Thought Supply Chain

Three!

2011-07-17T17:49:00.004+05:30

Had read somewhere that 50% of MBA pass outs will change their jobs within first 2 years.

Well, it has been 3 years now, and for now I seem to be firmly entrenched within Cognizant.

So there have been good bosses, friendly colleagues, decent money and some travel opportunities which have made these 3 years more than pleasant.
What also made this journey interesting is:

1. The colleague who uses jargon in every sentence

2. The guy who said women should not play sports and then was found cheering the women's basketball matches

3. The guy with the heavy bong accent

4. The folks from Chennai who were out of their wits understanding the bong accent

5. The female colleague I kept referring to as "him" in a call

6. The cleaning lady who almost abused me for soiling her just wiped, spick and span
floor

7. The cafeteria lady who always smiled when giving me a larger serving.

8. The guy who said to his recently promoted boss "NOW you will get respect when you come to speak"

Tips to make good presentations

2011-07-02T18:37:00.009+05:30

I have been reading some material on making good presentations and below are an assortment of things I recall

1. Do not dim the lights during the presentation - the presenter is as much part of the presentation as are the slides, so presenter should be clearly visible to the participants. Also I have noticed the audience might tend to drift and catch a nap if the room is dark

2. Try to keep the slide simple e.g. only one or 2 graphs in a slide,

3. Question the habits - do we really have to use the corporate template?, do we really need that company logo on each slide?

4. Avoid bullet points, try to use format as per the following image

5. When showing logos of other clients as success stories, do not pack the slide with logos. Keep 8-10 relevant logos. Suggestion to have 3 rows on the slide, top and bottom rows to have the 10 logos and middle row will have a simple statement like "Our success stories"

6. Graphs and chart - Use just 2,3 colors on the slide. Ensure that there is good contrast in the background and the colors in the graphs, this improves readability. I prefer white as a safe option. When displaying bar graphs, show data only for relevant values. e.g. if you have sales figures for last 15 years, show only for 1st, 5th, 10th and 15th year - just 4 bars to read rather 15 where one may not be able to read all the values. Highlight the bar with a different color if you want to talk about it say "sudden growth was had in 10th year" - keep other graphs in gray and 10th year graph in blue

7. Avoid animations and transitions that MS Office offers so easily

8. Avoid slanted or curved text, have text horizontally aligned, it makes reading easier.

9. If you have a heavy content side, try to have a narrative in the title or a seperate block to tell the audience in one line what you are trying to tell them on this slide

I'll try to add more - these really are not my suggestions, just observations.

Readers are requested to add their observations on good presentations

Blue Mug

2010-03-08T09:15:00.003+05:30

I saw this play on Saturday - "Blue Mug". Starring Konkona, Ranvir, Vinay Pathak, Rajat Sharma and couple of others. The first three are superb and your really get to see them in their elements on stage.

Throughout the play and even at the end, you will wonder what is this play all about - there is no single answer. My take is that the play is about the collection of our memories - right from childhood - some pleasant, some innocent, some fearful - and how we look upon them today.
And then there is the aspect of what would happen if we didn't have any memories.

We have seen Rajat Kapoor's work of having plots that don't follow a sequential narration. Some might think that is his style, I personally think that is his limitation - that he cannot "tell" a good story. He seems to leave the pieces lying around - after all it takes some effort to weave those pieces together.

Humor and punch lines keep you interested throughout the no-interval 75 minutes. It isn't a comedy play though - Do watch it - It will give your brains a nice work out

Ciao

अमरीका musings

2010-02-24T19:07:00.002+05:30

Back to blogging after a month - same reasons as usual - office & chores like washing clothes keeping me tied up ;)

Highlight of last month was the trip to New Jersey - a pleasant surprise - considering the boss told just 3 days before to pack the bags for the trip.

New York was lovely - my first reaction the moment I stepped out of the station - I am on the sets of Sex and the City. The weather, the people, the streets, the fashion, the shops - exactly as seen in serials and movies.

It was a short trip so I let myself loose on the food & drinks, leaving the repurcussions to show effect after I returned. Haven't had enough of the bagels and icecream

One gladdening observation - our malls in Mumbai/Chennai are at par with those I could visit in NJ

Now enjoying my much needed vacation - Oh How I have craved to set that Out of Office Message!

Movies on this christmas weekend

2009-12-27T17:11:00.002+05:30

Maybe I should have also taken a vacation like half of my colleagues. After 7 months of 12 hours days and calls with clients beyond midnights, finally my project is reaching its successful conclusion. And in the melee to give the final touches, the days of December just whizzed by. Before I could even remember that this was a long weekend, flight prices had zoomed off to new highs :), and so I am here spending a relaxed weekend at home.

I thought I'd watch lot of movies but come saturday, I found the company of people like me and I have been out most of the time.

These are what I could catch:

1. Taken - Action thriller, very slick, definitely reco
2. Wake Up Sid - Lovely Movie, kinda slow
3. 3 idiots - Lot of laughs in the first half, sensitive in the 2nd, except for one overboard (or shall we say over TT table?) avoidable scene, this is a must see

Also I did catch up Avatar a few days back, the visuals are definitely good and worth a watch, but do watch it in as good a theatre as you can to really experience the best from it. Love Aaj Kal was recommended by a very good friend, it is good in parts, but kinda preachy and Deepika is still learning to act :)

poem on sunsets

2009-12-13T13:34:00.003+05:30

By Habit, I do not write poems, I don't think I have the talent. But then yesterday a friend challenged me that I could come up with only a depressing one. Well so I came up with this in about 10 minutes

Crimson red and orange bright/
the sun sets to my window right/
birdies nest in and bugsies buzz out/
Gently the crescent shimmers and twinkies pout!

Sounds more like a kindergarten rhyme, doesn't it? Anyway I feel good about it.

How does one know?

2009-12-05T09:21:00.002+05:30

When one is crazy about something and has his heart set on it for a long time, and if that prized possession seems attainable only by an uncertain freakish chance -- should one let go, accept the "reality" and move on to "better" things --- how does one know if there was a sliver of a chance, should they try harder or just let go?

2009-11-14T17:11:00.003+05:30

Read this nice interview of Sachin's wife. http://www.hindustantimes.com/I-didn-t-even-know-who-Sachin-was-when-we-first-met-Anjali/H1-Article3-476335.aspx

Somehow reminded me of the days when people I knew frowned upon her because Anjali was not a Maharshtrian. Now these people had no business in judging her, but then we Indians have opinions about everything that our public figures do.

There was a similar conversation I had heard when Ajit Agarkar's star was on the rise and he married a Parsi/Muslim girl. One peeved uncle in the local train was so venting his frustration about why these successful cricketers from mumbai do no marry maharastrian girls. Did he feel like our demi-gods didn't find Maharashtrian girls good enough. He was very vocal about Mahrashtrian girls being attractive, well educated and cultured, yet these sons of our soil cared to look elsewhere :D

Well, uncle still didn't have any business about judging Agarkar but then he was not factually wrong. lets look at the three cricketers from mumbai at the top of our minds: Sachin Tendular, Sunil Gavaskar, Vinod Kambli - all have married non Maharastrian ladies :)

Happy Diwali

2009-10-18T09:53:00.004+05:30

Dear All, Let me first wish you a very Happy Diwali. May this festival of lights bring you much joy and happiness

I didn't go home for Diwali, wanted to , but decided not to. The short leave and the prospect of piled up work after coming back and the fact that I am planning another trip again in November made me stay put.

