie would definitely understand and love the second one right from the start.

I love both these movies and the characters. The clip shown above will give an idea of what these movies are all about. I do not claim that everyone would love this but for me personally it has been a beautiful experience of self realisation. I love to introspect... And these movies are all about introspection and how one understands himself.

I would suggest one and all to go and watch both these movies.

Passing time

2007-02-21T00:36:00.000+05:30

These days I am not feeling as if I am in a B School. Life has become so 'cool'. This trimester started with a bang with 4 IIM calls pouring in and my life seeing a ray of hope at the end of the tunnel. Then came the loads of classes accompanied by plethora of assignments. But like every bad dream, those days are over now. I am happy and it is pretty much enjoyable here now.

Sadly, we have not seen too many parties here at IIFT in this trimester. But we are getting time for sleep. The first month was overloaded and 70% of the course got completed within 30 days. We have 11 subjects in this trimester (I do not see similar number of courses in any other top B-School). The rest 30% of the course is spread over two months so classes are sparse and load is lesser. I am getting time for the IIM interviews' preparation also.

I do not have much to speak today. I am watching many movies of late. Loved Philadelphia, Love Actually and Kingdom of Heaven.

I also deleted my orkut account. Now friends are insisting me to open it again but somehow I don't feel like doing so. I have started hating orkut and I want it that way because deleting it was a learning experience.

I am missing home... Three more interviews are lined up! Hope I make it this time.

Mindbend - Flex Those Neurons!

2007-02-10T18:18:00.000+05:30

Mindbend is the annual National Level Technical Symposium of SVNIT Surat. I have a very memorable association with the same.

I was the student convenor of Mindbend'05. I got the opporunity to organise such a mega event for the first time. The total budget for the whole event was around 5 Lacs where more than 600 students from across the country came to the college campus during a span of 3 days. Initially when I got the responsibility, I was thrilled but at the same time I found it to be very challenging. I had to lead a team of my peers and there was one more convenor in the team so objections and differences were bound to arise. There were many contenders for the post... but only two posts were there. So those who missed out were obviously not very comfortable initially. I must acknowledge one thing that I got a very good team where people were really dedicated and hard working. The core committee, the technical committee and the junior volunteers were really very cooperative.

I should not say that we did every thing right... There were many hitches and bumps on the road. There were sponsorship deficiencies accompanied by uncertainities of the infrastructure and the guest lecturers. Why I am writing this is that after looking at the site of Mindbend'07 a few minutes back, I felt nostalgic and I travelled a few years down the memory line. I remember the night long strategies to reduce costs, the infrastructure bottlenecks and the great optimisation schedule for the limited (to be precise... 3 projectors) to be used for the entire show. Then the run for the sponsorships and the tension emanating from the faces when some sponsor backed out at the last minute. I learnt a lot. I lost something very important during the event but my job did not allow me to think too much. That obviously made me stronger but that took away something from me... and I still crave for that. Getting back to my learning, the most important lesson that Mindbend taught me is to respect your peers and subordinates. It is ultimately your people who matter and they are the ones who bestow their trust on you as a leader. So leading is not about speaking a few inspiring words or having only a very good oratorial skill. It is about having the ability to understand your team very well. It is about knowing how to make others work without hurting them. It is about visualising the future and the ability to look at the same thing from a different angle. It is about having the ability to acknowledge one's mistakes and having the guts to correct them. It is about being tough at times and taking unprecedented decisions for the greater cause. It is also about arguing with the Director to have your work done but ultimately proving him that you were right. I miss those night outs and the long ride to "Chamunda" at 4:00 A.M in the morning for a cup of tea and some snacks. I also miss sitting in front of the Hospitality desk chatting with the juniors encouraging them to learn and make Mindbend a legacy and off course a brand. Mindbend got over with a smile and I felt I did nothing. It was a dream period for me where I found myself being so true and dedicated. Even after Mindbend got over, I used to see dreams of organising Mindbend in a better manner and including things which I always wanted to do. But constraints were always there and I will vouch for it that my team tried its best. There were many drawbacks which have helped our juniors in improving the next edition...

During our time, we faced many hitches while organising funds. We still managed to have some very good sponsors. Infosys, L&T, Kribhco, Gujcost, Torrent Power etc. showed enthusiasm and responded positively. Our juniors also did a great job and they put up a better and organized Mindbend'06. Mindbend'07 has come out to be bigger and better. While browsing through the site, I saw that they have put some very good events on the roll and the brands which are sponsoring the event only testify one thing that our efforts of building a brand Mindbend continued by our juniors have been really successful. I am proud to be associated with Mindbend and it is very close to my heart for the obvious reasons.

I only hope to see a bigger and better Mindbend in the future and I am sure with the kind of zeal and enthusiasm shown by the junior batches in SVNIT, things are only going to improve. Let us rock it and see to it that our Mindbend becomes a bigger brand which is at par (if not better than) with Techfest, IIT Bombay.

What is happiness?

2007-02-09T01:24:00.000+05:30

Our Business Strategy professor gave us an assignment to define "Happiness" as a target. We also had to write the problems we faced while defining the target. It may sound vague to others but he says that strategy is all about defining the targets and devising ways to reach the same.

I have put the picture of Monalisa here because I think happiness is an enigma which is as perplexing as her eluding smile.

I tried to do justice while writing about "Happiness". I was just myself and wrote what I feel would give me happiness and satisfaction in the future.

The text in italics below is the article I wrote for the professor:

"Happiness is something final and complete in itself, as being the aim and end of all practical activities whatever.... Happiness: then we define as the active exercise of the mind in conformity with perfect goodness or virtue"
- Aristotle

In the above quote, Aristotle very aptly speaks about happiness. Happiness is the final goal and every living being (consciously or unconsciously) is always in search for it. There is no absolute definition of the word happiness. It is always relative and varies from person to person. A beggar will be happy if he gets to eat his meal twice a day. A lover will be happy if he/she finds his/her true love and a father will be happy at his child’s success. A thirsty man will be happy when he gets water to drink. Again there are many things that come into picture. Situation and time also affect happiness. Happiness is usually mortal and it vanishes or ceases to exist after a certain time limit.

In my context, happiness is something which will make me feel satisfied within. The satisfaction will come from deep inside and I am still in search for that. If I have to define happiness as a target, I can only find one thing now. If I can make my parents happy, I will be a happy person. There is again a point to be noted that since happiness is related to time and situation, I may not be happy when I achieve what I want to achieve because by then I may want something else which will make me happy. Both my parents are from medical background and they have great expectations from me. They wanted me to become a doctor but I chose engineering as a career. They always encouraged me to chase my dream and that is what I did. I am from a relatively interior part of Assam. My father spent his entire career serving the people from my locality. Although they have never expressed anything, my parents would be happy if I really contribute something back to the society. I have some plans and if I can do what I want to do, I think I will be satisfied.

