Incessant Chases of Life.

In couple of few days life has definitely turn around a whole circle. People are now calling me as whether to join IMT or not? and i recall my days as a MBA aspirant when i was so much confused that once i almost decided to drop MBA. Thank god, common sense prevailed and i joined IMT. But after one year of the so called management education, i came to know about one thing, no education in any of the school can make you a manager, it has to come from inside. The only thing which you can learn from a B School , is to apply common sense , and believe me its very uncommon, as there are numerous examples of various well planned campaigns went for toss. As quoted by somebody " After MBA, you feel that you doesn't need to do an MBA.. bit to feel this you gave to a MBA".More on personal note.. things are not going that smooth. Life is never kind to anyone, but on some of the days i ask questions to the god and more to myself.. Why Me? I know people ask these questions only when they are in pain and not when al the things are going right for them. Some times things doesnt go your way, despite you give your best of the efforts. You try to improve yourself, change the habits in you, just to have something you desire. And its not the case that i desire a lot. Although there is no end of human aspirations, i only desire have company of someone who is dearest to me !!!!!But at the end of the day, there are somethings which you can do.. and there are somethings which just happen. You can study hard.. you can try to improve yourself.. you can make efforts to excel in your life.. but you cant make a person become a friend of you . Friendship and Love are the things which usually happens. So, then why people try for it, if the effort is not required at all. Again the vagaries of human life, the more a thing elude you , the more you are after it. In life we do not value the things which we have, and constantly chase those which we do not have. So, for the time being , just have to keep the matter in cold.. and i think i should believe in adage of true love? Lets test the age old mantra .....

Just Noticeable Difference

Business Ethics Classes for this term ended with a documentary " The inconvenient Truth" by the noble laureate, Mr Al Gore. He is a wonderful orator and the things which he said had all of us moved. During, the fag end of the video, he demonstrated us an example. Suppose, a frog is put in boiling water, it would jump out of the jar immediately. On the other hand, if you put it in lukewarm water, and then gradually increase the temperature, the frog will not notice the change in temperature, and hence keep sitting on jar, and ultimately will lose its life.After the lecture, i tried to extend this idea into the other realms of life. Somehow, i have the feeling that this concept affects the human behaviour and particularly the consumer behaviour to a large extent. I searched for some literature in the library, and then I came across the term “Just Noticeable Difference ( JND) coined by Weber in early 20th century. To put in simple terms, suppose you are watching 2 light beams of same intensity ( Say 100 W) and then intensity of one is varied,then after how much variation of the intensity, will you observe the difference in the intensity of 2 light beams. This variance, is sometimes also called the differential threshold of JND.Many of us know that it exists, but still we never give much of a thought to it. This is one of the concept which are used by companies to manipulate ( or sometimes say fool customers). Here, I would like to quote the example of FMCG companies, because the products in this category are generally the low involvement products with the price being the key determining factor in the decision making process of a consumer. Companies, by the way of packaging, by promotion mixes create a clutter of products with JND often less than the threshold level. So, when a consumer goes out to buy toothpaste, he is often subjected to the choice of 80g of pepsodent for Rs 25 and 100g of Colgate at Rs 30. Now, by packaging them cleverly, Pepsodent reduces the JND between these 2 products. So, consumer tends to behave that both the products are almost the same. Now, the key determining factor for them is the price, and here they will go for the one which is quoting lesser price (Pepsodent in this case). Even though, by buying Pepsodent they are paying more Rs/g than Colgate.JND concept is also leveraged by the companies, which over a time try to evolve as per the business environment. Particularly, for the strongly positioned brands, a sudden transition could be Hara-kiri... so they change over a period of time, in which every time the gradual change is less that the differential hold of JND.If you get a chance to see the logo of Pepsi, in last 10 years, you will definitely notice the difference. But as everything has another face, this concept is also utilized , particularly in rural India, by the companies which copy and fake the well known products. By closely resembling names, packaging, and promotion mix, they hold the change below the JND level, and thus fooling the consumers.Apart from business, JND is part and parcel of human life. When you meet some one after a year or two generally the reaction is "tu to bahut lamba ho gaya yaar". While his family members would not be noticing the gradual change. I use to visit mussorie very frequently, and one of my favourite place is kempty falls. Every year or so, i go there and enjoy the scenic beauty. Last year, i went after a gap of 3 years, and i was shocked to see the condition of kempty fall. When i enquired about the reason, it was due to a reservoir which had been building there for last 10 years, gosh!! i hardly noticed that.This can also be leveraged in relationships, when things start getting wrong, initially we do not notice the gradual damage to the relation, unless it reaches to JND Level. After that, it is very difficult to resurrect a relation. Thus in relationships, we should be conscious in keeping our JND threshold level low, so that we could read the distress signals, in their primitive stages. For the time being, yours truly signing off, wishing you a wonderful time.. muaaah !!!!..

