Saturday, December 16, 2006

A little bit bomesick

Exams and assignments here again. 94 of us churning material largely repetitive in nature, all of us have the break in focus. A break from a place that gets to you when you hang around for too long. A culture that one cannot survive for too long in succession. In the normal world the 94 of us have different personalities and a different pace to things. World shrinks in this place. The stone pathways have been worn out by the trampling of similar feet over the past few months. The washer man must have memorized about 200 lines written on t-shirts. People have almost memorized each others wardrobes subconsciously. The keys on my keyboard have been punched too many times over. The monkeys are no longer scared of our familiar faces. The chairs in our class are broken. The badminton net has worn out. A skeleton is being built next to our hostel. The weather is cold and hostile in the nights. We still stay awake. Going on and on, our fingers twitch with uneasiness. People do not smile a lot now, nor do we sing as much as we used to. Tiredness has set in. The food tastes the same. A sojourn to the city is a constant deja vu. Flowery jeans and unimaginable colour do not startle anymore. The dust sticks to your skin. Hair stays unruly. Eyes are watery and tired. Sleep beckons in between lectures. The wooden chairs creak a lot more. The clock in the classroom is subject to pleading eyes willing it to move faster. Our ears catch innumerable words during the day but we understand very few. The bed feels harder. Hot water seems lukewarm. The mirror is tired of our sleepy faces with a brush shoved in our faces. Plates with compartments that seem unnecessary. Spoons that are either too big or too small. An alarm clock that rings earlier than required.

The time has come to head back home ......

Pat on my back

Can i write that i have started to detest someone. Do i reveal my disillusionment? Sometimes words are useless when it comes to describing emotions. Or even at describing behaviour. This world has turned into an impressionist one but still that does not mean that people have turned blind. Respect should never be a function of age but should be more a function of deed and nature. Time soothes everything they say. But then it never erases. Vengeance is something i believe in but resort to rarely. Well this leaves me with nothing to prove in this place as there is no point to it. It is purely for personal pursuit.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

I

The suitcase on top of my cupboard is kept upside down. Left there like that in a hurry i have not bothered to change this. I let it be.

Takes 1/2 a minute to correct this but still i wont move. Room in a mess currently takes 10 minutes to change but won't attempt. Takes about 2 hours and get my account in Ahmadabad activated but will not activate. Takes about 2 trips to get the photos desired by Sugu delivered to her but wont move. Takes 2 hours per day in the library to keep myself upto date with world but i wont read. Takes an hour of running everyday to keep myself fit but i wont run. Takes a little bit of concentraton in the classroom to learn better but wont concentrate. Takes a little less gluttony in order to stop adding weight but i still binge.

But the only thing about which i am willing to do something about right now is my dandruff.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Deliver



Why do i never understand this? We have full control over our lives still we seem to be driven by external forces, influenced by external thoughts and never fully satisfied by the way things are. Right now i could do a million things right and it ain't too difficult to achieve but still the lag sets in and then i am bouncing about dictated by external forces rather than internal motivation. This has been a permanent feature all through my life, i have tried to fight it sometimes but rather unsuccessfully. sometimes i managed to overcome this and came out feeling real good. I want to be more consistent in this aspect though which is not happening . I am 23 , with my whole life ahead of me. Decisions taken now might seem to be trivial in the present context but in the larger scheme of things everything has its lingering effects. At an age where one is supposed to be at his/her active best, physical best and mental best , i seem to be lacking on all three counts. This youth ain't gonna return to me ever. I better make the best use of it . Try and push myself more and do the things i like and the way i want it to be done.

You make soo many promises to yourself throughout our life but then how many of these promises are actually kept? It is like cheating oneself but then the guilt is not really there since convincing oneself is the easiest thing to do. I wish for a stronger conscience. A stronger will and maybe even more failures. Failure is the essential condiment in the recipe of success- Capote. Makes perfect sense. Success in the eyes of others is immaterial to me and has always been immaterial. But i have these personal goals and a certain vision, a desire that if i do not fulfil in this lifetime i wont be a satisfied man. Obviously they will be a certain amount of regret at certain things not achieved or not accomplished but that is the essence of life. One does not get everything he desires, but one can certainly keep on trying. And it is this continuing battle and attempt to get what one desires is what the most satisfying part of any quest. This seems to be lacking in me at this moment- the fight. I am too laid back for my own comfort.

I hate comparisons. I do not want to be like xyz or worse /better than xyz. I want to be me. The more i understand people the more i realise that we are incomparable. Thought this society judges in accordance to each other for lack of a better system, it is however thoroughly unfair. And this system is going to get worse and will exist in every activity we do. You either don't give a damn and stay aloof to escape this maddening comparisons or simply stay secluded. Competing with oneself is the only possible valid form of comparison. To improve personal bests in every activity is the most organic form of growth for a human being. But here again contentment sets in too easy for my comfort. Do i sound frustrated? I am not in one least bit. Rather i am in a clam trying to get a perspective. But then again perspectives are not actions. Wonder if i will deliver?

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Casino Cascade



Even after straining my memory real hard it took me a long time to think of the last good action movie i had seen last in a theatre. Today, Casino Royale more than made up for all the actionless visit to the theatres. A bond movie which broke sterotypes and was hugely refreshing. It did not have the sme olf formula type feel to it and wasn't to easy to predict. Daniel Craig did look like he could cause someone some harm if he took a swing unlike the earlier bond portrayed by Pierce Brosnana who was more of suave and verve than raw masculinity and power. Bond essentially is a mix of both which was pretty much apparent in the earlier bonds played by Roger Moore and Sean Connery.

After a very long time i saw an amazing starting sequence which totally hooked me on to the movie. The chase sequence sans fancy gadgets and snazzy at the start was refreshing and believable. It involved Sebastian Foucan who promoted his sport known as parkour or free running and it was fascinating as hell since all that he was doing was believable as i had already seen him earlier in a Chanel 5 documentary. The hands on approach of the Bond in the movie was extremely appelaing and Daniel Craig definately has the attitude. The next bond movie is due in 2008 and if this is anythind to go by we have another legendary Bond in the making in the form of Daniel Craig.

It was the perfect evening as we got a ride in a Tavera and were spared the bumpy long ride in a Chakra, ate two sumputous Subs and 600ml of cold coffee for 20 bucks and topped it all of with a great action flick. The return ride in the chakra with the surrounding fields covered in moonlight with the cold wind blowing into my face and the white divider markings racing by provided the perfect ending. Sigh, i love such perfect endings

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Accounts Apocalypse

Living in an hostel, with a constant cach crunch budgetting for me has reached an art form. Even givng my clothes for a wash becomes a major cost controlling decision. And the target is to minimise the number of clothes i wear which i say is a mighty difficult task during winters. We Indians do not have appreciation for body odour either. Thus complicating matters further. And to top it all here i am in the middle of lecture on budgeting by a prof who is wearing too many clothes for my liking.

