I, Me and Myself

Details needed for Your Model Teacher

2010-09-27T18:26:00.002+05:30

A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others.
- Unknown

Parents give birth to child and society modifies the child to an adult. Teachers play the most important role in this modification process. Teachers don't have any role in growth of body, they help it develop, make this adult worth being called a human being. And that's the precise reason why a teacher (Guru) has been put up before The God himself.

Guru govind dou khare, kaake lagu pai
Balihari Guru apno, jin govind diyo milai

Meaning Teacher and God, if both are in front of me, who should I bow to and touch feet? Then I realize that I am more indebted to my teacher who is the one who paved the way for my meeting with God.

Personally, I feel happy and proud both to have received so many great teachers in my life and I continue to get teachings from them. I am blessed. I really love all of them from bottom of my heart. And I consider myself perfect composition of their blessings and good wishes. I am thankful to the Almighty for giving me undoubtedly the best teachers in the world. Shri Ghananand Shastri and Smt. Madhu Tanwar (at Halwasiya Vidya Vihar, Bhiwani), Prof. V. M. Gadre and Prof. C.D.Sebastian (at IIT Bombay), Prof. Ajay Pandey, Prof. Sebestian Morris, Prof. Anil Gupta, Prof. Deepti Bhatnagar (at IIM Ahmedabad) are just a few of those teachers who inspired me and have impacted my life significantly.

I am trying to get in touch with all great teachers of India and prepare a database of them. I shall seek their ideas / suggestions to figure out value gaps in education system of India at various levels and hopefully come up with some solutions, suggestions for policy changes.

Could you send a brief write-up about the Teacher (primary, secondary, higher secondary, college / university etc.) who inspired you, who has put life in teaching – Who according to you is a model teacher.

I request you to send me this paragraph dedicated to your teacher (along with his / her contact details, if possible) at following address (9ashokb@iimahd.ernet.in).
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Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj is a second year PGP student of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Having done post-graduation from IIT Bombay, he worked with Capital One Services (India) Pvt. Ltd. for around 2 years before joining IIM Ahmedabad. He can be reached at following address:
Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj,
Dorm 17, Room 27,
IIM Ahmedabad,
Ahmedabad (Gujarat)-122001
Email: 9ashokb@iimahd.ernet.in
Phone: +91-9510214773

Reflections

2009-12-05T14:54:00.003+05:30

Recently, Shri J. P. Kaushik gave me a list of questions for my thoughts, as a part of a discussion we were having. Following are my reflections on each of them.

What one possible key or model role should the parents play in upbringing their children?

Time demands numerous roles to be played by parents in front of their children. It is also more important because child should understand difference between the roles. However, if I am to think about one role that’s critical in upbringing children, it would be of a friend – a close friend.

All blood relations are forced on a child. This is the only relation which a child makes on his/her own. In fact, a teacher is also forced on a child by parents and a good teacher is always a good friend who students can relate to. Teacher can understand their problems and push them in the direction of his/her vision. Good teachers are like God and so are good friends J.

A child is happiest with a friend where he/she can even talk about inner fears (if any) which can’t be told to parents (fear of life– Sigmund Freud). Friendliness by parents helps them nurture their child better. A child becomes more honest and open to parents. I disagree with the statement by Goswami Tulsidas in Ramcharitmanas “Bhay binu preeti na hoi Gosai” (when taken in isolation). He must have meant it in a context (of Lord Ram trying to vaporize the ocean), but people take it literally. If that’s the case, how would one describe love between Radha and Krishna? Love is between two equals – I very much believe in it. And only two friends are equal. Whether two equals can love each other or love makes them equal – this is beyond the scope of answer. All other ‘Love’s have several qualifications (including parental love).

My distance with my parents will diminish if I can tell them anything I feel like. And this is a natural tendency of a person in childhood, which usually doesn’t get any support from parents. This natural tendency gradually dies down and parents create a wall between the child and themselves and keep on solidifying the wall slowly and steadily. It’s not impossible to break the wall later on, but requires an intense will and high efforts which most people lack. So, in my opinion, parents should play a role of a good friend in upbringing their children.

What one sentimental obligation do the children need to fulfill as and when the parents become expectant?

I believe that children, unconditionally, need to fulfill all parents’ expectations.

Even though the above statement has word “Unconditionally”, and I mean so, it has a small pre-requisite of a good discussion among the children and parents. Parents want X to happen and children want Y instead. If we focus on the underlying reasons of difference, we would find in majority of cases, both want children’s happiness. Such is the innate nature of parents that they want children’s happiness at any cost. Now the difference lies in understanding the child. Do they understand the child or bigger question: does the child understand him/herself? If answer to any of the above questions is negative, then, discussion is of immense use. In case of conflicts even after a discussion, I believe that children need to fulfill all parents’ expectations which don’t harm them.

What attributes would you like to find in your would-be partner?

A very tough question, indeed. Answer is I do not know. The only thing I care is she should feel happy with me and my world.

How far should parents limit their hopes, expectations and aspirations when their sensible ward is looking for a suitable match?

Innate nature of parents is to see their children happy at any cost. There are two most important decisions of life: 1. Education 2. Marriage and all parents (consciously or unconsciously) realize these. Having more experience of life and having made all crucial decisions for their ward (including the education), they want to make the second decision also for him/her. And I don’t see anything wrong anywhere. But expectations always create problems.

The problem arises in above theory when we include practicality. The above theory applies in ideal scenarios. It’s certainly true that innate nature of parents wants to see their child happy, but parents are also human. And every human has an ego to satisfy. So, in case of discussions which I said are a pre-requisite for a child to fulfill all of the parents’ expectations, the openness element is missing. Parents (as human) want to force their element of seniority/superiority and in the process, the core friendship is lost. And when that’s the case, it’s a fight between a ruler and the ruled, employer and employee, boss and subordinate… and we all know the results.

Coming back to the core question and focusing on the word “Sensible ward”, when parents believe that their children are sensible enough to make a decision for them, they should realize that this sensibility of their children would involve them also in the decision making process. Also, if there are some conflicts, disagreements etc., their children will make a good decision. Parents should realize (at some point) that their disagreement can be a result of their ego. I am definitely not saying that this is the case, but there is a possibility and I am taking this out given that the child is sensible.

If you are made to choose between the devil and the deep sea, what will be your choice and why?

I can recall one famous Doha from “Manishi Satsai”, read in Library, Halwasiya Vidya Vihar, Bhiwani.

Duvidha ho man mein agar, Karo na koi Kaam.

Har Sankalp Vikalp Taj, Bhajo Raam ka naam.

If both the situations are equally painful, and I don’t have a clue on which one to decide, I’ll leave the situation in Almighty’s hands. In reality, I don’t have a choice in such a situation. In case, one situation is slightly favorable, undoubtedly, I’ll opt for that.

If you happen to choose between your own happiness and the happiness of your parents, how will you reconcile the two?

Is there any real difference? They are both are the same.

Advaita says we are all the same, and so, every human being’s happiness must be the same. We are just a part of our parents and beyond any doubt, our happiness can’t be any different from the parents’ happiness. But in the spirit of the question, I agree that there are differences and they arise out of our ignorance (Maya by Advaita again).

If I am in a situation where I have to choose between my own happiness and my parents’ happiness, I’ll discuss the issue in detail with them. I am confident of resolving the issue through dialogue. If it doesn’t happen and I have to take the decision on my own, I’ll do a NPV (Net Present Value) analysis.

Option 1: If I take a decision making them happy today, and I suffer from the output – causing their unhappiness too for a long time.

Option 2: If I make them unhappy today but the output is certain to be pleasant, which will make them happy in the long term (obviously not without a feeling that I made them unhappy at one time).

If I am sure of the long-term happiness from my decision, OR I am sensible OR I am clear that my parents want my happiness etc. (all the conditions are same), I’ll choose option 2 and in the longer term, my parents will realize that I made a good decision.

If however, my parents consciously ask me to do something which they know will hurt me for a long time (it is possible due to humanness of all parents), I’ll follow their decision provided I am not causing harm to any other third party. A child should religiously follow parent’s advice.

A true leader creating leaders

2009-11-24T21:46:00.002+05:30

When I saw "Leadership Skills" in the course content of Slot IV, IIM Ahmedabad, I knew it was one of those courses where one has to read billions of pages in various case-mats, articles and what not and finally vomit it in the examination hall to get a good grade. That's what most of the toppers are made of, anyways.

But till now, I had not looked at the instructor's name. Owwww someeeee.... :) Prof. Deepti Bhatnagar was about to teach us this course. She is a Godlike figure, and if I believe some of the earlier poets, "Guru is even bigger than God." They are the ones who make life worth living for people. I was lucky to have been taught by her earlier as well, and I knew this one also was going to be good. But she has got a bad habit of breaking expectations - though on a positive side. Earlier course also, "Interpersonal and Group Processes" was way beyond my expectations.

This course was very very compact (10 sessions) and having started on November 16, 2009 ended today. We were wondering what will we learn about leadership in such a short time. But this was one of the best courses I attended till date. The cases were picked with utmost care and each one was extremely powerful in delivering a unique dimension of leadership. There were assignments and exercises appropriately designed to make students feel these aspects. Some of the aspects I learned:

1. The biggest challenge in leadership is to make your followers do what you want them to do ho you want them to do where you want to do...... and make them feel they are doing it.
2. Managers maintain status-quo, leaders bring changes.
3. Leadership is NOT authority, rank, privileges, perks, money, popularity. It IS responsibility for results, action (not intention).
4. Self Fulfilling Prophecy (SFP)
5. Pygmalion effect
6. Level 5 Leadership - Perfect leadership + Extreme case of humility (Google for more details)
7. Leader should get on the balcony to analyze things (Outsider perspective)
8. Get the conflicts in open - Adaptive Challenges
9. A leader should realize the power of delegation.
10. A leader should serve.
11. Be very cautious of Power. It corrupts very easily.
12. Respect the power of relatively powerless. Power to resist is more than the power to control.
13. Passion alone is not sufficient. Team work is important.

This is an extremely short and incomplete summary of the course. But it is not possible for me to reproduce the entire learning. It is not something I have mug up, I have grasped a lot of things which I am sure will help me all the time in future. She told in a class, "The more I love my people, more I worry for them in a situation when I am not there. And hence, the need to create a second class of leaders."Here is a real, genuine leader with immense love for her students - generating a class of new leaders every year. Hats/ Caps / Scarfs off [:P] to the real leader, Prof. Deepti Bhatnagar.

Life teaching a lot of management

2009-10-25T11:24:00.003+05:30

12.5 lakhs.... Not a small amount by any standards (leaving Tatas, Birlas or Ambanis aside).... That's the academic fees of IIM Ahmedabad. Before coming here, I was earning pretty well (again by all standards). I was working with undoubtedly some of the best minds of nation. Capital One as a company was simply great. My work was being appreciated and they focused on my growth as an individual. In short, they cared for me. At times, I wonder what made me come here for an MBA?

And then come a lot of reasons in this tiny brain of mine. Getting into IIM Ahmedabad is anyones dream. One has to be extra lucky to get into that top-0.01%. The CAT examination has been rated as the toughest in the world by "The Economist". But that statement alone was not the reason for me. My focus was clear (at least, it seemed to me).

I wanted management education. I wanted to learn a lot of different areas in short duration of time. I wanted to expand the horizon of my thinking. I wanted to be with the best brains of the country (or at least some of the best brains), learn from them, to compete and grow with them. Saint Udham Singh says, "Cut-throat competition kills both you and your competitor. He/She cuts your throat and you do the same, and then both land up at beds next to each other in the same hospital."

My expectations were huge from the program, as are always in life. Friends say I am over-critical, and I agree to most of them. Yes, I am over-critical not because I just do it for the sake of it. I criticize myself more than I do for any other person. And I do it for the better output, for other person's growth. I am aware of the theory that over-criticism kills the ability of other individual to listen. But I don't care for this crappy theory probably written by someone who didn't want to challenge him/herself. If one cares for other person, willingness to listen is always there. And I care for all the people whom I criticize.

The PGP program has given me a lot of opportunities to learn, a set of great people to learn from (both faculty and students). They say I am amidst the pool of sharpest minds in the nation, and I am trying to learn "how to learn" from such razor-sharp minds.

Management does not ask you to be intelligent, it demands managing of intelligent people. Managing a team of dumb-asses is tough, but managing a team of super-intelligent people is significantly tougher, and I have no questions about the salaries of top-management of organizations. This requires a completely different skill-set. A good manager is a leader, but leader of smart and intelligent people. There are hell lot of challenges in being one.

I remember a chat with one of my earlier managers, Mr. Jay Shah, when he said, "It is sometimes very tough to stay calm and not to tell a stupid that he/she is a stupid. But it is a challenge and it pays high dividends in the long run." Very tough for me - something I am trying to improve. No one wants to listen to his/her weaknesses. Another manager says the most irritating part of his job is to see and wonder why do other people take 5 hours in a job that he can do in 15 minutes. But then, he can't keep on doing that particular job, he has to make others do. Is that fair to the company? When manager can finish the same job in 15 minutes, why should the employees waste 5 hours? Does this manager not care for the employees, and the company? But the fact is the same manager is very much liked and respected by all. Why?

The idea of making them work is for them to take responsibility, realize in the process how to be more efficient, challenge them and grow in the process. And employees realize that sooner or later. They realize that their manager was always helping them grow. At times, may be he needed to be blunt but then, he was a teacher and sometimes, caning is a must.

I was lucky to have worked with Mr. Sanjay Sai, another colleague of mine. He is a thorough professional, a great learner and a helpful team-player. I am grateful to all these people from whom I have learnt a lot. This has caused a problem also as they have raised bar of my expectations from a manager so high that it'll be very tough for someone to reach there. I have the role models, am trying to imitate them but I realize that there are enough gaps. I'm in the process of filling them. IIM Ahmedabad and friends (consciously or unconsciously) are helping me fill them.

Tell me Why?

2009-10-19T11:53:00.003+05:30

With a sincere thanks to Prof. C. D. Sebastian for sharing this, I am passing it to you.
Extremely thought provoking song.... If the video does not work, search for "Declan Galbraith".

In my dreams, Children sing
A song of love for every boy and girl
The sky is blue, the fields are green
And laughter is the language of the world
Then I wake and all I see is a world full of people in need

Tell me why,(why) does it have to be like this
Tell me why, (why) is there something I have missed
Tell me why, (why) cause I don't understand
When somebody needs somebody
We don't give a helping hand
Tell me why

Every day, I ask myself
what will I have to do to be a man
Do I have, to stand and fight
To prove to everybody who I am
Is that what my life is for?
To waste in a world full of war

Tell me why, (why) does it have to be like this
Tell me why, (why) is there something I have missed
Tell me why,(why) cause I don't understand
When so many need somebody
We don't give a helping hand
Tell me why (Tell me why)
Tell me why (Tell me why)
Tell me why (Tell me why)
Just tell me why (why, why, why)

Tell me why, (why) does it have to be like this
Tell me why, (why) is there something I have missed
Tell me why, (why) cause I don't understand
When somebody needs somebody
We don't give a helping hand

Tell me why (Why why, does the tigers run?)
Tell me why (Why why, do we shoot the gun?)
Tell me why (Why why, do we never learn?)
Can someone tell us why we let the forests burn

(why why do we say we care?) tell me why
(why why do we stand and stare?) tell me why
(why why do the dolphins cry?) tell me why
can someone tell us why we let the ocean die

(why why if we're all the same?) tell me why
(why why do we pass the blame?) tell me why
(why why does it never end?)
can someone tell us why we cannot just be friends

why why?

What does a Teacher make?

2009-10-19T03:57:00.002+05:30

Today, I got a mail from one of my teachers, Prof. C. D. Sebastian (IIT Bombay), about what do teachers make? The content is copy-pasted below:
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What Do Teachers Make?

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"

Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make?" (She paused for a second, then began...) "Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor winner. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.

You want to know what I make? (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table)

I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.

I teach them to write and then I make them write. Keyboarding isn't everything.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator.

I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity.

I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.

I make my students stand, placing their hand over their heart to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, One Nation Under God, because we live in the United States of America.

Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.

(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)

Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant. You want to know what I make? I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?

His jaw dropped, he went silent.
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I truly believe that there are a lot of teachers who think this way (like Bonnie). Infact, most of my teachers share this thought, and I can safely assume that this is the same experience with every other individual as well (I am using Hypothesis testing here with null hypothesis as "All teachers think like Bonnie". And I am the sample where it is found true. So I do not have sufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis. :)

Parents give birth to child and society modifies the child to an adult. Teachers play the most important role in this modification process. Teachers don't have any role in growth of body, they help it develop. If teachers were not there, a child anyways would have grown to an adult, but teachers make this adult "A human being" - an adult worth being called a human being. And that is the difference they make. As as Udham Singh puts it, "They are teachers who make life worth living". And that's the precise reason why teachers (Guru) have been put up before God himself.
(Guru govind dou khare, kaake lagu pai; Balihari Guru apno, jin govind diyo milai) - meaning Teacher and God, if both are in front of me, who should I bow to and touch feet? Then I realize that I am more indebted to my teacher who is the one who paved the way for my meeting with God.

Actually the word 'teacher' can be interpreted in two clearly different ways : 'Shikshak' and 'Guru'. I believe great teachers belong to latter definition. 'Shikshak' just imparts knowledge of some field and is being paid like in any other profession. The noble part of this activity comes from being a 'Guru'. People who become teachers without giving a thought to this - are confused themselves and propagate this confusion further. I have found many a people who do not have any respect for their teachers and they firmly believe that what their interaction with their teachers was what they had with any other merchant. Unfortunately true but there are teachers who consciously promote tuition without teaching anything in school. And there is a huge veil of ignorance "Maya" over the minds of many.

Personally, I feel happy and proud both to have received so many great teachers in my life and I continue to get teachings from them. I am blessed. I really love all of them from bottom of my heart. And I consider myself perfect composition of their blessings and good wishes. I am thankful to the Almighty for giving me undoubtedly the best teachers in the world.

Life changed in last few months

2009-10-19T03:34:00.003+05:30

I am back here after a long while, and it feels like being at home after a long journey, a real long one. Winters had a lot of IIM interviews scheduled for me. And I did well in most of them converting 5 of 6 calls. Spring passed by ending my career at Capital One. And it ended with a trip to UK, my fifth one in past 2 years. Leaving Capital One has left a huge void, not because I am obsessed with work or I was being paid truck load of money, but because of people. Having studied at the one of the most premier technological institutes of India (IIT Bombay), currently studying at (arguably) the best Indian management school (IIM Ahmedabad), and having a lot of friends in various organizations – comparing with them, I am sure Capital One’s real assets were not on its balance sheets. They were people. Memories of Capital One are too big to fit in this blog of mine. Left the organization on May 31, 2009.
Joining date for IIMA was June 22, 2009. And the last few days, I was like a bird out of cage after 23 years and who knows that it’ll be back in a stronger cage after few days… This bird flew high and high in the skies and spent a lot of life in those 3 weeks. I went to Goa for a 3-day trip with Rahul, Manoj, Kush and Ekta. There were not many expectations from the trip because of summers, but it was a fabulous one. Meeting good childhood friends after a long time is always special. The whole elapsed time duration of so many years was like nothing. I felt that I just met them yesterday. I am not doing justice to the trip by putting a full stop here but there are so many things.
Then there was another memorable trip: Dehradoon, Mussorie, Dhanaulti, Rishikesh, Neelkanth. Kush, Nikhil and Parul shared this trip. This is another gem of my life which I’ll elaborate at some other day.
Actually, now I am realizing that changes in life in past few months are too big to be captured by this blog, so in wake of limited time, am leaving the story. As things stand, I am moving with time, standing at IIM Ahmedabad with summer internship 2 weeks ahead.

A new visit and CAT '08

2009-01-18T12:04:00.004+05:30

January 18, 2009, Nottingham.. This is 4th time I've come to UK since July 07. But this one is quite different to previous visits. There is no excitement for a foreign visit as was the case when I was traveling first time.

I do not see/feel any change in my schedule. "Jaidev-Jaidev", the very special Marathi Aarti of Lord Ganesha, has given a very known start to the day. I just prepared a cup of tea, and now, replying to emails, reading news. The trio of Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi and Lata have begun their daily singing practice in background. Now, I can see loads of official work that needs to be finished by today. It just seems like any other day at Bangalore.

There are some climatic differences though. Last evening when we reached here at Nottingham, UK at around 5 pm, mercury was close to 3-4. And with rains making it worse, i'm sure it would have touched sub-zero in the night. The calm sunday is indicating a busy week ahead - as it always does. The week will start with a two day training mixed with a very crucial meeting on Monday. Wed and Thu will also have their fair share of meetings and I'll be leaving on Friday to New Delhi.

Indira Gandhi Airport, New Delhi - This is the airport I love the most. No scientific reasons for proving it the best, it's not!!! I love it as a gateway to my heaven - the home where my parents stay. I am off from office for a week, and shall be meeting a lot of friends, relatives. I'll also meet the princial of Halwasiya Vidya Vihar, Bhiwani on January 28, 2009 for a proposal to open the Alumni association.

