! Abode Of Eternal Monks !

Too soon - Monsoon

2006-06-01T04:56:00.000-07:00

It started raining. Some pessimist call it pre-monsoon while some refer to call it monsoon shower. Nothing extra-ordinary happened yesterday, but junta in bombay just love to over-hype things. Yes it created havoc, but the rain nothing compared to the amount of rain that usually takes place in bombay. Other than the "hyping issue" the rains did bring out the unpreparedness of BMC and Mumbai administration. With what I would call a drizzle, the roads were filled with water, taxi went mad noone wanted to go to any place. Network was acting crazily for some time atleast. And the media got a story to tell. They were definitely bored by all the stock market and reservation news atleast for now. Even if anyone snezzes here, they have a news.
Considering it was just the first rain of the season, I am a bit scared as to what will happen later. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that it won't be as bad as what had been last 26th July!! So to celebrate the rain I'll go out and watch X-Men - III .......
Hope that I would be regular with the blogs in coming days.

Start of the Day

2006-05-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well this blog I am writing just as soon as I entered office. And since the BQ (Boringness Quotient) usually is staying at the top for me, so what's better than to put down feelings in a blog.
A lot has happened since my last blog. Nothing substantial though, just the fact that there were a few incidences worth putting on my blog. Goa trip was good. Met new people. Had fun. Drunk and Slept like a dog (I know dog doesn't drink much). Whatever!!!
And other than that life has been dull duller dullest! Nothing much happening in my life of 2 Ps. Professional sucks big time. Personal atleast gets a slight edge over the other P. And all the credit of the personal goes to the God's greatest gift to mankind: The Television. Mr Baird, the whole world owes you a lot.
Another good news for me is that I won a laptop. A second hand from office for a sum of 5200/-. And it is in Rupees. So now I have something to in my free time back at home. So anyone wants to courier me any CD plz do it ASAP.
Let me just hope and pray that this quotient goes down and my stocks do well in the market and McMahonism continue...........

No Suitable Topic

2006-04-09T23:54:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about writing about this issue for a long time but finally our honorable HRD minister Arjun Singh gave me the opportunity. Yes the topic is of reservation.

To start off with numbers, OBCs account for nearly 50% India’s population. And hence this fact gives government the right logic to provide the 27% reservation in elite institutions like IIT-IIM and other central universities.
(Why not 50% for SC ST OBC, 13% religious minorities, 12% brahmans, 6% women, 10% Persons whose name start with M, remaining 9% for the proles)

Let us first look at the logic behind it. As what Mr. Arjun Singh said "Thus, advancement of socially and educationally backward classes of the citizens (OBCs) in matters of admission - including reservation of seats and any other means - is an existing constitutional scheme and by no stretch of imagination is a new announcement".

To counter the same
Personally I am a believer of equality of opportunity not of equality of distribution. And what the government is doing here is the latter. Without the basic fundamentals being clear one cannot expect a student to get through the curriculum of IITs/IIMs/Central Universities. With the steps that government is taking, it is not bringing the level of OBC students up rather plummeting the standard of these elite institutions. These institutions are considered to be the epitome of meritocracy. They are the face that Indian market is projecting to the west as sign of its prowess. Now diluting the same would be pushing oneself back 50 years. Can you imagine that tomorrow when you wake up and pick up the new paper and come across a news item saying:

BCCI has decided to reserve 49.5% player’s position for SC/ST/OBC

You can’t have merit suffer on the basis of caste and creed and that too 60 years after independence. I have known people coming to IITs from these backgrounds and facing difficulties in coping up with the curriculum. It is not right even for those seeking admission on the basis of reserved quota as it eventually leads to a feeling of being outcaste and demoralized.

As I mentioned earlier that I believe in equality of opportunities I mean that government instead of providing seats at IITs and IIMs should rather focus on providing the right education from the nursery level itself. It is not correct to put someone straight into an extremely competitive environment with the fundamentals still unclear. If right kind of education is provided right from start they are bound to excel. No one is born a stud, this is what I believe.