It is amazing how the voice a prof can simple reduce to a mild buzz in my head but my countenance still manages to portray a sense of seriousness as i am typing this post. This subjects reaffirms my faith that i am in the right B-school which focusses on marketing disciplines only. Finanace and me are like pasta made with shrikhand used as sauce, a thorough and fantabulous mismatch.

Btw i am growing my beard and have got total polar opposites responses on the same. But my main motivation is not to look good but just grow a beard for the heck of it. I do not care if it looks like pubic hair on my face or like grass cut with blunt lawnmover blades. It is MY beard and i may dye it purple for all i care.

Ooh lecture getting over so me closing this post for now ...

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Revive

Sitting in a class, typing this post. After this long sabbatical , i revive. Been an eventful 6 months in this place. No particular memory has been etching enough though that i would want to recall it at this point of time. This revival in middle of a class is i guess perfect. To start again as randomnly as the blog had originally was started.

And even after 6 months , i do not have anything really substantial to talk about. I have settled well in this place and am comfortable with the wird dynamics associated with living in a confined environment with a same set of faces with whom we interact day in and day out.

Learning wise i do not know how much wiser i have become but my emotional quotient has imporved. Some arbit group is selling a strategy at this point of time which is a futile exercise of vocal chords. Sometimes i feel my understanding of things are significantly different from general thought. Maybe i am just plain obstinate. Or maybe i love my ideas too much ...

Aaah well ...... I am definately back now

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Another late night verse

Destiny

Waiting for it to hit me,
Expecting salvation in a jiffy.
I lead my life in this eternal wait,
To realise my purpose before it is too late.

I met him on the lane,
His eyes reflected my pain.
I saw him eager to apprise me,
But my ears wont listen to thee.

It is all around me ,
Telling me what to be.
So many voices in my head ,
Lay incoherent like a salty sweat bead.

Sinking in a quicksand of apprehensions,
In this world full of obligations.
Let me discover my tryst,
Speak to me and free me from this heist.

I am the micro of this universe,
But dont let that be my curse.
Tease me no more my dear destiny,
Turn the corner and embrace my company.

Sriharsh Mallela


not thoroughly satisfied with this , but gives the basic idea ... hmm my new place resolution is to blog ... So will be active from Ahd .. hopefully : )))

Monday, April 24, 2006

Who stole my Sunday?


Its 3:30 in the morning and i am too bored to sleep. A totally uneventful , useless day where i did not do anything at all . Got up in the morning, did some errands for my mom and then sat with the newspaper for about 2 hours , cleaned my bookshelf which was littered with useless stuff. And then slept a lot in the afternoon. Really dont know what i did throughout the evening except that i just went out for a walk once.

What a way to spend a Sunday. Sundays used to be soo much more eventful when i was younger. Sunday programming on television was also something to look forward to. Remeber watching Mahabharata , Ramayana , Chanakya , Tipu Sultan and many such serials as a kid. Towards my teenage years it was the Bournvita Quiz Contest and cartoons. Then the lunch was always something to look forward too as we sit together as a family and have an idylic chat. Evenings used to be full of fun as i either used to go out with my parents to visit some fun family friends or play with my colony friends. As night approached a sense of gloom usually engulfed me as i thought about going to school the next day. I used to hate school on Mondays. So many times i used to act as if i have stomach pain so that i could escape school that day. Worked a few times before my mom was on to it. Many sunday evenings i have also spent watching movies with my family. Those days simply were so much more fun. The day had a special meaning and feeling attached to it.

Nowadays almost everyday is like a Sunday. I used to wake up at a particular time every sunday as a kid so that i could watch my particular serials. There is nothing to wake up for these days . The day used to feel like a well earned holiday. Used to be my favorite day of the week . Now it doesnt matter which day it is tommorow, it could be thursday for all i care since i dont have anything special to do anyways. My mom used to drag me to the market on this day so that i could carry all the heavy stuff. Used to watch her haggle with all the shopkeepers , pick up vegetables and poultry and learnt quite a bit. My reward for coming with her used to be a bar one. Love that chocolate. In Delhi , a sunday during winters meant that i could stay inside the quilt for as long as i want and it is one of the most relaxing and satisfying feleings in the world. To be warm and comfortable .

Damn this Sunday






Sunday, April 23, 2006

Some stupid 'Hell' creating stuff off the net

General asshats
Circle I Limbo

Hipsters
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

Greens
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

The Pope
Circle IV Rolling Weights

Militant Vegans
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

Parents who bring squalling brats to R-rated movies
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

Republicans
Circle VII Burning Sands

Scientologists
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

George Bush
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Written one after a long time.




Killing Fields

I see blood again and again,
In this world full of pain.
The fabric of morality lays torn asunder,
Hawks of news-gatherers feast on this plunder.

I experience disgust this day and everyday,
From carnality to barbarisation as the world sways.
No relationship thus can be ever consummate,
As destruction is this new world's new fate.

I am blind as i see no reason,
So is this world to the omnipresent treason.
Lies and accusations are our new faith,
The gospel just proclaims the convergence of all possible hate.

I abide my time and await my turn,
Grimacing myself for the scars that the world will burn.
I pray my soul shall never yeild,
And be a part of these mindless killing fields.

Sriharsh Mallela






i love this song



For You

If you're lost and feeling low,
Circumnavigate the globe,
All you have is hope.



And the way you seem to flow
Circumnavigate the globe,
I never seem to lose control,
With you.



Everyone of us is high,
Everyone of us is low,
Everyone of us is here,
How about you?
Your eyes are closed,
Your head held low,
Your eyes are closed.


Everyone of us is high,
Everyone of us is low,
Everyone of us has hope,
For you. (10 times)

I said it


Currently i am reading 'The Inscrutable Americans' by Anurag Mathur. Bought it second hand for 40 bucks. Less amount of guilt involved hear. I have lots of pirated stuff though. The thing is if i do not get all this content in the pirated form , i would never have been able to afford it at all. Like for example, the game- Call of Duty- which i picked up from the streets for 100 bucks. The actual MRP of the game wil be anything above Rs. 1500 and if i blow up my fathers money on this he will certainly throw me out of the house.

I read recently in the papers that the BMC has decided to arrange a raid a day to get rid of the pirated CD's menance. When will they ever learn? It is all futile and plain economics is enough to prove that it is futile. There is a voracious demands for such pirated CD's/DVD's. These days a decent DVD player is available in the market for lees than Rs. 3000. Almost every other home is in possesion of one. But their income levels are not high enough that they can buy CD's at their mrp rate. They certainly aint going let their systems rot now, will they?

