In My Humble Opinion

Movie Review - Rockstar

2011-11-14T09:54:00.001+05:30

If youare going to watch an Imtiaz Ali movie, you can be sure of two things

An unlikely love story which leads to a poor guy (the husband) ending up as the loser
Great Music

Oh no,make that three, how could I forget the beautiful Delhi locales.

Ok nowtime for the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good: Ranbir Kapoor, I mean, I neverthought I would ever like this guy's acting; who made his debut with Sanwariyaand went on to act in Azab Prem ki Gazab Kahani, but he really impresses inthis one

The Bad: Sadly, Nargis Fakri, she is wooden inmost of the scenes and when she is not, she is overacting. And yes the length of the movie, some of thesegments really seem stretched

The Ugly The Strange : Well the editing, really lookstoo ambitious, at times

Acting:

WellRanbir Kapoor is definitely the STAR in this one, ok make that co-star, withRehman's music turning out to be just asawesome. About Ranbir first, his actingreally says a lot about the potential that this guy has, I mean the transitionfrom the innocent, vulnerable, insecure, wannabe Jakhad to the rebellious,impetuous, reticent Jordan speaks volume about the guy's talent; especially thesequence where his conversation with his manager by the roadside really bringsout that bit nicely. Only if NargisFakri, could have been a quarter as good as him it would have lent a different depth to the character sufferingfrom a terminal disease and Ranbir wouldn’t have been left shouldering themovie alone.

Music

And whatto say about the MUSIC. A.R. Rehmancomes out and shows the world what he is made of. To be honest, the music sounded goodinitially but nothing too great and then it grew on me and after watching themovie, you just start appreciating it on a new level. Aside from the usual, 'Sadda Haq' and 'NadanParindey' which are brilliant in themselves, do listen to 'Kun Faaya Kun',awesome song this one!

Others

Thestoryline and direction of this movie are definitely like a breath of freshair, especially in the way a love story has been treated. However, I do have my grouse with the lengthof the movie and the unnecessarily longish bits. Something that is interesting/strange aboutthe movie is the editing. It is, tooradical and may leave the ordinary movie goer scratching his head at times, andsometimes seems to lend the movie a different depth.

All said and done,

All inall, do watch the movie, irrespective of the reviews and feedbacks that you mayget from others, because I believe this movie holds so much at different levelsand you never know what may click with you.

Osama and Bollywood

2011-05-02T23:27:00.003+05:30

Since everything today is about the death of Osama, what if the top directors of bollywood decide to make a movie on Osama, here is what it would be like...

Yash Chopra

The film will revolve around how Obama once romanced Osama's wife (in a shifone burkha, of course) in the Swiss Alps. And then when Osama realizes how he has gotten between their love, he decides to call Obama and give his life away.

Karan Johar

Pretty much the same story, but ending would be different. And then one day Obama gets a call from her, and she tells him where Osama is hiding. Karan will also name his movie, Kkya Kya Ho Gaya!!

Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Will skip the topic of Osama altogether and make a film on his mother

Ram Gopal Verma

There is no D-company connection of Osama, right?? So sorry, Ramu wont make a movie on this

Manmohan Desai (incidently this will also be the plot of Jeffrey Archer's novel)

The movie will be about how Obama and Osama were born to the same parents and then get separated during the Hawaian carnival or Dubai shopping festival. Once Osama is killed, his military chief brings him the locket that Osama was holding in his hand when he died, and it would have their parents' picture.

Subhash Ghai

This will show Osama breaking into a song and dance routine (Obama nahi Osama hoon mai, …..) and the closing sequence will have Subhash Ghai leading the assault force (yukkkkk)

Ashutosh Gowarikar

Well he will just make it so long that nobody will even bother to watch it

Aamir Khan

Will grow his beard for 2 years and then will go hide in Tora-Bora mountains for the publicity of the film.

Sunny Deol

You know the plot to this one, don’t you?? Well yeah, yeah !! Sue me for being predictable!! Sunny Paaji will go and rip apart all the handpumps in Pakistan until he finds Osama hiding beneath one of them.

Mahesh Bhatt

Finally Mahesh Bhatt will be able to cast paki actors wid a valid reason

Suraj Barjatya

...and Suraj Barjatya will show Bush, Obama, Osama and Saddam as part of a joint family living under the same roof with Manmohan Singh playing 'Prem'

Tale of Three Cities - The Traffic Cop

2010-10-07T09:09:00.005+05:30

There is a lot that you can tell about a city by looking at its traffic cops. The way he gestures the traffic to stop, and more importantly to move on, how he chides errant drivers, and last but not the least how he simply stands there holding his wireless set in his hand, it almost mirrors the way the entire city goes about its job and life.

Last few months on the job have taken me around the country, (Ok, if not the country but atleast the golden quadrilateral), given me an opportunity to observe the different ways in which various cities go about their daily lives, and how they influence the style of working of people in seemingly same types of jobs, for example traffic cops.

Take for example how they signal the traffic to keep moving; look closely at a Kolkatan traffic sergeant and it would seem as if he is gently coaxing the traffic to move on just like a shepherd guides his herd; calm, patient and poised. Move westward and the Mumbaiya traffic policeman would seem like a puppet-master who seems to be guiding the motions of the traffic like puppets, confident, business-like and in-control. Move up and try analyzing the motions of a Dilli police walla, and here you will come across someone who is rough, smacks of authority and impatient; it looks like as if he is slapping the vehicles from one side of the junction to the other.

Or maybe you might want to observe them when they are standing idly while waiting for a VIP convoy to pass. A Dilli police wallah, with his khakhi shirt barely tucked into his trousers (which he pulls up every now and then), who thinks he has seen (and will see) a thousand such cavalcades, and couldn't care less, stands there, scratching his crotch and waiting for the whole tamasha to get over as soon as possible. On the other end of the spectrum is the Kolkata traffic sergeant, dressed sharply in his all-white uniform and black boots, with sunglasses firmly in place, scolding errant jaywalkers who dare to cross the rope meant to hold back pedestrians. And then there is the Mumbai policeman who keeps a weary eye both on the halted traffic as well as the empty road, ready to snap a smart salute to the dignitaries travelling in the convoy.

Probably, a traffic policeman is not the right way to go about judging a city, or so a lot of people would claim; But is he not? I ask you, shaped by the combined behavior of each one of us who stops, and passes by a traffic junction, at times breaking the law, jumping the RED light, at times obeying it, moving on with the GREEN light, and sometimes flirting with it.

P.S: Before any motives or intentions are ascribed to the author, I would like to declare that I prefer to call myself a Dilliwala, have been in love with the city (if not its people) for as long as I can remember. Bombay (I prefer calling it that) is a city I respect (I don't think I can ever have a more intimate relationship than that with the city). And Kolkata is my latest crush, just can't stop gushing about anything and everything in this city.

P.P.S. - Didn't write about Chennai in this post, as the memories of the place seem to be fading away, expect the next blog post to be a 'Tale of Four Cities', once I come back from Chennai.

Movie Review - Dabangg

2010-09-12T15:46:00.003+05:30

The Good- Almost everything. There is never a dull moment in the entire movie

The Bad - The opening sequence, it would have been better off as a flashback.

The Marketing - Before I talk about the plot or the technicals or the acting, I think it's more important to talk about the marketing of this movie. Very honestly, I don't think Salman Khan has done anything drastically different from what he has been doing for the last many movies of his. Just that this one has been very smartly positioned and established as a fun and light movie, and somehow Salman's one liners or gimmicks no longer look cheap or vulgar. And every possible effort has been made to connect Salman with his traditional fan base, be it through him donning the 'Gamchcha' or the extras wearing the 'Taqiyah' (traditional Muslim cap). I think what Abhinav Kashyap has done for Salman in this movie is equal (if not more) to what Barjatya did through 'Maine Pyaar Kiya' and 'Hum Aapke Hai Kaun'. Suddenly Salman is no longer the hero of the masses, he is much bigger, a true entertainer who makes light hearted movies for wholesome entertainment of the classes as well.

The Plot - Well, to clear a few things upfront, this movie definitely won't win the Oscar for the plot, but then the makers of the movie never wanted it that way. To the credit of the writers and the screenwriters there is never a dull moment in the entire movie, and I mean it, the ENTIRE movie. At places it does gives you the feeling as if things are running a bit too fast, but then that's the idea, to keep the movie short so as to keep the urbane audience happy with the short and light hearted stuff and give the 'Masala' punch for the audience of the heartlands. One must really give it to the director and the scriptwriter that the very same elements that have been used for time immemorial in Bollywood movies have been used again without the audience even realizing that they are being dished out similar stuff.

The Technicals - I think this is one place where the movie is nothing short of brilliant. Be it in the 'Action Sequences' which do give the impression of being a bit 'Rajnikant-esque' in their execution, or the background score where it seems the director has tried to put in a bit of the Scorsese element in his movie, all of it has been used in the ideal manner without giving the impression that it has been overdone or over the top.

The Acting - Well as I said earlier, what Salman has done in this movie is pretty much similar to what he has been doing for a long time, but somehow he just looks more likable in this one. And how can any review of this movie be complete without a mention of Sonakshi Sinha. I would be the first one to acknowledge that she doesn't pack in the oomph (no pun intended) unlike other current hotties in Bollywood, but there is something about her presence on the screen that makes her a treat to watch.

Verdict - I have never seen a movie twice, not on the big screen atleast, but this one is going to be an exception.

P.S.- It is not as if the entire movie is a light hearted 'leave your brains at home' stuff. There is a bit of political commentary in it as well if you listen closely to Anupam Kher's speech. And those familiar with politics of Uttar Pradesh will find that his character bears uncanny resemblance to Lalji Tandon.

Movie Review - Lafangey Parindey

2010-08-21T23:03:00.003+05:30

The Good - The umpteen number of smart ass comments throughout the movie, some of which are 'mildly entertaining' at best. However, I am sure the movie will go on to establish 'One Shot Nandu' as an awards category for Bollywood Awards.

The Bad- Abysmal acting, no story, and I could go on and on and on

The Ugly - The 'overenthu' guy who handled camera for this movie

The Plot - Plot, what is that? No honestly, I didn't even find as much as an iota of a storyline in the movie. Though I know that I said that this is a spoiler free review, but honestly I don't know how, even if I wanted, I could have told you anything about the movie that you haven't already guessed after watching the promos. Honestly someone should tell these kids who grew up on Manmohan Desai movies and thought that "Woaah, this is so easy, even I can do it" that it's not that easy to make a Masala movie. Masters of the art, like Manmohan Desai could do it, because they had a flair for it. It is not as simple as putting a Rahim Chacha in a frame and then a drunk Fernandez in another and a mosque in the background of a Matki-fod. And honestly I seriously have to say now that Aditya Chopra has become a 'One Formula Nandu'. Seriously Aditya give us something different, we are tired of the stuff being dished out to us in not so different formats.

The Acting - I think the director forgot to tell Deepika where she was supposed to act blind and where not; She just seems the same throughout the movie. She said in one of her interviews that she has not copied Rani Mukherjee and Kajol for this role, and guess what, she is right. Full marks girl, for your honesty. And well, Neil Nitin Mukesh was always a One-Shot-Nandu, he hasn't acted at all after 'Johny Gaddar'.

The Technicals- Well this is a serious request to all the Bollywood directors. STOP and I will say again, STOP giving your cameras in the hands of over-enthu kids who think that Body-Cams are still cool and would make audience go WOW. Sorry kids, hate to break your hearts, but that's just not true. And what's with this kid's obsession with yellow, I just cant describe it to you, everything yellow is just too bright and really stands out (in a bad way). Looks like this kid really misses his Jaundice days.

Verdict: Well, no surprise here that the movie is really really sad. The directory really tried to help the audience out towards the end when one of the characters says 'Achcha ye love story hai!!' thanks for helping us out there, dude.

Movie Review - Peepli Live

2010-08-13T23:50:00.003+05:30

The Good - I think the best part of the movie is when you can't decide which part of the movie really stands out and deserves to be mentioned

The Bad - the "slightly" stretched last reel

The Plot : Even though it may sound a bit oxymoron-ish, but this movie stands out for the subtle nuances that it captures in all it's characters. Be it the gestures and husky voice of the English News Channel reporter, or the attempted alliterations of the Hindi News Channel reporter. Or the hapless and helpless DM-sahab, all the characters have been captured really well...

While some may say that the story isn't exactly taut, but then this isn't really a story driven movie, it's more character driven. While some of them may not really have too much of screen time, but still leave their impact, like the IAS officer..

The Technicals - Though the movie is so good in itself, that your attention is hardly diverted to the beautiful way in which the hinterlands have been captured, but credit must be given in the way the camera has been used to present the vivid shades of life in rural India. However, one thing which I have a grouse against is the overuse of 'Body-Camera' post Dev D in Indian cinema. Really guys, it is no more a novelty, so maybe you should move on.

The Acting - Ohh, the really tough part, as far as writing a review for this movie is concerned, because everybody has acted really really well. Kudos to the director for getting wonderful performances out of everyone, even the 'Extras'.