Beauty or the Beast !!!

In the times of integrated market communication ( a jargon for peeping in your life 24*7).. you would have inevitably see the number '1411' at some place or other. Numbers are fascinating ( or at least you have to fake it as a finance student), but i found this number very mundane in the first go. There are magical numbers, squares, cubes, fibbonaci series and i also did a quick calculation to check whether it is a prime number. But surprisilngly, it is none, but yet it is fascinating as due to claims from the authority, it is the number of tigers left in India. Alarming !! isn't it... but from when we started tracking the number of tigers in our country. We never knew when the number went 3000 and when it touched 2000. So, it needed a well drafted marketing campaign to drive home the point that yes they are in danger, because every one of us want to look benovolent, provided we are informed about the problems prevailing..Coming to tigers.. i think they are one of the biggest brand of 'incredible india'. Once i read it somewhere, that a succesful brand should have majesty and exclusivity. Well, no body can challenge the majesty of tiger in the eco-system of jungle, '1411' also provides them exclusivity. Thus, its one of the most favourite brand of india. Take any travel magazine remotely wirting about india and you will definitely find the pic of tiger in that. In fact tiger is the darling baby of our corporate world, when you feel the need to do CSR.. start a campaigning for saving tigers, because everybody knows they are in danger. ( No need to educate consumers !!!)....Aircel, after Idea, is the company in the telecom demain, which came up with this CSR activity. Well, in case of idea, it seems to solve issues by leveraging the features of mobile, i am still not convinced that how can a mobile used to save tigers , and i want to be proved wrong if i say that there are hardly any cellular netowrks in tiger habitats. So, the exercise is more about increasing the brand visibility than something else. But again, i really fear about brand cannibalization in this case. When you think of kingfisher, you think of beer and aeroplane, when you think of camel, you think of paints, but when you think of tiger, you think of majesty and exclusivity, and i seriously doubt whether aircel is either majestic or exclusive.Ohh my god.. i am getting obsessed with tiger..or i think this is the year of tiger, lest you forget Tiger woods...during his hey-days, his shots have an air of majesty, and most of the women think he is exclusive ( now they must be sulking)... and thats why he is the star endorserer , from a game, which is popular(or notorious) for its mundane pace . Then , he lost his exclusivity, almost a dozen times, and now even accenture is having different ads on air featuring dolphins , whales, and other animals ( off course , except tiger)..Grapevine is that he may be back sometime in this year, and then i could check another jargon " Wounded-Tiger"..At the fag end , i just wanna mention some of events happened with me in recent times. After almost a decade, i attended a marriage of my home, albeit i have to go to Bikaner. If you are from delhi, where in a metro 4 people are touching 4 different parts of your body, you will feel that your personal space hs increased out there. Vast areas with sparse population, sometimes you long to see a vehicle on road. Back in college, another mutiny is brewing up... against some draconian( Most of the people say so..) ruling of college administration. Some times, we need to revise our history a bit... you can view a thing both as opportunity and threat... and there is always a tradeoff between choice and competetion. In india, we typically hate competetion (may be our socialistic heritage..), but we are here, after facing so much of comptetion. The bottom line is that if you are good , you will get good things, and once for a change, this is a universal truth and not a relative phenomenon. With this, yours truly signing off.. take care.. and save tiger.. oops.. not tiger woods... cya ... muuaaaaah..

Winter's Day Out..

So, at last the historic end term exams ended on 15th of January. Historic in the sense, that for the first time in my life (albeit only 24 years old !!!) i had gone through this experience... For us , 3rd term classes was scheduled in the morning, and we had our exams in afternoon. Whola!! this is MBA at its most unique way, and the icing (pun intended!!) on the cake was, characteristic windy and chilly January days of infamous Delhi winters... Still we survived, which shows that how much we underestimate ourselves.So, after the exams , people having BFs and GFs went for shopping, movies and outing.. people having LDRs ( Long distance relationships) increased the congestion of the mobile networks.. and yours truly who, fortunately or unfortunately, does not fall under both the category so was thinking what to do to kill the time.. Then i decided that the best option is to do some jogging and exercise, i had to break my new year resolution quite a few time during my exams ( I know its it’s hardly a fortnight after new year :( ).....Next day i decided to have a tour of Delhi, so i caught hold of one of my dear friend, netaji ( figuring the real name is left for readers!!).. and went to chandni chauk and India Gate. When I just came to Delhi about 2 years ago, Delhi metro seems very beautiful and comfortable to travel. But, now a days, it is also running as a DTC or Blue line bus jam-packed with the commuters. With the extension of metro line, the crowd is increasing exponentially. In some of the stretches yesterday, we really struggled to go to the door to de-board the train.But , the most interesting of Indian people is that they talk a lot, and when you are in such congested arrangement, you are bound the hear. So here goes one pretty girl in metro " Meri muumy bol rahi thi ki surya grahan (solar eclipse) ke baad sardi kam ho jayegi, dekho aaj ho gayi" , here you go the meteorological department, even a mom can predict better than you !!...And the boy with him, was nodding in affirmative as it was the perfect scientific reason !!!....Our first destination was India gate, and somehow unknowingly, we were days before 26th January, so the preparation was on full swing. New seats were being arranged, roads were marked for parade , and practice for parade was going on. Really, it was a good experience to be there. Next , we headed toward chandni chauk, as a food connoisseur i relish the paranthas (which was aptly termed as kachori by netaji) of chandni chauk.After satiating the appetite of stomach and mind and somewhat eyes too ( read gals of delhi !!)... we finally decided of returning as the chilly night of winters is fast approaching. But our ordeal was still not over, we somehow managed to board a local train , which was not supposed to be boarded. All the lights switched off, it hardly stopped at any station. At the Ghaziabad station, it stopped in somewhere , where there was no platform to be seen off. Netaji was grumbling " saala 3 Rs ke kiraye mein aaoge to yahi hoga ".So, this completed a day out and from Monday again there would be classes , lectures, and projects.. but do watch this space.. as we Indians love to talk....P.S. If you ever heard about tongue in cheek.... go and ask Mr Sehwag.... he must be hiding behind some curtain, by making an audacious comment yesterday. That is way it is said, greatness lies in humility....