Moving on, old habits die hard. I still aint studying leaving it for the lastminute. Got no motivation at all this time and i am in my dreamland most of the day. Wonder if this is going to change in anyway whatsoever in the coming few months.

About my future, i have started having doubts about taking up Account Planning as my specialisation. Over the past few days i have researched a lot online about this subject. Have found loads of sites pertaining to it but not a single one could exlain convincingly what the role and responsibility of an account planner is. What i could decipher is that an Accont Planner sits and tries to analyse the creative work and find connections between the work and the TG and recommend whatever is necessary. Now this role is a very intemediary and subjective one. Boundaries are not properly defined and since this discipline has started only about 30 years back no one seems to know what a planner is actually requied to do. If i do not achieve satisfactory clarity on this front in the next few months then this option will be out of the equation.

My mother has already started contemplating how lonely she would be once i go the hostel. I have spent 22 years with my parents and my sudden absence willl be a large void in their lives. India is one of the few countries in the world where the child stays with his/her parents till an average of , i believe at least 20 years. And the bonding too seems to be greater though i am basing this judgement purely on the picture painted about the western world by the media. Wonder whether i will feel homesick.


Thursday, April 20, 2006

Gym Gyan

So i joined a gym. It is going great and all. Within three sessions have lost 2 kilos. The instructors are plain sadists. They just push me from one exercise to the other and for an hour and a half i am exercising almost non stop. But then without any pain i wont be able burn off the layers of fat that i have gathered over the year.

What irritates me though are the posters at this gym. Actually what irritates me are posters in any gym in general. All one sees are posters of muscular guys and a few women flexing every concievable muscle in their body with a big toothy grin. Most of them have impossible bodies sculpted painstakingly by them over a period of many years. Barely 0.1% of the people who go to the gym will ever be able to shape out their body like that . Forget that even the darn instructors are not comparable to the posters. So why exactly do they have these posters around. What does it communicate? To me it says ,' Look here you weener , look at my body , dont salivate or hope. You aint never gonna get the body i have and hence my toothy mocking grin'.

And what the hell is going to the gym about. Presently if one observes the situation in India which has a sizable population of obese people the main motive of going to the gym is to lose weight and not to build up a body. True , there are the occasional bunch whjo go to a gym purely for building up their bodies. at least in the gym i go to i can safely claim that most of them come for weightloss. And what the gym is communicating is that we will make you muscular. Instead why has not any form of gym communication not concentrated on the main aspect of going to the gym. It is not about the body but about the mind. Exercising after a certain point is less about physical effort and more about mental strength. The strenght and the drive required to push oneself towards a certain goal is phenomenal. Very few people manage to do it. So i belive they should be communicating us this aspect. Telling us about how we need to push ourselves mentally. Also show realistic bodies and use indian models.

Another aspect about body building is that i do not consider it to be a sport. Though all the practioners claim about it being a sport but it surely aint. Standing on stage , flexing one's muscles and being judged by a portly politician looking for new recruits to his security team aint exactly a sport. Also by all accounts Body Building is a vain thing to do. In a gym, there are mirrors all over so that one can even watch every little twitch of one's ass in the mirror. totally vain i say. After a good work out one can see people flexing in front of the mirror and checking out their own muscles and maybe show it off to the accidental on looker at the gym.


I am a fucking regular guy

I get extremely irritated and hate it totally when i hear someone or some organisation claim , ' we are different'. How often do we come across some actor/actress pouting in the most artificial manner and proclaiming that their film is really different and unique. Or have read about how a company has a work ethic or approach totally different than others in the same line. Excepting very few hard to find exceptions most of these claims are pure bullshit and artificial to the core.

Take for instance the news channels, everyone of them are the same in delivery and content. Some lack finesse but the core news is simply market driven as it will be but still everyone claims to be different. Why cant one communicate and say , 'Hey , i am your regular news channel , expect your daily dose of mindless stories and breaking news stories about which saree Jayalalitha wore today. We provide you nothing really special, though will try to make the effort wherever or whenever we can'. What is wrong in accepting the reality and for someone to say that this movie that we have made is your regular average triangular love story with decent songs and predictable ending, hope you enjoy the film.

I hate the attempt to differentiate when none exists and the parity is clear for everyone to see. We have so many ads running on this 'its different' funda that at least i have started since quite some time to reject immediately when a brand tries to communicate and simply say its different from its competitor. I just cant listen to that rant.

All products these days are similar in terms of characteristics. Brand Managers try to bring in the differentiation between products by working on the image of the product. But i beleive with so much clutter prelevant if some brand has the guts to say , ' Fuck off , i aint special or exotic .i am as regular as you can expect and will try my best to solve your problem or fulfill your need'. Sprite uses this approach and it has worked for them.

All the real good ads that i have seen till date, simply claim to try their best at solving your problem or fulfilling our need. The communication is simple and clear and they do not bother of differentiating from their competiton much but instead focus more on communicating what they want to the consumers. I am a believe in simple and clear cut communication and dealing with the lowest denominator.


Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Personal DNA

A very interesting personality site. Gives a personal DNA report which is suprisingly accurate on many counts. Not like some other online personality things hich lists out 5 to 6 obvious observations.

http://www.personaldna.com/

apparently i am a generous director....

Guaranteed timepass for 30 minutes plus i love their presenation of the questionnaire.



I am alive

Inertia is a dangerous state to be in . This blog has been in that state for too long and i am back to revivie. I do not have any reason for not blogging. Shit loads of things have happened this past month and i must admit that all of them have happened for my own good.

Out of the 5 MBA calls that i recieved i managed to convert 4 of them. TAPMI strangely did not even waitlist me even though i did good. But then no regrets at all.. i got into the institute i desired for the past 2 years - MICA.

Persistent hardwork in something you are not really that interested in is always difficult. CAT related studies to a certain extent is interesting but then it really gets on to one's nerves. Also luck plays such a huge factor in this exam that one is really left without any odds to defend. After going through months of preparation. anxiety , planning , anticipation and sheer frustration when suddenly i got the news that i had made it, i felt emptiness. I had no idea how to react.

Now, two weeks hence, things are falling into perspective. There is no better feeling than the feeling of success in a task one has toiled or desired for a very long time. To tell the truth i just managed to apply about 60 % of what i am capable of . But i am still mighty pleased since even this kind of application i rarely achieve.

Our mind is a very funny thing though . Months ago i used to dream that once i get an admit to MICA i would have no other desire in my mind. This aint the case though. I am already thinking about what i will be facing this coming 2 years. I have read and heard from many that getting in is the easy part, surviving in a B-school is the real challenge. 90 students have been selected for the batch of 2006-08 after a long and winding process. The CAT must have made most of them really competitive, it has that effect. To top that there is relative grading, which effectively means that if i get 90/100 in a paper which is good but half the class gets more than that, then i end up with a C grade. So now i am thinking ahead and want to perform well while i am there.

