Random Ramblings

He had a dream. The old man in white beard and dressed up in a suit called up his name. Dressed up in an immaculate white shirt, navy blue trousers and a striped tie he walked on on to stage. The students were clapping. The teachers were clapping. The old man with white beard said something in English which he couldn't understand but probably said some congratulatory message. He was extremely happy. Everyone from his village had traveled to the place to see him receive a prize. He was he new hero, a new inspiration for the complete village. By the time he came down the stage he woke up. It was already post sunrise. He had to go for work. If he failed to do so, his family would have to starve that day. He, his friends and many others who worked in the brick-manufacturing unit. But, thanks to a brief interaction with a teacher from neighboring village, he was only kid in the village who could dream.

(Following is based upon a real discussion which I had today morning) As I was making efforts to keep myself afloat in the swimming pool, I overheard some conversations - "Puraa paper pataa hota hai, wo to humein mil hi jaata hai ... tab bhi hum nahi padhte hain" . .. and so on The guy who did bulk of talking looked around 15 years old and seemed like quite a spoilt brat. I chipped in with some expert comments and questions - "Which board?" "Kisi bhi board ka" After a minute of chat I gathered that he had just given Class 10 exams in ICSE board and was planning to take science stream(PCM), and he studied in a school (say SKP). He had earlier managed to do the same at his previous school (say CRK). Inquisitively, I tried to gather more information on how he manages to get the paper "Bus kuch nahi, security guard ko paise do. 8th, 10th, 12th ke papers. Wo ek extra copy karaa leta hai. ICSE ke paper out karna sabse easy hai. Koi seal nahi hoti" ...

Philosophical it may sound, but was just wondering what is the purpose of education? a. Get good jobs, a good status in society so that you can flaunt your status, and leverage that to maximum. b. Get a good jobs, and follow the 'pre-existing' model of things good and bad without questioning and think as you are ordained to by these models. c. Make your own judgments of what is wrong and right, make your own decisions and apply a rational thought process. Or anything else ? I think it is a combination of (a) and (b).

He was 10 years old. When asked he said that he was 15 years old. He didn’t know why. It was just that his master told him to do so. His name was Raju. When he was born, he was named as Shivkumar, but that name did not suit his master. So his name was changed. His master owned a small juice shop in some big institute, with around 500 people. Most of these students were his customers. They visited him regularly for juice, cold drinks, eatables, cigarettes etc. This was a popular hangout, chiefly because of large credit extended by Sharmaji Raju had 3 other siblings -Two sisters of age 13 and 11 respectively and a brother of 7 years. The eldest sister worked in a small carpet making unit. She has been employed since 3 years and worked for 12 hours a day without taking and day off. Probably, in a year or two she will be married to someone from a nearby village. Probably her family would get few thousand rupees in bargain! The younger sister was employed full time with a sort of well to ...

You tend to look down upon people who sleep before 1 AM or who sleep for more than 5 hours a day. Almost everything appears “GLOBE” You lose your interest in studies during exams. In other times you don’t have time to study. You love partying, even if you don’t actually like them. You seem to forget what it was to ‘live something like life’ You may fall sick, if there is one day without any kind of slogging. You may watch soccer and F-1 race just to be stylish, with no real interest in it You are likely to be looked down upon if you are awake during lectures. You apply theory of demand and supply to the beautiful girls. You may discuss soccer and F-1 endlessly for the sake of your ‘image’. You may hate any social gathering which is without any kind of booze. You do all kinds of things for that extra point in CV. You tend to apply all theory in places where not needed, and when needed you forget those theories. You are in a position to give gyaan about anything under the sun, without ha...

It is not about sports like soccer, cricket or TT; nor about some indoor games like chess or computer games. How often we hear words which on surface convey a simple meaning but deep inside the meaning may be totally different ?!. It is about these ‘games’. Formally defined, games are a form of ulterior transaction, and which leads to a definite payoff. Ulterior transaction is the one, which on surface may appear to be completely normal and without any hidden “trick”, but at psychological level it may mean something totally different. For example it may appear as if an adult is talking to an adult (adult – adult transaction), but at psychological level the ‘adult’ speaker may be talking to a child (adult-child transaction). (No more technical jargons from now onwards!) How often we hear the phrase “In US it isn’t so; actually there it is …” At the surface it may seem like a mature adult talking to another, stating plain facts. But at other level it is telling that “I have been to USA”....

"The first step of reaching the top is getting through the crowd at the bottom" How often we think to cross one level of competition, and be assured that rest of the going would be smooth, just to realize that competion has just increased ! As a child we often didn't know what we are headed for. Later on we make a decision, usually the one that would lead to something more comfortable later in life, or colloquially "do this, then there is fultoo aish". As a child I used to think that if I get good grades in school, life would be comfortable. Maybe comfortable meant "bed of roses" to me. In engineering, all the old school style of competition seemed somewhat trivial ! Bt still there is a big fight to get those coveted jobs, but again, on reaching "there", we often end up realizing that just to be ahead of the crowd, you have to compete a lot. During those job/graduation days it is a dream to get into any of the coveted b schools leading to a w...

First half of the first term @ b-school and I am fully loaded with Balance sheet that don't balance Accounting equation which had debited my brain with frustation Supplies that aren''t demanded Accounts which I can't count Some useless statistics with highly any marginal utility Information technologies that hardly carry any information Acts of associaation that dissociates my brain The hairs that are depreciated from my head by means of scratching Probablities, to understand which is improbable A grouped data set of competants in which I am an outright outlier in the negative direction Motivation theories that leave me demotivated Leadership theories, which I try to follow Theories of satisfaction that leaves me dissatisfied Assignments that I wish had never beeen assigned to me Researches, which I don't want to search even once Communication, whose message I couldn't grasp All paths leading to the so called "dream jobs", which we don't have any ...