And although I have felt jealous of people who have made statements that they are having fun with their families and friends in their hometowns :), this break has been good to me as well.

I have caught up on sleep and the positive effect of which is already showing on me. I don't feel like I am running on reserve battery.

Basically I have been lazing around, watching movies one after another and hogging on the sweets. Something I haven't done since I left NITIE. :)

Until next post. cya

Follow up to last post

2009-07-28T16:43:00.002+05:30

more than a month since last post. So let me check what's new since then... referring to the last post and updating
1. India stuttered in front of some real competition, I cant take any more jitters
-- Aah...the bliss of non-cricket, Ashes is just a peripheral feeling

2. Sensex continues to boom, time to invest some more
-- Hehe, Invested a lot and then the markets dipped, thankfully they are up and I have made enough profit to buy a handkerchief (Recently bought Van Heusen kerchiefs - 180 bucks for set of 3!, gone are the days of haggling for 10 ka 3 in mumbai locals?!!)

3. Signs of Throat infection, need to take care
--I think the infection took me down on one weekend, but the ice cream bonanza continues everyday post lunch

4. Bought a book on Calvin and Hobbes..pricey @ 620 bucks something that could be read up in just 2 hours...need to check if getting a set from abroad works cheaper
-- I guess money well spent, still to finish the book though, couldn't find the 2 hours all this while. eh :D

5. Reading Bill Bryson's Neither here nor there (Thanks M for the reco), falling in love with Europe's charm without even being there once. Gotta save enuf money for such a trip
--- Middle of the book, Mr. Bryson seems to miss his wife and keeps fantasising

6. Kailash Parbat is coming to chennai and opening next week. Must visit with the NITIE junta here
--- Gentle Reminder, Pathak, Subbu, Saifee!!!

7. How I seem to make more sense when I use numbering even for the most mundane of thoughts
---This is not going anywhere

8. Goan cousin hitched with a Punju gal, am gonna have distant Punjabi relatives, people expecting me to learn Bhangra
--- Don't even think about it! ;)

9. meebo access in office, now on gtalk all the time
--- Hathway shut shop, so making use of office access :)

10. Obama wants to spoil the childhood of American children by making them study hard
--- he shouldn't spoil my children's American dreams

Done with is hafte ka "Dus ka Dum!!"

2009-06-28T21:02:00.002+05:30

thoughts this weekend

2009-06-13T13:14:00.002+05:30

1. India stuttered infront of some real competition, I cant take any more jitters
2. Sensex continues to boom, time to invest some more
3. Signs of Throat infection, need to take care
4. Bought a book on Calvin and Hobbes..pricey @ 620 bucks something that could be read up in just 2 hours...need to check if getting a set from abroad works cheapers
5. Reading Bill Bryson's Niether here nor there (Thanks M for the reco), falling in love with Europe's charm without even being there once. Gotta save enuf money for such a trip
6. Kailash Parbat is coming to chennai and opening next week. Must visit with the NITIE junta here
7. How I seem to make more sense when I use numbering even for the most mundane of thoughts
8. Goan cousin hitched with a Punju gal, am gonna have distant Punjabi relatives, people expecting me to learn Bhangra!
9. meebo access in office, now on gtalk all the time
10. Obama wants to spoil the childhood of American children by making them study hard

Political commentry

2009-06-06T10:23:00.004+05:30

This post might be a little late. The hype and hoopla around the elections is well past. But I have been pondering if we got the best result. I did not vote this time. I am registered in Thane and didn't take the effort of a getting registered in Chennai. So I am not sure how the more "awakened" (Jaago re campaign ;) ) junta will think about this post.

I don't think I would have voted for Congress. I do nurse a grudge against them for implementing the OBC reservations in higher education institutes. I find it grossly unfair and against meritocracy and nothing but a political gimmick which might have long standing repercussions in the years to come. On second thoughts I have realised India has got a strong Prime Minister.

People seem to perceive Manmohan as a soft PM. But in the last 5 years, it seems to me that they have been more hard lined than BJP was. Be it the above mentioned OBC reservations or the nuclear deal or the guts to tell Karat and his Politburo to buzz off.

BJP finally got its chance in 1999-2003 after waiting in the wings for many years. They did well but messed up a few things. They like to be seen as a hardline party when wooing voters, but when it came to governance, they couldn't find the magical middle path. The Ram temple issue , the uniform civil code, the unfortunate Kandahar hijack, the spiralling onion prices, the divestment of PSUs, Godhra and so forth...they always seemed to be swinging in opposite directions.

The Varun Gandhi issue where they wouldn't publicly admonish him gave an impression to me that if they won then their second innings with new captain (Advani) also wouldn't be much different. I just hope that BJP collects itself, starts building again from the grassroots and begins resolving real problems. It will be a sad thing if they go back to the recluse of "Ram Bhoomi" and "Hindutva" campaigns. The Congress needs to be kept on its toes and who better than Loh Purush and his young turks.

On a lighter note, the incessant election coverage on TV and newspapers finally affected the brains of one of our close NITIE batch mates. So much so that he grandly announced to me that we wants to be the Primer Minister of India. He made this comment NOT at a election rally or, when he was campaigning for his party but in the couch comforts of his living room :). Thankfully all that is past and now he is back to normal, worrying about cracking his CFA Level 1.
Also I and Arup Angle think that Prakash and Brinda Karat's story has something common with Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi. Looking at Brinda's snaps I am sure she was a charming lady in her youth, Prakash was a dapper youth with ideals, rich and sophisticated chick falls for emerging leader of tomorrow and the rest is history ..hehe..atleast in my imagination...

Frasier

2009-05-30T09:37:00.005+05:30

Frasier is a tele series I strongly recommend to every one. I first watched it about 5 years ago when it started airing it on Star World. But the succeeding seasons were not regularly aired.

Thanks to isohunt and Hathway, I have been hooked now for past 3 months
It is a humor based series about the life of a radio psychiatrist (Frasier) interspersed with his brother,father,maid and producer.

What has me hooked to Frasier is the kind of humor. It is a highly intellectual, hardly anything vulgar or below the belt. People who enjoy satire or irony will love it. Apart from the refreshing genre of humor, I am sure what gets you hooked is that you start seeing parts of yourself in Frasier and his family.

It could range from waiting forever to tell some gal that you are crazy about her ever since you met her to wanting to belong to a royal family and desire to be addressed as "His Royal Highness" or the love for your parents where you want them to live with you or the desire to hob nob with the top echelons of the society...to being recognized as a popular figure.