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CAT 2008 - Lady luck has always favoured me, and she may not have a choice also as she can't go against wishes, blessings of so many kind people around me. 2009 gave me a perfect start. While the foundation was laid on November 16, 2008 (the exam day), January 9, 2009 was the perfect day for the inauguration. I was talking to the most lovely friend of mine along with checking the results page. After inputing some numbers, the screen told me I got 6 calls (BLACKI) - giving me one of the happiest moments. Normally, I'm a very calm/balanced person and don't rejoice much at good times, also I don't cry at bad times. That's why sharing one of the very few moments when I was extremely happy with an awesome friend felt great and we kept on talking for hours. I called home at 1:30 in night and I could hear my parents' happiness clearly. Later in the day, received calls and warm wishes from all those kind people whose blessings made the result possible.

Another crucial presentation was waiting for me in the day and that was also received very well by stakeholders, ending my commitment to my previous work team. I've moved to a new team now and this UK trip is essentially for starting new work, meeting new team.

Christian Wedding

2008-12-08T21:08:00.003+05:30

Hey blog dude! Surprised by my frequent visit again?? Now, that's because of another experience which got added on last friday (December 5, 2008) - of attending Christian marriage for the first time.

In past 6-7 years since 2001, I attended only one wedding ceremony that happened to be of my elder sister. And in the last month - I have attended two weddings - both unique (Marathi wedding and this one), and also, couldn't pay due respect to other four invitations. Are more people marrying these days or people around me have reached marriageable age? God knows.

This is about the wedding ceremony of a colleague of mine, Mr. Aashish Phansopkar. I was never aware of he being a Christian - 1) because I never focus on which religion/ caste one belongs to.. (whatever is important is pretty clear, anyways) 2) Phansopkar (AR in the end) denotes marathi origin..... I am happy now that I know I was among the majority - not many knew this fact. Attending this was kind of mandatory for me because of so many reasons:
a) The person had invited personally.
b) The ceremony was at Bangalore only.
c) The marriage day was friday, and time was evening.

Almost entire office reached the venue. The ceremony was already on when we reached there. A person accompanied us to seats. At that time, it seemed to me like a prayer hall in church. I was completely new to this wedding atmosphere. Stage was set with flowers, some 5/6 people sitting on top of stage - I thought they were elder relatives of both the families. Mr. Aashish - the groom - was nowhere to be seen, although I could see the bride in a beautiful white attire that I had only seen in some english movies. A group were singing songs and almost everyone in the hall, with one or both hands upwards, were singing and dancing along with them. A projector with the lyrics of songs was also present as a hearing aid to people who couldn't follow the music. Focusing on lyrics made it clear that everyone was worshiping Lord. This was something different than what I had witnessed earlier. The music was on and on for a long time and all the songs were in praise of God (in this case Jesus Christ). The music was good - and I enjoyed the time. Finally, I could see the groom also - the view was blocked earlier by standing and dancing people.

Then came a person in a black suit, with a mike in hand, after musicians stopped playing and introduced people-on-stage to the audience. It became clear only at this point in time that they didn't belong to any of the two families which were joining - they were some senior people from Church. The same person asked one of them to say a few words. We were showered with verses from Bible related to how did God create earth, what was the purpose of creation, what are basic responsibilies, what should we be like, why eagle is the best bird and what not? Although whatever he was saying made sense, but it'd have probably been better in a philosophy class. Language also has different meanings for various individuals - He was asked to say a few words, but what does few mean? The person in black coat should have clarified this earlier. It was too late now. I was more worried by the fact that there were 5 more people on stage with him.

As soon as second person was invited and he also started with verses in Hebrew/Latin and all the languages unknown to me - I was confident that I'll take a degree on the subject today. But he disappointed - he left the topic much earlier than my expectations and started formal ceremony.

"Mr. Aashish, Come to the stage," he announced. Groom followed the instructions.
"Now, I request Mr X (bride's father) to accompany the bride on stage and hand her over to Mr. Aashish." and the instructions were obeyed.
Then there were some basic vows, from each of the bride's and groom's side along with the ring ceremony.
"Now, with the grace of Jesus, and in presence of so many of witnesses, I declare you the husband and wife." I could hear sound of claps everywhere.
"Now, Mr. Aashish will kiss the bride - photographers be ready, these incidents don't come often." Again, his instructions were followed.

He must be a big man - everyone was obeying him. After officially getting declared husband and wife, the couple came down the stage and went somewhere outside. (I am yet to find out what was the ritual behind this - guess they went to church for prayers.) Till the time they came back, guests had started their dinner. And the food was pretty good.

With everyone satiated fully, now was the time for some music again. Guests were again in the hall, and when we reached there, the couple was on stage and groom was singing a song for the bride. Mr. Ashish is a good singer- I must say. The bride also reciprocated the gesture with a song from her side. The couple shared the first sweet - a cake - and then a toast was raised in their honor. Wine and cake were distributed among guests.

Then came the fun part - Younger sister of the bride, and the best friend of groom shared some funny stories about the couple. (they were funny - at least in parts.) And then, they also sang a song for the couple. The other important announcement was that these two were also going to marry after 10 days. Good going guys!!

Post-this was a formal thanks-giving ceremony by the groom. And then, the couple took their seats on stage with guests allowed to go on-stage to wish them a very happy married life ahead. We went on-stage as a group representing Capital One - blessed the couple with everyone's wishes. I am becoming more and more experienced day by day.

Blog! the next big marriage I am planning to attend is in February - and it'll be a Gujju wedding. Get ready for another entry.

Bangalore to Kolhapur to attend a Marathi Wedding: An experience

2008-12-07T13:05:00.004+05:30

Season of marriages is at its peak. Without paying heed to married couples' suggestions, I can see so many youngsters tying the knot, and can foresee them providing suggestions few years down the line, absolutely free of cost :P.

I always like to see, experience different customs, rituals. Recently, I got an invitation for a marathi wedding, of a college friend. I was excited to attend this - 1) because I had never attended any marathi wedding, and 2) as it seemed feasible to attend, it was on a Sunday. Apart from just attending the marriage, there were some additional benefits. The marriage was in Kolhapur, where another school friend of mine, Mr. Manoj Dhawan, stays. I could meet him, and various other college mates who were supposed to come - attend the function.

Normally, I plan every trip I undertake properly. This was an expection. I was not sure whether I was going or not, till around 4-5 hours before I left. The journey from Bangalore to Kolhapur (by bus) is around 10-12 hours. I booked a seat in a sleeper bus in which some other friends of mine were traveling. It was supposed to leave Bangalore at 1930 hours. I left office at 1730 assuming two hours to be ample time to reach the station. No-one has ever overtaken destiny, how could I? And, I got stuck in lovely bangalore traffic. Only those who have been here can understand what I am talking about. I was around 4-5 kms away from the stop at 1930, and I gave a call to the booking center to know the whereabouts of bus. "Saaarrrr!!, 7:30 bus!!! oh that has just left," I got to hear this. I enquired about the next sleeper bus which was at 9 pm. My two conditions for the seat were: 1) It should be an upper berth. 2) It shouldn't be the last one. I got second last upper berth... It was already 9:30 pm and bus was no where to be seen. The waiting time was pretty bad. But as sage Udham Singh puts it, "Every bad thing in the universe has an end", wait was over at 10 pm.

As soon as I took my seat and started calling some friends, the conductor came and said, "Saar! this is not your seat."
"Boss! I have got the ticket. It says- U34."
"Pleeasssee Saar! It's not your seat. Pleeeasssee get down. Yours is L-36."
(Now, what he was offering me was the last seat, and that too lower - violating both my clearly laid out conditions. Also, the person was not willing to listen."
After some small arguments (length increased linearly later), I said,
"Boss! either give me this seat, or clearly say and write on the ticket - this ticket is not valid, so that, I can go have a chat with the booking person."
Along with my final verdict, I called the person who booked it, and made him have a chat with the conductor. The chat started with some 4-5 high tech abuses. It was all in Kannada that I didn't understand, but from whatever I understood, the conductor was having a discussion related to mother, sister of the booking person. Finally, I retained my seat.

The journey was fine - just that after starting at 1030 pm, it was close to Kolhapur at 1230 pm the next day, taking 14 hours. Also, it didn't go to kolhapur also. They dropped all kolhapur passengers at some place closeby. I didn't have time and energy again to argue with them plus they had left me at a bus-station wherefrom I got a direct bus to Kolhapur.

At bus-stand, I saw something unusual. Crowd formed a queue in front of bus and conductor was giving tickets along with seat numbers and no-one was violating the discpline. I was extremely happy to see this. I too merged in the queue. But alas! Just when I was third in queue, the bus became full and left. I was expecting similar discipline for next bus. But Good things also do not last for long. Next bus came in another two minutes and I could see everything happening as I had seen in rest of India. People were rushing towards the door, many of them threw some material inside and on whichever seat it fell, those seats were booked for the particular VIPs. Finally, I got inside the bus with two seats remaining where no-one was there but a polythene bag was sitting. When I asked the person on next seat, whose is this bag?, I could see a young lad in mid-twenties waiving his hand from window outside - saying they are already booked. Although this annoyed me, but I thought as there are two seats, I can still take one. The person crossed all the limits when he said from outside, could you take the next bus since there is someone with him and he has booked two seats. "Awesome!!!" - I said to myself and sat on the seat without replying anything. The person came inside, took his polythene bag and left without saying anything. Although there were glimpses of discipline earlier, but I could see real indian discipline later - what I had seen at many places.

Finally, I reached Kolhapur on saturday 2 pm, met my friend. In the evening, we went to Panhala - a fort around 20 kms away from Kolhapur. This fort was ruled by Chhatrapati Shivaji and later his descendents. Although we couldn't enjoy the scenic beauty much as it was already dim when we reached there, but the journey was good with greenery both sides. We could smell jaggery-in-making from sugarcane at every 2 kms. I bought 2 kgs also as a sample. Came back, booked bus for the next day return (this time, AC-volvo.. Sleeper was out of the question anyways)

Sunday morning was the wedding time. Reached there at around 1030 am. It was in a wedding hall, 3rd floor. Ground floor was a shopping mall, first floor another wedding hall, and second floor, eating place for guests attending marriage at floor 1) Third floor was again a wedding hall and the top floor was an eating place for the guests at floor 3. What an optimum use of space?

When I reached there, I could see bride and groom on stage with garlands on - people flocking on stage to wish them a happy married life (and/or getting video-taped and photographed.) Both of them were smiling (which looked artificial at times). This is understandable also as how can one keep on listening to same statement when it's too mechanical a process and repetitive too. One has to bear the weight of a smile always as some two three photographers are attentive enough to catch something unusual. Along with this, due to electronic prices going down day by day, every other person has got a digital camera, video camera and one can never be sure who's video-taping and from where? :P I too followed the crowd, wished the couple a great life ahead, got photographed :)

And then came food. This was in a typical marathi-thali style. Everyone sat in a line and dishes were served quickly, one by one person to the entire queue. In 20-25 minutes, around 150 people had lunch. This all ended at 1230 pm. That's quick. No?

This was all for an outsider, or a normal guest. Now, remaining ceremony was a very private affair, and most of the local guests seemed to have gone back. I met a lot of my friends from IIT, visited Mahalakshmi temple at Kolhapur, Shahuji Maharaj fort. I had return journey scheduled at 9 pm, and again the bus started at 10 pm. The return journey was smooth and timings were good. I was at bangalore at 830 am and was working in office the same day at 11 am.

Nothing had changed anywhere, except that I had an experience of attending a Marathi wedding. This was a quick, time effective, cost effective marriage, without so-much fuss which is normally associated with north-indian marriages. Overall - a nice experience.

One of the bad days of my life (Lost Camera in UK)

2008-11-12T21:28:00.003+05:30

The third trip to UK came with a notice as long as the one power gives you before going off. I was planning a 3 week vacation from Diwali (October 28, 2008) till mid November ’08 – the first half at home celebrating Diwali and meeting friends, and the latter half preparing for CAT (scheduled on November 16, 2008). I reached home on 27th evening, worshipped Lord Ganesha and Goddess Laxmi on diwali (28th), celebrated my birthday (29th) with family including two sweet nephews – both of them thinking it was their birthday. Met some friends on October 30, 2008, and then went to Delhi to meet another set of friends on November 1, 2008. Now, I am supposed to leave Delhi for Bangalore on November 6, 2008 with 4-5 days at Gurgaon meeting some more friends. But not everything goes as per you.

And all of a sudden, I find myself sitting in BA 256 (New Delhi – London) on November 2, 2008. The day didn’t start on a very good note. I started from home at 0410 hrs. All packing was done a day before in an hours’ time – so in all probability, something was going to be missing. I have never seen reality such close to probability. After we were 2 kms far from home, I realized I missed passport at home. We drove back, took the passport and started again. Lightning struck again. Just when we were about to reach airport, I realized I didn’t have my wallet with me. I could have done without it – if it didn’t have my one and only international card inside. All the way back home, I was thinking how could I miss twice? It so happened that while I was picking all the stuff, the purse slipped under the pillow. Anyways, needed one more to-and-fro journey and thank God, I finally reached the airport. I was praying to the Lord that nothing should happen now. He didn’t cancel but postponed his plans.

All through the journey, there were clear skies. I could see a fascinating aerial view of Pakistan, Iran, Caspian Sea, then Europe – with rivers, sea, mountains, sand dunes and what not. I took a lot of pictures of all those views from different angles thinking this would be a gem in my collections of pictures. The entertainment system inside was also a contributor to why was I looking outside for so much of the time? There were four hindi movies in entertainment system – Jannat, De Taali, Bhootnath, and Tashan – decide for yourself what should it be called? Extremely bored, I watched Tashan, and a few documentaries (they were good - one on Mike Tyson and another one on Pele – the best footballer ever).

Reached London Heathrow at 1130 hrs. I had planned to meet Mr. Sumit Kumar in London on November 2, and that’s why didn’t book a corporate cab for myself. After reaching the airport, I realized I had lost Sumit’s contact number. No contact possible now. The issue was to reach Nottingham. Cab asked for 200 pounds which is pretty huge – so I thought of taking a bus from airport to Nottingham. The coach service was pretty good, and I took Coach (Service No. 230 at 1150 hrs, Coach no: FJ54ZDG) from Heathrow terminal 5 to Nottingham. The scenery alongside the route was great. Again the camera was being utilized to the fullest till St. Leicester Margaret’s Bus stand, Leicester – when the coach broke down. We were told that another coach will be coming in an hour and I came down the bus, with the laptop bag and camera at my seat. I went back to my seat in 5 minutes and didn’t find my camera. It’s yet to be found out. (I have given so many details of coach knowingly, as someone may want to return the camera sometime. This is a CANON A550 camera inside a black pouch) In the meantime no outsider came inside – clearly telling that this was some smart work of someone inside. I checked the bus, but couldn’t find it – never expected also to find it. I was in awful state for a long time. I have been constantly bombarded by opinions like everything is good about the developed countries, and all bad things like thefts, corruption etc belong to second grade countries. Honestly, I never expected this here. And that was precisely the reason why I left it even though I was standing at 2 minutes away. Gave my contact id/number to the driver- just as a hope if someone returned it.

Reached Nottingham at 6 pm, had dinner and slept with all the pics still wandering in my mind. I didn’t want to go outside that day fearing something else going wrong. A dear friend of mine, Udham Singh, once said, “Some days are not yours.” I forgot to ask him how can we get the list of those days?

UK trip and vacation

2008-04-03T21:52:00.003+05:30

I am back from UK trip and a week long holiday pack after that, to bangalore now (back to work). The VISA arrived on Monday evening and I along with Sanjay, a colleague of mine, left on (11/03/2008) Tuesday morning @7am. They (UK team) had arranged a team-dinner there to welcome us. A slight ignorance on their part that we both were vegetarians literally made me search for a couple of vegetarian items in a menu of some 200 items. My first dinner was a bowl of rice, some veg rolls, and three glass juices.
The trip was short, and we knew it'll be busy. It truly met our expectations. A trip-agenda was already prepared for us with a lot of meetings, and I added some more meetings, with people from different groups across all businesses. It helped a lot, though was tiring at times there. Then there was a 2 day training on SAS. It was a good training, a lot better than the one I had in the earlier trip.
Weather was very cold in UK, even though winters were about to end. Winds with around 30-60 miles per hour were enough to make your body chilled. Mornings were around 5-10 degrees, noon was around 15 and cool evenings gave way again to the next cooler mornings. I didn't go out much, preferred to stay at my room. The city of RobinHood, Notthingham, is a small city, and I had roamed around the place last time I went there. Ordered food in Hotel every day and watched documentaries. Went around the city on the one weekend I had there.
Came back from London to Delhi on 22nd March 08, just before the colorful fest of Holi. Everyone was there at home this time. My sisters had come from their in-laws' places. Full week went into sleeping, meeting neighbours, friends etc. I dont know why time moves so fast when I am at home...? I do feel bored sometimes at home, but it lasts only for a while, and its because of not much work for me to do there. I'm sure I'll love working in NCR. But sadly, Capital One doesn't have their office there, and there's no other company I can find like this one there. Enjoyed the stay at home and came back on 31st Morning to Bangalore to join office.

They say the world is constantly changing. It's a pure lie. I found it exactly same.

My dear Blog

2008-03-08T14:10:00.002+05:30

Dear Blog,
Hows your health? I am sorry to have visited you so late. Life was more volatile than Indian markets in past couple of months. There were so many things going on at this time. If everything goes in a pleasant way, what would be the difference between heaven and here? I believe there is some difference. Past two months involved managing cash-flows from 'N' friends' accounts to mine, gearing a friend for his interviews, obviously other than work life. Started investing in markets, though am still unsure whether made investment at good times.
Job is going pretty fine with annual performance management over. Got feedback from the peers, stakeholders and manager; Liked the feedback since it didn't surprise me. Though the salary hike and bonus figures disappointed a bit, but given the work-culture, knowledge-gain graph, and the people around, money is not the biggest issue.
A friend had applied in a company of financial services sector, and I was busy in gearing him for the interviews. He did well by reaching to the last round. Udham Singh said, "Somethings are not meant to come your way. In that case, you'll come across some other things." I'm sure the experience would have taught him a lot of things, and that'll help in his future endeavours.
A female close friend of mine, got angry with me over a petty issue. I teased her on some point which made her say, "I won't talk to you in all my life." It made me sad and a bit of angry too. Sad because she's a close friend and angry as in how can one not talk for whole life over some issue. The issue was alive for a month, before it got settled last week, Thank God.

Hey Blog,
I'll be travelling to UK for a couple of weeks starting from sometime next week. Good news for you for you'll probably get a entry or two more. I was supposed to leave this sunday had my VISA arrived. I am assuming now there are no issues with my application. This'll be a pure business visit and it'll be highly busy. I'll see you after coming back. Take care of your health. Regards,
Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj

Life in 2008

2008-01-13T16:18:00.000+05:30

Something which I used to like the most at IIT-times was weekend. There was a lot to do, watching movies with friends, going to mess with friends, do a lot of meaningless chatting with friends. The underlying thing here is ‘friends’. I can understand the importance of Aristotle’s saying, “Man is a social animal.” There’s nothing to do here, on the weekends, yup.. except sleeping, and generating a lot of business for Airtel. I slept for around 13-14 hours yesterday, though nowhere near my own records, which is around total sleep-time in all weekdays.

CAT also showed its teeth to me, by not giving any calls. I felt I had done better than last time, and was definitely expecting a call from Bangalore, to be honest, but results didn’t match my feelings. Got 99.38, 34 percentage points lower than last year. May be they are only interested in calling outside people and kicked me because I was in Bangalore anyways. May be they didn’t like the hand-writing. I am just making fun of my results, and that’s also because I have nothing to do and no-one else also to make fun of. I wasn’t disappointed a lot though, because I am doing good in my job. Work is good, people are great, and definitely one of the best environments to work in. Probably, our liking to something depends on a lot many external factors, one of which is whether there is something else worth liking nearby. :) (No doubts why there are a lot of post love-marriage issues among couples.)

What else going on in life now? Ummmmmm…. Yup.. 1 lac investment deadline. Company has given the deadline of submitting proof of 1 lac investment by January end. The news came after my December salary was totally gone into others purses, where I don’t have access. Now, the famous tried and tested formula ‘Jugad’ is being worked on. I am sure I’ll work something out, and I have heard Udham singh saying, “Hope drives the universe.”

Was on a two week long vacation to home, came back on last Sunday. Office welcomed me with a lot of work in 2008. I am happy that most of it is done. So, last few days went in work and nights went in understanding mutual fund basics, where to invest etc. My 2008 resolution will be to have a balanced life, be regular in writing, do a good work, to pain my friends and help as much as possible to the society.

Birthday problem & non-veg treat

2007-11-01T23:36:00.000+05:30

I was born 2 days earlier than what Indian government thinks. This different view of govt. records has given me some advantages and some disadvantages also. Birthday wishes get distributed over a week, family people, close friends know the exact date; Formal friends (friends made formally) wish as per govt. records and I keep on getting them for a week from those who get confused over this issue. Another advantage, I have heard from people will be at time of my retirement. I'll have to work only for one day (and I'll turn 58/60/65), and 'll get full salary (if I am employed at that time). Another advantage: Haryana (my native state) was made on same day and every year, we had holiday. Currently, I am working at Bangalore, and to my luck, Karnataka was also formed on the same day and the holiday is still with me.