Verdict : I know the word has been used a bit too often, but I would still call it a 'Refreshing' movie, a must watch for lovers of Indian cinema.

Do Share your take on the movie, would love to hear your comments on the review. Feel free to share this post (through the buttons provided below), if you find this interesting!!

Movie Review - Lamhaa

2010-07-18T00:55:00.003+05:30

The Good : Different take on the hackneyed issue; great, and more importantly relevant research which comes out really well

The Bad : Sanjay Dutt, filmy sequences, climax

The Ugly : nothing really

The Plot : Lamhaa is beautiful in the sense that the scriptwriters and director have taken a very bold stand and have not been afraid to offer an alternate view of the situation, quite in contrast to the one that we have grown up on over the years. However, despite all the bold moves, I guess the director still could not resist the filmy 'Press Conference' ending. The thing that is most admirable about the movie is the depiction of grey shades be it in the police force, the government or the military. The aspect is most beautifully captured towards the latter part where the director has really gone where no other director has gone before ( will not spoil fun for those who haven't watched the movie yet, but I am talking about the 'police action' at the very end). I guess after all this effort the least the director could do was to avoid the temptation of a 'Happy-Happy' ending. Another thing which catches the eye, in a not so good way, is how the director has picked up too many things and at times is left doing justice to these various aspects. As it appears, a lot of research has been done in the sloganeering aspect of the Kashmir movement which comes out really well. On the other hand, the dealing of the issue of flesh trade seems a bit ad-hoc and looks like it has bore the brunt of the editor's scissor.

The thing that really pleased me about the movie is that, it signifies the coming of age of Indian cinema, long gone are the days when movies were made at the behest of the government (read the times of L.B. Shastri and Manoj Kumar) or when the government really ran a tight leash on anything coming out of Hindi film industry (read Emergency). We really have come a long way from the times of 'Dehleez' when for the first time the words 'Sarhad paar dushman' were uttered to 'Sarfarosh' where the phrase 'padosi desh' acquired a name for the first time.

The Technicals : The cinematography is brilliant at places, whereas in the same breath it must be mentioned that at times one is left wondering whether it has been over-done to an extent. The area where the movie really scores is depicting that yes, there is an element of ordinary day to day life to Kashmir, that there is a Kashmir beyond the beautiful snow clad mountains, beyond the borders with the 'patriotic songs singing soldiers', there is an element of 'normal' life to Kashmir, the curfews, the stone pelting crowds and all. And another way in which the movie scores over similar movies made earlier is the aesthetics of 'war' and 'counter insurgency'. I guess it's a sign of maturity that we don't find cops running around with sniper rifles in close quarter combats. I guess Indian directors have been devoting time and effort to research more in this direction.

The Acting : My biggest grouse with the movie is Sanjay Dutt. Yes!! you heard it right, the supposedly biggest star in the movie is the biggest eyesore of it. Infact the few places where the movie seems to digress from it's realistic path to a filmy one is one where they try to justify Sanjay Dutt's stardom and give him hero like action sequences. On the other hand Kunal Kapoor is pretty convincing in his depiction of a former militant, whereas Bipasha Basu, in my opinion is the real 'Star' of the movie. She has done fabulous work in this de-glam role. And as for Anupam Kher, he proves yet again, why he is still counted as one of the doyens of Indian cinema.

Verdict: All in all, a good movie, good direction, decent acting on the whole. An interesting watch, I say, for the treatment of the subject.

All in all, 3.5 stars out of 5.

Do Share your take on the movie, would love to hear your comments on the review. Feel free to share this post, if you find this interesting!!

City of Football

2010-07-04T12:01:00.002+05:30

I have been meaning to write about the craze for football in this city. It's a welcome change for one coming from the single sport crazed North. I mean in which other place would you find flags of Brazil and Argentina hanging side by side at not only the major intersections but also streets and paadas.

Very honestly I dont think I have words to do justice to the enthusiasm that this city has about football, but as you might know that there was power failure in Kolkata a couple of days back, so this is what appeared in 'The Telegraph' following the day of power cut-

"...no soccer World Cup match was scheduled today. Else, even though the brunt of the power cut would have preceded the 7.30pm kick-off, it could have triggered panic, public fury and perhaps even street blockades."

City of Bandh

2010-06-28T04:19:00.002+05:30

Oh it didn't take long for the City of Joy to give me my first 'bandh' experience. Apparently the bandh was to protest the hike in fuel prices which would have had an adverse effect on the livelihood of the poor, or so the organizers of the 'bandh' claimed.

I got my first warning from the caretaker at my place, who advised me to make suitable arrangements for the following day, as in his words, "Gadi par log announce kar rahe the, kal band rahega, aap thoda dekh lijiyega".

Honestly I didn't think too much about it, because I have not actually seen 'bandhs' in my life. Either there have been outright curfews at the time of communal riots or news report that some 'bandh' happened in some part of Delhi, and my reaction to that normally was, "There was some bandh, really"?? Or there was the whole CNG fiasco in Delhi, but even that didn't affect my life too much, it just meant making alternative arrangements to reach school.

But, I guess this was an important part of education as an Indian citizen that I had missed out, so Kolkata was all set to teach me a thing or two about bandhs. First thing that I noticed on the day of the bandh was the absence of traffic on the road. It almost seemed that the "Yellow Sea" (kolkata cabs) had gone into a low tide. I guess that is the first casualty of any bandh, transport.

After waiting for quite some time, and walking quite a distance I finally managed to hail a cab, I was quite surprised that the guy did stop, because I could see that there was another person sitting with the driver, who I later found out was riding shotgun because of the dangers involved in venturing out on a 'bandh' day. After I struck up a conversation with the cabbie, he told me how he had seen another cabbie being slapped for daring to take his car out on a bandh day and that was why he had persuaded a friend of his to ride alongside him. He also had a thing or two to say about the organizers of the bandh and how much they cared for people like him, but I guess all that can't be mentioned here. And yes, I was charged a 'risk premium', 5 Rs. over and above the meter fare.

Infact the few taxies that were plying were quite an interesting sight. One of them had pasted a printout declaring "Hospital" on it's windscreen. And another one had it's driver waving a red cloth out of the window, I am not sure if that was to signify an emergency or to show his solidarity with the Comrades.

Anyways, as the evening progressed the "risk premium" increased, as on my way back I was charged 10 Rs. over the meter fare. This time I was told windscreens had been smashed in Northern part of the city. I also learnt that insurance companies don't cover damages that occur on days of 'bandh'.

Well that was it, I didn't get to see a lot of 'action' on the bandh day, but I guess that is either because the Commies are down and out, or I live in a part of the town that is relatively peaceful or who knows, maybe both.

So that was my first real bandh experience. If any of you have had an interesting "bandh' experience, do share.

City of Joy

2010-06-23T22:15:00.002+05:30

Oh Well, it's been a long time, hasn't it. Havent found the time to update you guys about the City of Joy!! Hmmm, so about Kolkata, where do I start...Oh yes, the elections...

If you have been reading your newspapers regularly then you would know that Kolkata (and some parts of WB) municipal elections happened on 30...Very honestly I never thought anybody would care this much about their municipality...Ok, we do abuse them when there is water logging during the monsoon, or when the roads are dirty, but I think that's it...But not here in Kolkata, Kolkatans take their politics very seriously, no matter if it's municipal elections...

And so while one day the whole office compound was festooned with red banners, the next day it was Didi's turn...

And that's not all, the worst part of it is when people start talking about politics, that's the worst, because that makes you realize how ignorant you are, because you dont know the name of the mayor of the city where you come from...

But still the seriousness of the whole affair hadn't dawned on me (not even after seeing BSF jawans in full combat fatigues for MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS), so I still ventured out on the streets, and too my amazement, they were empty, not just the streets, the roads were empty too, and if that was not all, the malls were shut, the cinema halls were shut...And in case anyone has lost track, all this for municipal elections...

Ohhh and yes, I have traveled in the Kolkata metro, and I am sure you would think that I am making this up, but the moment I saw the first metro pulling up in the station, I was instantly reminded of 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhara' :)

Well, that's all about Kolkata for today, stay tuned for more updates on the City of Joy

Maxximum City - II

2010-05-10T22:30:00.002+05:30

Airtel Ahoy!!! Finally after having been in the city for a couple of days, I finally spotted an Airtel board. However the signal still eludes me most of the time. Interestingly, I just got the idea of having a look at where exactly are Airtel's subscribers in Mumbai located, I am sure I wouldn’t find any near Santacruz.

Ok, now all the Dilliwaalas here is a warning for all of you before you come down to Mumbai. Somehow, all the Bombaywallas think that we Dilliwaalas don’t like this city and remain biased towards our own. And to be honest, it is true to some extent, some of us proud Dilliwalas are a bit too snobby to even acknowledge the existence of world outside of NCR.

However speaking for myself, I loved the place. Agreed, that the city is no match for the wide boulevards of Rajpath or the luxury of the HUGE malls at Saket, but come on the place has its own merits and there are more reasons for loving the place than not. And forgive me for harping on the old theme again and again, but the Auto and Taxiwallahs of this place have totally won me over. I mean a couple of Autowallahs who probably didn’t want to go to my destination were almost apologetic about it. And I couldn’t imagine for the life of me, that I would get in a taxi, reach my destination and pay 14 bucks. The Bombay auto and taxiwallahs have spoiled me and I am not sure how would I manage with the Delhi autowallahs if and when I am there.

Moving on from my obsession with the autowallahs, the week here was spent here (other than going through the induction) doing the touristy stuff. After all how can someone who has read Shantaram give Haaji Ali a miss (though one shouldn’t have missed Dharavi, but honestly I wasn’t going to be that enterprising on my first trip to Mumbai). And just to keep Gods everywhere happy and in good spirits, there was the trip to Sidhivinayak as well.

To be very honest, Haaji Ali was a kind of disappointment while I was going towards the shrine. But then I discovered the magic of the place on my walk back to the mainland. That is the magic everybody talks about. It is phenomenal, waves lashing the path, the lights of the city in the distance, it's amazing for lack of a more suitable word in my vocabulary.

And unlike others of my tribe (read North Indians) I am not that crazy about beaches, it hasn’t got anything to do with me being afraid of water or not liking beaches as such. It's just that I have seen a few beaches and don’t go as wow about them as the typical Mumbaikar expects a Dilliwala to.

And how could a blog on Mumbai be complete without a mention of the famed local trains. Well, I think the locals and the experience was best summed by someone who said "Locals are meant only for people who were born here and are used to them, for the rest of us, we are not fit for it" Well I can tell you something from my own experience, Mumbai locals are definitely not for the faint-hearted.

To play it safe, I decided to test out the local by going against the direction of office traffic. So most of my travel on the locals was from Santacruz towards Churchgate in the evening while timing the return so that it would be late enough to miss the office rush on the opposite side. And well, I got a first idea of what people mean when they talk about the locals and the rush. When we use the word crowded for Delhi Metro we have no idea what crowded is, that is the non peak rush traffic in the opposite direction of Mumbai locals.

And I have no shame in admitting that one day when I was returning early enough to encounter the last vestige of office rush, I couldn’t manage to get inside the first train that came. So that’s Mumbai local for you.

With this I think I am quite an authority on Indian public transport system. Read credentials below...

Chennai local train- check

Chennai local bus - check

DTC bus - check

Delhi Blueline bus - check

Delhi Metro - check

Mumbai local - check

Next up : Kolkata Metro and tram

Adjustment

2010-05-06T23:35:00.002+05:30

This not so complicated word is probably the second word that we Indians have adopted as one of our own after 'Sorry'.

No matter which part of the country are you in, you will find people using it in one form or the other, mixed with their local language. But this is not what this post is about. It is much more personal.

It's about love, it's about loss, it's about grief, it's about not wanting to grow up, it's about yearning for the carefree days.

The trigger for this may seem trivial to you, but for me it's everything or everything over the past two years. Two years back I took one of the best decisions of my life. In case any of you are wondering, no it has got nothing to do with joining FMS or MBA.

It's about buying a Dell XPS (Xtreme Performance System) M1330. Fans of Big Bang Theory will be familiar with this as the make of Sheldon's laptop.

It's a sleek piece of machinery, even after two years a cutting edge demonstration of technology, and more importantly an integral part of my life over the course of past two years. So much so, that I think I love it more than anything or anybody ever!! You have to understand that for me this wasn't just another computing device, it was my partner (I spent bulk of my time with it), it was my newspaper, it was my entertainment, it was my playmate (nothing else, just referring to Counter Strike).

Not that our stay together was all rosy. Not by any stretch of imagination. Well as with all things gorgeous, this one was a delicate darling too. So fragile, that we had to seek external help quite often. Be it the couple of times when my roomie dropped it (I think he was jealous of it) or when I myself got careless. But the result was the same, a brief period of loss which made me fearful of the question, 'What when we are done?', 'What after it?'.

Well, I simply kept pushing these questions under the carpet, just because thinking about them wasn't very comfortable for me. But then the day, even thinking about which was painful for me arrived quite abruptly. We have been separated (or atleast the process has been set in motion).

