Flashback - Part 1 - Parties

Yes Finally! I have the time and the mood to write upon probably the most interesting 3 months of my life. It has been filled with so much activity. It all started with my brother's marriage, after that came the farewell parties, last day at work, bachelor parties and my journey to Mumbai. What happened after that, well I'll keep it for another post.

The most amazing week was the last week of May. My brother got married and entered into our lives an amazing person, who I have started to respect a lot.

June was a total roller coaster ride. Starting two weeks were pure, unadulterated (?) fun. It began with me lazing around the office in what was supposed to be the last few working days for some time to come. I wouldn't have called the knowledge sessions as fun at that time, but looking back, I cannot help but laugh my ass off. I kinda have this talent to explain things to others at the same time trying to understand it myself.

Soon it was time for my last day as an IBMer. I would say it was a good journey, where I learnt some new things. Whether it was what I was really looking for in my first job? No. Was it regrettable? No. It was somewhere in the middle. Looking back, I feel I never had the motivation and certainly felt that I was not even working at my 20% capacity. Did I have fun? Of course. I made amazing friends who I'm sure will last a life time. Immediately following the last working hour, it was time for my farewell treat. We went to an amazing restaurant (keep forgetting the name... Nidhi, need ur help)and had a wonderful time. It rained cats and dogs that night. The timing was such that it felt it was something to do with my quitting IBM, it was somewhat symbolic.

Vaayu came calling one fine Sunday evening. It is one of the best lounge bars I have ever visited. Amazing ambiance. But more importantly I was with my best friends. The happy hours helped us get more intoxicated, nothing else. The sheesha was good, but what made it better was the experience of fighting for it :-) The walk on Richmond Road, where everyone is trying to lead the others and no one knew where they were heading. Burgers after "stuff" is one thing that I highly recommend everyone. That evening will stay in my mind for a long time to come.

Next party was a first of its kind of everyone involved in it that day. It was my friend Kashyap's Bachelor Party. The party was supposed to be in the night, so Aditya and me decided to give farewell party to our BMS friends + a extremely special guest in the afternoon. Following the lunch, Kashyap went to drop his fiance and the rest of us headed to our farm house, the location of the party. Although Kashyap knew there would be a party, little did he expect what was in store for him. We had decorated the entire farm house with color papers and balloons. We had party hats and hooters. We had music, darts, cards and of course the "fun stuff". To top it all, Aditya had got his laptop to complete a Bachelor party custom, albeit virtually ;-) After the cake was cut, darts played, dinner was served, it was time for photos and what I like to call the "Advice video" to Kashyap. It was an unforgettable party. Hopefully this trend continues and improves from virtual to reality ;-)

Soon it was time for me to leave. What people say about packing "its never complete till you actually leave" is true. My "last minute" packing took up a whole bag :-)
The train journey was really boring and tiring. But I have learnt my lesson - never travel in a train Sleeper Class for a journey more than 5 hours. Its just not worth the money you will be saving by not traveling in 3-tier AC. 24 hours later I was in Kurla Station. And after tough negotiations with an overly aggressive auto driver, I reached my "home" at 4:00 PM on 18th June. My first experience as a Bachelor away from home was the most horrific experience I have ever had in my life. That is for another post...

Cheers
Madhu

August 15th

This date will stay significant for generations to come. How much will it matter to our heart, is a completely different topic. I did, as I have been doing for the past 15 years on this day. Got up late, saw the flag hoisting, admired the red fort, stood up and respected the national anthem, had my breakfast and slept blissfully. Later I saw the film Gandhi, my 6th or 7th time. It amazes me every single time. I know I am no expert on the Mahatma and his values, but I do consider that I am a Gandhiji literate. I have read several books on and about him, including his autobiography. Greatest man I have ever known. Its sad that it took a Britisher to make a film about the greatest Indian. The first time I watched the film, I had goose bumps in the first 10 minutes. The funeral scene is to this day the greatest gathering of people in a single shot. A world record 300,000 extras appeared in the funeral sequence. About 200,000 were volunteers and 94,560 were paid a small fee (under contract). The sequence was filmed on 31st Jan 1981, the 33rd anniversary of Gandhi's funeral. 11 crews shot over 20,000 feet of film, which was pared down to 125 seconds in the final release.

Foreign commenter described the Mahatma on that day.

"Died as he had always lived, private man, without wealth, without property, without official title or office. Mahatma Gandhi is not a commander of armies nor a ruler of vast lands. He could not boast any scientific achievement, nor any artistic gift. Yet men, governments, dignitaries from all over the world have joined hands to pay homage to this little brown man in loin cloth who led his country to freedom. In the words of General Gorge C Marshall, American secretary of state, Mahatma Gandhi has become the spokesman for the conscience of all of mankind. He was a man who made humility and simple truth more powerful than empires. Albert Einstein added, generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth."

I have read books on why Nathuram Godse committed that heinous act. I am not only convinced that he was wrong, but also his accusations were baseless. It is ironic that Godse was given the first capital punishment in FREE India for killing the person who was a staunch opponent of capital punishment and promoted ahimsa. By doing what they did, India proved itself to be too immature to follow the great principles of the Mahatma. I still feel India has another 20 years to go before we can call it a mature democracy. Godse believed that Mahatma was solely responsible for partitioning of India and he thought that Mahatma was pro Muslim and in the long run would do more harm to the causes for Hindus. But how can anyone accuse Gandhiji for being not being a secularist when he was the only person at that time preaching equality of all religions. The desire for power between Jinnah and Nehru was the basic reason (among more complicated reasons) that split India. No other person was more saddened by this than Gandhiji. His views satya and ahimsa were revolutionary. From the time he started Satyagraha in South Africa to No co-operation movement to Quit India Movement and finally to Independence, everything was a ground breaking idea, reaching to the common man. By rejecting being part of either government, he displayed character which is alien to humans. The only other person who comes close to his greatness is Mother Teresa.

I started writing this post to keep my activities updated. But I have ended up getting emotional on the greatest man to live on Indian soil.

Long live his ideas...

PS : If anyone hasn't read his autobiography "My experiments with truth", I strongly suggest you to read it. Its amazing how you improve your personality with turning of each page. Truly inspiring.

@Home

I know, I know... it has been ages since I have written here. I have been super duper busy with my new life, new place, new friends, new lifestyle and of course the most important studies. There are literally 100 things on my to-write list. But I haven't found the enthu to post in Mumbai. Now that I'm in Bangalore I again feel like posting. Must be something to do with Bangalore's amazing weather [;-)]

I hope this will be the first post of many things on my mind... Certainly hope to be more regular from now on...

Cheers
Madhu

Alvida?

In a couple of hours, I'll be sitting in the Lokamanya Tilak Express heading towards Mumbai. This could well be a life changing journey for me. There are lots and lots of things on my mind that I want to write here... but there is an acute shortage of time. I have spent my entire life in this wonderful city of Bengaluru. All my friends are from here. Most of my relatives stay here. And of course my entire family is here. Its a really really tough thing for anyone, but especially for me to do. Being a shy guy for most of my life, it will be a challenge for me to go to a new place and start life on a clean slate. It will be interesting to see how easily I slip into this new life of mine. Hopefully it will be better than my first attempt outside home (that is one hell of a story - another post)

GTG
Will login from Mumbai

Happy Birthday

Today is the first birthday of my child. Yes last year on this very same day, I wrote the first post on this blog. What a year it has been. A complete roller coaster ride. I have been through highs and lows, but this little space right here, has given me the chance to express everything without any bias. It has been a path breaking year, where I have constantly tried to discover myself. I have been reserved and conservative all my life. That is who I am. But this blog has given me the opportunity to open up like never before. I now recognize that I have no problems communicating with others. Through this blog I have made new acquaintances, rejuvenated old friendships and also keep my close friends updated.

The year ahead promises to be another roller coaster ride, where I hopefully will have more highs than lows. The blog will continue to be one of my main mode of communicating my emotions. The support I have received for writing this blog from all the readers is nothing short of astounding. I hope the same continues for the next years to come.

