My World!

Trying my best to stay afloat in a sea of Nothingness

2009-09-16T13:44:00.003+05:30

The following was going to be my first blog in a very long time. However, events transpired that led to me to write something else entirely.

"As I set out to write this, I must admit to grave apprehensions regarding my ability to write at all anymore, in the sense of lucidly commiting my thoughts to paper/MS Word. I have not had too much time to write, and when I do have the time, I would rather sleep, or read, and I do not get to do that too much these days either. Not to mention the garbled mess my thoughts usually are these days. It appears that I think too much about too many things and all unfortunately at the same time. Not unlike the bevy of writhing women in an Eminem video I saw once. OK, so that does not sound so bad, does it? But it is. It had Eminem in it too, remember? Alas and most definitely Alack. Minus the Niranjan. See what I mean? Aaaargh.

So, in what will undoubtedly be a failed bid to regain a sense of focus, I am attempting to write again. Meaning, I shall probably lapse into laziness shortly."

Hmmm... I liked the Niranjan bit.

Disquiet.

2009-08-24T20:37:00.004+05:30

It occured to me that one little dot at the end of a little word like 'disquiet' can make it seem so much more ominous. Two would have been odd and three are just funny and trifle melodramatic... whoops. or whoops..

GREAT opening paragraph for a blog that hasn't been written in over a year and a half.

I have just been lent a book recommended to me with the following statement: If you have even a slightly pessimistic bent of mind or even a hint of a streak of pessimism, read this book and.. (Two dots, that must be odd. Here I forget what else was said. The general gist was that it would seriously screw up a person with an inclination towards morbidity)

I am perusing it now, and am skimming over some of the statements that the author (whom I expect to write a bit more about shortly) has penned, and which, in turn my friend has penned again at various places in the book.

Hmmm...lets see now,

"The universe isn't mine; it's me" - Well, okay, sounds like something Vijay Mallya might be found saying.

" I carry my awareness of defeat like a banner of victory" - That does affect me. Nice.

"I bear the wounds of all the battles I avoided" - Too bloody true.

"Wise is the man who monotonises his existence, for then each minor incident seems a marvel" - I like.

And so far, what affected me the most: "The only way to survive in this world is by keping alive our dream, without ever fulfilling it, since the fulfillment never measures up to what we can imagine."

Enough! This is a spiralling pathway winding downwards into dizzy dispondency!

I can already say with a marked degree of certainty that I am going to enjoy reading this book. And maybe depress myself a little bit.

Lost it ?

2007-12-27T17:28:00.000+05:30

I have a sinking feeling that I have pretty much lost my will to write much. Or I am just so lazy I can not be bothered to write a dashed blog. i am pretty sure it is the latter, though I have a certain uneasiness regarding the former. Anyhow, I think this opening paragraph pretty much paraphrases what I seem to (re-) write over and over again - I shall certainly make an effort to be regular with my posts! :D

My life seems to have been a lot more sedate lately, enlivened of course by the fact that I recently got married! But overall, y'know? Perhaps i'm vegetating before my next great story? I wonder. I mean tons of things have been happening in my life. Quite a few of them I can attribute to alcohol :) I seriously wonder if I will one day regain the heights of funny I reached during the Bandipur trip, say. I realise I am now more careful with my jokes which at one time were pretty....irreverent?

Anyway, campus is having a reunion, and I dunno if I shall be able to make it, which sucks big time. I have had such a ball there. From what I gather quite a few of my friends are gonna be there which makes it worse! Mere kitne pyaare dost hai vaise. Especially my best pal Major. We used to do this dance on campus, perhaps you may know it - the "Just Chill Chill" song? :D
I was at a party recently where within ten minutes of my arriving, some random guy started throwing up and I had to help take him home, after helping him down 8 flights of stairs where him, me and another guy who was helping him nearly overbalanced a few times, while inebriated gent goes like oh I am so embarassing, and Who are you? and Why dont I learn?
Anyway, all that later, the Chill Chill song was on, and before I could stop myself, I was on my feet jumping away to glory in the dance sequence Major and I have immortalised (at least in our memories). Bahut mazaa aaya sabhi logo ko :)

New years is around the corner and I do not have a clue what to do. :(

Im back!

2006-10-11T16:20:00.000+05:30

i am back blogging after so long, I think I have just beat my own record. Wheeee! Anyhoo, I am in the office right now, and instead of actually working( there is this blasted proposal I am "working" on, where I have to blaady well do a complete financial analysis, which makes me wish I had paid a lil more attention in class... Into each life some rain must fall...) I have been doing a whole lot of other things. For instance house hunting. I moved to bombay to work, and while we were provided with a guest house for the training period, el honeymoon being over, time to move out and find a place of our own. So been chasing brokers like no tomorrow, at the moment! But, at the risk of premature exultation, I am happy to say I have sort of finalised a flat close to work today and just have to meet the owner to finalise the deal.

The second thing I have done today is discuss my whole loan nonsense with the admin dept of the bank and have decided to transfer it to my bank. I have also spent a lot of the morning fretting about the huge pay cuts because of all these blasted expenses. What with the loan repayment and the tax planning, I have decided to take up an alternative career. Begging.

