Life in confusion and other musings

Role Models

2008-12-11T23:31:00.004+05:30

This is a unique post, which i wrote it for myself.. though it talks on Role models, can digress to anything under the sun.. and some of the lines are copied verbatim of my sir's lecture in TISS. Thank you Chandra sir for the pearls of wisdom

“Life is like a train on the kurla station platform and paces like a borivali express, makes u reach the destination, in no time”. To travel thru the journey, you don’t need to do much, to either get into or get out of the train; the people around you will help doing that. In similar ways, the assumed necessities and developments the present teens and generation considers a bare necessity is partly because of the hard working previous generation. When my dad looks at his career he sees himself coming a long way, from meager village schooling to a civil servant. Everyone has in their lives seen a transition and are attributed to role models and their associated ideals. He still remembers one professors who failed a single student in his class, who was none other his daughter-in-law.

Do we have any role models today? At the workplace, at home and elsewhere..

I was watching the movie “Life in a metro” which shows that the ends are what it matters and the journey is just a tool to reach (favoring the boss with an apartment –turned-brothel) the end. It also requires a stoic feeling and endless apathy to remain like the character X (forgot it now). I dont know if one of the reasons are that we are becoming more liberal as an individual, community and society.

Whom does the present generation idolize , is it the reformers of the day ( the likes of MNS ) or the cultural icons of the neo India (spaghetti straps or the six-pack dudes) or the guy next door – turned – overnight hero , thru another reality shows ( you should watch Roadies , every word will start and end with beep looped up- “beep, beep”), or is it the chetan bhagat of the day (who have followed their heart despite having the best of the jobs), to my mind, there are too many of them which the media portrays, each one in their own ways. But is there one who we can follow really well, completely?

This khichdi (read, overwhelming info on role models) leads us to no-where. Fine, let’s recollect Pavan verma from The great Indian middle class where in he says that after the demise of Nehru, an era of leaders was over and family as a unit stopped idolizing public figures. The virtues of the ascetic were slowly abhorred. and gradually the rise of market consciousness and examples of rags-to-riches thru public capital have led people go the stock-option way: High returns in short duration, but only at the cost of high risks. The question is can the same principle be applied in our personal lives as well? or should we try a more restrained approach towards goals in life – achievable targets and simple life.

For all the changes that have crept in the lives of people, for once I could say, people are working longer hours; help the GDP grow at unprecedented levels. It will perhaps take time when people look back and check if happiness quotient should be a better indicator of society than the ones used now.

Coming to education, again my professor’s words come to mind. It’s the outcome of the education that is exciting people and enabling them to take physical and mental risks and not the joy of journey alone. No parent is bothered if a child is enjoying his course matter, but only wondering if the course can make his lad land up in a blue chip firm. (Dowry rolls out big time in Andhra u know!!)

Though we may not idolize anyone in life, youth can take cues of ideals, which have been proven classical.

3 down , 1 more to go at TISS

2008-11-18T01:38:00.001+05:30

It was the first time I felt like crying , and I came close to doing , my eyes became moist.. the taxi sped through the traffic near Sion junction towards the Dadar station. It was a hell of a time , the last 4-5 days saw all the action I could have seen: The summer internship placements of my junior batch was manned by close to 10 of my classmates and have been from the mayhem at the beginning to the endless chatter during the end of the process. But still I wondered why did I cry, for the first time not for myself.

80% of my phone book consists of my classmates names and others in TISS, days pass without coming out of the campus, the stroll in the old campus makes me already feel lost, nostalgic, the visit to the library makes me feel guilty, making me realize that there is so much to learn in the world, and I threw away all the time running around for something or the other. The specter of Canteen haunts with the thought of lemon chai tingling in my neck. The thought that I will one day have to leave the campus makes me feel bad.. no worse.

While all these thoughts kept rambling in my head, I couldn’t but contain it within myself. I smsed “Dude, its gonna be all over in the next 6 months, feeling like getting back to campus”. Fuck.. all dude… came back the reply from Vachan, in his unique style. I know how much has TISS has become a part of us. The “tom and jerry effect” we d created between ourselves will be missed, so are the arguments with Ritesh and Shyamal about TISS and TISS.. infact 301 had become the defacto panchayat of the whole world, every exam was finshed with a drink, while I keep cribbing about the sticky floor made out of spilled rum form Cheeta’s goblet.