On this day I would like to list a few of my posts of last year that I personally liked :
http://madhuskaushik.blogspot.com/2008/11/nightmares-and-dreams.html
http://madhuskaushik.blogspot.com/2008/10/getting-into-shape-part-1.html
http://madhuskaushik.blogspot.com/2008/09/adaptation-at-workplace.html
http://madhuskaushik.blogspot.com/2008/11/review-of-psycho-songs.html
http://madhuskaushik.blogspot.com/2008/12/cheaters-liars-and-manipulators.html
http://madhuskaushik.blogspot.com/2009/02/genius-called-madhu-ravi-kashyap.html
http://madhuskaushik.blogspot.com/2009/02/gokarna-true-paradise.html
http://madhuskaushik.blogspot.com/2009/03/mumbai-magical-place-nmims-not-so-much.html
http://madhuskaushik.blogspot.com/2009/05/india-votes.html

Thanks for all your support
Madhu

The week that was!

It has been some time since I updated things here, but that does not mean there is nothing important to talk about. On the contrary I have been so busy that I haven't found time to update the blog.

Last week was probably the most important week for us as a family. We were privileged to welcome a new member to our family. My sister-in-law is an astounding person and she completes my brother in all the ways. They are the most perfect couple I have ever seen. The manner in which she has become a pivotal part of our family is amazing. She is soft spoken, helping, extremely mature, astonishingly beautiful... I can just keep on giving superlatives, and she deserves all of them. Just in a matter of months she has erased my 23 year craving for a sister. She has filled into that role effortlessly.

The marriage was a euphoric moment for all of us. Although it was extremely tiring, just the adrenaline rush kept the energy levels up. Just seeing my brother and sis-in-law together, the joy that was written all over their faces, made my day. The moment is permanently etched in my mind.

India Votes...

Yes... Its finally over. The biggest orchestra ever organized is over. And tomorrow is the verdict. As supposedly many people of my "age-group" did, I too voted. And I am not too happy. Don't get me wrong here, I am happy that I voted. But certainly sad because an old myth got shattered. The myth that education makes you responsible. The myth that education enables to make decisions and a better decision. The myth about education has been shattered. Abysmal 40% of polling in an area populated by primarily educated guys. After all the jaago re, I was feeling somewhat confident that this time would be different. And with all the things happening/not happening in the country, I was certain that people will come out to carry out their duty, at least in frustration. But no. People continue to sit on their asses and watch the news in which some stupid guy will give predictions, rather than go their and set those predictions.

As a certain survey across 172 countries shows that in terms of the voter-turnout (since 1945), India - the 2nd (or 1st??) largest democracy', ranks 105th (out of 172 countries). And this election probably contributed for it to reach abysmally lower ranks.

Perhaps this mail floating on the net says much:

10 reasons why South Mumbai didn't come out to vote on April 30:
Clashed with Salsa class
Election whites were not dry cleaned
No candidate was a hottie
Tony Jethmalani contesting from suburbs. Sigh!!
There was no valet parking at booth
I spotted servant in queue ahead of us
Driver did not come
But eElections over dude! aren't they?... Obama won!
No party is tackling real issues, eg, reduce Golds Gym rates.
There was no "home delivery!"

Apart from this, elections brought out the contrasts in India. A constituency in Nagaland had only 3 contestants and one in Andhra Pradesh had 224! Some places in Jammu had voter turnouts as less as 10% and some places in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka had as high as 75% turnout. As I write this, my mind skips to the day that I voted. It was a cool morning, temperatures around 25deg (not that it mattered). I headed out to the polling booth along with my parents and brother early in the morning. The polling station was in a school in a nearby vicinity. Being early in the morning I expected to see a decent crowd there. But to my disappointment, there were only 3 people in the queue ahead of me. First in the line was an old man, probably in his 90's using a cane for support, looking feebly through his thick glasses, who would go on to use his finger impression. Next in line was what I believe to be his son, who was still wearing a lungi, had a very disinterested face, almost as though he had been forced to come to vote. He kept on cribbing about the duration it took for each of them to vote and kept on saying to the old man to vote for HD Kumaraswamy (I hope he found the name of Kumarswamy there ;-)) Next to him was a business man, wearing a suit and a tie. He had shiny shoes and looked intelligent through his gold rimmed glasses. He would go on to sign in the register in his own Sheaffer pen. Like me, the old man, the young man and the business man pressed the button on the EVM to cast their vote. In that sense, in that one moment, hearing the pleasent sound of the EVM beep, all the differences between us melted away. In a way, we were equal at that single moment.
I know this must be usual, but time and again when I see a demonstration of India's strange and immense contrasts, and the understanding that still remains, I am somehow moved.

Well I started to write this post keeping something in mind, but in the ended up writing something drastically different. Thats why I call this My Take. I can write whatever I want :-)

You have to be an Indian if....

1. Everything you eat is savored In garlic, onion and tomatoes.
2. You try and reuse gift wrappers, gift boxes, and of course aluminum foil.
3. You try to eject food particles from between your teeth by pressing your tongue against them and making a peculiar noise like, tshick, tshick, tschick, tschick.
4. You are standing next to the two largest size suitcases at the Airport.
5. You arrive one or two hours late to a party - and think its normal.
6. You peel the stamps off letters that the Postal Service missed to mark up.
7. You recycle Wedding Gifts.
8. You name your children in rhythms
9. All your children have pet names, which sound nowhere close to their real names.
10. You take Indian snacks anywhere it says "No Food Allowed"
11. You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house.
12. You load up the family car with as many people as possible.
13. You use plastic to cover anything new in your house whether it's the remote control, VCR, carpet or new couch.
14. Your parents tell you to not care what your friends think but they won't let you do certain things because of what the other "Uncles And Aunties"will think.
15. You buy and display crockery, which is for special occasions, which never happen.
16. You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table.
17. You use grocery bags to hold garbage.
18. You keep leftover food in your fridge in as many numbers of bowls as possible.
19. Your kitchen shelf is full of jam jars, varieties of bowls and plastic utensils (got free with some household items).
20. You carry a stash of your own food whenever you travel (and travel means any car ride longer than 15 minutes).
21. You own a rice cooker or a pressure cooker.
22. You fight over who pays the dinner bill.
23. You majored in engineering, medicine or law & now........are after Software and only Software no matter which field you belong to.
24. You live with your parents and you are 40 years old. (And they prefer it that way).
25. You don't use measuring cups when cooking.
26. You feel like you've gotten a good deal if you didn't pay tax.
27. You never learnt how to stand in a queue.
28. You can only travel if there are 5 persons at least to see you off or receive you whether you are traveling by bus, train or plane.
29. If she is NOT your daughter, you always take interest in knowing whose daughter has run with whose son and feel rush to spread it at the velocity of more than the speed of light.
30. You only make long distance calls after 11 p.m.
31. If you don't live at home, when your parents call, they ask if you've eaten, even if it's midnight.
32. You call an older person you never met before "uncle."
33. When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few minutes, you discover you're talking to a distant cousin.
34. Your parents don't realise phone connections to foreign countries have improved in the last 2 decades, and still cream at the top of their lungs when making foreign calls.
35. You have bed sheets on your sofas so as to keep them away from getting dirty.
36. When dining out, you think Rs 10 is enough of a tip.
37. It's embarrassing if your wedding has less than 600 people.
38. You list your daughter as "fair and slim" in the matrimonial no matter what she looks like
39. You treat the NRI persons (especially from America) as if they are the only persons living in this world (including YOU).
40. You've seen the ground while inside the lavatory of a train.
41. All your tupperware is stained with food color.
42. You have drinking glasses made of steel.
43. You have mastered the art of bargaining in shopping.

44. You have really enjoyed reading this mail

Govinda Goooovinda

This was long overdue. I still can't believe that it had been more than 2 years since I last visited Thirumala. It definitely had to happen before I started one of the most important phases of my life.

So on a beautiful Saturday morning, Bala and myself left from our house in my SX4. We picked up Srinath and Pande in Malleswaram and then Lakshman at Krishnarajapuram. By the time we left Bangalore it was already 7 AM. The weather was excellent and the traffic was sparse. Perfect driving conditions. These conditions spurred a range of topics from politics to cricket, and the discussions were as usual well balanced and informative.

After our breakfast at Palamner, our next stop was in Kanipakam Vinayaka Temple. The temperature was in the higher 30's by now and our darshan was also delayed. But all of us were really patient, and in the end we had a very good darshan.