PS: Why 49.5%, why not 50, 60, 70 . Are we still playing the psychological game!

Trek to Rajmachi

2006-03-26T22:30:00.000-08:00

Weekends are going great for me. Let me just recollect
4th March: Khandala Lonavla trip
11th March: Cricket match
18th March: Rishikesh White water rafting
25th March: Trek to Rajmachi

I never got time to blog down the details of any of these but I dont want to miss this one out. This was planned by my colleagues and I joined them cos I dint want to play cricket that weekend. There were five of us in all. It turned out that we had to leave by 0500 hrs from Dadar, which ofcourse was a painful task for me. We somehow made it to Karjat (2Hrs from from Dadar) by about 0830.

Started the trek immediately after having breakfast. Had a nice lunch at the top of the hill in a small model village. A brilliant experience. Theres nothing much that I want to write about, let the pictures talk for this trek !!

It was a beautiful site form the top. An exhausting trek cos of the sun. One should start real early here. Take a place for the night in any village and then start early in the morning. Luckily our guide was a real stud. He took us top and believe me if it would not have been him we would have definitely come back from half way. I hope the next rek is in monsoon for me !!

The one conclusion that came out the trek: Never go for trekking on a hot sunny day (We consumed 11 litre of water while climbing)

Rating of the trek: Medium (But tough for a sunny condition)

First time.. good exp

2006-03-22T01:28:00.000-08:00

It's not the first time that many might be thinking of ! It's my first time watching an international match live in a ground. Yes, I am talking of wankhede test ; England Vs India, 5th day. Thanks to a senior of mine, who gave me the passes right at the eleventh hour!!

Nice match for England ofcourse. A spineless chase by India. Despite all these, it was one of my best days; only because I got to see Sachin waving to me from the middle of the pitch. Won't you feel great if Sachin raises the bat to you.

It was fun to watch a match live on ground. All those crowd shouting for India and Sachin. The Mexican wave. I missed being at North Stand.

"Flintoff is a Ba*****"
"Pakistan Chor Hai !! "
"Sutta song "

Thats from guest stand

Panesar dropping the catch "Darne ki kya baat hai, Monty humare sath hai "
There was this guy who was booing Sachin again. He was shut by the rest! Sachin was infact cheered while leaving.

Thats from MCA stand

First experience at MCA pavillion. Not bad!! Felt almost we were on the field. I first went to Guest stand then moved to MCA Pacillion. It was an awesome experience. All those barmy army chics were also there !! And in the same attire as they were being shown in each and every news paper ............

I could write a lot about this day, but guess watching Sachin bat says it all !!!

Rubaroo

2006-02-01T00:50:00.000-08:00

People (including me) say that I am very bad at lyrics. Let me give a shot!!

Ae SAALAA !!!
Abhi abhi .. Hua yakeen ...
Ki aag hai .. Mujhme kahin...
Hui subah.. Main jal gaya..
Suraj ko main .. Nigal gaya ...
Rubaroooooo
Roshniiiii
Rubaroooooo
Roshniiiii Hey !!!!

Jo gumshudaa... Sa khawaab tha...
Woh mil gaya .. Woh khil gaya..
Woh loha tha.. Peeghal gaya..
Kheecha kheccha .. Machal gaya.. (Doubtful)
Sitar me.. Badal gaya...
Rubaroooooo
Roshniiiii
RubarooooooRoshniiiii Hey !!!!

Dhuan chata.. Khula gagan mera..
Nayi dagar .. Naya safar mera...
Jo ban sake tu humsafar mera.. Nazar mila zara..
Dhuan chata.. Khula gagan mera..
Nayi dagar .. Naya safar mera...
Jo ban sake tu humsafar mera.. Nazar mila zara..