“J the game has just begun” came back the reply from Ann, the saint of our class, God has given her so much optimism and wisdom, and her words did lighten me up, drifting me to thing apart from college and the endless rigmarole we have been through in the name of Fieldwork , assignment blah blah…

As they say Its the beginning of the end, we only realize the end of beginning and think that end is always far far away. So before the end ends ,let me make something worthwhile of what I have, time and friends – which am afraid will not be available in plenty once out of this campus.

Keeping off the grass - A review

2008-08-04T23:01:00.003+05:30

There are many books which u can really relate very well with, and some keep u engaged thru out , when u start thinking like the protagonist and revel how if i could also be like.. here Samrat from the book "Keeping off the grass" by another breed of techno manager-author.

The story of made a difference from the plethora of IIM life books by giving a good prelude of samrat , with an American - ivy league background, who is a Yale valedictorian ( what is that supposed to mean btw) and a wall street whiz kid.
The character which strikes chord with me is that of a American born confused desi (ABCD) and the inability to see differences in daily life . The mundaneness as a result of working on the same excel sheet and making businesses richer had bored and put him in a newer pursuit. (now that he was already on course of making every parent proud, except for himself).

Then starts the pursuit of understanding the world outside America, in the form of a PGPM in IIM-B ( this is the second book after Harshdeep singh in recent times on the same inst). The details in book are not like a diary of events, and its more of his reflection as a Yale educated I banker student coming to class and his pals , Shine(y) and vinod. Then comes the rigmorale of classes which he starts to detest from the very beginning, which shiney hardly cares and leads the gang of three. Shiney with a super intelligent head and an IIT degree, has a cake walk over the courses and amazes everybody in the crowd.

This brings back to my own theory on the type of students in any course. The A types who never study after class, just pretend to listen during the lectures and score the exam with their out-of-the charts IQ and understanding, and B types who slog for every mark and make efforts continuously while scarpping thru the subjects.

Life in a B school is again vividly protrayed with indifferent characters for whom grades and placements are the be-all and end-all of the course, while others are relaxed and are just confident to sail thru , and one off characters talk abt emotions and being left out in the lurch not able to fare up with the grades. The script has a melodramatic touch with a death of a student ,not able to cope up the summer placement stress !! ( mind u, it takes a toll in my college too.. thank god they are shortening the whole pain this time !)

The whole book is titled around grass, yes our own ganja or marijuana, and the course of addiction as a route of unwinding stress in the premier management institute. Shine and samrat explore varied locations and get jugad for the peace of their mind, and Shiney closely resembles to Agastya Sen,in the English,August, whose author is lauded thru the preface.

very pertinent questions are raised about the burgoening engineer-turned-manager software developers whom u ll find more than rickshaw wallahs in b'lore and their aspirations. How conformists are we to be to follow the path of mediocrity and how poor are we of the thought of a space for ourselves. why do we go to B school in India , not to become business leaders ,but to land in a fat paying job. All the blabber in front of professor is a sham, and every one knows it.

The book also shows the roller coaster of a life a student would fantasised could have, be it a one day holiday on the deserts of thar or the ganja hunt in b'lore. while grades fall and rise and fall and the vacation banging a danish hippie after a discourse in himalayas. It has got all the spice and emotion of a 25 yr old confused guy.

There are pop philospohical overtones in the characters of super logical shiney and self critical samrat, and hence most of it gets cleared when Ruskin bond comes in the script, and suggests to keep off the grass, hence the title of the book and the last line of the work.

I was wondering why would people write books on IIMs and they get sold so well !!( i have read already 5 of them),and if people ever read such a book some 30-40 yrs later when we hope india would be advanced country, would give a glimpse of the middle class now, as we recollect the angry young man movies of the 60s. One final word is that people who were not attracted to any literature in lives are atleast are looking into these books.

A village “Amway”ed

2008-04-10T15:36:00.005+05:30

Sitting on the window seat of the Kaniyakumari express after a rushed up presentation at college, and a hurried travel to dadar, my mind just went numb, perhaps for the first time. In a week or so I have sat unmoved for an hour (or so) at a place, the time till then had been sprinting thru exams, farewell parties and what not, shifting the luggage to the hostel... hooray, it was a different feeling when our (402, agnishamandal apartments) names was officially listed in the notice at the hostel office, one year of endless errands perhaps will come to a meaningful stay next year..