Our next stop was Srinivasa Mangapuram, on the way to Tirupati. Legend has it that, if you pray for a life companion here, you will immediately find one. Since I was in no hurry to find one, I prayed for a wonderful life for my brother and sister in law. The deity was wonderfully decorated. And the place was so clam that my mind was almost instantly in peace. This deity infuses a lot of "bhakti" in a person.

We were slightly behind schedule due to bad roads and we were trying to play catch up. We reached Tirupati around lunch time, and immediately went into Bhimas restaurant for a completely authentic Andhra meal. After lots of rice and pappum, we started to look out for accommodations. Either they were expensive or dint have car park. Since I was very particular about the car park, we kept on searching.

After looking a few places, we were fed up and decided to visit Govindaraja patna. Surprisingly Tirupati was so less crowded, we almost felt we were in the wrong place. There was minimum queue for everything, nothing more than a Saturday queue at Ragigudda. So every Darshan was super quick. After Govindaraja patna, we continued our search for a accommodation. Finally we landed up on one with both a car park and also well within our budget. The rooms were decent, nothing much to mention about it, although the mattresses could have been better. But the room search had eaten into our plans and we were so behind that we had to drop Sree Kalahasti.

We next went to Tirchoor Alamelu Mangamma temple, wife of Lord Srinivasa. Yet again we had a super fast darshan and started to hope that the crowd is sparse in Thirumala too. It was night by the time we came back from Padmavati. Our hotel was on a one way. And we dint know how to reach it. Due to our arrogance and stupidity, we decided to find the way on our own without local help. And that was a BIG mistake. We ended up in a dead-end on the 10 feet road, with heavy two wheeler traffic. SX4 being a shockingly big vehicle, reversing it out for 100 meters or so in that traffic was an achievement. After that we asked for directions and reached the right road. We had light dinner, owing to the lunch in Bhima's, which was equivalent to 3 normal meals in terms of quantity. Since we had to get up early next day, we all crashed as soon as we reached the room.

Next day morning we got up at 3:30 AM. As usual Srinath was the lazy bugger who got up last. Everyone was ready by 4:45 AM. And we reached Alapiri by 4:55. And as per our plan we started the climb by 5 AM. We were at the Galigopuram by 6. The climb till Galigopuram is the toughest. But it is the most beautiful climb too. Although you are surrounded by people, you feel alone. It is the time I always use for introspection. You can feel the first sun rays filtering through the clouds, experience the wonderful chirping sounds of the birds, listen to your own breath. The smell "kunkum" and camphor is solacing. This climb will take you to your pinnacle of devotion. It can make an atheist a God loving person.

We were there at Galigopuram by 5:45. Now TTD is giving free darshan tickets to climbers, so that they can have a darshan as soon as they finish the climb. I personally felt it was a great gesture. After getting the ticket, we continued our climb. The rest of the climb is realtively easy and we asked each other a lot of lateral thinking questions. We reached the top at 7:45 AM. It was a decent paced climb. Once on top, we found a room to take a quick bath (through influence :( ) After that we headed to Mayura restaurant for a breakfast which later turned out to be brunch.

We headed for the Free Cloak room, which turned out to be heavily crowded and took almost 1 hour to deposit our bags. Next we joined the darshan queue. We instantly knew that it was not the normal Tirupati crowd and our darshan would be super smooth. And we weren't wrong. The whole darshan took just 2 hours. We got a couple of lucky breaks in the queue which helped us save atleast 40 minutes. But the entire trip was more than worth for the 10 odd seconds. The prasadam was as usual mouth watering. We collected the laddus and took a jeep back to Tirupati.

Once back in Tirupati, we checked out of the room, and headed straight towards Bangalore. The drive was by itself uneventful. It took approx 6 hours with half hour break. I reached home by 10:30 and had the most amazing sleep ever.

Updates

Its been some time since I wrote a post here. Partly because I have been busy with work, my brother's marriage preparation, but mainly because I am so damn lazy. Lots of things have happened since my last post worth mentioning here.

-Elections : This has become the talk of the nation. Every other thing is subdued and rightly so. The General Election is and should be the biggest event in the country. I have mixed feelings regarding the elections. Sometimes I feel great to be part of the biggest democracy. Comparing the situation in Pakistan, I feel blessed to be part of India. But at other times I feel Sad, Disappointed and outright Angry. I feel that I'm part of a circus crowd watching the clowns (read politicians) perform. I won't go into the talk of which party is better, who has a better manifesto, who has criminal records, or who is worthy. Its not for me as a single person to decide. Its for the entire nation to decide. But I do feel for our country. India in its current state does not deserve Democracy. Its too much power in the hands of innocent people who are being exploited. But having heard stories about all the deadly dictators in history, I feel we are better of with the clowns leading us.

-IPL : Ranks in Second only to elections. The IPL fever has caught everyone and I'm no exception. The shift to South Africa clearly demonstrates that IPL is a truly global event. I am, have been and always will be a true supporter of Royal Challengers Bangalore. They have had some hard luck, key players losing form in crucial moments and also at times some dismal performances. But the way they have fought through criticism, is inspirational. A special mention has to be made here for Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. You have made us, kannadigas proud with your determination and talent. Keep the red and yellow flying. Our support is always with you.

-Friends : Lots of good news coming from friends. Ravi left to HongKong for his internship with Merrill Lynch. Aditya got his admit call from XIMB. Neeraj got a call from IIMK and converted it. Amit Bhansali got a call from SP Jain and he is coming to Mumbai.

-Tirupati : The much avaited trip is finally happening. It used to be my custom to visit Tirupati after every semister in Engineering. It gave me confidence and strength. But after Engineering I have not been able to have a darshan of Lord Venkateshwara. Not that I was busy or I was arrogant. It just din't happen, and that makes me feel sad. But I'm going to Tirupati tomorrow with Bala, Srinath, Pande and Lakshman. Hoping to have a great darshan before I go to Mumbai. Govinda Goooovinda.

-Movies : Watched lot of movies lately. Firaaq and Gulaal are two movies worthy of watching. Firaaq is extremely well directed by Nandita Das and Nasaruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, and the small kid (don't know his name) give mind blowing performances. The film seems so real. The pain suffered by each individual is communicated to the last tear drop. Extremely well made movie. A must watch. Gulaal is also a good movie. Kay Kay's performance is top notch. The dialogues are excellent. It gives a interesting insight into politics of a different kind. Also watched The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Madagascar 2, Me and Marley, All the boys love Mandy Lane, Milk, Luck By Chance and lots more. Uff... I told you, I'm a lazy bum :-)

Brain Power - Am I fully utilizing it?

I was talking with one of my friends recently, and he came up with an interesting statistic:

Humans use only 10% of their brain power. And that too this 10% is used by the most brilliant, falling in the Einstein category. The rest, mortals, like me use even less.

I hadn't heard of this statistic before. Understandably I was bemused. Much later I came to find that this was a pretty common knowledge. Even my mom knew about this rather absurd statistic. So this one is not a thing that is cooked up in one of the thousands of senseless mail forwards that we get. And my mom also confirmed that this was known to my grand-mom too! So this is definitely been passed since ages. But I consider this to be a myth. And I'll list out my reasons for the same.

The idea that we only use 10% of our brains is probably such an enduring myth because it's comforting to think we have spare capacity. The 'unused' 90% could take up the slack after brain injury or offer the possibility for miraculous self-improvement. These were some of the thoughts that were passing in my mind to refute this myth.

• If we only use 10% of our brains then damage to some parts of our brains should have no effect on us. As most of you will agree that this is patently not true.
• From an evolutionary perspective it is highly unlikely we developed a resource-guzzling organ, of which we only use 10%. This doesn't make any sense.
  
• Brain imaging such as MRI shows that even while asleep there aren't any areas of our brain that completely 'switch off'. Seen this in one of the episodes of 'House M.D'. I know, it is still a TV show. But it might be true too.
  
• Parts of the body that aren't used soon shrivel and die. Same goes for the brain. Any neurons we weren't using would soon shrivel and die. Its just principles of evolution.

Anyone who still maintains we only use 10% of our brains after all these facts, has to come up with a counter-argument for each one of these. Actually, you might argue that imaging technology is rubbish or the neurons are only working at 10% capacity, but refuting all four, taken together? Now that's tricky.