I have also been playing a few flash games since the morning, my personal favourite of which would have to be "suicide puppy". Choose the angle of launch and the power and you launch a puppy that basically falls in a big bloog spattered mess. :D

Oh and on the personal front there have been two interesting developments. I finally bought myself a new phone, the Motorazr V3i, which is pretty sweet to look at and has pretty decent features. I also got it rather cheap! The other acquisition is the reason my fingertips look like overripe plums. You guessed it- A new guitar!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I would love to write some more, but kaa karein, dooty pe jaana hai. waaa.

Its been interesting...

2006-05-14T01:32:00.000+05:30

Well, it has been quite some time since i last wrote, (and I do feel I repeat myself there) so this is a slightly weird moment. So much has happened in the few months that have gone by that this post is unlikely to do justice to all the good stuff, so perhaps I shall do no more than a cursory examination of the past! SO what should I write about? I dunno really, random snatches of memory fly around like, well, flies. There was the sports meet played between IIM K and B, which for me, was a big disappointment, considering how disastrously out of form I was! There were all the crazy days doing bloody Proj Fin work, which seemed to be hurled at us like a steady stream of abuse! Then the dashed placement thingy happened, which was just unreal. Then I started this whole travelling thing which seems to still be carrying on. And in a few days, a couple of weeks actually, will have to set off for Bombay, and work.

When we had the alumni meet a few months back on campus, some senior just crashed on the bed and was like - "Oh the roof, oh the bed, oh the room, oh that fan, oh that desk...how I miss the view...ahhh" I mean, I was like okay, just a leetle bit over the top eh? But I kinda know what he meant. That was just one unbelievably great place to be, and I met some truly fascinating, truly smart and some really funny people there.

Well, enough whining, good news for me on the book front, recent birthday equated to loads of books! And a rather fun birthday party, which I had after a long time, actually. Will write about that soon enough!

This one is from Indore...

2005-11-12T13:30:00.000+05:30

I was justr checking up the comments people leave on my blog and stuff, when I came across this weird one about "hey came across your blog and it looks like you need some sort of education(????) so here is a link to a site you can do a distance MBA from"!!!! Or something like that, you get the general gist. I am in an MBA program. I mean, what, eh?

Well, I am in IIM Indore right now, for Iris 2005, and am having a very good time. My team was shortlisted for an event and I wanted to take part in the quizzes and stuff. Hence, four days away from college! In addition to the three spent travelling, I mean. And earlier this month, moi was in Kovalam for a couple of days! This is the good life!

Now, this is my first time at IIM Indore and my first impression is that of space. It is a huge campus, spread over 180 acres, or so my sources tell me, though much of it is yet to be developed. I was always curious about the place because of all these stories people tell, plus the whole "newer IIM" thingy. I really like their auditorium which is pretty good looking! And their main buildings aren't to be sneezed at either. But I think in terms of general architecture, our campus at K wins it by a bit. I guess I may be biased but I am in love with the way the campus has been designed. These guys here have a huge advantage in terms of space, which means that there is a huge amount of stuff they can do here. Our place is a bit off there because of being right on top of the hills. They just moved here last year, so they have not really had too much time to do stuff. I guess when they clear the scrub, and finish the landscaping, this is going to be a truly awesome campus.

I took part in Labyrinth - one of their main quizzes. Now they had held online prelims for this earlier, and were holding another round of prelims here. This was special because I was basically a one man team. The other group from my place had already qualified online, and there was no one else for me to team up with, the others being busy with the insurance simulation game that I was supposed to be a part of, but ran away from to take part in the quiz! The best part is that I qualified, which I felt really happy about! And I was doing fine till the end of the second round but completely mucked up in the third..I hate connects, what can I say?

Lotsa informals and a party tonight! Yay! Lets see how it goes! Ta.

Ahhhh!

2005-09-26T21:56:00.000+05:30

Back in college after the term end break! Back home, the comp was on the blink, so I sat and read and read and read....ahhhhh the life! It had been so long since I actually had the time to just "relax without guilt"! And I ate like a particularly disgusting pig. And enjoyed myself no end:-D

The thing with this place is it tends to degenerate into labour camp sometimes! Case in point - THE WHOLE FREAKING LAST TERM. So, on the train I was wondering what wonderful surprises were there in store for me on arriving at Calicut. The tension was heightened because, as mentioned above, the comp was on the blink at home, and had not had the opportunity to check my mail elsewhere. So I arrived at 9:30 in the morning at college, went for registration, and saw a class scheduled for 10:30. Great. And the whole coming week was packed as well. Durn..

As if that was not enough, I had a serious dharam-sankat kind of a situation regarding a couple of subjects. I was completely clueless whether or not to drop or take these electives. I had to take a decision by the end of the week, and was practically running about clucking like a chicken minus the head. I also had decided there were some things that needed finishing. Like going to my pal JC's to play GTA San Andreas on his system. (Every day that game gets even more fascinating!) On top of that, the first lot of the exchange students had arrived, these from France, while more from Germany and Sweden were to follow. As if this was not enough, this term and the next are the run-up to the final placements which means that preparation has to start in earnest.

So much to do! And no easy way out of this! So I dropped the couple of courses, went and played GTA, and in general got some material to prepare. THe upshot is that I now finally have got time for my own reading on weekends. Thank God! Back to campus news, the juniors just arrived today, and college is teeming with junta all over again! Campus was kind of very quiet for a bit back there! Hope to have a party soon! Almost gone out of my mind with ennui! It does not help a bit that my friends who have gone abroad on exchange appear to be having one continuous party! The lucky stiffs!