Hmm, back to the train journey, kurla came n went, and left me wondering about the length of the platform, the same place where, I used to wait for the harbour line to go back home from fieldwork (what the heck...mumbai central), and then vikhroli, looking at the tall towers and envying of the godrej’s employees ( good engagement na ! – having homes in the campus) and the travel when Furqan was at hospital, and then mulund – Ann.. st Ann flashed into my mind, and so did Sudheer – whom am yet to meet after a stay of year in Mumbai and discuss all about F1.. These thoughts flash as the train runs faster n faster. “I came to Mumbai alone, going back alone... as we do with the world (too much of cliché right!!) … and finally comes Kalyan ( oops Kalyan Jn), only to see hordes of people detrain the compartments ( for a moment it was like another local). Later I found out why people took these long distance ones to Kalyan – it acted like another superfast local!! Without any stops and at no-crowd! – Clever people eh…………….

The thoughts of travel reimbursement tempted me to get the ticket upgraded to AC and were happy to find the whole coupe empty! It was now the time to open “The Kite runner”- the book read by my roomies and one of international acclaim. The beginning was difficult and then was reassured by baba over fone that the going will be just great, ending at a crescendo of emotion and emptiness, lets see if it comes... but Pune came in a while , and also brought a family of 4 and a kid – Mokshu into my coupe . Nothing much was worth remarking out except for the fact that I wondered how much grandparents love their progeny’s progeny (if am supposed to use that word). Mokshu (seems to be around 3 yrs or so) was constantly cuddled, joked, at times bullied by his daadu – a good engagement at his twilight years.

Once after reaching home after a full days travel, I found home at war front- the preparations for a formal feast commemorating my dad’s successful haj ( generally its given before the travel to wish luck). The venue was gurramkonda, a small mandal with say 10K odd inhabitants and a history running back to the last of the sultans – Tippu Sultan.

On the lines of an old habit, I went to Tope’s (yes, means a “cannon ball”- Liaqat) shop, to check out his new stationery and pens (wow). He as usual looked interested about my future ( if it existed !) and was talking about doubling or rather trebling his business- I was wrong if I was looking it was his good old stationery store. No, he meant his real venture – the wonder of direct marketing – the American way – Amway.

Coincidence of being X

2008-03-08T01:51:00.006+05:30

In continuation to the post below, i find this one linked in a very relevant way....

just going thru an article in Indian express ( the refuge for news in mumbai ), i learnt about the news of a sole mumbai lad in the winning squad of the under 19 team.X also had a 10 wicket haul in malaysia... lets learn something about him...

X hails from azamgarh and is brought to mumbai by a bowling coach, but against his dad's wishes to learn leg spin. It has been a testing time for him staying in a 350 sq feet house in Kurla for 4 yrs , with some respite by getting selected into Ranji sqaud. Like the flights taking off frequently from the nearby airport, his zeal to perform better made it to the Indian team,win the worldcup and also bring the world cup from bangalore to Mumbai to deposit in the BCCI headquarters.

In the meanwhile the office of BCCI was closed for some reasons, and the cup had to be in his room.. the lad says " i could nt sleep the whole night" wondering if something could happen to the cup, which was placed next to the sink, the only space left his room. he also jokes. " kya pata kal is cup ko station key platform mein bhee bhikne key liye dikhey to"

Now the cup is safe with the BCCI and accolades have come across the country, with the UP govt giving a 5 L grant, how does the money benefit him immediately.. for X its by buying a first class train pass, this is just amazing, while people at one end ready to do anything for money, the contentment in buying a first class pass shows the pragmatism of this boy.

Now his parents have come harbouring enough apprehensions about the treatment meted to a normal UPhari . fortunately the welcome was much pleasant and will be flying for the first time back home...

as the story comes to end, X is Iqbal... Iqbal Abdulla. Hope this name strikes some coincidence in your minds,,,,,, yes its the movie Iqbal and this one in reality.

Do the perpetrators of the voilence in the name of region have any answer to this ? how would they react, be happy about a lad being representing the region or unhappy that a native lad didnt make it to the team...BCCI office is nt too far from any corner of the city perhaps.

there are so many things to observe, that there are people who perspire and get rewarded and at times in public, the grit of the dude, the vision of his coach, and the normality of his character has to be just saluted, may we get a good leg spinner from him in the times to come...

Mera Desh - Tera Desh

2008-02-16T18:21:00.002+05:30

For the past few days Mumbai has seen its veer mumbaikars showing their might against the north indian migrants. Though u could call a techie from varanasi working in SEEPZ also as a migrant, its only the autowallas, and those selling sandwiches late in the night who face the brunt. Thanks to the revival of linguistic chauvunism, and apathetic police, who fear of more violence hence keep quiet.