November 1, 2007 Today, on the occasion of turning 23 officially, treated few friends and this was the worst dinner for me in my life. The person who had never touched non-vegetarian (to the best of his knowledge) ate "Fish Tikka" very sincerely thinking it "Paneer Tikka" and after having half piece that went some 1 feet down the throat, a friend told, "Dude! this is fish."
Aur jaise pairon tale se jameen khisak gayi ho..... Kash wo majaak kar raha ho....But nothing of that was true... It was fish. And I was hating me for sometime for not having confirmed before eating, hating friends who ordered that for not making sure others were not having that.

However, one side of me is still not relaxed and cursing me feeling guilty of myself, while another one is taking it chill. I am trying to listen to the latter one, but still trying, not able to convince the former one fully. One thing is sure I have to take extra care from next time onwards. But what should it be, I am still thinking: Should I only go to pure veg restaurants? Should I only go with veggies? or some thing else.... Now I am thinking only one thing, "Kash usne na hi bataya hota?"

Disclaimer: This information is purely personal and not meant to hurt anyone's feelings. I am not against non-veggies but non-veg, but no intention of having a discussion on it.

Journey to UK (Part-I)

2007-10-25T22:32:00.000+05:30

September 29, 2007, Saturday, Morning 5:30 am… Very unusually, my phone started ringing with screen showing name ‘Sanjay Sai’… My brain talked to itself, “Oh Shit! I have flight to Bombay at 6:50 am and then to London, and I am traveling along with Sanjay.” It took some another 5 minutes to grasp the situation and I realized I hadn’t completed packing also and I had only 10 minutes left. I can’t recall my thoughts at that time, because I couldn’t take their back-up. I am yet to figure out what's so special in Einstein’s saying, “Time is relative”. This is a well known fact, "In a same examination, time is fast for a person who knows answers and clock doesn't move at all for a person who's looking here and there." Clock was sprinting faster than Carl-Lewis. I packed everything I could. With a record time for myself in getting ready, I reached airport in time. I thought, “Now, everything will be fine.” But HE/SHE had different plans for me.

Flight IT102 (Kingfisher) started at right time, supposed to reach Bombay at 0810 hours. At 0800 hours, I cursed captain for making the announcement, “Ladies and Gentlemen!(I wonder why everyone use that phrase, aren't ladies gentle? infact, they are more gentle than men I guess. anyways.) There is a bad news. Mumbai weather has gone bad and we don’t have permission to land. We can’t say how much time will it take to clear and we don’t have sufficient fuel to stay in air for a long time. We have to go to Hyderabad or Bangalore to refuel. Since most of people are from Bangalore, we have decided to go to Bangalore. Let me assure you that no other flight is also landing on Bombay. Let me assure also that we’ll reach Mumbai as soon as weather conditions improve……” It came as a real shock because reaching bombay-bangalore-bombay was about to take 3 hours, and we were running against time. Thankfully, we landed at Mumbai at around 1230 after going back to Bangalore, getting refueled, weather permitting our entry to Mumbai. (I thank all Air Travel Control Room people for re-scheduling the plan for our flight.)

I had plans to meet Prof. V.M. Gadre, Prof. Sebestian and some of my friends at IIT Bombay, had I reached in time. Like everything HE/SHE had already decided for me, we just reached in time for boarding BA143 flight from Mumbai-London Heathrow at 1310 hours. Called a lot of friends, family before flying, and while with a brief chit-chat with Lord, the flight took off at 1310 hours from Mumbai. Felt relaxed after a lot of time of worries, but then 'All is well that ends well' was fitting suitably here.

Strip-Club at Nottingham

2007-10-13T21:55:00.000+05:30

I have been rather out of blogging for past couple of months, and today also, I wouldn’t have come here if this incident wouldn’t have happened. A brief background before I write it down. I am currently on a 3 week trip to company’s UK office (Nottingham), partly for training and partly for getting acquainted with the people here and for attending business meetings, though only the last thing is there in my visa papers. Two of my colleagues at Bangalore office (Mr X and Mr. Y) are also here for similar purposes. Training got over today and Mr. X will be leaving tomorrow. He and I went for dinner at Eastern Spice Restaurant, my discovery of yesterdays. It had amazing food and an excellent service and no doubt, we both went beyond what our containers could accommodate.
Having had an amazing meal, while we are coming back, we met Mr. Y along with two other seniors (A and B, both from India) and Mr. Z (who also happens to be an Indian). Just to mention, almost all Indians working in this company here are from some or the other IIT. We are going to our hotel and both of us have plans to go back and have a sound sleep. These guys are going to a strip-club. I don’t wish to sound like I am charging them of article 310, 52 and 71, Don’t ask me what do they mean (I also don’t know) I am just telling, and one of my seniors is persuading us to go with them.. we both politely refused and arguments from their side started pouring in, which I had confronted many a times earlier (though not particular to this conversation)
Come’On, What’s wrong in this?
You won’t get such a chance in India.
Abe tumhe kya tension hai, corporate card se de dena (meaning company will pay)
Abe C******, Bangalore mein nahi milega, last mauka hai.
Ab ye mat kahiyo ki P**** bhi nahi dekhta.
*
*
*
And a series of similar arguments.. think for a minute, and you’ll get all of them (I wont suggest you to think though).
Fine, it goes on. Only one of the seniors and Mr. Z are verbally indulged in the conversation from their side and both of us are also not in mood of giving in. Mr. Z then says, “Abe apne bacchon ko kya bataoge ki tumhara baap ******* tha”, which struck me for a moment. This guy, I am not very sure, he knows me or not, and is making such statements. Who gave him such rights? I am not waging any legal battle with him, but why is he not thinking of what he’s talking and who’s he talking to? Isn’t that a Class 1 lesson “Think before you speak.” But I then said, “What did your father tell you, that he went to stripclub or he was a C*******?” (though I admit, I was not very comfortable saying this) and surprisingly, a wild smile in both his eyes, like I am in pitiable condition. (I admit I truly was.) And one person (second senior), who was silent till all this time, now spoke to Mr. Z, “Dude, his children also will be like him.” And again, there was a series of laughter.

I am happy for all the laughter generated out of that silly discussion, but some of the ideas, which kept revolving in my head for some moments after that, were:
Why do people think their thoughts are supreme, and then try to impose them on others?
What should be called an opportunity?
Will the act of going to a strip-club be moral, amoral or immoral?
And most importantly, is it justified to lose your temper over any such occasion?

At this time, I remember a story of famous saint Shri Dattatreya (also known as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu). He had 24 teachers including earth, crow, water ….. and all of them because he had learnt some or the other things from them. Mr. Z, I have learnt from you what not to speak. You'll be one of my teachers.

God! Help Bangalore

2007-09-17T14:49:00.000+05:30

Life keeps on giving you a bunch of incidents for motivating you; for refreshing your thinking process, and yesterday something similar happened to me while I was traveling back home after an overnight stay at a friends place. I took a bus from NGEF to Benigamhalli … or Bainganhalli (Oh God! I still am not able to spell it). This is the nearest bus-stop from my house located in the area known as Nagavara Palya, around 300 metres from here. Palya and Halli, both in kannada means village. Usage I guess depends on the size of village and may be distance from M.G. Road, center of Bangalore. No money on guessing what M.G. means?

Oh! I left the incident untold. I asked conductor what was the fare to the next stop? There wasn’t any response. Again, I asked. He told me, “3 Rs.” I could see a lot of surprise element in his eyes which I later came to know why? Anyways, I gave 3 bucks and he returned 1 back to me, without giving the ticket. And it was really easy for him. I called him back and said, “Boss! Take this back and I want a ticket.” Very politely, he obliged. While I was celebrating with my happiness for being a good citizen just for few seconds, a sound from my fellow passenger sneaked into my ears. “Ye road bahut easy hai? Ticket lene ki jaroorat nahi thi” I was surprised and a bit of angry also over this person’s behavior. I said, “boss! I want ticket, that’s it!”

“Tumhare is teen rupaye se govt. ki building thodi ban jayegi?”

I was disturbed by this comment of his, and with only a moment of thinking, I could say to him, “Mere teen rupaye se building banegi ya nahi, pata nahi par agar har koi eisa hi sochega to pakka hi nahi banegi.” I reached home in next 2 minutes. I came all through the way talking to myself.

The young person seemed to be well educated.. 27-28 years old. Bangalore is considered a pretty educated city. And according to a recent report I read at rediff, the city has the highest number of millionaires of all the cities in India. It’s considered the Silicon Valley of India with amazing weather, and an IT hub.. There are many other names which I may not be aware of… But whoever has lived here for more than a week, can surely tell you the pathetic nature of roads, civic sense of public. And I, having experienced life at Gurgaon, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and now Bangalore, can say without any doubt that Bangaloreans lack civic common sense। Statisticians are allowing me to use the city as a whole. So, guys who all are feeling bad about it, don’t search for my address. :P

While I am writing this, I am recalling a bhajan, “Agar bhala kisi ka kar na sako, to bura kisi ka mat karna..” Though not directly related, but Sage Udham Singh says, “The least good you can do to the society is not to do anything bad.”

Hey Professional world! I am coming.

2007-07-24T12:53:00.000+05:30

Yeah! the first air-journey was more pleasant than what I thought of... The idea of getting in Kingfisher Airlines paid off fully ;) It was a bit more than 2 hours journey, with skies below me most of the time... And how true are all those guys who say, There are hindi oldies for every moment.. for this time, I had, "Aj main upar, asmaan niche.." Took rain along with me from bhopal to bangalore.. Reached bangalore at 8:10 pm... Then waited for baggage, and alas! the very bag I bought two days ago only for this journey got its trolley broken due to malhandling... I got 250 bucks as compensation from those guys... Bangalore was a new place for me before getting down two days back. The city has amazing weather, its like the whole city has been air conditioned. It has all the best features except the two things: 1. Traffic 2. Auto-richshaws... A friend of mine, Prashant, had come down to the airport. Went to his place which was a nice hotel bedroom. Next day, sunday, was free and I was planning to search for home, but planned a rest later, and then, successfully implemented the plan. Now, I was on the heels of Monday, a new and a big day for me.

oh! I woke up at 6 on the first day. Believe it or not, how far you try, you can't remove the eagerness part from the things you do for the first time in your life. Got a direct bus to the office (Thanks to Chandrashekhar!, He is a part of Capital One only and I found him residing very near to my place, so came with him only for the first day). I was the first one to reach the office among the new entrants. Office looks made me happy till the deep inside self. Oh yes! this seems a great place, and How lovely are the people? Can anyone ask better work environment? No doubt, why I don't have any single example of any student from my college who joined Capital One and left for some other company in the last 3 years... Mainly, that's because of the work environment and amazing people's interaction. We had a meeting with almost all of the office people.. There is this nice trend of 'meet and greet' here for every new entrant which is a meeting of every new person with all of the staff and a normal introduction is followed by variable length discussion depending on your mutual interests, or it may be anything.

I have met and greeted some of the people and many are due :) All these sessions are great and one can get a lot of things to learn from each individual. Anyways, next few weeks will be spent in training sessions and understanding basics, and then, a full fledged professional is coming. All earlier people, beware! :P

A small tribute to Prof. V.M. Gadre

2007-07-01T02:55:00.000+05:30

Prof. V. M. Gadre

Though no amount of space will be enough for me to write about the person I am writing, but also, no language has words to express my gratitude for him (some apart from English, Hindi, Haryanvi, Sanskrit may have, I don't know others [:P]). From the very childhood of mine, I was imbibed with a teaching that teachers are a bit more than Gods, and I truly believed in it. I always experienced it, I didn't believe it simply because someone said so. I feel privileged to have been taught by some of the best teachers on this planet, and I attribute almost whole of my success to them (a part left for blessings of my parents, friends and other close ones [:)].) I never feel far from my teachers, and I always felt honored to be very close to everyone of my teachers. I left Halwasiya Vidya Vihar, Bhiwani after studying there for 11 long years. It was another family of mine. Similarly, 2 years at The Air Force School, New Delhi reserved a special place for it in me. After coming to IIT Bombay back in 2002, I felt that the above saying was true only for the case of teachers, not professors. The feeling was diminishing in magnitude and somewhere, I felt sad, but couldn't help it. And then, God realized that the importance of this saying is degrading, and so, I was made to meet Prof. V.M. Gadre, as a messenger of his. (He/she is somewhere, I am damn sure.)

He gave a course "Signals and Systems" in our second year, and one of the best ones I had in my whole curriculum. No doubt, he got "Teaching in Excellence" award many a times. This award is given to a faculty member teaching a course, and the importance attached to it increases manifold as it is decided by the students. Also, a person winning this award once is not eligible for the next year, and I understood the reason behind this after having taught by him.
The biggest incident occurred like this. After mid-semester examination of the course, when he distributed marks, he announced in the class, "You can come to me if you have any sort of problems, not necessarily in the course." Though I never went to any professor for discussing anything outside the scope of academics, this time was the first one. The course was over, and I did well there, with a special award for doing challenging problems. But, the bonding with him grew.

He was the Coordinator, NSS, IIT Bombay. And I was involved in GRA (Group of Rural Activities) at that time. And someone proposed an idea of combining various such activities under one umbrella. The organization was named Unnati, and I was appointed one of the 10 Teaching Associates. I worked with him in organization of 'Navchetna Shivirs', initally for mess workers of different hostels, then for students as well. These were, 5 day, one hour daily, shivirs for teaching basic Pranayama techniques. That also was a pleasant experience. The best decision by me at IIT, now I am sure I can say this, was when I chose him to guide me for my DDP (Dual Degre Project). I talked to him about this at the start of third year, around a year in advance as compared to other students. I got a nice internship also, courtesy Prof. Gadre.

The best part of my DDP (and for every student with him) is, he'll get work done from you and you won't know it [:)]. Yeah!! believe me, it's true. I can informally say that I didn't do anything in my project and if you believe me, I can change my statement and show you enough results to justify my grades. But the whole credit goes to this person. How many times I have met him just to say, "Sir! I didn't do anything." And I always wondered how can a person (specially guide!) always encouraged even in that situation. I have seen people with various problems (academic/non-academic) taking help from him. And even if you make him angry once (though you have to work really hard for this), he doesn't let that anger come in between your future interactions. He always start afresh, I simply was amazed by this quality. Almost all of us have a lot of prejudices and keep consistently making them. I have learnt many a things from him. Some gross things are: time management (you won't believe that he has a diary with all the appointments, lying always in his pocket), power of language and words, politeness and many more subtle things. Though I admit, I only have seen them and appreciated, but I wasn't able to incorporate many of them in me.

I'll be leaving this place in a few days and don't know when will I be back here, and seeing past memories, I am feeling very sad. I guess this is the first time, I am feeling so in my life. I hadn't this feeling to such an extent even when I left my home in 2002 for coming here. It must be quite similar to the one just before death, if there is any at that moment [:)]. I know that the time is very powerful and makes us adapt to all the situations, but i am sure, time, this time, has a difficult challenge ahead [:)].

A bit about myself and friends know better: I am a very critical person, and doesn't appreciate something very easily. And in the wake of this, the above said words gain more importance. I'll put a limit to my words now for the sake of readers.. There is a saying, "Iski jitni taarif karo, utni hi kam hai". I am sure that was made for people like him. My sincere warm regards for my true Guru, Prof. V.M. Gadre.

Ma! main pass ho gaya!!

2007-06-30T22:24:00.000+05:30

Around one and a half month back, I felt that haven't done enough work to get a degree from IIT Bombay. For outsiders: The dual degree project here is of one and a half year duration and requires something concrete to be done in the area of research. Faculty has been complaining consistently that dual degree students (those who come for BTech+ MTech, but come via JEE), don't do a good work. I confess that their complaints are genuine seeing myself, the efforts of almost all my batchmates and of my seniors.

The project has 3 stages: First one ends in the second week of July, Second stage ends in December first week, and the last, and the most important one, ends in next July. A normal scenario is that no one works in the I stage, an obvious mistake, because the smart people have a tendency to take all the work at the last moment, as a challenge. And since nothing is done is first stage, nothing can't be done in second stage, because of cool attitude, seeing a lot of time ahead, placements going on and a lot of other personal reasons attached. When the third and the last time comes, people try to wake up. While not everyone even try, but not everyone who try wakes up. [:)] I have examples who woke up at certain times, wanted to do something in their project area but couldn't find any sort of help from their supervisors, friends; may be they didn't care much, but environment could have helped.

Although I cited a general story above, mine was a bit different. Luckily, I had a gem of person as my guide/supervisor, Prof. V.M.Gadre. (I'll not write more about him here, since I plan to dedicate a special blog to him.) Can I praise myself a bit? (Reader: Oh yes! you can.) Thank you. [:P] I did a lot of survey in the first stage, and was way ahead of actually what was required, according to me. This helped me understand the area better and in the first stage, got an AA (the best I could have thought, and the best they could have awarded [:)]).

II Stage didn't excite me to work, and so I didn't, where's my fault? I took two philosophy courses, "Indian Philosophy", and "Vedanta Philosophy" and must add, I enjoyed a lot more than any other course in my own department. Once, I came across an idea in my tiny mind to pursue a PhD in the field of Philosophy, please don't laugh. I studied for CAT, started reading newspapers daily and made myself busy in various other activities (Probably the busiest time in other activities.) They say, "Luck favors those who work hard." I add to it, "Luck also favors those who think of working hard." And it helped me too. One fine morning, I came across an idea of an algorithm, which was a novel one in my area of research. And yes! it was proposed by me in the II stage with a few results. Oh, I couldn't believe myself, I got an AA, with an AA in both the courses as well (I was sure of getting it in philosophy though, topped all the exams there.) The blog has made me a philosopher. Isn't it? [:P]

You know, who the hell cares for petty project after getting a job? And before the third stage began, I got two job offers, which are decent by all IIT standards, could get 2 IIM calls as well, finally making into one. And no final year dual degree student (or for that matter, any student) will disagree that I am not at fault if I didn't work for the project much. Also, I was bitten by Philosophy bug, took two more courses as audit (means grades are awarded but they don't matter in terms of your final percentage marks.), "Buddhist Mahayana Philosophy", and "Professional Ethics" (want to work with me? am a lot ethical now [:P]).
January, February, March and April, all went back from wherever they came with all their efforts of making me work, in vain. Though I must say, I worked something, but far less than my own standards. May came with a lot of stress. And I like a smart people, took it as a challenge, started working after a week long vacation. And found the saying of Sage Udham Singh true to the core, "You will see new paths created out of nowhere, if you once start moving towards your goal." I got results, implemented the new algorithm, and then came the D-day (yesterday.)
A panel of four examiners: External Examiner (Shri Amit Balani), Internal Examiner (Prof. Preeti Rao), Supervisor (Prof. V.M.Gadre) and Chairman (Prof. S.S.Pande), was in front of me. A nobel prize winner also would have been afraid of such a panel examining him, and so was I. But as all the results were mine (and I had worked very honestly), I could save myself. At the end! it was like, "Oh! it was great. This has gone better than expected." I could feel a good response from the panel as it was moving very well, but the response was much better than what I felt.
Finally, a small meeting with my guide in the evening. All the lines he said, were like an epic for me. "Yours was a good presentation, a confident one. AA was a common choice." And now, I stand on my feet with a clean sweep in my M.Tech. I am sure I can feel proud [:P]. Next 4-5 days at IIT and the last ones will be very busy (a lot of office work is remaining), but I am totally free of any tension. And so, this is a perfect time to come here. Isn't it? I believe in the saying,"Do the work you enjoy, and you feel tension-free." Also, I have created one for the others to believe in, "Feel tension-free first and then do any work, you'll surely enjoy."

IIM Results vs. Fate

2007-04-28T01:24:00.000+05:30

Luck, fate, destiny, God: All these words come into your mind if something bad happens and you are highly optimistic, which you should be, since if you are not, you stand to get depressed. They say, “Only God knows what is in future?” But do they know that God knows this or not? May be God knows or may be God doesn’t know? Even if he’s somewhere there, who knows about his future? IIM results are out after a lot of tussle between HRD ministry and Supreme Court of India, Congress and UPA coalition parties, me and my fate.

I have been following every news on the internet related to the quota and IIM issue since past 15 days refreshing the google search engine every 5 minutes (whenever I am awake, I mean). I got two calls from B (Bangalore) and L (Lucknow). Anyone who’s read my last blogs must be knowing that I was expecting a positive response from B and not from L in which I am not interested, but all crashed today at 6:33 pm (I don’t exactly remember, no one knows the time of death.) I got final admission offer from Lucknow, but rejection from Bangalore. I entered my roll number and just after entering, a screen popped up saying, “Sorry, you haven’t been selected.” Lemme tell you this sorry word is the most diplomatic word in English language. I was almost sure of getting through and then results made me recall Gita saying “Don’t expect anything from future because it’s not in your hands.” (This is SriMadBhagwatGita, not the young lady from my old colony)

Many of my relatives, friends have earlier enquired about the results and I was supposed to call them today and give the news. But what should I have said now? I didn’t have courage to call. I couldn’t break their expectations. Finally, I called my family and told them the thing. Though they were saying it’s ok, but the feelings behind those words! Alas! I should have been so dumb not to understand them. This was the first time (which I can recall) where I called my father and told that “Papa, I failed.”

Now, friends come and ask result and after knowing, I always see the same expressions of they having pity on me, “Hard Luck, dude”, “Better Luck next time”, “Don’t worry, you have another options” are some of the expressions which are supposed to boost your moral but today they all had lost their essence. They bore imprints of my failure and haunted me everytime someone repeated them.