External factors like marriage, family, kids, high paying job and a successful career may come my way when I tread my way to my ultimate happiness. My wife may not be ready to support me if I start going ahead with my plan. Post MBA, I will be having a decent job with salary in seven figures. Will I be able to leave my cushy job and start afresh to do something for the society? Will I be able to leave my secured life and go ahead with something which is unsecured? The only light at the end of the tunnel comes from the fact that if I go ahead with my plan, I would be chasing my happiness – the ultimate goal.

Difficulties faced while defining happiness as my target:
- I am not clear about what will give me happiness in the long run. There are many things which can make me happy for the moment but it is always a very difficult task to define what will make me happy in the future.
- From my personal experience I have always found that achieving certain milestone does not make one happy. Being unable to gain something will definitely make one unhappy. There fore I am not sure whether in the long run, my definition of happiness will come true or not.
- I am unable to exactly define how the external factors will affect my path when I move ahead towards my goal of happiness.

Asphyxiated...

2007-02-07T23:55:00.000+05:30

Today I had a very stifling feeling inside. It came all of a sudden and I was being tyrannized by it till finally Baddy* came to my rescue. Right since the morning my mood was off. I went to class and the same thing continued. It was very peculiar in the sense that I just could not understand what and why was this feeling coming inside me?

I believe in "signs". I started worrying whether there was something wrong with my family members or some bad news was on its way? I felt so low and disheartened. Usually when I am upset or sad, there is some reason behind it. Today's feeling had none... That was the unique feature. I don't know if it happens to others but it really gave me tough time during the day because i was not able to concentrate in the class.

I said Baddy saved my day. Baddy is the cricket we play here in IIFT. It is a modified form of the all famous gulli-cricket and it has been customized to suit the small campus that IIFT has. There are many rules and regulations which make it more interesting for the players. Like a true manager, one has to tread his own path through glory but only amidst lots of constraints. I will come up with a detailed blog on the Baddy rules soon.

After playing three continuos games, we few friends Gandy, Sonyda & Gunjit went to Katwaria Sarai (5 mins walk from IIFT). We had Chicken rolls, then goll - gappe and finally toasted ourselves with a glass each of mixed fruit juice. It was really nice and it helped me get out of my psyched out condition.

Thanks Baddy... :)

I am just back from the election of the club co-orinators' post for different clubs in IIFT. Tired and exhauseted I want my bed now.

Bye :)

Something for a change! :)

2007-02-06T19:12:00.000+05:30

I am learning Spanish here in IIFT. Till now I am finding it to be a smooth ride but lets see...

Here I am putting a paragraph i wrote in Spanish today in the class....

Anyone who wants to know the meaning can use google language tool!!! :)))

Yo soy Partha. Estoy estudiante de IIFT, Nuave delhi. Soy de Assam. Padre es Medicos y abuelo es campesino. Estoy cansado. Yo estudio espanol. Me gusta perrito. Soy Chico Bien. Yo trabajo mucho. Estoy occupado con trabajo. Me gustaria hacerme presidente de Google. Yo havo enorme amar de libro.

Mazy Feelings!

2007-02-04T03:20:00.000+05:30

I found myself in a maze
Where there was none’s gaze
Forlorn and Desolate I was
Whining was a passé

Bygone moments won’t come
Pried my way home
Knew only melancholy was waiting
Though this was not a cheating!

Maybe it was the retribution
Find me the solution!
Entwined I am here
Take me out dear!

Project "Saksham"

2007-02-03T23:45:00.000+05:30

Corporate Social Responsibility is the latest buzzword. Be it Warren Buffet, Bill and Melinda Gates or the TATAs here in India, every one thinks that the greater the rural development is, the better the future is.

Off late, many new ideas have been coming to my mind. I want to contribute towards the Indian society in general and my state Assam in particular. I share this feeling with a few other people whom I consider to be better than me in every aspect. Maybe that motivates me a lot and therefore somehow the coziness and the aristocracy of a posh office building no more attract me. If I am destined for something better why should I waste my time and talent thinking and worrying about serving someone from some distant land? Helping the humanity with humility can give me more satisfaction than earning a salary in 7 digits.

A few days back, I read about the Project Saksham launched by Microsoft. Hats off to Bill Gates! His initiatives have helped many unemployed people earn and live their lives by their own. A simple interface, a low cost PC and a local language OS can go a long way in helping the cyber literacy rate in India go up! People can do their own businesses, learn about other parts of the world through the internet and see the better practices from across the globe. I see a dream where even a daily wage worker would avail the benefits of IT. I believe the next wave of outsourcing (if properly tapped) can take many states out of their conditions of misery.

I know that ultimately everything boils down to business but the rural IT inclusion will go a long way in developing the backward areas like the North East. If both parties benefit, then what else would someone wish for? I want to do something similar. I want to use technology to help the rural populace. Of course I have thought of many ideas... and I am sure I can implement them.

Every entrepreneaur faces many failures before he/she becomes successful. Be it Steve Jobs of Apple, Subhash Chandra of Zee or Sanjeev Bikhchandani of naukri.com, everyone has faced many setbacks. I wonder what drives them the most? For me it is the feeling of accomplishment that drives! I am sure I would see failures but I want to see many more failures than what I have seen so that when I rise I reach the top and then there will be no looking back. Failure makes me stronger.. It makes me cry. It makes me sad.. but pain can be painful only up to a limit!!!

I know my days will come and I see them coming!!!

Getting Bugged!!! :-(

2007-02-01T23:44:00.000+05:30

I left my cam in the hands of Lavanya and Neel to my own peril. They recorded something and gave that as a surprise to me. I will treasure the same for the years to come...

U can click on the link given above and view the video.

P.S: I acknowledge I have become 'Fat'!!!

The Chappell Fiasco: Some points we Indians need to take home!

2007-01-29T22:49:00.000+05:30

One might be wondering why I am writing on the Chappell saga now? Chappell's email to the BCCI, then the Ganguly controversy going public, later being dropped from the team leading to some crowd problem in a match in the Eden Gardens. Now Saurav dada is back in the side. We Indians have forgotten the past and we believe that the Indian team is all set for the World Cup to be held in West Indies within a few months' time. This is a great turn around story but what are the learnings???

A few hours back, I saw an interview of Greg Chappell in CNN-IBN. He very clearly told one thing that he cannot be honest in India. What does that exactly mean? He means that if he says something which he feels true, it may happen that he will top the list of people who would be in the firing line of the media, the politicians and the parliament also. Do we as Indians have the habbit of blowing things out of proportion? We make a small thing look bigger. We quarrell on petty issues. We fight and kill over tiny matters. We think we are the best if we achieve something which is not at all great by the international standards. Don't think that I do not love my country. I am more patriotic than anyone else and that is why I am criticising my India.

Chappell raised one very important issue in the interview. When he spoke about Sourav at that time, he spoke as a coach. He did not have any personal enmity with him. We very proudly talk about the professionalism in work. Who defines professionalism? I don't know what exactly it is? Chappel said that if he speaks something in Australia and it becomes a report there, the same news would become a TSUNAMI here in India. How true. I accept and I believe that we Indians as a clan lack this so called professional approach. We lag behind only because of this deficiency. We do not like to do our jobs properly but we want our pockets to be full everytime. We bribe so that our work is speeded though. We litter the public places but quarrell with people if someone tries to do the same with our home.