These give clear signals that all the efficient night patrols and beefed security around each station is nothing more than a farce, where a force cant act against divisiveness, afterall its mee mumbaikar slogan

when do u get such incidents, the political party is just trying to make its presence felt,though in its signature way, and Mumbai is perhaps is perceived as a extinct place of the great state - maharashtra.sitting on a bfast table i joked about the futility of such an exercise, when i was curtly stopped by a much elder student who gave the most misused word in management - strategy.while corporate strategy has been to churn numbers from nowhere, here the so-called strategy is about beating others and securing the votes of locals - concentration strategy as an option seems may not work out as the population ofthe megapolis goes on and may still vote based on their gut feeling.

while listening to a debate on the same topic on TV,a person asked to clarify who a local was,is it a person who speaks marathi or the one who lives in and around Mumbai, this is decisive question which has to be answered,and if its a person who can speak marathi alone , then what would you say about the scores of non-marathi enterprenuers who fly the name of mumbai in the financial world

if its going to be who has lived here for long ( how long !!) its impractible a solution as we cant sport a badge that shows our age in Mumbai ( am i dreaming the nazi days where jews sported the star of david)

People should be prudent enough to understand these short term gimmicks used by parties who over decades have thrived on divisive politics and nothing else.and all of us should understand that Mumbai is not just the jewel of mahrashtra but the whole of India, possibly Asia.

Love in the mind of a psychiatrist

2007-11-19T11:06:00.000+05:30

The concept of love is perhaps the most often discussed topic in any artistic, and philosophical work right from the Greek civilization till today ( the likes of John Gray n all ), in addition to so many bollywood movies – where love n marriage will perhaps be the only theme for the next 100 yrs J.

Recently I was re-reading the book, Man’s search for the meaning by Viktor Frankl, while it is the best account of concentration camps, after reading the paragraph below, I was left speechless, and would place it on top of the almanac of love, in case one is prepared.

The author was marching inside a concentration camp, and so go the lines

“the man marching next to me whisphered suddenly “If our wives could see us now ! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don’t know what is happening to us”

That brought thought of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles,slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another, we didn’t speak to each other, we knew – each of us were thinking about his wife. Ocassionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds. But, on my mind clung the image of my wife,imagining with uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile , her frank and encouraging look. Real or not her look was much more luminous than the sun which was going to rise.

A thought transfixed me : for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets,proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart : The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action ,when his only achievement may consist in enduring the suffering in the right way- an honorable way – in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of the beloved, achieve fulfillment.

This means to me how much the relationship strengthens as time passes by and the character of man to gel, become a part of other person – in all spheres. Does the modern day mechanized life give us the chance to think , reflect such thoughts, atleast on the weekends ? is a big doubt.

CSR : A myth or reality

2007-04-24T12:53:00.000+05:30

Saqi, y doesn't the company itself give the notebooks to the students, instead we contributing it.
This was the question Jacob asked me, looking at the cash drop box requesting money raised for purchase of notebooks (not lappies!!) meant for students in orphanage.Now, many things come to my mind, the day when my dad had to stop on his way going to a campsite at 2 little children on road, who were then working as laborers, so to buy pens and stationery with the wages earned. So the objective of giving books looks good, but the veracity of the process made my mind think. Now the question is why should the private sector bother at all about the society? It's the job of government to be in to the people of business. If the govt had delivered its responsibilities well, then we would not witness the glaring disparities visible now,socially and economically. The moment we think about the problems associated with the government machinery, words like corruption, nepotism and efficiency come into play. The temples of nation, the PSUs got morphed to "Temples of doom" by some magazine. Now, why are we talking all these?? Yes, in these days of Manmohanomics, where the industry has a say right from the day-to-day functioning of the government to the policy making. With the spurt in the activity in the market with the release in restrictions on trade ,and more and more people making it to the Forbes List ( an estimated 30,000 families have their incomes crossing 10 Million rupees per annum) , the public are coming forward to take a look at the society (albeit thinking about making money and growing business) and try their bit in transforming it. The type of activities are myraide : from the afforestation programme by Nagarjuna chemicals to the health programs run by Infy foundation and the AV aids in schools brought up by the Azim Premji foundation ,the list is long, yet the areas untouched by any development remains a considerable number.