Till some hours of results, I was answering friends’ queries about results having a fake little smile on face. Smile was only to save myself from the feeling of pity, any face develops after listening. Then, a new friend sent me a message which energized me, “heyyyyy...i do feel sad for u but luk at the better side, at least u r sumwhere, people don't land up easily where u r..i knw u must have tried really hard....but be optimistic cummon...now give us a smile :) a real one!” Ya, that’s true! I haven’t looked at the brighter side. I have got through IIM Lucknow, which also not many can dream of in India. That’s a different story that I am not going to join it. Now I am trying to smile and look forward, God bless my friend.

I know I have some other very good options. I know I can do well in life and this is the confidence that’s pushing me ahead. Also, at this time, I recall my age-old friend Udham Singh saying, “Come’on dude! This is life. Not everything comes your way. And you know! A person overcoming lot of hardships makes a real gem.”

IIM Lucknow GD/PI

2007-04-05T14:12:00.000+05:30

GD topic:
"Politicians are wonderful people, if they stay away from the things they don’t understand, such as, working for a living."

Initial 10 minutes were given for writing a 150 words write-up on the topic. Then, with a pause of 15 seconds, we are asked to start. No one was willing to start on the topic. I had already decided not to go to IIM Lucknow, even if they offered me a seat right away. Both panelists were male. One was from South India, second was from north. Second one seemed to belong to either Haryana or Punjab. Chairs were arranged in a semi-circular fashion. Discussion was given 15 minutes but what do you think can be discussed here for 15 minutes? I divided the topic in 3 parts. Politicians are also people, and can’t be expected to do super-natural things. Every person is inherently wonderful. And lastly, policy-makers must be able to understand the issues pertaining to common man, or the stakeholders. I wrote a summary wrapping these 3 points in around 50 words each.

The discussion was not good. People were speaking irrelevant things, not listening to anyone else. Many were talking in groups of two without caring for the other groups of two-two each, while one person in a very loud voice was speaking for his own sake. After this thing continued for starting 3-4 minutes, I thought I should have say there and I started saying, “Please, let him complete and then you can say whatever you want.” These things were appreciated sometimes but not by everyone. Some were just not able to listen this or rather were only interested in speaking their crap. One person shouted, “Don’t act like a traffic policeman.” (I think I should have said, “Traffic Policemen are also needed to control the traffic.” But I didn’t assuming safely that it was his loss for sure. I wasn’t losing anything since I wasn’t interested in Lucknow anyways.) Discussion went on till its completion without any smoothness with people talking about SEZ’s, Maharashtra power being used in Northern states and all non-sense which they related to this topic and made sense only to themselves. I asked one person when he completed, “What has this to do with the topic?” Few agreed but the person kept on murmuring his thoughts like a crow on your house in the morning 4 am. In all cases, it has disturbed your sleep. Finally, it was over to the relief of everybody.

Now, after waiting for some time, cracking few jokes with friends from IIT Bombay who were also present for their GD/PI, my turn for PI came (again fourth), and I moved in. Let’s call interviewer M1 and M2 and candidate C. Time was around 3:40 pm.

C: Good Afternoon, Sir.
M1: Hmm.. Give me the certificates….
M2: Relax… Why are you shivering? Come’on, You are from IIT Bombay.
(Now, What should I have told them? This is a problem with me that whenever I am a bit nervous, or not exactly nervous but something important is there, hands start shivering and controlling them takes time. Anyways, a long breath helped me.)
C: Yes, Sir.
(I gave them certificates after removing resumes from the top of my file. M1 was almost about to cry.)
M1: Why didn’t you put all of them at the top?
C: Sir, They are already on the top. I was just removing resumes.
M1: Give me the whole file.
C: Sir, there are other certificates also in the file of extra-curricular activities.
M1: Why didn’t you take them out earlier, when I said so? (I wonder when did he say so?) I know you wanted us to see only those things which you wanted to show us.
C: (a small smile.. ) No Sir, they are on the top only. I thought I’ll have to give resumes also.
M1: I am seeing you have taken philosophy courses in the last semester. These are filler courses you have taken to increase your CPI.
(If this person was not an interviewer, I would have given him a long lecture on philosophy. I got irritated with the person’s behavior. One, he assumed that philosophy is easy and getting good marks there is easy. Second, I am not interested in Philosophy. Third, even after telling him that I am auditing two courses of Philosophy this time which don’t have any credits for me, he didn’t seem to agree. I told him that I have taken 5 philosophy courses, out of which 2 are PhD courses. Only 3 person are doing the course of Buddhist Mahayana Philosophy. But M1 wouldn’t agree. I thought in my mind, “Go to Hell. Why should I convince you for my interest in Philosophy? Anyways, I am not going to come to your college.” I was there just for fun :D.)
M2: Have you read modern philosophy also?
C:Yes sir, but not in as much details as Indian philosophy.
M2: What courses have you done and what do you know about Indian Philosophy?
C(I told him all the courses): Introduction to Philosophy, Indian Philosophy, Vedanta Philosophy, Buddhist Mahayana Philosophy and Professional Ethics
M1: What’s the difference between Indian philosophy and Vedanta philosophy?
C: Vedanta school of thought is the gist of Vedas. There are other school of thoughts also in Indian philosophy like Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika. (I talked about Vedanta a bit then, and it’s six parts.)
M1: Tell us in brief about Vedanta, which your professor gave you as an overview of the course.
C(I told him about Shankaracharya’s Advaita Vedanta and Ramanujam’s vishishadvaita Vedanta in some detail. M1 seemed jealous while M2 seemed content from my answer.)
M2: What did you prepare for the interview?
C: Not much can be prepared for the interview because I am here to present myself. I read newspapers daily to know what’s happening in the world. Revised some technical concepts and that’s all.
M2: You are in electrical engineering.. What do you know about power sector of India?
C: Power Sector… hmm.. Sir, there is 12.5% shortage in power supply than demand. Last year it was 12%.
M2: no no.. not this.. ok.. What do you mean by unbundling of power sector?
C: I don’t know the term but it may mean giving license to private players to enter in power sector, which was not allowed earlier.
M1: Have you had any management course?
C: No, sir.
M1: Any economics course?
C: Yes, I had one in my first semester.
M2: What was the name of the course?
C: I don’t exactly remember. It was something like “Economics and something..”
M1: Economics is the basic thing for Management and you don’t know the name of single course you did in economics. Some more statements like this.
M2: What did you study in the course?
C (though it was tough to recall, but I could recall a few concepts): Marginal utility, Law of diminishing returns (explained to them what does that mean?)
M2: Apply these concepts to power bills?
(I explained to them how first some electricity units are charged at around Rs. 3/unit and later on, charges start increasing. Because marginal utility of that extra unit is less for a person who’s consuming more and since it was more useful for some other person, higher usage should attract higher charges.)
M1: What are other options for you?
C: I have got job offers from Capital One and Inductis.
M1: What are they paying you?
(I told them both the packages.)
M1: Oh, this is an international package.
C:Yes sir.
(M1 looks towards M2): Ok, Thank you.
C: Thank You, Sir.

Overall, quality of professors, GD, PI and students appearing for Lucknow was exponentially down than IIM B.
Disclaimer: These are my personal opinions and no one should feel offended.

IIM Bangalore GD/PI

2007-04-05T13:58:00.000+05:30

GD: Case Study
Sh. Ramesh Kunango is the owner of a small but profitable departmental store at NIT, Bangalore (NITB). He has been running the store for more than 2 decades now, and has 3 employees. He has a good reputation with all faculty and students. He knows each student by name by the time they reach their second year. The store has been a centre for social networking for a long time. This store provides extra facility of room-service. He has requested authorities to provide a Wi-Fi connection to the store, in the recent past.
Recently, departmental sales are going down due to various reasons. A coffee parlor has come up just outside the campus and people have started going there, and it has taken a place for social networking. Another big departmental store has been opened few kilometers away from the campus. This offers major discounts and most residents have started going there.
Now, a big retail chain outside has offered him a good price for his shop, accepting which, he can retire comfortably, but he has to ask his employees to move out. He also feels that he can increase his sales.
Ramesh is in confusion. What should he do?

Group had 8 members. 2 were girls, one beautiful, one pseudo-beautiful (don’t ask me what’s that?)… And luck started favoring me right from the start. I was there on the HOT seat (girl on both sides).. It was a perfect circle. Everyone was present. There were 2 professors from IIM B, one male, one female (see, 50% reservation). We were given 10 minutes to read the topic and think, 15 minutes for the discussion and then, 10 minutes for writing the summary.

I loved the topic and as I was reading line by line, I could relate everything to Coffee Shack at IIT Bombay campus, which is exactly the same case. I thought on the lines: What if he accepts the offer and What if he doesn’t? What exactly should be there in his mind before making the final decision (objectives..) Then, if he accepts the offer, what are his post-retirement plans? He should invest this money somewhere… and things like that… Whether he should take care of his employees or not… There is nothing given about how long these 3 employees have been with Ramesh… It may be that these employees have just joined few days back… (This was a good observation from the case.) Also, one more idea struck my chords before the discussion started. I wrote the starting line on the rough page while most people write starting idea and then try to frame the sentence when moderator says, “Start”.
It happened with a soft voice coming from behind me, “Start”, and sentence on my page paid off. 3-4 persons started with broken sentences but I had everything ready-made.. naturally, fluency was a result, and I started then opening the case with all its branches. Objectives of the person, Problem identification, 2 cases, what should be done in both the cases? , Conclusion if any, and finally risk analysis. It took a whole around 1 and a half minutes which is more than enough for a person who’s starting the discussion. Anyways, the group was lovely; everyone was calm, giving chances to everyone. We came up with many ideas, discussed almost each part of the case… Like What if institute doesn’t give permission for expansion?, He can enter into other businesses like STD, Printing shops etc. using his good relations with residents, he can start giving extra services to residents (like paying their electricity, phone bills etc.) He can get into a joint venture with outside shops and exploit his spatial location, advertize his shop at different festivals of the campus and many more. Finally, in the last minute, I said, “The person has to weigh both the paths by doing a cost-benefit analysis and decide which path will give him more returns and since we don’t have exact data, we can’t come up with a direct conclusion. We can only chalk out a path for him and depending on actual data only, he’ll be able to select.” Last few seconds remaining and one girl asked, “What kind of data are you talking about?” I was more than happy to answer the question, since I was getting a chance to speak. I said, “We don’t know what his monthly profits are? What the retail chain is offering him? What are the alternate options? How many residents are there? And similar things..” Time’s up… Thank you..

Then, I wrote summary of around 150 words, explained what the group discussed finally with the conclusion. Then at around 11:40 am, I was called in for the interview. Let’s call the interviewers: lady (L) and Male (M) and myself the Candidate (C).

C: Good morning.
L and M: Good morning, please have a seat.
C: Thank you (seated down..) a bit nervous.. no, it was more than a bit.. a byte may be.
L (with a motherly smile): So, how was the GD?
C : GD was fine, ma’m.
L: Don’t you think it was a bit loud?
C (I knew I was loud because otherwise no-one listens to you especially in a GD.. plus my voice also sounds somewhat louder, can’t help it): I don’t think so, ma’m but if you say so, I’ll try to take care of it in future.
L (very smartly): But I never said that you were loud; I said the GD was loud.
C (more smartly): Ma’m, but if you are saying this to me, it means something.
L (Smiles like the one who has just been captured in a Hide and Seek game): Ohh.. Reading between the lines.. Hmm..
L: So, you are in Dual Degree Program?
(I talked about it… CPI came into picture… class position… specialization, then, internship which was about video decoders in a small company, JohoTech Pvt. Ltd.)
M: What was the company size?
C: 7-8 people, that’s all, it was a small company.
M: So, where is this decoder used?
(I told him, that anywhere a video is to be shown, a decoder is a must, so PC’s, mobiles, televisions etc.)
M: Can this be used in Set Top Boxes which are coming in the market recently?
C: I didn’t exactly understand your question. A video decoder is essential for showing a video from a bitstream. I don’t have much idea about Set Top Box.
M: let’s make it like this. Can you block a channel by the decoder, say Zee TV?
C: Sir, One channel is at a particular frequency. I can always block any channel by suitable designing a filter, but that has nothing to do with the decoding part. If you insist on getting it in decoder, I can incorporate the filter in the decoder itself.
M: Ok Ok…
(I think either he was asking wrong question or I wasn’t getting him. But if this was what he was asking, I gave a perfect reply.)
M: I want to ask you about this Chem-E-Car? (This was a technical event, where I stood first. We had to design a car that could run 10 feet in minimum time using chemical energy. Our model crossed the distance in 0.46 seconds. There were a few questions on the reaction involved.)
L: Why did you not look into business aspects of the car-model?
C: Sir, I designed the model just for the competition. It didn’t say anything about what should happen after 10 feet distance. Moreover, I am from an Elec. Engg. Background.
L: So, your car blasts or something after completion?
C: No, ma’m. It doesn’t blast but it can topple. Also, it releases water. This was designed only for the sake of that competition which it cleared successfully. This idea can’t be commercialized. Reaction is very vigorous, and is uncontrollable.
L: You have written something “ethical”. What does that mean?
(I explained to him that this was related to my behavior that if I see someone doing wrong like indulging in smoking, drugs, alcohol, I argue with him/her and this always happens with many of my friends. There was a big discussion on this issue. What are ethics? What are morals? How will you determine whether it is true or not? Aren’t you imposing your decisions on someone else? Shouldn’t you leave these kind of friends? Can you tell me any act which is unethical but not harmful? And similar questions..)
(I said everything in a very general sense and never diluted my stand on any of the issues. I said, once I have made someone friend or anyone else also, If I feel someone is doing wrong due to ignorance, It’s my duty to tell him/her. I also may be wrong in my judgement. I am not imposing any decisions on anybody. I always discuss with friends, If the thing is bad, they should also quit and if it is good, I should also start. And I can’t leave people at the time when they need me most. After thinking a lot what harmful means, I said, no unethical act can be harmless.. )
L: If I am having a second class rly. Compartment ticket and a seat is empty in first class and I enter in, this is unethical but not harmful to anyone?
C: This is harmful, ma’m. You are telling this story to me. If you tell this to anyone else, you are inspiring others to do wrong things. You can’t make sure that all others will do similar wrong things. They can cause bigger harms to the society.
L: Assume that I don’t tell it to anyone. Now?
C: Then also, this is harmful to your consciousness. There is a fixed barrier of consciousness against wrong things. Whenever one tries to do something wrong, one gets to know it but if he/she does it, this barrier lowers down. Next time, you can do any other wrong deed more comfortable. You have made yourself vulnerable to wrong thoughts.
L (with a parental smile): Oh k. you take it in a broad sense. Hmm.
M: Why MBA?
C: there are many parts of running an organization. Managing finance, managing advertizing, marketing, managing human resources etc. One can be an expert in one area but to successfully manage all, one has to interact with managers of other domains. For that, a basic formal education is necessary in all the domains which is embedded in curriculum of MBA. That’s why an MBA is a must for moving up the corporate ladder. I have got job offers in hand, Capital One and Inductis….. (They cut down before I completing the answer.)
(Asked about the companies, work profiles etc.. Then again I completed rest part… Sir, I learnt 2 things at IIT B, one how technology works, other How world/people work? Now I want to explore the second one. I feel myself comfortable in technology part. They seemed happy with my answer.)
L: You have written that you want to open a school and then a chain of schools across India. Why school?
C: My father had to move out of his college once due to inability to pay fees. This has motivated me to bring education at doorsteps of every person. (something like this.. )
L: How’ll you get the funds? Who’ll manage this all? Short term goals?
(I explained all of them.. )
L: when did this incident happen?
C(I hadn’t thought about it.. made a guess from father’s year of birth): 1977
L: which college?
C(a bit confused… although I knew it was Vaish college, Bhiwani but somehow I didn’t remember and I couldn’t take the risk of thinking more because I already had said that this was my motivation.): Govt. College, Bhiwani, Haryana
L (without a second delay): How much was the fees? Govt. college doesn’t charge much fees usually.
(I would have screwed everything if some invisible power was not acting from behind. Many reasons ran into my nerves very fast and I said that I don’t remember what was the exact amount of fees but my family was based only on agriculture and that year, there were some big problems. Grandfather said to my father that he can’t pay for his fees and father’s name was restricted. The incident was true, so some sentiments ran over my face justifying me. they seemed satisfied.)
Few more questions and it was over. Lasted around 35-40 minutes but it was worth talking to two nice people. A good experience.

Interview Memoirs: Day 1 (continued... )

2006-12-22T00:09:00.000+05:30

December 2, 2006 5 pm I was again in the placement office, where it all started. I was the same eternal person while the companies kept changing, like the shore remains same but the waves keep moving. Now, it was the turn of Morgan Stanley (finance division). They came up with a short list of 10 people out of which 5 were already placed. So, only 5 of us were remaining and of which, 2 were academic champs (Yashodhan Kanoria and Piyush Nahar). Kanoria is General Secretary, Electrical Engg. Department with a CPI of 10 (breaking all earlier records) GS earlier in the day made a mistake by not selecting this person. Nahar, also very close in terms of CPI with 9.8, is ranked first among Dual Degree students. There were 2 interviews going to be held for these vacancies. HR manager (again lady and this time a sweet one!!) After sitting on the lovely sofas in placement office, and having a cup of coffee illegally (it is only for company people), I heard the same name that after seeing in the list, I came here.

I entered the room and there were two more people inside except the HR, both technical people. Justice had been done with both the sexes and one was male, one female. I had heard from somebody that Morgan Stanley is famous for retaining its employees, and as soon as I entered the interview room, I got an answer to “why?” All people inside stood up, passed their smiles (I collected all of them smiling myself), then said, “Good evening, Ashok! Let us first introduce ourselves.” And then their introduction revealed to me that the guy was an IIT Delhi alumnus and the girl was an IIT Bombay pass out. How down to earth these people were, in fact if I liked any interviewer’s attitude towards the candidate the most, the award goes to Morgan Stanley (Capital One was close.) They increased the candidate’s self-esteem, at least didn’t let it down. They asked then about me (everyone did so), and I answered it as simple as I could (name, deptt and that’s all) And, it all started with technical questions. I was very very (you can add as many times as you wish) tired.

The first question he asked, “There are two people who come on a place sometime between 10 am and 11 am and each stay there fro 20 minutes. What’s the probability that they’ll meet.” Now, this is a simple question which I already had done sometime back. But there, I used all nerves remaining alive after whole day tiring job but couldn’t solve it and then I succumbed to the pressure, “Sir, Can we move ahead? I’ll try this one at the last.” With a decent OK he started with a compliment, “Let’s come to your test. You are a surprising personality. You have done three questions wrong in the exam and they are the one which everybody has done right. And you have done all those right where everyone committed some errors.” What else I could have done there except a blush? But apart from that, I asked him, “Can I see the paper?” He said, “But no arguments allowed.” I laughed and took the paper (we both knew how can it be possible that you tell an IIT’ian that he/she is wrong and there are no arguments). The other mathematics questions were pretty simple and I did them all, probably most of them right too.

Then came the area of computer science where they asked me to rate myself. I rated myself 6-7 but added, “The ratings are all relative. I may forget some syntax but I am good at solving the problem and I’m sure about it.” They gave me a Computer Science problem, “You have a linked list (meaning you have initial pointer to the first element.) Now you have to reverse the list with first element pointing to NULL, second element pointing to first and so on. Return the initial pointer of this new list.” Although I don’t know much about these things, but I am sure many don’t. I tried there for few minutes, felt I was close. Then the girl said, “Explain what you have done.” While I was explaining the method, the answer clicked to me. And a few more simple questions and it was an end signal from both technical people. Now, came the first words from HR manager, who had been sitting silently at all the time observing the candidate, “Ashok, Do you want to ask us something?” I asked a few questions, which I framed just before coming to the interview. (This is a mandatory question for an interviewer and a compulsion is there for the candidate to ask something if he/she wants to show some interest in the firm.) They bid me good bye and I came out with a happy mood. I thought even if they take three people, I had a great chance. Prashant was with me all the time, while we had a constant chat, we smuggled another cup of coffee from the office and gulped it down the throats.

Now, more than the job, I was waiting for end of this chase. People are moving towards their death more than they run for anything else. I talked with a few other people who came out from the other panel that was about to call me. Company started kicking people out one by one. The eighth wonder of the world was the news that Yashodan Kanoria was out (though he was said by the company that he’s welcome to join the firm anytime.) But anyways, the wonder was great news to me. I was in last three now. Probably, every one of us was feeling the same. Then, one more person was kicked out (luckily it wasn’t me…) Now, I had greater chances, just behind Nahar. Nothing lasts ever in this world of destruction. The person moving out told me that the company told him they were taking only one person. Can you imagine a meteor falling on one’s head straight from hell? (I felt the same then) I generally believe people if I feel they have no gains from the statement and so, I took his statement as true. Now, the tensions were more but I was happy in a way that tensions were over. I knew I was about to enjoy one more interview. There was a considerable gap between the two interviews (or was the time moving slower??) Saw a Bisleri bottle achieving martyrdom to keep my temperature normal.