I am not a fan of the US but I must admit that their contribution in the modern world is far more outreaching than ours. Their greatest ability is to pragmatically examine a situation. They knew that had they not attacked Iraq, Euro would have been the currency of trade for oil in Iraq. Dollar would have been weakened. They knew that time was running out. So they attacked and secured their country from a peril in the making. I would have done the same. We Indians cannot take even one step against Bangladesh who has been acting as a safe abode for the extremist organisations like ULFA, MULTA etc.

These insights by people who come from outside should be taken constructively. If they are speaking something, try to analyze if things are true. We as a country should be more focussed in our outlook and off course be more professional.

A Day @ IIFT

2007-01-27T21:40:00.000+05:30

Peggy! Peggy! What's the time?
Modi! U r late...
Oh fuck man!

Peggy and Modi, our loomies in great conversation every morning. One is in the loo and the other inside his cozy blanket. I realize my day has begun. It is 8:55 A.M. The class is about to start... Typically every day i get up only after my roomie Paji gets up. With a frown on my face, I curse myself for choosing to do an MBA. I am not the 4 hrs' sleep types honey! Welcome to a high profile corporate life... The day has started rolling in (or rather steam rolling... :D)

Run! Run! Run! Run to the loo... Run for the queue... Run to the bathroom.. dress for the run (:D) and you realise that you are late by more than 1000 seconds! Have you seen today's time table? The automatic question that comes into my mind is "Was there any home assignments?", "How can I be so irresponsible?", "Partha! You are a manager... Shit on you! How can you forget?" No no.. These are not sermons... In fact these are some greetings from my brain to my heart. And this happens when I am running... U know what I mean by "running" right?

I am dressing up! Where is my watch? Arre cell kahaan hai? Who took my pen dude? All these small but important things have the habbit of disappearing into thin air when they are in great demand. I finally manage to get hold of my books, collect a newspaper lest I get time to read and take some more important things .... loads of tension for the day! I have a presentation to make. The ppt is ready but only googling is not recommended. The profs are smart enough. Oh there is one corporate interaction also... Who is coming BTW? Might be some CEO or VP or some foreign delegate. I tell myself... Whaaaaaaaaaaat? Sonaaaaaa hi toh hai!!! Then I remember I have a batch meet at 10:00 p.m with the IMF (Not the monetary fund thing.. it is the IIFT eeeeestudents' body). With books and the laptop, I reach the class room within 30 seconds (15 seconds error acceptible). Did anyone realise that I bypassed the mess (only smelled the beautiful smell of the morning breakfast)? This is just the start of the day.

I reach the class room but sir is already there. Thank God! had this been the first trimester, I would have been kicked out not without a kick on my ass. One good thing is that I always find someone or the other coming after me... So I am not the last one to enter. The corporate "gurukool" as we call it is on for the day!

Very very generously, sir allows me to sit but with a dialog which symbolises the true "screwing" spirit of the profs here. "Mr. Partha! You are late... I must say again. You know time is sacrosanct here in IIFT". I wonder "Is there any simpler word to describe the same?" But promptly reply ... "Sorry sir! was awake till late last night"

There is no empty seat in the last rown. Find a seat which places me away from the direct gaze of the teacher. The litany continues. Some ACPs* and DCPs* are asking questions. I wonder whether the question freaks are never at peace or do they want to gain some valuable points? For those who do not know, in every subject, 10 marks are allotted for class participation.

Whenever I pay attention to what the teacher is saying, I feel guilty. I plan for my next class and plan that I would be prepared by the next discussion. Don't think about this class... It is over and you know that every thing is going like Shoaib's bouncers.

4 classes everyday with two hours each. 15 mins break between two classes. 30 mins lunch break. Post class I have tons of work... make a presentation, prepare a report, surf the net, get a nap, eat the dinner and stay put in your room. This is how life is at IIFT. We are busy every day, every moment and every second. Miles to go before I sleep!!!

There is no time to think... People here are so smart that given a moment, they would not think twice to take away the piece of bread you started eating. Maybe this is what professionalism is? I believe there is nothing wrong in it. After all, everybody cannot be a friend and off course not all are enemies. Who constitute the rest? I mean who is there who fills the gap between friends and the enemies? They are the professionals. And one can learn the most from these professionals only.

For all my friends who have been complaining about my blogs, I promise this is a new start!!!
:)

ARM Mid Term!!!

2007-01-27T00:50:00.000+05:30

My head is spinning!
After an overdose of Statistical Analysis and so many different jargons, I am stressed out. I have a mid term exam tomorrow. ARM (Advanced Research Methods) is a newly introduced course. The prof. is a tough one and according to the seniors, we can expect some 'F's in the final mark sheets. ARM is a highly analytical subject where one cannot GAS! So... Do now or Die tomorrow.

I started by my own. I could complete only a few topics but i was overloaded with so many doubts. The whole batch is dependent on a few selected individuals who take the pain of taking proper notes during the class. There are even few who could understand what was being taught. All of us (the lesser mortals here) had to learn from them. I am sure I am not well prepared. But somehow I have lost the fear... Kya hoga? Maut toh nahin hogi na...

Today when I called up my mother, she told me that she has been feeling very low for quite sometime. She asked me about my health. My physical health is ok but I am totally unfit as far as my mental health is concerned. She as a mother could guess that. Telepathy is very active for a mother. She can always sense if something is wrong. This is the power of a mother... she is the most precious gift the almighty has given to us.

Ciao.....

Convocation Pics

2007-01-25T02:47:00.000+05:30

Noticeable personalities: Rajiv with his version of Basic Instinct! Mollycoddle (Manoranjan: extreme right) seen in an unsual attire.. U rock Mala!

NESA rocks!!!

Techie Sid trying to emulate Sardar. Sardar saala thinks he is Abhishek!!!

M the odd one out!

Shruti, Sardar and Sid in some great conversation? I am sure Sid might have been bugging Sardar!!! :)))

I wanted a serious pic. Sardar making a mockery.. Shruti baal banati hui

Myself, Mayur and Rajiv

Lavanya, Mayur, Neel and Shruti (a friend I wish I met earlier)

Check this out: http://picasaweb.google.com/pratim.partha I have uploaded all the pics in picasa that my Canon A 340 took in SVNIT a few days back. The ones put hereare very close to my heart!!!

An "Indian" Experience

2007-01-15T13:20:00.000+05:30

I had to deposit my draft for the 3rd trimester today. Last day, and I had to drag my lazy ass otherwise I would have been summoned to the PD's room and what not would have happened. Here, trivial issues get more air but the important things are left asie.. I guess that is what Indian Bureaucracy is!