I also hope to figure out how to use this darned shoutcast thingy which Nitai was using for broadcasting Kdio. I think I shall need an older version of winamp. Dash. Still I really hope I can do this show - I wanna host a little radio show for just a few guys here on campus, and hope it works out soon! Plus I sincerely hope the Rock Night becomes a reality(finally!). Just did not have the time to do anything last term. Hope and pray this term is far, far better.I mean so far so good and all that, but you never know what these sadists here at MBA concentration camp come up with!

Chicks 'n all

2005-08-23T05:24:00.000+05:30

Now this is interesting. Was having a converstaion yesterday with a couple of friends and this whole thing came up about the how funny guys are when it comes to talking to a girl and stuff and why they simply can't think clearly, why they act so strange, etc. Somehow or the other the conversation then veered to some awkward situations I had found myself in, and I suddenly remembered a few real stinkers! There was this time when one of my best friends' sister told me she liked me and I was like Whaaaat!!! I mean, not only was it like a bolt out of the blue, it was my friends sister, which hit me like a double whammy! God!

Which train of thought led me to think about the really astonising manner in which I actually met and started speaking to the girl that would be one of my best friends in the future! This was on a class trip from school, and it so happened, when we reached the place we were supposed to reach, their class was there as well. Now me and a friend were basically just fooling around when I saw this girl and for some vague reason, that I have never since been able to comprehend, decided to talk to her. I mean it was very crazy. This was the time when ICQ was all the rage in school, and we were basically just asking whether the person's chat name was "bubbles", whom we knew was from the other school, the same class, but not the same section. Too involved for you? Tough. Anyway, so I go up to her and ask her whether her name was "bubbles" oh right it isn't eh? so what is it then? ah okay, thanks.

That was it. For the remainder of the trip I was just hanging about doing stuff with my friends and did not really pay too much attention to her at all. However, when it got late and the picnic was winding up, I saw her leaving, and right out of the blue I just went up to her and asked her for her phone number, to which she was like, give me yours, and i was like no no, you give me yours. So she did. Yay!

Now was the best part. I had memorised the number and so I called her up after a cooling off period of two days. I did not, you see, want to seem over-eager! So I called her up and her mom picked up the phone, and then it hit me - I had not even told her my name!!!! Yikes! So I was like hello aunty, may I spek with so-and-so? And she naturally asks me my name, and I was like Oh wonderful, here it comes, She will tell her that that there is a call for her from this guy with this name and she will be like who? I have never heard that name before! Which would be true as names go, because I am the first to admit I have an unusual name. But, as luck would have it, she did come online, we did speak, she did recognise me, and well, we have become very good friends since then!

On the topic of calling up a girl for the first time, I have always considered the most unnerving interview I have had on the phone to be the one where I spoke to the father, who wanted to ascertain who I was and what I was doing calling up his precious daughter! So, the background - I was in the first year in my first college, and was calling up this girl in my department. Her dad picked up the phone and he was like - Yes? who do you want to talk to? Uh...Uncle, may I speak with ..... Where are you calling from? he thundered. Huh? Uh I am calling from my home? Are you trying to be funny? Growl Growl? Eh? I asked you where you are from? From Delhi? Oh wait.. I see...I am from her department in college, and so on...So why did you not tell me in the first place????? Well, the truth was, I had never had to face the interrogation committee when I wanted to call up anyone before!

Then there is the subject of pick-up lines. There was this party I went to in school, right, and there was this chick there who was decentish and me and my friend both wanted to talk to. So, instead of doing the smart thing and walking right upto her and chatting with her, we made a devious plan involving talking to her when the slow dance thing would happen. So we decided on this real stinker of a line - "So is your dad an astronomer? You have stars in your eyes." Gaah....I need water. GUlp! Wotta line! And there was another, but I decided I would use this one. So when we started dancing, after a while I did. She just looked a little dazed and gave me a weak and rather confused smile. Hmm. Ok. Not too bad, I thought. I went over in a bit to where my friend was sitting and asked him about what happened with him. He had danced with the same girl I had before me. We had decided to compare notes. So I ask him, what did you say? Oh you know, that Astronomer thing. Whaaat? I used the same line on her! Whaaaaaat? What did she say? Nothing, she just smiled a little confused smile and looked a little sheepish! Oh My God. Same here! So we decided the girl was thick and that was that. But seriously. What the heck?????? I mean, what???

There are so many more entertaining things that I have been lucky enough to have had been a part of. Maybe another post.

Just By The Way

2005-08-04T04:15:00.000+05:30

I just noticed...I have used what I think, but am not sure are mixed metaphors. Now I saw that little phrase pop up twice in a row on the previous blogs, and decided to try for a hat-trick! yay! How arbit am I?

In college I have decided to major in Fin. Now Finance is quite fascinating..especially the part where you keep on striving to keep up with the profs only to find that they have shifted base to another level. The dashed subject is absorbing but takes a lot out of one in terms of sheer effort needed. I mean I already have a shelf stuffed silly with all these hugish books. Better start picking away at them with even more vigour than before. Which should be easy considering the vigour I put into it in the first place.

I also realise I miss having the time to read as widely and as much as I used to. I am taking ages to read these books I would finish in one sitting earlier. Gone are the days when I used to issue two books from the library, and borrow a couple more from my friends to be returned the next day. I would read two books the same day, and finish a third on my way to school. That would leave me with only one book for the rest of the week which would be unbearable. So I would practically read through all the books my friends had issued for the week, by borrowing from one after the other!

