Sunday, July 20, 2008

Horses and bats




This weekend was characterised by the non-humans.
Horses and Bats.
In the light of this week's political turmoil,horse trading holds the key ...The last thing I want in my life is watching Mayavati taking an oath ...
Another thing , that I knew was going to happen was The Dark Knight striking gold .You can expect anything else from Christian Bale and Chris Nolan.
The Dark Knight blasts the box office . 67 million in two days !!!


Friday, July 18, 2008

X-League ...


As a part of a marketing project,we are conducting a survey to understand the awareness about football in our target market.We have created a survey which would help us to gauge the awareness quotient. Here is the link where you can take the survey: http://www.my3q.com/home2/234/spartan/84917.phtml
It wont take you more than 5 mins.
Thanks in advance for your time. Your inputs are very crucial for the success of our project.

The Dark Knight !



I wish I was in US. The dark knight is releasing today ...!! As expected it has received rave reviews in India !!! Its going to be a hit ...the only let down is that I cannot watch it in jamshedpur :( I am craving for AMC 30 situated on Aqua Fria highway in Phoenix..

Monday, July 7, 2008

Fringe Leadership

Leaders,they say should have a broad outlook.Though from some of my experiences, I can dare to say that the people who rise to the occasion at an opportune time deserve kudos.I would like to call them , the Fringe Leaders.They are underdogs.Nobody expects a moon from them. They are perceived as nodding followers.But they are the one who deliver when it matters.

Glitzy leaders , cannot make big without the fringe leadership. Whoever handles the ball on the court must be good.

"I know I cannot comment on reverse swing when I am sitting with Wasim Akram in the box.That would be arrogance. I make him look good on the camera and in turn I am a part of the limelight."Harsha Bhogle once said during an interview. He has developed from a fringe leader in a commentary box to one of the best recognised media names in Cricket.

Can you still think , fringe leadership is dispensable ?

Monday, June 30, 2008

A (supposed to be ) fruitful weekend !!!

I am not able to make head and tail out of accounting !! A Marketing plan proposal is staring at me ...I always hated probability ...Business communication was never this demanding ...A case on Aravind eye hospital on ethics and leadership needs a dekko ....But no worries , I have a weekend ....so its my moral right to while away friday night ....

Friday 9:30 pm: Post dinner session with neighbours on a streamlined process to clear the mess stated above.

10:00 pm : Check email . Inbox has 3248 unread mails including regular subscribed mails from gtnews, american banker . I havent read any mail except one which requires confirmation from my end to activate the account.Lets go to orkut.No new scrap . Look at some profiles here and there.

11:00 pm : Call up wifey and crib about the workload here .It was heaven back there in Infy . Some sort of doses of motivation and I am back to business.

00:05 am : Feeling sleepy.Need a break.Call a neighbour and walk to the all night canteen and have anda bhurji. At the same time discuss about the ever bulging tummy. Top up bhurji with a cup of coffee.

01:00 am : Feeling relaxed.Lets do something .Neighbour pings and gives a news that the movie server is up.Lets check out some movies.

02:00 am : Search goes on.

02:30 am; Raging Bull it is.

03:45 am : Feeling sleepy.Have a tough day ahead . Lots to complete . I am sure I will do it.

10:45 am : Neighbour bangs the door. Theres some photo session for the internal portal. Need to be in the admin block.

11:45 am : Got the photo clicked and came back.

12:05 pm: Emails.

12:08 pm : Orkut

12:20 pm : Facebook

12:35 pm : I havent had a tea today. Lets go.

1:20 pm Its lunch time...

2:20 pm : I can catch up . I have a full day at disposal. I can affort an hour's siesta.

4:00 pm : I am a fan of Scorsese . Will finish up Raging Bull before sitting to study.

5:00 pm : Awesome movie !!! Check mails

5:30 pm : Tea time

6:30 pm : I am rusty ..Need to brush up my TT skills and anyways a fresh mind is more receptive to accounting.

8:05 pm : Tired ..Need a shower ..

8:30 pm : Dinner !

9:30 pm : Not sure wats happening in Wimbledon ..and anyways I have the entire night ..

11:00 pm : Emails ..orkut ..facebook

00:05 am : Shouldnt sleep early today ..Need a coffee desperately

01: 00 am : Subjects like accounting which need more understanding should be done in the morning ..they require more attention..

01:30 am : Oh ! The marketing plan deadline has changed...

01:45 am : Emails ..Chat with friends in US ..crib about the course ..It was great to be in US.
02:00 am : Offside !! An Iranian movie ..seems great ..
02:30 am : Need to wake up early tomorrow..
11:00 am Sunday: Tea..followed by the same rituals...
5:00 pm : I am going overboard..Need to finish accounting..
7:00 pm : I think I have made a profit loss account ..I deserve a break
8:00 pm : TT
9:00 pm : Dinner
10:00 pm : Making something that looks similar to a balance sheet..
00:15 am Monday : euro Final ..though not a die hard fan...watch it sometime ..and ethically any final must be watched..
02:45 am : email
03:00 am : Weekend is over..

Thursday, June 26, 2008

On Raging bull....

Finally, I got an opportunity to immerse myself into one of the greatest works of Scorsese. Its the Raging Bull. The most interesting thing about this masterpiece is that its a film on boxing which doesnt focus on boxing.La Motta , De Niro is a guilt ridden, sexually insecure boxer who looks down on women ..His performance is comparable to his portrayal of a Vietnam war veteran in "Taxi Driver".Joe Pesci ,his brother in the movie is as usual fabulous...