Thinking about it further, this cycle will never stop. I will get placed in hopefully a decent company after 2 years but over there too , the degree wont matter performance will. And so we go on throughout our lives performing to the best we can or at least trying to, in order to fulfil what our heart desires.

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In other news , i am joining a gym from tommorow. Finally will start working off some fat. Will keep a watch over my diet too. Had a wonderful time with Sugu last month and will be meeting her hopefully this June again.

Got another bunch of exams coming up, the final semester exams for my diploma in Financial Management. Lots of mugging up to be done, will have to start soon. This course has not been of much use since the teaching really sucked. However i did pick up a few things here and there and might pick up a few more in the coming two weeks. One thing i realised though, all financial investments in share market are speculative in nature and aint really that different from gambling. All the various models of valuation etc can be tweaked and since everything is in numbers , one can mould it to any form and make anything look good or bad. Also i now am 1billion gazillion % sure that i was never ever meant to be a finance guy. It is plain boring to me.

As an afterthought, i am suddenly reminded of this lady i have been seeing regularly on Churchgate station for the past month. She must be living somewhere on the footpath and wanders about in the station aimlessly. Must be between 60 to 70 years of age. She wears a nightgown, a very old and dirty one. The first time i saw her, her nightgown was partially wet , her hair messy and open and she was crying real hard. She looked extremely helpless and was wailing. Crying as if her heart had been broken into a 100 peices. When i saw her that day i felt completely miserable. This nameless wailing woman was one of the most painful sights i have seen in my whoole life. I really do not understand why this moved me soo much as staying in this city I encounter such scenes of povety and misery on a regular basis. But the very first glimpse of her made me think about this woman having a family, maybe she has a son. And that family , maybe that son has abandoned her. She looked so frail and weak hearted, crying with the innocence of a baby. The whole world passed her by but nobody could hear her cry. It was really strange, not even so much as a glance was spared towards the old woman by all who passed her. I stood there transfixed and felt like crying myself. I wondered if i could reduce her misery to a certain extent. But she just kept walking on the platform , her gown wet with water and her face wet with tears. Like all others around her , I too moved on after some time but that image of her is etched in my mind. Started to think how helpless old people are and hoping i would be able to aptly support my parents. I see her on and off at Churchgate station these days. Thankfully i havent seen her cry again. She wears the same gown that is always a little wet and carries a polythene bag with her. i have not seen her beg nor have i seen her with anybody else. Tried making eye contact with her but she is usually in her own world, must be a troubled world and a mind full of broken dreams.

Somehow her image has managed to personify emotional pain in my mind.

God Bless Her.


Friday, March 03, 2006

Mob

Chants all around, a sea of unidentified faces demonstrating, sticky afternoon heat, sporadic fires at several places and definite cloud of nervousness and tension in the air. Not the type of situation i expected to find myself on an idlylic thursday afternooon. My intention was to reserve ticket for my journey to Banglore and i decided to walk from Marine Lines to CST. Little did i know what i would be witnessing.

Though this was not a riot but it had all the potential to be one. Today's monring paper reported that nearly 1,50,000 people of the muslim community protested the arrival of Bush. My first impression was that it is a protest regarding the cartooning episode. From St Xaviers to reach CST it took me more than an hour to simly wade through the sea of angry protestors.

A hell lot of disturbing questions were raised in my mind during that time. I simply cannot seem to fathom that 1,50,000 young people would actually have no work in life but to raise such a ruckus. It definately was not a peaceful protest , anything that disturbs normal civic life is not peaceful in my opinion. Also i saw a man in a taxi been beaten up for no apparent reason and the taxi damaged a bit. The mob tried to pull the man out and had they succeeded in doing that it would have been the end for him. This happened barely 25 metres from where i was standing and had it not been for some police whistles the situation would have gone out of control. Then i started wondering about what actually motivates the mob, what is the fuel for this engine and it is definately not concern for a cause. I bet half of them do not know anything about George Bush except that he is the president of US and is connected in some way to the war in Iraq. So then i realised the actual motivation for these people. I could see it in their eyes and their body language. It was simply power, they had the power at that point of time to run amok and simply nobody could have stopped them not even the police who were badly outnumbered. The city had to listen to them for those 3 hours of protest. They had the power to bring it to the standstil and whack any layman on the street. This is what everyone in that crowd enjoyed and were motivated by.

As i was approaching this huge crowd , my instincts told me that i could be dangerous and asked me not to venture out. But i simply had to experience this and see how it actually is in such situations. One does not need much to infuriate such a mob and for the situation to go out of control. A small incident is enough to trigger off a massive backlash from the mob. Now i can understand better what it must have been at Babri masjid or during the Bombay riots and more recently the shameful Godhra riots.

To go further i thought about the muslim community as a whole . Such incidents just adds to the image which i and many of my friends share that the community is by nature a vociferous community and also tends to be violent. It is true that much of this image has been wrongly portrayed and is representative of a small minority of this community, but this is the exact image that the western powers use to justify their actions against the Muslim community. And such incidents simply add to this image. What the muslim community needs is a major repositioning exercise and they have to portray themselves in a different light if things are ever to improve.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Old Project

I found an old project we had in college. It is an analysis of self . This was almost 2 years ago i believe. Have i changed in this span? Not much really .. more or less the same person. Only that now i dont worry how i will be at the fag end of my life.

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SRIHARSH MALLELA
ROLL NO-48


An analysis of self

For many this might be a highly ego boosting assignment. Shall try my best to do justice and not let many biases creep in. Well how does one analyse himself ? It’s a matter of comparisons to gauge the level of the qualities you posses. So I will compare my various attributes with things that are symbolic of those attitudes.

So when I say I am ambitious I would like to compare this attitude with a flying kite. Always trying to rise higher and reach out. That’s how ambitious I am. But then it often happens that the thread breaks and I lose direction and just float away. Herein lies my weak point, even though I am ambitious I tend to lose focus pretty often and lose sight of what I want.

I consider my mouth to be an echoing instrument. Whatever my mind thinks my mouth echoes it out. So this implies I speak my mind and I am a frank and straightforward person. Now this quality does make me appear rude at times but it is an obvious negative of this trait.

I always think that the glass is half full and not half empty. I have a positive attitude something like what the animals have. Animals never get disheartened whatever calamity might strike them. They always pick themselves up and lead their lives in the same rosy way. You may call this perseverance I call it positive attitude. Remorse and regret do not hold my fancy for long.

The mirror is one of the most truthful inventions by Man. You only see what the present reality is and however much you wish the mirror will never change this reality. So you have no option but to accept this reality. This is what I think about physical appearance, I accept the way I am and have no qualms about it. I do not bother much about physical appearance cause you cannot do much to manipulate it.