Taking alook at the history books, we get that Standard Oil's Rockfeller and Andrew Carnegie started a string of institutions for public like universities ( like the CMUs and Smithsonians of the day) and is considere d the fore father of CSR in a large scale.The universities in US are run more by the private funds than the public allocation. This provides a platform for the rich to roll out money as a part of charity in every possible measure as they can. We have few examples of the same happening in India , where Academics and Industry are not only isolated bodies from one another, but also are run without any possible connection between , with an exception of few elite colleges. In India now, CSR is the buzzword of the day, with every company sponsoring some event at an orphanage or a hospice. This also involves a structured expenditure of the amount allocated by the board in case of bigger firms. For example, the tata's Tsunami program was overlooked by an IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, and Sudha Murty takes care of the daily functioning of the Infosys foundation. These activities, according to me develops an enormous amount of good will for the company which over time would attain "Soft Power" as recently used by Shashi Tharoor.
I was wondering if the CSR activity will leverage a company's image. Again the answer comes may be or may not be. Not every time does a company advertises the CSR activity, as advertising also comes with some costs, which could be effectively used back in the Mainstream social activities. Take two examples, On the one hand, we have ITC which says that every 1 Re earned from selling each books goes to public schools or its water irrigation programmed takes care of 65000 farmers, on the other we have Titan to which has started an initiative which trains blind people to be capable as another workers in the industry. I got to know about it while watching the Crucible quiz in CNBC TV 18. So there is lots of good work being done, not necessarily the public knows it.

Finally JN Tata once said that "The encouragement of the brightest minds in the country is a greater philanthropic act than just feeding destitutes of the nation", perhaps it is this wisdom that has given us the TIFRs or the BITSes of the country.

Holiday on the road side

2007-02-15T02:02:00.000+05:30

i wish i could call it a lively wall paper coming straight from the dead leaves of nilgiri trees.. they look pale though reflecting freshness ... hain na ???

this is " pervading the horizon"right?? , while on the 5th of the eight km ascent to the top of Horseley hills, this view was provided in one of the tough curves of the ghat road... the nilgiri trees (dont konw the exact name) rise high in the skies to cover the view and sun rays pass thru to make our faces brighten up...

this is what i d call "Buffer stock" for the bulls which may last for say a year .... who said life in rural india is so simple, its full of expectations and extrapolations - of rains and grains though not respectively.... :)

the sunflowers were visible suddenly and stood out in the arid country side i was travelling - they seem to be full of life !!

Nandree Chennai

2007-02-08T00:08:00.000+05:30

Saint and Fracas - S2 troubles
On a sunny Friday afternoon, I was surprised to see a sparse crowd in the otherwise jam packed lifeline of Bangalore-chennai sector: Brindavan express. I was on my way to Chennai, to meet my friends, whom I didn’t see for over a year and less importantly to attempt another mba entrance test. While the members of a north Indian merchant community had their sammelan in Chennai, their brethren were fated to share the same coach as a 60 year old nun and I did. The group had only men and their chatter was near chaos as their laughter with loud banter continued. Their interactions were at times hysteric as if they ve been reunited after a couple of janmas, they cracked jokes and laughed endlessly much to the chagrin of the nun, who became infuriated at the noise and took the guts to confront the so-called mob. She showed her angst in a straight and simple way, which I only learnt was the tip of an iceberg. The rest was remained in her lowly-voice jibes. I couldn’t help much, but gave an angry look at them.

Later I learnt that the nun was preparing for her CA Inter exam and had just retired 2 years ago!! oh ma god, what would a 60 year old lady do with a chartered degree in accountancy – special interest , she replied impishly, as she took one book after the other, browsing each one of them, before settling down with a handwritten notes. Till the moment I saw her, I took pride in getting glued to books during travel, it took a royal fall dude. Then she rolled out her story of academic diversity and learnt that she taught grammar to young and budding nurses. As I kept asking her more questions, she answered them patiently before alighting at the avadi station : not before giving me a brisk shake hand : wow , strong personality (body lang basics dude !!)
MTC Troubles !!
When ever a b’lore boy boards a bus, he makes sure to take the rear entrance, I did the same and grabbed a seat ASAP on the left row, amused at the fact that the bus conductor never leaves his throne. How on earth one would slog without lifting his arse off, in the sweltering heat of Chennai: let ur legs get some air!! while my mind was thinking about of the life of a collector – “ T Nagar” said a lady, handling me 4 rupees, for a moment, I thought if a was the conductor, oblivious of the fact that people pass the ticket charge to the whistling king….