Whatever its provenance, the 10% myth is certainly a slippery customer. The reason is two-pronged: first, it's impossible to prove something doesn't exist and second, people like to believe it. If I say I've seen God, or visited Mars, or that all our brains have huge untapped potential, you can't definitively prove me wrong.

Perhaps putting it the other way around might deliver the knock-out blow. Instead of talking about the 90% of untapped potential, just ask people why they only use 10% of their brains. Would anyone seriously admit to that? I, for one, am working at maximum capacity. Well, most of the time anyway...

Wayanad - Truly God's own country

After my trip to Mumbai for the NM admissions, I was back in Namma Bengalooru to celebrate Ugadi. The Hindu New Year. I was also back on the same day for one more reason. Road Trip to Wayanad. Since Ugadi was on a Friday, we had an extended weekend and that meant more time for the trip. But most of us (including me) wanted to celebrate Ugadi at home. So we agreed to leave after the 'habbada oota' on Friday afternoon.

But the planning was not easy sailing by any stretch of imagination. Just getting people to agree on matters (mostly trivial) was a humongous task. It was like 8 people pulling a cart in 8 different directions. Sometimes the mailchains(mode of communication) used to go so out of topic that people would start to get confused why it all started!

But finally we had 8 of them on board. Sathish, Madhu KV, Aditya, Ravi, Vikram, Sujith, Prashanth and myself making it a all BMS gang. Couple of them did opt out due to personal commitments (Ani, Ketchup and Vijet)

Everyone was asked to assemble at my place at 2:30PM. And to my shock, everyone was there! Adi had picked KV, KP and Ravi from his house and Sat, Vikram and Sujith came directly to my house. Adi had taken his Swift and I had taken my Swift. So we left Bangalore at 3 PM hoping for a 'Swift' journey.

The Mysore road was pretty empty and we kept a very nice pace through out. We took a small coffee break near Maddur. Apart from that there were no stops in the entire journey. We had booked a room in Kalapetta which is one of the bigger towns in Wayanad. People had told me that it would take 6 hours to reach Kalapetta. Considering the night journey in the latter part I had told the Chandragiri Inn (hotel where we stayed) that I would reach by 10 PM and would do dinner on the way.

After Mysore road, we took the Ring Road to join Ooty road (NH 212). The stretch of road from Mysore to Nanjangud is not that good. Though there are no potholes, the tarmac is not smooth either. But after Nanjangud, the road becomes a heaven to drive. At Gundulpet, we took a right deviation towards Bandipur-->Manthunga-->Sultan Bathery-->Kalpetta. The road is excellent throughout and the weather was cool. A pleasant surprise for us. We reached Kalpetta at 7:30 PM. Just 5 hrs 30 mins drive including a short break. I realized that we had ripped a little, but we were happy to have reached early.

We settled down in the room. The room was good. Fully carpeted, excellent bathroom with all modern fittings, cable TV, double bed and a small balcony. We had booked 3 such rooms which cost us Rs 550/- per day. Indeed Chandragiri Inn is a nice budget hotel at the center of the town. After that we went to Haritagiri for dinner. This is the part of Kerla I hate. The food, where ever you go in Kerla is pathetic for tourists (the locals do enjoy it :-)) It feels that every food is immersed in coconut oil. Everything smells like the oiled head of a Mallu. After dinner we went back to the room, played some Uhno cards and slept. We had planned lot of things for the next morning.

As usual we were late in getting ready and behind the schedule. We had planned to cover Soochipura falls, Meenmutty falls, Pookode Lake, Likkidi view points and if time permitted an Ayurvedic massage. We had breakfast at Woodlands hotel. This is the worst hotel I have seen regarding service. It has just 1 chef who takes all the orders. But even sadder part is he prepares everything order by order. So if two people have ordered dosas he wont put it together, but he will put one dosa first and then again put another dosa after severing the first one. Dumbos! Drive to Soochipura falls was mesmerizing. The winding roads through tea plantations was pleasure to the eyes. After 30 mins of traveling we reached the falls. We had to walk couple of kilometers on steps to reach the falls. But once we reached the falls, we were shocked to see the crowd. Its was extremely crowded. There was not even a inch of space under the falls. Most of them did not want to get into the water there and continue to Meenmutty falls. But after waiting for sometime, we decided to get down. Even the crowd had reduced by this time. And what a wonderful decision it turned out to be. The Soochipura falls is heaven on earth. Although the rocks are damn slippery near the falls, its all worth the effort. All the 8 of us got under the falls. Although couple of them did manage to fall (including me), there were no serious incidents. The climb back was tiring. The sun was out in full force and that meant all our energy was sapped by now. So was most of our enthu. We had lunch is a very bad restaurant who took a total 1 hour to serve pathetic food. By this time half of them wanted to skip Meenmutty falls(not me). So a coin was tossed to make a decision. They won, so Meenmutty was skipped :-(

We headed back to our room, and it started raining. I guess in Wayanad it never rains, it only pours! Each drop was like a small rock. It was a short thunder storm. After it subdued, we headed towards Pookode Lake. Its an amazing lake. Very serene. Nice picnic spot with boating and stuff. But for a bunch of hooligans like us, its a boring place. The boating was suspended and later closed due to the rain. We took a walk around the lake, ate some stuff and since there was lot of time left, we came back to the room hoping for an Ayurvedic massage. But the crowd beat us there again. To our disappointment all the places were fully booked for the night. So we just had dinner, and slept blissfully.

Our agenda for the next morning was to finish Edkkal caves and drive back home. So we had breakfast in Kalapetta and checked out of our rooms. After a short drive to Edkkal caves, we started our hike. The climb to the caves is steep and strenuous. There is nothing much to see in the caves. Some prehistoric carvings that none of us bothered about. I felt the actual cave part was very small for it to become such a big tourist attraction. But later I realized that it was not just the caves that interested people, but the trek after the caves to the peak of the hill. The climb does get pretty tough at certain points, but nothing unmanageable. The climb to the top was tiring and people from our group started to drop off in the middle. First casualty was Sujith. No big surprise there. Next to drop off were KV and KP. Again no big surprise. The rest reached the top of the peak. The local maxima. The view was wonderful. The climb down was easier that I thought it would be.

The drive back to Bangalore was as pleasurable as the drive to Wayanad had been. Relaxing. That was the theme of our trip. Apart from the climb to Edakkal caves rest of the trip was so relaxing that at times I felt we were outright lazy. In all it was a fun filled trip, with loads of wonderful memories. Although the place did have its charm, it was the company of these amazing friends that made this trip a pleasure. Looking forward for the next trip :-)

Officially a student again

Yes. Finally. After nearly 2 years of working, I'm back to savour the fruits of being a student again. Yesterday I went to NMIMS and paid the 1st year fees. It is an amazing feeling now. A sense of freedom. Along with this amazing feeling, I have a sense of fear, fear of the unknown. I know I'll be leaving great things behind. My parents, my friends, my job among many other things. I have always been a slow starter in regards to making friends. My current set of friends can definitely vouch for that. It takes me long time to get close with anyone, but once I cross that barrier, there is no stopping me. I still stay in touch with my earliest friends, way back from my primary school. Making new friends will be a challenge, but a tougher proposition will be to leave behind all the great friends I have here, albeit for a short duration. All said, I have nice vibes about my next two years in NM. So fingers crossed for now :-)

Decision made. Mumbai, Here I Come!

Yipeeee... I don't know which makes me more happy. The fact that I'm going to spend a good chunk of next 2 years in Mumbai at NMIMS or the fact that I have made a decision (finally) to go there. What ever be the reason, I'm really happy. I know I'll be pursuing my dreams for the next 2 years. There are lots of challenges that lie ahead, lots of uncertainities which I'll have to face. But just knowing the fact that I'll be doing something I really like is enough assurance for me.

This is probably the biggest decision that I have had to make in my life so far. Whether I have made the right decision? Only time will tell. But I am excited at the prospect for becoming a student again! The college starts on June 22nd. So I have 3 more months of tech work.