One of my biggest desires is to be fair to everyone. Hence I try to look at all the points of view and be as fair as possible. The negative aspect of this trait is that in trying to do so I get confused and am not able to decide on the course of action.

I believe that of all the things in the world the only thing constant is change. Everything changes constantly and nothing is permanent be it emotions or inanimate things. So in a sense the only thing permanent in this world is change. I understand that and make an effort of not taking things around me for granted. Though I haven’t been totally successful and do not believe anyone can be but I make an effort.

My biggest fear is at the fag end of my life I should not look back and think that I have not achieved what I could have. I want to fulfill my potential if not fully at least a majority of it.


Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Of results and stalkers

Congratulations SRIHARSH from MUMBAI!,

You have been shortlisted for MICAT GD and P
I.

Awwww God .. what a long day this has been.. the time now is 12:30 am and now finally i get this message... A whole day obsessing over one result only ..

Had called them twice...and got mixed answers of me being selected according to the lady i spoke to first time.. and rejected according to the man i spoke to the second time. Though he later clarified his statement and i was one big bundle of nerves the whole day long.

At least got the call and must say that i have been extremely lucky ... many people with 98 and 99 percentiles have not got the call. Maybe they were looking at our profile .. but still i dont have a great profile or anything .. whatever it was that clinched the call , i am very grateful.

Now i have my one shot at MICA. 60 seats up for grabs, 2000 applicants called for this phase. A mere .3 percent of the shortlisted applicants will be selected after a MICAT test , a group discussion cum group exercise and a Personal interview.

Its on 24th Feb and that gives me 8 days to do what i can . Going to give it my best darn shot and see what happens.

In other news, the guy who hs been stalking my girl seems to have helped her out since the compartment in which she was in another uncle was trying to get fresh with her , so this guy steps in and puts the uncle in his place. Also he is following her in Delhi too and landed up in a restaurant where she had gone . This combined with my result anxiety and the sleep inducing medicines that i am taking for my cold and cough has seriously fucked up my brain. Hopefully from tommorow things are saner around me, Sugu will be in Shimla with her parents tommorow.

adios

Some useless interesting forward

Things that make you Mumbaiya

1. You think Chowpatty & Juhu beaches as "nature."
2. You say "town " and expect everyone to know that this means south of Churchgate.
3. You speak in a dialect of Hindi called 'Bambaiya Hindi', which only Bombayites can understand
4. Your door has more than three locks.
5. Rs 500 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag.
6. Train timings (9.27, 10.49 etc) are really important events of life.
7. You spend more time each month travelling than you spend at home.
8. You call an 8' x 10' clustered room a Hall.
9. You're paying Rs 10,000 for a 1 room flat, the size of walk-in closet and you think it's a "steal."
10. You have the following sets of friends, school friends, college friends ,neighbourhood friends, office friends and yes, train friends, a species unique only in Bombay.
11. Cabbies and bus conductors think you are from Mars if you call the roads by their Indian name, they are more familiar with Warden Road, Peddar Road, Altamount Road.....
12. Stock market quotes are the only other thing besides cricket which you follow passionately.
13. The first thing that you read in the Times of India is the "Bombay Times" supplement.
14. You take fashion seriously.
15. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.
16. Hookers, beggars and the homeless are invisible.
17. You compare Bombay to New York's Manhattan instead of any other cities of India.
18. The most frequently used part of your car is the horn.
19. You insist on calling CST as VT, and Sahar and Santacruz airports instead of Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport
20. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
21. Your idea of personal space is no one actually standing on your toes.
22. Being truly alone makes you nervous.
23. You love wading through knee deep mucky water in the monsoons, and actually call it 'romantic'.
24. Only in Bombay, you would get Chinese Dosa and Jain Chicken.
25. You call traffic policemen as "Pandus" and expect out-of-towners to understand that.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Lots of things going on in my head... Another day to go for the MICA calls to be announced.. Got a call from Goa Institue of Management.. a decent coll to do my PG from .. but the big one is still pending i.e MICA .. guess my mind is fucked up coz of that .. since it is something i really want.. and if i get a call .. i am gonna have just one shot to clear it... ooh well life is crazy... so are soo many people in this world .. right now there is a guy stalking my girl.. and i cant do nothing about it .. She is on a train on her way back home and this guy who disclosed his love for her is following her on the same train all the way to Delhi.. talk about obsession...I am worried .. since if the guy is obsessed enough to follow her for about a 1000 odd kms then he can do some serious damage too.. Bastard would have been in serious trouble if i could get my hands on him.. i am very possessive and selfish about her and normal people confessing their love for her makes me jealous and now i have this guy following her and stalking her..It is quite maddening... This is the only time i regret the distance between us ... since it makes me feel helpless....

God Bless Her

Saturday, February 11, 2006

...........

I just typed a paragraph and then deleted it . I did this two times already. Will this para be a third time? I feel like questioning......myself, the world, anyone for that matter... but i also know the answer wont satisfy me. Nothing will. Humans are not designed to be satisfied. We seem to be the only animals on this planet who do not function primarily by instincts but search for a logic. But what if this logic does not strike us. Then whatever we do without this inherent sense of logic , soon appears to be logical to us and we go about this chore in a mechanical manner. Convincing ourselves by saying that hey so many people are doing the same thing so there must be some logic to it. But that is precisely what the other people are thinking too.

Is there any reprive from this situation? Will mere realisation of this situation enough for freedom from this dogma? Am i asking too many questions? A code of conduct , mostly devised and refined by some very clever men , inorder to control and gain power over fellow humans governs the modern civil society. But occassionally our true nature comes out and we get a peak on to our other side... full of extreme emotions of jealousy, love , hatred and intended violence. So is essentially everyone a loner at heart?

What if we dont want to make the best of what we get and want what is not supposedly ours ? What if i want immortality or wisdom to understand? Who decided the restrictions .. mere biological factors, supernatural factors or are we plain stupid and aint thinking right?

Whom should i respect? Do i really need to........

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Forward

An engaging forward that makes for a fun read.


LAW OF QUEUE: If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.

LAW OF TELEPHONE: When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged one.

LAW OF MECHANICAL REPAIR: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.

LAW OF THE WORKSHOP: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

LAW OF THE ALIBI: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire.

BATH THEOREM: When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.

LAW OF ENCOUNTERS: The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don’t want to be seen with.

LAW OF THE RESULT: When you try to prove to someone that a machine won’t work, it will!

LAW OF BIOMECHANICS: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

THEATRE RULE: People with the seats at the furthest from the aisle arrive last.

LAW OF COFFEE: As soon as you sit down for a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.


And here is a law that i learnt while studying in BMM ( Bachelors of Mass Media).