Kasturiba Nagar 12th Cross

Reaching the area, I felt that it to be a recluse residential area, just beside a busy adyar street bridged by a mini slum. For the first time in my life I entered a house inhabited by 8 unmarried male software engineers. The last word “techies” is important to describe the existent abundance, from colorful lotions to face washes (L’Oreal, Himalaya, ultra doux – u name it, my pals have them), from shirts to a CDs (a box full of DVDs). In a sentence, the place was a refuge for the overworked guys, who escape the drudgery, by watching movies endlessly and trying deserts occasionally, my friend does gulab jamoon at the stroke of mid night – lachi: great going da…

In Chennai, its tough to distinguish the rich from the poor, the heftily paid software techie share the same bus (unlike the elite Volvo which only techies can afford in b’lore), dress less differently, eat with fingers and demand the extra 50 np at the bus conductor , and collect the coin, after it had passed a dozen hands.

Pipelining in Sangeetha Hotel

The system of franchising and supply chain is working at its best in the streets of Chennai: Anil, my friend says so. In Sangeetha, a popular eatery in adyar, I found that u need to go to 2 separate counters to order and pay the bill, instead of the single one which we see in most of the hotels else where. Later sitting in training on performance engineering, sangeetha came to my mind once the instructor talked about the difference between the throughput of a serial and pipeline method: concepts in action!!

Later my friend took me to the Chennai citi center and believe me , I could see more 2 wheelers than the people itself !. The Arc de triomphe type structure more looked like a cinema set than a shopping mall. The interiors were beautiful and good looking except for the same old brands displayed and an annoyingly fast escalator.

Dinner – the Murugan way

The traffic on the GN Chetty road was buzzing, while my friend stopped his Honda (err.. hero honda) before the famous Murugan Idli shop™. The ™ caught my attention and realized how brand conscious our tamizh thambis are. While I was wondering how an idly eatery could draw a waiting list at 10:30 PM , anil had to persuade the waiter to give us a table in the ground floor – to eat the best food at the best place. While I was entering the hotel, the endless stories I heard and read about it came to me flooding front of my head, to say in a sentence : the idly shop pervaded me, the way the Aussie launch attack into the minds of opposition through press on a visit abroad. The coconut chutney coupled with the thick sambar covered idli on a lush green plantain leaf went straight into my tummy pacifying my endless appetite: the food was at its sumptuous best and I couldn’t have asked for more: Murugan and Anil.

Slowly along the confusing curves of Gemini fly over , my pal brought me to the station, and was happy to see that the train was still there !, while I reached my berth, I saw a young couple struggling with their year old tiny tot, who after sometime did calm down. The mother in a thick red chudidhar, with a combination of flowers in her hair(good enough to make a decent wallpaper) took control of the baby ,who till them was talking in chaste tamil switched to fluent English “ It’s a Boy” responding to a traveler’s query. Tradition and modernity going hand in hand: it’s in Chennai.

Photography.... initial stages

2006-12-24T14:08:00.000+05:30

This is one photograph, which i took in a restaurant in bangalore. The orchids are so beautiful
, arent they ???

Government and CET - Student's Blues

2006-11-17T21:24:00.000+05:30

This small note is in obvious reference to the abolishing of the CET, as a mode to give entry for the teeming students of TN to the portals of engineering colleges with a drafter along ones shoulder or in a lush environ of a medical college with a lab coat on... . when i was googling on this line, i came to know that even the previous govt of TN also toyed with this idea, only the judiciary to come in its way and bring back the older system.

The so-called intention of the government to facilitate students from rural areas to gain admission to be altruistic, on a lighter vein looks like a bulleted point in an election manifesto. There are lots of government school students who sight just a science degree , inspite of having enough capability to enter the engineering college. In such cases this legislation or the ordinance will do serve its purpose, to allow students to add a technical degree at the end of their names.

We still need to discuss a critical question : capabilty . This very capability is clearly categorised thru an objective test , with differential marking , compared to subjective test having correction of answer sheets, where skills like neat handwriting , etc may score over other students without them , i bet the male species are on a recieving end this problem.