In fact the best part of my life since coming to Delhi was in my opinion when I was at home for two weeks with chicken-pox! I read, read, read and then some! That was the time I read through all the Asimov I could lay my hands on! Then there was Carl Sagan, Michael Crichton, P.G. Wodehouse and some other stuff...I went through like twenty something books in that period! That was the life.....

And now I have to slave! Waaaaahh!

Grease!

2005-08-04T03:59:00.000+05:30

This is a special one - I was just playing "Those Magic Changes" on the guitar and was suddenly bowled over like a wicket(?) by this huge gust of nostalgia (Apologies to purists in case of mixed metaphors. Which is possible. Or probably just happened). Shucks, Grease is a wonderful movie. Any time I watch it I feel great! As far as I remember, for a long time John Travolta was my favourite actor. Apart from Christopher Reeve of course, but then Superman doesn't count! And while on that little avenue how about Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, eh?

Now there is of course this little fact that I was not really aware of any other actor apart from Travolta at the timeI first saw the movie! Still...I used to practice walking like Danny Zukav, swaggering just like he did, and imagining I was a member of the T-Birds. What a cool gang! The part I remember most vividly is of course the "Blue Moon" thingy at the National Bandstand which was being telecast live! And the next scene of course - "The FBI have ways to find out who you are" (or something like that) !!!!! I still chuckle my guts out everytime I think about it!

Hmm...soon it will be September and time for a few birthdays...and there are three of that number whom I wonder ifI shall ever speak to again. These people have just disappeared around me! God knows where they are and what they are doing! Shucks. C'est la Vie?

The Speech!

2005-07-15T00:33:00.000+05:30

Now this is a bit of a departure from the stuff I usually think about..I just read the transcript of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's acceptance speech as he was awarded an honorary degree from Oxford University a couple of days ago. It was an excellently worded speech and probably was an excellent speech as well. It was entertaining and at the same time, left one wondering how much of the Bharatvasi-Angrez brotherly love and equal standing stuff was a well thought out political manoeuvre. However, he did seem quite sincere about it, and I am sure it went down well with the intended audience. Now here is the interesting part: when you are the prime minister of a country, your intended audience tends to include a heck of a lot more people than "your immediate audience".

Here is the link to the transcript:
http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jul/12spec.htm

So who was the intended audience? I wondered then as I do now, because I was struck by the amount of stuff the leaders of the opposition could use as rich material for a fight! Sure enough, just as I had about formed a hazy idea that this was political dynamite, I saw a link a ways down, put about midway in the article, about how the BJP leaders were denouncing his speech. In fact, as you can see for yourself, the words were that the "PM should apologise for praising the British Rule".

Now this whole thing sets me thinking, see, the PM is no babe with no conception of the kind of impact his words have on the political chess-game. (BTW, this a case of mixed metaphor? My apologies to the purists :-P) I for one actually really liked his speech. I liked what he said, and I kinda found myself agreeing what he said about the British influence being very good for the development of India. I am against the whole philosophy of subjugating a nation and all that but in my opinion, we did benefit from the British, as noted by the PM.

And he has shot off a few barbs at the Brits as well, however subtle. That is why I actually liked the article best. There was a certain something, which felt a bit like gentle malice towards the Brits, and a wee bit of cocking a snoot at the opposition. Heh heh heh...If you can do it Mr. Advani, so can I and in a much more cultured way.

?

Writin' a Rockin' Song is Tuff!

2005-07-10T02:37:00.000+05:30

Durn It!

I have been strumming my guitar for nearly a full year now and I think it is high time I do something constructive! So I sit down to write a rockin' song, one that shall be downright phenomenal, shall express my angst, my zest for life, my opinion about the world in general and maybe push in a little bit about the environment, finance, spiritualism, books, cockroaches, How it will all be In The End(Which is Nigh, repent ye sinner), and lemme see, uh, the repressed?

Dash it all, it should not really be so hard should it? Lots of people probably do it all the time. Look at all the songs around, I mean, eh? It is not strictly necessary to have extraordinary talent, and the lyrics do not have to be diamonds of the first water either. Thus, logically all that stands between me and a bitchin' rockin' amazin' phenomenal song is some luck and a few lyrics.

Hey, all Nirvana had to do was have Cobain sing Rape Me about 17 times in a row, how hard can something like that be? Remember the Bombay Boys and Yeah Yeah? Well? Just goes to show you dunnit?

I think I shall call my song:

Rubber Chappals

Flippetyflippety flippetyflippety flippetyflippety
flippetyfloppety flippety floppety flip
And a oh and a hey and a flippety flackety flip
And the rain pours down and the screen goes blip
flippetyflippety flackety flip

Cockroaches are crushed 'neath it(Yeah!)
And the environment is degraaaded(Yeah!)
Flip Flip FLip Flip Flip FLip
But in the End, we will be graded(OOOHHH!!)
And theworldingeneralwillnotexperiencemyemotionalangstandmyzestforlife
BecauseIwillhaveflunkedFinanceandbooksandSpiritualismwillnothelpmeeeee
Therepressedneedemacipationtoo

Ahhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Smack Smack Smack
Flippetyflippety Flippetyflippety FlippetyFlippety PLOP

Ta-dah

Now I gotta do the chords.......

Kelly Clarkson is rather nice

2005-07-07T15:57:00.000+05:30

...And so is (are?) Gorillaz. Big Whoop.