I went into the interview without any expectations and there were three people inside, two Indians and one of foreign origin. Though they were also ok but politeness level was lower than their other panel counterparts (may be because of seniority.. yeah, they were seniors.) History has seen power making every one rude. Ok, having done with the formalities, the technical people soon came at technical questions. He asked me, “Probability or Linear Algebra?” And though I was confident in both (scored AA in both the courses!) but I also wanted to play with the interviewers (I already knew they had made their minds for picking up only one..), I said, “Anyone you wish. I am comfortable in both.” They tested both the areas starting with probability and then moving to linear algebra. They came with a diary of questions, selected questions from some or the other exams. To their surprise, I did both (with one hint in between). Then, he asked one simple question which also was done. Now, they had a candidate in front of them, who very rudely was killing their earlier discussion. Now, the chaps discussed and one said to other, “Ask that one!!” and I thought now it’ll be a real ballistic, but who feared? He asked me, “Are you familiar with number theory?” In a determined voice, I said, “Yes, I have read about it, Shoot the question, we’ll see.” The question was, “Prove that in any Pythagorean triplet, one number should be a multiple of 5.” After I was very close to the answer (infact was about to solve), he said, “You are right there.” In next few moments, I was delivering them the final answer. In the end, they asked the same old question (won’t repeat) and bid me goodbye. I came out very relaxed and I made the final decision for them very tough, a real tough decision to make. Nahar with undoubtedly great credentials (also he must have done good), and I was second in the test (second only to Kanoria who was already out) and did all the questions, infact the last one also which they thought a real tough one.

I was right in my opinion because after all the interviews were over, they discussed for about 1 and a half hour, and the discussion was about whether to take one or two. Just when the discussion was going on, N-Videa final list came out and I was very happy to see a known name, Nitin Jadon. He is my lab-mate and a good friend, and success of a friend is more than your own, I am true. Have you ever taught someone? What do you think, drives the profession of teaching? Money, fame… nothing is there in this profession but the joy when one’s student scales heights of success is beyond all these measurable things. I called Jadon and I’ll remain in his memories for all his lifetime as someone who told him the news of his first job. I could feel his happiness through his voice on phone. All senses are after all linked by one - consciousness. He came to office soon to confirm the news. News of this level should always be confirmed, even if a saintly person like Udham Singh told you the news. Then, after waiting for some more time, when we were totally frustrated, we went to Gulmohar Restaurant to dine at around 10 pm. It was Jadon’s treat. As we started to eat, came the bad (or good!) news. I wasn’t selected. Reason probably working against me was that there was no diversity in our profiles. Anyways, it seemed I was a disaster at that time. Nine interviews in a day without tasting a drop of success.

We saw the final shortlist of next day companies, and I found that I had to face two more companies the next day. Capital One and Proctar and Gamble (P & G), though I wasn’t interested in latter and wasn’t sure about the first one. Apart from all this, neither the tongue nor the belly was stoppable in front of food. Having satisfied the burning hunger, came back to hostel six. Now, tensions of case studies were hovering around me as Capital One is known to ask these. I probably was the only person who was yet to see first case study but eye-lids used their veto when brain was thinking of studying one and I slept. This is how Day 1 of placements ended for me.

Interview Memoirs: Day 0 and Day 1

2006-12-20T20:31:00.000+05:30

December 1, 2006 My day ended at 12:30 am. I was first to face Deutsche professionals for interview at 8 am, the next morning. Time in the evening was moving more than its normal pace as if it was participating in some race of Olympics. And I am sure if all the tests are performed for it, that particular time will be charged with doping offenses. We, all friends, studied finance that evening from our lovely and fees-free teacher, Vaibhav Gupta, from Bhawani Mandi, Rajasthan. (He loves his motherland so much that he wants to be called by the name Bhawani) Although he had taught all of us at nearly a score of occasions or more but this class of his was a bit different; here, stakes on hold were of a different kind altogether. He has taken two three financial courses, has worked in a financial firm for few months, has few NSE (National Stock Exchange) certificates to his name; and with all these things, he has enough background to teach these superb students. We got all the basics of finance and after I got to know them, finance seemed to me no more than simple mathematics moulded by some jargons like same old apple is sold by putting a sticker of imported on it. The class started after dinner at around 9 pm and it lasted for one long hour… I have been trying to understand the Time since my early childhood and haven’t been successful till now. There are no patterns in its behavior, sometimes it don’t even move, sometimes it walks at its normal pace and in between, it runs very fast, No one knows why it keeps on changing its behavior?

I was more concerned for Goldman Sachs' interview and it was more or less like a dream since it is known of picking one or two and the list included all academic heavyweights. I was in a boxing ring against 9 Mohammad Alis for World Heavyweight Championship (WHC). Suddenly, I remembered that I was still to prepare interview questions, and resume of course, and the time remaining was very less. The only good thing that was consoling me was my confidence that I could handle anything about resume but going there without seeing the resume even once would rather have come under the area of over-confidence. The next hour and a half went in resume and interview preparations with many minds working simultaneously, specially of Mahim, Partho, Gawai and mine of course. We spanned all possible questions and thought of the basic lines on which they should be answered. Finally a 2 page document was ready, whose printout remained in the file for next three days and came handy in revising the answers till they merged themselves in me. In the next one hour following the resume preparations, I revised all the important concepts covering my strong areas (Probability, Permutations, and Linear Algebra) and my weak sections (Transforms, Differential Equations and many more); left latter part because it was the bigger one. While one part of mind was revising all these things at twice its maximum speed, other was constantly criticizing the first’s work and telling it, “This is of no use, Go and sleep. We’ll see tomorrow.” But first didn’t listen and I mugged up till 12:30 am. Then, my body slept for next 5 odd hours, while brain was busy dreaming about the next day.

December 2, 2006 Woke up at 6 am. Though I had set up alarm too, but my mother used to say in my school-times, “If you are vigil enough, you don’t need some mechanical instrument to wake you up.” I could appreciate her statement only today. I won’t tell you that I dreamt of few questions that were going to be asked the next day. How true were all the scientists who proposed the theory that our brain only shows what we want to see. This is very true in our social life as well. We see the same world but all differently according to the differences in ourselves. After checking mails (which is the second most important thing in IIT after attending your girlfriend if you have one), dressed up; took more than 20 minutes, breaking all my earlier records (highest earlier was maximum of 5 minutes). Then, arrived the biggest problem, had to wake Prashant Gawai up which is the biggest trouble one can give here to anyone. Generally, I don’t like troubling people but I was helpless here. Gawai’s bike was needed and troubling friends is always better so that they can remember you well (They know whom to trouble next time if some need arises), and in this way, the notion of friendship develops. We both left hostel 6 at 7:30 am after meeting few close friends, Mahim Agrawal, Vaibhav Gupta, Partho Sarkar (of course, Prashant was with me only)… I feel pity on myself having so less number of close friends, but can’t help it. I am friendly with all but friends are few. Having lots of wishes in forms of handshakes, hugs, I was feeling very heavily armored for even any kind of military operation, how could any interviewer face me?? Past was moving on the screens like when I used to go for any test after having blessings from parents, grandparents, mausiji and it’s tough to recall if there was any test which I didn’t clear. Here’s a suggestion from my side (absolutely free), “All the blessings of universe are in the feet of your parents. Touch them daily and nothing is unachievable in this world.”

Reached the venue, KReSIT (Kanwal Rekhi School of Information and Technology) at 7:40 am, and I was the first person to reach there. 20 more minutes passed by bringing few more faces. Company people also came but placement nominee responsible was nowhere to be seen. People don’t realize the importance of punctuality; I have always seen the same, don’t know whether this is the problem of Indians only or is it the problem with everyone? Then, the security guard refused to open the rooms for the company people. This was a real problem but I stand with the guard’s decision. It was a grave mistake on part of the placement team. Since the building wasn’t booked earlier, Security person did his duty efficiently when he didn’t allow people to enter. Venue had to change, and it got shifted to Placement Office, IIT Bombay. First interview of life and that too in placement office at 9 am… Are you feeling the feelings??

And then in few minutes, a HR (Human Resource) manager (girl!!) called my name. I always doubt why this job is filled mostly by girls, around 99%. Anyways, I didn’t have time to ask her and I entered the room. The room was cool but drops of sweat were ready just below my skin-pores to come out. Two people were sitting there, and one I knew as senior of my own hostel, Shreyas Gupta. “Hello Ashok, How are you?” and the ideal reply to it should be, “I am fine, Thank you Sir/Madam, How are you?” This was taught to us by our English teacher in class XII. Many asked at that time, what’s the need of this kind of crap in English classes. Now I know crap is also needed sometimes like roughage is an essential ingredient of a healthy diet. Next few words came in my ears, “Have a seat” and I again gave an ideal response, “Thanks” taking the seat. He opened my resume and started bowling questions like Australian pace attack. These are the questions which I can recall now (all came at 150 km/hr):
1. Why you chose finance as a career?
2. Many of my friends from IIT have told that high CGPA people are dumb at other activities. Is it true?
3. Don’t you think that by leaving technical field, you are wasting all the money that IIT, and in turn government of India, has spent on your education?
4. Have you taken CAT? (If yes, what is the expected score?)
5. If you have a decent score, you’ll have to compare the job with MBA (Master of Business Administration) prospects.
6. You have participated in a lot of extra-curricular activities, elaborate a bit?
7. You won this Hasya-Kavi Sammelan? What all you wrote, Can we listen the same poetry?
8. Which other companies have short listed you?
9. Final question (everywhere it remains the same): Do you want to know something more about us?
I am not writing what all my answers were. If anyone is interested, contact me. I was nervous for first 2 seconds and thereafter, I was dominating the interviewers and I feel proud to say that. I played like the Tendulkar of 25, the days he is known for. My theory is that employer and candidates are complementary. So, the nervousness shouldn’t be there only in candidates and the thoughts necessarily got reflections somewhere in the personality. This boosted my confidence. After telling them that I was short listed in Goldman Sachs (GS), everything changed. They compared everything in their business to GS; convinced (rather tried to convince) why a person should choose them as the first option. As the first interview ended, I was very sure I was going to get an offer from these people if I considered them seriously. This all lasted around 15 minutes.

Second interview was with CEO, Deutsche Indian operations, for only those who qualified in first round. My interview with GS was scheduled at 9 am, and I was already late there. I had got two calls from there. While I was convincing our placement nominee to postpone my second round at Deutsche if I qualify for it, the same girl HR manager called me for II interview. I entered the cabin and again faced two people; CEO, an IIM Calcutta alumnus and Senior HR manager (again lady)… with same formal statements, it all started with a sarcastic comment from the CEO, “So, Mr. Ashok, you are getting late for Goldman’s interview”, and I also rudely told him, “Yes sir! There time was scheduled at 9 and I am already late. I respect punctuality much.” Obviously, it would have hurt his ego, and next answer of mine killed the same. He asked, “Suppose we offer you the job package now and you also get one from GS, which one will you select?” This was the basic question and he wrapped it with many other statements, comparing Deutsche with GS many a times. Now, it was a real bouncer. Probably I handled it like Sourav Ganguly used to handle a year ago, and answered, “Sir, According to your PPT (Pre-Placement Talk), in terms of growth rate, GS is at rank one while Deutsche is at 2. Plus they are offering me double the amount what you are paying me. So, obviously GS would be my first choice, but practically, GS is a very tough nut to crack since they take only one or two, So, I’ll take up your offer.” Now, everyone will analyze this answer according to one’s own but I loved the way I answered. I already had decided in the gap of 5 minutes between the two interviews, when I filled my preference form where GS took the upper seat. Anyways, few more questions succeeded this and ultimately his ego surrendered and he told me, “Thank you Ashok, Good luck for Goldman Sachs.” And I very kindly said, “Thank you.” The whole drama lasted for 15 minutes. Moving out of the hall, I was happy that I controlled whole of the interview and still, I was sure of getting an offer from them, had I liked it to be the case.

Then I moved to SJMSOM (Sailesh J. Mehta School Of Management, called as SOM also), venue decided for GS, with a very little hope but lot of confidence. In the meanwhile, made a few calls to some of the friends and home. After going there, came to know that GS was going to have five rounds of interviews, and when you have a little or no hope from something, so much efforts literally seem a pain in the neck. But some things you can’t help. First interviewer was of US origin and after few basic questions about my interest in finance, my knowledge about GS, it ended up in the area of my DDP (Dual Degree Project) and there were very specific questions related to WT (Wavelet Transform), FT (Fourier Transform). I knew many a things there, and I answered almost all of the questions and honestly told what I didn’t know. Then he told me that he did his PhD in the same area from University of Berkeley, and earth slipped from the down of my feet. Why the hell he didn’t tell that earlier? All the previous questions revolved again in my mind. Thank God, I didn’t commit blunders. Then he said, “It’s good to know your basics are sound.” I was literally happy to hear that. In fact, every normal human is happy about being praised, so was I. The question-set shifted to computer science, where I answered few but felt myself to be computer-illiterate when he probed deep into. In these cases, my rule no. 34 says, “Honesty is the best policy.” I applied the same. He should have appreciated it but his face didn’t tell me so. May be his school books didn’t teach him this rule. It was of around 30-40 minutes. I’ll say, overall, it was good. Second interview was not an interview, to be very true. The interviewer was an IIT-B alumnus, and it was a discussion about work, growth options of GS, choice of finance etc. So, it was in a way, detailed PPT, where I was also made to say something. It also ate up not less than 20 minutes of my life.

Third interview of GS (and my fifth one) was my first HR interview by HR manager, GS (again lady). The girl’s smile was cute but it didn’t help me in answering, rather made the job difficult. Following were the questions asked by her:
1. Tell me something about yourself. (which almost everyone prepares)
2. Tell me about your family. (This one ideally should have been included in the answer of first question. I didn’t do so and thus, she asked.)
3. Why do you want to settle in south, if you are from north? (She made a quite valid assumption that north Indians have problems in settling in south India.)
4. How important do you think education is in one’s life?
I answered, “Education is the most important thing in one’s life and without it, there’s no difference between a human and an animal.” I deliberately stopped and as per expectations, she asked, “Explain your statement.” I said, “Take the current situation. People in Maharashtra are burning buses, trains, killing innocent people just because someone has demolished the statue of Mr. B.R. Ambedkar in Kanpur, UP. This all is due to their ignorance that politicians are using these illiterate animals like early men used to harness animal energy for their own work.” I became sentimental on the question and answered in much more depth than what was required. She had to literally stop me by her next question.
5. If you think so much about social issues, why don’t you enter politics?
6. What has been the biggest decision in your life till now? What all factors you considered before coming to the final decision?
7. There are various abroad opportunities in Goldman Sachs. If you are offered an abroad position, will you be willing to take that? (I said, I’ll like to go for small assignments but don’t wish to settle abroad.) The next obvious question:
8. When everyone wants to settle abroad, why don’t you?
9. Why finance as a career? (The most favorite of every interviewer but I didn’t expect this one from HR.)
10. What are your long term aims?
11. What keeps you motivated towards the goal?
12. Anything else, you would like to tell?
Don’t ever compliment however beautiful the lady in front of you is. You may wish to do so after the interview is over. I gave compliments to her for their selection process, for their website because this was the only organization which I found, was looking for Common Sense in their employees. And yes, I told her my updated CPI; thought that last semester 10 would help me. Another few simple questions and she smiled a little; her lips made a U-turn and I heard, “Thank You.” I too repeated the same and came out of the hall. This lasted for around 25-30 minutes.

Fourth interviewer was my batch mate, Kumar Gaurav. no.. no.. I didn’t fail for one year. I am in a Dual Degree (DD) program which is five years program; combined graduation and post-graduation. He joined GS last year since he was a B.Tech student. This interview also went good. My guesswork received praise from him as whenever he asked some question, I guessed the answer and yep, it was the right one. When the same happened for three times in a row, he was more surprised than me. It all was more than good, I would say. It went on and on for around 40 minutes.

Starting four were almost in a row with a small gap but now, the gap was larger. If you are closely following my feelings, you must have felt hunger by now. Since the morning, I was constantly having single food, and that’s sips of cold Bisleri water. There is a limit to which you can stretch a rubber band, and then it breaks… Though I was far from breaking but I could feel the strains inside. I was waiting for my fifth last interview, and the person called me… Yooo! I went inside, thinking of facing the last interview of the day. After the similar formalities as everywhere (I am still thinking why they are required?), he asked me, “How were the other four earlier interviews?” The biggest blunder I did was to answer like this, “All were good,….. great.” And with a devilish smile, he grinned and said sarcastically, “Ahemmm!! All were good.” I knew I was going to be butchered in this one.. meaning door was going to be open now. But I wasn’t much nervous because if there was some company from which I didn’t expect anything, it was GS. Whole interview revolved around mathematical basics. I was shocked when he told all my answers to probability questions wrong. Then totally frustrated, at last I asked him, “Can you tell me the right answer?” Though now I wouldn’t suggest anyone to ask this question. This shows that you are asking because you are going to discuss the questions with other participants outside in the process. I suddenly realized the mistake and said, “I’ll ask after all the interviews are over.” (Do you think I was interested in the answer? No.. I was just showing him the confidence.) Anyways, then he asked a linear algebra question which I solved and answer was “Not Possible.” He said with immense stress on the last question mark, “Not possible??” like I had committed a blunder. I said, “Let me check it once again.” And after checking it again, I came at same answer and then, I firmly stood on the same answer after his opposition twice or thrice. At last, he told me, “You are right.” (I came to know later that this is also a part of test, called Stress Test.) A few more questions and it was over; he also had a belly, Thank God. Last question was modified version of the first one like most of the great movies, stories, serials and it was, “Now, if I ask, how were your five interviews?” I replied smiling (actually I loved the person’s sense of humor), “All are almost good.” It was also around 35-40 minutes long. Came out with a lot of relaxation on face; Ah! It was all over for the day. Suddenly someone told that Morgan Stanley was also on the same day. I don’t know if I cursed him for I was very tired and wasn’t in a position to face any more interview.

I came down the SOM building, called home and few friends, met Bhawani on the road. He was very happy after his Lehman Brothers interview. He was told by the team’s head that he was selected but the person doesn’t have any faith in the words and didn’t tell the news to anyone except two close friends (luckily, I was one of them) before seeing the name on the final list. Soon, Partho and Prashant and one more person Anshul Jain joined us and since the gang was more than complete, we moved to lunch. Taste is directly proportional to hunger. No doubt, the food was very delicious. Came back to see the final list, sat there for some time and then, came the bad news, although I was also expecting the same. Deutsche, I had kicked, and GS had kicked me. I was again at the same level as I was in the morning. In fact, there were some changes. I was much tired and much experienced. But aren’t these two qualities complimentary? Experience always comes with age and with age comes tiredness. Now in next one hour, I was about to face third company of the day and eighth interview. I was ready………. Was I? (I still don’t know.)

Udham Singh ready to place :)

2006-12-19T19:51:00.000+05:30

Mugging (be it for quiz, for mid-semester or that for end-semester exams) really blows you hard, and feeling the same pain in the same nerves for 8 semesters, 48 months, and 4 years, don’t know how many times it would have killed anyone… The only thing that drives you out of the whole bloody business is the thought that you’ll get a job. I entered the gates of IIT Bombay on July 17, 2002 with my father. Though he didn’t say me anything but he must have thought of an image of his son coming out dancing with a fabulous job offer in hand. There were varied opinions of seniors over the importance of CPI (Cumulative Performance Index), the thing which most of us IIT’ans don’t like to comment on (for obvious reasons). It should be above 8 on a scale of 10, if you want to say it decently, if you want to cross all barriers in jobs, and to cross that, I only know which all Gods I prayed to, Which all exams I studied for, for how many nights my bed waited for me to lie down but brain didn’t allow? All is well that ends well. I could make it to 8. Now, I am doing full justice to my bed, lying there for 16 hours a day :).

And you just can’t imagine the shivering thought process which the sound of the words placement season produces. It all started in July 2006 when there was a big doubt whether IITs will start their placements from July or December. Luckily or unluckily (I don’t know), but December won the competition. And you rightly observed, I was anxiously waiting for the Christmas month.

The ninth semester (July- December 2006) has laid its story on my mind like imprints made by sculptors on rocks and both are amusing me till today. This semester, as every other semester, had many weapons to kill innocent students like DDP (Dual Degree Project,) 2 courses, and of course PPT (Pre-Placement Talks) with tests following them. Courses I took were both of philosophy, Indian Philosophy and second one a Ph.D level course, Vedanta Philosophy. There were two main reasons of taking these courses. One was to relieve the pressure of boring technical courses. Second was my deep interest in philosophy that led to the confident thought of getting some good grade in the subjects. Time passed by and the PPTs started.

Let me elaborate PPTs a bit. These are 30-120 minute talks by the company representatives in front of all the students who register for the company recruitment process. Like illegal immigrants, people from other batches also do appear for the Pizzas that many companies give at the end, as a compensation for all the pains students bear listening to all the crap they speak (True for most of them). The problem is that if one registers for a company, one has to attend company’s PPT according to placement policy otherwise has to bear a fine of Rs. 100 (and a pizza!!). I attended around 30 PPTs and each one can individually demand one report, so am leaving all except this one. I started clapping during one PPT when the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of that company compared IITs to MIT and Harvard, the top universities in the world. Actually that was a sarcastic clapping since the same company was offering double the amount in those universities than what it was paying in IIT, but you can’t differentiate a sarcastic clap and a normal one. Can you??