The sibling relationship depicted between Frasier and Niles is a never-seen-on-TV before kind.
Here too the series stands like a mirror. I am the elder brother and I see myself in Frasier. My roomie (who is now even more hooked thanks to yours truly) is a younger sibling and sees himself in Niles.

Kudos to the writers for weaving our dormant aspirations into such a fantastic story.

So the next time you decided to download Lost or Prison Break, do search for "Frasier" an start from Season 1..let me know if you don't like it

Until next post then..take care

Back after a hiatus

2009-05-24T11:33:00.002+05:30

I just checked, the last post was way back in Feb..as a friend put it very well..Years go by so fast..yet each day goes so slow, especially after a heavy lunch ;)

From what I remember in the past 3 months
1. I worked on a large deal which we won
2. Enjoyed Business Development
3. Studied and passed Spanish Level 1 course with flying colors
4. Tried and enjoyed free style dancing, but couldn't keep up with the schedule
5. Continue to jog often
6. Made a trip to Mumbai
7. Attended my best friend's engagement in Satara
8. Watched Frasier and Scrubs TV series relentlessly
9. Finished reading the entire works of Sherlock Holmes..Sir Arthur is forever going to be my favorite author
10. Work has has started creeping into my home and weekends, so I have started using the dormitory more often at work

Cya Soon

My Housekeeper

2009-02-08T20:26:00.005+05:30

Barathi: My HouseKeeper

I have just completed 6 months in chennai and some of them have just whizzed by. I continue to stay at the same place where I first moved in, enjoying exemplary companionship, first with Arup, then Ramesh and now with Amaresh.

Barathi,my housekeeper has been an integral part of my stay here and my ex and current roomies think he deserves a mention on this blog. So here we go....

I vividly rememeber my first day when I met Barathi. I had come along with Arup to check out
the place. The landlady had told me to call "Borraatee" once I reached the house. It is normal
to come across girls named Bharati in Maharashtra and so I when, I learnt that is the name of
the housekeeper, I was expecting a middle aged woman to turn up. And then from across the road comes a strapping young man of 25 zooming on his TVS bike. That was my first realization that Barathi is a guy's name in chennai.

Barathi makes a good sales pitch of the place and we decide to move in. Barathi appears as a
industrious person and has a decent grip of hindi which is a godsend in chennai. He is
generally attired in a lungi, folded up! He has 2 assistants at his disposal. Barathi has a TVS
bike which he regularly uses to commute between our's and the landlady's house for food etc.
For a long time his bike had a torn seat. My landlady had told me to rely on him for all our
daily needs. So right from breakfast to dinner and to cleaning the house, this was our guy.
Both Arup and I were pretty impressed.

2 days before we are to move in our room, Arup gets into some candid chat with Barathi. He
tells us that the incumbent resident of our room is a bad person and that he is happy that Arup
and I are taking his place. Naturally we ask him about the person and he tells us... "Woh
Daactar Hai.. Gandaaa Aadmi hai...45 years age hai....shaadi nahi kiya hai....daaru peeta
hai.....cigarette bhi... gandaaa aadmi hai....". The next day he tells us same
dialog..."Daactar gandaa aadmi hai... sirf 45000 salary hai....shaadi nahi kiya hai....daaru
peeta hai.....cigarette bhi... gandaaa aadmi hai....".I and Arup just cant figure the
co-relation between 45 years of age and 45000 salary. On the terrace, Arup and I come across
lots of empty beer bottles and cig stubs and we acknowledge Barathi's words. Our belief in
Barathi is accentuated when the incumbent visits on his last night here in a slighlty
inebriated state.

It took us only a week to realise that this Barathi who derided the incumbent, himself swigs a
bottle of beer every evening before having a number of smokes. A closer observation of the beer
bottles on the terrace, which we thought the incumbent left, turn out to be a local brand of
"Bir" that we had so often saw Barathi consume.

Then one day, Arup was returning late from work. In the dark corner of a street, Arup sees the
shapes of a young man smooching a girl. Arup thinks the shape is familiar and then realization
dawns when we come across the all so familiar TVS bike with the torn seat. It was the same time that Barathi was not responding to my calls to turn on the water pump!

I have to follow up small things like cleaning the room, starting the water pump, fixing the
lights in my room on a regular basis. Even before I finish my instructions, Barathi will start
saying..."Haan Ok Ok Ji...Pakka Pakka..".

Brijesh: "Barathi...Paani nahi aa raha "

Barathi: "Haan ok ok ji"
Brijesh: "Barathi..kal bulb le ke aao"

Barathi: "ok ok ji.. Pakka Pakka"
Brijesh: "Barathi.. thoda doodh le kar aao"

Barathi: "Ok ok ji.. Pakka pakka"
To expect Barathi to do whatever is told is akin to expecting our Congress government of
"hataoing garibi". To expect him to do the work promptly is akin to expecting Sachin Tendulkar
to win a final.. it will happen sometimes but mostly not.

All these are just many of his antics that spice up the life here (and increase my BP sometimes). He can be trusted with the room keys, gets the food on time - esp imp in the morning, has taken a sick colleague to the hospital, got warm milk when I was down with severe cold, helped me get my clothes back from a useless dhobhi and has told me about the "Naarth Indian and Keralite" "Figures" (young female residents) that stay in another house besides our's.

He is now starting out with his own guest house and wants me to move there. He has "promised" me excellent service and is ready to take payment only after the first month. Knowing Barathi, I am staying put in the current place, but I can wish him all the best.

Jargon Ride

2009-01-10T16:40:00.003+05:30

Jargon Galore

As an MBA, jargon should be coming out of my ears and I know lots of people who love doing that. Now jargon are useful but over the past few months I have started finding it really amusing when people fit in one jargon-in every line they speak.
So while appending "business" (as in business process or business logic or for than matter even Business Analyst) is passe here are some of the "it" jargon I keep coming across

1. End-of-the-day: Now many people have been using this as "End-of-the-day..." but seriously, nothing happens at the end of the day, we just go home :)

2. Pipeline: Ah.. the favorite line of managers in IT, have been hearing this for years now..we have a strong pipeline of projects, when basically we might not have anything in hand right now and the future can be blamed on a strong engineering structure which although strong might be leaking

3. Leverage: I DON'T "USE" my expertise.. I"LEVERAGE" it :D, sometimes I just wish to leverage such people out of this world

4. problem statement: I DON'T understand "objectives".. I understand only "problem statements"

5. agile mode: Inspired from the agile methodology of software development, our bosses want us to work in the "agile" mode, which basically means I turn in his work super fast and not that I can run at 40 KMPH

6. touch-base: Now this one was a real shocker when I first heard a female senior manager use this.."I will touch base with him"..I mean touch what... base...?? base means bottom..touch what !!!! and there I thought whether it a series of levels in which one gets intimate with one's partner..first base..second base..touch base!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thankfully I realised quickly that it is just used to contact someone like maybe over the phone :D

7. deep-dive: I will NOT just study the finance sector, I will in fact "conduct a domain deep-dive" in the finance sector. As if, after a whole day spent googling, I will return to shore with pearls of knowledge like a deep sea diver. :D Once a document I prepared was not considered insightful enough to be considered a dive, so I just went ahead and named it a "dip" :D..ab samandar mein dive nahi mara toh kya hua...swimming pool mein dubki to lagaya

I request my readers to post their favorites. Cya until next post.