In addition to this problem , the government needs to ensure that the new method should not only be feasible practically ,but also uniform in the grading of the twelfth marks. when i say my cousin scored a 200 in Maths, i think he s done all the problems correctly , by mastering the 300-odd page text (with or without understanding the concepts is out of question here ... only borders and highlightings with sketch pens matter !!) . Now if my other cousin scored 200 in biology , or let us say if 1300 of brilliant students in the state score the magic number , how do we know that their knowledge is comprehensive,even if it so , how do we grade between them.. what is the guarentee that they just used effective methods of rote ? Can this method be anymore effective than the scores given out by an objective tests, which tests the students ability both in quality and quantity. Is there one exam in the world which had done away with objective type of testing ?? i cant fathom one..even the civil service mains exam is preceeded with a objective screening.

Forget all that , lets get into futuremode.Imagine after 20-25 years of this rule being in vogue or in force , when India would be in tight competition with the chinese in all fields not just IT, our young gen would be more interested to do a rote of their class textbooks rather than develop new ideas and think more analytically. All our struggle for quality would go ahead in flames ... future perfect for the gen Z (is it what we call our progeny !!)

Another saga of stardom ends

2006-11-02T12:38:00.000+05:30

"Life Means More" - Home Trade

These were simple, yet catchy lines of the e-trading company home trade. With shahrukh and hrithik as its brand ambassadors, it did create a ripple in the industry (what ever may be it). I liked the simple lines, which meant abundance is life. Just imagine the number of times, our pupils moving towards the extra laddoo which we want yet, regardless the amount of useless calories it adds to us, or the days when we cribbed for an extra pair of new clothes for any damn occasion. Life means more to all of us and to me specifically , life means more and more of schumi, his titles, his races , his jumps over the podium and all, I felt and needed more of it after what happened in Interlagos, schumi’s last race as a driver.

Formula one was nothing more than the two glossy papers at the last part of sportstar, that was in my standard 7, a good 11 years back, I could hardly remember anything more than the silver clad Williams – Renault and the scarlet Ferrari, somehow the magnetic red was more enchanting than the color changing other teams(fyi, Ferrari is the only team to maintain the same color from the inception of the championship, the scarlet color , adopted from the Italian flag) each race was aced by the prancing horse, I could see more and more of them on the TV , my curiosity about the sport, teams and strategy increased and the only sport we discussed at home was……….. F1.

Then came his winning streak for 4 consecutive races, and pages from overdrive filled with red... nothing else and the margin with which he won was also ever increasing, and people were contending for the second place.

The moment Schumi finished at the chequered flag first, it was a sense of contentment in mind and also anticipation in heart that he will jump again over the podium, may be at another part of globe. All this euphoria became anxiety at the finishing part of F1 2006, albeit the rumors that Schumi was gonna quit this year, and the thread bare margin against Fernando, I was still at the bottom of my heart ,sure that schumi will be the champ this year.

What happened at the interlagos, cant be called anything short from spectacular, Schumi s nature as a fighter came to its zenith after he charging all the way from the end of the order, till the moment he flummoxed Giancarlo and Kimi in a copy cat fashion at the end of turn 1. My heart beats for more of this action, alas by then the race was finished.

The scarlet car driven by a star in a scarlet dress, with his fist going right up in the air after every win, will never be seen. All his titles clashes which he missed either due to controversies or due to engine flaws, rest of the times, you could see an epitome of a real fighter, fighter till the end.
Hail Schumi…

Valentine's day - Love at the time of bonanzas...

2006-02-21T11:16:00.000+05:30

In life at different stages , we perceive things in a different way
while i was a kid , the long cadbury bar was the best i could dream off... while moving to college i dream being a F1 techie holding sophisticated laptops and conversing with the drivers over radio...
now into a software job.. i don’t get dreams at all, and its altogether a different story

Regarding valentines day, i thought it was just for those unmarried , oft delusive couples always in the utopia of their partner, but this perception ( some how i am smitten by this word, bear it till the end of the note) , but all my notions were thrown to trash when I got scores of mails and smses wishing me a happy v day ( valentine is a long word in deed ).

To corroborate the previous line , was awed to see the lines reading as follows in The Times : “ Valentine’s 2 nd only to Diwali “.. such line made me to think about the marketability of the event – this time my head proved right…………………
The story was all about “ bharat vasis “ spending the most on jewellery was next only to the Lakshmi puja or the festival of lights. Initially I thought that this was a great fact but of less use for a recluse of me whose is least bothered in business and jewellery in particular, ( I wonder where all the gold in India comes from , now that the good-old KGF is now defunct )