Picks of the Year !!!!

Amidst the chilling cold and freezing winds , finally the last night of the year arrives. On the eve of new year their would be lots of celebrations, news channel will roll the reel back, entertainment channels will arrange the circus of Bollywood stars. So, making hay while the sun shines ( although it rarely do now a days !!!) , i also try to dirty my hands in picking some moments of mine throughout the year.Disclaimer : All comments are personal by me, and any resemblence with alive or dead would be considered co-incidental !!! ...So, lets start now :1. Loosing "Virginity"No... No... No, its not what you all are thinking. Its about loosing my virginity regarding alcohol. After 23 years of resistance, i finally sucuumbed to the pressure of alocohol when i first drank a peg on 1st Jan 2009. Well, about expirience, 1 peg seemed very normal, 2nd peg... some thing started shaking and 3rd peg.. i puked !!!.... After that, i had some further misadventures with it, but now i am sure that me and alcohol are not a happy couple.2. Group SangraamWell, meanwhile i got first of my mba call from IMT Ghaziabad ( Which is where i ended). I had practiced GD/PI rigorously in my coachings, so i was confident of doing well. So when we were seated in a group we were 16 in number ( or was it a crowd !!) and then the moderator announced the time limit "8" minutes , like a ration quota in a famine stricken area. So, as soon as the signal is given, all the loaded missiles shot at once. No body was listening to any body, some were speaking to fan and some were to floor. The best part , though, was " stop pointing your finger towards me " :) :)3. Bharat DarshanDue to my desperation of fleeing from my job, i applied to all the MBA colleges , i had heard the names of !!!. so, march was the month where i started the exploration of "incredible" india !.. My first destination was Manipal ( TAPMI).. and to all of my horrors, the train didnt stopped at the station. It stopped 90 kms away and then i have to came back, and i reached the institute, just before the gates were being closed. Then i had a "jab we met" journey from mangalore to Chennai. BIM profs screwed me hard . But the trip ended very well , with my seat upgraded to 2nd AC from the 3rd AC on return journey.4. Jahapanah ....Tohfa Kabool ho !!!Although it was not exactly the "tohfas" as depicted in the new amir's flick "3 idiots", the most popular 'PDP' program of IMT Ghaziabad was very much same in the spirit. To non-imtians.. this is an softer version and euphemism for 'R" word in the boarding schools. Newly arrived bacchas, almost forget what sleeping means.... but its lot of fun doing some bizzare things that you would not have done in a sane mood. The best part is "shav-asan" in the morning yoga ....u dont know why ??? just lie down in the same pose on a clean sheet for 2 mins !!!5. "Gravity of Situation "The chances are that you must have felt it some times in your life, but it is very common in IMTian Life. If you are not feeling it, you would be constantly reminded by some Zombie committee people time and time again. If you want to have the expirience of "Nazi Concentration camps" just attend their open houses. Any ways jokes apart, i really salute the efforts they put in and i really appreciate their hard work and spirit. Kudos to u guys !!!!6. Sir... Actually.... We are coming to that...A MBA life is synonumous to presentations.At the end of every day, you will find yourself making one presentation or another. So, when i was standing in front of class, with some muscles of my leg vibrating, equipped with a shabby presentation prepared last night , last thing i wanted is the prof interjecting in between. And to every questions of his, the standard answer was " Sir .. actually.. we are coming to that point.. we have covered in further slides... " and it continued till the " Thank You" Slide !!!7. "Immediately "During the much awaited weeks.. a cherubic female voice, announces this as a signature word. Although , the important words precede this "immediately". If you happen to hear your name, then it sounds nothing less than honey to your ears.So, these are some of the picks of the year for me... although some are classical but not to mention here like " dont touch me i have a boy friend ( after boozing !!!)..." to " i got the imt blues !!!! "....Wishing all of you ( The patient readers , thats why i kept this part last :) ), a very happy and prpsperous 2010. May god bless you all...Adieu for the last tym in 2009.....