All in the family

2008-12-19T23:57:00.003+05:30

Mr. Ramalinga Raju...

1. WTF were you thinking?Satyam is not entirely tumhare baap ka theka that you can decide to use the cash box to buy your chunnu-munnu expensive goodies.

2. As an investor in your share, I am thinking of bailing out, although your organization has done amazingly well in the last 3 years to reach 50k employees and closing in on 2Billion$ revenues

3. As an employee working for your competitor, I am happy I dont work for you.

4. Expect to be royally scr#$ed over this by competition... the junta wont let u forget so soon and the competition wont let your customers forget for a long time

5. You were right when you said you didnt legally need shareholder approval, but lets see how you fare in the suit filed in US by Upaid.

6. Everyone is not an idiot to believe that Satyam was trying to diversify to hedge risks. Only a duffer will hedge IT against the realty sector in current times.

7. Even if realty sector made sense, why didnt you look outside Maytas, there are better realty and infra companies out there. Ofcourse then the investor's money wouldnt flow into your khandaan

8. Planning to return the Golden Peacock award for corporate excellence?

9. Almost all companies are trying to shore up on cash reserves to fight these uncertain times, but you decided to buy illiquid assets, even as you continue to lay off employees discreetly.

You bungled big time man!

Final Episode

2008-10-19T11:44:00.003+05:30

Part 3:

15 minutes of general bakar and I realize.... Subbu is trying to do his best in this situation.. no point bursting at him.....lets appreciate the guy for what he is doing... being part of the adventure..when he could have easily been sleeping away to glory.

Subbu thinks the car would have cooled sufficiently to move on... and ..... he is right!.. Phew!

On the mid way we stop and in chaste Tamil, Subbu addresses a burlesque man in lungi as "Sir" and asks directions. I am a lil taken aback.. of all people Subbu calls this person as "Sir"? But this has been a night of surprises and I decide not to probe this further...

5 more kms and we seem to be heading somewhere on our way.. and then the red light on dashboard again goes blink blink..another 10 min stop and we are on our way....now we have left the main road and have entered the suburbs of Chennai near Chrompet(which btw I learnt later is Jayanth's ilaakaa). The roads are good but not as grand as the main road and I have now started questioning our company HR's act of putting us in a guest house this far...

.....and then surprise surprise..... the car's indicator which for last hour has been in the "overheated zone" returns to normal... Subbu has no clue how and why this has happened...but I think the car was on my side ;)

We come across a police station and Subbu advises me to stay in the car... apparently the police station is buzzing with activity at night and which I think isn't an indicator of a calm and serene locality.

After his discussion with a constable, Subbu says we are still 5 kms away from our guest house...our company HR's map said the guest house was about 10 kms from the airport... and we felt like we had already travelled 15 :).. 5 more to go..

We come across a junction.. and out of nowhere there is big building with lights on all 7 floors...I wonder which company is this...having an office in such an out-of-the-way place...and working at this hour of the night.....and guess what... as we come closer...at the top of the building is the glowing title of my employers! And as it turns out, 2 days later I am told that out of the 15 buildings my employer has in chennai.. I will be sitting in this building...!

Rather than trying to fathom the reasons why our organization is having a presence here, I am just happy that at last we might come across sum1 who'd give us correct directions...

The security guard tells us we passed the street to the guest house a km back. Subbu zips around and we locate the turn we need to make...our map says.. take the 3rd right turn after that.. I count... 1...2...3.. and right... there is huge house there.... I get out...no sign of this being a guest house though!

We knock on the gate... beep the horn.... no response... this alley is absolutely deserted.... about 100 meters or so.. we see a light in the house...we drive till there.. and we can hear the TV .... we knock on the main gate... and dogs greet us with their barks...

We are half expecting a rude man/woman to come and reprimand us...but I think since I wouldn't understand a word of it in Tamil.. that would be Subbu's problem anyway :)

5 mintues of knocking and no one still turns up....as we return to the car... I see a man coming towards us on a bike.. I flag him down and I ask him the directions...

he replies saying... "Go straight... its just another 100 meters from here... and mind it...this is not an area where you are supposed to stay alone in the middle of the road alone!"

No wonder, no one in the house was responding...Oh man... I and Subbu.. rush into the car and zoom off to cover those 100 meters...

Clang Clang... we knock on the door.. wake up the security and guest house keeper... and we there............................We rejoice reaching our destination....!

After our biker friend's comments.. we make arrangments to keep Subbu and his car in the guest house rather than having a Season 2 of this adventure for the night...

"Aaah" is the only word I can say as I retire to the comforts of a fluffy bed in an AC room!

Chennai Post - Part 2

2008-10-08T22:37:00.001+05:30

Part 2:

The Story till this juncture:

1. First time in chennai for me, absolutely clueless about local language and city's geography
2. Carrying huge luggage, need to get to the guest house in an obscure part of the town
3. Guide: Vivekanand Subbaraman, pseduo Tam, my gracious host

I am now thinking.. "yaar he Subbu bhi na.. kabhi nahi sudhrega...how can he be so callous..."... just thinking.. not aloud... ;)

I think I and Subbu get along well.. because,somehow I manage to demonstrate extreme levels of patience with him

we stroll to the car park, his 800 appears sturdy.. looks like Subbu's father took good care of it before handing it to the (prodigal?) son

I remember Pheobe trying to break open a car lock in a FRIEND's episode.. so I and subbu... get down to trying out the same..

15 minutes into this effort and I am already sweating...take a glance at my watch...its almost past midnight..I have to be in office..first day reporting in a few hours.....aarrghh...again..not aloud... :D

We approach a taxi driver nearby and Subbu demonstrates his first useful skill.. his command of Tamil...and the driver demonstrates the general atitude of chennai people....polite and helpful...

The driver manages to get a thin long strip of metal and slides it between the glass and door..and then..click...and smiles all around...all this while I and subbu are holding our mobiles and ourselves at weird angles to shed mobile light on the car lock...

The driver refuses the tip for his kind (and timely) help.. and finally I and Subbu are on our way....

We take a left from the airport and onto the main road..we drive for about 10-15 minutes and then Subbu asks..hey show me the maps that your company hr sent as directions

I had mailed Subbu those diections and asked him to look up in google maps for more detailed instructions... I thought Subbu would have studied the way from airport to pallikaranai (my guest house), we would just need to ask a few directions and we would be home soon... ..............I was so WRONG!

I had got a printout of the directions.. and handed them to Subbu...who takes a look at it..(very likely for the first time) and cannot locate one familiar thing on the map...he says.."Arey yeh toh sirf Pallikaranai ka directions hai..what about the directions from airport...."

10 days after I had mailed him the directions...10 DAYS...Subbu asks me this question now...!!!