My First Final Call - Lots of Dilemma

I got my first admission call from NMIMS on 14th. Considering the fact that I am not listed in the Merit list of SCMHRD, I guess this is my only call for the season. I have been thinking a lot for the past 3 days on whether to join NM or not. Sadly I am in a big dilemma. It has been 50-50 all the way. The pros and cons are equally matched. Every time I come up with a thought , supporting me joining NM, there will be an immediate thought giving me reason not to join NM.

As of now there are only 2 options in front of me. Either join NM and be content with it, or take another shot at CAT next year and attempt for a better college. Both have considerable amounts of risk attached with it.
If I choose the former, I'll be putting on line 2 years of my life (for the better or worse) on the line. Also at stake is my Final degree. So further on, everyone will recognize me as a Alumni of NM (not that it is a bad proposition, but for some unfortunate reason, the college reputation might go down, and with it prospective placements). Although NM has its share of drawbacks, it is also one of the most popular colleges in the country, with amazing faculty and industry interactions.
If I choose the latter, I'll be facing the toughest exam in my life AGAIN. I'll have to go through the same hell for 6 months, where my personal life will be practically absent. All this won't ensure my success in CAT. But I'll have another chance at studying in the top colleges in the country aka IIM's. But is it worth it waiting 1 more year, risking not cracking the CAT again? Questions for which I'll have to find answers sooner or later.

But what ever my decision is, I'm pretty confident that once I make the decision, I'll go all out, forget all the negatives, and give my best shot.

Absurd Bureaucracy at every step!

That is a mild term to use considering my experience in the past 2 days. I have been battling bureaucracy all along. First it was the police, then came the RTO and finally the Insurance people. They made me feel so miserable that I actually started to think 'Why the hell did I come to the police?'

After my yesterday's post, I was again called to the police station. Just because the 'Inspector' had come. That SOB had no clue of what had happened. He started giving us nonsense gyan. I already had a headache. Then FINALLY he decided to file the FIR. Since the break inspection was yet to be done, I was to go there today at 9 AM and get it done. Well I was in for a ride through hell!

I went to the police station at 9:30 AM (thinking of IST ;-)) Not a soul to be found. After 15 mins of inquiring bystanders, we finally managed to get hold of a Constable. That fellow told us to go to the RTO for a signature from ARTO, and that we weren't supposed to touch our vehicle. So we walked to the RTO. There that bloody ARTO who was supposed to come in at 9AM shows up at 10:30 AM. After all this he acts like a dictator of his own country (read RTO) and throws back our sheet after singing it. I felt like giving him a tight slap after that. Next we were told to go to another floor (7th) to meet the brake inspector. No surprise, there were no inspectors to be found anywhere! After coming back, and inquiring a bit more, we managed to get hold of a Inspectors number. That fucking asshole was doing pooja at 11 AM. He told that he would come to office from Uttarahalli after pooja and breakfast and slammed his phone. So we waited for that SOB. He does not even turn up at 12 Noon. So we inquire more about his whereabouts. This stupid person, has forgotten us totally and is doing 'paisa vasool' with people who were getting their DL. We walked about a 1 KM to meet this guy. He has no regret, and asks us to wait in the police station! He royally comes there 15mins later and writes a couple of sentences and leaves. So for fucking 2 lines, we waited for 3 hours in that shit hole.

After getting the FIR, we went to Maruti Service station. I was fed up by this time, and thought it was the end of bureaucracy for the day. Boy, was I wrong. These insurance people act like leeches when it comes for making policies. But when it actually comes for claiming them, they are worse than the government people. This person almost wanted me to recreate the scenario, so that he can 'release' the money. The estimate had come up to 18K and I was in for another surprise. These people had lots of *Conditions Apply which no one bothers to read.
1. For every claim big or small, we had to compulsorily pay 1000/-
2. There would be a 20% depreciation in terms of my No-Claim bonus. So I would be losing 5000/-
3. The body parts like plastic and glass are only covered for 50%. So the rest 50% should be paid by us!

Taking this into account, I would be shelling out 9K from my pocket even after getting the Insurance amount. I mean, this is ridiculous. I pay 25K every year to end up paying more to get 18K. This does not make any fucking sense to me! After fighting with that insurance person for almost an hour, I am still not sure whether I'll get my insurance for this. So for no fault of my own, I have to spend approx 10K and have already wasted 2 days.

Life is cruel!

PS : please pardon my abusive language. this just reflects my state of mind.

Damn! Another Accident!

Which side of the bed did I wake up on today? What is wrong with this world? Why does bad things happen to good people like me? Depressing to read these questions right? Well that reflects my mood for the day!

Morning was as usual pretty boring. I was constantly thinking of a problem which has been bugging me for sometime now at work. I left my house at 10:30. I slowly backed out my SX4 out of the garage. The road was clear and the weather was pleasant. The sun was barely visible and all the light filtered out of the thick clouds. There was a cool breeze blowing, making me forget all about summer and my problems, but just for a moment. With some soulful music added, this looked like the perfect day. But everything perfect about it ended right about there.

As soon as I backed out, I saw a white Tata Sumo cab approaching me from behind. He seemed to be in bit of a hurry, and that dint seem odd to me. All cab drivers seem to be in a hurry, as though the world hangs on them being on time. I had to take a right turn immediately after my house. Not even 20 meters from my house. Knowing this cab driver's urgency I had put my signal well before hand, and true to his colors he was trying to overtake me, but seeing my signal to the right he swerved suddenly to the left. It was a rash and a negligent shifting of lanes from him. I was a spectator to all this and my rear view mirror acted as a show screen. The moment I started to turn right, this person wanted to pass me on my left. Well he could have done so, had he been slower and maintained a little more distance to maneuver. But the impatient bastard was unfortunately not in that position. End result was a completely disfigured rear end of my SX4.

I immediately got down my vehicle to inspect the damage. And seeing my new car in that condition, my rage shot up. It was like a vent for all my frustrations. I was so angry with him, if not for a public place, that driver would have got it from me today. Well I fought with him 'verbally'. At first he was unapologetic. He started blaming me. As it had happened virtually in front of my house, my dad and brother came out for my support. By this time he realized it would be foolish to fight and acceded his fault. That cooled me down considerably.

What followed was even more frustrating process of negotiation and some amount of dealing with the police. At first, I immediately called up the Maruti Mandovi workshop, and asked a known mechanic about the cost of the rear bumper. He plainly told it would cost us 20K. 20 fucking K for a mistake of a stupid, careless driver. He also explained to me about the insurance policies. He said that the insurance people would end up paying only 80% of the end bill and rest of it would have to be paid from my own pocket. Also there would a great deal of depreciation in my insurance claims. So the next time I had to get something done, instead of 80%, they would give me 50%. There is a very good chance that insurance people, in this market scenario, black mark vehicles that claim insurance for a big amount. I was pissed off to say the least. So it was natural that I wanted all the money from this person. By this time the owner of the vehicle had come. He was a rude, mannerless person, with no ethics and decency. His language was brash to say the least. He dint want to choke up the 20K we demanded of him. So the next option was Police. There is no other department that I despise so much as the Traffic Police. They are brute, and highly corrupt. Also today being a holiday on account of Eid, we had to go all the way to Jayanagar to lodge a complaint. After thinking a lot about taking off an acknowledgement for a insurance claim we wanted to teach a lesson to that owner. So we lodged a FIR. So this person had to keep his vehicle there in the police station. The drivers documents were seized. And a case was booked under IPC (forgot the section). I'll also have to take my vehicle there tomorrow for a inspection from the RTO Brake Inspector. So after 3 hours of constant complaint writing, getting documents in order and deliberating on a court case, we finally hope to get our justice.

After this, we have to fight in the court on getting the third party insurance. So our insurance wont be affected and every penny will be taken from that vehicle's insurance. Yipee! Also the driver will pay a heavier fine now. So for now I'm back to work thinking about the same thing as the day had started.

Mumbai - A magical place ; NMIMS - Not so much!

Another call, another out-of-station interview. But this time it was Mumbai - The city of dreams! And the college was Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.

So the day started at 2 AM. Well technically it continued, as I don't consider a 2 hour nap as sleep. My sad alarm goes off again. I had to get to the bus stand by 3 AM. Unlike last time, I am more prepared this time (experience matters ;-)) I comfortably reach the airport. And surprisingly there is no rush in the airport either. So I end up an hour early. To kill time, I went to the Crossword store. This has become an obsession to me now. Whenever I need to kill time, I go to one of the book stores, unashamedly open the books, cross my legs, and sit and read. This time it was Kautinya's Arthashastra (was highly recommended by Pande). After nearly 45 minutes of turning pages, I check in.