Decade of You, Me and Us..

Yesterday, i found one of my very old friend online on Gmail. We were used to study together during my school days ( till class 10th). During the conversation, she suddenly said , do you remember how little we used to talk. I replied back that , we do not have mobiles that time. otherwise we could have played SMS-SMS, missed calls and other stupid games. At that moment i realised the giant leap which India has taken in last 10 years. I bet if we rewind the clocks down the years you will almost feel that it was altogether a different world 10 years ago in India.Although, i am not old enough to write a memoir, but this decade has been a real fast forward. 1999-2000 was a different ball game altogether. Although , a new millennium was round the corner, cell phones were still a luxury ( now every rickshaw wala has one in the pocket..), bikes started to dominate the scooter market, dot com bubble was still inflating and India had started to shine..So, then what does this decade stand for !!This decade in my view stands for the expression. The expression of youths , their wish to announce them on the world's stage has completely change the face of the nation. Their energy has propelled india from the category of developing country to the emerging nations. Increasing employment opportunities , good quality of education led by IITs and IIMs , and an liberalising culture had made the youth confident to take on the world. Now they do not doubt their capabilities, neither they consider themselves inferior to anyone.Apart from that, this was the decade of me , you and all of us. Independent and yet interconnected!!.. we have facebooks to share our emotions, orkut to be interconnected and last but the most powerful tool in the pocket, the ubiquitous cell phone. I got my first cell phone in my 2nd year of college, joined orkut in 2006 and ventured into facebook few months ago, and i feel that how come i was alive without them. Malls and PVR's are the talk of the town and if i will tell my mom that i spent 200 bucks for a movie that it would be a nice 3o minutes "Gyan Session". This power of youth and interconnectivity was even saluted by Time magazine while declaring the personality of year in 2006 ( It was "You" ). The independent and ambitious girls had finally started to rub their shoulders against the males ( and some beating them also !!!..).But there is also fillip side of it also. Life has become easy and relations had become very complex. Now relations start on mail, flourish on mobile and end on facebook. The human touch is so missing !!!. We as a generation is so busy in calculations ... what is my career growth, how much i should earn, which job i should switch too.. . so, the relationships always take the back seat. We are so afraid of responsibilities. Everyone will champion the case of live-in but very handful will be willing to commit and be responsible. We could be chatting online for hours but doesn’t even care to move to the next room to have some chat. Every thing is so 'e' in nature but still human beings start from "h". We still have the same organs as we have earlier , the same heart not a microchip.We are fortunate to be in a country ,which despite all its deficiencies , practice democracy and freedom of speech. The power of expression had propelled us in a new era, but as the old cliché goes "with great power comes the great responsibilities". Today’s youth have to be responsible so that they can help india getting its judicious picture in the world scene !!