Anyways.. I went to the nearest branch of the Indian bank to make my draft. I got many feedbacks about the inefficiency of the bank from many friends of mine but I never had the chance to have the first hand experience. Today I could not deny myself the shabby administration and indiscipline of the Indian bank...

I entered inside and found the interiors much better than what I expected. The branch is considerably spacious and well furnished with ACs hanging on the walls... (Haier: Made in China).. But I was not sure about the working because it is chilled out here in Delhi..

Reception: Wow! There is no one there.. I checked my watch.. The time was 12:10 p.m. I could only find some hand outs of mutual funds of Reliance and SBI on the reception desk.

Some Counter: I asked an old man about the draft.. He asked me whether I have paid the cash or not? I said : "No!".. "Go and do that in the cash cunter there and then come", he replied and pointed me towards the counter. I went and filled the draft form and asked him again about the exchange rate that the bank charges.. he asked me roudily to ask the person at the cash counter...

Okay dude! I went to the cash counter.. There was a person very busy counting notes.. Suddenly he scolds an old man because he did not put the notes in a proper format... A cashier cannot even take this much pain.. after all this is what he is paid for. A great show of dedication.. He asked me to go to one another counter for the draft.

Yes.. I thought this guy would be better. I was standing in the queue. When my turn came, he asked me to fill in the exchange rate details.. I dint know the rate so asked him to tell me.. He told "Go to the first counter.. he will tell you the rate". I told.. "Sir! The person in that desk asked me to talk to you for the same?... Abruptly came his reply " Woh So Raha hai kya??? (Is he sleeping there?) Okay.. i went but to my dismay I was returned back to the same counter. Logically speaking, I think the person at the cash counter should know how much the exchange rate is.. but they played badminton and made me the shuttle.

Grumbling and dejected.. the cashier accepted my money.. The exchange rate was 120 bucks.. I never paid this much for exchange rates in any bank till now.. But chalega! I got the receipt and proceeded for the DD section..

A peron (50 or something) was busy chatting with someone in English! Fortunately I did not wait for too long before the other person left.. I asked him to make my draft.. He called one other person and asked him to do the same. I saw there were two counters and he should have made the draft but that is the ways things take place in a bank... after it is an Indian bank.

Let me call the person at the DD counter a Snob! the other one is "Decent"

Snob: Hey Decent ji! Come and make this draft.. People are waiting. (Decent was busy and doing some other work in another counter.. and Snob was busy enjoyin his free time)

Decent: Sir! How can I do work in two counters at the same time? Please cooperate and complete the draft...

Snob: You have two hands.. you should be able to handle two desks at the same time.
(That sounded so stupid! How can he say that? Bloody Snob! He was doing nothing and asking a busy man to complete his share of work)

Decent: Sir! You also have two hands...

(:D I loved that)

I thought being a spectator would make me waste my time.. I went and approached Decent to complete my task. He told me that he could not handle two desks at the same time because the automated software system allowed active log in only at once node.. I could understand but I requested him to issue my draft because i was getting late.

He was good at heart and he came after some time.. He issued my draft and had it signed by Snob! But before that when Decent was still there at the other counter I asked Snob as to who would be issuing the draft.. He said "The bank will issue the drfat". That is the way things work here..

When i was waiting for my DD, I heard someone telling one other employee that Times of India (TOI) had covered an entire article on the working of this particular branch..

This is what happens in 90% of the offices in India (mostly government institutions). How can we become developed and competitive if people are so lazy? ow can we go ahead of China if these things continue? People tend to negkect the importance of time.. Time is the most precious thing.. We Indians have to understand one thing that to succeed and maintain the edge in today's world, we just cannot afford to stay put at a particular place and expect things to get completed by their own..

We have miles to travel before we can say that "India is shining"!!!

Let us hope for the best and contribute as much as we can.

The Ocean of Death!

2007-01-11T20:52:00.000+05:30

I wrote this poem (the one to follow) when I was at my lowest... That was the minimum I could ever think. I laid down all my energy and cried... I wrote all that i wanted. I felt as if I did not have anyone in this whole world. I do not exactly remember the date but it must have been after the first trimester got over in IIFT and I went home. I found it lying in my desktop at home and thought that it should be put on my blog page.

To be frank, I am sure I am over with that period now. I prayed to the almighty to give me the strength.. to survive for my parents. I think he has done that... I am happy for myself. IT'S NOT THAT I HAVE FOUND SOMEONE ELSE. No! I am above such things now.. This new year has brought some new hopes inside... i don't care about what others think.. I am made for myself.. I want to love myself for someone who would come someday and for the only one who deserves me...

I am very sure about one thing now... I am not so bad to waste myself for someone who does not care for me... But yes.. I know I am too good. I am meant for the ONE who deserves me for everything in life.. I am waiting.. for her.. I will give everything to her.. It will be stupid to destroy myself for others...

Thanks to my friends who have always stood by my side when I needed them... Thanks to the almighty who has always been there... and thanks to my parents for whom I can leave aside anything on this whole earth...

I am in the ocean of death
All alone I have traveled so far
Facing the tempest, and
The hurricanes… that came along the journey!!!

The wrath has only been augmented
Looking for the strand for so long
Where am I heading???
Is the end in sight?

Is death coming near?
I won’t have any qualm… dying
Laying down my life for someone
Who matters to me... not for matter!

The travail of facing the shock waves…
Ocean God playing the master role
No one can be blamed… coz
“Peril” was no one’s but my decision

I have no one to chide but only self
Was it the path my folks wanted me to follow?
Losing the dignity… and the relevance
The path of utter self annihilation

Is it going to be a virile cessation…?
Or just another obliteration
I don’t know… Don’t ask me…
I am searching for the riposte in “the ocean of death!!!”

To you my love: Being yours was being so true
So full of love for myself that I wanted you
Honored! Life is so beautiful
Will love you till I fade

Just another day begins
I will have to travel… in the meander of the “ocean”
Hoping my hope does not turn into despair
In the ocean of death!!!

Going Home!

2006-12-17T01:33:00.000+05:30

Wow! It is always a nice feeling before going home. Heart inside is always filled with excitement and thrill... I am going home again! Home coming.. Home sweet Home.. what not? It is 1:30 a.m currently.. My flight takes off at 5:30 a.m.. I will be leaving hostel at 3:00 a.m..

I am wondering what I am going to do at home. Somehow I feel as if I have lost my attachment with home. Earlier during my engineering days, I used to love being in the college with al my friends.. one month break used to be too big and i used to get pissed off at home. Now the scenario is similar but I somehow feel as if i do not belong to this IIFT hostel also.. I have not yet adjusted myself to the sorroundings.. Maybe friends make a person happy or sad.. I am yet to find someone here who will make me happy or sad. Maybe the search will not result in anything because B School students are smart, professional and practical. I somehow feel as if I am the one who is left out in that sense. I am yet to become a practical person.. I live in dreams made in the air.. I know that those dreams are not going to become realities.. I know I am not going to gain anything.. but i cannot convice myself..

