City of Football

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!!

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)

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,

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!!!

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!!!

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

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

“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

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

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...