I would now be using a sturdy, business like Dell Latitude E5500 and bid goodbye to my XPS. And this brings me to my topic for this post, adjustment.

I know this is a more practical choice, a smarter one. I can't expect my XPS M1330 to withstand the rough and tumble of a sales job. But this is my grouse. Why do we have to be practical? Why do we have to make compromises or to put it in other words

'Why do we have to adjust'?

Why can't we simply be carefree, just like we were back when we were kids. When we used to drink Sugarcane juice by the road side without caring for the infections and stuff, when we didn't know what 'Jaundice' and 'Hepatitis' were. When we simply lit crackers on our palms and fist. Why can't we just stomp our feet and act 'unreasonable'?

Maxximum City - I

2010-05-03T21:50:00.001+05:30

Whosoever I have told this has expressed surprise and shown amazement, so I perfectly understand your reaction to this.

This is my first ever trip to Mumbai.

Though I was here once earlier, but that was a transit stop on my way to Trivandrum from Delhi. And that time I thought the plane was going to crash in the slums, so this time I was prepared for the sudden descent of the plane into the slums.

To my utter disappointment we got off the aircraft using an aerobridge, otherwise I had plans to get down on the tarmac and kiss the land of Shantaram ala Pope John Paul II.

Well I got out of the airport and the first thing that hit me was that this place smells so much like Chennai. I know some people will take serious offence to this but I don’t know what it is, maybe it is the smell of the sea or the fish or whatever but the two cities smell pretty similar to me (and I love both of them).

Ok, now the first thing I noticed when I got on the road here in Mumbai were the color of the autos. For a Dilliwala who is used to seeing CNG (read green) and yellow autos, the Kala-pilas of Mumbai stand out. And after that it was the multiple shapes and sizes of taxis. From an Alto to a Wagon R to the familiar boxy Ambassadors, all of them are here. Further down the road I noticed something which might sound a bit silly, but I think the flyovers here in Mumbai are miniaturized versions of the ones back in Delhi. Compared to the huge ones at AIIMS and Dhaula Kuan the ones here seem a bit tiny :)

Oh and yes, now the most interesting part of probably any city. I asked an Autowallah if he will go to my destination, he said yes and my next question was "Kitna??" Old habits (formed after years of haggling with Delhi autowallahs) die hard. He looked at me puzzled and indicated towards the meter as if telling me what it was and said "Meter!!"

The autowallah didn’t know the exact place where I needed to get down so he asked a cop, and boy the Mumbai cops have way cooler jeeps than Delhi Police, sky blue camouflage and all, they are simply awesome. Also, the cop who we asked for directions asked the autowallah to take a left from the next junction!!! Now you may not find anything weird with this, but for me this was!! I had half no no fully expected him to say "Next naake se left lena" after all that’s what the cops in the millions of Mumbaiya films did, how could he disappoint me like that.

Well after that I met up with Uddu and Kalle and we went to Hiranandani and again I couldn’t help but notice how cramped this city is and how effectively they make use of space here unlike in Dilli where probably the luxury of space has meant that it goes wasted because of lack of planning.

A friend of mine (I cant remember who) had pointed out something a few days back to me, he had said that in Mumbai all the shops have signboards in English as well as Hindi and to my surprise he was absolutely right. Even places like Levi's and Westside had their names displayed in both the languages. I have no clue about the reason for this, can someone enlighten me??

Another thing which I noticed or rather was staring at me in the face, was how the whole city is swamped by Vodafone hoardings. In light of this when I tried to remember if there was such a thing in Delhi, I realized that maybe Airtel dominates others but not to the extent that I saw here.

P.S. I have not even seen 1/10 of the city, these are just my first observations based on the few areas that I have been ot in a matter of few hours.

P.P.S. The most practical advice regarding living in Bombay Mumbai was given by Paro. She advised me to do away with the North Indian habit of calling everyone a 'Bhaiyya' to avoid getting myself in any trouble.

P.P.P.S. Vishal Dadlani, of the music duo Vishal-Shekhar fame was travelling on the same flight as mine, and I immediately noticed him, knew who he was, as in him being part of the music duo, and that he had sung Dhan-Te-Nan but couldn’t recall his name :O

City of Djinns

2010-04-28T19:55:00.003+05:30

I have only spent 6 years out of 24 in Delhi, but I consider myself a 'Dilliwala'. So, this is about Dilli.

This is not a travel guide, this is not a food guide, atleast that I am sure of. Then what is it, well this is something I cant answer, probably this is about Dilli as a city, its people, its monuments, its sights, its delicacies and I don’t know what else. This blog will not discuss unheard of places which you can visit, nor does it claim to dig out 'secret' restaurants and hang out places.

My credentials : I have been visiting Cousins in Mayur Vihar for as long as I can remember, lived in Janak Puri for 4 years, spent two of the best years of my life in North Campus and that is the reason why I attempt to write this.

Though I was born here, my first memories of the city are those of visiting my cousins from any of the numerous smaller cities where I spent the most of my growing up years. Those were the days when 'Jamuna Paar' was this godforsaken area and Mayur Vihaar was this hard to reach place, that you really had to convince the auto wallah to go there, tell him that he would easily find a 'sawari' back from Patpadganj. That Mayur Vihaar, which was like a self sufficient 'cluster' at that point of time, but for me that was Delhi. With its wide roads, DDA park next to Sanjay Gandhi lake, with loads of cars and buses on the road, that was my Delhi.

Then when I finished class IX my family moved to JanakPuri. Now this was a totally different Dilli, much different from the one I had grown up visiting. This was the Dilli where there were really loud neighbors next door, the Dilli where arguments over illegal construction and parking space were part of the daily routine. A 'Dilli' where Punjabi is everybody's first language, and you end up learning parts of it, whether you like it or not.

But the biggest shock for me was that in Dilli powercuts were as much a part of daily life as they were in all the smaller cities that I had lived earlier. For me Delhi (Mayur Vihar) was supposed to be this place where power cuts just didn’t exist).

This was the Dilli where I spent some of the most 'unhappening' years in the life of an Indian middle class teen. The ones where 'abhi career ke liye padhai kar lo, baad me sab set ho jaega'. And then when things got 'set' (or so I thought) I moved out of Delhi.

And the 'Vanvaas' lasted a decade less than that of Lord Ram, I was back here in 2008, and back I was in North Campus. This Dilli/Delhi was as different from my earlier Delhi/Dilli as Pasta from Tandoori Chicken as Subway from Karim's, as Metro from Blue Line buses. This was the Delhi of nightouts, of metro rides from Vishwavidyalaya to Rajiv Chowk,of drives up and down the ridge, of going to ComeSum at Old Delhi just for the heck of it, of BBG rides (Borrowed Bikers' Gang - that's what we called ourselves), of going all the way to Gurgaon for college parties.

These are the Delhis/Dillis that I am going to write about in posts up ahead.

Life in a Cocoon

2009-09-17T21:32:00.002+05:30

Living the past couple of days without my laptop has given me loads of time at my disposal. The first few hours without it were spent in frustration and anger. Then came the tortuous and agonizing wait for it to get repaired. And this led me to the question, are we dependent so much on technology that we probably can't expect to live meaningfully without it?

I take pride in calling myself one of the 'impatient generation'' or a self proclaimed 'geek god'. the first thing that I do when I get up is check my mail on my phone through our wi-fi connection, I get my news through my google reader, I almost totally shun non-interactive media like TV. I sometimes wish my mom and dad were more net savvy than they are now, so that we could just chat up anytime than calling each other up ( my dad already has a Gtalk and orkut account), I can't wait another day for 3G to be introduced in india coz my fring connection is not supported over my gprs which puts me out of touch with my chat buddies while I am commuting which is on an average 20 mins per day. I don't like standing in lines to pay my bills, so I pay my power bill online using my credit card (add-on courtesy dad), my phone bill payment is even easier, its done through my m-check, and yes my music, since I dont have the moolah to buy the latest sony wired player, I am making do with my e 63 over my bluetooth headset, and how could I forget what has led to all this, microsoft windows 7 ( which btw ankita is advising me to sue) which was responsible for crashing my computer and setting me back by quite a lot. Infact Paro is of the opinion that all this happened coz of me trying too many things and I chided her for speaking like my dad.

And now that my laptop wasn't around it just made me wonder how pathetically I have become a slave of technology and how much it has changed my life (and I am sure there are thousands like me throughout the world).

I remember how as a young kid, I happily chatted with people thrice and even four times my age whom I met on several of the train journeys. And now, I am content with my earphones in my ear, oblivious to the world outside. And I am definitely not an exception, there are hundreds like me who I see everyday in Delhi Metro...so much for being a 'connected' generation. We say technology is helping to bring down barriers, that it is making the world flat, the question that we need to ask, is it really??? Or is it raising walls taller than the physical one that once stood in the city of berlin, I feel more 'connected' with people hundreds and thousands of miles away, but wonder why the middle aged lady sitting next to me in the metro cant just mind her own business.

Where are we headed, is this world just going to become a huge elevator, where all of us despite being so close physically just ignore each other's presence and avoid eye contact. Since when did pretending that people around don't exist become good manners???

P.S. This blog entry was written on my phone with my earphones firmly in place, while on my way to collect my laptop from Nehru place, with the autowallah trying to make himself heard.

P.P.S. In all probability all these would be forgotten when I get busy with my laptop and my all too important digital life, but in case any of this strikes a chord, do share ur views.

Times have changed!!!

2009-08-05T14:41:00.003+05:30

Well, at the risk of sounding a bit dramatic, I must say that last night was a bit of an eye opener for me. A lot of pre conceived notions got cleared up and my respect and faith in the "system" and the police force went up a notch.

Now the reason why I am writting this is just because I think its all right for us to criticize the "system" when it doesnt work properly, but I believe its also our duty to give credit where it is due.

Anyways, last night, me, Kalle and Puri were coming back from Nirula's towards home (the flat that we have shifted to in Mall Apts), we have christened it as L Niwas. Anyways when we were waiting at the traffic signal, a Maruti Esteem jumped the red light and hit a rickshaw at pretty high speed.

The impact was quite ugly, the front wheel of the rickshaw got twisted in a heap of metal, the rickshaw wala also got injured pretty bad. The guy in the Esteem didnt bother to stop, even when he was given a chase by the others he just swerved and sped away. We rushed to check on the rickshaw wala, Kalle helped him to the side of the road, while me and Puri tried moving his rick away from the middle of the road.

What was really disappointing was nobody bothering to stop to allow us to move the Rick out of harm's way. At this moment Puri said "This is Delhi for you". Somehow we got the rick safely moved to the side of the road with the help of another rickwalla. I had taken the number of the vehicle. Me and Puri looked at each other. We werent sure whether we wanted to call the police. Guess, this was because of our middle class upbringing where we are taught to stay out of trouble, to turn a blind eye to matters that doesnt affect us.

Somehow it didnt feel right, it just didnt. I called up 100, not 100 percent sure of what to expect. A gruff male voice answered, I simply told him that an accident has happened close to University Metro Station, and there is an injured guy. He said he would send someone, but somehow I wasnt really convinced. I dont know why, but I wasnt.

We waited, getting convinced by each passing second that nobody was going to come and this is how things work. I kept telling Puri that these calls get logged, he will have to send someone, but probably that was more to convince myself than him. But after about 3-4 minutes we spotted a PCR gypsy, it was a reassuring sight, that yes things arent that bad, it isnt the same country that my parents grew up in.

The gypsy came close, an officer got down, we gave him the details of the car, they took it down, they asked the injured Rickshaw wala whether he wanted to go to the hospital, the rickshaw wala was probably in shock and was scared too. So they decided to take him to the hospital.

They went away, and we came back home. But this wasnt this simple. It was a day which changed my perception entirely of the police and the "system". I know there are people who would have had not so pleasant experience or rather some would even accuse the police of even more cruel things but the point being, like any other organization even they arent perfect. But that doesnt mean that we totally give up on them.

I know for a fact that the next time something happens, I would not hesitate before calling up 100.

Kush Mishra (22nd June 1986- 21st May 2009)

2009-06-22T19:12:00.007+05:30

When I said that I would be writing about my college days and friends, never for a moment did I realise that I would be writing something like this. I am sure most of you read that little piece in the papers about a month back, talking about a KSRTC bus accident. The bus was on its way from Bangalore to Pune carrying young Infy engineers. Five of the young techies were killed in the accident. One of them Kush Mishra.

I know it's kind of customary to say nice stuff about people once they aren't around anymore. But if there was one person in this world who everybody would have described in the same words, it would have to be Kush Mishra. He was my batchie in first year in VIT. Oh GOD, the amount of fun we had. Be it making life hell for the young research assistant Ms. Sona. (Kush had quite a talent for making paper planes.) Or the time when four of these guys; Luv (Kush's twin bro), Varun Jain (or Sharabi/Vodka as he came to be known after that trip, Akash (came to be known as 'Saaki' as a fallout of that trip) and Kush went for that Bangalore trip of theirs. That was a trip which I feel like I shouldn’t have missed. What did these guys not do, Sharabi drank for the first time in life and called up his dad, crying at the same time, or running across railway tracks with trains running at top speeds. Such was the kind of daring spirit you developed when you were around with Kush.