LAW OF DEADLINES : Whenever there is a deadline approaching, something will go wrong that will make the deadline a race to the very last second.
In other words, ' Kuch Galat Hoke Rahega'.

And it is in such moments of desperation that our minds become extremly creative and there have been moments where my group has literally hoodwinked the whole class. Won't go into the details though...


Monday, February 06, 2006

Walk

2 plates Medu Wada - Rs. 28
1 ticket to V.T Station - Rs 8
1 call to Girlfriend- Rs 9
1 mammoth glass of Sugarcane juice- Rs 6
Bunking a GD/PI class where people talk nonsense and going to visit the Gateway of India and Victoria Memorial Meusem - Priceless

Sudden urge to simply break the grind took over my senses yesterday. As i was walking towards my class at around 9 . 45 am , i was seriously hating the fact that i had to sit for about 4 hours arguing with people on some lame topic. And then suddenly i had this urge to eat Medu Wada , so off i went to an Udipi restaurant and finished off two plates of hot and steamy Medu Wada. Now fully content and stomach full , i dropped the idea of going to class and felt that i want to go somewhere where there is less crowd and more space. So i decided that i shall go to V.T and have a nice long walk to Gateway as on sundays this area is nice , serene and very pictureresque...So i reached there and slowly walked down the empty lanes with a few hawkers here and there observing various murals on the old structures that make up this place. I noticed two faces on the VT station building, wonder who they belong too. there were loads of foreigners negotiating with hawkers, the weather was pleasant and with minimal traffic around the roads looked beautiful.

This walk was soo much better than geting cramped up in a small room having heated arguements with a bunch of people that would eventually lead no where. It was a nice way to relax and gather my thoughts as i have very important few weeks coming up. The sea looked good as usual when i reached Gateway but the sun had reached its afternoon peak by the time i reached there and there wasn't enough breeze blowing. so i decided to retreat to a cooler place. Kala Ghoda Art festival was on nearby but did not feel like visitng it as it is held on the streets and i wanted some shade. So decided to visit the Victoria Memorial Mueseum now known as Chatrapati Shivaji mueseum. Got myself a ticket and went in and thoroughly enjoyed the poace. Especially the Natural History section as i saw an embalmed
King Cobra there. They do look majestic. Also saw the Kashmir stag which is taller than me and so was the Swamp deer. Also the Himalayan Bearded Vulture is the fiercest looking bird i have seen in my life. The Art gallery was closed so could see that but had a nice time checking out the weapons that are displayed there. The whole of Akbars armoury can be seen . I was trying to imagine the wars of those days where one to one combat was essential and the skills and the stenght of the warriors were put to test unlike the wars of the present age. We have such a rich history and culture but we are not able to respect it enough mostly due to the fact that hardly any one of us is aware of it other than the historians. I used to love reading History in school but used to hate writing the exams which required one to simply mug up and vomit. The subject needs to be treated in a much different manner where the student needs to understand the choices the various historical characters had and the reason they chose to behave in the way they did and what would have happened if they had taken some other option.

So i spent my time here till it was time to return home, observed a few paintings on the street put up by the Kala Ghoda people, some play was going on but looked boring so i wnet back to Churchgate station. On the way had this huge glass of sugarcane juice which i actually could not even finish and then had a nice train ride back home.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

It is tough being my girlfriend




Not that i am a psychotic stalker or am as possesive as Sonia Gandhi is of her sari , i can still be a pain in the ass boyfriend. So my girl has to be a little extra special with the extra bit of will power to have been able to carry on with me for over two and a half years. In any relationship things change after the initial year or so as people start taking each other totally granted.... I started doing that much earlier with her. Then my idea of romance aint exactly the Romeo Juliet kinds... I sing to her ( which in itself is a bad thing as i sound like Oprah Winfrey with a bad cold) songs in Punjabi that i download off the net. It is real fun though but i can imagine how thoroughly unromantic that can be. Also i imitate or talk to her in various kinds of accents right from gujrathi to italian.

The most difficult thing about me is that i am oblivious to a lot of things that happens to her and in her life. Even though she tells me every detail of anything that happens with her , i consciously manage to register very few things... rest all go over my head and i know this can be very irritating since even i get very irritated if i come across such a person myself. Not that i am a bad listener, i listen to everything but am very opinionated and hardly ever give her a chance to have her say and usually somehow end up either convincing her or forcing her to see my way. Can be really domineering and stubborn sometimes.

The coup de resistance of all irritating activities of mine is my teasing ability. I seriously can go on and on teasing someone on the same topic for days on end. I call her a Sardarni which she absolutely hates for reasons known only to her and then tease her on the same thing for days on end...Hmm and then are bunch loads of other things i tease her about. So you see in short i am a lazy, oblivious, biased and irritating boyfriend......And ohh yah before i forget , the following is a random non sensical verse i coined for her today....

Saajan Chale Sasuraal,
Lal Lal Tere Gaal,
Sundar Sundar Tere Bal,
Behki Behki Teri Chaal,
Kya Cheez Hai Tu Kamaal.

Adios


P.S : Please do not complain to the Human Rights Commission readers....
P.S ( Part 2) : The photo has no relevance to the subject.
P. S (Part 3) : I guess i am hallucinating
P.S ( Part 4) : I told you i can go on and on about the same topic..

Friday, February 03, 2006

Just bought this book today.... Took me 45 minutes just to read the preface.. It is a collection of essays by Amartya Sen , about 16 in number in which he discusses various varied topics. Started reading the first essay and he begins by stating the argumentative nature of Indians and the natural flair that we possess in loquacity. An Indian, namely Krishna menon holds a world record for the longest speech ever. This happened in a United nations Conference in which Krishna Menon gave a speech for 9 hours. This record has never been broken till now .....So with this book in hand , i am going to snuggle off to bed and read till i fall asleep....Good Night Folks ...

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Agla Car Kaunsa????

Me and my father are currently on the lookout for a new car and ater 2 weeks of looking at all possible cars withing our price range bracket we have narrowed down the choice to 2 cars.. but before i reveal the identity of the 2 shortlisted cars let us pay aideu to the car which came very close to making the shortlist. Yes , ladies and ladlas it is none other that Octavia. Put up quite a fight with its unique features and attributes.....







But it lost out on one crucial factor, the back seat. It simply aint comfortable enough though it is a hell of a driving machine and one feels really safe in the car as it simply feels strong.


The other cars we surveyed were Toyota Corrolla , Honda City and Accord, Ford Fiesta and Ford Mondeo. Moving on to the two cars we shortlisted.......

With a very sleek look and feel look for it , our first car comes from the stables of General Motors. This snazzy thing has a 1799 cc petrol engine with 115 bhp of raw power and will go from 0 to 100 in 11.11 secs. This classy beast goes by the name of Chevrolet Optra....