Sach!!! is Life

Indian media is now a days flooded with the endless memoirs on sachin and his journey through the 20 Yrs in the international cricket. So, much has been written, that people are now struggling to find words to write about him. But in the millions of words printed and read, the phenomena called Sachin Tendulkar is yet to be covered holistically.Growing up in an era which fortunately coincided with the evolution of sachin from a child prodigy to the player carrying hopes of billions of people. Never a single human has carried so much expectations on his shoulders. Although a very mediocre player, i was a cricket enthusiast from beginning ( Helped form the fact that my dad is also a big fan..). Childhood memories are still fresh with the moments where sachin . almost unknowingly entered in our livesHere i want to share some of such moments in my life related to the “God of Cricket”1. Burgulars in House : It was one of my very fond moment of sachin tendulkar. Being a middle class family we used to live in a rented house. It was India’s Tour to New-Zealand, new cable connection and match start at 2:30 Am in morning. So, one fine night me and dad was watching a match in a clod north Indian morning, when the guy called sachin tendulkar start smashing bowlers all around the park as he might be swatting away mosquitoes. Me, being a child cant help my emotions but the surprising part was that dad was also shouting at the top of his voice. Mummy, as accustomed, put pillow over ears and tried to sleep. Next morning the landlord aunty ask my mom “ Bhabhijee kal aapke ghar mein chor aa gaye the kya.. subah subah bahut halla ho raha tha.... hearing this mummy laughed and laughed because nowshe knows who were the burgulars !!!2. Speech in the school: We have some crazy house systems in my school. So, it was my turn to conduct the assembly in the coming week. I have to give an opening speech and i was woefully nervous !!.. A day before assembly , sachin blasted an Australian attack for back to back hundreds in desert , and the next day i produced the story by including the elements of determination and talent. That was my best assembly ever , with people clapping at the end of the speech, and i was silently thanking to sachin to save my soul.3. Boy goes missing : 137 made in the second test in Chennai against Pakistan, was one of the most painful moment in my life. I was following the match from the beginning. Lost hopes about india winning during the stary of the day, got dumstruck by the batting prowess of a genius and felt helpless as hell, to see 3 lower order players wasting a gem of the innings. I was so frustrated, that i took my bicycle and went to a nearby park, and started crying. I cried for about 2hours ( albeit in breaks..). When i reached back in my colony, 2-3 boys told that my parents are worries and looking for me, where the boy had gone missing. Aah ! those were not the days of mobile phones and internets ....4. “sachin hai kya” : This is the most repeated line i have heard in all these years watching cricket. Everytime when india is batting and you tell someone score , this is the inevitable question. Even if india are 8 wickets down still people will ask this question. As they are assured by jawans protecting the border, they tend to feel comfortable while sachin is guarding crease. In a country of so dissimilarities, he keeps all of us unite in happiness, grief and prayers. With all the vagaries of caste, religion, regionalism, i think a crtical review is required how he has kept this country united as one.5. First Time i lost bet: There are some characters in ramayan, who were famous only because lord rama had given them nirvana. Henry olonga, is not a demon by any way, but he was definitely slaughtered in the desterts of sharjah by a little genius , we all know as sachin tendulkar. A match prior he dismissed sachin tendulkar with a freaky short ball, and celebrated a lot, doing war-like dance. I was watching the match with my friend, and he told me that this bowler’s career would be ruined by sachin. He was proved right a couple of days later when he thrashed him all over the park. May be the career was not ruined in the literal sense, but by then i had lost my first bet.6. Bunking my School : After a historic Test series , india and austraila was playing a ODI in Kanpur , and i just cant resist myself from going out there, being living in Kanpur. So, in lunch time , me and my friend made a plan, talked about some emergency in home and bunked school and head straight towards the greenpark. And boy, sachin made it worth the effort. Sixes of Warne, Bevan and Lehman keep hitting the stands on a regular basics. All in all he hit 11 sixes as we keep the count by breaking a cold drink bottle each time ... In the evening i told dad about it, and he said why hadn’t you told me i would have taken a break from office.7. India-Pakistan Matches: India –Pakistan matches were used to be a demo-war for all of us. It was 2003 World cup, India’s Last League game against the arch rivals Pakistan. Dad was ready from the morning, doing all sort of prayers and tricks. Agarbatti in front of television and devotional songs may sound a bit weird but believe me it was the case. Pakistan on back of saeed anwar had put a stiff target of 272. There was a silent nervousness in the house. Mummy who relatively doesn’t show much of the interest was also watching the match very interestingly. Shoaib akhtar came charging up, banged a short one, and it disappeared over the point boundary. The rest is history !!! , and one more thing i could remember is the wonderful food cooked by mummy that time.8. IMT Public Going Crazy: This is one of the most recent moment in my life. Australia amassed a total of 349, virtually impossible to chase. By chance, my parents also came to visit that day. So, i and dad was watching match in Mess. Sehwag and yuvraj were gone , but still sachin was looking in a good nick. But since, there is little hope, i came back to room with mummy ans started chatting with her. Meanwhile i had opened live scores on cricinfo in the Laptop. Suddenly sachin went berserk, a Six... another one...a boundary.... i said to mummy you rest and i rushed towards the mess. Well the scene was completely changed in mess. There was a considerable crowd now in mess, watching very anxiously . Sachin was on for something special and he started to bamboozle all of us by his master class batting. Suddenly some people started banging table.. some dishes with spoon and the ambience changed in a moment. Everybody started shouting “sachin, sachin...” and the breathtaking strokeplay matched up to every cry. Ironically, it was another heartbreaking loss, but when my father came out , he said that i never expected MBA Students to be so cricket crazy. This is what Sachin can do mere mortals.

Celebration of Divine Mother..