Our placement nominee was a smart chap. At the end of the talk, he announced, “Ashok Kumar, meet me.” I met him at the end of a boring, monotonous talk and he noted my roll no. etc; said that I would need to meet placement officer. I tried once to tell him that the clapping was because of the honor he gave to IITs but he wouldn’t listen. I came back because I knew the same argument of mine was a very solid one in front of an officer who has served almost whole of his life at IIT Bombay. Anyways, there are many incidents which are popping themselves up from my memories now to get themselves written here like we all wish to get an autograph from some TV personality, however small he/she may be. One more incident goes like this: Once I missed a PPT, and the person taking attendance called, “Ashok,” some other person with common name called for my presence, thus saved my 100 bucks. What a lovely fellow!! He never met me otherwise would have given him 50.

Probably, the biggest career decision was to choose between technical and non-technical paths. Most of my parts were in favor of non-technical, while few including right brain were pressing for technical, but ultimately, right or wrong, majority wins. That’s what happened in history, wherever you see. Anyways, I decided for a non-technical career. I introspected myself and found out that related to analytics, deeply involved in mathematics was the kind of job, I must be looking for. The job must be highly challenging, demanding and off course must be paying rich dividends. Investment banking sector was closest to the set of my requirements. Thus, the decision was finally made after a lot of hues and cries raised from various brain hormones.

Oh! How can I forget the making of resume? Recalling all the crazy things, I did 22 years from birth was fun, but selecting which out of them were crazy enough to be included was tough… Deciding in what form should they be written was tougher? Then, came application of the feedback theory. The final draft by me was sent to many seniors, many people whom I thought were able to give their valuable comments and had time to give their valuable comments (There is a big difference between ability to do something and actually doing it.) The toughest part was to include their feedback because after my final draft was ready, any suggested change in that one was going against my ego and intelligence. I literally fought a Kalinga-level battle with both of them, but could change it only at few places. Not every suggested change could win the battle. Then came the time of applying to companies, the time of filling forms on their websites for times varying from 40 minutes to 10 long hours…. My rule no. 37 from childhood, “Think and then do” penalized me for longer times. I usually took more than double the time my friends took for filling the same form, unless there was a time restriction. Somehow, I couldn’t convince myself that this was the best I could have done. Some 20-30 days passed along with their nights but this PPT, form etc. business was far from over. This was during September – October 2006.

Then came the real time of proving ourselves, the tests, of market analysis, of analytical ability, of mathematics, logical reasoning and related areas. Most of the big companies took tests (except Lehman Brothers). I was anxiously waiting for almost all the Investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Morgan Stanley (Finance division), Merrill Lynch, Capital One, Lehman Brothers), since that was the first choice.. Except Goldman Sachs, I was quite sure of clearing them all. Goldman Sachs has a reputation of setting up a highly tough test and they shortlist only 10 people out of all. I went to take their test with an aim of just seeing the test. It had 6 questions and I was surprised to see that all were doable, and so I did them all. After coming out from the hall, I came to know that I had done all correct. Now, though it was a great achievement in itself, but the thought that many would have done all six was inevitable. But my happiness knew no bounds when I saw my name right there on 4th number in the list of 10. My confidence also paid off when I cleared all the tests and was shortlisted for first round interviews almost by all the companies I applied for. UBS and Lehman Brothers’ shortlists were shocking to me as I was fully sure of getting into the smaller list. Even after seeing the names of people shortlisted and large scale processing by brain, I couldn’t locate a single parameter where I could have lost, but anyways, there are some things which you can’t know and it’s better not to probe deep into them. I let them go, may be the mechanism of Self Defense was working, but still I feel I should have been shortlisted. It was some mistake on their part. There are no taxes on such thinking.

There is this psychometry test, which is a part of many companies. This consists of behavioural, psychological, case-analysis type of questions. I took two such tests and qualified both, and so think that I can suggest something here.
1. Read the company’s website fully and find out what they are looking for in a candidate.
2. After seeing a question, think why it was included in the question-set and what should be the desired response? (obviously taking into consideration the first part)
3. As the test progresses, make a list of qualities you are showing in the test and in which order. Maintaining order is very important (as everywhere) because the questions will test whether you retain your priority order or not. Going against your priority order is suicidal in this type of test.
4. The most important one: Pray to your lord before doing these tests. There is a big amount of luck involved even after taking care of all the above points.
Though I wouldn’t do so, but even if I try, I can’t forget the memories of all friends sitting for online tests of everyone of us and the joy knowing no bounds after seeing all the names in the final list of successful candidates.

Amidst all this strenuous period, I was lucky to get a long 10 day vacation trip to home encompassing Diwali and my birthday. These were probably the best vacations I had during IIT tenure. With nothing to do, I fulfilled the expectations; did full nothing. On the third day of vacations, the idea of having a suit for placements cropped up and writing its preparation details demands a book, so I leave it here only with the comment that I saved a lot of money from the thought. After a bagful of wishes of close people, came back from home and cracked all the tests I took thereafter.

Days passed by and first round successful candidates lists started coming. With the same name by which people call me appearing on almost all lists, I was feeling happy but can’t say what people’s feelings were? We couldn’t enjoy much because end-semester exams were not allowing us to. In between, there was CAT (Common Aptitude Test) too. Everything went well, and finally, when grades came out, every pore of me was rejoicing after seeing 100% marks (CPI 10/10). I couldn’t get more than 9 in all the previous 8 semesters. Highest earlier was 8.65. My condition was like a hungry boy getting Shahi Paneer who never got more than Aloo ki Sabji. Now that placement days were near, placement shopping was becoming a necessary evil. As the suit was ready, I only needed tie, belt, shoes… I thought of Jugad Technology as the best solution and tried it too. Though most of things I could manage, but I went to Pantaloons with friends for their shopping with a thought that I’ll buy all the things if I like the items and the transactions are possible in reasonable prices; I don’t like this technology much. There, a tie kissed me and it was so lovely that instantly, I felt lighter by 600 bucks. Udham Singh truly said, “Keep safe distance from females, even female objects kick you hard, what to say for humans?” My garments were ready but I hadn’t gone alone. For friend’s dresses, we moved to Life Style, Provogue, Pantaloons; Saw more designs than what even any designer would have seen in his/her life. Finally, after debiting their father’s accounts to a few thousands, came back.

Now, I was about to face interviews after 3 days. You can feel how time went in those three days, if you can feel the following situations.
1. you are going to propose your girl few days from now and are worried about what she’ll say. Feel how your days will go.
2. you don’t know anything about the course and in few hours, you have your exam. Feel how those hours will go.
Basically, when stakes are high, the pressure is enormous and add to that the problem to think if you don’t know what to think. You do nothing and enjoy and infact, that was the best thing to do in my case. I did the same .

Three days also passed by, and the eve of December 1, 2006 came at my room without knock. Mannerless evening!! I was standing in front of her as a strong, confident, though had a bit of nervousness, waiting for few hours to end. The night in front only was a door between me and my destiny.

Chokri ki khoj mein naukrishuda Udham Singh

2006-12-17T23:32:00.000+05:30

A famous adage says, “History has a bad habit of repeating itself”, but its repetition was good for me. After getting placement offers from Capital One, US and Inductis, Gurgaon, India (which is the ultimate aim of any IIT’an or for that matter, any student), obviously I needed some time and my space to enjoy. I didn’t have much time to go home, so, I planned to visit Ajanta-Ellora caves and Ghrishneshwar Jyotirling. There are enough reasons for this thinking of mine.
1. There are 5 jyotirling in maharashtra out of 12 in India. I had visited all of them during my tenure at IIT. Now, I didn’t remember what all things I demanded, may be job is one of them. And thing in return is as simple as a polite Thank You. Now that I am placed, I wanted to thank them. Ideally, I should have gone to all of them, but when constraints are there, a human mind is intelligent enough to convince all opposite thoughts. This is called Self Defense Mechanism according to psychologists. This is how I convinced myself, “Essentially all jyotirling are equal, so I’ll go to one place and tell the God to convey my warm regards to all.”
2. During my last trip, I couldn’t go to Ajanta and Nathsagar dam gallery.
3. Plan was easily executable with my wing-mate Prashant Gawai’s home in Aurangabad, which acts as a hub to all these places.

After making up my mind fully; went to nearest station Bhandup for getting Railway ticket, but the length of queue in front of ticket counter was very similar to the one in front of ration shops in any Indian village. We had no other option left than to book a bus seat. And the king got seat in Samrat Travels. It was last seat and one can’t imagine how peaceful the journey was, if one hasn’t traveled for 10 hours in a bus, that too at night. We both could feel the smoothness…… of road; started counting holes in road till the point after which we didn’t know the counting.

December 12, 2006 Bus started at 10:30 pm from IIT main gate, and with 2-3 stops in between for people to attend natural calls, it left us at Aurangabad bus-stand at 9:30 am. A natural cheer was there on Gawai’s face, and I was realizing the truth of famous proverb, “Apni gali mein kutta bhi sher hota hai.” We switched two autos from there and reached BhavsinghPura, a small town on the outskirts of Aurangabad encompassing many colonies. Prashant’s home and my stay was in Pethe Nagar and this name is due to original owner of the land Mr. Pethe. Now, public opinion is increasing to change it to Saket Nagar. Nobody is there from Pethe’s family to oppose the move.

Anyways, we reached the destination at 10:00 am. I found the whole Gawai family waiting for their son like the kingdom was waiting for their prince to come back after the war victory. After gulping a cup of tea and pohe, our body was demanding a small nap of around 10 hours, but we as any other normal human being were racing against time. After taking bath, at 12:15 pm. we started our journey to the lord’s feet, Ghrishneshwar jyotirling on Rampyari, Gawai’s bike. She is 19 years old, and has been there since his nappy-days. People say God is everywhere but we could find him only after going 30 km and that too in a particular direction. Though after reaching there, I found all my efforts paying off; the sight was very pleasant. Lord Shiva sitting in his abode silently with one pundit sitting besides him, many a people offering him water, fruits, flowers and what not! I always wonder, doesn’t he suffer from cold taking bath all the time?? Also, when he doesn’t want to eat, why does everyone keep on pushing every eatable thing on his head? And when he doesn’t need any money, we offer him and never ever give even a penny to the needy. (Beggars needn’t come under my definition of needy.) Shiva has always been very close to my heart, and I can feel his presence anytime, so being in one of his 12 guest houses was the prime honor that I received from him. People die with the wish of visiting this place and here, I was called twice. What a luck!

I thanked him for whatever I have got in life, and with a promise to myself that I’ll bring my family to this place, we both left the place at 1:30 pm. Just around 500 m from the temple, we saw an accident of bike slipping, though not a big one. We pushed bike to one side of road and asked if we could take the driver to the nearest hospital but he denied; may be because of the yuga in which we are living. Today, one is forced not to believe his own son, leave alone a stranger. He thanked us a lot and we started our journey back. If all the stories of God testing people in different ways are true, then we are going to pass in this test of accident.

Reached Aurangabad at 2 pm, and measured all dimensions of road network; visited almost everything: Gul-mandi, Ganesh Murti, Jamia Milia Ul Uloom, Holy Cross church, Little Flower school, Milind College of Arts, Shivaji chowk, Ambedkar university, Buddha vihar. Gul-mandi is main market of the city. And I simply loved the name of the college Jamia Milia Ul-Uloom. We visited Ambedkar university that is the result of efforts solely by Ambedkar, one of the eminent personalities produced by indian soil. Inside the university, we visited Buddha-vihar, where I saw the famous 22 principles of Sh. B.R.Ambedkar. Ambedkar was the pioneer for conversion of Hindu Dalit masses to Buddhism. I can’t comment whether it was a right decision or wrong but I find some of those 22 principles faulty and they seem to me as a mere result of frustration of a person who was neglected by his own religion. As per me, he misused Buddhism to strengthen his Dalit movement, and till today the misconception is going on, thus carving out unnecessary differences in two religions. Now even a person with intelligence much lower than average IQ level can also understand that Aurangabad is probably the most diverse city in terms of religion, with the whole population comprising of almost all big religions, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism. Main language is marathi only. Road network is good. City is said to be developed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. He is said to have lived here for most of his life and the sole purpose of his leaving Delhi was to capture Maratha King Shivaji which he never could do in all his lifetime. There are 52 gates in the city, and in earlier times, there used to be a wall outside the city. There is a district stadium which now is used by all political parties for their rallies, by public for other functions; infact for all the things except sports. This is the condition of not only this stadium, but for almost all public property across whole nation.

The journey to these places was only of one hour but the thoughts were enormous in number as well as in content and thus, food was the need of hour. We reached Thaat-baat, supposed to be the best place in Aurangabad to eat; ate to the extent possible. Waited for around 2 hours in queue for getting a train ticket for the next day, finally all in vain; then booked a bus ticket, though more than 200 bones were aching still from the last night journey. Rampyari drove us back at around 6 pm. Switched few channels on TV. Next day trip was planned for whole Gawai family and me; a car was booked. After checking mails, a bed was waiting for me and I was waiting for that; slept at 11 pm. This is how came the end of the first day of my mission.

December 13, 2006 I don’t know what happened for next 9 hours (not only me, no one ever have known what happens when one is asleep.) Free from normal routine and then after eating Sheera/Halwa as breakfast, started our journey of around 100 km (99 to be very precise), in Indica at 10:15 am. In the midway, one small child of around 6-7 years of age threw a stone on the car in one village and when we stopped the car, he fled away, Though I realize now what harm it could have done but I remember when I was in 2nd or 3rd class, I also did the same in Bhiwani, so I was actually amused over the whole 5 min drama. Reached a place named Ajanta View Point at 12’O noon which is 20 km away from the caves. Caves were first noticed by a British person from this place when he came for a tiger hunt. There is a small grass-garden named King’s Circle, took few snaps there, then bought few stones from there worth Rs. 150/- after a lot of negotiation. These stones will only serve as show pieces, or gifts. Structurally speaking, they are different types of sedimentary rocks, and for all geography students, they are modified versions of Stalagmites and Stalactites. There are two paths from Ajanta View point to caves, either 6 km trekking downside or 20 km by road. Second path was preferred since we didn’t have much time and this wasn’t a college trip, rather a family business.

Reached the international cultural heritage site at 1 pm; had our lunch there and during lunch discussions, came out some old memories of Prashants liking towards red balloons, kites etc. and as his father was telling me, I don’t know which part of the story was making he feel ashamed. Then, I discussed the legalities of stone business with one shop-owner, and believe me, the discussion wasn’t furious. No personal vehicle is allowed to go near caves; parking is around 3 km away from the site and then one has to go there by pollution free vehicle specially designed for this purpose. Bus took us very near to the caves, and moving around 150-200 m higher, we found ourselves at the gate of first cave, one of the most desired places in India by any tourist. There are total 32 caves, predominantly close to Buddhism. Ajanta caves have paintings, while Ellora have carvings. I liked Ellora more because most of the ajanta’s paintings are on their death-bed. They only show things which guides want to show to normal people after charging Rs. 400. We didn’t give away the money, since we visited jyotirling a day back, Thank God. But we had the experience of listening them for few bucks, and finally am happy not having listened to their famous fattes (for example, Buddha’s mother saw a white elephant circling her in dream and when she asks about it from some astrologer, its explanation turned out to be that she is going to give birth to a great human being :D) Want to hear more, ok take it (Buddha after attaining liberation goes back to his palace and can be seen getting served by his servants) These are the guide’s statements on the basis of pictures which only show some white elephant somewhere and some king getting served by his maids. Then, Hindu literature says Buddha was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and there is an image of a lord with Sheshnaag over his head which can only represent Lord Vishnu of Hindu mythology. But I was surprised, rather angry over the guide’s explanations. He told that this is one Snake-God, and when I asked where did this snake-God come from in Buddhism, there wasn’t any answer? I have seen these things happen many a times, not only with this guide but many spiritual leaders.

Ajanta mainly has paintings but there are carvings as well, the biggest statue is around 20 feet while the smallest is of 1.5 inches. Most of the caves were carved out using sunlight reflected by water stalled on the base of caves. The thing can’t exactly be explained by words, that’s why people go there to see them; otherwise there have been so many great writers in history. While brain was digesting these highly complex thoughts, we all thought to have something for stomach as well, had some snacks, saw remaining caves and came back at 5:30 pm. Same bus was waiting for its respected passengers. Started back journey at 6 pm after gulping a cup of tea. No one asked when we took out the car from parking, no one enquired about the slip which was given in the start when we came back and I doubt what was the meaning of having such diligent security staff. Driver probably used to participate in racing competitions earlier. Average speed he drove with was 80 Km/Hr. Reached Sillot (a town under Aurangabad distt., 30 km away from Aurangabad) at 6:50 pm. Some classmates of Mr. Ganesh Gawai (Prashant’s father) had settled at this place and he was keen to meet them and so we all went to their place. It was a nice talk in Hindi and marathi mix. Went to their home, had a cup of tea with some biscuits; left the place at 7:30 pm. In the back journey to Aurangabad, plan got changed when Uncle suggested next day trip to Nathsagar dam gallery which I missed in my last trip. And greed of seeing the gallery came along. First thing we did after coming to the city was to meet travels agent about canceling the ticket. And then dined at Thaat Baat again; having more than 120% of capacity in our bellies, went to Pethe nagar; came back for giving ticket to the travels person; went back at 10:45 pm, and with TV on, Uncle made some plans for the next day and by 11:30 pm, I was asleep.

December 14, 2006 Woke up at 8 am; was ready to move acc. to third day plan by 9 but Prashant didn’t wake up. Obviously he was tired. Then, I thought of killing time by visiting the colony. I roamed around and found that all houses have open spaces either in 3 sides or 4 sides. After confirmation, I found out that this is the rule from authorities to have minimum 3 side open spaces of some 3-feet or so. When I came back at 9:45 am, he was asleep till now. Though I understood he must have been tired, but at that moment I thought it was the most foolish decision of mine to extend the trip to third day. There should be a limit to intruding into others independence and way of enjoying vacations, and fixing 3 days out of 9 days trip is not expected. He got up at 10:30 am, and finally, we left at 12:15 pm. First and foremost aim was to get a return ticket, and we checked if there were any left in the railways. Got a strict no from there. Then, roadways was the only option. Left Aurangabad at around 1 pm, again on Rampyari. Road was made by some economist and it was made with proper allocation of resources. Somewhere it was of concrete, somewhere it was of stones, somewhere it wasn’t there; money was fully optimized, Intelligent Indians!! Prashant’s father had chalked out the entire plan by calling Head, Nathsagar dam and he was ready to take us along to the dam.

Nath Sagar dam, the largest earthen dam in India, is made on the river Godavari (also called The Ganges of south). It is situated in Paithan, Maharashtra. Paithan is also famous as place of Saint Eknath. (Don’t ask me, who he was?) We reached their office, had one more cup of tea down our throats; went to dam along with him and one senior engineer. These people were quite smart but the people in front of them were smarter, they had to revise all their concepts before explaining anything to us. We probed into each and every minute detail about construction of the dam, its measurements, security, life, etc.; went to Gallery in the dam. For those who don’t know what a gallery is? It is a small place across the whole dam which is kept open for water to move across the dam. There is a path of soft rocks leading to the gallery for seepage of water, so as to release pressure on dam. It was 3 feet below the river bed. Saw a crab (around 0.5 feet by 0.5 feet, the biggest I ever saw) in the gallery, and when the engineer told us that we can expect snakes also (light also wasn’t there), Please try to believe me when I say we weren’t frightened. We were there till 4 pm. It is considered a sin to go to Paithan and not going to Saint Eknath’s temple.. No, not that it is some rule, just kidding :D started back journey and came back at 6 pm. Went to famous juice center of the city which is famous for college students romance. Many of the Prashant’s memories were attached to it. Moving around in the city, came back to Pethe nagar at 7 pm.

Then, saw some news.. gave some fundaes to his uncle’s children. One is in IX and other one is in X, had a nice home-made dinner; moved from there at 10 pm. Started back journey at 10:30 pm. I don’t know where all bus stopped, which station came when, I woke up when conductor was shouting Panvel, which is on outskirts of the mumbai city. Reached Sion at 6:30 am. Got into local train from there, reached Kanjurmarg at 7 am, then an auto led me into the most beautiful place on earth. IIT Bombay Hostel 6. It was 7:15 in the morning when I was entering in my home in bombay :)

T.A. - Gawd Xperience

2006-09-10T23:01:00.000+05:30

Do you know, what a T.A. means? "Thats All", "Temporary Assistant", "Ticklish Attitude" No... Nothing of that sort.. It's Teaching Associate, a student of final year, who assists Professor in taking the course.. Students with their marks above a certain threshold are selected for TA'ship. Apart from the wonderful experience, you get being TA, Govt. pays you too.. hmmmm... not bad!! Electro-Magnetic Waves (in short EMW, called by students with love) is one of those very few courses, which always degrade your cumulative score, doesn't matter how much you read/study/cram... This course is a compulsory course in 3rd year, Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay... And I'm sure every alumunus of EE, IITB must be having some memories of this course... Luckily or Unluckily, I was selected TA for this course.. Unlucky for obvious reasons, and Lucky because I could hope to understand something I didn't, two years ago, When I was attending it :DD

What does a TA do? Basically, It all depends on Prof. who is in-charge of the course, ranging from doing nothing to even attending all classes... My case is in-between. We have to set tutorial papers for students, check their submissions, help them to get their doubts clarified, invigilate during exams etc.. Last one is the most interesting..