I have had two straight days of no classes, and now have classes tomorrow. Boo - freaking - hoo! I was just getting comfy! Life ain't right. Now I shall have to struggle with the higher questions in life - like why do we have classes on Saturday and Sunday, and at such god-forsaken times too..Grrrrr..

I had, at the start of the term surrounded myself with quite a few books, and it is time to take stock. So here goes -
1. The Code Book - have to start. Looks good.
2. The Last Partnerships - read a few chapters, but the narrative is rather dry.
3. The Future of India - Still untouched.
4. Made in Japan - ditto.
5. The Trial - Now here is an interesting book, though rather weird, at least so far, read a third of it so far.
6. The Motorcycle Diaries - Very cool so far.
7. Interesting TImes - PHENOMENAL.
8. Sophie's World - Excellent.
9. The Famished Road - Another weirdish book, but, so far so good, eh?
10. Small Gods - PHENOMENAL.
11. Cancer Ward - Looks interesting. I picked this up because I had read another book by the same author and that was very ...disturbing..for want of a better word.
12. Liars's Poker - VERY VERY GOOD..enjoying this one immensely.

In addition, I have determined that I blasted well need to exploit our library as best as is humanly possible, considering I only have one more year here and I still have not explored the library as fully as I would have liked.

Ah well. I need to start studying sometime soon too, I guess.

AND coming back to Kelly Clarkson, I am rapidly becoming a bit of a fan. She really really has a great voice, and some excellent songs. Check out Breakaway, Behind These Hazel Eyes. She does however remind me of a couple of people - There was this girl on TV with this guitar in her hand that she was playing in a rather nice way...God Knows what her name was...I have a terrible memory for these sorts of things. Oh well, I guess it will not come to me in time.

Cheerio.

By the way, I was just watching Return of the Jedi for the umpteenth time, and hence ze pic. This happens to be one of my favourite movies, and to think I very nearly did not see it at all! This friend of mine had come over to our place with the movie, telling me we should watch it, and I was rather more interested in the Mickey Mouse cartoon tape. This was when I was about seven or eight. But I sat through the movie, and was completely hooked by the time Luke whipped out his lightsaber and helped Han, Leia, Chewie and Lando to escape the clutches of Jabba. (Not to mention the droids, of course)

The Junies are here...were here..have been here..late post, huh?

2005-07-02T03:19:00.000+05:30

So, I am feeling weird. Weird does not like it. She gets up and walks away. HAHAHAHAHAHA....aaaahhh...I kill myself sometimes... oh. Right-ho, to business....

I think today deserves a good little note while the events are still fresh...'Little Surdy' as he is commonly known was persuaded to sing a song, and oh, how melodious the strain(sic).

Well, these guys suddenly got up and walked over to the C - hostel, deciding to wake everyone up for another impromptu round of chatting! So naturally I trotted along for the ride. The juniors are quite a sporting lot....very few hang-ups...some a rather too effervescent!

In addition, and a little before this I was involved in a high pressure match of football in the little mud patch at the bottom of the hill, and we won! Wonder of wonders!!! The atmosphere was electric and rather wet. We played with only one thing in our mind....Annhilation of the enemy!!! Then we got drenched in the rain, and were all screaming and shouting obscenities (What did the apple say to the tomato? Ketchup. Ketchup Ketchup. How the tomato lived with itself is an enduring mystery.)

We won 8 goals to 4 by the way. Anyway, once I returned, I saw that this friend of mine had fowarded an excellent article, and in a frenzy of charity to my fellow human beings and to the greater world in general, I actually sent my first spam since coming here.

Ah, the good life...

I'm a Senior now!

2005-06-23T19:26:00.000+05:30

I am now in my second and final year here at B-School, and am already feeling weird. Things do have a way of coming into perspective as you go on. A few months back, I was scared shitless at the prospect of actually doing a summer internship at a company. I mean, I had never worked in any sort of firm before, hell, I had not worked, period! And here I was, expected to go into the "corporate world" and apparently do some sorta project for them! Hey! They would see through my inexperience in like a few seconds and then chew me up for breakfast!

Well, two months down the line, they did not chew me up, I actually had a great time, and also, suddenly realised what my friends here with work-ex meant when they said that the B-School experience was lost on me. Y'see, they have work-ex and for them this is a welcome break from working! I suddenly realise that I am going to miss being a student. Corporate life does have a way of being a bit of a bother sometimes.

The Girl with The Ready Twenty!!!!

2005-01-03T03:20:00.000+05:30

This is a rather old story and had completely forgotten all about it until reminded by my friend Abhishek Dabral on the site he created for the BIT 2000 batch of RLA. So me and Rahul Iyer, this pal of mine, were standing outside the bus stand at Satya Niketan in Delhi, opposite Venky, waiting for a bus or someone to drop us to college. After waiting for a while, we decided to take an auto(Damn! 10 Rs. down the drain!) Now, we are sitting in the auto, right, and just as we start moving, we see this girl from college. So like the perfect gentlemen that we are, we stop the auto and offer her a ride. She gets in and five minutes later, we are at the college. We now realise that neither I nor Iyer has any change! So this chick has to fork out the twenty! I now recall how unbelievably hard it was to keep a straight face at the time!!!!

I had COMPLETELY forgotten that this even happened!!! Thank God for Abhishek and his site! I now see more clearly the utility if writing a blog as well...SO, as a reminder to myself, I promise me that I will write about the girl at the airport, my Calcutta trip and the new year party! Later.