Autumn is usually marked with nip in the air in mornings. It also marks the beginning of "shubh navratri " ( Sanskrit of Nine Nights). Also Popular as Sharad Navratri or Maha Navratri, these are the 9 days of paying tribute to the divine feminine power . After a long impasse in summers, navratri starts the Festive season in india, follwed by dussehera and Diwali.Although there are many ancedote in hindu mythology, the most popular is the "mahishahur-mardini " incarnation of Goddess Shakti. Mahishasur was a powerful demon and had taken control of whole world. After caputuring earth , he went on to capture "swarg". All gods led by their king "indra" approached Lord Vishnu and prayed for their lives. Hearing their plight, lord vishnu , lord shiva and lord brahma combined their power to incarnate the divine "shakti " , creator, nourisher and protector of whole universe. They blessed her with their special powers and weapons. After that goddess durga , took the battlefield against mahishasur riding on lion. A fierce battle commenced , and finally mahishasur was given salvation by devi durga.Even today, people keep the idols of mahishaur mardini in pandals for 9 days. Every day, aarti and yagnas are performed, and with devotional songs and dances , the complete atmosphere becomes " Bhakitmay ". The event is , particlaurly, popular in Bengali community, who perform "pujo" in the last 3 days. In fact Durga pooja is their biggest festival. In other parts of country also , the festival is celebrated with devotion and enthusiasm. People keep fast , children relish on good food and festive atmosphere. Garba and Dandiya are the flavour of gujrat during this period. In north , morning yagna and aarti is a common phenomenon.The 9 days of navratri are clubbed into 3 groups . First 3 days are dedicated to Goddess Durga (Shakti ) which symbolises destruction. It is believed that in these 3 days, we destroy our bad qualities and vices and purify ourselves. Next 3 days are dedicated to "lakshmi". goddess of wealth and prosperity. Wealth is a vital ingredient bestowed upon us for maintenance and for progress in our life. It is much more that just having money. It means abundance in skills and talents also.Lakshmi is a energy that manifests as the complete spritual and material well-being of a person. The Final 3 days are dedicated to "saraswati" ,the goddess of Knowledge.She gives the essence of self realization. After the purification and wealth , it signifies the importance of knowledge which is essential to maximize the benefits of other 2 virtues.Navaratri is the time to appreciate inner and outer beauty. It is a time when we show our grattitude to divine mother for all her love and care. These days are considered to be very auspicious and are recommended for starting any new work. May goddess durga bring happiness and prosperity in your lives. Happy Navaratri to all.

Facades of Human Beings

There are many things in a b-school , which you do at a time, which may seem abnormal to most of the people ,and they often tend to bring unusual results. One of them , is going to canteen for having tea at 3:00 AM. But, this tea is special, because along with it, you usually find one or another of your friend roaming around and while you came for tea , you end up doing lot many things.Similar story is followed today , when i went to canteen with a friend and find 2-3 more roaming there. Since, tomorrow is sunday , a holiday, people were very relaxed , the most i have seen them after coming to IMT. Soon, we found ourselves discussing over plethora of topics. Started from summers ( the buzz word around the campus!! ) our discusson ventured into various areas.One thing on which most of us agreed was the level of artificiality in the college. Most of us encounter people who tend to behave in a very artificial manner. The style of talking , the body language , infact you can instinctively identify this phenomena. Then , we tried to find out the cause for it. The primary reason we found out is "competetion" ( The most cliched word in the B-School Lexicon ). The blind comptetion, increases the opaqueness between people, because they do not trust each other. Nobody wants to speak his heart out, nobody wants to discuss about their plans. In conversation , people let their brain dominate their heart. Everybody wants to be politically correct, although internal feelings may be exact opposite to that.Some argued that this is common among all B-Schools.People here are professionals. There is little, if any place, for emotional attachment. Everybody looks for his/her benefit and other things come after that. They laid stress on again a "cliched word" Networking. They argued that talk to people , incerase your network, so that you can use for your advantage in future.Some how, i do not subscribe to their view. If human beings were computer , then we could have simply connected wires to make networks. But we are much more complex than computers . As our HR prof use to say, science has taken all the easy problems leaving the complex ones for the behavioral studies. According to me , a person should be genuine in whatever he/she do. Faking can give you the initial edge, but in the long run you would be whatever you are. The key for this is to accept the imperfectness in us. We should never try to become perfect, because its the imperfectness which teaches us lot in our life. We may loose a few things in being genuine, but we do not have to carry the burden of 2 or may be 3 facets of our life.Being a CR , i am lucky to interact with almost everyone in the class. There are all types of people. Some are your close friends , some you know, some which gives you smile and acknolwedge you when the see you ,and also some who behave in a way such that you did not existed at all. The catch is that this is not what they are from beginning. They started in some category and ended in another. Some people who talked with you normally in the beginning , suddenly changed their behaviour after being a member of some "elite" groups. They give an impression that they do not care about other people in their class only.Once i was sitting at the first desk, and a group was giving presentation, suddenly a girl quipped, who is he ?? is he in our class?? May be the lack of knowledge may be overlooked , but the attitude cant be. Even if she does not know, what's the point of shouting. Thing is that, people take pride in it , showing themselves elite.There are some people, which hardly says 'hi' when seeing . You will almost remain unnoticed. Yet , at 2:30's and 3:30's in night, you would be aksed syllabus, class timings, quiz timings and all. May be this is the way the things are supposed to be ,may be i am too naive to understand it, but this is not what i was brought up with. Somebody told me , very early in my life, the cheapest thing which you can give to someone is smile, somehow it seems to be the most costly in the contemporary times.I do not want to point out some one , or say something malicious about someone. The only thing which i want to say is that life is simple, respect its simplicity. We are in habit of complicationg our lives. Listen to your brain, but also give a thought to what your heart says. Competetion may be high, stakes may be high , but its people which matter and not things . Just remember , happiness does not come with achieving it comes with helping other people achieve it.