Huh! I need to do some final packing.. Have planned out certain things for the holidays.. Let me see how I implement them.

well...i wont be able to come online again before the new year eve.. So Happy new year in advance..

:)

Thank You Dear!

2006-12-12T03:04:00.000+05:30

I am 22 years old... On 8th Dec, celebrated my birthday IIFT style. I got bumps so hard that my ass is still paining... :D But yeah I must confess that I really enjoyed. My room mates arranged for cakes, chips and cold drinks. At exactly 12 o clock I was dragged out of my room by my enthusiastic mates who wanted to whip me badly. The location was as usual the Hostel Stairs. My roomies also had to share the burden of getting kicked on their asses. Anna, Modi, Sukhad, Anuj and Paji.. all got kicked. Anna as usual was the one to be hit badly. He is everyone's darling as far as giving GPLs is concerned. I cut the cake and before it was even fully cut, I realised the whole cake was spilled all over my face and hair.

After the initial euphoria was over, I realised I had many things to do. I had an end term exam the next day. There was a presentation also and I had to stay awake till 4 in the morning to complete the task assigned to me by Paji! The whole day of my birthday went on reaplying to smses, attending calls and saying "Thanks :)" to all the scraps in orkut. Oh!!! I forgot one thing.. Many friends called me up and wished me.. I felt really happy because i realised the kid inside and i felt as if i am an important person.

Well! U might be thinkin what does the title of this blog mean? Well Let me tell you, a very close friend of mine gave me the bestest birthday gift ever. He gave me some valuable insights into many things in my life. We started chatting on google talk at around 1:00 A.M and it went on till 3:00 A.M. It was on the night next to my b'day. Due to reasons unknown to myself I have been living a life of a psychopath for quite sometime now. What I mean by this is that I am not being my usual self... who used to be bubbly and full of energy. Somehow I lost myself due to many things. I want to get out of this. This friend has always been a guide for me. he knows and understands me better than anyone else on this earth.

He made me realise that life is all about going ahead.. many have told.. many have made me understand.. but there was a difference in what he said. he just striked the chord... He made me understand that shredding "I" can be beneficial at times. he gave me two best ways out of this quagmire.. I found the second one to be more suitable for me. Although the path will be full of solitary kinda thing, atleast it will keep me busy for the time being. I will be able to do some help for those who are not as priviledged as we are. It is too early to say what I will be doing.. But i always thought about doing many things for others. Maybe I will be doing something now.. Atleast I have a reason to believe that I am not worthless... I can understand that I can be of help to atleast one or two people.

Gonna sleep nw.. i know the structure is a problem in this blog..
but let it be

akhir dil se nikli zubaan sachi hoti hai
Thanks Fren!!!

Once again...

Trimester II coming to an end!!! :)

2006-11-30T17:54:00.000+05:30

The last blog that i posted was at the end of the first trimester here at IIFT. I don't know how and why it happened, but to my pleasant surprise, the second trimester is also coming to an end within two weeks' time. Hurray!!! I am really very very happy. One of the reasons is that I am going home again and the second is that my stay at IIFT is becoming shorter.. I really want to leave this place but for my own good!!! I hope 2008 comes tomorrow... That is again hoping against hope.

This trimester has been very entertaining one with so many parties happening, booze flowing unlimited, B school competitions coming up and summers placements coming to an end. I came back from home and was surprised to find the amount of load that suddenly came up on account of the summer placements starting the very next day.

There were many big names lined up for the process. There were as many as five companies per day and that made it difficult for us because one had to prepare for so many different companies at the same time. Going through the details of the different companies at the same time was a big deal. Plus the pain of getting rejected was always there because I could not clear the first company where I got shortlisted. As a whole, the summers experience was very good and I got reinforced in one thing that if somebody wants something from the core of his heart, then the almighty always gives that to him. I always wanted an IT company and I got the same. Wipro was a dream come true. Our seniors who got placed in Wipro last year told us that the "Wipro Experience" will be one to be remembered for the rest of our lives. Fun at work and the would be "Bangy" experience will be moments to be remembered.

Next came the string of different events like the alumni night, the reverse freshers and the B School fest Quo Vadis'06. It was a good experience interacting with the alumni who have done wonders in their respective fields. One feels proud seeing people who are so successful in their professions. I can just hope I do well and be a manager with a difference. I want to become someone who is doing well but at the same time, keeping his morals and ethics intact. Lets see how far I reach.. because I have serious doubt on my abilities. :)

Yeah the best experience of the last trimester has been the IIM A experience. Confluence'06 is the B school fest of the best B school in the country. We had to write a paper on the Indian SMEs and propose some innovative methods of financing the same. The greatest paradox is that although the SMEs are the largest sources of exports for the country as well as the largest employers in the manufacturing sector, they do not have the advantage of having easy finances. The banks feel that they are risky and so they prefer giving loans to the bigger corporates. We did some research work on the net but the valuable suggestions came from our faculty members. They gave us the know how of the actual problems that these small units are facing... we are thankful to them because those inputs made us more confident and helped us in winning the third prize at IIM A. We stayed there for only one day but the confluence of the best minds from across the globe, the treatment and the aura of the campus made us realise that IIM A is not just a brand but it is a place which make one feel great. a sense of ownership and a sense of belongingness develops.. For me and my colleague, it was sadly for one day but even then it was a great experience.

I am writing this sitting inside the coziness of my blankets. The temperature has dipped suddenly here and "Dilli Ki Sardi" is coming true in the harshest of its terms but i am enjoying it.

I believe in only one thing... I don't want to outscore others.. I do not want to out do others.. I do not want to hate others.. But why is it that I feel as if everyone outscores me? Everyone outdoes me? and everyone hates me? There was a moment when i did not want to think negative.. Now i feel.. i feel sad that i think only negative. I am writing this because this blog is my current state of mind. I want to see how i change after say a year or a decade.. I would like to write these things so that I do not forget the past and the pains that i got chasing my future. The best thing is to lay back.. do your work judiciously.. and leave the rest on the almighty.

That's all for today!!!
Will come up with another post on a visit to meet some special children.

Till then....... Ciao!!!

Night Life???

2006-09-16T02:41:00.000+05:30

Staying awake till 4 or 5 in the morning and getting up at 7 is not a very good practice for the body. But it is a daily activity for a B School student. Being in an Ivy League or Super league B school makes u do that because one cannot afford to be complacent. We have a position and a credibility in the industry... we need to maintain that.

Time is running so fast. I am already one trimester old here in IIFT.. I feel as if i have been here for ages.. I have started loving this place.. not for the people or frenz but for something which I cannot define. I am being too philosophical these days.. I love being a philosopher. I am lost into some kinda wilderness and i feel as if i am going towards my goal.. albeit unknowingly.