Lookwise the car is really grand and also is extremely comfortable. It has all the jazz that comes along with cars these days .....


Next in line , is the car that i feel should win the race. This car has blown me away. I just saw it today and it has really caught on to my imagination. It has every feature one looks for in cars that are needed for Indian roads. A complete car according to me. Extremely impressive styling and ultra comfortable interior are the first things that you notice about this car...The car has been launched recently on 19th January.. It is the Mitsubishi Cedia...




Mitsubishi Cedia
Totally Alive


I love the tagline and though i do not remeber the copy buit it was very good. Now for the specifics

ENGINE
Type 4 Cylinder, ln-line, 16 Valve SOHC
Displacement 1999 cc
Fuel type Unleaded Petrol
Max Output 115 PS @ 5250 rpm
Max Torque 175 Nm @ 4250 rpm
Fuel Supply System ECI-MULTI (Electronically controlled multi-point fuel injection)
Tank Capacity 50 Ltr.




So not only does this car have the looks but also enough punch under its hood to give you the perfect ride. Clearly i am biased towards this car but the only prob being is it is slightly out of budget. So if that is worked out then i guess this is definately going to be my next family car or otherwise it is the Optra....



Verse

A beautiful poem by John Clare, there are times in life when everyone feels this way, though this is not my current mental state. I generally do not read poems but today i just stumbled upon a site and thoroughly enjoyed reading them. This also reminded me that i had not written a poem in quite some time. Used to write quite a few of them before as an hobby but now i guess i have lost the habit. The thing about poems i love is that , unlike a story a poem will mean something different for every person that reads it. It is subject to everyone's intepretation and experience. Thus any poem written by any person can have lots of significance and the writer might not even know about it .

I Am

by John Clare


I am: yet what I am none cares or knows,
My friends forsake me like a memory lost;
I am the self-consumer of my woes,
They rise and vanish in oblivious host,
Like shades in love and death's oblivion lost;
And yet I am, and live with shadows tost

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life nor joys,
But the vast shipwreck of my life's esteems;
And e'en the dearest - that I loved the best -
Are strange - nay, rather stranger than the rest.

I long for scenes where man has never trod,
A place where woman never smiled or wept;
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept:
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie,
The grass below - above the vaulted sky.

--------------------------------------------------

I remember this poem very well. Had it in school and thoroughly loved it . I guess we had to learn it by heart and i remember my teacher took 2 days to explain it to the whole class line by line. I loved those school days especialy the 6th and 7th Stds. The innocence was still there and used to love being tucked in bed on a rainy day with an Enid blyton or Hardy boys book in hand.

Daffodils

by William Wordsworth


I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.


Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of the bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.


The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:


For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

------------------------------------------------

Another classic by William Wordsworth , having lived in a city my whole life and in a city like Mumbai being close to nature is an apparation. My dream house is a house in the hills surrounded by unpopulated hills lush and green with little streams to wade through and mud paths to travel upon. The house should look down upon a valley and it should snow occasionally in the winters. Someday i might be able to own such a house.....

The world is too much with us

by William Wordsworth


The world is too much with us ; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers :
Little we see in Nature that is ours ;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon !
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon ;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers ;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune ;
It moves us not. – Great God ! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn ;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn ;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea ;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, January 28, 2006

A fresh bout of energy




I have spent the better part of this week canoodling with my girl. There was nothing else on my mind but her and that helped me a lot. All my worries and problems became non existent and spent a few good dream like days with her . I really cherish the time i spend with her which is very minimal in the first place. I feel totally revitalized after this and feel that i have enough in me to take on this whole world. Life simply seems so beautiful when one is in an optimistic mood. It makes me want to do everything i can in the limited time i will be spending on this earth. Our relationship has now crossed 2 and a half years and often i find my friends wondering how i could be serious in a relationship. In college i was one of the most flirtatious guys around , though i believe i never really flirted in the true sense of the term , it was more of a good natured , no strings attached type of flirting. I am very serious about her and will get hitched with her . One of my friends once asked me about how i knew that she is the one. Frankly i really dont know and it really does not matter. Love in todays context is overhyped and the true meaning of it is rarely captured. Like everything it has been heavily commercialised and losing its innocence. But the best things about being in love are the simple things and it is these simple moments that i spent with her that has given me this fresh lease of energy which i badly needed. Thanks to Karishma in whose empty house we stayed and to all my friends namely Sriram, Nikhil, Tejas and Yash and imaginary friends namely Kunal, Kanika and Varsha who accompanied me on my imaginary trip to Pune where we stayed at Aundh Road and went to a disc called Xion and ate at a restaurant called Shukriya.

I also got the good news this week that i have been shortlisted for GD/PI at TAPMI and Nirma institue of management. Now waiting for the big one which is MICA that is expected during the first week of febuary. The only sad part is that my friend Karishma who did better than me in CAT could not get through since she her percentile in maths was not upto the cut off level in both these colleges. But both of us are surely in contention of a MICA call since they just see the overall percentile and hopefully we will end up doing our MBA's from MICA...That reminds me, the MICA placements for this year are done and they have notched an average salary of 6.2 lakhs per annum and for the first time there were international placements in a brand consultancy firm in Dubai. I do hope that this trend continues in case i manage to land up in this college as i want to take up Brand Communications as my specialisation.

Got to get some real thinking and studying done for the GD/PI's which are fast approaching. After all this hard work i do not want to stumble over the last hurdle.

Recently i have stumbled upon the website of an advertising agency and suddenly i really feel that i want to work there. Maybe someday in the future i would be able to work in that agency. The agency name is Strawberryfrog, a very wierd name but a nice little philosophy. http://www.strawberryfrog.com/sf/

cheers

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Intoxicated Musings

copyright: http://www.unclepasha.com


18 days have passed since New Years and i have been wanting to write this post ever since. This is about my loud mouth during New year's . The prophetic sayings that emancipated out of my alcohol drenched lips were the product of millions of years of evolution . Albert Einstein once noted, "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former". I was the shining example of human stupidity induced by vodka that night. Thanks to jaundice i really did not have much opportunity to drink much last year and New Year's was the night i was getting reacquainted with vodka after a long time. So the utter garbage that i uttered were the product of three glasses of vodka which i usually prepare in the ratio of 2:1 in favour of the vodka. I do not remeber a lot of things that night but the following is a classic that i told my friend Rithika......

' I do not know how to swim. But i am an excellent deep sea diver. Once when i was diving deep in the ocean, i came across a porcupine. The porcupine had headlights and it used the headlights to signal and converse with me in morse code. The porcupine told me that i am an excellent diver'.