Miracle

Last weekend, amidst the hectic schedule of the B-School , i got a chance to sneak to my home.Going after 1.5 months ( Believe me It’s a long time for distance less that 200 Kms!! ) i was craving for food and all other luxuries of home ( Getting Tea on the Bed !! ). After Reaching home , greeting parents and sipping tea i headed direct to bed . Well !! its been long time sleeping on a clean and well made bed !!!.
Mummy wake me in afternoon for lunch , and though reluctantly, i relinquished my ordeal in the dreamworld. Rubbing eyes , i switched on the TV ( another luxury if you live in hostel). Still it was 1:30 , so good 2 hours before the last Ashes match to start . I was just sifting channels when i saw a ice hokey match somewhere. It was HBO and some movie on ice hockey was being aired at that time. Out of curiosity , i started watching the movie, The name of the movie was Miracle ( Usually Known as Miracle on ice ). The plot was nicely woven amidst the tensions of cold war in 1980’s and the reign of USSR in Ice Hockey.
Let us travel back in time. The year is 1980, winter Olympics being held at Lake Placid, USA. USSR the reigning champions , who had won gold medal every Olympic since 1956 barring 1960 ( USA won that year). The coach of USA is herb brookes , a player who was part of the squad in 1960 but was sent back ( Any Body Remembering Chak de India !!) . But Above all , USSR Team was all seasoned professionals and USA Team was picked from college, all young teenagers.
Add the spice of Cold war Tension , and this becomes one helluva match ( Parallels can be drawn to India-Pak Matches). This is the story about how a charismatic coach motivate his team of young budding players to take on might y soviets and defeating them in the medal Round. That was termed as Miracle on Ice, and is rated as the best sporting moment in the US history. It was not just a hockey match, it was a game of identity, hope and passion. This was the game where loosing was not a option.
Movie Really gave me goosebumps, and as soon as i returned to the campus, i googled all the possible links. saw many videos in Youtube and today downloaded the movie from DC++.
Meanwhile, England Reclaimed the Ashes , was not really a miracle , but still a famous and well deserved victory. It was the Andrew strauss tryst with glory , many english captains die with this dream !!. Also, liverpool is making a sinusoidal curve with its performance , recently being defeated by Aston Villa in Anfield. but miracles do happen.
Not very surprisingly, with the advent of science and technology , we are loosing our power of belief. Now we do not believe any thing which can’t be proved and justified. Miracles are one of them, yes they do happen , but then you have to believe that they happen. It does not mean that you stop working and wait for a miracle to happen. Work with best of your abilities, and then leave the rest to the almighty. What is a miracle ? a moment of luck , a unseen opportunity , something which gives us a thrust can termed as a miracle. Our body is the biggest miracle, with so many organs working in tandem , our DNA chains that are not replicated yet with the best of technologies, our brain which is still largely a black box. Our mere existence is a miracle, and who says miracles do not happen!!!. Just see the world holistically and you will see miracle every where.
So, from now onwards believe in miracles, but be in position to take the advantage of them. Also, try to get hold of the movie, can lift your spirits any time ( Guess Seen it before Football and basketball Debacle !!). And, for Liverpool, Yes i believe in miracle, this year create a miracle on grass !!

The thing Called Life..