Aandhiyon se jhagad rahi hai laun meri..
Ab mashalo si bad rahi hai laun meri...
Naamo nishaan rahe na rahe ..
Yeh karvaan rahe na rahe ..
Ujaale main ... Pee gay....
Roshan hua .. Jee gaya..
Kyon sehte rahe ...
Rubaroooooo
Roshniiiii
RubarooooooRoshniiiii Hey !!!!

Dhuan chata.. Khula gagan mera..
Nayi dagar .. Naya safar mera...
Jo ban sake tu humsafar mera.. Nazar mila zara..
Rubaroooooo
Roshniiiii
Rubaroooooo Roshniiiii Hey !!!!

Ae SAALAA !!!Ae SAALAA !!!Ae SAALAA !!!

Ho gaya.. One shot !!!!!! No pause..

Back After the SLUMBER !!

2006-01-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

Coming back to the blog world after a long long time I am lost as to what I should write about. But after reading abt the decision by Sidin I felt that yes it's an excellent medium to bring out your thoughts. Blogging to me feels as if I am punching a bag to take out my whatever frustration or happiness that I have in my life. But it seems that nothing much has happened to me since I left blogging and nothing of that important nature that I could share with the rest. But yes, I did participate in the Mumbai Marathon which was something great. Though the crowd did not really give me a chance to show my potential (by coming first), but still !!
One thing I have decided for sure that next time I am into a 21Km stretch and probably stand on the podium and collect some medals for display !!

Here are the pics from that !! And important lesson learnt "Sutta doesnot reduces your stamina"

Shatranj Ke Mohre

2005-11-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

Sunday: 13th Nov '05

I had planned to sleep through the complete day. But fate had something else for me.
Morning went by asusual. A friend (AJ) asked me to come for a play. I agreed. And so the sleeping plan was dropped and forgotten. Went to Prithvi. Somehow managed to get two tickets. Had to ditch 2 of our other frens for the same. With tickets in hand, we went for a beer. And very casually entered the theatre about 45 sec before 6. As usual, we were the last one to enter. Being a free seating system we were left with no seat. But perhaps we got the best seat of the lot. The STAIRS...
The play started at 6:02 PM. And Prithvi, according to my dramatics freak friend, is probably one of the most innovative kind of theatre.
It's a story of about two schools of thinking which is depicted through two main character:
Kakaji, a laid-back 60 year old retired forest officer
And Acharya, an extremely disciplined Gandhian principle follower.

The play had satirically brought out the difference between the two ways of thinking with the help of various characters.
It had some big shots. The name which I could remember are:
Rakesh Bedi, Avtar Gill, Bharat Kapoor, Rajeshwari Sachdev... Rest I can just identify the serials in which they act.
The play made me laugh like anything. After a long time something has made laugh continuosuly. And seriously, I did understand the hidden meaning of the play. The ending to me could have been improved. Instead of Acharya accepting the fact that his school of thnking is not correct, both the main character should have stood for principles.

But one think is for sure, atleast I have realized that instead of wasting my time and money on movies, I would rather go and watch plays.
After the play had dinner at Alfredo's. And the day ended with Toto's; as usual !!`

Born at the Right Time

2005-11-10T18:23:00.000-08:00

Sitting outside the sprawling malls of Mumbai or for that matter Delhi, you feel so secure and good about the progress India has made. How cursorily you get lost in this satisfying and solacing thought of the advancement of India.

The deluge of FDI and FII coming to India makes you push back, recline on the concrete seats looking up the sky, counting the glittering stars and then start thinking whether the stars used to glitter the same way in past. Whether life was so very exciting and comforting back then !

Ofcourse not, we have moved on..
India has progressed..
We are very soon going to be a developed country..
And yes we will definitely realize our 2020 vision..

Isn't it nice. You thank god! You have been born at a right time in this country which was so very much wounded in not so far away past !! Just looking at the stars you tend to drown in this feeling of achievement. Suddenly someone tugs your neatly crumbled Wrangler jeans. You wake up.. A baby carrying another baby on her back looks into your eyes and says... no she doesnot say anything she just keeps tugging ur trouser.. Her face soiled. Her companion's face equally collied.. You dont know for how long hasnt she eaten. Her skin almost falling off her bones ..