There is a huge difference between KingFisher and KingFisher Red Service planes. Even in the quality of the air hostess. I decide that from next time I must catch only a proper KF plane, not a relabeled Deccan plane. Very uneventful first hour. But as the plane was circling the Mumbai airport, the cabin pressure started to rise for some reason, and I had a huge head ache and my ear were about to explode. What I generally do in such situations is to close my eyes. I did the same thing. But an alert air hostess, noticed not only was i grimacing, but also bleeding from the nose. She was quick to alert me of my condition and get me cotton. But unfortunately she was not quick enough. I had a drop of blood on my trouser. Thankfully not on my sky blue shirt(I dint even carry a spare one). As soon as I arrived at the airport, I realized that the Mumbai airport was very similar to the Old Bangalore airport. I managed to ask directions to a bus stop. My destination was Ville Parle(W), Mithibai College. Caught a Best Bus to Ville Parle(E), and walked the rest of the distance. NMIMS building is a shocker. My primary school was bigger than that and definitely better maintained. It hasn't had a paint job in ages I guess. But the atmosphere around the college is electric to say the least. I was awestruck with the Mithibai college crowd in particular.

Since my GD slot was at 1 PM, they did not allow me inside the center. So I had to somehow pass 5 hours. So I walked. First I walked to Juhu beach. Around 1.5 kms from the college. Juhu beach is huge. Its wide and long. Standing in the middle of the beach, I could not see the ends. I sat under a coconut tree and started reading a book (The Afghan - Fedrik Forsyth). I got bored as the beach got crowded. Saturday joggers were flooding that place. The mercury was also on the rise. So I went into a Barista outlet and spent around 1 hour there. Then I walked to Iskon Temple which was around 2 kms from there. The temple is beautiful, but sadly there was no devotion. Somehow seeing foreigners inside temples is a turnoff for me.

I walked back to the GD center. Washed my face, tied my tie and went for the GD. We were led into a AC room, asked to finish our registration, given our group numbers. Later a senior Professor came and talked with us. He gave the rules and selection criteria. This year the weight-age was 120+10+10+10 for NMAT, GD, PI, and Work ex respectively. With a NMAT score of 111/150, I stood a good chance and I knew it. With a decent GD and interview I should be getting through.

The GD had 12 members of which 10 were present. Since we had been grouped alphabetically, all our names started with M. There were 9 boys and a single girl in our group. We were given 2 topics to choose from.
1. Watching TV affects self-learning
2. Marriage is a necessary building block of the society (i think)
We chose the first one with a majority of 6:4. I had no points initially, so I decided to sit back and see how people go about it for couple of mins. We had also agreed among ourselves that we would avoid a 'fish market' scenario and give chance to others. But the exact opposite happened. The girl (who was a fashion designer by profession) started to become aggressive and refuted every other point made by the group. Seeing her, others also became pretty aggressive and started to cut in others points. I managed to put in 5 -6 points and also concluded. The GD was not really great and the group as a whole will lose out on points because of one egoistic bitch.

Next we went back to the same waiting room. By this time, I was damn tired. With very little sleep (almost nil for my standards) and all the walking I had done and the soothing AC made a extremely conducive environment for sleep. So I did! I asked the person sitting next to me to wake me up once my name was called and dozed off. I had an amazing 20 mins nap. Unfortunately my name was called and went into the interview room with a blood shot eye. It was a 2 member interview panel. P1 : was a pretty old professor (of finance i guess), P2 : was a middle aged lady professor (of marketing i guess) and of course Moi

M : May I come in Sir? (I managed to not commit the same mistake I had done in the SCMHRD interview)
P1 : (Was really happy for some reason) Please come in Madhu, we were really waiting to see you (An extremely hearty welcome. Best part is I felt that he really meant that)
P1 : You look really tired Madhu. Are you feeling OK?
M : Yes Sir, It has been a pretty long day and I'm a bit tired. But I have been really looking forward for this interview. (For which P1 offers some water and biscuits which I politely decline)
P2 : (Reading the SOP) So you have worked in IBM. Tell me how your experience there
M : I started off from the internship and ended and the current day. Full journey with lot of small stories
P1 : What do you mean by insatiable thirst for learning? Can you give us instances? (Again taken from my SOP. Had written "With an insatiable thirst for learning new things, doing an MBA is the logically right step for me")
M : Gave example of my flute, my home gym, and couple of others. They seemed satisfied with my answer.
P2 : Which specialization do you want to pursue?
M : (A typical MBA question). As of now it is Marketing Mam. But might change later with my experience.
P2 : Who are you role models?
M : My father, my brother, Mahatma Gandhi, Sachin Tendulkar, Mother Teresa, Vijay Mallya.
P2 : Nice variety you have! (I grin)
P1 : What do you think is the USP of Indian youth?
M : Blabber about culture, adaptability, etc... and they seemed pretty impressed with my answer
P2 : Why do FMCG companies change their brand ambassadors so often?
M : blah blah
P1 : How do you market India
M : blah blah
That's it. The end. Barely 5 mins. P1 gets up, comes around the table and shakes my hand and tells 'All the best beta'. I really felt the warmth in his wishes and touched his feet to take his blessings. I did namaste to the mam and left the room. :-D The entire process was over by 3:30 PM

After the interview, I was feeling damn sleepy. I thought, which is the cheapest place to catch a nap in Mumbai. I realized that a cinema mall is the place for me. I caught an auto and went to PVR cinemas in Bandra. But unfortunately there were no shows for 4/5 PM. So decided to do my favorite pastime. Spend time in Crossword. Spent like 2 hours there. Read the book Its not about the bike by Lance Armstrong. He is one of my favorite sport personalities on par with Sachin and Fedrer. I have been follower of Tour de France since 2002 and know all his accomplishments in cycling. What I was more interested was in his life. His cancer. And his foundation. Got so addicted to the book that I eventually bought it. I also bought 'Stay Hungry Stay Foolish' (an impulsive buy). Later I ate awesome vada pav's, pav bhaji, pani puri and what not. Really great place to have chats. Similar to Bangalore ;-) And finally I caught a Local to Dadra. My first time in a Mumbai Local and the experience was fun. Very fast, cheap and comfortable way of travel.

Reached Dadar station well in time. Continued to read Lance's autobiography. It is really a very engrossing book. You don't even feel like looking up. You will be kind of fixated to the book(review on this later). The train was on time. Got into my compartment and surprise surprise. A cute chick in the seat next to me!! I still cant believe my luck. Not just because, she was cute, that is obvious. But because she was travelling alone!!! Ok. Before you start to judge me, let me clear the air. I'm telling all this because she was a big time FLIRT!!! So lets for know call her "Cute Train Stranger" (CTS)

People who know me well, know that it takes me time (not measured in hours or days but in months) for me to speak with a stranger (girl). Well I must have changed. I immediately started off a conversation with CTS. CTS was a talkitive girl, who blabbered anything and everything that passed her mind. We ate somethings together (read shared) like bhel puri, cucumber etc.. Sad part is CTS got off in Hubli (her hometown). So after that I was back reading the book. I loved this part equally well. After finishing Lance's autobiography, I continued with The Afghan. And finished that too. Listened to lot of music. The train journey was for a complete 24 hours. Really not that tiring. It must be because of CTS. Caught a bus from Yeshwanthpur to Majestic and then a bus to my home. Lots of memories from this trip.

PS : I know CTS would probably be reading this. I hope you don't mind. And knowing you as much as I do, I think you would'nt.

Review of Dev D and Delhi-6

Dev D:

I went to the movies after a long time (last one I can think of was Welcome to Sajjanpur) to watch Dev D. I had no idea what the movie was about. I did not know who the protagonists were. I did not even know that it had an 'A' rating!! I knew two things. It was directed by Anurag Kashyap and it was a modern take on the eternal anti-hero Devdas.