I manage to access my "patience back up no. 1" and smile beningly...and we decide to ask around for directions...a petrol pump guys tells him something in Tamil and Subbu turns back.. all that 15 min drive was in the wrong direction.....

So we continue on the road...its chennai..shops have shut hours before and there are hardly people on the road....and I have no idea if I am gonna make it soon to the guest house...

The weather seems to be pleasant.. and roads are wide and good.. and we seem to be making good progress...when.. the red light on the dash board glares at us...I had forgotten the cooling mechanism conking off part...

We pull over to a dark corner on an abandoned road...no sight of people or buses or cabs around... I am stuck with Subbu!

End of Part 2-------------

Chennai Post - Part 1

2008-10-04T16:13:00.003+05:30

Part-1
My first post from Chennai.
Away from blogging for more than 2 months.. let us bame that on no access in office and no internet connection at home and that weekends were spent savoring gastronomic delights across the town.
Ramesh (of the Kumar Vadlamani fame) has left for hyderabad to shop for his wedding (happening in last week of October), and I am left alone for the first time. So let’s update our pals who have been pestering me with “how is Chennai”
For someone who has stayed all 25 yrs of his life in Mumbai and Goa, our employer said ...It’s time to take a look at the beaches on Bay of Bengal ocean as well... and so I landed in chennai on 15th July.
and the excitement started even before I came....
Prelude:
1 week to departure:
Subbu: Arey I will come and pick you up at the airport...I have my car here.. we can manage your luggage...you never know with the pre paid taxi guys.. they might ask you even more money at the end of the trip..pehli baar aa raha hai.. lemme pick you up... just book a late evening ticket.. so I can come to airport after office and there won’t be much traffic.
Brijesh: Books Air India flight @ 6 PM

Movie begins:
1 day to departure:
Brijesh:ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Phone RIngs...
Brijesh: Who the F%^&!
answers phone..
Phone: I am calling from Air India.. your 6 Pm flight is postponed to 8.30 PM
Brijesh: damn.. then I'll reach there only by 10.30-11 PM.. and I have to report to office at 9 AM.

Tickets booked.. so no other option left..some packing left.. so cant take the morning flights...

I take 8.30 PM flight...reach @ 11..PM collect baggage by 11.30..PM is relieved to find Vivekanand (Subbu) at the arrival lounge in (NITIE T-shirt.)

Subbu: Hey man.. Welcome to Chennai..flight thoda late hua...hmmm...
Brijesh:.. Ya man.. take off and landing delays...

Brijesh: (thinking to himself): Chennai does not appear as hot as every1 was saying...

Subbu: Hey..Do you wanna hear the bad news or the worse news?
Brijesh: (knows Subbu well for 2 yrs..can expect this from him on a regular basis). Tell me the worse news.
Subbu: I had gone for a very long drive yesterday and the car’s cooling mechanism conked off.
Brijesh: OK so lets take a cab then..
Subbu: No I went to the mechanic.. he has done some temporary repairs.. said it is good enough to drive for 5 kms..so let us take our chances.
Subbu must have already driven his car for more than 5 kms just to reach the airport. Ab car le kar aaya hi hai. Toh cant leave it here..so we decide to take our (and the car’s) chances.
Subbu:.. And the bad news…
Brijesh: hmm.. ya?
Subbu:.. I left my car keys inside the car and the doors are locked!
--- End of Part 1 ------------

Sarkar Raj

2008-06-23T12:46:00.004+05:30

RGV shares a trait with Dan Brown, of riveting story telling. They are able to amalgamate bits of facts with lot of masala fiction. He has done it skillfully in Company, Ab tak chappan and Sarkar. Sarkar Raj is an encore.

The mercurial Nagre household portrayal based on the Thackeray family is carried over from the earlier episode. Additionally this one has an analogy of Subhash Nagre’s mentor to how Gandhiji used to lead the Indian freedom movement from the remote Sevagram ashram. It seems for special effects RGV picked Dilip Prabhavalkar who is fresh in junta’s mind as Gandhiji from Munnabhai movie.

For reasons unknown, this movie has received more than its fair share of flak. I guess we can clearly see how people like SRK churn up farcical stuff while the media sings paeans to his 6-pack. This one is definitely worth a multiplex watch for following reasons:

1. Crisp editing: Not even once did I get bored.

2. No dancing around the trees/ swimming pools/shaadi-baraat/foreign location songs.

3. Suppressed melodrama: Especially the scene where Ash cries in anguish.

4. The final twist in the tale

Rating: 3/5

Joggers Park Musings

2008-06-10T15:59:00.003+05:30

I have just moved back to Thane and my parents are tired of seeing me dozing away in the bed at 9 AM. To show that their son is a “aadnyadhaari putra” , I started frequenting the joggers park in thane. Here are my observations on some special species found there. Kindly note, such parks abound in Mumbai suburbs and you are will find similar species everywhere.

1. Television Yoga fans: They will practice 5 different Pranayam exercises and each one accompanied by 10 different sounds you have never heard before. You will wonder what part of their body these are sounds coming from. Some pros look like they are all set to win the “I-am-a-cycle-pump” championship.

2. Get Slim fast types: Very likely to be fresh members at the park. They have been “advised” to take up brisk walking in order to (briskly) lose weight. They want to transform from Rambha-ish to Kareena-ish figure in 20 days flat. Favorite exercise is stomping off for 10 rounds in the park. Once they start marching you are best advised to stay off their course. Anything and everything that comes across them will be crushed. P.S: I am still recovering from my last week’s encounter.

3. HA-HA-HO-HO types: Will generally be made up of uncles. Thankfully aunties are more decorum prone. Laughter is definitely a nice medicine but the following problems occur:

1. The sight of sober people inflicted by reasonless laughter bouts is absolutely amusing.

2. As all non-laughter club members see this sight and knowingly smirk at each other, our laughing dudes are encouraged to spread the cheer even more loudly.

3. Competing clubs! You will be subjected to a Jugal-Bandi between the laughing gharanas.

4. We-Love-Vada-Pav: These people will spend 10 minutes strolling across the park before they queue up to gobble down Vada-Pav(s), trebling their calorie intake. I guess their guilt is easily stifled unlike others sweating it out for hours.

5. The jogger dudes and babes: They too are fresh entrants to the circus. Easily spotted with new Nike/Adidas/Reebok shoes, Nike/Adidas/Reebok hair-band, Nike/Adidas/Reebok sweat bands, and I-pod clipped to the T-Shirt sleeve, they are straight out of some Sports magazine cover. 5 minutes into their jog and they realist the futility of spending up on all this attire, coz the parks in mumbai are just not wide enuf for people to jog. If they are lucky they can jog a round by chanting "excuse me" every 2 steps as they wriggle through the maze of junta. If they are not lucky, they WILL bump into some senior lady and be driven away by choicest expletives.

Top 10 myth busters for Go-Goa Tourists!

2008-05-30T18:39:00.005+05:30

1.The natives in Goa are “G.O.A.N”s!!! not “goanese”. Yeh Japan nahi ha baba!