The kind of silly things that you always remember when you think about a person, it was Kush's room where I heard 'Summer of 69' the first time, the first episode that I watched of 'Friends'. The guy was a rockstar.

And when I think of Kush Mishra how can I forget the legendary "East UP-West UP" debates which were a huge hit. He was the one who started it off, initially just to make fun of Akash who hailed from Meerut, but it went on to become such an awesome Bakar topic.

Or the time when we guys went for Aero India 07. Man what fun it was. And not just looking at those awesome beauties in the air, or on the ground, but the journey back was such a thrill. That being the period when the Kaveri verdict had been announced, the bus service to Tamil Nadu from Bangalore had been halted, and somehow we managed to get ourselves seat on a AP bus to Chitoor and from there got ourselves a bus back to Vellore.

Those endless Raptor game sessions in his room , or his obsession with 'Mausiji' and her friends, nothing can be forgotten.

The guy knew how to bring life to any party. Never missed a chance to pull anyone's leg, but nobody minded it in the least bit. This was what hostel life was all about. Was simply crazy about girls from the junior batch. I can never forget how Gupta and I pulled a fast one on him by chatting with him through SMS pretending to be a girl from a new number that a friend had got himself, or the time when he and I pulled a fast one on one of the guards at VIT who thought it was their God sworn duty to prevent ragging.

And the best part about him was there was no other side to his personality, I mean whenever I (or everybody else for that matter) met him he was his usual self. Be it the day when the results were announced (and he got a couple of backs) or the day he got through Infy (everybody was pleasantly surprised, including him). Life for Kush Mishra was not to be taken too seriously and this was why everybody liked him so much.

I wouldn’t write here that he was the most understanding friend of mine, or the one I went to when I wanted a solution to my problems, absolutely not. He wouldn’t take any of that bullshit. He was the one I went to when I wanted to get away from my problems and forget about them, he was the one I went to when I wanted some fun.

Kush isn't with us today, but wherever he is, I am sure he is still making people laugh with his raunchy jokes or his antics.

A pic, A thousand words, Bonds for life,

2009-05-20T10:26:00.001+05:30

And a sucky senti title for a blog

The pic that you see on your left is legendary,( not the least because of me trying to reach Dutta's shoulder to rest my arm)…some random day, some random guy decided that all of us in T batch (well that was my first year batch in VIT, with guys from all branches except Biotech and Bioinfo , alas!! The poor gender ratio) will wear kurtas to college and pose, and the result is the photo that u see on top…

Now something about the guys in the pic, starting from left,

OMG, are we talking about one of the most popular guys in the college, Jayant Narayan, a name very quickly discarded by inmates at VIT, popularly known as Bh***a in the first year by everyone, the name bears a testament to his networking skills :P. Seen him through various shades in VIT, just like his hairline…but what really stood the test of time was his pessimism to anything and everything in life, I don’t know why but he always thought that he had been singled out by fate for the worst of things, and the best part was his approach to exams, used to study his back side off for exams, (Man!! Can I forget those power walks that me, daddu and charul used to go on during exams, remind me to talk more about it later) and then after every exam he used to give this gesture, and say that this was the worst exam that he had attempted in his life and he was screwed and his happyness was screwed and god knows what else was screwed, but somehow and I repeat somehow his marks never reflected the anatomical torture that he mentioned that he had undergone during the exam. Well daddu is too interesting a character to describe completely in one post, he will be back but lets move on to the others.

Second from left, Vaidyanathan Subramanium, too long a name so someone decided to shorten it up and so he came to be known as 'Baldy' no prizes for guessing why…used to obsess about his hairline in the first year but then gave up the struggle against the 'Silicon Carbide' hardened water of Vellore. Well what about Baldy, the guy claimed to know as many as 5 languages but trust me he couldn’t ask for directions to the loo without offending the other person, in anything other than english. Had a knack of coming up with lots of catch phrases in Hindi/English, like 'Naked Dance of Inhumanity (Haiwaniyat ka Nanga Naach) and what not…an awesome sketcher…was part responsible for putting up my caricature across campus, but more about that later…

And now we come to Dams!! Or Damani Abhishek Shantikumar as he was called by more civilized people…At the time of clicking this photo, Damani was head over heels in love with a girl…no big deal, happens everyday in an Engg college, but as with all love stories there was a competitor, needless to say none of them ended up doing anything about it, what a bunch of loosers :P…

( I am sure damani is gonna let loose a flurry of counter attacks/ abuses )

Coming on to Dutta, or Arnab Da as we called him, a gizmo freak to the core, being with dutta guaranteed that you will have a peak at the latest cell phone in the market within a month of its release or even earlier… and how can a mention of datta be complete without mentioning all those super awesome sweets that he got for us….

So there it is, the four guys who were among my first friends at VIT, the guys who called themselves the 'Kanda Club' (the origin of this is pretty disputed, while Dams!! Says it is entirely a figment of my imagination, my version is that we named ourselves 'Kanda Club' with the sole objective of furthering Damani's romantic interests, against his competitor…

Let Truth Prevail!!

P.S. well I remember that before I stopped writing last year, I had plans of writing a Life@VIT kind of series, well this is entirely different from what I had in mind, was feeling pretty nostalgic about the college days (bole to VIT) so uploaded a few pics on orkut, and with the kinda comments that I got I realised I wasn’t alone, and from there this idea of a photo blog for vit originated,

@guys from VIT--keep pouring with ur expert comments and more interesting tidbits and scandals, would love to get a few scandalous pics if u wanna share

@others--- I realise that you wont be able to relate to it as such, but I am sure you will find a taste of your college life in here too

P.P.S. why did I write the above part, why do I even have to justify myself, guess I take this blog a bit too seriously :P

Life mein kuch missing hai!!!

2009-05-19T17:20:00.003+05:30

hmmm....what to write and most importantly how to write...whether to use the erstwhile style of "I'm Back" as if reading my blog was the most meaningful thing in junta's life and the absence of it left a void...or to be more sensible and act my age (23 according to revolutions of Earth and I guess 37 according to FB) and say that yes, no matter whether you read it or not, i am still gonna write coz this is after all not for my ego but just to provide an outlet for my creative juices...

gosh!! enuff of rambling...

hell!! my blog is important, i have realised this once i have started my internship, there are times during the day when u crave for that 'something' to read, and i take pride in the fact tht my blog did that last summer and had its share of 'loyal' bored office going junta...

so wht is it about...to be honest, i am not sure...as much as i wud love to dispense gyaan on politics, matters related to country's security, fighter jets, or marketing and media (section dedicated to geetu di) there are numerous ppl out there doing a much better job of it (dat doesnt mean that i am going to stop doing it :P ), so i wud rather concentrate on something closer to my life...something on the lines of cat tales...tonight is the night when i will give it the final thought, and prepare something for tomorrow...for any special demands feel free to comment, and keep blasting me in the comment box (not 4 u Damani & Gupta)...

i dont think i can write anymore on 'nothing'

so see u again tomorrow

Final Countdown!!!

2008-10-11T17:27:00.002+05:30

Nothing to do with music, infact those of you who know me, would swear that there is absolutely no relation between me and music...

Well I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday, and he is appearing for CAT this year and he was asking what to do, now that there is just a month and a few days to go for the big day, and my advice to him was DO NOTHING.

Now, I know that I am no authority on handling the CAT exam, or in stress management, but since you are reading this means that you dont have any alternatives either, so why not just read what this guy has to say ;)

Anyways as I told my friend, do nothing. Dont start off with any new concepts, dont brood over any topics that you havent covered, basically free your mind up of any unnnecessary clutter.

You have given it all the effort that you could, now is the time to just sitback and go on auto-pilot. You have trained hard, for all eventualities just so that you dont get carried away by the magnitude of the task, you have prepared hard so that your instincts take over and just glide you through those 2.5 hours.

I mean it would make more sense to listen to Shahrukh's 70 minute speech than going through Numbers again.

I cant resist PJs.

And its here that I would like to use the words of a friend,

Remember that not so long ago it was the boards which was like everything in the world for you for your parents, for your pados wali aunty, for your chachi, mami and God knows who!!

And then it was those Engineering Entrance Examinations (and similarl exams for others), it just felt like that was it, that was what the world stood for, and I am sure you have realised that No, there is more to life than what you do in a closed room for 120-150 mins. There is more to life than those 5 digits which denote your percentile, there is more to life than these exams can ever test...

I know some of you would be like, its easy for me to say, but trust me you will realize the same things sooner or later.

Until then, Remember this when you step inside that examination hall for the test, this is not the end of the world, this is just an exam which would last for 150 minutes and damn it!! it happens every year, and so do all the other entrance exams, so chill and just do your best.

Good Luck!!

Here is the only poem I have written in my entire life

2008-09-23T14:23:00.000+05:30

from the darkness of my past
i see the footprints of my future
from the travesty of years gone by
i see the promise of the future

i ask myself
"is all this worth living for"
and prompt comes the reply
"if this isn't then what is"

life was never meant to be easy
but was it meant to be so lonely
true friends were never easy to find
but was friendship so difficult to maintain

faith was all i had
to begin with
but was it enough
to last me till the end

will the nightmares of the past
come to haunt me in the future
will the stories of my struggle
be known as fables in the future

i find myself asking again
"is all this worth living for"
and here i lie waiting
for the reply is yet to come

for i see, the darkness of my past
looming in the future

India 2025

2008-09-16T22:12:00.000+05:30

“I am young, and I too have a dream. I dream of an India--strong, independent, self-reliant and in the front rank of the nations of the world in the service of mankind.” - Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi dared to dream, he dreamt of a strong and prosperous India and this is what the present generation is doing; it dreams of an India which is a world leader in all spheres and strives towards achieving that goal.

Here is the dream I have for my India of 2025, for our India of 2025.

My most compelling vision for India of 2025 is of the country having shed the title of a developing nation and being recognized as a developed nation by everyone.

My vision is of an equal opportunity India, an India where every body regardless of their religion, caste or creed gets equal opportunities to prove themselves. My vision is of an India where there is no divide between people, most importantly I dream of an India where there is no urban- rural divide, where there are as much opportunities in the rural sector as there are in the urban sector. I dream of an India where there is a balance between agriculture and industry, an India where there is a fair distribution of land between these two spheres, an India where farmers are not coerced to give away their lands against their wishes, but also an India which facilitates the setting up of industries.

My vision for India of 2025 is one in which it is capable of defending itself both against external threats as well as internal disturbances. An India where everybody is made a partner in the growth story, an India where everybody feels proud of the heritage and the diversity. My India of 2025 is one which stands up as a united entity, an India where there are no murmurs of secession from any part of the country. It would be able to defend itself against any form of external threats. While it would be the same benevolent India which has been the champion of non-violence and 'Ahimsa' , but at the same time it would not shy away from standing up for what is right and just even if it has to use force. This can happen only when we are self-sufficient in the defense sphere; an India where its armed forces are proud of the technology of their scientists.

My India of 2025, would be a world leader in all the frontiers of technology; be it in space technology, or research in the field of bio technology. An India whose scientific institutions like DRDO, ISRO, TERI, Atomic Energy Dept would be renowned the world over for their excellence.

In my India of 2025, there would be no room for gender discrimination and both the genders would be made partners in the growth of the country. Everybody would be accorded the same respect and be provided with the same opportunities for growth and well being. An India which is as proud of its daughters as it is of its sons. The India of my dreams would invest special effort in the education of its daughters as investing in the education of a girl child means educating a whole future family.

My India of 2025, would be a nation of healthy people. While a disease free country might be a utopian concept, efforts have to be made to provide medical facilities to everyone in the country. My India of 2025 would have primary health centers, hospitals, specialty hospitals and super specialty hospitals distributed in all parts of the country so that people can find cure to their problems closer to their homes.

My India of 2025, while being a model of growth and progress for the rest of the world would also set an example for other countries of the world in preservation of environment. The mantra for my India of 2025 would be 'Sustainable Development'. At the same time, I dream of an India which would not leave its citizens at the mercy of nature's elements. It would not allow a situation where some parts of the country are facing drought while the others are inundated . It would have linked all its rivers so as to mitigate the travesties of nature and also reduce the dependence of its farmers on monsoons.

My India of 2025 would be self-sufficient in its energy needs, be it through exploring and developing new gas fields, or through developing other sources of energy like thorium nuclear reactors, wind energy, solar energy and tidal energy among others.

My India of 2025, would be known for excellence in all spheres, and this would not be complete without it performing in the field of sports. My vision is that in the year 2025 India would be a power to reckon in the world of sports. We wouldn’t be a country which concentrates on just two or three sports but is a power to reckon with in most of the sports in the international sporting arena.

Being a country of global standing isn't just about having the right numbers, the right indicators of growth. It's not just about the tangibles, its about soft power as well. Therefore I have vision for India to become an important player in the field of culture and entertainment as well. I visualize India as a local hub for culture and entertainment in the whole South East Asian region.