Sitting comfortably in the reclining chair of Inox cinemas, I was least expecting what was about to come. The first 30 minutes was like a shock for me. I had never seen this kind of Hindi film before. It definitely deserved the 'A' rating. As Bala once said it could have been given an 'A++' rating ;-) It was like watching one of those sleazy Malayalam movies, difference being that, it was mainstream cinema, with real actors! I would have probably classified this as soft-porn, but that's me.

Abhay Deol plays the role of modern day Devdas, spoilt, educated abroad, and always on the lookout for booze, dope, and s**. The online flirting with his childhood sweetheart - Paro played by the gorgeous Gill, is naughty to say the least. Back in India, things start to go wrong for our Devdas. Suspicion starts to creep into his mind, and ends up losing his Paro. Meanwhile there is a parallel story of Chanda, the modern day Chandramukhi, being developed. Being a realist Anurag has tried to portray lot of real life controversies in the film. The Delhi Public School MMS, the BMW hit and run case etc...

After the intermission, the movie lacks the charm and the pace of the first half. This is probably because the movie has very little to show in the second half and the lack of a convincing story is very evident. The second half is a continuous loop of our Devdas getting drunk (sorry sloshed) doped and his frequent sojourn at the red light areas. The ending is very abrupt and the film ends with absolutely no message to the viewer. Not even a suggestion for us to think on.

But one thing that it did do was strengthen my obsession with anti heroes- Abhay Deol, as the protagonist who plays the modern day Devdas is a typical loser that your parents do not want you to grow up to be. And that is precisely what makes his character so damn real and attractive: he is weak, he is confused, he is vulnerable, he is flawed and “conspicuously lacking in heroic qualities”, i.e. he is like us!! And he was not the first anti-hero that I liked. Tyler Durden (Fight Club) is probably my favourite character of all time. Tracey Whitney (If Tomorrow Comes - Sidney Sheldon) is my favourite fictional character.

Delhi-6:

I first saw the trailer of this movie while watching Dev D. I was instantly impressed and was really looking forward to its release. I mean, who wouldn't be impressed with that kind of star power. After RDB, and a pretty long absence, we were expecting a super block buster from Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. With Abhishek Bachan in the lead and the ravishing Sonam Kapoor (someone described her as a cross of Madhubala and Waheeda Rehman - I could not agree more) dancing to the amazing tunes of ARR, my expectations were sky high for this film. Well that probably turned out to be the downfall...

The biggest disappointment of the film is its story. There is absolutely no story to look forward to. At least not after all the hype of it being bigger than RDB. I will not go much into the story (for the lack of it ;-)), but in general the other aspects of the film are very good. Abhishek plays his role as an NRI to near perfection. Although he has very less dialogues, he communicates to the viewers through his eyes (aka Sarkar). Sonam Kapoor has very less screen presence. Most of the times I caught her on screen, I saw her moving her voluptuous body to the breathtaking numbers of the album (review on that soon). The direction, screenplay and cinematography are all top notch. But the film puts emphasis on the 'Kaala Bandar' thing too much for my liking. But the main character of the film is Delhi -6 itself. The Chandini Chowk area. For people who have lived there, probably they will really like the film. For people like me, who have not even visited that place end up having no emotional connection with the place or the local characters. The climax is too 'bollywoodish' for me and this is where even the people who had liked it till then start getting irritated with the film. And again, there is no message from the film. I would suggest everyone to buy a music CD of Delhi-6 instead of wasting it on the movie ticket.

My Quote for the day!

I was feeling extremely sleepy after lunch today, the usual case. So came up with this quote ;-)

Sleep till you are hungry..... Eat till you are sleepy!

Oh man, the work does get to me sometimes and I come up with crap... thinking of crap, this is the modified version of that quote :-D

Sleep till you are hungry
Eat till you take a shit
Shit till you fall asleep!!

What a life!

Two years ago on Feb 14th......

Ok... For people who haven't met me personally, might be wondering, what the hell did this guy do two years ago on the "Day of Love" that is worth remembering! For those who are in constant touch with me will already be feeling betrayed that I haven't mentioned this story to them before. Well no need to use your wild imaginations. I am still waiting for my first date on the "Day of Love".

It is just a co-incidence that on Feb 14th, I fell in 'love' with something else. It was my first day of internship in IBM ISL. It has already been an amazing journey, with lots of ups and downs (more ups I guess). I have met lot of interesting people, made friends for life and interacted with intellectuals who strive for innovation. I have seen people who think work is their life and other who think work itself is not part of their life ;-) One thing with working in a big company is that you will definitely get a good mix of different 'characters'. I was among the privileged few to be blessed with a excellent small team. There are lot of people who have made this a memorable journey for me. If it takes two years to get this experience, then I would say, I have made a bargain with life. The time spent in IBM has been a huge learning curve. At some level, it has also made me realize my long term career goals.

In pursuit of these goals, I was heading to Pune exactly two years later. Is it co-incidence that my first interview for higher studies was on the same day I started my internship? Will SCMHRD prove to be my 'second love'? Only time will tell :-D

SCMHRD - My first Interview

This was my first call for the 'Season - 08'. So it always carried that extra emotional value. I had absolutely no preparation for this interview. But I guess it went pretty well. So let me rewind to yesterday morning 02:45 AM.

My alarm rings. The snooze does not work, and I'm already behind schedule by 15 mins. Yet I take my own time to get ready. I have a bus to catch at 04:00 AM. I finish my bath at 03:45 AM. I finish polishing my shoes at 03:55 AM. I reach the bus stop a 04:00 AM dot. The bus ride to airport is uneventful and I drift off intermittently. We arrive at the bus stop at 05:10 AM. I'm behind schedule by 10 mins, but feel confident of making the 06:00 AM flight. Damn sad, the airport staff has introduced User Tax for even domestic fliers. End up paying Rs 260/- with grudge. I take my boarding pass and since I dint have any check-in luggage, I proceed to the security check. Shock of my life awaits me there. The queue is bigger than "Hanumantana baala". 05:55 AM. Still 3 people in front of me and the 'Final Call' for boarding has been on since past 5 mins. 3 minutes later, I pass the security check, but sadly my bag is withheld. Apparently my 3/4ths empty deodorant was more than 100ml to them. I give up fighting with them and run to Gate 1. I am the last passenger getting into the plane. The doors are immediately closed behind me. The time is 06:03 AM. The flight was awesome. Kingfisher lived up to its name. Better than most of the international flight's service. The food was 'acceptable' in normal standards and 'luxury' in flight standards. The flight attendants were hotter than I had imagined. They were uber hot in their red coats. Looked as though they had walked straight off the ramp.

Flight is on schedule and I reach Pune at 07:20 AM. I take a prepaid auto to International Convention Center (end up paying Rs 180/- to the auto. Ridiculously costly they are). I call back home reporting my safe journey. I call Bala and ask him to check my train reservation status (I was on Waiting List and was really concerned). Unfortunately the W/L has not moved :-(. I proceed to the Symbiosis Auditorium (it is actually TATA auditorium). I loaf around a bit. Have to kill time till 3 PM. I find the CCD sofa's comfortable. I settle down there and order stuff to eat. I take a leisurely 3 hours to finish a cake and a cold coffee. Mean time I prepare for the typical interview questions. I make points for questions like: 'Why MBA?', 'Which specialization?' etc.. I yawned a lot during this time :-O Still half asleep I went to another Coffee bar on the 9th floor. Ordered more coffee, and read a novel (more on that later). Some how I manage to kill time till 2 PM. I enter the auditorium for GD/PI registration. My first encounter with the "possible" seniors. They immediately appear friendly, ready to help. I also get the feeling that everything has been organized really well. There is no commotion and the entire process is smooth. 3 PM sharp they call my name. I finish the registration process, and the first year students are questioned by us. I in particular questioned them a lot, as I had heard conflicting views on the college. They manage to give convincing and honest answers to almost all the questions. I am taken to the 5th floor, where my GD and PI would take place.

The place looked posh. There were 4 others in my group for GD. We make small talk, and I learn that everyone has experience for at least 1.5 years. 5 mins later, we are led into the GD room. We are greeted by 2 people whom I'll refer to as P1 and P2.