Groggy....

2004-12-16T18:20:00.000+05:30

I am feeling really sleepy now. My schedule has gone for a toss, right out of the window. I have been trying to readjust the old body clock so that I sleep during the day and wake at night. Now I feel kinda happy about it because, first, I was always a Dracula fan, and second, I manage to get a little studying done at night. Unfortunately when crummy things like exams interfere with the sacrosanct schedule, I feel grumpy, as now. I had a BE exam - Business Ethics, and for the first time in a loooooooong while I think I knew the answers to most of the questions, at least on the first paper. The second was kinda arbit. I ran out of steam there, I think. Damn fingers feel wafer thin and tender from all that writing....Why cant they make 'em all Multiple Choices...?

Had a Fin exam earlier, and it was one of those wonderful 50 pointers, and that kind of has nice memories for me, the earlier 50 pointer being so fantastic and all....(

Hmmm now that I look around me I see that my room has some interesting articles. That rather dashing pair of suspenders in the corner of the bed, now. That has interesting possibilities..Not to mention the "Mood ring", supposed to change colour with the mood of the person wearing it. Fat chance..haven't got even the faintest glimmer of a colour change so far. Just my luck I latched onto a dud piece. Darn it!

Then there is that dashed Butterscotch flavoured biscuit pack that I got along with a few other flavours because I went to get some biscuits, decided to buy all the colours there were and am now stuck with this one, after wading through the rest. Probably would have eaten it by now, too, except a couple of people went and said stuff about how crummy the taste was. Now I just cant seem to bring myself to even taste it....

I think, after running a quick, yet unsteady eye over what I have written so far that I desperately need to climb into bed and sleep me some sleep! And fast!

TAP-ME!

2004-12-11T04:13:00.000+05:30

So, a couple of days have gone by since I last attended class, right? Well, heck, that seems just about the right time to up and scoot off to TAPMI in Manipal for their fest! I mean it seemed perfect! The end terms were just ten days away! So we go to the station, find out there is no current booking, meaning, well, we just ride our luck in the sleeper compartments and hope the TC is a kind soul. With me on this memorable journey - Ravi Girdhar, Rohit Gupta, "People call me Pakaw because my name is Prashant Kowshik" Prashant Jagdish Kaushik and Nitai Utkarsh. We arrived in Manipal at Seven in the morning, and were wondering where we went next. The answer was - anywhere! Chick land here we came!( As far as I was concerned anyway....)

Now Manipal was touted as THE paradise on earth for young people, considering that they appeared to make up almost all of the population! So we go to the hotel, where this really courteous guy called Vivek is there as our welcoming committee. And right then and there started the wonderful trend of whispering ".....backwaters" into Baba's ear!:-D

Now the first thing we worried about was the darned loo! I mean the place was stuffy as hell, and I know the first thing that came into my mind was the person who went in next after, I think it was Rohit, would have to be given a respirator. We survived that without too much incident, but then another dilemma - IIM K tee-shirts and who would wear what. I had got extras for myself and one for Ravi, but the goodness of my heart saw me offering one to Pakaw, and offering Ravi a selection from the two left, that would be decided by whatever fitted his @@!$!@$! girth. Sadly, the one shirt that I actually fancy was picked by him. The stretch marks will serve as a constant reminder of being a friend in need. Ahhhhhh.....

Then we finally reached TAPMI!!! And no the place was not a diappointment....I guess. I mean if I had gone there for as shallow a reason as to just see some new faces, preferably female, I sure was not complaining;-) Now my batchmate Shounak was already here a day ago, to participate in the (ahem, hee hee) "Young(sic) Business Leader" contest. No real reason to mention that at the present moment, just in case I lose the thread later in what may be an involved story...and maybe to poke a little fun at our very own Geriatrix..heh.

So anyway, the formal events came and went, while Pakaw and Rohit won Crisis, some sort of a competition, for which, they won Stu-pen-dous prizes - Consumer Behaviour and Market Research..They loved their prizes. By the way, in the grand tradition of Bloopers, here is one - The certs were made out to Rohit, aaaaaand, wait for it Ravi!!!! It was quite something to see poor Pakaw's face when he realised what had happened! Ravi on the other hand seemed quite okay with everything..

There was, on the first day we were there, events organised on the Beach, a very nice touch. I mean it really was the most enjoyable time ever! There were all sorts of informal on the spot kinda thingies happening, like "a prize to the guy who is first on the stage with a lipstick mark on his right cheek". Well, I tried...Aaaaaaaanyway, I also nearly drowned on Pepsi, and spent about half an hour wondering when I would throw up after that particular compt. Then Baba, Pakaw and I won three vouchers for Cafe Coffee Day for doing a version of "Humma Humma" that was well supposed to be sung one word at a time per person! Pakaw was up on stage for a couple of other things and came back richer by a couple of CDs and a hotly contested poster of Britney Spears. By the way, Baba, you ol' son of a so-and-so, I was in your room today and did not see it up, so darn it, lemme have it!!!!

