Trying to understand the CWG through a birthday party

Dear B-school aspiring students,
Today, we will try to analyze the CWG with help of an analogy to a birthday party.
The CWG has a very close resembles to the birthday party of a student in a hostel. Metaphorically of course.
Let me show you how, CWG had one scapegoat (Kal-mad) and hostel birthday parties have the birthday boy. Both get dirty without wanting to and get a good beating in be it physical or through the CBI (again, metaphorically of course). Now the beating can be kicks on the ass or being kicked into the Tihar.
In both the cases, there are some close people to the birthday boy (or the scapegoat) who also get pulled in for a beating. For example, I got a bit beaten up as the room mate of the birthday boy last night. Similarly, the close aides of Kal-mad were also getting their own share of beating.
A lot of people turn up in the hope of getting a piece of the cake or an aim for a cut (or a share of the free flowing money), but not all are able to get any action. This is because there are some people who are standing close to the birthday boy who get a big share of the tempting thing in front of them. And whoever is close makes sure that they dig into the tempting, mouth watering pie before anyone else is able to. (And trust me; getting a share is a very difficult thing). Those who get a piece of the pie are often not to be found later on, but hey, it was fun.
A lot of people get a bit drenched in the after math, when people are angry and trying to pull the spectators in as well. Such as the water buckets being flung across at the crowd. This part is mostly fun because everyone who is a target, runs, but gets at least partly wet, just like in the CWG case, there were people who were getting wet with allegations.
So, I wish that anyone trying to understand CWG should at least visit the hostel birthday party once. You will get a close picture.

A wednesday remembered on a wednesday.

I quote a friend of mine who was conveying his anger after the Mumbai blast today, and referring to the movie “A Wednesday”. He said something like this:
“we have become insular.... it hardly pinches us now... weve gotten so .... should i say used to events like this happening.
karna saalon ke saath wohi chahiye
they believe ki theyll obtain heaven... theyll have 22 virgins waiting at the gates
i say lets send the bastards to their heavens, and show them they are in HELL”


And the thought came, are we really so blind? What can change things? And the biggest, can we change things?
We should be educating every other person in basic sense of belongingness to this country, irrespective of how you hate or love this place. At last, it is home.
Make renting out flats and cars without ID proof impossible. Hey choke those people for supplies they need.
Make sale of cars to any tom dick and harry impossible. Don’t let them have any way to move around with privacy.
There is no point in getting wild ideas like that in the movie “A Wednesday”. Like the work that Naserudeen Shah portrayed. A simple man with a simple aim. To clear the cockroaches in his house.
Because holding terrorists at gun point is not the way to fix this place or these people. And lets accept it, not all of us can do such a feat like that. I would admire someone who may someday do such a thing in reality, but I know I am not the one. I also know that most of my friends are not that person either( atleast I pray so).
I loved the movie “A Wednesday” like any other patriot did. I too hate the Indian judiciary system which has not yet hanged the sole 26/11 captive. And I hate that CBI (or for the matter any Indian investigating agency) takes years to solve cases. But then are we the citizens perfect? So many out there sell cheap material that may be used as a component to make an explosive device. At times for barely a few hundred rupees.

I really pray that everyone out there is not following the “Don’t see any bad” word to word. Because my friends, if you see something fishy or something wrong, please don’t just turn a blind eye. We are not in a perfect world, but play a part to save someone if you can, cause tomorrow if he survives, he may save one of us.

Why did I write this? Why did I get back at writing today when I had given up on my writing?
Because I feel pain....
I feel like crying and shouting right now
I feel like beating someone up...i feel like consoling the ones who have lost their family members.....
I feel like doing exactly what Nasurudeen Shah did....
But i dont have the courage or the brains to do it. I also know that I am angry right now and tomorrow I may even forget all this.....I feel the pain right now, and I wanna change things cause I dont wanna feel this pain again...