Tons of loads up on my head.. Had two presentations today.. each one is being complemented by some document files which one has to send.. on top of that we had the shock of our lives when "JnJ" came to the campus :).. session ends on 27th.. exam starts on 21st.. i just completed the assignments of Psychology, Principles of Management and marketing.. It is around 3 a.m and i feel like giving some "Gyaan"

Today i asked a few questions to my own inner self.. I am not being "frustu" now a days.. I have got another name here.. At least my roomie calls me a "Psycho". Maybe i have bcome.. can't say guys.. noone knows what people perceive n hw they perceive... neways going back to the questions...I asked myself.. What does a person do when he can't even express his love to the person for whom he can lay down his life??? What if there are so many unanswered queries inside...??? What does one do when he sees only a foggy road ahead... the temp is down... he is not even wearing a jumper and there is no fire within??? Maybe these questions will have many interpretations or answers.. What if someone is so valued in someone's life??? What if someone does not get what he deserves??? Is the funda of "even end" valid???

I don't know.. I don't think i will be able to continue nemore..
Good night.. Pass on ur comments if u feeeli u kno the answers to these qns..

:)

IIFT Lingos

2006-08-07T21:51:00.001+05:30

I guess the beauty of every place lies in its lingos. IIFT also has a few lingos which are quite "Business" like. There is a reason why i used the word "Business" here.. I leave that upon the readers to guess.

QIA: Qutab Institutional Area; the place where IIFT is located. It's a beautiful locality having serenity and nature at its best. It over sees the green ridge near the Qutab Minar. I don't think there will be any place in Delhi which is so close to nature.

Gyaan: You are speaking sense.. but sadly the audience is not in a mood of listening to your litany. You are trying hard to impress the crowd around but your efforts go in vain...

Globe: Well, you are speaking no nonsense but you are not speaking sense either. The audience will commit a make you chase a rat as punishment if they get the chance...

Gas: The lightest of all.. You are simply bluffing. You are speaking simply non sense and the listeners are having a ball of time planning your executiion.

Roomies: They are the room mates.

Loomies They share a loo.. The loo is too small between two BIGG rooms.

I remember only these many till now.. Will give more updates as and when i come across some more.

The "Sindhwani" Effect

2006-08-06T23:30:00.000+05:30

What the bloody hell??? I have the full right to be unfair...

This is how he spoke during the first five minutes of his interaction with our class. We were awestruck and just could not guess what would happen in the future. Dr. Sindhwani is a personality of difference. He is a person who starts by bashing you and ends by bashing you up. But in the end, you will find you have started liking that person.

He is our "Principles of Management" professor. He has an aura of command and he acts tough. I have an inherent feeling that he is very soft inside. The first teaching that he imparted to all of us is: "All of you are managers having 20 years of experience. Management cannot be taught; there is nothing to be termed right or wrong in management. Everything is relative. "

Here I write down a few points from his classes which really impressed me.

1. Enjoy your work.

Why not? If one does not enjoy his/her work, then how can he/she even think about performing well. He has teaching experiences in different countries across the globe. He has taught in the U.S, Europe and Australia. He told us that we are no less than any body in this world. God has given us a nice platform in the form of IIFT and a chance to perform well and learn. If we cannot do well, then it's the fault of non other than ourselves.

2. Always set higher targets.

Dream high and aspire to reach for the stars. Have confidence and start working. If you set your targets for the stars, then only you would reach and grab hold of the moon.

3. Play the Game only to WIN.

Why to waste your time if you are playing for the sake of participation only??? Winning or losing does not really matter; but what matters is your attitude and your desires or aspirations. Try your best to win... Winning is not everything; it is the only thing.

4. Don't accept injustice.

There is a limit to everything. Don't shy away from speaking against injustice. You should have your self respect and be bold if you are correct. At the same time, be bold enough to accept your mistakes.

5. Managers should be a part of the solutions; NOT the problems.

You are supposed to make things simpler not tougher. Management is an art and there is no excuse called "I dint have time".

These are few of the main points that i jotted down so that i would put them here on my blog. I will be glad if you comment upon this post.

Cheers.. More blogs to follow.

Foray into a B School Life!

2006-08-05T22:19:00.000+05:30

Bahut suna tha; bahut socha tha
aashayein le ke aaya tha mein yahaan
pata nahin un sapno ka kya hoga..
Kya mein kar paunga us vishwas ko samman???

IIFT Delhi: Indian Instutute of Foreign Trade, Delhi is my abode for the next two years. I left Surat on 21st May'06 and reached home on 24th. For the first time since i joined SVNIT, i got more than one month time at home.
I had a long break and utilised it fully in sleeping.. It was difficult for me intially to adjust at home as i was missing my college very much. I visited a few friends of mine to keep my mind away from the shitty thoughts which had been disturbing me for too long. Slowly but gradually I got sensitised to my place and my folks. I got busy in some house hold chores starting from looking after the flooring works being done by the masons. One thing that i regret is that i just could not study even a little bit. I bought a few books in Mumbai planning to complete them by the end of my break but could not do so.. Finally the time came to leave my place for IIFT. It was a mixed feeling because i was confused inside. I felt an emptiness inside thinking no one would be there to be called "dosts". I got nostalgic and was worried over the fact that a new adjustment was due at a new place. It was definitely going to be a strange place with so many new things in store for me...
I started my journey on 14th July and reached Delhi on 15th. I started sensitising with the place. I was alone in my room as my roomies had not yet arrived. The first day was really boring and lonely. I tried roaming around and visited a few new places nearby. Then one by one the hostel became full and my roomies also came. One is from Mohali having a work exp. at SBI for more than 2 years and another is a fresher from Delhi.
Our programme innauguration was on 17th July when the Union Commerce Minister for State, Mr. Jairam Ramesh came. It was a high profile event where we could really have a feel of the stature of IIFT. The innauguration was followed by the admission procedures. We were being given a bag full of books which made me come down to the reality. Then we were being briefed by the faculty members, the library staff and the computer administrator. Life started rolling like a tyre on a rough terrain from the next day onwards. We were treated as if we had been living in IIFT for ages and all of us were shocked after we got to know the curriculum. That simply meant less sleep for the days to come. In a way i was happy inside coz more work means less idle time and more devotion towards work. That would prevent one and all from doing and thinking crap.
I was impressed by the discipline at IIFT. You just cannot afford to be late by even one minute. You would have to respect time and only then IIFT would be your cup of tea. We would get so many assignments everyday and the morning yoga classes would take away the hard earned sleep. There is a stark difference in the style of etaching between IIFT and my engineering college. Back there in SVNIT, one could pass even by studying the night before the exams.. But sorry.. One would plunge if that happens here. There are hell lots of divisions on marking.. There are marks allotted for class participation, attendance, presentations, projects, cases. etc. etc. That is good in a way because one gets busier and busier and frankly speaking; the schedule is quite manageable.
Life is quite happening here. We have had a few corporate interactions alerady. There are a plethora of events coming up. There are sector specific symposiums and the b school fest of IIFT coming up. Today we had the BT Acumen quiz and debate hoisted by none other than Harsha Bhogle. One gets to see the big names in person and that makes you feel great.
I know these two years cannot make me a manager. Management cannot be taught. But yes, maybe my thoughts can be moulded. I will be a good decision maker and a disciplined person by the time I pass out. I am hoping to learn a lot from my fellow mates here. The batch is a highly talented one and I am the most dwarf among the giants. Only time will speak what is in store for me.. but optimism is a quality that i am trying to inculcate.
Too much written after a long time.. Hope is a good thing.. I am hoping for the best because these hopes are not mine.. these hopes are of those two pair of eyes who have noone to bank upon other than me. I just want to satiate their desire for once.. I have been unsuccesful till now.. Just waiting for the day when i will proudly scream: "Maa! Papa! I did it!"
Cheers..

