Random Ramblings

When I came to this place almost seven months back, I knew it is going to be tough, but I never thought that it would be such a big battle for survival. But now when I look at my result and celebrate about having ‘survived’ the system (as on today, as I know not what lies few months down the line !), though not in a great health, I often think of those who haven’t. Here, the system is quite strict and also at one level though it is flexible, when it comes to discipline and academic standards it is as hard as a rock. In the relative grading system F is the lowest and D is the next. If in a year you accumulate 2 Fs, or 5 Ds or 1 F and 3 Ds; you have to repeat a year. And few Profs love to give a few Ds and Fs. There have been quite a few deserving candidates who are in the “red zone”, but there are many who don’t deserve to be there. This may be my personal opinion but this is reiterated by probably the entire batch. Passing marks is 35, yet many end up getting 33 or 34 and miss the

It was few minutes to the year 2007. I was all alone at my seat waiting for the train packed with all kinds of people to move. Meanwhile I was all set to welcome the New Year with a copy of business world and a packet of Lays. Then from somewhere came this small kid of hardly 5 -6 years asking for something to eat. Usually indifferent to them, I gave him few pieces of the chips which otherwise would have had been converted to fats shortly. The train moved, and I continued to read about the who‘s who of the corporate world. But the picture of the kid begging couldn’t leave me. It kept crossing my mind again and again. How different is their world from that of ours. In fact we cannot probably stretch our imagination to exactly know what their world is like. What may seem too trivial to us might be something of tremendous joy to these people. For us a piece of bread may be just another thing, but for them it might be life for one more day. We may, at times take survival for granted, but

/*Maybe some fans of Indian culture wouldn’t like it*/ Since childhood we have been fed upon a steady diet of greatness of Indian culture, values, beliefs, sanskars etc. Some of them are good, but is it all that great, or even somewhere as close as what is taught to us? For example we worship Goddess Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth and are taught to believe that we must respect wealth. We even celebrate Laxmi Puja which is the biggest festival among Hindus. Yet, people continue to avoid taxes and show utter disregard for the rules and obviously with a belief that “sab chalta hai” People over here are so obsessed with marriage that if at a certain age and that point of time you don’t want to fall for it, you are frowned upon and looked down upon. And most of the time it is the elders in the family who take such decision, and the approval of the one actually getting married is merely a token or somewhat sort of a puppet. And if at a certain age you are not married or not planning to get ma

Finally, it is the time for New Year, And with it comes the time when most of the resolutions were broken. And also comes the time when many more resolutions are made Probably to be broken in next 365 days. So, here goes my list of 32 resolutions for the year 2007, with a hope that most of these aren’t broken. I shall - Try 5 different looks Keep moustache for some time. Crack less PJs Reduce the tummy Get a Regular walk/ jog/ exercise. Read at least 5 ET articles daily. Read newspaper editorials regularly. Find out what I really want in life. Learn a foreign language. Be more organized Keep my room clean Be more systematic in my approach of doing things. Not crib. Not give up easily, without giving a fight. Improve my reading habits Read business world regularly Not regret about things and won’t give “ifs and buts” explanations Mind my own business Not litter on the road. Give mini

click on the image for a better view ! IIML GREMS, Baroda MANIT, Bhopal MANIT, Bhopal

Everything seems to be at crossroads ... but I dunno where r these roads heading towards. I am moving on with the traffic, knowing that others are going toward somewhere, where I don't want to go ... yet I am trying to be in sync with it I wish to to stop my car and see if I am headed in right direction, but I don't have guts to do so on an expressway where everyone is speeding by I am just hoping that my car doesn't run out of fuel or break down while on a way I am scared to take an U turn, but am scared that I would be knocked down by a speeding vehicle I am scared to drive slowly, because I am scared to be left behind I am bound by the rules of the game, I wish to break them but I dare not do it on this expressway Something is wrong, maybe that's obvious ... but the obvious is often not too obvious. The problem is that I dunno what really the problem is !!!

Of late i have been slightly injured in the region just below the chin (nothing serious though !) and have been wearing a bandage (the one which sticks on the skin like a tape), which is often too weak on my beard ! Doctor : You need to take care that the place of wound is protected from water ... and you need to shave because the bandage in not sticking coz of your beard Me : How can I save the place from water and get a shave, both at the same time. ... ... Somewhat reminds me of catch - 22 !

It has been over 24 hours since a white bandage is adorning the part of my body that lies in the intersection of my chin and the neck. The injury was NOT a major one, but yes, i do have some concerns as I would have to live with this for a fortnight or so. Though it deserved a couple of stitches, but I managed not to get it, with the fear of stitches due to lack of prior experience being one of the reasons coupled with some laziness with me showing to doctor 12 hours later being another. (stiches need to be there within 4-6 hours of injury) Now I have to be extremely careful while laughing and usually I place one of my palms on the bandage to have a laugh. Now smiling is also a sort of muscle challenging task. Also I can do less of talking, which is quite a challenging job. I can now eat very slowly. This was one of the reasons, I could eat less in yeterday's pizza party. The quantity of food intake has reduced to 49.96 % of original (a b - school student estimate, where I am not

The paparazzi seems to goes frenzy over any thing pertaining to the rich and the famous, and more so if they happen to be a cinema star. Just the other day I was browsing through a website which described Brad Pitt and Anjelina Jolie’s Indian trip. They even had the detailed description of their local train journey in Mumbai and Pune trip. Now I know that they had an auto-rickshaw ride in Pune They visited the Gateway of India Anjelina had a local train ride (in second class compartment) from Charni Road to Churchgate. And she was wearing a T- shirt and a cargo pant. And she even brought train tickets (now beat that!). She bought some peanuts and mentos at Marine lines station. This is one of the sample news items, but such type of news galore like an actor planning to quit smoking since years, or someone having an hour of daily workout, or the diet of an actress and blah blah. Just take the example of the times of India and with all the kind of chatpata, masa