NITIE Groove

Today I think I can take a proper night sleep. The groove session that went on from 16th till the 19th of this month was just a wakeup call. This session, which was just a testing phase was more of a trailer to a movie. Short, crisp but still giving thrill.
The introduction session or the orientation as I would like to call it, made me (and I believe many others too) realize that there are miles to go before I (or we) sleep. And I was desperate to sleep.
16th June, Day one, after the document verifications, some friends and I went for X-Men. Funny, I was pretty sure thats NOT how a B-school experience is supposed to start. It was totally worth it. We were 3 or 4 people who had planned this, but the group became a mamothic 18 which went in 6 autorikshaws. The lady at the ticket counter for a few seconds was trying to comprehend if she heard our request for 18 tickets correctly. The icing on the cake, the movie was AWESOME. But hey, the story for this day is not over yet. The evening consisted of seniors telling us about NITIE and different things about the streams. And then came the all nighter problem. The assignment consisting of a case study, one of a kind that I had never worked on before. So my team(Pallavi, Depankar, Nishant & Abhijeet) and I worked till about 4AM, and tried to finish it .With a few hours sleep, we assembled the following morning for a tour of the campus. I doubt if more than half the people from the previous night’s assignment turned up. But then I can’t blame them, even I had seriously thought of skipping the tour(oh wait, I did part of it). The continuously on and off rain made the trip interesting, although a bit irritating later on.
And then another round of introductions, discussions and group tasks did the rounds post our breakfast. Though the whole thing was interesting, I was unable to comprehend why we were re-doing similar activites over and over again. (Until later on I realized that it helped me make friends with a lot of people. And trust me, in Mumbai or Delhi I say a lot of people, it really means a lot of people)
So by evening, post our dinner, we entered another round of Case study. This time, it was a finance based case study. And I must confess, it was equivalent to a bludgeon attack. It was like something knocked us down (metaphorically of course, but equally painful). With watering eyes I (and im sure many others) cursed those who brought upon us this wrath and fury. The whole thing gradually started feeling like a torture. What kind of sadist would force work like this on innocent lives like mine(too dramatic? Seniors, please read the whole thing before commenting!!!)
But hold on, just when it was all going to get better, it went further down the same road. Another round of activites in the morning, with running for Lunches in between and then a few guest lectures. One might have thought that, all will be well. (I remind Amir khan, that all izz not always well). The tight deadline continued on that day too. We were again under a weird illogical timeline. But this time, we got an assignment of a subject for which I have always carried an aversion. Things could not have got worse. Or so I thought. But then, the assignment seemed interesting. Hey, did I write the last few words correct??? I have always been pretty sure that marketing was not my cup of tea. So what made me feel interested in an assignment that was pretty much marketing? A domain that I have mostly been averse to. May be because the assignment was related to understanding women (something related to women’s clothing line). Yes, I am pretty sure that was it, the WOMAN factor. No wonder I felt so revived. No more feeling of sleep deprivation. We didn’t even feel like going to bed at about 5AM . The next morning, I got up, a bit with some enthusiasm, hoping that the work I put in my supposedly averse subject might prove to be a decent piece of work. By afternoon, the results were announced, and I didn’t make it. I thought, dude what the hell?? I decided that my decision to stay away from marketing stood ground. I thought, “My work was way better than that of those who won”. And then someone pointed out my faults, in my work and in my attitude. Yes, I am human and prone to poor judgment at times. But now I look back at the last 3-4 days and at the whole thing with a big picture, and don’t regret a task or a thing I did. I liked(or let me just say, didn’t dislike) almost everything. I am once again open to marketing. But hold on, I need to think again. Oh man, this is just confusing!!!!!
The final closure of the whole thing came with a pretty enjoyable welcome note and a souvenir (the one that was Richa’s initiative with finger prints and palm prints). Yes, I don’t regret one thing over the last few days. Thanks to a bunch of people such as Varun, Noor, Utsav, Mac, Ravi, Harish, Richa, Nupoor and many more. I really am sorry for forgetting some names, but it is too late in the night to wake someone up to confirm. So I close this post as my first from NITIE. My place for the next 2 years. Someone, please wake me up in the morning for my first class. Don’t think I wanna be late considering that it is now 2AM.

last day at work

I cursed it a lot, I got mad at it so much, but in the end, it is something I will always remember. I talk of my first company, where I almost spent 3 years. Learnt a lot, and made friends. Though I am not being sentimental about it, I am unable to find a better word than nostalgic.
I left behind some friends and then there were those for whom I said "good riddance"

anyway, my good bye email went something like this:

I have been trying to capture the last 3 years in last 2 days… it’s not that easy.
You know how in the movies, someone has sudden flash backs about important events and then there is a realization? No, I am NOT having that. Though I am trying to.
What I have learnt in my first job is something I doubt I will ever forget. Maybe I might learn a few skills, but nothing to the magnitude of the learning in last 3 years. Being the first job, the first company, I didn’t have trouble getting familiar with everything new around, with tones of helpful people.
20th June 2008 onwards, I started learning how to work with diverse teams. When we were younger, in college or in school, we used to team up with friends for our project works. In your work life, things are a bit different. You work with people who know about the project or the assignment. You consult even people you may not like. But at the end of the day, you don’t worry about working with friends, but working with people just because they have a “skill set”. If during the process you make friends with them, Great, but either way, you work for getting the work done. That’s what I was lucky with. I worked with people I didn’t know. Met them because of their skill set, and over the duration, made friends. Not only that, I made friends with people who I commuted with. Made friends with people who I met through other friends and BLAH BLAH BLAH …But when I look back, I think I liked most of it.

And I don’t think I can forget the help I got from my team, the Patient handling team. Thanks , , and .

Though I bit adieu, I will make sure I keep in touch with friends from here, who I am sure I will cross path with soon. It’s a small world out there.

B-school old-age home?

I am writing on my blog after god knows how long (didn’t even feel like checking the date of my last post).
And well, I confess, my post today is totally inspired after reading this article that reminded me of something that I have been fearing for so long.( Link to the “INSPIRING” story: http://siddheshagashe.blogspot.com/2011/05/tragedy-of-being-25-in-indian-bschool.html)
Talking about my Life in a B-school? Huh? What? I barely could study and get through my engineering what am I gonna be doing in a B-school? And to top it off, I even hate reading the documents in my projects at the office, even the ones that are barely 3 pages long. What happens when i have t pull the all nighters like what the seniors have told us? Why the hell did I even bother to chase a CAT 3 scary times? Probably cause the technical line is not for me. And studying abroad is another story altogether. Hell I don’t even know what specialization I will be opting for when I go into the 2nd year of the college.
Did I get too comfy in my job? No, not really, cause I’m sure I worked hard to balance a decent performance at work and a not too bad performance with the felines (read CAT,XAT etc). but then, it’s a whole new and different world out there. 2AM being assignment submission deadlines, books, reading , journals reading, and on top of that, you gotta seriously think about your future. OH Man, im pretty much wetting my pants thinking of the life, in the b-school.
Destiny has a weird thing going on for me, and I guess for the matter pretty much every other person. Last season I had worked very hard. Used to get up at 3:30 or 4 in the morning, study for a few hours, occasionally go to the gym or for a round of jogging before I left for work where a a decent project awaited me at the office. With confidence filled attitude, I was pretty sure to at least get an IIM-K if nothing else, I didn’t even bother to apply to “PETTY” colleges like LBS or any of the Symbiosis and guess what? A dismal 93 %ile in CAT last year and a borderline 97%ile in XAT, I realized that the only call I have is from XIM-B. With a weird sense of depression and confusion, I went on my onsite trip to the USA keeping track of the waitlist movement everyday at XIM-B, and finally at the time of closure of the admission at XIM-B, I was at waitlist 3. I can truly say that Pagalguy made me Pagal. Then I told myself, “Dude, these stupid B-schools don’t deserve you”, and I mentally prepared to write GMAT, go abroad, and maybe look at a financially secure future probably in USA/Australia/Singapore or what not, but not India. I guess that was my anger speaking. I came back to India and talked to many people and finally thought of writing CAT for the 3rd and last time in my life. I was prepared to give it one last shot before I gear up for the main thing lying in front of me. The idea was to prove to myself that India B-schools are more like factories churning out robots. With competition oozing from every sweat drop, there is no scope of breathing; we would become robots in flesh.
So I joined a crash course at TIME, and started preparing giving a half heartedly effort ( compared to my previous season of hard work). I got percentiles in the range of 40 to 98 in the mock tests. So I told myself, “There is no shame in applying to decent places like LBS, Symbiosis, NIRMA this year. All I need to do is forget my arrogance that I was possessed by last year, and I will surely join some B-school this year. “ And the cycle of preparing started all over again. So I filled roughly 25-30 application forms to colleges that I had totally ignored last year, spend roughly a total of Rs 90,000 on my TIME classes, and B-school applications and another 25,000 on travel expenses to interviews to colleges that don’t bother to setup interview centers in other cities. All this because I was pretty sure that I would not get above 92% ile in any entrance exam that I write for any B-school.
As I mentioned, destiny has a funny thing going on for me. I surprisingly got decent percentiles in all my exams. Well I say decent cause I was not expecting as much in any of the exams, and with my percentiles, the only calls I didn’t get were from the older IIMs. So I was pretty happy for a few weeks, getting calls, going for interviews to almost all the colleges that I had applied. To top it off, I was among those who had 2.5+ years of work experience, so if any B-school had some marks for that, I would at least ace that section.
And then the results started pouring out. Each time, my breathing slowed down as I tried to open pages for results, I logged on each website, and each time I realized that I have a either cleared the interviews or have a waitlist close to clearing(except for MDI where I don’t know if the WL will get cleared).
I had resigned from my job since I had secured admission in B-schools such as XLRI(HRM), NITIE, and am waitlisted at MDI. I think all these are decent B-schools and hope that there will be a few more people who would be roughly as old as me. I will turn 25 this year, and by the time I am out of a b-school, I will be almost 27. My fellow blogger who inspired me to write this blog today is right on most counts. I consider myself Uncle even without someone giving me that nickname. regarding girls in B-schools, I could not gather courage or find someone interesting enough in the last 24 years of my life, “Ab kya teer maar loonga?”( what could I achieve in the next 2 years with grueling pressures to keep us busy?). Regarding the politics, I hope to at least learn a bit of it. Could not do it in my company, could not do it in during the under-graduation, and I really am praying that I finally get placed in a city with affordable cost of living or with a fat salary to support me in pocket burning cities like Mumbai. Shit, I already feel the heat from the burnt wallet.
I have not spent my 34 Months of working in IT, but in a very niche field of medical equipments engineering, so I can proudly say, “I AM DIFFERENT”. I am even willing to come back to the same company in a better role, in a capacity having more and better responsibilities, and yes, definitely with a better salary. I am hopefully parting on decent terms (well, with at least with most people).
The bottom line is, i dont know if i will fit in. In the crowd of the freshers and those who have lesser work ex than me.
Is there a chance for a better salary jump and a leap in the role within a company? God I really hope so. Otherwise the obsession with B-school with sleepless nights, with tensions comparable only to hostage negotiations and fear like that in a combat situation, all my work would have been for nothing.
So, with an extremely pessimist attitude, will walk into a B-school and prepare for the worst. Maybe if things turn out better, I can take solace in that fact that life may not really be as screwed as I feared. And if things turn out bad, I can tell myself, dude, life is screwed for everyone. Try to relax.