2. There are more Hindus in Goa than Christians. It is NOT a "Maaka-Pav" state.

3. The booze is cheaper than in Mumbai, but your stomach has a capacity of less than 1 liter!

4. All beaches are NOT connected. If you continue walking along the beach, you will NOT reach the other end of goa, as you plan to brag about later. All that would happen is you would have reached 3 km away from your favorite shack where your pals are busy getting sloshed.

5. The foreigners have come on a vacation; they have not traveled this far just to pose with you in your photos, you want to show off back home.

6. Just because you are in Goa,the definition of bewda doesn’t change. If you are sloshed, you are a bewda!

7. It’s Goa, Not your cow belt! So don’t crib “Yahan paneer ki dish achi nahi banti”

8. Beware of clicking snaps of skimply clad angez females. They are generally accompanied by tagada boyfriends!

9. Putting temporary black tattoos is by no means Goan culture, so don’t stop your daily bath, just to show off that tattoo back home as proof of your visit to Goa.

10. The flea markets near Anjuna are there to fleece the foreign tourists. As an Indian, you are advised to be fleeced in Fashion Street or Connaught Place.

The god men in our lives: The divine and the not so divine part of it

2008-05-11T22:24:00.002+05:30

It is in human nature to continuously take challenges and excel. It is this nature that has been responsible for the survival of our species. And it is in the throes of these challenges that we need to believe, we need to have faith.

In those unnerving moments before exam results are out, before cracking that first deal for one’s own business and before Sachin walks out to chase that 300 plus score against Australia, we hope, we believe, that there is that force that will provide the impetus for that 99% marks, for that Rs. 25 lakh deal, for that elusive finals victory.

But what is this belief? In whom should we believe? The Greater being or the intermediaries like saints,swamis,babas and gurus or both? The answer is: it really doesn’t matter. What works for me, works for me, what works for you, works for you! I believe in God, in the omnipresent form of Allah, Jesus and Krishna (in alphabetical order), as much as you believe in Swami _______, and Tom Cruise believes in Scientology.

As long as our beliefs continue to make us strive for our good, the community’s good, such belief is desired. The problem starts when such beliefs start pushing us towards the realm of irrational ism, towards the bosom of superstition.

The men, who indoctrinate us on the belief in the Greater being, show their human fallacies ever so often, and many times so ridiculously.

I went to Thane’s only co-ed convent school presided over by a Padre. And it is here on the church’s wall that every December I used to find those posters on “miracle congregations”. These gatherings of faith, where supposedly the blind regained sight, and more such miracles. 12 years in that school and not a single documented incident of such “miracle”.

Then we had that incident where Lord Ganesh idols were “drinking” milk. As spoonfuls of milk sold outside these temples reached astronomical prices, we all know for who the “miracle” was.

Baba R’s popularity from preaching on simple yoga exercises helped him reach a cult status. And although we have had internationally renowned yoga experts long before him, Baba R is a much better showman, better at reaching out and connecting with the masses. I have benefited a lot from his exercises, but his claims of yoga curing cancer and aids are sheer nonsense. It is this publicity for yoga against allopathic medicine that will prevent the patients from getting themselves treated until it might be too late.

There are many god men (and god women) who proudly flaunt their industrialist and politician bhakts. But their worship might not be as much spiritual as it might be influential. Check out Madhur Bhandarkar’s “Corporate” to understand this godmen-industrialist-politician alignment (nexus might be the right word).

And we all know where did Chandraswami’s advice lead Narsimha Rao to? A CBI Investigation!

My favorite aunt visits one such Baba’s camps. She says she has the most relaxing feeling after participating in such camps. I want the very best for my aunt, but along with the relaxation come stacks of shockingly priced MP3 CDs on shloks, garishly colored bead malas, posters and so many such paraphernalia.

She must have spent about a lakh rupees on such camps. And she is new convert here. There will be thousands before her. Where does all this money go? Some of it apparently finds its ways in the much publicized hospitals, schools and colleges. But whether these hospitals and engineering/medical colleges are a philanthropic activity or just money making avenue is something that is not that publicized.

One of my school friend’s worships another such cult guru and it has brought in him some very desirable spiritual attributes. But he now interacts mostly within that mass group only. The group is full of educated professionals and they are resourceful. My friend has got a job in reputed IT firm through this association and this association has also helped him and his sibling in getting suitable life partners. The flip side is such benefits are seemingly enjoyed only by members who are followers of this guru. Signs of favoritism?

Let us enjoy such tangible as well as the intangible benefits of following our beliefs in those we worship. But let’s spend a moment every now and then, thinking about how it all happens.

Tashan Ve.. Tashan Ve.. Tashan Ve.. Tashan Ve..!!

2008-04-27T15:16:00.002+05:30

What do you get when you put 15 NITIEans together in a movie theater? 15 opinions, 10 ratings as gtalk status and 5 movie reviews on the blogs. And so it happened with Tashan, as people bored with IPL descended onto the 24 Karat multiplex in Jogeshwari.

The following is the rating from our in-house (read as in-hostel) experts. So while Khalid Mohammed starts sending out his resume, the verdict came out as follows: Viji > 1.5/5, Killi > 2/5, Atlee > 2.5, Brijesh > 3.

With due respect to their opinions (in your dreams :P), here’s how and why I rate this movie.
This movie is about style. “When the packaging is so good, no one cares what’s inside”. Kotler didn’t say this under his 7Ps of marketing, but so says Joey about himself in a Friends episode. This movie is about that..Tashan..Style.

The reason why this movie has been trashed around is the silly story line. The movie basically has very low substance. But the winner for me here is its style, its packaging. The director has spent effort in styling the outcome and it shows. It shows in the dialogues, it shows in the attire, it shows in the camerawork, and it shows up awesomely in the music. The style quotient is present right through the movie and not just on the posters or in the movie trailers on cable TV.
The director has given due attention to the details that make the Style impact. It includes the red hair coloring of Bhayyaji (Anil Kapoor) similar to what my barber from UP sports, as well as the cycle that Anil kapoor rides a la Betaaj Badshah. The eye-wear Anil flaunts is so typical of the goggles you find at Dadar station. Was director Acharya playing to the front row, audience? I think not. He has depicted the Tashan wise aspirations of our brethren hailing from places like Kanpur, and then taken it a step further by packaging it to make a style statement.

The highlights include the opening scene with switching music in a speeding car, making almost everyone wonder..”WTF is going on?”, just enough to glue you to your seat from the word go. Even the narration just before the interval kept me eagerly waiting for the action to restart. The 9 masked Akki’s entry as Ravan with Hanuman riding pillion, on an LML scooter to reach the Ram leela show, is nothing short of being hilarious. It strangely resembled how I and Kaiser reached the movie, bumping through the railway tracks of Jogeshwari. Akki just rocks on in his rustic mode especially in the scene where he stares as kareena rips her jeans into shocking shorts.

The word “Style” keeps cropping up in this review, because that’s what this movie is about. It has little content, but I have seen too many content rich movies lately and they leave me unsatisfied.