Engineer P@rtha : A journey!!!

2006-05-08T19:34:00.000+05:30

I am supposed to be an engineer now. I am done with the last papers of my
engineering career... Looking back at the last four years, I feel that my engineering years have been the best , but at the same time the worst years of my life. I consider this period to be a well defined picnic period where the finance was taken care of by our parents and we did everything but study.

These were my best days coz I could realise my potential, my zeal, my ability to sustain, my ability to give, to live and to use my capabilities for good... I have a degree too and two jobs also.. I have call from a premier B School also.. I have seen the importance of friendship and the extent upto which I have involved myself in this beautiful relationship. I have got the trust of a few people.. I have the independence.. I have everything today... I am a more matured person now... I have started to love and live with the nature.. in the nature and for the nature...

Then what is this worst part all about??? I have lost my greatest asset... Optimism.. I was the most optimistic guy in the town.. Now the reverse is true... It may be true because I have bcome more practical in my outlook.. What else...??? I have decided not to trust neone... I used to trust every person.. Now i am very skeptical about every damn thing in life.. U guys lemme decide whether it is right or wrong??? I have travelled a very big distance from my self... May be that was self engineered... I have taken wrong decisions only to let my heart get broken into pieces... never to find someone to heal it wen i needed one.. I have learnt not to expect anything from anyone..

Being the only son of my parents was a boon as well as a bane.. I was pampered.. got everything that i ever dreamt of.. was dependent on others.. never seen pain.. was solitary.. somehow i have maintained that state even now... "Too emotional" is one tag that i have carried over the last few years here in SVNIT.. noone had the time to peep inside...

This is a never ending story of a guy called Partha, from Assam. I am going to join IIFT, Delhi for a two year MBA (IB) course.. Hope is a good thing.. I am trying to hope for the best.. The best is not defined.. I dont want every definition of mine to go wrong....!!!! This time i have left it upon the time to define what the word "best" means to me...

proj2005@172.16.1.109

2005-12-04T23:47:00.000+05:30

Our exams are over and the institute is officially closed now. After the rustle and bustle of the examinations, most of the students have gone home. We few are staying back in the campus for a few more days till the 13th of Dec. A few guys from the third year are also working for Mindbend’06, our annual college technical festival. We are here because we have to complete a portion of our final year project. We are a group of five. The other four members of the team are Anshuman Khandual, Rajiv Sengupta, Raman Arora and Siddhartha Prakash. According to our project guide, the completion of our project will mean something phenomenal in the history of SVNIT.

The project is related to the management of the whole CAMPUS NETWORK. Ours is a Linux based networking. Our college is a pioneer in Linux based networking. A student from our college created the first BLUG (Bharat Linux Users Group). Apart from this, many have got accolades from IBM and other companies due to their proficiency in Linux platforms.

Presently, the system administrators have to type in the commands in the prompt and do everything manually. It becomes very tedious for them to manage the network using the unix commands. We have to develop a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for the whole system. That GUI will solve the purpose simply with the click of a mouse. The software has to take into consideration the other parameters like the campus security, intrusions, bandwidth management, port scanning and anomaly detection. Right now, we are working on the parameters of the Squid Proxy server. We are writing shell scripts for the modification of the different parameters in the squid server. Two of us are busy with the scripting part and the rest are doing and banging their heads in the development of a beautiful and attractive GUI. Sid is working on NMAP and Anomaly Detection.

The college seems very different when there are few students in the campus. The canteen looks so awful and the hostel encourages weary thoughts during the lonely nights. Mess is closed means we have to take our food outside, sometimes the canteen sometimes the thelawalahs. Visit to Sunil Chaiwallah has become customary. Anshuman’s jokes using the computer fundas, Raman’s insistence to go for a movie and the sudden plans for some trip outside have characterized our last few days. I am enjoying this work because I feel I am doing something very worthy and the “for college” feeling adds ignition to the desire.

Since I am an avid day dreamer, I am getting time to exercise my imagination power. I am enjoying this period thoroughly. Plus I am getting enough time for blogging also. Cheers!!!

A Strong Revelation!

2005-12-04T01:08:00.000+05:30

Very often you realize that there are many things in life which are not what you think and which do not occur or happen as per your thoughts. I was chatting with a friend last night when I stumbled upon a very strong yet unusual change in myself. Ever since she told me that line, I have been wondering about how much I have changed from what I used to be in my first year of engineering. Her line was “Partha! Learn to trust people”. There was a time during my twelfth standard when another friend, looking at my character suggested me not to trust people too much. I think both have been correct in judging me at respective times.

Every change has a reason behind. Every leaf falls due to a jerk. That jerk may come from a wind, a breeze or a tornado. Yes I have changed and my change has been immense in my thought process. I have seen and experienced promises being broken. I have seen how people can be pitilessly selfish. I have seen how “friendship” has been made a word which only oozes philosophy. I have seen how hypocrites live. I have seen how I have changed. I wonder whether this change is going to help me or not. I fear whether I will ever be able to trust someone or not. Guys! Will this lead me somewhere bad??? This is a million dollar question! I will have to wait and see till I get the answer…

Bollywood still in Woods!!!

2005-12-01T22:26:00.000+05:30

My seventh semester exams got over yesterday. Although I did not take too much tension for the exams this time, I felt much relieved after I got out of the examination hall. As usual, our group decided to go for a movie from 9 to 12 p.m. Now the options were too many to choose from, thanks to so many movie releases being made by bollywood within the last one month or so. Finally we zeroed down to a movie named 'Deewane Hue pagal'. Excitement built up slowly and after taking dinner, we hurried off towards the destination. Now the question was to choose the theatre. One was a multiplex and another was a non-multiplex and less costly one. We chose the second one as usual. We thought it would be better to reach a bit early lest we do not get tickets and going and standing there for some time has always been a feast for the eyes. I guess "samajdharon ke liye ishara hi kaafi hota hai". We bought the tickets in the marvel class..I think that name stands for the "marvellous" seats that characterise the class.

Although it featured some of the best actors from Bollywood, I did not have high expectations from this movie. The movie started and so the immaturity of Bollywood. It was nothing more than a story which has been repeatedly told in many bollywood movies time and again in one or the other form. There was no proper story line and most importantly, one will have to leave aside his logical mind to enjoy a movie of this sort. I do not think Bollywood should be proud to be the largest movie producing factory in the world. Intead it should be ashamed of the pathetic number of hits produced every year. Hollywood movies are also hyped and show lots of unnatural things but those movies have atleast a bit of logical approach. I see the same things getting repeated in 90% of the Bollywood movies released every year.