PS: apologies to anyone specially from Tier 2 B-schools. I am genuinely sorry if I offended your college.

after my first trip to america

For the first time in my life, I am feeling depressed and worried. Recently I went to the USA for a duration of about two months. My first overseas visit, changed my opinion about at least the USA. I was prejudiced that Americans are arrogant and a stupid bunch of people. I was prejudiced that as an Indian, I could face racial discrimination every other day in their country. But, I barely faced any trouble in the American state Michigan known to have among the highest crime rates. I was actually surprised the way a random stranger also greets you with a good morning or some other form of pleasantry, and though I agree that not all Americans try to help you in trouble, many do. One of the things that I loved about USA, was the way people respect rules, specially traffic rules. Driving in America is a pleasant experience, unlike in India. I think now I have a lot of respect for these Americans.

Earlier I used to take solace in the fact that in my county, I am not treated as a second grade citizen. But I was wrong. Last week I had a minor accident when someone hit my car from the rear, and the person who was driving rashly, started even threatening me with dire consequences. From my experience, police are of no help unless i give them a photograph of the criminal or unless the rash driver has a record of negligence driving or any other offense. Therefore it made no sense to follow up with the police. Am I a first grade citizen this country? Maybe if I have a lot of connections to powerful people or maybe if a I have a lot of money that I am willing to share a little with Police.