The main event in the evening was Quiz-on-the-Beach. That was truly spectacular, and I really had the most fun ever! Wish I had a camera on me:-( anyway, there was more fun the next day, when Ravi and I were part of this Selling game, in which the team that won had no idea what the heck they were doing!!! They seemed so morose about a fantastic deal they had cut. The best part is that I am pretty sure their opponents thought they had done a great job! Gaaaah
Well, then Rohit and I went to buy TAPMI shirts for mementos and realised, if we were not misinterpreting the comment that they thought the IIM K contingent was the most fun contingent of the lot of B-Schools attending. Why? Well, our secret weapon Shounak, for one! Hugely popular already in just the three days he had been there! Not to mention the IIM K contingent being the only ones to ask for a Tee:-)) They also thought we were having a lot of uninhibited fun on the beach....too true.

Unfortunately, then we had to leave right after the prize distribution ceremony, involving the case of the misrepresented Pakaw, as mentioned above and rush to the railway station, where I was delighted to find the new set of the comics I regularly collect had just arrived. Now here we met on the train this unassuming guy who turns out to be first year M.S. and we were all rather impressed, I think. That puts a lot in perspective. I mean you spend a lot of money to become an MBA so you can earn a lot of money as fast as you can, but all the service is essentially for yourself. Fine, I know about increasing shareholder wealth, blah blah blah, but lets face it - you want money for ME! Now a doctor, he slaves for a relative age to get to a place where he starts to earn decently and fine, he is working for himself, but his work ultimately gets translated into a healthier society. You know, while on the subject of doctors, there is this extremely cute girl who became one, and yours truly had a massive thing for her once, and maybe why I kind of get all very patronising about the profession is that if she is doing it, hey it must be good!:-D

Well, at the end of it here we were, back in campus, and wondering what the HECK major was doing running up a hill at one in the night?!? Ill probably get back with that one....

Does IT Figure?

2004-09-10T01:41:00.000+05:30

I mean, darn, fume, grrr. I also mean, a pox, cure and a voodoo vengeance be visited upon the IT course in general. Not only am I not doing well, the powers that be( The collusive monopoly of the two IT profs) decided that the IT paper was not at all what was expected of our class and decided to have a retest. Waaah!!

In addition we are going to have Marketing classes scheduled from 9-10 pm for the next four - five days. We have QM presentations and exams flying thick and fast all the next week , as well as a couple of preponed end-term papers and a Financial Accounting quiz on which I am a solid ZERO as far as current prep goes. Then we have all of four major submissions (oh sorry, FIVE)!Too much more of this and I am afraid I shall find myself worried about premature ageing and hairloss!

I guess it is a little comforting to think that in two weeks, all this will be just a -hopefully fond- memory. I shall be back at home, and will sleep as much as is possible. Also I am dreaming about all the food joints that lie unaware of my impending attack on their menus! It will be a blessed relief to be back in the land where Dal Makhni is sold and where you know the food will taste alike regardless of which place you go to! NO unpleasant surprises there! Sweet Butter Chicken go to hell.....

There are so many people I am eager to meet! I have so much to do that will have to somehow be packed into 8 days! The unhappy fact however remains, that all throughout my holidaying, I will have to force myself to study a bit somehow! I will also have to remember to read the papers, and watch some TV, something that I have forgotten how to, in this place where time just serves the purpose of reminding you how behind your schedule you are.

By the way, I would like to mention that my friend Sharika Munshi was wearing a really nice Kurta today, in red and blue with mirrorwork, in what I may mistakenly believe is the Rajasthani style? No real reason, except I felt I should put in the human interest angle:-)Also she is a rather nice sort.

IIM K food could be a lot better at least three times a week:-( On that note, TA DA!
I wish there was a place where I could check up on the latest Wolverine comics. Or any comic in general, for that matter! I am starved of good wholesome non educational reading!

Nitaiiiiii Babaaaaaaaaah!! Yeh Jaam Tere Naam!!!

2004-09-05T01:45:00.000+05:30

My friend Nitai Utkarsh posted a comment about an earlier blog ( yes, I am aware that my blog count stands at the wonderfully even number of two. (BAD PUN!!) ) so I am making this effort to be rather more regular with the posts. Plus he believes I write well(or so he says), so, since flattery gets you everywhere, it gets Nitai a mention on my title! Yay for Nitai! Nitai for President! Errr..wrong country..Nitai for Prime Minister....hmmm...wrong locality(/religious sentiment ;-) )...Nitai for Scon!!! Got it right third time!!(One of those Mission Impossible scenes, no? Everyone was probably going going - Will he get it won't he...?)

Anyway, I am in a chatty mood tonight, I have many stories to tell, and I am trying to veer away from the off-colour ones, for no reason in particular, so lets see what interesting tale is going to tell itself tonight? For, tales do always seem to tell themselves...all they need is a little reflection on the part of the narrator and then the Captain Cook scene unfurls...Zarrrr se nikla jaata hai!!! Also, I believe in telling long rambling stories that make sense only to people who can muster the patience to listen to them. So in a way, a blog is The medium for me!!!

Right then, here we go! See now, the most interesting tales to a guy usually center around a girl or if the narrator is lucky, many girls. Many many many girls!!! Lots of girls! Lots and lots of them!! You know why? Because stories of how one makes a chump of oneself when in the company of the fairer(debatable) sex always draw good crowds. So tonight I relate the story of the first time I mustered up the courage to walk upto a girl and talk to her. Yes as many people might remember, the first post puberty chat with a girl is the one where you end up screwing your mental peace the most!!!