You turn around. Looks at the immense mall building right behind you, looks up the glittering stars. And pulls your leg away. Go into the mall, watch a movie and sleep through thinking "I have been born at the right time"

7 Effective Habits of Highly Successful People

2005-11-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Since ZXCV had tagged me .. So here it goes !! I wont be tagging it to any1 ..

I. 7 things i want to do before i die

1. Bungee jumping from helicopter Grand Canyon
2. Fly a plane
3. Travel across India and world
4. Sex (V V important!! )
5. Quit smoking for ever (I failed this time, lasted for 70 odd hours)
6. Merc SLR / Porsche 911 (Different league all together, but same thing to me)
7. Write my own book !!

II. 7 things i can do

1. Sleep like I have never Sl.....
2. Eat
3. Travel in local trains during peak hours (9 AM and 7-8 PM) !!
4. All what I have said in previous 7 things I want to do
5. Visit Toto's on weekend (Surely I can do that)
6. Quit smoking anytime I want to !!
7. Always keep my words. Just like what happened with smoking thing !!

III. 7 things i say the most

1-7 None of them are worth mentioning here !! But other than that...

Shit
Mast
Hai Kya!! (A hostel discovery)

IV. 7 things i cant do

1. Sit idle for long (Only if I am not sleeping)
2. Wake up early in the morning
3. Sleep early in night
4. Quit smoking for ever (What to do, I am repeating this all the time cos this was something that happened very recently)
5. Play footie in Bombay
6. Remember everyone's B'day
7. Other than above 6; nothing

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex

1. Smile
2. Eyes
3. Body
4. Dimaag !!
5. Same frequency
6. Honest
7. Straightforward .. Don't talk to me ghooma fira ke !!

VI. 7 Celebrity crush

1. Angelina Jolie
2. Preity Zinta
3. Elisha Cuthbert
4. Amrita Rao ( Cell wallpaper currently)
5. J Lo (Long back)
6. Cameron Diaz
7. Alicia Silverstone
Sorry to the rest whom I can't fix in here !! Next time definitely ...

VII. 7 people i want to tag

Right now none...

So anyone reading this, please remember: U too can be successful, just follow my path ;)

Freakonomics

2005-10-26T05:02:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading Freakonomics: A Rouge Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.
I had been postponing my plans to pick up this book. Went to the bookstore, thought since I have nothing to do, so y not pick up this book. Knew that this book is not that technical and it certainly turned out that ways.
A great book to read. Though in the end it becomes slightly stretching! The way Steph/ven have explained various phenomenon is absolutely amazing. To find a corelation so deep is SOMETHING!! If u have to think something like that, please get rid of ur conventional thinking.
In between my read, I thought the best way to fulfil my career goals is to do a PhD under Levitt. But when in the end it became somewat slow and repetetive (last chapter), thought it's better to stick to my field (which I am not sure as to wat my field actually is) ....
Whom it might be of interest to:

Any economics student. (Think different)
Sociologists
And anyone who doesn't have anything to do right now

Awesome read.. U wont feel like putting it down. Go ahead read this one and trust me u'll certainly have FUN !!

Cost : somewhere 350-450 .. Buy it from flora fountain u can get it for 75 bucks..

IIPM official response..

2005-10-24T02:52:00.000-07:00

Well this topic has really kept me busy at times when I have nothing to do. Woke up late in the morning as I had to go to passport office for some stupid ECNR stamp. The work got done. But unfortunately a friend of mine who went along with me couldnt find any luck.

The reason: Residents of Belapur have to get their ECNR stamp from Thane

But anyways, for me atleast it's rare to get things done in one go. So that dint come as a surprose for me.