when i was a small kid who goes to school in half pants , my parents told me one thing that when some one asks what you want to become after growing up say ” doctor ” or ” IAS”. I learnt them by heart and used to mention these two words when anybody askes that question. As the things turned out, i became none. Then when i started growing up , and i was in class 10th the the horizon broaden a bit, and i started saying i want to do enginnering from IIT, that was not to be, and when i finished my graduation i told myself to do MBA from one of the top institutes in the country, which also vaporised today. Sometimes i feel that life teach you in a alltogether different way. They say that in life you get the things which you need , rather than things which you want!!!!!
so today again sun came out from the east, everything started normally ( yups there was some hiccups due to the unfornuate oil strike ) , but this is perhaps the chilliest morning of the winters. Almost 2 lakhs of indians were holding their breaths as one of the most hyped exam in the world, CAT was going to publish its result. If you had not witnessed such a scene you can’t get the essence of it. From the time when a person keys in the roll number and the actual result appears on the screen , heart skips many a beats. Probably because in such a large country with so much of young poulation and so little of resources , the stakes are very high for every person. For this exam people almost do prepration on the war footing, sometimes the CAT become the life for them.
so after 9′o clock results started pouring in, and when stakes are so high , you inevitably witness the whole continuum of emotions from one extreme to another. The people who got calls are ecstaic and jubiliant and rightly so this the moment of reckoning for them, but there are a few people on the other part of the spectrum also. For them also stakes were very high for the CAT, they also gave their heart and soul for the exam, but still they end short of the mark., and they are toughest to console or soothe cause you know that the pain is there and still you have to advice them to overcome the pain.
At the end of the day, its the effort which matters. If you tried your best and gave your best shot, then accept whatever result had came. At this moment i am recalling a comic strip forwared to me in mail, that some peoples were carrying a big wooden plank on their shoulders. One person whined and cried ” oh !! god please reduce the size of it so that i could carry it easily” and god agreed. After some time he again complained of the same problem and god again obliged. After some time they reached a ditch and peoples with long wooden plank crossed immediately while he was left stranded. So the vision of man is short and the vision of god is long, whatever you cant see he is seeing from the top. so, may be there is some good some where which you are not able to appreciate right now.
After all this is not the end of the life, in any case if we judge yourself , then you will still find yourself better than many peoples. There are some persons in Gaza who live life in hours, there are some in zimbabwe where u cant even get clean water to drink. There are some farmers in vidarbha, who not even get 500 a month. There are some homeless in bihar, whose homes are washed away by the kosi. We in any case , on any day are better than them and for that we should thank god all the time. When a crisis comes its very easy to loose the faith and very difficult to keep your faith going.
So for the people who made it, i wish them to come out with flying colours, those who missed the mark, take it in your stride and move forward. I wish the good of all… amen…..

Is this Love !!!!

It was around 11:30 in night, Rafael Nadal had again secured a ruthless win on clay court, and after switching off the television, i put the earphones and tuned a FM Channel. A popular number of ‘Kismat Konnection’ was being aired having the lyrics ”is this love “…….. I was enjoying the melodious song, then suddenly i thought that is love is such a enigmatic thing, that people from time immemorial are demystifying it, still not successful. You pick up any of the epic, any religious book, any history encyclopedia and you would find plenty of love stories. Romeo-Juliet, Laila-Majnu, dushyant-shakuntla ; love had permeated across all the borders whether they are geographical aur social.
So this intriguing nature of love, which raises more questions then answers, forced me to find the answer for the futile question of the mankind , what is love ??
Well, we are living in the virtual world, where machines are slowly surpassing humans. To find every answer the first resort is google la a mythical “rambaan”. So, i typed ‘love’ in google and pressed enter. The first definition which i got was “deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.” ahem! ahem! quite heavy a definition, but revealing nothing !! Every body from a child to an octagenerarian intutively knows What is love , but it is very difficult to put in the words. But i was not ready to accept defeat so easily ….
First i asked my room mate about what is love. He recently had some bad expirience in love, and he said that there is only one pure love in universe and that is between mother and child, rest all love are not love, they are compromises in some extent. When things are going good , you will get too many love flowers bloomimg around you and in the bad times they vanish so quickly as they were never there !!!
Fair enough !! i got a genuine definition from a person, who has witnessed love closely. So i moved on to get some more prospestives. I caught hold of my other room mate who is expert in flirting with girls. I asked him the same question, do you know what is love. Hearing the question he started laughing . “there is nothing called love, the only thing is the habit” was his opinion. He said that, when we spend considerable time with a people, we start getting habitual of them, and we mistook it for love. He gave me the examples of love birds daily overloading the mobile network traffic with the intermittant calls overnight. He said that they are habituated to listening each other voice, and this is a part of their daily ritual , nothing more !!!
so 2 different person, and 2 exciting opinions. i went to my 3rd room mate, who is in love from his childhood with a girl in his neighbourhood , a bit ‘bollywod-sque” in nature. He is a very matured and sincere boy fully commited to his girl. When i asked him about the definition of love, he said that i do not know what is love, but from the time i remember i like this girl. Love is something, which gives you the energy , the warmth, the care and the feeling that i am also beloved. The desire from the mankind eternity was to be beloved !! , some got it by giving love, some try to yield power to achieve that , but the desire is always there. Love is some thing which gives meaning to your life, which becomes the reason for the things which you are doing.
Hmm, 3 room mates and 3 different definitions of love, this is what love is, every body has its own interpretations, every body looks it at its own perspective. On one hand there is bipasha basu of zism saying “yeh zism pyaar vyaar nahi janta bas janta hai to zism ki bhookh“ and on another numerous examples where the lovers given even the sacrifice of their lives for the happiness of their beloved one . Which is the correct menaing of love, hardly anybody knows.. but we live between these 2 extremas, spilling to either side in some situations.
So , love is what only love knows, its a too higher things for mortals like us. Those who had love in their life, should try to cherish and blossom that love, those who do not, try to give me love to others, this is the best presription of getting other’s affection. And for those to whom the concept of love is wiered , they should think that what is the force which had kept them binded to so many peoples in their lives. Science and Darwin could not be the answer to very question!!!