Details needed for Your Model Teacher

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

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

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

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?

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?

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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.

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

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!!

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."