Two days back, I was an invigilator in EMW course mid-semester exam. This was really a blissful experience...which even Albert Einstein couldn't have felt. I could travel two years back on time machine, and I could see myself sitting somewhere there amongst students... Just 10 minutes after they got paper in hands, Everyone was looking for cobwebs on roof, and they kept on looking constantly there for 2 hours as if someone imprinted solutions there, the previous night :D.

I was just thinking What does one achieve by looking here and there in exams? If lucky, he/she can get some answer or hint to answer... even if one doesn't get answers, one get bigger gift - "Happiness" for others also don't know anything... Lord Udham Singh truly said, "Your Karmas won't go fruitless, but which fruit you'll get, this decision is in hands of gardener." This was one of the only two exams in my 4 year stay at IIT, where I sat in exam-hall like an idiot for 3 hours, not doing anything... And I was happy to see my brand growing like anything. That was such an imperishable moment. :D

Present Situation

2006-08-20T19:42:00.000+05:30

Whats going on? Everything's piling up, and it keeps on piling as bricks on back of an ass. Neither am I doing my project, nor am I enjoying the time because of huge workload in front of me... They say, fifth year is easy.. Someone who has conquered Everest will say, "It wasn't as tough as it seems..." I know it, Man.. If I try, I can do everything, but who the hell wants to try?
Now, I am even ashamed to ask something from lord.. haven't prayed for long.. Now, before I go and ask something, I remember the age old adage, "Dukh mein sumiran sab karein, Sukh mein kare na koi" It's not that I am feeling uncomfortable, I feel that it can be done.. at the same time it worries also.. The situation is actually inexpressible and I am just relaxing me by writing something here.. I have a desire to finish work also, but whenever I want to start, some part of brain pulls off..... no tension as such.. And I don't feel sleepy, or lazy.. I am quite active when I shift to any other work, newspaper reading or article writing, CAT preparation..
Doctors will term it as "Workophobia- fear of work".. May be.. But I dont have their fees as well, myself in debt :(.. Anyways, I am not the only one, I'm sure, who's in dilemma. Udham Singh said, "Who has understood life in this world?"

She's no more :((

2006-08-02T19:56:00.001+05:30

To me, the word 'Dadi' was a synonym for many things, most important was saving me from mom's beatings. Children are very intelligent. After getting the concept, whenever mom was angry with me over anything, I knew where should I go? She used to make "Pudes" on Teej festival in the month of July, and carry them along from my native village Sankror to Bhiwani, 20 kms away, for us. I remember, most of them were either not fully cooked, or cooked more... Don't remember the taste, but saliva still comes in mouth even by their thought. I have never found any stories more fascinating than hers.

If I were some 10-12 years younger, Elder people would have told me, "Your Grandmother has gone to live with God now." And I would have been satisfied.... Why, the hell, I grew? Now this explanation don't suffice... I realise that I won't be able to hear "King and his 7 queens", "Two siblings with golden hairs" stories by Dadi.. I won't be able to feel her elderly presence, when I go home.. Though She'll no more be in this world as a human body, She'll always be there besides me, as long as my memories stay. May the soul rest in peace. Ameen.

Chirag is OUT!

2006-07-22T09:37:00.001+05:30

Ah!!!! 365 runs still to make, and our star batsman Chirag Jain is back to pavilion... I and Prashant Gawai are still fighting, but he is a bowler... So, my eyes are seeing a lot of expecations from me in other's eyes. 1 run per day required, but that also is too much. Coach is gone...

From the very first day in my second year till today, there have been innumerous incidents when I sought his guidance. An ideal senior always ready to help others, he has been a mentor, guide, friend, senior and what not! IITs have two kinds of people in bulk. One brand comprises of people storming acads, MUGGOO, and Second is at the other end of academics, HUGGOO.... There is this endangered species which balances between the two, STUDD. Being a part of winning PAF (Performing Arts Festival), dramatics events, a Mandolin-player, various scripts to his hand, an enthusiastic trekker, and a CPI (Cumulative Performance Index) of more than 8.8, He was the leader of this brand... I had the honour of being the first one to hear his "Shayari" many-a-times, most of them simply superb.

With the person like him leaving institute, There was no doubt why lots of people were present (around 20 including 3-4 girls, Mind you this is a huge number... All males who have passed their adulthood in IITs will wonder at this charismatic personality, and get what I am saying. (I am also starting Shayari now, considering it as reason of female crowd.) The scene was different, but script was of last part of marriage, when bride leaves parents' place. Chirag played the role of bride very efficiently, while all others (including me!!) were bidding him goodbye with a heavy heart. Though I'll be in touch with him, IIT Bombay campus surely has lost a gem of person. No-one can ever replace him.

Warm Wishes for your future, Chirag
A small tribute to all-great memories of four year stay with you.

Ragging - "The rage of age-ing people"

2006-07-20T11:34:00.001+05:30

While most of freshies/freshers (first year students) are afraid of ragging, few know what is it? I ask a junior to give introduction about him/her, and he/she telling his/her friend later, "Aj to fans gaya/gayi yaar, Senior ne pakad liya.. Ragging li." You ask, "How many girls are there in your batch?" and his friend has to hear the abovesaid line again. Order a junior to get something from canteen, when he is already going there, and with the stricter rules against ragging coming up, you may get trapped. So, Beware!!

Before entering college, I sometimes thought, "How can one force me to do something which I don't want to do?" I never could understand a few things... How can a 2-feet, 15 kg. person traumatize you, just because he passed the same exam few years ago... Can someone force you to drink, smoke and many other things. With very less exceptions (which occur in universal laws too), Ragging is not a physical abuse. This is a mental game, which most of the juniors lose, even before playing. They succumb to the pressure build by themselves, and this fuels the fire in seniors more.. I have a lot of friends, who I think were good people (definition of good also varies brain to brain)....were into alcohol, drugs, smoking later (courtesy good seniors). If in my first year, I hate smoking, drinking.... How come so drastic change that just in my second year, I am forcing someone else to have it.... This is just a vicious circle, where I feel relieved in my second year after passing the legacy to next batch.

Freedom of thinking is a subset of Right to speech, which our constitution has granted to all Indian citizens (legal or illegal). And no two brains interpret same signal in the same way (unless it is a hot babe, and both brains are male :D). Same is the case of thoughts about ragging. What I think about ragging:

It includes all those acts which lower your self-esteem, pride. When someone force you to do something which you don't want to (And mind you, this doesn't include getting something from canteen, when you are going there and senior is paying). There is something a senior can expect being a senior: Slight respect from juniors, and this is not much. Although respect is a thing which can't be inherited, This is gained by one's work, behaviour, but certainly, even if you hate a senior, don't show it.... The law is true for everyone, not only for seniors. Infact, this leads to healthy and warm relation amongst people. Physical abuse is the worst form of Ragging. This is criminal offense punishable under law. This is good that it is almost absent now.

There are some positive points also about it, agreed upon by many people, like
1. It creates a healthy interactive enviroment.
2. It makes a person open up.
3. It gives a person chance to think independently.

And many more personal benefits are quoted.. Thinking this is, in a way, Self-Defense mechanism, which says that "Brain can't scold itself for doing something wrong for long, After sometime, it makes some fake good points about it." I tried but couldn't agree to any of these. Can you?

Aur Batao

2006-07-17T00:01:00.001+05:30

"Aur batao, Kya haal chaal hai?", or some modified version of this, is usually the first statement in any formal talk, and Informal talks are now on verge of being extinct. Good Bye will be out of Indian English soon. Now, with India swiftly moving (or trying to move) towards advanced culture, where time is very important, people have devised many ways to save their time in chatting.... Gone are the days, and those people too, who sat and gossiped from dawn to late nights with a Hukka in between... I always think what could have been so interesting to keep them united, enjoy each other's company ( May be they discussed about hot females of village... Ever overheard some 80-year old person commenting, "Arey! Apne Ratanlal ke chorey ki bahu bhi kya cheej hai!!" :DDD)

You are chatting with someone (and you two are not lovers, in which case, doesn't matter if anything relevant is there to talk or not.... Famous love psychologist Udham Singh says, "Every crap is relevant in love, and After that, every important thing is crap"). And when nothing is there to talk, one person says, "Aur Sunao" and you say (not by mouth), " Do I sound like a joker?, Am I telling fairy tales?"

This phrase, invented by some smart people, commonly used when both the parties have nothing to say, each one completely known to other side. Some smarter people (including me...) use this phrase to start the conversation, as the most probabilistic answer to this is, "Nothing yaar! Same old life pattern" (Or sort of with maximum 2-3 lines). And then you say, "Hmm... So, Keep in touch. Take care" It's over :)

Riots: I saw them...

2006-07-09T22:43:00.001+05:30

Today, July 9,2006: I, along with Prashant Gawai, had gone to Galleria, Hiranandani Complex. I had increased my weight by around 100 grams of Paneer Pav Bhaji (Ummmmmmhhhaahhhh!!!), and Prashant also was almost done, waiting for the bill.

2:35 p.m. (+/- 5 minutes) Bhaadddddaaaaaaaammmmmmmmm..... All eyes turned towards the noise, and next two minute happenings will remain forever in my memory. Although we didn't see the people who were creating nuisance, but we could feel their terror in eyes of people in front of them..... They were standing shocked with eyes wide open, as if someone had cut out their eyelids. Whole market was filled with mixed noise of people running here and there, Shopkeepers pulling shutters down, Security guards running in random directions..... Actions of all people were different, but the motive was same, "To be safe".... I saw big shop owners moving their stuff inside the shop and pulling the shutter down, An umbrella-seller running with as many umbrellas as he could have lifted....

I suggested Prashant to stay in some shop for sometime as I feared of getting trapped, but we had to pick bike also, So we came out in a fraction of minute, and were back to IIT by next minute. Valid/Quoted reasons behind these riots, which have been widespread in many areas of Maharashtra now, including Nasik, Aurangabad, and Mumbai etc., are as follows.

Two days ago, someone (unknown person) throwed mud on the statue of late wife of Shiv Sena Supremo Sh. Bal Thackarey. Thus, Shiv Sainiks got a valid/ constitutional reason for burning a police-post nearby, killing people here and there, disrupting traffic on national highways.... And when Uddhav Thackarey says in front of a huge gathering, "No one can take us for granted. I am with you, all." With all shiv-sainiks cheering, I bow my head down to MotherIndia, We don't say anything to each other. She knows me and I can feel her pain. Wow! What a democracy! If spirits do exist, B.R. Ambedkar must be weeping over his decision of granting Right to Speech.

Even while reading cruel stories of riots, My small heart starts pumping furiously. I read a lot of stories by people who suffered from Gujarat riots, saw documentaries.... One person accepts that he burnt 12 people alive in a house. I couldn't digest this statement of his, I just can't.... Another person killed a pregnant lady and led a procession with dead foetus swung in his sword.... And Gujarat is proudly saying that he is a local leader. Till now, I had read them. Today, I could understand/feel feelings of sufferrers, atleast a bit.

There are three forms of God: Creator, Care-taker, and Destroyer. If I say religion as a path to God, then same path will also lead to destruction. Some say third world war will be on Nuclear issue, some say on Water.... I predict, It will be on basis of Religion. Though I wish I be false. Animals must be feeling proud of their animalship, and Udham Singh have heard them pray, "Hey Lord! Don't make us humans in next life"

Presentation

2006-07-07T23:50:00.002+05:30

Ask any guy (or any gal) in final year (or for that matter, any year), the most dreadful thing is "Presentation", presenting the work done in front of two/three elite people of that area (or more, if you didn't pray your lord in morning).

If you haven't done good work, then don't pray your lord, I have heard it from Udham Singh, "Gods don't indulge in illegal activities, and they don't bargain too." Even if you have done enough amount of work, there is always an imbalance in presentation. So many eyes are focussed on you (4-6 for sure, i am assuming nobody has an eye-ailment), you are a center of attraction, rather enjoyment :DD. Your heart is pumping like that of a cock, who's about to be onslaught... or that of a male buffalo before sacrificing... got it! (need more examples???? message me.)

I have always encountered this question, whenever someone asks what am I doing?, and I have to undergo a tremendous amount of pain to get him/her understand Dual Degree... Dual Degree was a concept initiated by IITs to encourage students getting into research work. Admission is through JEE only, and choice towards this curriculum is made at time of counselling. This is a 5-year course with around 3 years same as normal Btechs, fourth year includes advanced post-graduate courses, and fifth year includes a Post-graduate level project completed in 3 stages. First one includes complete literature survey of related area, and is completed in summer term just after 4th year. Second stage is completed in December, and more than half work is expected in this. Final presentation is in next July.

Now, as my first stage presentation is over, I am quite relaxed.. It's not that I am free now. There are a lot of things waiting for me to go near them and do them, but I am sleeping on a nice bed in my room, with Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar singing in background (sometimes Rafi also fights for his number) List is randomised, you idiot!

Though people may shift their area of work, but amount of work done, dedication towards it, command on the related subject, and GRADE ultimately, have an everlasting impact on your confidence, intellectual wealth, and very importantly CPI (Cumulative Performance Index).

My suggestion to everyone who has to give a presentation is to help everybody, be kind to weak students, don't pain animals, give money to beggars.. do all so-called-kind stuff... Who knows their wishes may help save your ass? Now I realise the ultimate aim behind these presentations is very subtle, "To make students good human beings" And mind you, wishes of these people, what the hell!!! Even God can't save you if you haven't done enough... Moral of the story, "Do good work, and help others (that may help you)."

Yes! Life is changing....

2006-06-24T10:41:00.001+05:30

Life has changed a lot in the last few days... am suffering from football fever, have come to know that there is something called DDP (Dual Degree Project) whose first stage presentation is in July first week, space of chatting has been used by spiders to make cobwebs..... If something has not changed, that's my sleep of 8 hours (it may be from 12 to 8, or 2 to 10, but duration is fixed), and taking bath daily (I can boast of it being at IIT :D)

The time is passing by, and I am not doing anything.... Am I wasting it? Or Is it a silence before stormy preparation of everything?.. yup :) thats what I can say to assure myself... I thought upon it to find it rather true... This almost idle time is being utilised by me to get prepare mentally for the upcoming things in life, most important of them is CAT (Common Aptitude Test), entrance exam for IIMs. New ideas, new thoughts, newer strategies pop up, and a part of brain nods to their approval, while the next day is turn of some other part to use its veto-power, thus keeping me confused as ever.

Staying at IIT in summer vacations is itself a great experience. Very less humans but more humanity living in hostels, you remember your near and dear ones more, getting food also is a challenge (In short, you can experience life of an ascetic without actually going to forest) Those who missed it in their stay at IIT are really unlucky.

Udham Singh said, "Changes are inevitable. Best is if we change our changes to become productive." This time, seems like getting wasted, but has its own significance... It is showing future's roadmap to me, and I wonder what better can some moment give, than foretelling something. I am indebted to this passed time for abovesaid reasons, and anxiously waiting for next moment. I know it wouldn't make me wait longer than my babe :D.

Yup! Woman is a must for Success

2006-06-07T20:27:00.002+05:30

An ancient proverb says, "Behind every successful man, there is a woman" (funny extension of which is, "Behind every failed man, there are at least two") A thorough study of mine on the original proverb found it true to the core. Having a woman is highly essential for scaling heights in life. One, who has none, wastes too much time thinking about what would have happened, if he had one? .... gets trapped and nothing happens (Which otherwise would also not have happpened, but now he keeps on thinking that this all is due to lady-less life :) One, who is happy with his lady, is, of course, living a peaceful life, there is less stress, which is an essential component of being successful. While the other person, whose life has become hell due to the lady, simply ignores her, and 40% of his mind is now free (In case of doubt, Refer my earlier posting "Guys' Dressing Sense"), doesn't want to think about opposite sex, which ultimately can lead to him being more dedicated and efficient worker (both these qualities are descriptors of success.)

A woman never comes alone in life, It comes in a package along with free products (improves various skills like managerial, entrepreneur, truth-hiding, showy skills) which are a must for growth in today's world. You are a different person, after you enter a relationship (according to your friends, relatives), and you are happy because you feel you are changing according to your lady. Suddenly, one fine day, She says, "You are not the same person, as you used to be!!!" (and your mind, if any, goes blank.... )

History also supports my arguments. A lady makes fun of her husband, and We know this person, Goswami Tulsidas, for his most-respected piece of literature RamCharitManas. Another lady criticises her illiterate husband, and another genius was born whom we know today as Kalidas (writer of Malvikaagnimitra, Abhigyan-Shakuntalam and many more). (Ever wondered Why all famous people are "Das"(servants) of their respective wives :D), and they say, "Society has been male-dominated." (I feel the opposite way.)

In the end, I would like to quote few words of famous English writer Oscar Wilde, "A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her." Udham Singh supplemented it, "True! A man can never be happy with the woman, he loves."

Hey Lord! Would you do it for 1 rupee?

2006-06-05T20:10:00.001+05:30

Amidst vast set of problems, I pray to the Almighty, "Hey Lord! Do me a favour. Save my ass from tommorrow's assignments, or from parents' fury.... Get me a 90% score card (you know I have attempted 30%)....... and you know, what? I won't disappoint you... I'll give you 1 rupee 4 annas... Happy????? no!! ok 'll give you some more but promise me you'll do it..." You must have found yourself somewhere in the statement.. And wherever he/she is, He/she must be enjoying the bribing/cunning acts of his/her own creation.

We say, taking bribe is corruption, is immoral... What exactly am I practising when I offer a glass of milk to lord, with 3 teaspoons full of sugar in it (sometimes Ro-o-hafza too!!) at 4 am, just because I have an exam at 9 am that day.... just because I have an interview this day... because I want to marry someone... want some decision in my favour... one or the other thing....

Now either I should accept my Lord is corrupt, immoral, or if he doesn't favour me even after my so-many pious acts, again either he is the biggest cheater of the world, or all these long-established customs are fake.... People say (trying to satisfy their ego's reactions), "No, he must be favouring... Are we all a chunk of fools who practise it till today? Who taught you this non-sense?.... You have no knowledge.. lord is hungry only of our feelings, not these offerings.. " I ask,"Yup! I agree.. then, why don't you give these to needy people, beggars, disabled who can't earn a living..." And a lovely answer comes from these sacred people "Who are we to take care? He is the only one who has made them so!! Their sufferings must have been because of their previous misdeeds!!" And I laugh out loud (of course, not in front of them..) How ignorant! Should I rather say, "We all are living in a virtual world, each one living happily there one made, by him, for him, where fortunes quota is fixed for others by their respective destinies, but mine can change :-)... Afterall, this is my world, yaar!!"

I feel, society needs a change, which can only be brought up by a radical way of thinking mixed with good education.... Albert Einstein once said, "It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. The ability to question should never stop." We should keep asking our own self, "Why should I believe this idea?, only because my parents told me to do so... only because I see majority of people doing this.... only because if I don't believe it, my sweet heart will turn into bitterheart (can't stop my self from poor jokes :-D)..."

In the end, some words of wisdom by a noted psychologist Udham Singh, "Moving with a herd is the job of a sheep....... King is the one who defines the path for the rest."

First drizzle of the season

2006-06-01T16:43:00.001+05:30

What does it feel when one is deported from hell, and sent to heaven? What does it feel when you suddenly get a hot babe as your girlfriend? Not very different is the smell of sand after first rain when Earth says, "Aha :-)," and you can see the happiness on the planet all around. After 3-4 months of bearing Sun's constant blaze, Lord Monsoon comes to resuce earth of the anger of Sun's fire.

May 31, 2006 4:xy am ('x' & 'y' are constant but unknown) I woke up to the tunes of raindrops dancing in front of my room, while knocking my window as well. (Think, How can it be?) I came out, and the scene around aroused mixed feelings. In full 4 months of heat, sweat.... I had forgotten what did rain mean, and how it looked? Parent birds were seen teaching their babies rules of rainy season (Even a novice in understanding their language could hear lovely chirping.) All droplets falling in a line, as members of same family, fell down at a same place... First few are absorbed while later ones complain, "Why did you jumpp on me?" (And you can hear their noises!) Clouds are very intelligent!!! (They keep lighting the path so that water drops don't move out of the path, and they switch off lights in between as well so as to make drops find their way on their own.) What wrong is in praying these so-intelligent natural things? Stupids say, "It's all superstitious."

I feel supreme when someone says from other place, "Yaar! yahan to hum garmi mein mar rahe hain, wahan mausam kaisa hai?" My reply revolves around first two paragraphs of this blog making other person jealous.

Human nature love changes (Guess why there are rules forcing monogamy!!!!!)... Earth loves rain today, it will diminish in due course of time, and with my past experience, I am sure it'll develop hatred soon.... but having forgotten everything, planet is having a honeymoon blast right now :D. Let it chill and you too enjoy the sexy weather outside.

Bumps- Ah Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!

2006-05-30T05:51:00.001+05:30

The most sacred religious ceremony performed when wallclock (or for that matter any clock!) says, "Your birthday starts now..." is BUMPS!!!!! Although this must be known to everybody, but for highly illiterate sections of society, let me explain the ritual briefly. All your close ones gather at a place; two (or some time, it can be 3-4 also) people get your body in their arms (one hold legs and other arms), and suddenly, you feel proud to have risen few feets, thankful to those lovely people... Rest of lovely people worship your back portion till one of the following conditions gets satisfied:
1. Majority can see all colors of rainbow on it (or be sure about it..)
2. Majority appreciates your dramatic cries (Ideally they should start before first "Aarti")
3. People who have come to worship start fighting amongst themselves (some stupid being highly sentimental about others spitting their wrath on an innocent)
4. You lose consciousness (as you can't bear so much respect at one time)
5. Majority feel tired and hungry too.......

