A Jaunt to Alibaug

After a false alarm a week ago, we met at the Andheri station on a cool Saturday morning. As true MBA students we had no concrete plans. We knew only the destination, but none of them I feel were really concerned about it. It was the journey that had made eight sleepy heads to meet at 7.30 am. It had all forms of travel (except air) included in it. A train to Churchgate, a ferry ride followed by a bumpy bus ride. To throw in a couple more we also had a ride on a horse cart and a topsy-turvy boat ride. But what made all these low budget travel fun was the amazing group I was with. The entire journey was fun filled and never had a dull moment. There was no one moment that was "exiting" as most trips turn out to be, there was no one place we went to see, rather it was the entire day that made is so fun filled. Even a walk on the dusty streets in the midday sun was fun! There are so many small incidents that will be permanently etched in my mind. Waiting for the next jaunt.

Cheers guys :)

Career Planning

Our culture worships planning. Everything must be planned in advance. Our days, week, years, our entire lives. We have diaries, schedules, checklists, targets, goals, aims, strategies, visions even. Career planning is the most ridiculous of these cults precisely because it encourages a feeling of control over your reactions to future events. As that interview question goes: where do you see yourself in five years time? This invites the beginning of what starts as a little game and finishes as a belief built on quick sand. You guess what employers want to hear, and then you give it to them. Sometimes this batting back and forth of imagined futures becomes a necessary little game you play in order to 'get ahead'.

I personally don't know anyone who "really" knows what they want. There is some amount of dilemma in everyone that I know. That's why career planning, or at the very least just deciding what you're going to do next, is so unpleasant. When I was 18 people asked me what I wanted to do. There seem to be so many different options, each with myriad branching possibilities, many of which lead in opposite directions, but all equally tempting. But I gave back the answer that my parents wanted me to give. Not that they were pressurizing me or something, on the contrary the encouraged me to pick my own path. But I picked the tried and tested path to become a software engineer, not knowing what the future was, but still planning for it! Doesn't that sound ridiculous?

If it was tough to be a 18yr old, its even more nerve wrecking at quarter-life. Now it's more clear what the downsides of certain jobs are. There's not only our own experiences of work but we also have friends at work, all of whom colour our perception of their careers. This results in even more frantic planning, trying to correct the 'mistakes', which is a result of previous 'planning'. First of all it is not a mistake because no one can exactly predict the future and the second loophole is actually planning for the future. According to me, all of us are poor at predicting what would make us happy in the future. And since we all predict and then not reach the target, we feel unhappy (and curse all the gods and fate). This is pseudo-unhappiness.

The best strategy for career planning is this: make your best guess, try it out and don't be surprised if you don't like it. But for heaven's sake don't mention this in your interviews.

Diversity

I was thinking about diversity for sometime now. But the inspiration to put it to words came because of todays outing. It started with a visit to the biggest temple in Mumbai, Siddi Vinaik temple. For people coming from South India, especially Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, don't visit this one with an image of the temples back home. For starters, there is no aarti and we actually do a apradakshina, a complete no-no in temples back home. The flooring is marble, and the concept of prasadam is very different. From there we headed to Haji Ali Dargah, again the biggest in Mumbai. It was a surreal experience as it was my first time inside a Dargah. It helped me quash some preconceived notions. So a outing with diversity was quite good and I started to think about the other diversities that I have been facing in Mumbai.

My roommates make a amazing case study of diversity. The four of us are from four different parts of India. Akhil is from Rourkela (East), Rajat is from Delhi (North), Nirbhay is from Mumbai (West) and myself from Bangalore (South). So we have our own Golden Quadrilateral at 42 SeaShell :-) But what struck me the most was how similar we were in many things. People always say that India is a country of diversity. But at the end of the day we all remain almost the same, and I don't know whether to attribute this fact to 'Unity in Diversity' or the lack of any diversity at all.

My friends in college is also very diverse group. We have a Jain, a Sardar, a Gujju, Tulu speaking Shetty, a Marwadi. But again we are all so similar. So where does diversity come into picture?

A new gym

It had to come to an end sometime. And so it did, my illegal gymming at Andheri Sports Complex. I had taken a 3 month package way back in July and went to the gym till December. I think I was not alone in this kind of activity as the guards finally woke up and started checking the ID cards at the gate. Mine was way past the expiry date, so I had no other option than turn back before being manhandled by the guards.
I had a simple option - Go back and renew my membership or find a new gym. The renewal sounded better, but it came with a catch. The thing is, this gym was quite far from my home. So I had to take a auto everyday. And it cost me Rs25 to-fro. Even though the gym was relatively cheap at 600 pm, I used to spend more than 1000 pm. So I went to Zaf HealthClub, a high-end gym very close to my house. I ended up bargaining for a 12000 pa package which included gym, cardio, sauna, steam and locker facilities. The trainers seemed to know what they were talking, and the equipment was top notch. But what probably tilted the balance in favor of Zaf was the babes. After seeing 100kg aunties jogging on treadmills it was refreshing to see 50kg chicks working out ;-)
Hopefully I'll be able to use all those facilities regularly. More updates on the gym and my fitness later.

A fresh start

Ah... I have heard that before and lived it before... a fresh start is what I associate a new year with. It does not carry a huge significance in my life, as it is yet another day for me. But I don't live outside the society, so I play along. People associate the new year day with looking back at the year gone by, making resolutions for the year ahead and I have done that too. But I have come to realize this is what we should be doing every single day of the year and only time to live in the present day is on the day when you change calenders. Last year I did this, this year I'll do that... blah blah blah... I don't get it as to why people get so sentimental around this particular day. Live in the moment guys. Enjaaay it!
Anyways as I play along on such "holidays", Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year!