I have a vision for my India of 2025, but I also know that all this would come true only when young people like me come forward to share the responsibility of taking this country forward. I being a management student realize that my responsibility is even bigger.

After completing my education, I would like to work for the social benefit of the country by starting up an NGO which would work towards the education of girls. This would happen alongside my career in the corporate world. However 10-15 years down the line, having fulfilled my obligations towards my family, I would like to step in politics. This is because I feel this is where I can make the maximum difference to my country. The country needs young people from all spheres, engineers and doctors in the cause of nation building, managers to give the right direction to the growth of the country.

India Today

2008-09-16T21:56:00.002+05:30

nothing to do with the magazine which also goes by the same name...anyways just wanted to write about the state of affairs in the country, especially with all these bomb blasts in delhi and the inability of the government to deal with them...

this is more of a critique of the ruling party then about the bomb blasts... while reading through various articles criticizing the home minister mr. shivraj patil i was wondering why people are surprised!!!!

as in is this something that the congress party has done for the first time, that everybody is amazed!!!

the congress party has always been known to appoint weak personalities for important constitutional positions so that ultimately its "the family" which gets to call the shots...be it in the choice of prime minister after the lok sabha elections (with all due respect for the prime minister), or the choice of president....

now something about the person in question, mr. shivraj patil, he again is the weakest home minister this country has seen... he was made the home minister after he had lost a lok sabha election..

this i believe should be enough for people to realize that at the end of the day its just the family's interest that the congress party has in mind

An MBA student writes

2008-09-10T00:14:00.002+05:30

Well some of you might be wondering what is making me write this blog....specially when I have not written anything for the past 2 and a half months... well there is no ulterior motive other than blowing my own trumpet...for the sake of whatever modesty I have left with me I will not write any further on this topic and will just give you this link...

http://epaper.livemint.com/ArticleImageEx.aspx?article=09_09_2008_005_003&type=1&mode=1

and ya one more thing before i move on to other items...gone are the days of exquisite grammer...get ready for sentences seperated by three dots in all the posts to come....for those who are wondering whether this is because of the hectic schedule here in FMS...well this is definitely a part of the reason but not the complete picture...its just that we MBA types love to project ourselves as very busy creatures and thats why this lack of concern for grammer...

as to how this blog is going to turn out in future...dont ask me this question...coz i dont know...it might turn out to be a dig on MBA students and the program...or it might turn out to be a b-school insight blog...or it might continue being what it has always been...ramblings of my mind...

A Tribute to Sam Bahadur

2008-06-27T23:32:00.003+05:30

I know some time back I said that this page is just gonna be my personal blog and other stuff (read my take on current affairs etc) would be posted on another blog, but this is personal.

As most of you must have heard by now Field Marshal Sam J. Manekshaw is no more in this world. At 94 years of age, this isnt really shocking but what does surprise me is how can someone so energetic, so enthusiastic or so full of verve ever lie still as he is today. If you have ever listened to any of his interviews or speeches you would know what I am talking about.

Even though every news channel would be alive with these reports today but let me tell you some instances which define Sam Maneckshaw for me.

I can never forget a speech he delivered at the passing out parade of the IMA a few years back. He was in his late eighties back then, and the way he delivered his address, it was simply out of this world. He told those officers Don’t ever loose a war because when you come back home after loosing a war even your wife wouldn’t respect you.

He had a lot of respect and admiration for the bravery of Gorkha soldiers as immortalised in this quote of his

"If a man ever tells you that he is not afraid of dying, then either he is lying or he is a Gurkha."

Another incident which Sam Bahadur loved to recall was how Yahya Khan the dictator of Pakistan had cheated him. It so happened that Yahya Khan bought Sam's motorcycle two days before independence for Rs. 1000 and promised to send the money from Pakistan later, which he never did. Sam Bahadur loved to joke that he took Bangladesh away from Pakistan in return of that money.

He was conferred the title of Field Marshal in return for his services to the army and the nation. Today India has lost a jewel in its crown, one of its bravest sons.

Rest in Peace, Sam Bahadur.

Maintenance Blog

2008-06-19T14:40:00.002+05:30

Hello everyone,

Sorry to have kept you guys waiting for Life @ VIT posts (is anyone??)

Anyways I am terribly sorry but due to some pressing commitments I am unable to write much at this moment (because of the Pre Session Assignment from FMS).

But this is just a postponement not a cancellation.

I will try to come up with the posts as soon as I can.

Meanwhile just 12 days for the session to start at FMS, so I will try to write about Life @ FMS if possible.

Allah Haafiz.

A New Hope-6 (Why FMS??)

2008-06-17T13:01:00.000+05:30

Well this question was put to me a lot of times after all written results were out. Between XLRI, FMS and MDI what was my preference.

And without any hesitation my answer was always the same

XLRI

FMS

MDI

But it all changed the day I went to FMS for my interview. To be honest I don’t know what changed it. It definitely wasn’t the infrastructure, I mean FMS hasn’t got the most attractive of buildings not even close to it.

Probably that was it. That old red building with this quaint feel to it. The whole North Campus area, with KMC directly opposite to FMS. Flanked by Delhi School of Economics on one side and Hansraj on the other. With Hindu and Stephens in the neighbourhood.

I don’t know what exactly happened but sitting on that cane chair outside the interview room I knew this is the place I want to be for the next two years of my life (quite filmy, na!!)

I still went through the routine of asking more learned and experienced people about their advice but I was just looking for reasons to support my choice than anything else.

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Today as I finish this saga of CAT Tales, Life after CAT and A New Hope, I would like to take this opportunity to thank myself on your behalf for the wonderful work that I have done in coming out with this blog. I know you don’t have words to express your gratitude towards me, but its Ok, I understand.

Jokes apart, writing this blog has been a wonderful experience (I am sure reading it wasn’t so wonderful). When I first started writing it I never knew so many people would be reading it (had I known I would have added Adsense).

So this is it. We finally come to the end of my journey to a B-school. For those of you who have been jobless enough to read this ;) , there is more exciting stuff to come. As you must have read in the Teaser there is another series in the pipeline about Life @ VIT.

For those of you who were not there with me read it for an account of fun filled four years (my perspective entirely) and for those who were there read it to find out what kind of light you are being portrayed in .

Adios, Amigos!!!!

Promotional Message Follows

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Keep visiting this space to read about Life @ VIT

LIFE @ VIT - Teaser

2008-06-16T18:00:00.001+05:30

Why am I writing about life @ VIT??

Is it because I am trying to give some competition to Chetan Bhagat? (highly unlikely!!)

Or is it just that I am cashing in on the recent India Today rankings (VIT was ranked 10th all over India)?

Well to be really honest I don’t know why I am writing this. Probably because I spent four very important years of my life there. Probably because I really enjoyed my time there. Probably I am feeling nostalgic having left the hostel after four years. Or probably I am sitting idle at home and have nothing else to do.

Whatever the reason, here is another series of blog posts : this one dedicated to four of the best years of my life, the amazing people who made it all the more wonderful and my alma mater, VIT.

(subuk subuk , wah kya emotional angle dala hai )

In order to insure myself against the ire of friends and others who will figure in these posts here are a few disclaimers/disclosures/declarations/confessions.

Most of the incidents/conversations/events mentioned in these posts are true up to the best of my knowledge, belief and memory (which to be honest is not great), however my perspective might cloud some of these. In that case there is nothing you can do [:P] except call me names in the comment box (which I am sure many of you would resort to).

This is not going to be a generalized account of how life is like in VIT. Rather it is a very personalized account of my (and my friends') life in VIT. Opinions may vary from person to person.

This is going to be a free flowing series. Chronology will not be a binding factor while recounting events. You might get to read something that happened in the fourth year first and after that something that happened in the first year.

Enough of being diplomatic, want to see some dirty laundry, then this is the place.

Keep logging in !!

A New Hope-5 (XLRI result)

2008-06-16T15:23:00.000+05:30

Well after a few days of lazing around at home it was time to go back to the hostel. I had a morning flight from Delhi to Chennai on 26th. So I went to Delhi on 25 and stayed at my uncle's place. As all of us were just sitting and chatting I got a message from Daddu (Jayant), it read

"Bhai XL ka kya hua? Result out!!"

Those with good retaining power will realise that he was the one who told me about the XL written result as well. Infact I noticed this after writing this post.

Well I didn’t feel much anxiety. I just logged on to the internet and opened the XLRI website. As I finally reached the result page, I entered my roll no in a hurry. And then there was this message on the screen.

"Sorry the candidate with this roll number hasn’t qualified".

Before I could feel or react my cousin who was sitting beside me said

"Oh ho bevkoof!!! Itni zaldi kis baat ki hai, ye keyboard kharab hai. Try the num pad."

Then I looked at the screen and realized that a few of the keystrokes had failed to register.

Anyways I entered my roll number again, this time more slowly, carefully and using the Num Pad.

And the screen now read

"Congratulations!! You have secured admission into the BM program 2008-2010 of XLRI"

And that was it. I didn’t feel very different after it. There wasn’t much jubilation or anything. I just called up Daddu (Jayant) to tell him about the result and that was it.

More to come in the next post…..Keep reading…. Fight illiteracy ;)

A New Hope -4 (FMS Result)

2008-06-15T16:55:00.000+05:30

Finally the day arrived; 20thMarch 2008. FMS has a history of releasing results the same evening that they have their last interviews. But nobody knew exactly at what time was it going to happen.

By the way I was home at that time. I had decided to spend some time there after the interviews.

I was logged on to Pagalguy where other restless souls like me were trying to get an idea about the results. Anyways rumors kept floating around.

When the result is ready, the list is first put up at FMS noticeboard and then it is put up on the net. After an agonizingly long wait, somebody posted that the result has been put up on the FMS notice board. That was the time when I felt the most helpless in my life. I knew the results had been announced but there was no way I could know my result at least for the next ten minutes.

And then somebody posted on Pagalguy that she had got a mail from FMS regarding her selection. At that time I felt it was all over, I had not got a mail so that was it. And then my internet connection got disconnected ( I am not making it up, it really happened). The next 30-45 seconds before I reconnected cant be described in words.

And when I finally did get reconnected, as I was trying to navigate to the latest post on PG, I noticed that I had a new mail in my mailbox. There it was!!! A mail from the FMS Admissions announcing that

"You have been provisionally empanelled for MBA (Full Time) program".

I didn’t knew what it meant but you certainly don’t reject someone with these many words.

And my joy knew no bounds.

I don’t know whether I had felt this happy ever in my life before.

Anyways the next few days went answering congratulatory calls and then I started giving serious thought which college I would ultimately join if I were to get an admit from XLRI.

Of course there was still the chance that XLRI people could spare me all this brainstorming by rejecting me!!!

Read Why FMS in the upcoming posts.

A New Hope -3 (FMS Interview)

2008-06-14T15:53:00.001+05:30

I reached FMS pretty early, infact the people there were also running a bit late. Anyways met a guy from Time Chennai GD preparation classes. Finally after a wait of about one and a half hour we were called for our GD.

When we entered the Interview/Discussion room there were three professors in the panel. One was the Dean himself Prof. J.K. Mitra. After we took our places he congratulated us for having cleared the written part of the exam. Then he gave a brief overview of the GD and the Interview process. He also told us about the much dreaded Extempore. After that he asked for a volunteer to pick up a chit for the GD topic. A girl went forward and the topic on the chit was

"Nobody studies for an MBA, everybody studies for a job".

Somebody has a sense of humor!!!!

Something really weird happened in this GD. I didn’t speak for the first 3-4 minutes. I don’t know why, probably because I just wanted to see how the group would act, or I wasn’t sure what I wanted to talk about. Anyways when I did speak I tried to present a new angle to the topic (doesn’t everybody).

Here I must add that the discussion was quite civilized, probably the topic had a lot to do with it. Everybody allowed everybody else to speak and present their points in a peaceful manner. Infact there was this 3-4 seconds pause during the discussion (trust me, 4 seconds in the middle of a discussion is very long time)

Anyways after some time a female prof announced that we had one more minute left to discuss.

That was when everybody started to speak at once. It would have been better to stay out of that conundrum, but then some point came to my mind and I interrupted another participant (with proper courtesy) and made my point.

And then we were told to wait outside while we were called for the interviews one by one. This time I was the third last person to be called for the interview.

Meanwhile, sitting outside the interview hall (it can in no way be called a room) we got to hear how did the people who went in early fared.

A girl who had mentioned about organizing fashion shows in her college in her resume was asked to name two fashion magazines and now for the most shocking part, she couldn’t. While we were joking around I told her even I could name 2 fashion magazines :- Vogue and Maxim. When I mentioned Maxim the girl sitting next to me rolled her eyes and said "Maxim is not a fashion magazine". Time for a sheepish smile.

Another interviewee was asked to speak on "White Buffalo" for a minute for her extempore.

Finally the seventh guy went in for his interview (I was eighth) and that’s when I started feeling tensed. To be honest I had not felt tense in any of my interviews before. Infact I was surprised during my XL interview that I was so cool. Again MDI was a stress interview but I didn’t feel it. But here in FMS I was feeling tense even before the interview had started (it cant be good!!!)