This movie was another flop, atleast for me. Although there were a few scenes which really made us laugh, such movies highlight the amount of distance Bollywood has to traverse before even thinking of competing with the best in the business. The rise of India Inc. has been possible because the mindset of the Indian corporate world has changed and they believe they can compete with the best. Bollywood needs the same confidence to go ahead and take itself out of the rut. Being developed economically alone cannot make India a superpower. A superpower will have to be dominating in all fields including sports and culture. And India can be a superpower only if the name 'India' means a brand or a quality.

I have never been a critic of any movie till now but this movie made me feel as if I wasted my time. We do not expect Bollywood to release movies like this at this point of time. I can just hope it realises it's responsibility of being the largest movie industry in the country and work towards the country's development.

I am back!!!

2005-11-30T20:37:00.000+05:30

Hiiii all!!!
I am back after a very long time. I dont know how the last one and a half months went by. The past one month has been very eventful for me. Typhoid to Seminar debacle, Viral fever to home visit for treatment and CAT, IIFT accompanied by the college exams took the hell out of me. Apart from these usual things, there was one thing that disturbed me the most. I am no more the old jolly volly Partha I used to be. My mind is always occupied by one or the other tension. I am doing everything perfunctorily. I lack the zeal. One thing that I fear the most is solitude. Solitude is taking its toll on me. I wanna get out of this hell as soon as possible and probably this solitude.
Engineering final year students are generally termed as frustus. I never thought I would see myself me like this one day. I wondered why my seniors used to be so different from their usual selves in the final year. I asked them, they dint have any answers. Now I don't have mine!!!

Is it not Steganography???

2005-11-30T02:16:00.000+05:30

Enlarge the photo by clicking on it and follow the steps given and see the result!!!

Catch 22 Situation!

2005-10-15T01:04:00.000+05:30

There comes a time in everyone's life when he has to weigh his values or morals against something which is sinister. I too faced a similar situation during the last few days. It was a question of existence and a matter of pride. It was a question of ego and a matter of self respect.
I was in a catch 22 situation. There was my prestige at stake and my values were about to be shattered. Still I went to an extreme and tried to ensure everything went on track...but at the end of the day it was not to be...The outcome was not that I expected...I am feeling very sad because I could have ensured it better and just. The others took undue advantage of my weakness...Now I have nothing but to repent for everything that has happened over the last week...

I just want some solace and peace of mind.

My Final Seminar Presentation!

2005-10-08T13:52:00.000+05:30

06th Oct'05: Seminar Hall, Computer Engineering Department, SVNIT Surat

My seminar presentation was on this auspicious day at the above mentioned location...Mine was second in the queue...Finally my time came and I went up on the stage. I wished the jury members and the other fellows present there...I was having a gut feeling that the day at the end would not be that good...The total marks for the seminar is 50 and I thought a 40+ score would be very good in Computer Engineering, NIT Surat. But now I don't think my score will reach even the 40's...There are reasons behind...

The first shock came soon after the conclusion, when one of my jury members told me: "Only if u could have done a better search"...I saw the whole sky falling upon me...I had the questionairre session but only the students asked the questions. The jury abstained from asking the questions because they had a notion that this guy had copied each and everything from one source and dint put any labour. Now looking back at the seminar day, I really ask myself "WHAT REALLY WENT WRONG?" or in other words "WHY ME?"...I am frustrated because they blamed me for copying but they did not look at the labour put by me. The efforts in going through the research level papers to prepare a seminar report that too at a short notice went unnoticed. The so called COPIED portion was a very small portion of my entire paper. The other topics were very well taken from other sources. I do not deny that I searched the web pages but there was no other way out because our library is incapable enough to provide us such good facilities and at the same time, certain topics are available in the net only. I would have been at fault if I would not have read anything and copied everything outrightly...But I READ everything before putting even a single line in the report.
I just dont give a damn about the marks. Yeah! I don't care. What hurt me was the disparaging attitude of the jury.

I am thankful to one of my class mates who sent me an SMS after the presentation got over. Her message really rejuvenated me...The only silver lining of my presentation was that my friends praised my performance and I am glad that I prevented many from taking their usual "nap" during the seminar :).

The only thing that every person on this earth should look into is that things are not as they seem to be. We can expect everyone to take a deep thought before every action so that genuine work does not go in vain!!!

I need u almighty!

2005-10-04T19:42:00.000+05:30

Dropping the sands of sadness,
I keep moving on and on
Want to quench my thirst
But where is the oasis???

My journey has been too long
There were lives and pretty vales
Where have they vanished???
Where is my river of hope..!!!

Is this the so called end?
My glass hose is falling...
I need u oh venerable!
Help me take me out

Dreams are not to be shattered,
I have promises to keep;
Give me your aegis almighty
I want to keep moving on!!!

e-Lection gets over wid a BANG!!!

2005-09-29T23:36:00.000+05:30

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity.
- Irving Kristol

Keeping up the tradition of democratic India, SVNIT Surat went to election on 29th Sept’05. This was an election with many noticeable differences. Unlike the previous elections where there were two main candidates for the elusive General Secretary (GS) post, this election had three major candidates for the most coveted post of the college. This made the SVNIT exit polls very difficult to comprehend. The second noteworthy change: Keeping pace with the e-choupal and IT race, we had an electronic election this time. Under the leadership of the HOD of the Computer Department Prof. Dhiren Patel & Asst. Prof. D C Jinwala, election software was specifically designed for our college. The software was a huge success because of its pin point accuracy and the reduced time that it took in the polling process. Apart from these two major changes, we got to see heavy press coverage with many camera men from different local channels and newspaper groups like TOI, IE moving here and there and interviewing the candidates. The presence of a blue police van was indeed very scary because it reminded most of us of some dreary incident ;-).

The proceedings were very smooth and clean. It was the calmest election that I ever saw in our campus. As in every war, there is always a winner and there are always losers. Mr. Prabhat Barnwal got elected as the GS and 90% of the student council positions are occupied by his confidants. So we can expect him to perform and live up to the expectations of those who voted for him. This election was the closest one in our college history and that’s why the supporters of the different camps had many sleepless nights. Apart from the GS, elections were held for the posts of Class Representatives (CRs) also. The CRs elect the CS and the secretaries from among themselves for committees like the L&D (Literary & Debating), the Magazine Committee & Sports. It is necessary that the CRs should be from the same camp as is the GS because the committees should work together and have sincere support from the GS. And luckily this time we have that privilege. The GS with all the CRs form the Students’ Council for the full academic year.

With the odds not against them, our new Students’ Council team members will be able to take our college to new heights. We hope to see a new look of our college by the time we leave this beautiful campus never to return back. All the best to everyone up there guys!!!