Are people over criticizing Tashan? Definetly not. The emotional turn and the climax are superficial. The fight scenes are ridiculous. And characters like inspector hooda and Bhayyaji’s cronies are sore fillers. This movie could have been treated much better, if the script work was given an engaging content.

The rating is derived from 1.5 for Akki + 1 for the music + 0.5 for the superb eye-candy called Kareena Kapoor.
Verdict: The focus is clearly on presenting a visual and audio enticement. I am enticed. I am going to watch it again.

A little more sugar please......

2008-04-22T19:33:00.000+05:30

I like to tell stories. I like to be told stories even more. And that’s why I like movies that tell a nice story. Hope and a Little Sugar is nice story, but it has not been well told.

Tanuja Chandra has 3 strong characters in this movie, Amit Sial playing a budding photographer, Anupam Kher as father of an NRI played by Vikram Chatwal, and Mahima Chaudhary, a confectioner married to Vikram. Tanuja weaves the lives of these three around the despair struck from the 9/11 attacks.

Both Anupam and Mahima are first grade, as is the background score. The director impinges the ’92 riots and the 9/11 attacks to entail the spirit of hope. And the sugar in this movie is that she does this without preaching.

Where this movie disappoints is in telling the story. It simplistically proceeds from a demanding situation to a hope-filled one. Just Too simple for a movie. It leaves you with an incomplete feeling, incomplete in the middle.

The movie is definite play on emotions, but the director needed to spend a lot more reels on them. She might have wanted to avoid the banal emotional tugs, but she has overdone it. The background matter is such that there had to be at least two or three moments that could have made an impact. But everything just passes serenely.

Although the movie is crisp duration wise, the director could have easily avoided random ramblings on Anupam Kher’s past as a Colonel as well as the whole photographer angle on Amil Sial. The character of the confectioner needed to be more developed, a la “Chocolat” style, but that’s a very personal opinion because I had a crush on Mahima and found her intoxicating like aged wine.

Verdict: Worth a watch on your DVD player, not worth multiplex viewing.

Rating:2.5/5

My Filling Time

2008-04-19T16:43:00.001+05:30

Food for Thought
My address is about to change in about a month now. It’s been a filling stay at NITIE for me and everyone else from the management batch of 2008. People who disagree need to just check their old snaps or the new trousers with extra waist they bought for their summer/winter internship.
So where did I hog? What did I like? Read on to know more just in case you’ll be around to try these places.

1. Mess1-2: Awesome time when it was monthly bill-unlimited food. 4 times a day, 7 days a week, Casserole after Casserole of Medu vadas, uttapas, Parathas, omelettes, flowed through the sea of hungry and vella students. Breakfast and Snacks were the highlights. The lunch and dinner were good enough for that price but lost the zing once we found other avenues. No great ambiance, but one doesn’t look at that when one has pals to chat (read bitch) around with.

2. Mess3-4: As good (or as bad) as Mess1-2, but made smacking Chole Baturas.

3. IIT Midnight Mess: As long as u could jugaad some company (easily available) and a bike with 2 spoons of petrol(very difficult), our neighbors across the lake served value for money food. The options range from Chinese to Udipi fast food and a smattering of fresh shakes and juices. Will cost you 1/8th of the only other option: Midnight buffets @ Rodas.

4. Shiv Sagar: Decent Food, decent price. Nothing great. Junta came up here for just for options. Gadbad Ice cream is a reco here , with 3 ice cream scoops and jelly it really is an indulgence.

5. Srishti: This was like an extended mess. You were bound to bump into at least 30 other batch mates on any day. Nothing distinctive for the veggies apart from the well steamed Dal Khichdi. Non Veggies could feast on the chicken delicacies. Tandoori Chicken in very popular, though my reco is the well grilled, succinctly spiced Chicken Tikka.

6. Thambhi: A very late discovery for me. Tucked away towards Chandivali, this Tam eatery is a nice cozy place. Refreshingly different menu from the “North Indian – Paneer” clones, it’s very easy on the wallet. My reco is the Grilled Potatoes. Excellently sautéed.

7. NH1: Stipend rich junta ka popular watering hole. Came into prominence during summers. Decent ambiance, slightly cramped space, but enough privacy. This is slightly premium priced. Avoid the soups, go order the chicken/mutton kebabs. Decent place to enjoy drinks if accompanied by female crowd. For teetotalers, don’t miss out on the “Death by Chocolate”. Unlike CCD or Mochas, this is a concoction and sinful to the last drop. Though after a couple of trips, you’ll realize the menu is limited.

8. Spirit: Near JB Nagar on the Andheri road. Drinks are reasonably priced and much better place than the shadier Krishna Bar outside NITIE. He will also stock the apple flavored vodka you have heard about, unlike some other “up” places. The chakna of boiled peas dowsed in lime-onion serving is this place's USP. My reco is Chesse Aloo corn Tikki. Very well done, not too oily and very filling, perfect accompaniment with a Kingfisher/Budweiser. Be here on a premier league night. They have 2 large TV screens.

9. Curry Twist: Arguably the best veggie food this side of Andheri. It’s pricey, but it’s worth it. The roti basket is actually a fine collage unlike so many other places just out to fleece you for serving a plastic basket. Offers different cuisines but a limited offering under each. Their “Chutney wale Aloo” will satisfy you as much as the salads and the pastas. The deserts though are NOT awesome.

10. Chakra: A related concern of Curry Twist, shares same rating food/drink wise. It appears to be slightly less expensive than the Curry Twist, maybe for its lesser glamorous ambiance.

11. Maharaja (saki naka): Food/Drinks are okay-ish. I didn’t find anything novel in the menu offerings and nothing grand about the food either. But the seating offers a setting for a quiet conversation.

12. Sujata Palace: This Sujata had a special place in the hearts of many its fans from two of this country’s premier education institutes, IIT n NITIE. These fans observed a 2 min silence as obeisance when this place was razed for road widening. Cheap place for good drinks. It stocked almost every1’s choice. But more importantly it had good and reasonable priced grub. Very cramped up AC section. You were likely to shock yourself for having placed your arm on a complete stranger’s shoulder for past two hours, as much as he would be to find he had been eating from your plate.

13. Pizza Hut: You know the food, its standard. Expect to find a 100 people waiting outside the Powai joint. The one in JB Nagar is generally not as crowded.

14. Smoking Joe’s: Delivered almost an hour after you called them up, had a tendency of leaving me hungry on exam nites, but offered free if one got really upset at them. Subbu has me and Smokin Joes to blame for all the trousers that won’t fit him now. My reco is the simpler ones like Tandoori Paneer and the Grilled Chicken.

15. Pop Tates: I Love the décor of this place. Very different, very young feel about it. Cocktails are good. Mickey and Donald is one kiddo sounding drink but they make it well there. Decent music, a smoky yet comfortable ambiance, a din in the air but doesn’t prevent you from making a decent convo. Grab a suitable seat to catch the sporting events. They make a decent pizza, enjoi the Al-fredo Pasta (creammmmmyyyyy) as well as the Lasagna. The fresh mango mousse, I tried last week was very light and not at all too sweet.