P1 - is pretty old, may be in his 60's. He has a half sleeve shirt. He was wearing slippers. He looked very informal and definitely a professor of SCMHRD.
P2 - is very formal. He was wearing a suit and looked like someone from the industry.
P1 - gives us the rules for the GD. It would be a case study. 5 mins to read the case study. 20 mins to discuss it and the last 5 mins to arrive at a consensus. 20 mins with 5 people in the GD - I was sure this would never end up as a fish market. And I knew all of them could air their views. So I thought there would be no brownie points for starting the GD.

GD Case Study :
It is about a Retail company which has entered the market recently. It had really high hopes given the success of the Retail industry in India. But it now sees that it has faced losses. And it goes about to find out the factors leading to the loss. There were around 9-10 factors listed with a small brief of its impact. We as a team had to discuss each point and finally we had to rank them according to their impact value and reach a consensus on the top three factors that affected the company. Some of the factors that were listed were :

• Lack of infrastructure like power, transport, communication
• Supply Chain is fragmented
• Grey market is blooming
• Lack of skilled manpower
• No Government incentive which results in tougher laws to survive
• Competition
• Transportation problems concerning storage and transportation of perishable goods etc..

The GD discussion went on smoothly. As I had thought there was no fish market situation. On the contrary there were certain silent moments where no one spoke. It was quite awkward. But the 20 mins was a breeze. P1 then reminded us that there was 5 mins left and we still had to rank and reach a consensus on the top 3 factors. Surprisingly we all agreed on the top 3. I felt that my top 3 was the groups top 3 as well. So was pretty happy with it. I also had put couple of good points in the GD and managed to bring the GD back to track once, when it had steered out of course. We picked Lack of Infrastructure, Government incentives and Supply chain being fragmented as the top 3 factors. We were asked to hand back the notepad page where we were scribbling some points and also the case study page.

Once we were out of the room, we were made to wait in the "PI waiting room". Here we were flocked by first year students who gave a lot of 'gyan' and also were sweet enough to share their experiences, the market scenario and placements, college and hostel life etc.. There was a board on which our ID's were projected. It basically showed which Panel we would be going to (there were 8 panels and each candidate was preassigned to a panel as per his/her qualification) and how many were ahead of us. It was a relaxing waiting time.

Then the moment came when my number started flashing. A senior (a hot one at that! --well most of them were hot ;-)) asked me to follow her into the room. Following is the transcript (which i remember) of the interview. There were again 2 panel member. Both of them in their early 30's. Lets call them P1 and P2 and myself as M. I'll be putting my inner thoughts in italics

M : Good Morning!! (wtf! its 5 PM)
M : Good Afternoon Sir (Thankfully they dint notice my initial greetings. They were busy eating cookies and having tea)
P1 to the hot senior : How many more for the day? I am tired! (Not a good sign. An agitated interviewer)
Hot senior : Only couple of them after this Sir. Can I get you anything? (She gets no reply for this offer. I mentally pity her. She gives me a cute smile, indicating I'm in for some hammering today and leaves)
P2 : Please sit (Yes, I was still standing)
M : Thank you Sir (Now P1 and P2 are engrossed in my CV. They take around 20 secs to go through it. There is complete silence in the 6X6 room)
P1 : So you are from Visveswaraya Technological University? Where is it?
M : It is in Karnataka Sir. I studied in BMS College which is affiliated to it.
P1 : What was the selection criteria for this? What test did you take?
M : We had a Common Entrance Test. Based on the rank, we could pick the college and stream of our choice. (He does not seem impressed with my university for some reason. Neither would I have been impressed with it :-))
P1 : So what rank did you get in this test? And was your college the best college in the university?
M : I got a rank of 909 Sir. And of course my college and my department was the best. among the lot (I give him a big grin)
P1 : (Suddenly concerned) Why so less marks in SNAP? (He munches on another cookie. This makes me feel hungry. I almost missed this question, thinking how good the cookie must taste)
M : (I start to blabber) blah blah
P1 : What is your revised marks? (Yes, SNAP came with revised marks, after every person I knew of got at least 10-20 marks less than expected. In the revised marks I got 8.75 marks more)
M : I tell him
P1 : That is better. So you are working in IBM? Are you bored with your work already?
M : Definitely not Sir. I can't get more of my work. It is very interesting, as I work on technologies of tomorrow. Also I have an amazing team.
P1 : You are getting a very good package. Why do you want to leave it and come here.?Even I can't guarantee you to get this package after your MBA.
M : According to me Sir, anything in life is a risk. But I am willing to take this risk, after considering it deeply. I believe a MBA from SCMHRD is a safe bet.
P1 : 'Are common re'. Tell me properly. In this time of recession why are you leaving? Is your job safe? Or are you already laid-off?
M : No Sir. Our company is doing very well. And with my performance in the past 1.5 years, I consider my job to be safe and sound (I am actually laughing my ass off now... in my mind :-P)
P2 : (Speaks for the first time!!)So will you still do a MBA, if I assure you that the recession will stay for two more years?
M : (With all earnest) According to me Sir, If there is recession for 2 more years, then my job is definitely not safe. So is the jobs of thousands of others like me. So I feel during that time it is better to be applying for new jobs with a MBA from SCMHRD rather than just a BE. (voohoo... I am impressed the way I answered that impromptu. And seeing P2 with a raised eyebrow, I think he too was impressed with it)
P2 : So you are firm on doing a MBA? What if you don't get through this year?
M : I'll come back the next year, and the year after that too, if that is what it takes for me to study in SCMHRD (I am in full swing now)
P1 : Ok, so can you sing for us? (I am shocked!!??!!)
M : I am a very bad singer Sir. However I can play flute pretty well.
P1 : So can you show your flute skill now?
M : I haven't got my flute here Sir. But if you can provide me a flute, I am sure I can entertain you (I smirk at him and he smiles)
P2 : Tell me more about your work? What do you actually do?
M : (I talked about Web 2.0, my work as a developer and a L3 support resource)
P2 : (Looks into my CV again where I had written --"Working in IBM India Software Labs has given me invaluable exposure into the management skills required to run such a huge organization. This experience has also highlighted my naive understanding of the complex aspects of Business Administration") So what is such a invaluable experience in 1.5 years? How naive is your naive understanding?
M : (I am taken aback a bit, I talk about my work, how my manager has inspired me and stuff. And how they handle client calls and all. He seemed satisfied with my answer)
P2 : Which specialization do you want to pursue?
M : At the moment, I would go for Marketing Sir. But of course I am open to change. I will probably be well guided and informed by teachers and seniors about my strengths.
P1 : Which other calls have you got?
M : I have got a call from NMIMS
P2 : Which will you pick if you get calls from both?
M : Of course I will pick SCMHRD (At this point P2 notes down my points in his folder. I try to seek a peak into the folder, but he hides it pretty well)
P1: Why?
M : Apart from the obvious reason that SCMHRD is better than NMIMS, I like Pune city more than Mumbai city. Also I have come to understand that SCMHRD has a better campus life than NMIMS. And as far as I know, MBA is all about building contacts and for that to happen the campus plays a huge role.
P1 : Do you have any questions for us?
M : (I don't know why, I started laughing doh!) I can't think of anything at this moment Sir.
P1 : Common think, there is still time left in this interview!
M : (After trying to think for 20 secs I could only come up with) Sir, I can only talk more about myself. (Till now, I don't know why I said that!!)
P2 : (Looks suspiciously at me) Ok, tell more about yourself.
M : (I blurt out stuff) blah blah
P1 : Ok Madhu, Thanks for coming. We will get back to you.
M : Thank you! Have a nice day.

After that I met a super nice senior Roshan. He is also from Bangalore, and I think he was happy to speak in Kannada again. I get to know a lot from him. I call Bala again at 6:30 PM only to learn that my W/L has not cleared. I get a bit worried. But with Roshan's help, I manage to find a VRL dealer and book a sleeper coach bus. The bus is pretty much on time. I leave Pune at 9:15 PM. I watched a couple of FRIENDS episodes on Srinath's ipod. Had dinner and slept blissfully. I got up at 9:00AM the next day. Continued reading the novel "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed Got Wild and Got a Life"(will write a review on this book shortly:-)). I finished the novel by 1.30 PM. I was back home by 2:30 PM.

PS : If Roshan is reading this, I still can't believe that someone will go so much out of the way to help a stranger. All you guys in SCMHRD were super helpful. Thanks Guys. You rock. Hoping to see you again ;-)