There can be two motives behind active participation in this noble activity. One is pure friendly intention and other is highly friendly (Like "Janam Janam ka sath hai tumhara hamara" or "Ye dosti hum nahi todenge" type..) People in first case are confirmed atheists, so they don't worship, but second type are pure ascetics... A leading doctor Udham Singh, AIIMS said, "There are various benefits of BUMPS... Memory retention power increases.. You can't forget birthday of anyone who attended your ceremony.... This leads to more interactions, warm and healthy relationships."

Recently I found a shop in Miranandani Complex, where you can get glasses through which you can see real intentions of this fake world. I saw them at a recent gang-bang of one of my friend. Results, though very bad and humiliating, didn't shock me as were expected... His close friends (I mean so-called friends) were bashing him with kicks, footwear, hockey.. whatever they could find (not with good motives, I am sure..)... Infact, there are some moments when you can check who's your friend... They say, "A friend in need is a friend indeed" How true!!!

The problem of carrying this evil way of worshipping in society lies in society itself. Once prayed in the manner, everyone accepts it for next one year before he is given realisation for his misdeeds in last one year. I think this is a heinous crime, and imbibes in youth, a quality of extremism/hatred, which rises its head at various occasions.

I strongly condemn the practice, and sincerely hope that victims of one time won't increase the number (Think what will happen if AIDS patients wish to spread it up????). This will slowly erode away then and relationships will improve at a subtler level. May God listen to my wish... Aaaammmeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!

First TIME(d) test of CAT

2006-05-29T01:53:00.001+05:30

May 28, 2006 Exactly a month after my four years at IIT, I took first timed test as a preparation of CAT (Common Admission Test). I had well prepared myself, and with two HB pencils, two pens, a rubber and a borrowed sharpner, I thought I could do any given problem.... We were given question paper some 10 minutes earlier for reading instructions (I presume We can get more marks if we put a 100 rupee note in question paper booklet as bribe).... Soon at sharp 11 am, the seal was broken, and eyes were running here and there on pages to find easy problems (not with the slightest idea that picking simpler ones is the toughest job).

Started with English section for around 10 minutes and then switched over to Mathematics... Did pretty well there (at least seemed so before seeing results!!), but forgot one basic fact while was engaged in Quant (We should allot some 10 minutes to see TIME), and I can identify now that was the blunder I made, I used around an hour there eating up time of other parts... then moved to DI (Data Interpretation) where first part was comparatively easy, but second one lengthy and a bit pricky (infact 32-bit pricky :)... I was engaged in a fierce battle with enemies all around when some stupid announced, "Last 10 minutes....." and Whoooop!!! My eyeballs confirmed this thrice, and then also, mind wasn't ready to accept it....

English was almost untouched at that moment and I had to fill answers in answer sheet as well.. There were various types of signals getting generated in my system (Doctors would have said me nervous)... After marking answers, I scanned English paper marking all easy-looking questions in last 5 minutes.... And then, same stupid again announced, "No more writing, TIME over..." (Why do some people always make stupid comments???)

There were lot of things to learn from the test... Time management, Selection of proper questions, Managing cut-off in each section, extra pressure of timed test (When you hate your watch moving... worst is seconds hand moving as it is fastest!!) and many more... Now that answers are in my hands and I have evaluated myself (I scored around 34/35)... The score is pretty bad, but there are 25 weeks left and more importantly, WILL ... Someone said, "Where there is a WILL, there is a way...." I am searching my way with this will-lamp.

XI XII (my steps in New Delhi)

2006-05-27T06:18:00.001+05:30

My days in Bhiwani were over and luck forced me to Delhi, my family shifting to Gurgaon. I was keen for joining any government school (where attendance is not a problem), as I wanted time for JEE preparation, but parents care too much ("What if you don't get through JEE, you can make it to DCE easily if you are in delhi school"). It was already late for admissions, A search started for school and I found many stupid people in the way.. One principal told, "We appreciate your interest towards science stream, but we don't have seats available, so, opt for commerce, you can do well there also..." (I wonder who made her principal of a reputed school in Delhi..).... Ultimately, search ended on September 6, 2000 at TAFS (The Air Force School), Subroto Park, New Delhi, where destiny had placed me for coming two years.....

If one has in mind that metropolitans have better level of education (as I had), he/she is pretty wrong. The only problem of mine was english there (not that much... I am exagerrating it a bit..) Communication with some of the teachers would have to be in english and I was hesitant to this language.... Slowly, this faded away and I realised I was living in a world of fake fear (fear of spoken english is a mere illusion... this is a pretty simple language...) The day I came over my fear, English became like any other subject.... Similar was the story of computer science.. More than half of syllabus was already covered when I joined. I met with an accident just after joining and was at home for around next one month. In the month of October, I went to computer lab there.... people were writing codes... Vinay Bhardwaj burst into laughter when I said, "What's this KAAOUT(cout) and SIN(cin)?" Realising I was lying low in terms of coursework, I swallowed the contents of book.... and my enhanced focus towards these two subjects Comp. Science & English honoured me by announcing me individual topper of these subjects with overall III in XI.

XII class was a mockery of education. There was nothing to be done in class, I mean, even though the syllabus got covered but teachers knew everybody was studying for entrance exams and would have covered almost everything, the attitude got reflected in teaching.... I used to be a regular student earlier taking only 2 days vacation in 3 years (VI-VIII), that too for one external exam.. But in XI-XII, I bunked a lot.. Classes attended were also for sake of attendance.

After straining my memory strings also, I can only recall two of my teachers: Dr. Mukesh Chand (Chemistry), Mrs. Vandana Parashar (Physics).... Though academically, this school didn't help me too much, but there were other benefits: I got hold over English, made many new friends Varun Bhatia, Varun Dua, Satvik Upadhaya, Srijan Agarwal, Arjun Sondhi, Shatakshi Bhupal, Divashri Sinha and a lot more....

There are some lovely memories of these two years too... Someone wrote "Kiss me" on my back and (I wish it was a girl :D ), Having a NTSE form always in pocket and making the same excuse after being caught bunking, "I had gone for getting this form attested" (That form never got attested in two years)..... Meeting Physical education teacher first time at board exam practicals and he asking me, "Are you sure you are a student of this class?".... Some teacher sending me to call some bunking students and I too am gone :DD.... going back home early after bunking lectures...

Udham Singh says, "God gives many a things when he snatches one..." Seems true I lost contact with my earlier friends but gained many things (new friends, experience) and again very importantly Delhiite Babes (They simply rock!!!) and the biggest gift, passed JEE as a student of this school :-)

VI to X (end of Bhiwani)

2006-05-26T09:39:00.001+05:30

VI marked a change. I was moving from being seniormost in junior school to juniormost of Senior branch Halwasiya Vidya Vihar.... can't say it was an improvement in terms of social status, but there were many things to cherish- Bigger playground, new teachers, school closer to home and most importantly many new babes got into the class :D.

Library was one of the best libraries I have seen till today. All kinda extra-curricular activities ranging from Yoga, Drawing, Athletics, Football, debates, dramatics, olympiads, quizzes (both scientific and religious) found me involved somewhere and I love their memories even today..

Academics took a new role in my life... Till now, it was a challenge, from here, it became my passion... With the brightest faculty there and enormous facilties, I used them to the fullest. Saurabh Sharma, a senior of mine, used to break all previous records and set a new target for juniors like me.... More than getting at top, I always had an eye on this target (as I knew both are almost equal), suceeded too for four years while succumbed in X. I thank all of my colleagues for providing me the right atmosphere of enormous amount of challenge... I can recall how each one of us fought a Kalinga- level battle for every half mark (half mark meant two ranks!!)

While I am writing about the golden days of my past, memories keep on coming from so-called unconscious mind. Even now, I can see Mrs. Anup Khaneja throwing my notebook on the first day of VIII class due to bad handwriting and then only due to her efforts, I got III in School hindi-writing competetion. Mr. Ghananand Shastri telling me in IX that he could see me breaking sanskrit record, The day I achieved this feat, he was the first person who came to my mind to congratulate me. Principal Mr. Narendrajeet Singh Rawal saying in prayer there is a person who got full marks in all subjects and I was on top of world. Mr. S. K. Halwasiya trying his best in extra classes for us to qualify NTSE, I still feel scholarship comes through him, while receiving. How I said to Mrs. Gogia, Social Studies teacher, that you have done partiality in checking and then, had to bear her blunt anger... How whole of class complained to principal against Mr. Malhotra, IX science teacher... later on realised those things couldn't have been taught in a better way.

My first meeting with Mr. Malhotra is also worth-mentioning... On the first day of IX class, he came a bit late in class, before he entered I was playing football with friends and as he entered, ball left my foot and striked him leading him into anger which converted into 4-5 slaps on my face (Face was innocent. whole fault was of legs!! There is injustice everywhere :-(.. He started, "IX is a very tough class... even toppers of VIII struggle here, people like this stupid fail.... and few more similar comments.." Last question was "Who is topper of VIII?" Seeing me standing in front of him evoked arbitrary reactions in him (in me too!!).

English was a language I always feared... I hesitated to speak in english, somehow (I don't know why) I wasn't able to convince myself that I can speak inspite of doing well in written English. And I always had a special place for people well in english. I thought to balance this inability for english by excellence in Hindi... the day I met Aastha, my quest for Hindi had started... Mrs. Jyotsana Sharma, Mr. Ramakant, Mrs. Anup Khaneja helped me boosting it and library helped me a lot... I chatted with Munshi Premchand, Ramdhari Singh dinkar, Mahadevi Verma, Maithilisharan Gupta, Manish and many who couldn't leave their imprints in my mind. Though life became busy after X in preparation for JEE, but a hindi poet and writer was born in me at those times...

Bal Sansad (found by Mrs. Adarsh Malhotra) was also a good concept in school. People, given various portfolios, represented very much like MPs in our parliament, and National parliament also felt proud when Bal Sansad visited it, with Rajya Sabha Vice-Chairman Mrs. Najma Heptullah extending our visiting time just to show us how a bill gets passed in houses of parliament to become a law.

These 5 years VI to X gave me a lot of friends: Aastha Sidhanth, Jyotsana, Riju Sikri, Ekta Dhamija, Jyoti Jain, Preeti Devpura, Rahul Bhardwaj (this is a long list...) people whose names are not here, don't feel offended, you have a different space. One of my dreams is to make a school where same knowledge can be imparted to students.

All timeframes can't be recollected, All collected can't be written down, All written frames can't be understood by someone who has not seen them..... So, I have listed main features of my school-life and this is a brief record of my memories.... I needed to write it here as I fear an epidemic of Amnesia in old age..

LKG to V

2006-05-24T15:31:00.001+05:30

The deeper I pierce through pond of my memories of olden schooldays, more and more gem of moments get on surface. Udham Singh has said, "Information in our brain is highly volatile, not very reliable." So, I thought to write it down here before it vapourises for the benefit of future historians :-D.

My first step towards schooling (must have been a little one) went to Baptist Senior Secondary School, Bhiwani, Haryana. Though my stay there was small (Nov 1, 1988- April 1989), this 4 months duration Lower KG class imbibed in me hunger for academics, extra activities, and you can still find the footprints there of a world ruler of 21st century.

Lower KG to Upper KG was a big transition for me, for my previous school, for my future school, for Bhiwani. My parents, like any normal parents, thought of me going to the best school in the city at that time. I couldn't pass the test first time, but got through second time, courtesy right palm of my dad kissing my face many-a-times when I didn't do well in home-exams. And, thus I entered Halwasiya Bal Mandir- A new atmosphere, new teachers and biggest change: New prayer to God, Although I couldn't learn the sanskrit prayer, but I think God listened to me....Udham Singh says, "Only emotions matter to him."

I just can't forget sitting on "chowki" with face down to save myself from singing prayer, having "Bhojan Mantra" before food, eating from other people's tiffin, making a gang and teasing others (Ranjum Chowdhary suffered the most), playing football, racing with friends, always having an edge doing both odd and even things (mostly odd things in even manner and even things oddly)..

In the meantime, my marksheets used to tell me, I was among the toppers, so I was always forgiven for my little pranks, although they were many in number.... Due to a stiff competition academically from one of my all-time friends Sunil Kumar Singh, I had always to be on my toes... His father was working with my father, so I couldn't tell lies... I always was second to him with the exception of II class, when I got the trophy but the challenge was never absent... It became fierce with entrance of a girl Richa Chowdhary in V class.... Some say, brain's weight is proportional to body's weight... I wonder how did this 12 kg. girl top in 5th class in presence of many of the heavyweights???

A lovely incident of IV class final exams, When I went there having studied Sanskrit, completely ignorant of the Social Studies exam that day and fainted there, but recollected my lost senses and started seeing course there.... With the paper in front of me, I felt blank... Thanks to thirst of Stuti Gogia who had gone with her answer sheet left in front of me only to save me (This was answer to all those tough Sanskrit prayers to GOD by him)...

I have many close friends who were there from the first day in my memory of schooling, Manoj Dhawan, Sunil Kumar Singh, Nikhil Halwasiya, Kush Malik, Stuti Gogia, Richa Chowdhary.... I don't know when did I first meet them, How our friendship grew, but somethings always remain mystery... let them be.. doesn't matter.. They are all precious jewels for me.

I wish those days would have lasted for some long.... but I know there are things you want to do, moments you want to cherish, some courses where you want to score, babes you want to be with, some girl whom you want to marry.... but couldn't do any of these.... In short... All wishes are not fulfilled.

Reservations for OBC

2006-05-22T14:56:00.001+05:30

I remember one day when I told my father, "Why can't I get adopted by some SC/ST/OBC".. and this was in my 5th class when I missed qualifying an exam due to reservation. That was a child's viewpoint with some anger in his little mind over these reservations....

And as time passed and size of so-called brain increased, I realized problem was worse that what I had imagined.

May be I am lucky to have surpassed this reservation criterion in IIT's, but there are many friends of mine (and many who are not my friends) who have lost the battle because they didn't had high-tech missiles provided to reserved category persons against JEE paper terrorists... The only thing they can enjoy through their 4-year degree course elsewhere is the feeling of being from upper caste, while their counterparts are also happy and feel dignified in saying themselves "BACKWARD".... I am surprised to see people feeling so happy in getting their castes included in OBC.. This is not my view, various caste representatives had actually pressed their opinion to get themselves included in OBC list when it was framed. Today, the situation,as per media, 85% population is SC/ST/OBC... Then, Isn't it unfair to reserve only 50%, why not go for 85%?

Basic purpose of reservations should be to make the unpriviliged people competent enough to get through the entrance exams for the prestigious institutions... As told by Prof. M. Balakrishnan, IIT Delhi,"IITs have had reservations for SC/STs for decades. Why would this be different? Aren't these students likely to be better prepared than the students admitted under the existing reserved category? Here I would like to share some of the facts with the readers. IITs have been admitting SC/ST students for years under two modes. From the general category, a significantly lower JEE cutoff is decided and reserved category students scoring above this cutoff are admitted directly to the UG programmes.
Another still lower cutoff is decided and reserved category students from this set are admitted to a one year preparatory course conducted by IITs themselves. After passing this course, they can join the programmes without having to appear in JEE again. Even this exercise collectively yields less than 15% in IIT Delhi though the quota amounts to nearly 22.5%. Half of the reserved category students manage to clear courses comfortably while the other half struggle on the margins. What would be called a good performance (cumulative grade point average or CGPA of 8 and above) and is achieved by nearly forty percent of general category students, is rare and occurs once in many years among the reserved category students."

I am from a Hindu-Brahmin family which used to be a staunch believer of caste system a generation back. Now modern education has changed the mindset and infact some of my best friends are SC/ST... but these bloody politicians don't want to abolish caste system.... Not only these politicians, majority of SC/ST community itself don't want it... Here are the views of Dr Udit Raj (formerly Ram Raj), Chairman, All-India Confederation of the SC/ST Federations.
"http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/16inter2.htm"

As a citizen of India, I strongly condemn any form of reservation anywhere amongst higher education. There should be steps to promote primary education amongst all those financially weaker sections of society, and that too not based on caste. Generations and generations of some castes have benefitted from same old policies. While we have entered 21st century and trying to be near developed state, we still want to remain divided in castes.... Good India! I feel proud of you.....

I don't know how much weight this voice caries being from 15%, but in the end, I remember one statement I learnt in my school for MotherIndia "Tera Vaibhav Amar Rahe Maa, Hum Din Chaar Rahe Na Rahein"... I feel if these reservations are passed, it will be an ugly spot tarnishing India's image in international arena.

Yahoo Chat!

2006-05-09T00:59:00.001+05:30

Yahooooooooo!!!!!!!!! ya, this word is a good friend of mine, infact the best friend, something above than a friend as it made easy for me to contact my other friends.... My dictionary says "yahoo" means chat... One from Oxford publication says something else.. doesn't matter...

When did I start chatting????? hmmmmmmmmmm... can't remember.. like I don't know who was my first friend...? when did I hear Kishore Kumar first....? who was the first gorgeous lady who I wanted to kiss...? These are some questions which only TIME MACHINE can answer... Oh! Chatting.. This yahoo business I started mainly after my third semester in IIT when I took comp, though some net-ding-buzzing was there in initial days also.... Then after 3 more semesters, I got a mail from one of my schoolmates after 5 years... Where was I that day?.. some say seventh cloud, some say ninth, some say 'Antennas Lab, Elec. Dept. IIT Bombay'... All of them are true..

Era thereafter was of reunions.... I peeled off the layers of dust from people's address books to get many of my old friends' contacts..... and then CHAT became second most important thing in my life, after my family......

These chats also have a very predictable phenomenon. Starts with "Hi", ends with "bye"...In passage of time, "hi" turns to "hello dear" & "tc", "Good night" etc. get added to original "bye"..... Eventually, emotions with this word "dear" start intensifying... Consequences of this phenomenon, I found myself on a lovely-pulling-path of chatting where everything starts with chat... Presently, I think chat, do chat, love chat and in a lighter vein, eat "Chaat".

Current schedule of mine actively supports this noble activity. 10-12 hours go in chatting, 4-5 hours in collecting material for chat, 2 hours on phone-chatting, 2 hours in eating and 3 hours in daily activities and rest(if something left) for sleeping. Udham Singh said, "Great minds don't sleep." ... "Wow! what a man! great ideas.. " No these words are not mine, these are my friend's, I confess I can't praise someone so easily :).

Someone said, "U waste so much time on chat blindly..." wonder How can I write with closed eyes?.. Who is blind? this itself is questionable. There are people with wide open eyes who can't see and there are ones who can see it all with closed eyes and thirdly, there are rare ones who chat blindly :D.

There has been various advantages of Chat for me... one writing speed improves... can keep in touch with people easily... In my 3rd year PT (practical training), chat was my best friend... I get to know other person's views... Can go on chatting for long long time.... is best management of waste time...... and the best part of it is: "You can crack a poor ...... rather pathetic joke and then send a 32-bit Smile and it does the job, while the same joke can get you a tight slap in reality... " :-DDDD

Guys' Dressing Sense

2006-05-07T17:42:00.001+05:30

Recently, a female friend of mine commented, "Guys just dont know how to dress... " which initiated some thought process inside my tiny brain, output of which I am copy-pasting here.

Girls are much more conscious about their looks, their dresses... I agree.. As I didn't want to get convinced by the statement, I was trying to imagine girls in all wild dresses (all beauties of the world), and boys with heroic looks :-). According to John Gray, "Male brain has more than 40% stimuli which respond to sexual desires (some doctor can comment.., while female brain has very less in comparision." No doubt, boys appreciate female beauty however it is... (reason imbibed in the above statement), but opposite doesn't hold true. Getting appreciation by girl is really tough, this extra factor doesn't work.

Some things do favour girls, they have lot of varieties to choose from. Infact they have stolen boys-wear, whereas, boys doing this has lot of physical, practical and social constraints :-D. They don't have much choices left.

No wonder Girls should be better in dressing because not only they, boys also care about their dressing ;-).... But my ego have final say here "Boys are at par with girls in dressing sense, if not better..."

Initiation of a new Universe

2006-05-06T13:58:00.001+05:30

God was discussing one day with his council of ministers that this creation of his is getting into boredom. The discussion, moving into different phases, finally landed up here that God should convey to some person and through him, create a new universe where no one is sad, no one is angry. All are njoying, each one teasing other and enjoying :-). So Here, I am........on this planet to make it happy..... My ultimate aim is to make earth laugh out loudly hearing which other planets, other galaxies should feel jealous about it.

The only difference between Human and any other speices is the ability to laugh. So why are we not fully utilizing it or exploiting it? Either we are always worried for future or are sad pondering over past. A noted philosopher Udham Singh said once, "Future has infinite dimensions. We keep drowning with our present moments taking confidence of some future dimension which actually may or may not exist. Past also doesn't exist.... This is like a virtual image which can neither be touched, nor can be changed. In a way then, we can only live in current moment. njoy there, you don't have any option :-) " I always keep these intelligent words of a legendary philosopher in my mind.

This I think is an ideal introduction to my blog page.... I'll write often about various things ranging from Who, why, where, when , how to You and Me :-).