Other places I didn’t frequent but were equally popular are Krishna Bar, Sai Palace, Gurukripa, JK, Dominoes, Sub way, Archies, Mochas, Kobes, Yokos, Bread Talk, Great Punjab, Sheesha, Happy Singh.

These were the places I went to and that form a critical artifact of my fond memories I carry from these two years.

Happy Munching! Cheers!

The Following is a work of total fiction... any resemblance to truth is merely co-incidental

2008-04-18T21:07:00.000+05:30

A day in the Life of a NITIE Student

“Beep Beep Beep!” goes my alarm at 7 AM. Just two hours of sleep but this has become a habit now. I pull apart the shades and the beautiful Powai Lake lies serene. The crimson red rays of the rising sun reflect back from the shimmering waters. A jog seems perfect at this hour. My buddies Sharad and Meenakshi join in. We greet each other with drowsy looks but decide to jog to Vihar Lake. As we huff and puff up the hill, a cool breeze brushes past us and birds chirp across the rustling trees and the manicured lawns.

In thirty minutes we are back at the mess, to be enticed at the sight of steaming idlis and butter laden Aloo Parathas. Two cups of strong coffee kick in, just to remind me of a Marketing Case Study Presentation. A quick bath and up the “96 steps of excellence” to the Academics building. The professor digs in hard at the concepts and knowing the reputation of this Prof., there are no airy fairy “strategies”. She wants water tight recommendations with a strong reasoning. Thankfully she is satisfied with my work and I manage a wry smile.

The next lecture is by a Supply Chain Management professor of international repute. I sit with bated breath as he grills the girl in front about the chinks in the supply chain of an FMCG giant. The guy next to her is quizzed on changes in VAT effective in the new budget. If he turns to me I’ll have to blabber what I glanced through in the Economic Times last evening, and which I am sure will push me from the frying pan into the fire. I make a mental note of studying that topic before the next class. Thankfully the guy in question is well read for the lecture and the rest of it passes peacefully.

Post Lunch, I rush for the quiz in Accounting. Seeing multiple choice questions I manage a chuckle. But that was the last time I smiled that hour. The options turn out to be excruciatingly close. I am sweating profusely as minutes tick by. A glance across the room reveals a similar state amongst my all engineer batch mates. I am able to scrape through a few answers just before the professor collects the sheets with a sadist looking smile.

It’s now time for my foreign language course. I am not able to decide whether I love this course for the love of the language or for the attractive French instructor. Almost time for dinner and the mess is buzzing with Junta. I have a light meal but the sumptuous gulab jamuns make me drowsy. I head to the reading room which is filled with students validating the causes of today’s market crash aired on CNBC. Sharad walks in with Tennis racquets and I can’t resist the temptation. It’s just past midnight when we finish our game.

As I lumber to my room, thinking about a full night’s sleep, I am buzzed on my cell. Meenakshi announces a meeting to freeze the new editions of MBALive, our magazine that reaches out to corporate honchos and MBA students across the country. Over cups of cold coffee the junta comes up with one innovative idea after other. We are able to wind up only at 3:45 AM. All the banter has left us famished. Some Hakka noodles and juice at the night canteen save us.

As I finally step back into my room, I can only think about the three hours to go before another fascinating day starts @ NITIE.

Vigorcat goes to "Khuda Ke Liye"

2008-04-06T02:01:00.000+05:30

Any Movie that makes you ruminate after “The end” deserves a recommendation.In the genre of movies like Swades, Rang de Basanti, this one too touches a social chord.

The plot revolves around the twists and turns in the lives of related but geographically dispersed Pakistanis around the time of 9/11.The impact faced as wide and far across as Lahore, Chicago and London forms the binding root of the social message being passed on through this movie.

The director creates many moments where it would have been very easy to keep scratching at the causes of problems faced by Pakistanis. He could easily have provided a quick bang wham solution to win over the whistles from the front row crowds. But showing exemplary restraint the movie pulls along without sermonizing.

The court scenes although predictably too argumentative, seem a necessary evil in such movies attempting to drive a socially relevant message. This movie does exactly that and does it succinctly with a tonge-in-cheek jibes at the omnipresent hypocrisies around us .

The characterization is crisp, staying away from banal justifications for the character’s orientation. The use of flash forward at the start keeps the user glued in just long enough to grasp the theme and focus on the subtleties.

The movie has excellent music woven into it without a hint of over emotion. It appreciates the viewers’ intelligence and knowledge on contemporary issues.

Good Performances from the lead characters and a clap inducing cameo from Naserrudin Shah make the movie a pleasure to watch.

Being released at a time when we aren’t in any new direct confrontation with the Pakis, each viewer can realize a newer nuance to how this story could well have been about us.

Director/Writer Shoiab Mansoor deserves the accolades the movie has won.

I sign off with a happy feeling , however hoping I had heard more of the “Allah Allah” track………..

Quarter Life Musings

2008-03-31T20:54:00.000+05:30

My Dreams soar
so high so far
My Thoughts roar
like unhranessed lightning streak
from the middle of the ocean
to the top of the mounts
they stay not just whizz across
I know not where they taketh me
I pray, I cry
Coz I fear I'll stumble
and soaring again nay possible;

I see others
going this way and that
and most seem doomed to me
but standing put aint solving it for me
So I move on
wherever the gust paves along
prodding pensively at each turn
hoping and crying and praying
coz I aint forlorn
not just yet.

Life as an MBA student

2007-04-17T17:26:00.000+05:30

I am in first year MBA course @ NITIE, powai. 99 % of my thoughts now revolve around my activities in NITIE and it is the biggest influence in my life currently..for proof you can check my receding hairline :)

Getting into itself was an emotional roller coaster..first a disappointing CAT exam followed by a surprisingly high score followed by rejection from some desired institutions until smmoth sailing into NITIE.
Junta like me who took a sabbatical from the throbbing IT industry will always wonder @ the back of the mind, if they are missing out. As time goes, the acceptability of the decision increases.

First semester was a breeze, didnt get along with few seniors and heavily disagreed with some of their philosophy and still do!
As has been the case, took lot of time to adjust in the new environment. Summers came and I got a taste of my "academic acheivements" or more appropiately the lack of it. In NITIE, I have lot of people with excellent academic background and these people deflated my carefully built ego. Exams turned up out of nowhere and I was struggling to scrape through.....!

Havoc and Mayhem as marks started coming through and again another ride of "The magnanimous Emotinal Roller coaster". As dust settled, and lots of focus in mind, I have tried to mend the damage through 2nd and third quarter...
Have had decent success against some of the more academically inclined people and for the moment I do not languish @ the bottom of the heap!

Now I am into my summer internship.... very cheerful in the beginning, however the mood mellowed down as a fellow intern got a windfall of doing his project in Brazil.
The mind says project is project, my proffesionalism doesnt need frills like international locations, the heart meanders for the halo of international assignements.

Moral of the story....: its gonna be one emotional ride!