Man!!! I really dont know how i ever managed to say something like that. But this is just the tip of the ice berg .. i actually was constantly harping on having or telling others to have Korean Brinzal and African Prawns. Also i expressed my desire to join the navy and kill a Cuban. I must iterate at this point i have no such hidden desires and think Fidel Castro is a great chum of a guy , i especially like the cap he wears. Also i realised that i could never be the foreign minister or ambassdor of India for if i get drunk in a party i might just end up abusing the french president like i did that night. Jacques Chirac would have never heard his name pronounced like the way i did that night , like a sexed up Bangladeshi Cab driver. Also i did accuse him on some homosexual grounds and made fun of him being bald. Well if he wants to extract some revenge then i would advise him to wait for another 10 years till i tun bald and then he can have his fun. There are some other things i did that night but memory fails me.

Oooh yes !! I did have a nice finale lined up though . Towards the end i do remember 'singing' (for want of a better adjective to describe my way of singing, may be moaning will be more appropriate) 'My Humps, My Humps . My ladylike lumps', over and over again.

Remeber all this is on tape , courtesy of my friend Rithika and i assure full stimulation of your laughter muscles in case someone wants to purhase it. I am willing to sell this obscene tape at an obscene amount. Any rich arab weeners reading this post?????

P.S: Do read my close friend Sriram aka Heyz's post , 'Bald Frog with a wig', a perfect example of the kind of company i used to keep during my college days and hence explains part of my craziness...The college life was amazing since for the first time in my life i actually met people with whom i could connect totally..:)))

http://03121984.blogspot.com/




Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Gujju Ahoy





So there i was ambling along the road from KC college to the station along with my classmates who never stop speaking in gujrati. I do not understand this language though can follow it in bits and pieces. So usually when they chatter amongst themselves in guju toungue i drift off with my own thoughts. And as i was busy thinking about pratically nothing, my intense thought process was jolted by a slap on my back. He was one of my gujju clasmates who thumped me on my back and congratulated me , as if he had known me since ages and had changed my diapers, on my performance in CAT. And the whole group started to pester me for a treat and i assured them that it would be due once i get a final call from somewhere. At this juncture the back thumper told me that i could give one right now and he would lend me the money if i don't have any and would charge half the interest rates the banks charged. Though he told this jokingly , i am sure the conditions would have applied if i had actually taken some monye from him.

This little anecdote is just to highlight the commercial instinct of the Gujrati community which is simply great. I guess after Mom and Dad, 'Profit' is the word the young of the community learn first. Every single Gujrati i have known has always looked to invest somewhere and improve his financial standing. This community is responsible for the growth of the Indian capital markets. Just like the Jews who are the worlds best bankers , the Gujrati community has to be the most capitalistic and profit oriented community in the world. It is just in their blood.

In contrast i am a south Indian and people from my part of the country are not known for outr buisness skills. One can argue that Narayan Murthy is a big buisnessman but i really dont think he fought too many odds and set up what he has right now. I am not undermining his performance in any way , he has done a great thing but more because he was there at the right place at the right time. Contrast his style of functioning to that of the Ambanis and one can clearly see the demarcation in their leadership styles. The Ambanis advocate extreme capitalism whereas Infosys is more about socialist capitalism. My friend Srinath who is doing his masters in london went there along with a gujrathi friend of his to study. And that guy is more busy worrying aboput recovering his investment than studying and is doing two jobs and placing bets on football matches. At this rate he will break even, end up with a degree and mostly come back to India after making a decent profit. Even at the finance diploma classes i attend, students from this communtiy spend a majority of their converstaions discussing about investments , shares and company performance.

Ahh well in the end at least i know whom to approach next time i need a loan......
P.S. - Gujju girls are hot... err so are Punju girls...:))))

Monday, January 16, 2006

The King's Shadow




Today was the last exam of my MBA season .. Now I have to just sit back and wait for the GD/PI calls. And as I sat back and idled about in gay abandon I came across this show on Animal Planet where the host goes in search of the King Cobra in the Indian Jungles. The largest venomous snake in the world with an average length of around 16 feet and is known to grow upto 24 feet. I am a real wussie when it comes to snakes and they thoroughly petrify me. Guess that's the reason I am thoroughly fascinated by them. I have watched a hell lot of shows on snakes and think they are wonderful creatures.

About the King Cobra the story goes... ( Mind you , do not confuse the King with a normal cobra which is much smaller in length , by small I mean about 7 to 8 feet )
There are two marks behind the King Cobra which look like eyes and it is said that once when Gautam Buddha was meditating a King Cobra raised its hood and provided him shade from the sun. Buddha was pleased when he realised that and touched the King on its head and hence the marks. The amazing part of this snake is that it is not aggressive like other snakes and is very calm and collected. It retaliates only when someone tries to touch it or comes near its nest. In normal circumstances it will simply glide by your feet showing no interest in your presence though if that actually happens with me I am sure I would have peed in my pants at the sight of a 16 foot long snake . The amazing part of this snake , as you can see in the picture , is it can stand upto 1/3rd of its body length and look you straight in the eye and if need be can move ahead in the same position. A snake that long is enough to strike fear in any person's heart but to have the snake stand and look you in the eye is pure torture. One bite from this snake has enough venom to kill 20 people or an elephant.

Now for the people thinking that I have lost it , it is just not the snake that fascinates me . It is its appearance and confidence. Just look into the eyes of the snake in the picture and tell me how long can you gaze at it without feeling a chill run down your spine. You know that you can't mess with it just by the look in its eyes, forget the remaining 16 feet of the body. This is what I call POWER and there are a few of us who have eyes like that , full of confidence and desire. This made me wonder how this creature can have so much cocky confidence and the reason is simply that it has fully evolved and is capable of exploiting its poisonous venom. So in a similar fashion the day we realize what a truly wonderful machine we are and what untold capabilities we have , is the day we step out of the King's shadow.




(I ain't the only one inspired by the King Cobra.. This is a yoga posture known as King Cobra)

Friday, January 06, 2006

95.15
Yeah baby
The Wall Exits No More

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Invisible wall



This is what it feels like now .. an invisible barricade ahead of me .. and dunno what went wrong.......

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

The heartbreak continues....

Today the NM results came .... though not officially released...got through a hacked link ...and i did not make it . Extremely hard to digest this more so the fact that i have actually scored less than last year..no idea how that happened . I hope this does not set the tone for the remainder of the week since i have CAT results on friday and SNAP on saturday. If i do not land up anywhere decent even this year then will go for my third attempt along with a job ..... i hope i am able to avoid that situation though.....

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Zilch

So i have been out of action for a while now , it aint because i had no desire to post but simply cause of the darn inefficiency of MTNL ( my ISP) which disconected my phone for no rhyme or reason. But today i myself feel a little disconnected....did not make it to any IIM, not that i was expectant but somehow it pinches.