So here we have the great one (Me) falling base over apex for that really cute girl in my school and I decided to do something about it! So I walk up to her with a friend and she is standing near the FP stall with her friends and I am thinking - "Bloody Hell! Cant they dashed well just leave her alone for one second, for the love of God? Grrrr"

So all these interesting lines are going through my head, okay, - "If you would stand in front of a mirror with twelve roses, you would see thirteen beautiful things...Your dad must be an astronomer, You got stars in your eyes...." etc. etc....and as I walk up to her, it feels as if the world is moving in slow motion, and I can really feel my heart thumping harder with every step I am taking towards her, until I am sure "something bad will happen" (refer Asterix in Spain for details).

Uugaa Moogaa Gurrrrgleee Bloop Bliip, Blunlk??(Read these sounds as - Hi, I would really like your number, do you mind? or some words with the same general import!!) Well thats what it sounded to everyone around!! So my friend goes, hey your name is so-and-so, right? And she goes Yes, so he goes, Well my pal here would really like your number? So she goes Oh, ok, it is.... and I am nearly passing out from the nervous strain right now!!!

Anyway, joy was destined to be short lived...I carried over that damn stammer-bluster-blather into the phone conversation, ended up blurting what I knew best - one of those dirty jokes, which she never understood(, giving me a poor image of her under-developed intellect, by the way) and I am thinking all the time - Oh GAAAAAAAAAAAh!!!! what am I saying???????? And so that was the beginning of the end.....

I love these abrupt endings. It makes people feel they are being shortchanged, like watching the Matrix sequels. Fun Fun Fun!!!

I Feel Rather Wonky Right Now....

2004-09-02T19:56:00.000+05:30

You see, I have just realised that I have so much work to do that the only way to get it done is to write a blog and forget all about work. We had a day off on Tuesday (Todays a Thursday) and like I have done a billion times before, I wonder now why I did not work a bit more then. We have had so much happening that the fact never seemed to strike me that so much more was yet to come!!! You see, after the mid-terms, about two weeks back, we did not have a single free day, not even a Sunday, for another solid week!!! When the prof, our respected Panda Sir decided to go on leave it felt like life was worth living again. Well, they say that the fall does not kill you the impact does, and I feel, as I hurtle towards that not-so-far-away impact to this particular fall that I am kinda just flailing helplessly.

Now that I am griping, I feel that I should go off on an irrelevant tangent and mention that the food in our mess was terrible yesterday and I do hope, as it is mess time now, that it is better today. Yes, well...So we have two tests on Saturday, and I do not really see when I am studying for them in the near future. I have been trying to study Organisational Behaviour, but gave up when I started reading the same line over and over and over and ...oh well, you get the idea, and then I tried doing the case for Marketing, but that entails reading a corresponding chapter, so I gave That up as well, and then I tried doing accounts except I did not remember whether we did Direct or Indirect method of doing Something-or-The-Other, which, as is evident, I do not remember exactly, and so I started going bananas, and I find to my amazement that there IS something I can do! @#$@!@$#%^&

Oh whatever, I need to go and maudle my insides with the insidious parody of sustenance they call mess food on Thursday. Actually, it is pretty good on a Thursday...I am only griping cause they usually serve fried chicken and I can not have it because of it being a Thursday. But Wednesday, I can have chicken, yes, and what do they serve? Something I do not know the name of and my name for it is not really what you would call printable.

Ah the agony! And the best part is that we have mock GDs being conducted by our seniors. Now while I really do appreciate the fact that they are taking out so much time to help us, the sorry fact remains - I HATE GDs!!!! I have not seen one decent programme on TV for two months now, I have not even read the papers! I will probably get mothered, and ill have to smile through the damn bloodbath and pretend I am picking up pointers!!! I have to go there and report for the squad at 9:30 and the dashed thing will probably stretch on to over an hour and I will have no time when I get back to crib about at least one of the subject I need to fret about!

Basically, things are getting interesting.

Events Leading Up To and Causing My World!

2004-08-14T04:43:00.000+05:30

Hmm... Right..so you last saw me if at all, on yadiyadiya.blogspot.com however due to some error, it appears I can not access that dashed blog no more, and can add no more articles to that compendium of one. Oh well, no harm done. Free Blog space hai na.

Hence My World! , by the way...

I have had a rather packed week and even more eventful day. It appears the marketing prof was a bit bugged at my missing three of his classes in a row, and told the entire class that "this guy (i.e. me, )is no longer in my course!" Now that is so frustrating, especially when you study your ass off for his course and then because you work really late, you oversleep, and incidentally, overshoot his class. Oh well, that is resolved now, so I breathe a lil easier..

Also missed a QM presentation, and got another one tomorrow. I am supposed to handle the decision analysis part of it, and rather late in the day, 4 am to be precise, i realise that our basic assumptions are all wrong! So a rather large amount of rework is required. Noooooooo!!!

Then there was the class presentation for OB where two groups were supposed to evaluate Ratan Tata as a "Thought Leader"...whatever that means...so this group, i am told,(yes i missed that AS WELL!!) had no real preparation to speak of, and their speaker talks of Ratan Tata as the son of JRD Tata (was his nevvy) and even concocts an incident from when Ratan was a child!!! I laughed my guts out at that one! But the sweetest fact yet - no one caught on to his gaffe! Everyone was too bushed to care!

We have mid-terms starting Monday, two exams a day, for three days, in addition to an Economics assignment to be submitted on the day of the exam, and a possible OB surprise mid-term tomorrow, as one of my friends has just IMed me!!!! DAMN!! O Death, where is thy cruel sting......

What ever..................!