Now the guy before me came out and as I was standing there and waiting for the bell to ring (so that I could go in) I thought this was the worst kind of torture anybody could be subjected to!!

The bell rang and I entered the interview hall. The interview hall had this long table behind which sat the Dean and this female professor. I will refer to the dean as P1 and the female professor as P2.

Once I had taken my seat, the interview started.

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P1 : so were u here last year??

M : no sir I am a fresher

P1 :I see , you are a fresher

P1 : so u r from VIT, anybody else from VIT here??

M : I am not sure Sir, but somebody told me there was a guy from our college here some time back, but he must have graduated by now.

P1 : ok, ur extempore topic is "sole of shoe"

M: (gulp) aye aye sir, blabbered something .....when I saw P2 resetting the stop clock I stopped

P1 goes through my profile and says Oh u have won prizes in extempore, we should have given u a more difficult topic

I just smiled. (kahe mazaak uda rahe ho sir, waise hi kuch khas nahi bola)

anyways at this point a third prof(P3) enters and takes his place

p1: so dont u have a hobby or something??(what made him say that)

m: I do sir, defence aviation, quizzing and …….

P3 : ok amit, so what is Comanche?

M : (aila plane, yehi to apun ko aata hai).....told him its an attack chopper and on and on and on.

P3 : what is special about comanche

M : launched into my answer...after some seconds thought I should stop....took a pause since nobody

interrupted listed some more.....told him about inverted flying…

P3 : ok what about a plane which flies very fast and very high and stealthy too?

M : (i am loving it, bata dia...thodi extra info bhi daal di …) told him that probably he was talking about SR-71.

P1 : what about f-16?

M : (bahut bhadiya hai sir....aur thoda bola....) explained basic characteristics

P1 : what about its stealth characterisitcs?

M : (nah sir, woh thoda alag hai) Told him it wasn’t designed with stealth in mind.

P1 : ok, which sector would u like to go to after mba?

M : defence aviation, sir

P1 : Which company in particular??

M : lockheed martin, sir(jo muh me aaya bol diya, whats wrong with me!!)

P1 : ok, does it come to the campus , I dont think so!!

M : (abhi nahi aati to kya hua, mai hoonga to aa jayegi , gave gyaan about opening up of defence scene in india)

P2 :- ok, do u track financial markets??

M : (thoda bahut)little bit

P2 : where did the sensex close yesterday?

M : around 15400, (pause for a moment) 15357 to be precise (this again was in feb, tab se dekho kaha pahuch gaya hai sensex, India Shining!!!)

p2: nice but it was 15387

time for a sheepish smile

p1:thank u, u can go now

m: jaisi aapki aagya

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Ok, now my take on the interview. Obviously my first reaction after the interview was that I had done ok. Not very good, but not bad either. There were questions on fighter aircrafts which I could answer confidently and accurately and could also show off my immense gyaan in the field ;-)

But I wasn’t very happy with my performance in the Extempore. I had not stopped midway or something but I could have put better content (20/20 hindsight).

Anyways that was it, all my three interviews were now done and all I could do now was just wait for the results (besides visiting temples and praying).

Read about the results in the next few posts (you actually know about them, but jab itna jhela to do aur padhne me kya chala jayega!!!)

I have been asked this question zillion times before. And every time someone did I had an answer which I just rewound and played.

Read it as I repeat it for the last time, Why FMS over XLRI?? In the following posts….

The Terrorist

2008-06-13T14:20:00.004+05:30

Hi ALL,

This is a short story which I wrote some time back. Just read this and if you have any comments please feel free to write them. So here goes the story

He woke up all drenched in sweat and his first reaction was to look around him in order to find out where he was. A quick glance around, and he knew exactly where he was and most importantly why. The nightmares seemed to be coming back. A few months back he was happy for the fact that the nightmares were no longer haunting him. He felt as if he had overcome his grief. But why all these nightmares today, when he was to accomplish his most important mission, till date.

He looked to his left and saw Mushtaak guarding his position. After all this was what they had been trained for, this was what they had yearned all their “enlightened” lives for. The commander’s orders were short and precise. They were supposed to “set” the road only after the last vehicle to ply on that road had left and that was at 11:30 the previous night. Now it was close to 4 in the morning and there were still 3 hours between them and their mission. Since sleep was now the last thing that he could do Kamraan’s mind raced back to recapture the events of the last week.

A week back, he like all his brethren was living in the “safe house” in Anantnag waiting for further instructions from the commander. When he woke up that fateful morning he found unusual activity in the house. He caught up with Mushtaak and asked him the reason for that activity in the house. Mushtaak had been his only friend despite the startling dissimilarities in their ages. While Kamraan was 39 Mushtaak was only 25. They had been together for the better part of the last 24 months whether that be during the orientation camp in Muzaffarabad in Azaad Kashmir or the time spent in the training camp on the outskirts of the city. Mushtaak told him that though he did not know much but from what he could gather it seemed that some important assignment was coming up and people from Azaad Kashmir will be visiting the commander soon to discuss the details.

They arrived at around 3 that afternoon. There were three of them and from the deference with which the commander treated them, Kamraan could make out that they were important people and something big was going to happen soon, yes soon. No pleasantries were exchanged, only firm handshakes. Once the refreshments had been served, the commander escorted them to one of the inner rooms of the house and locked the room from inside and only opened once in the next two hours when the commander called out the names of Kamraan and Mushtaak and instructed them to enter the room and closed it behind them.

He introduced the three gentlemen to Kamraan and Mushtaak who only nodded their heads and no attempt was made by neither the commander nor the three men to introduce them to Kamraan and Mushtaak. The commander did most of the talking while the three men listened casually. The commander informed Kamraan and Mushtaak that the most important moment of their lives has arrived, the one they had received all their training for. The freedom movement had suffered a few setbacks during the past months ever since the new IG of police had taken charge. But they would bounce back, as the will of the people could not be curbed for long, the commander informed them. The IG would have to pay the price for standing in the way of their independence, the commander told them. And God willing they would succeed. By this time Kamraan was thinking why the commander was telling him all this and what did he have to do with all this. As if reading his mind the commander said that it had been decided by the higher ups that the IG had to be killed and he had been asked to assign two of his top men for the job, and he had chosen him and Mushtaak for the job. The news hit Kamraan like a bullet, though he had never been hit by a real one at least till now. Mushtaak was elated and bent down to kiss the hand of the commander and Kamraan had no choice, but to follow suit. For the remaining part of their meeting the commander talked about the plan and said that he and Mushtaak would immediately start keeping an eye on the IG’s home and would study his security detail and would look for some loopholes in it.

It was 4 in the evening and two days after the little briefing by the commander that he saw her and could not move for the next few minutes. She had the most beautiful face that God could create for a human being . In fact it was a crime to compare her with humans, Kamraan thought, she was an angel. If Kashmir was the paradise on earth she was its angel. There she was all of 11 or 12 years, being wheeled around in her wheelchair around the garden by her father, IG Vishesh Sharma.

It was from that night onward that the nightmares came back. Those of the mosque burning and that of a little girl engulfed by flames and shouting “Help me Abbu Help me”. Then there were two other women besides her and one of them said to her“Don’t worry Alina your Abbu will surely come to save us”. And then two monsters came dressed up in combat uniforms and took all three of them away while he kept watching from his cage with his hands and legs chained and all that he could do was to cry and plead with those monsters but they would not listen and took them away. His whole family, his mother, his wife Rukhsana and his daughter of 10, Alina.

The day had been Eid and they were getting ready to go to the mosque to offer prayers. All of them were dressed in their best clothes, his mother, his wife, he himself but the thunder was stolen by his daughter Alina looking gorgeous and graceful in her white dress which he had bought as a present for her. Just as they were about to reach the mosque Kamraan recalled that he had forgot to bring his purse and had no money and since they had plans to go shopping after the prayer and there was still time left for the prayer to start he decided to rush back home and get the purse. He told his family to go inside the mosque but little Alina asked “Abbu can I come with you I feel scared without you” at which he laughed and replied “ You are a strong girl, Alina and who will take care of your Ammi and grandma if you leave them” Reluctantly Alina agreed to stay back. He was leaving his home after taking his purse that he first heard the sound of blast and the firing that followed it. People in some other part of the world often confuse the sound of bomb blast with that of crackers and that of bullets being fired with bursting of tyres, but not here in Kashmir, here people knew when a bomb exploded or a bullet was fired. So, on hearing the explosion he rushed to the mosque but could not reach there as he was stopped midway by the security forces who had cordoned off the area. He was helpless he was watching the mosque burn in front of him, his entire family inside it and he could not do anything. To his dismay the security people were the least bit interested in the safety of the people trapped inside the mosque and were more concerned about finding the terrorists and ensuring the safety of their own injured people.

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The house of IG, Vishesh Sharma was one of the most secure places in the entire valley. It was almost a fortress, Kamraan told the commander, whose security could not be breached. So there was no way of killing the IG inside his house. It had to be done outside. Almost all of it was true but what Kamraan didn’t tell the commander was the fact that he was not willing to kill the IG inside for the fear of harming his daughter who reminded him of Alina. So it was decided to lay a trap for the IG when he left his home on Saturday to inspect the nearby towns and villages. It was decided that an IED would be fixed on the road and as soon as the IG’s car reached it would be detonated and that would be the end of IG Vishesh Sharma. Since Mushtaak had received training in setting up IED’s he was assigned the task of laying the explosive. It was imperative to identify the vehicle in which the IG was travelling and in order to make sure that no mistake was made in this regard the commander assigned the task of triggering the explosive to Kamraan. He was supposed to identify the vehicle in which the IG was traveling on the basis of his surveillance and trigger the explosion which would put an end to the unholy schemes of the IG.

Vishesh Sharma was 45 and was leading a happy and peaceful life with his wife and 12 year old daughter Astha in Bhubaneshwar when he received his transfer orders for Jammu and Kashmir. Initially he was reluctant to go there but had agreed to go there once Astha expressed her willingness to visit Kashmir. Astha was born with a healthy body and mind and was a very cheerful kid and was loved a lot by her parents Vishesh and Gunjan Sharma. It was at the age of eight that Astha while getting off her school bus was run down by the rear wheel of the bus when a truck hit the bus from the back. From then onwards their lives changed completely. Astha was crippled from waist down and was confined to bed and needed someone to move her around in her wheelchair and could not live her life properly after that. But she was a strong willed child and tried her best to make it less traumatic for her parents. On their part her parents tried to make it as comfortable for her as they could and tried to fulfill each and every wish of hers.

“Wake up Kamraan” shouted Mushtaak. “Yes” replied Kamraan. “You better be ready its 6 already and the IG’s cavalcade would be here in about an hour. I have already set up the IED and the trigger is lying there behind that tree under the leaves. We don’t want to blow up this chance do we! Kamraan said” You don’t worry. Allah willing we will succeed”.

Vishesh Sharma was getting ready for his weekly visit to the nearby towns which had become his schedule ever since he had been posted here. As he was putting on his cap and his service revolver Astha came into the room wheeled by the maid servant who was told to leave politely by Astha. Astha said “Dad, where are you going?”. “I am going to the nearby cities for inspection, honey I will be back by evening”, Vishesh replied. “Don’t go, daddy please don’t go”. “Why honey, its important, I have to go but I promise to be back before dinner”. With that he kissed her on the cheek and left the room.

As soon as he saw the IG coming Syed opened the door of the bulletproof car. He saluted the IG and Vishesh entered the car and ordered the driver to start. The cavalcade consisted of a pilot vehicle, two police vans with 10 commandos in each, the IG’s bulletproof ambassador and the rear was brought up by another van in which Syed was sitting along with 4 other constables.

As soon as he saw the cavalcade approaching Yusuf signaled to Kamraan who was sitting behind the tree with the trigger in his hand. He saw the pilot vehicle crossing the point where the IED was set up. Following it were the two police vans and when the ambassador carrying the IG came Kamraan though fully aware that the IG’s car was bulletproof dropped the trigger and started firing indiscriminately at the cavalcade. Other terrorists thinking that the IED had failed to trigger joined Kamraan in firing at the cavalcade. The commandos though a bit taken aback by the sudden firing immediately regrouped and took up positions behind the vehicles and the IG’s car was taken to a safe spot some distance away and was guarded by the team of constables.

Vishesh sat in his car listening to the shots being fired in the background. As much as he wanted to be at the scene of action he knew enough about the security procedures and therefore stayed in the car. About 25 minutes later a commando came to his car to inform him that 4 of the 5 terrorists involved in the attack had been killed and one had escaped the scene and a massive combing operation was underway to locate him.

Vishesh left his car to see the bodies of the terrorists. When he went to the body of the fourth terrorist after seeing the first three, he found something in the palm. When he bent down in order to see what it was he found that it was the photograph of a young girl of about the same age as Astha. He said a silent prayer for the dead terrorist lying in front of him and headed back to home to meet his daughter Astha.