But I m not here to blog abt this passport saga, rather it's abt the IIPM saga. I picked up my HT today morning and the third page had an AD by IIPM. And since I had read most of the blogs abt this IIPM controversy, this thing was of interest to me. Here are few of IIPM's clarification:

Except for one campus in Delhi, all other campus provides world class facility which icludes "the swimming pool, 300 seater auditorium, mini golf course" in exact accordance of what IIPM ad mentions.
Most of the top Management Guru do come to IIPM for lectures exclusive for IIPM students.
And that most of the recruiters mentioned in the list do come for placement.

That's wat IIPM came out with. Well all said and done, why is it that everyone who are not from IIPM are against it. If one is against this institute because of freedom of speech then it's fine. But to me the more apparent reason that comes to my mind is the fact that Mr. AC, without having a big shot IIT-IIM degree is considered as a top management guru. And the reason why this controversy is having a good time is just because everyone wants to see the downfall of the self made management guru.

But theres one thing that surprises me is the hue cry created by the junta of IIPM. JAM came with an issue abt falling standards of IIT Delhi. None of the students made such a tamasha. The only thing that happened was the fact that the magazines excerpts were posted on the notice board.

Let's wait and see where this tamash takes a new turn !!

Some funny incidents !!!

2005-10-21T02:27:00.000-07:00

Recently Salaam Namaste inspired me to look at the comic part of day to day life.

Where's yours husbands??

Wife Working, husband jerking!!

Saim to saim (read same to same) !

Wife, wat does i says about the indians??
Sorry !!
Exhactliii

Now that was one movie which made me remember the dialogues .. ofcourse B Possitive of No Entry was also cool..

But we also come across some really nice funny incidents in our daily life... Just now while chatting with a friend, I thought of putting up this blog..

Yahoo trouble !!

Never have ur boss' name similar to ur frens.. this is wat happened to a fren of mine in his office

Bhola: Kyon yaar .. us ch***ye se baat karne ka fayda nahi hai .. woh nahi samjhega .. deemaag nahi hai ...
Mola: Sorry who's this .. and y are u calling name in ur IMs..

well instead of Mola (who's the boss) this message was meant for Mila .. well wat happened later was this guy (Bhola) was asked not to use hindi language in office.. and he ofcourse deleted his boss' id from his friend's list..

Then again a friend of mine wanted to call his boss to his cubicle .

Friend: Can u come over here for a sex

well he never realised that this keyboard is a powerful tool and can put u to embarrasment at times.. yes anyone can mistype X for a C ....

then there was this resume which i saw once.. it read like

Instrumental in ruining entire sales operation for an FMCG company..

agn not his fault... U and I are pretty close together..

and then this is my fav.

Reason for leaving last job: They insisted that all employees get to work by 8:45 a.m. every morning. Could not work under those conditions.

Ethics .. does it exist ???

2005-10-20T04:56:00.000-07:00

i am getting extremely bored today.. bored to death. with absolutely nothing to do...
made the presentation which i was supposed to ..
since morning i am searching for ways to pass time.. found some nice online radio .. that helped me a lot.. u can go and try out
http://www.virginradioclassicrock.co.uk/

nice site!!

IIT was much better , u cud sleep if u were feeling bored !!corporate is way different !! that i'll discuss sometime later..

then after getting bored with the music or rather cos of the fact that i had nothing to do, i started gng thru case studies.. i came across a nice one of Enron .. there were some nice point that crossed my mind.. thats wat i want to share with u all !!

Enron was one of the largest electrical, natural gas and broadband trading company as u all must be knowing off.. Revenues: 100 billion USD [:o] .. Enron had publicly stated its vision and value..

Who we are!!
What we do!!
How we behave!!
Integrity!!
Communication!!
Excellence!!

all this brings out a picture showing enron as a high moral and high ethics company .. but something went wrong !! wat??

In this world u think ethics exist ?? well for me personally theres no thing called as ethics..
every1 does stuff just for ones own benefit.. thats wat i believe in .. but to me being ethical is an absurd term but being hypocritical is something else..