There was an article today in the Indian Express about a young man working with a Pharmaceutical company who got shot while trying to resist attempts of chain snatchers, in a crowded locality with many witnesses. Not surprisingly no bystander helped and the police made no arrests. It would be expecting too much from our police to even make headway into the investigation.

On page two of the same paper on the same day, Mr Y.S.Dadwal, our Chief of Police pointed out that even in developed nations, crime is high and in India the media always makes a mountain out of a molehill. Unfortunately, he did not mention that such crimes also get solved and settled in courts, unlike in our nation, where cases remain open for years and are contested in courts for sometimes decades.
Watching the news in USA or UK, he would realize that American media is more sensitive to such issues, and they do not just report news of such crimes. they follow up from every possible angle.

Kindly note that in areas like Chanakyapuri, where Mr Dadwal himself lives, and where high profiles people such as the daughter of our Prime Minster and other powerful bureaucrats live, there have been cases of kidnappings and rapes. This supposedly posh area adjoins markets like the Yashwant Place which are a haven for drug peddlers at night, or take for example the Sarojini Nagar market which is so contested that every festive season, there needs to be an alert issued against terror strikes.

Of course, in some aspects, Delhi police is a lot better than Gurgaon or NOIDA, where approaching the police means getting brushed off with abuses, but I would still want to ponder over the fact, that will we ever be a safe society where, crime is at a very low level if not completely eradicated?

If NCR is having crime go unchecked, I really wonder how it is in other states? Is it not worth migrating to a safer place, even of I may(or may not) be a first grade citizen? Atleast I wont get pushed around by the more powerful people.

ambassador

If I ask, which is the most recognizable car of the Indian roads. Some might say it is Maruti 800. The car that revolutionized the Indian market. But I am talking about something even before the 800 came into the market. The Hindustan Motors Ambassador. Believe it or not, majority of the general public hates this car, which has survived the evolving market for the last 5 decades. But not many know that this car awes a lot of people. The car still attracts a great appeal and devotion. And the car is so attractively priced, that it can fit the pocket of any average Indian who goes to the market to buy a car. But sadly it is not so. The sturdiest car that I have ever known, unfortunately does not score high on design and aesthetics. The Indian government is the only major buyer of this car. The car, which is associated with politicians and bureaucrats, holds an image of being sluggish, slow, and low on comfort and has also has the image of a taxi. It does not get the attention it deserves. The car, which now has an Isuzu 1.8 Liter engine, is very comfortable, something people do not realize. The newer models have very comfortable seating and a powerful air conditioner. Of course many other cars, which are slightly cheaper and quicker in terms of acceleration, are available in the market. These cars are also cheaper to drive, with lower maintenance and running costs, but one hit to these kinds of cars, and the mark is distinctively visible. While on the other hand, only a fool would dare to drive rashly around the beautiful Amby (as it is popularly called). The vintage look of the car allures many, and for the same reason, is despised. But then even a Crown Victoria has mixed responses. ( please don’t think that we can remotely compare a Crown Vic and an Ambi...both are in a different league altogether).
The rugged Ambi can handle any terrain. I have read and heard about people (politicians and in some cases some bureaucrats) ) who have given up their Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas to be driven around in an Amby. This is the charm that the car has.
This lovely car is a dream machine for many, but sadly the market is not so welcoming for this aging beast, which offers more value for money than any other car. The newer versions of the car have power steering, powered windows (I think only for the front though) and a load of other features that everyone will agree that are making it an attractive deal, if only the looks were better. The car has been having almost (ALMOST), the same looks since it's introduction in the year 1958(source: wiki) and most of the loyalists would prefer to retain the older look.
I for one would love to buy the new version( the Ambassador Grand). Considering the features it is offering. But a lot of people find the Ambassador Avigo) quite attractive.
A few months back I tried to drive an older version of the Amby. The car was very heavy and since it did not have a power steering, it did not respond well to people like me addicted to power steering.
At this point of time, I cannot afford a car, but if I could, well I would seriously consider the Amby as a second car(may be not for daily use, but for cruising along on my weekends).
To all those car enthusiast out there, tell me honestly if you feel otherwise, because I know, you most probably will agree with me on this. Because no matter what, I will always have my first love as the Amby.