A New Hope-2 (MDI GD and interview)

2008-06-02T11:43:00.001+05:30

My MDI interview was on 13th in Bangalore. I left for Bangalore on 12th. As I told a friend of mine earlier, a train journey to Bangalore (from Vellore) should be made criminal. The view is breathtaking. Even though it was my second time, you cant help but get amazed.

Anyways Baldy (Vaidyanathan) helped me find a decent hotel. The interview was at 2.30 the next day. The next day I reached the venue, IIM Bangalore. Sripriya was there as well, but she was in a different panel. First we had the GD.

There were twelve of us in the group. As we were standing around that round table waiting for everyone to take their places, I happened to glance at my side and what do I see!!!! The same Quants teacher (from TIME, the one who was in the same examination hall as me) was here as well. We simply smiled at each other.

A Professor from MDI gave us the rules. Told us not to BS around with the topic and speak only relevant points.

The topic for the GD was "Is India developing or neglecting"?? And I thought there was more to come, but no that was it.

well the GD turned into a fish market what with everybody trying to put in everything that they had read about the budget into the discussion. I didn’t speak a lot. I made some 3 or 4 entries with some points which I thought were valid but on the whole tried to stay clear of the fish market.

After the GD I came out and chatted with others including my Quant teacher at TIME. I was the second last person to be called for the interview and by then I had chatted with almost everybody present there. In fact when there was nobody else around I chatted with an elderly gentleman who was there to accompany his son to the interview.

when I went in there was just one prof (p1) sitting (out of a panel of two)

p1: (started grilling me on points related to my GD)

I had talked about we looking at the wrong indicators for growth. The Sensex though important isnt the right indicator for measuring growth and specially inclusive growth of the country. Even the people at the top level were more concerned with Sensex rather than farmer suicides.

P1: Which ministry is responsible for agriculture?

(I immediately realised that he was going to attack the points I made in the GD, so I tried to take a safe position)

M: Sir, there are more than one, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Fertilizers and Finance Minister is also concerned with certain aspects….

P1: Interrupts and says what did we tell you at the beginning, No Bullshitting us

By God, this one was turning to be a stress interview

P1: Ok, let me start again, What is your name

M: Amit Tyagi, Sir.

P1: Ok, so I asked your name and you just told me your name and no stuff about East India company coming to India and blah blah

This isnt going good

P1: Ok, again Which ministry is primarily responsible for agriculture?

M: Sir, Ministry of Agriculture

P1: Who is the minister

M: Mr. Sharad Pawar

Now he started talking about how Mr. Chidambaram has no say in agricultural affairs and he cant step into anybody else's domain and stuff like that.

After that he started asking questions related to my father's workplace

P1 : who is the present CMD?

M : told

P1 : who was the one before him?

M : right answer again

P1 : ok, who is the head of treasury?

M : (u must be kidding me), I thought even he doesnt know so said I don’t know but it must be the ED

now the second prof(p2) entered

P1 : ok u are interested in defence aviation, tell me names of two aviaton giants??

M : Boeing and Airbus.

P1 : why was one of them in news recently?

M : No Idea

P1 : socho

M : Don’t know sir

P2 : guess karlo

They were trying to stress me here

M : Sir with the rules that we have been told I had rather not. *

This is what u call pairo pe kulhadi marna.

Why cant I keep my ego in check….

P2 : do u want some time

M : that wont help sir because I cant recall

P2 : ok, so what planes were used in second world war

M : Told him Spitfires, Hurricanes, Me 109s, Me 110s.

P2 : there was this incident in 71 war which was very famous, do u recall

M : what incident sir, can u throw more light on it??

P2 : dont remember ok what planes did we use in 71

M : told him Mig 21, Hunters etc etc

All this while p1 trying all stress tricks in the book, slumped in his chair, fanning himself with the file

P2 : what about pakistan?

m: F-86 sabres

P2 said something...wasnt able to get him

P2 : ok what is VTOL

M : Vertical Take Off and Landing, Sir. These type of aircrafts are used for operations on aircraft carriers, like the Harrier jumpjet.

P2 now went to aircraft carriers , discussed a few things about them, question on pearl harbor which I did not know

P2 : so u come from Vellore, what is famous about Vellore

M :Told him that CMC is probably what Vellore is known for and then there is the Golden Temple, and also VIT is getting quite popular these days (cheeky)

P2 : Is it so, I mean do u really think that if I ask anybody up North about VIT and they will know about it??

M : Yes i do, (tabhi to maine bola)

P2 : I have been to Vellore , never heard of this golden temple you are talking about.

M : Its pretty famous sir, you might have missed it since it is relatively new.

I had mentioned public speaking activities in extra curriculars.

P2 said something about declamation and posture

and then it was over

goodbyes and smiles

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All in all I will call it a bad interview. Though I could answer most of the questions (not counting the rhetorical ones), but an interview isnt just about answering questions, its about that certain chemistry you set up with the guy interviewing you. And in my case that was not visible anywhere. Infact it seemed that I rubbed P1 the wrong way, or probably he just wanted it that way in order to put me under stress.

Smart ass answers like the one about the rules and not guessing (refer to the one with *) should be avoided at all costs.

Anyways, after my MDI interview I reached my hotel and after my dinner thought I had sleep early. I had a flight at 5.50 in the morning. Luckily I slept off soon after lying down in bed, but woke up after one and a half hour. I saw the time it was 11 in the night. I lay in bed for the next one hour trying to sleep and trust me when I tell you that it was the most frustrating one hour of my life. I was afraid that if I didn’t sleep I will feel sleepy the whole of next day and when I feel sleepy I get irritable and that cant be good in a GD and interview!!!

That’s when I finally decided to get up and do something. I took out my laptop and watched two episodes of 'Band of Brothers' (that HBO series). It got over around 2. Still no sleep. I switched on the TV, nothing interesting. And while browsing through the channels I came across a dart throwing world championship being telecast on some sports channel. I watched that for over an hour ( I was that frustrated) and then it was time to get ready to leave for the airport.

The flight was smooth, I slept some (which was good). Dad was there at the airport. I went to my Tauji's place. Spent some time there and then got ready for the interview. And then left for North Campus. Even after having lived in Delhi for about 5 years I had never been to North Campus before.

Read about my first visit to the North Campus for what was one of the most important interviews of my life in the next post.

A New Hope-1 (XLRI Interview)

2008-05-31T14:42:00.000+05:30

So after about a month and a half of preparation, MOCKS and playing Rise of Nations the day of the XL interview finally arrived.

My XL interview was scheduled for 10 March at LIBA,Chennai. I went to Chennai a day before and stayed in a hotel. The next day I reached the venue pretty early (about 90 minutes before the interview). Actually XL guys love to keep it short. Normally their interviews don’t stretch beyond 20 minutes, and many a times they finish off (quite literally) people quite early.

Anyways I reached LIBA. There were quite a few other candidates, though most of them were there for the PMIR process which has a GD as well as an interview. Three of them were there for the BM interview.

I just sat there chatting with the others, waiting for my turn. The guy who was supposed to face the firing squad before me was in the interview room for about 20 minutes or so. As soon as he came back everybody crowded around him in order to know how it went. I purposefully kept my distance.

After a few seconds an old gentleman arrived outside the waiting room and called out my name. I stepped out of the room and we began the long walk to the interview room (just building up the drama, the walk was no more than 45 seconds).

I was intentionally walking slowly and a step behind that old gentleman out of respect. And then without any warning my interview started.

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I will refer to this old gentleman as OG.

OG cleared his throat and said "So what did the other guy say? What questions did we ask him?"

I had overheard what he had said and so replied "Well, Sir he told us that you people asked him questions on evolution".

OG smiles and adds "So what did he say, have we lost our tails yet!!"

Just then we entered the room. There were two other middle aged gentleman in the room M1 and M2. OG repeats our conversation to the others and everybody laughed. Everybody took their seats and I was asked to sit as well.

I handed over my file (the one with all the certificates) and my resumes. They took the file and returned the resumes. OG said "Don’t worry, we have more than enough material with us, we don’t need this".

OG:- So Amit you came all the way down from Delhi to Vellore for your engineering, why not DCE or any other college close to Delhi.

I: Told them that I was getting Polymer in DCE and wasn’t very much interested in that so …..

OG:- You left Polymer!!! Do you know what is the scope for Polymer these days??

I: I do sir, but I was more interested in Electronics and Communication, so….

At this point I was really worried that they might start asking me stuff about my academics which I wasn’t very confident about.

OG:- Ok, so besides ECE what else do you do? I mean extra curricular activities and such…

I: Sir, I love public speaking. I have participated in various debating competitions…..

At this point OG cuts me short, and says

OG:-"Are these competitions about speaking sensibly or just talking senselessly"

I:- Well sir depends on the type of competition. In debate you have to make valid points whereas in competitions like Block & Tackle and Shipwreck its more about presence of mind.

M2:- Ok, Amit I am going to give you a topic now and I want you to speak on the topic for 2 minutes, alright?

I said fine.

M2:- Your topic is "Amit Tyagi doesn’t talk sense all the time that he speaks"

I smiled and repeated the topic just to make sure that I didn’t have it wrong. He nodded in affirmative.

I started speaking on the topic and kept speaking smoothly (as far as I can tell) and tried to make it light hearted. Very soon they were smiling and I kept on talking thinking that they would stop me once my 2 minutes were up.

Probably they expected me to stop after sometime and not make it through the whole duration, but I did and then they asked me to stop.

Now, OG-> Ok, Amit do you know what is ITBPF? What is its purpose?

I:- Told them that it is the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force and it is there to guard India's border with Tibet.

OG-You know when was it formed and why?

I- Told him that it was formed after the 1962 war because a need was felt for upgrading the security apparatus.

OG-You know what CRPF stands for? And without waiting for my answer he continued" I once asked a CRPF guy this and he said 'Chalte Raho Pyare Force"

Smiles all around.

OG- He asked me for a solution to the problem faced by the CRPF guys owing to this constant shifting from one place to another and we discussed it for some time.

OG- Ok, what do you know leather industry in India? You have any idea where it is located in India?

(Leather industry!!! Where did this come from??)

I- Sir, I am not sure but I think Kanpur.

OG- It was there in Kanpur but then it was shut down. Can you tell me why?

I- Religious Reasons?? But then it struck me and told them it was shut down for environmental reasons.

OG asked what a tannery was and I thought how could he ask him such a simple question surely there must be a catch to it. I told him what a tannery was and waited for him to follow it up. But he just let it go.

Now the baton was passed to M1.

M1- Do you know about crocodiles? Where are they found in India?

Before I could answer, the old gentleman said he is not asking about the T-Shirts. Again smiles all around.

I- Told him that I didn’t know much about crocs. But still if I were to take a guess I would say they are found in backwaters of Kerala.

He just shook his head in negative.

I said then probably Sunderbans.

Bingo!! That was the right answer.

M1- Do you know what is Law of Torts?

Luckily for me I had read John Grisham's King of Torts.

Told him whatever I knew and also added that I had read it all in a novel. Everybody started smiling and he asked him about the ending of the novel.

Now the baton was passed to M2.

M2- What is Trojan Horse?

Told him about the Greek gift.

He seemed impressed. Asked me about the virus. Could not give a very satisfactory answer here.

Then he asked me what standard deviation was ? Told him the correct answer and also gave a relation with the stock market.

Then he asked me what does a standard deviation of 1.4 means? And I being the idiot that I am totally messed it up.

And that was it, my interview was over. As I was signing the sheet OG asked me how I was going to go back to Vellore and how far Vellore was and how long it took to reach there.

After that I wished them and walked out of the interview.

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If you had ask me how I felt after the interview, I would have said that it was an enriching experience. More than an interview it was an interesting conversation that I had with those learned gentlemen. And to be honest I really enjoyed it. Other than that question on Standard Deviation I thought the whole thing went well.

But then you cant send guess the professors. And there wasn’t a lot of time to think about it as well. I had another two interviews in the next four days.

Life After CAT-10 (FMS Result)

2008-05-31T12:25:00.001+05:30

The FMS result was taking a long time!! I remember checking the FMS website daily for the result, only to find a notice for their Alumni Dinner being displayed prominently on their homepage.

One evening when I asked my roommate if he was done using the Reliance phone so that I could check whether the FMS result was out or not? He said checking daily is not going to make a difference, they will release it when they feel like. I said fine I wont check it tonight.

The next morning Dad called after breakfast and we had a routine conversation. Ten minutes after that call he called again and I was wondering what was so important. He told me that the FMS result has been declared. He asked me my roll number so that he could check the result and let me know. I hesitated, the thing is I never like anybody else seeing my result before me (the college results are a different matter altogether), but he insisted so I told him the roll number.

And I logged on myself, and voila!!! I had cleared FMS as well. They wanted to see me for the GD and interview process.

Meanwhile MDI had also released their list for GD and interview and they had decided to call me as well.

My interview calls were as follows

XLRI (BM)-> 10th March (Chennai)

MDI (PGPM)-> 13th March (Bangalore)

FMS (MBA-FT) -> 14th March (Delhi)

I tried getting the dates for MDI shifted but approached them a bit late so it couldn’t be done. I decided to give my MDI interview in Bangalore on 13 which was in the afternoon and then catch a flight to Delhi on 14th morning and appear for my FMS interview.