Yes!! I feel that Enron were being hypocritical rahter than ethical .. they said something but were actually doing something else.. They had incurred BILLIONS in debt .. some obscurely worded footnotes in which the CFO had some personal interest..
stocks crashed from $80 to $30 very soon..

and then the CEO resigned for personal reasons.. CFO was later asked to resign.. Arthur Andersen (company's auditor) ceased to exist.. Enron's prices went below $1 ..

all this was due to hiding the facts , whereas their mission had said something different .. who said business is ethical.. but atleast it should not be hypocritical !! Do wat u SAY ..

Ciao !!

Controversy..

2005-10-13T04:01:00.000-07:00

All the controversies surrounding IIPM and freedom to speech and etc etc etc....

http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/
http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2005/10/lies-damned-lies-and-fake-blogs.html
a blog by Rashmi Bansal .. IIMA allumni

www.jammag.com/careers/articles/mbacorner/iipm/
Original article that started off everything..

http://gauravsabnis.blogspot.com/2005/10/update.html
Gaurav Sabnis article on IIPM..he received a legal notice from IIPM... qit IBM 125 crores

http://absurdiav.blogspot.com/
Varna from delhi.. Received a notice from IIPM.. 175 crores

http://iipmstudent9.blogspot.com/
The link has been removed...

http://www.desipundit.com/
Full details abt IIPM case..

http://www.indsight.org/blog/
Interesting piece..

http://70.86.150.98/Hindustantimes/artMailDisp.aspx?article=12_10_2005_003_003&typ=0&pub=264
HT article....

Melopoeia n Calliditas: will definitely come within my sight

2005-09-15T02:26:00.000-07:00

I feel like I am lost in this sea of might,
It’s just that thou shalt not be in my sight!!

I was just wondering that since I have started blogging I should start off with a poem. But a poem to me is an extremely difficult way to express oneself.

When I am displaying my emotions I want to be free flowing. Poem on the other hand tends to hamper that free flow of thoughts. For me the thing that distinguishes poem from prose is that; a poem rhymes and a prose doesn’t. And making my piece rhyme, slows down my thought process. Another important criteria that defines a poem is that it is concise. And I never want to be tied down by any restrictions. Prose gives me that freedom which poetry lacks.

But it isn’t that I am against poetry. It has a league of itself. Poetry to me is something like a free flowing water stream. But to flow like that one has to be as smooth as a black stone. And to reach such level of smoothness you a need a completely different knack. And very few people possess. I have read a number of poetry being posted on blogs these days. But none can make you feel that you are falling into it. A poetry to me is a piece of art which drowns you into it. You can walk over a prose but not over a poetry.

So in short poetry has its own beauty. But prose gives you the freedom. The restrictions in poems make it lesser my cup of tea. But one thing is for sure, someday I too will publish a stud poem on my blog. But for that let me get smoother and reach the next level of enlightenment and I shall strike back with a vengence !!

iDée De LoO

2005-09-15T01:20:00.000-07:00

Who would not want spend his/her quality time here..

Yes as the great ones keep saying, the best ideas come when you are s(h)itting on your LOO.

And it definitely goes for me.. yes sir, the best and the bestest of best ideas do originate here.. don’t know y.. but a thought worth pondering over..

ever since the very dark ages, man has built a number of study rooms, libraries but don’t you think that it isn’t the library but our own smelly and stinky loo which brings out the creativity.. it’s been my idea since my childhood that if ever I’m gonna have a house of my own, it should have an amazing place to shit.. quite a silly thought, but that’s THE thing that I want.. u can call it my childhood ambition but it's still alive with me..

you enter it, free from all other thoughts and that’s when the best strikes you.. none to disturb you, none to ask you anything.. you are all on your own with ur beautiful ideas and thoughts.. I’m still of the opinion that Archimedes didn’t think of his principle while in the bath but rather while he was shitting in his own shithouse !

so my dear frens, don’t just go there to s(h)it.. go there think of something and make yourself famous.. who knows u can be the next FrankeInstein… Eureka Eureka.. oops did i say anything wrong !!!!!!!