Markets and its statistics imply a very important fact, the perception on love and relationship are changing with the pace of other developments in society ( its IT and globalization I am talking about ). Take the numerous anecdotes from the good old Bollywood films ( where the Hero in pursuit of fortune and fame turns a blind eye to his lady love while the lass at last laments in a stereotypical “ ab bahut daer ho chuki hai “ or by the time she marries a less glamorous supporting actor and the story continues) to the likes of “ kadhal kondein “
Where an actor idolizing the heroine gets a goody goody kiss on presenting a flower , while the more macho male lead brings a big bouquet and snatches away the girl offering a sensuous smooch……………

This long analogy although not relevant still says one thing, love can also be quantified , while Erich segal laments the medical fields’ inability to undermine the medical reasons of LOVE in his book “ DOCTORS “. At the same time , Viktor Frankl ( known for his 3rd school of pyschiatric thought from Vienna after Frued and Adler ) says that all through his ordeal in the Nazi concentration camps , he survived with the sole hope of getting re-united with his wife. Later in the book “ Man’s search for the meaning “ he says that in the absence of his wife he started to have hallucinations and was conversing with his better half as if she was with him. “This is love “ finally proclaims Frankl.

While my confused mind comes back to the “ firangi capitulation of hearts “ I still think love and estrangement was and is glorified across the times of Indian civilization as we always had the stories of Taj and also the great epics of Laila –Majnoo and the more romantic Devdas- Paro . In the yesteryears people had a very conscious way of expressing their love, a man would say “ ILU “ to a lady once in a life time and make her a the life partner there on. Now we have people saying the same as frequent as wishing ur boss a “good morning “ or asking ur peer the typical “ did u have ur lunch “ concern . The music and entertainment patronizing the likes of “ ek raat guzaar – takey main tumhe karoo pyar “ misconstrue the true spirit of love. Finally newspaper readers should feel or get perceived ( last time) that love is not some thing directly counted as the number of greeting cards sold or the no. of smses sent to tv shows on the V-day.

Life @ College

2005-12-07T19:02:00.000+05:30

Landing in Vellore , Eccentric in its weather character
The day starts with a bright sun and
ends with with a drizzling shower
i fainted with fatigue ,the day after...

Stepping into class like a school guy
listening all lectures i tried
but, class was also a place for fun
we enjoyed leaving out those who were always mum...

cosmo is the culture here
where else would u meet
tamil tambis talking to babu mosahis
mallu kuttis and punjabi khudis
roam along the sidewalks,disturbing all eyes

its only place where...
match making is easier than heart breaking

there seems to be no end for the fun and frolic
even though our minds well settled in academics
to make our resumes look prolific

the hostel activity was not just mere slumber
every night livens up with endless chatter
we have lived it all through and its all finished now.
.thank you my dear alma mater
let the god bless, we all have a bright future.

In Memoriam

2005-11-14T20:52:00.000+05:30

CASTLES BUILT ON SAND,PARTIES ALONG THE BEACH,
PEOPLE ENJOYED EVRYTHING WITHIN THEIR REACH
SOME CAME FOR JOY,SOME OUT OF HUNGER
BUT,ALL ALONG THERE USED TO BE LAUGHTER

I GO TO WATCH ITS BEAUTY..
BUT THAT WAS THE DAY OF NATURE'S FURY
THE OCEAN MANIFESTED IN THE FORM OF TSUNAMI
WIPING OUT ALL GAY,LEAVING ALONE MELANCHOLY
MANKIND BRUISED WITH DEATH AND INJURY

OH! DEAR PEOPLE,CAN U PLEASE SENSE A LITTLE
THE CATASTROPHE HAS LEFT MANY A NUMB STILL
WHY DONT WE HELP THEM A LITTLE
POURING OUR HEARTS OUT,LEST WE BE FICKLE

An unending saga called TATA

2005-10-21T08:18:00.000+05:30

In the sands of time did lay a dynasty
Who created work and wealth for the deserving and needy
While business makes few rich
And lead others to penury
In times when business was only making of money
A star took birth and redefined it to service
And to impart service with prosperity

From the humble beginnings at the land of Navsari
A sun was born and named Jamshetji.
With rise in age came the maturity in his ideas
One day, came the event to give India a brand
TATA was then dedicated to the mother land

History teaches more about politics
Shows the leaders as the tigers of the land
Did it ever show the face of industry?
What was in the mind of the visionary?

To lead the country through out the century
Being in the forefront of technology
Apart from giving bread to many an employee

The house of Tata’s taught me modesty
And incorporate all my deeds with honesty
Imbibing in me the spirit of LIREL
Cleanses me from the all the moral perils.