Looks like Life after CAT wasn’t all that bad. As another series comes to an end, we approach the climax of this tale (I bet Arabian Nights was shorter and not to mention far more interesting).

Read about the Interviews, results and more gyaan in the next series "A New Hope". I hope George (Lucas) wont sue me for this.

Ekta, you reading this??

Life after CAT -9 (Mock Interview)

2008-05-30T17:22:00.003+05:30

Well interestingly just as the MI series (the Tom Cruise one)had three parts I also had three MIs(Mock interviews in my case). (PJ!!!)

Most of the people interviewing us in TIME were IIM alumnus and really really brainy people. Probably some of the smartest people I have met in my entire life and that includes that person in the mirror who I see daily. I had a total of three Personal Interview Sessions and I will recount one of them so as to give you an idea about the Mis.

My first interview was taken by two guys probably in their early to mid thirties. While one of them did most of the talking, nevertheless whenever the other guy asked questions they were equally incisive.

I will give you a conversation type account of this interview.

They already had a copy of my resume and also details regarding the calls that I had from various B-Schools.

I went in and wished them good morning. They responded warmly and asked me take a seat.

I will refer to the interviewers as M1 and M2.

3rd Degree

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M2 (with a smile)- Before we start asking any questions tell us something about yourself

I:- Gave them brief info about my family, talked about my school life, and then college life, talked about the various activities I was involved in college.

M1:- Oh so you are interested in Hindi Literature (I had told them that I was involved with the Hindi Literary Association in college), tell me something about the writing style of Premchand.

I:- (I was lucky that I had read one of Premchand's novel-Godaan) Told them how Premchand's characters are very close to real life, how they are not defined in black and white and all have shades of gray and stuff like that.

M1 looked impressed.

And now M2 took complete control of the interrogation.

M2: So you have done your B.Tech from VIT in Electronics & Communication. Tell me why did you take up Electronics.

I: Told him how much interested I was in Defence Aviation and since there were not many options available to do Aeronautical Engineering this was the closest I could get to my field of interest.

M2:- Oh so you are interested in Defence Aviation

M2:- Ok, Amit tell us how does an airplane flies and please keep it simple because we don’t have much knowledge in this field (with a smile on his face).

As I found out later besides being an IIM alumnus he was also an aeronautical engineer from IIT.

I:- Told them about the forces acting on an airplane; Lift, Drag, Gravity etc. wind flowing under the wings and above the wings, low pressure and high pressure zones and other things.

He said, " have you read the Bernoulli's theorem". I replied in affirmative. "Can you tell us using the Bernoulli's equation how does a plane work". Wrote down the Bernoulli's equation for them and then explained the working of airplane through it.

At this point he said can you draw a diagram. I drew an aerofoil for them and explained everything using the diagram.

I thought this should be enough to convince him.

M2:- Oh this is getting too technical for us people (looked at the other guy and smiled). I want you to explain as you will to a layman about the working of an airplane. Lets just say you have to explain it to my 5 year old child who doesn’t know what is lift, drag and other things.

I tried to explain again without using as many technical terms as I did the first time. He didn’t look completely convinced but didn’t pursue it any more.

M2: Ok, Amit you are studying to become an engineer and you are interested in Defence Aviation. Don’t you think that by selecting you we would be taking away a bright young engineer (you must be kidding me!!!) from this country.

I: Absolutely not, Sir. As you can everywhere in the industry and especially in the DRDO there is a lack of managers with technical knowledge and that is why we have so many projects running behind schedule and stuff. Therefore there is a need for managers who have technical knowledge……. And went on and on with more gyaan.

M2: Oh so you mean to say that in DRDO we have projects running behind schedule. Do you think those people really do any original work. I mean don’t they just copy Russian designs.

I: Told them this was not exactly the case. DRDO had worked on some projects with high percentage of indigenous technology. Said that there was a steep learning curve with these kind of things and sometimes you have to borrow technology from other countries so as not to let the armed forces down.

M2: Next he wanted to know about Main Battle Tank of India, the Russian technology behind, the shortcomings of the design and in what respects the M1A Abrahams of USA were better.

I: Told them whatever I knew about tanks which wasn’t much. But he looked pretty happy with the answer.

M2: Next he wanted to know about some business terms like the difference between Pvt. Ltd., Pte. Ltd. And stuff like that

I: Answered what I could about they being conventions used in different countries.

M2: Next he wanted to talk about the automobile industry, what place was the hub of automobile industry in USA, the Big Three, the top automobile company in the world, how long has it been at the top and what was their philosophy.

I could not give very accurate answers to the automobile industry part, but managed to save some face.

Next he was all inquisitive about the recent (this happened in Feb) IPO of Reliance. He wanted facts and figures.

While I could tell him the facts, I didn’t have much clue about the figures.

Next he came to the work culture in various countries. Why were the Germans considered so industrious and the Japanese too. And why the current perception of the Indians.

The end part of the interview was even more exciting. He started talking about Reservation and my views on it. I tried to be very diplomatic about it. But he took the offensive and started talking very passionately against reservation. He said probably some people don’t deserve to reach the very top. He mentioned genetic studies and stuff, but I stuck to my point that it is the responsibility of the society to help in the upliftment of its downtrodden and neglected.

At this point he seemed willing to end the ordeal for me. Turned to the other guy and asked him if he had anymore questions.

M1 asked me some questions related to electronics, which luckily I could answer.

M1:- Amit, with all these allegations against missionaries regarding conversions and we (XLRI) being a missionary run institution, how do you feel about that?

I: Told them that I had studied in missionary run institutions before and I knew the reality behind these allegations and therefore had no such problems.

And that was it, the interview was over. It lasted for about an hour and twenty minutes (against an allotted time of 30-45 minutes). Yes that long!! At that end I was just waiting to run out of that room.

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Now it was time for their feedback.

They thought that I had done decently well, handled incisive questioning on my hobby pretty well.

They felt that my technical knowledge seemed sound (you must be kidding me!!!) but I needed to work on business related news.

Moreover they observed that I had a tendency to jump at questions. Told me to take it easy and wait for a second before answering the questions.

Well that was the first MI for you. Now you must have realised that I was right when I said that in an interview you can be asked about anything under the sun.

Mock was fine, but to find out how the actual ones went, stay tuned!!

Life after CAT-8 (MOCK GDs-II)

2008-05-30T14:55:00.000+05:30

Well I had the opportunity of meeting some really interesting characters in TIME MOCK GD sessions. For fear of offending people I am not using real names here (in most of the cases I don’t even know their real names) .

The nick names that I have used here are the ones I assigned and we (me, Sripriya and Yuvaraj used to refer to them in our conversations). The prominent ones being Amma ( a really fiery female), CA (really irritating, pretending to know it all guy who was a CA), Stylo (really dumb guy who was working and had a fake accent).

Here is a GD which was really interesting.

There were twelve people in the group including me, Yuvaraj and Amma. If I am not wrong it was a case study about a female executive who was finding to difficult to balance her job and personal life and we were asked to recommend solutions.

The GD started off, Amma always made it a point to start off in all the GDs that she participated. It was peaceful (at least on the surface) until Yuvaraj decided to cut Amma short as she was taking too long to make her point. Amma simply raised her voice and kept on speaking at a rapid pace and simply didn’t let Yuvaraj make his point.

After sometime when I was speaking, she cut me short. I was left seething and being the super-ego that I am I had to get back at her. I tried to cut her off in mid sentence sometime later but she simply refused to stop speaking. What followed was is exactly what should not be done in a GD. We started making our respective points at the top of our voices while everybody else just sat and stared at us. Well somehow it all came to an end and as soon as it was over I realized what a fool we had made of ourselves.

I was sure that I was in for some heavy lecture by the mentor. But the guy just stood there, smiled at us . And then he talked about the need to be patient during the GDs, about not letting anything disturb you, and again most importantly the need to maintain a positive body language. All that the professors at B-School are looking for is that one deviation from the cool composed posture that people carry with them and that gives away everything about the person in question.

Well to cut a long story short lets just say I took away a very important lesson from that GD and tried to avoid making these mistakes in subsequent MOCKs and the actual ones.

Another very interesting GD that took place had me in the center of the storm along with this CA guy and ten other people. The topic had something to do with International Trade, and I could not believe my years when I heard that CA guy say that MRTP and FERA are related. For those of you who have no clue as to what I am talking about, MRTP is the Monopolies and Restricted Trade Practices Act and FERA is Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. In simple words MRTP looks into antitrust kind of activities by companies, FERA/FEMA is about the rules and regulations involving foreign currency exchange.

I tried to point it out to him but since he was not willing to budge from his position and I was not about to get into another shouting match I just let it go. And boy was it a good decision. Another guy tried to correct him and both of them got into such a huge shouting match that my previous one just paled in comparison.

Well these were some of the interesting MOCK GDs that I attended in TIME.

Next up are the MOCK interviews. Trust me when I say this, these were some of the most interesting minutes of my life.

So don’t miss them!!

Life after CAT -7 (MOCK GDs-I)

2008-05-30T12:00:00.001+05:30

Well, GDs are probably that part of the admission process which people are least prepared to handle. Blame it on lack of maturity (of applicants) or whatever GDs don’t end up serving the purpose they were meant to.

Infact it seems some of the institutes don’t have GDs and others are removing them from their admission process because of this very reason. XLRI doesn’t have GD, and from what I have heard some of the IIMs did away with the GDs this time.

Still, TIME left no stone unturned in preparing us for the GDs.

Gyaan Segment

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There are three or four types of GDs

Article based GDs -> Group is asked to discuss a given article.

Case Study base Gds-> Probably the most popular form. Group is given a case and then asked to discuss it

Abstract Topics -> Group is asked to discuss an abstract topic.

Table/Chart based Gds -> Group is given a Table or a chart and asked to discuss it

In a GD you are supposed to present logical points on a topic with total conviction (without taking sides for as long as possible), be prepared to listen courteously to what others have to say while at the same time ready to be forceful to make your point if the situation calls for it. And obviously the impact of a positive body language cant be emphasize enough.

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The Mock GD sessions started off with a mentor assigning the group a topic and then telling the group about the format for the discussion (time for thinking, discussing and summarizing) and then backing away till the end of the discussion. At the end of the discussion he would give us his inputs about the discussion, about the totally irrelevant points made by the group (there were too many of them) and about what could possibly have been discussed (and was missed).

While some mentors concentrated only on teaching how to analyze the topic properly (Mr. Bala, Director TIME Chennai; a big time follower of this approach) while others concentrated more on Group Dynamics.

Funny thing, this group dynamics. People tend to behave strangely when sat alongside others and asked to discuss a topic.

While some just pull themselves in a shell and refuse to utter a word while others get hyper excited and are impossible to stop. They vehemently make their points, get irritated when cut short by someone, try to get back to that person and more often than not get into top of their voice arguments with other members of their group. (Doesn’t it paint the picture of someone you might know?)

Well I was thinking of putting some of my GD experiences in this post but it seems it is getting too long. Will post the details of mock GDs in another post after couple of hours.

Life after CAT -6 (preparing for the interviews)

2008-05-30T00:17:00.001+05:30

Gyaan Segment

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Well if I had thought that preparing for the written exams was tough I obviously had no idea what preparation for interviews would entail.

While for the written you could just study when you wanted to and switch off once you didn’t , it wasn’t the same way with interviews. Interviews have no set format and definitely no defined syllabus. You could be asked anything and I repeat anything under the sun.

In case you don’t believe just wait till you hear my MOCK and actual interview experiences.

Not only are you supposed to know everything about yourself, you should be ready to face questions on your dad's occupation, the organization he works for, the school that you have studied in, the cities that you lived in, the states and God knows what not!!

And if that was not enough you are supposed to be good with current affairs specially business related news, supposed to have a hobby on which you can handle the severest of grilling, and obviously you cant expect to bungle up questions based on your graduation subjects.

And all this while I have not talked about the "standard" questions for which you are supposed to give convincing, logical and well thought out answers while at the same time not appearing too prepared/coached. Well the "standard" questions are like "Tell us something about yourself" or "Why do you want to do an MBA".

Sure some of you might be tempted to think that I am exaggerating, but no this is the truth. This is what you can expect in your interviews if it goes the "normal" way.

Let me tell you how I prepared for the interviews. I was already a regular reader of "The Hindu". For the interviews I started reading "The Economic Times" as well. I always had a notepad with me on which I used to write down whatever terms I didn’t understand so as to look them up on the web.

Infact sometimes even as I lied down on my bed at the end of day, something would come to my mind that I thought should be read up before the interview and I would get up and write it down in my notepad.

This notepad wasn’t unique to me or my interview preparation. Infact even when Sripriya started preparing for her IIMB interview she could also be seen everywhere with the ubiquitous (showing off my vocabulary) notepad.

Well as some coaching institute guy said "Your whole life before this point has been your preparation for the interview, now you are just learning how to present it"

TIME had started coaching classes for GD as well as interviews at their Chennai center every weekend.

Keep logging in as the action unfolds here on this part of the world wide web.

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