I can rate this movie as one of the best I have ever seen..Not surprisingly chunk of the other movies that I consider fabulous come from Marty's stable ..

It should be one of the 1000 things that you need to do before you die ...Go and watch it !!!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Chef Gousteau is wrong !

The term ''Hot'' is an euphemism for the feeling that you encounter if you are tasting a curry( going forward referred to as ''tarri" as called by Nagpurians ( Nagpur is the biggest city in Central India) at a place referred to as a Savji Restaurant.
The word 'Restaurant' may coax you to think of white linens, silverware and all the good stuff that you might have seen in plush eateries.My sole advice to you is shackle your neurons and buckle the transmission between their signals. Savji doesn't reflect anything of the above mentioned white collared luxuries.An austere room,zero politeness levels, cheap bollywood music and owner's pets are the things that you will see for sure here .This doesn't mean that Nagpurians who have enough moolah to buy themselves an candle lit authentic Italian dinner on the Darling Harbour in Sydney don't frequent Savji.They do. And They do in great numbers.
Then What is Savji and What are Savji eaters ?
Lets take it one by one.
Savji - A sub-caste in Hindu religion, an integral part of the much hyped Indian Caste system.People belonging to this caste have developed a cuisine which symbolises the terms "Hot" and "Spicy" in their true elements.The Savji cuisine essentially consists of Phulka (Indian Wheat Bread that resembles Tortilla and served hot ) , Chicken\Egg\Mutton with the characteristic gravy named as Tarri , Lemon and Onion Slices and a bucket of water to neutralise the aftermath of the furious tarri that your taste buds have just faced.The 'tarri' is not red as might be ideally perceived but it tends towards black primarily because of pepper that is thrown in with good measure with lots of garlic.I need not mention the chillies here which are an integral component of this Heavy - Duty Saliva Generator.
Savji-Eater - He loves chillies more than the roses that he gave to his girl friend on his first date. He loves the intoxicating smell of the 'tarri' more than his new Azarro which he bought at a Heathrow Duty-Free shop while coming back to India.He is a member of a cult that willfully shuns the homemade 'Puran Poli' or 'Shrikhand' to gorge on Savji Chicken and Extra Tarri ( You have the privilege of enjoying unlimited serves if you buy one).He can put his relationships at stake to have a bite at Savji.Moreover, he loves to eat and loves to eat at Savji
Surprisingly, the Savji Model hasn't been successful inspite of enjoying a cult following in Nagpur and surrounding areas.There have been several attempts to encash the Savji sobriquet but they have proved to be futile.May be the reason is the real taste of Savji needs independence and doesn't want to get sold by marketing gimmicks. It wants to be austere and preserve its identity.
Here I refute ,what Chef Gousteau said " Anyone can cook". Anyone can't cook Savji's Tarri.

Smithereens

Angels with silver wings...
azure waves up in the sky…
Sunset breaking the golden shackles ...don’t ask why…..
Hillock disseminating a smooth shade…
A dusky goddess with me wearing a smile sly…

Speechless and wordless, what does it mean?
Crestfallen you seem to be and appear lean..
Wet are your eyelashes…
sunken is your heart..As I have never seen...
Pondered I through the dark nights…
Nothingness was brought by the redundant lights….
Presumptuous thought was me in thinking you were mine…
The closeness was nothing but presumptuousness raised to unwanted heights….

Shrill in her voice told me she was never mine….
A faceless hero was her divine shrine….
Life seemed to be an ordeal….
Horizon seemed to be distant and far across the green line…
She was never wrong ...she never told a lie…Creation of my mind told, for me she can die….

This is life I told myself…
Live every moment of it once told a magpie…
Heart into smithereens doesn’t matter..
Consoled myself to counter this shatter…
There is somebody around who longs for you…
For whom your existence certainly matters..
So I went along…because I knew..
There will be…
Angels with silver wings..azure waves up in the sky…
Sunset breaking the golden shackles ..don’t ask why…..
Hillock disseminating a smooth shade…
A dusky goddess with me wearing a smile sly…

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

My GMAT story !

Though I haven't done wonders on my GMAT, I definitely knew what it takes for a good GMAT score . It will be a big post but I will definitely post in few days to come .Watch out for it!

Why MBA ?

I would like to be as true to my heart as possible and stay away from cliched answers :

To get away from the impending restlessness :

I couldnt get away from the word MBA for the last 6 years.But somehow other good things in life viz a decent paying job,onsite trips,fun with friends,whiling around, talking on phone with the then girl friend and a would be wife till the battery died out and finally marriage got better of me. I was left behind with just a B.Tech degree from a college which was not an IIT.Though, some close shaves brought me nearer to some respected good B-schools in India ,which again were not IIMs.The restlessness was piling up and there was no other way but channelise it into some effort to take GMAT.Else, I would have been somewhere in US going to Walmarts and Costcos and looking for deals on dealstobuy.com .In short, a typical life for an IT professional which would have definitely resulted in $ but sans satisfaction.

The Tashan :

MBA certainly brings that much needed Tashan !! After all , MBA is an MBA.

$$ :

In the long run, I am sure An MBA will fetch me $ needed to lead a good life. An MBA from XLRI certainly will. Though,I am sacrificing a precious H1B ,which has become extremely scarce these days and is a sure shot ticket to earning a decent moolah, I am not regretting much as the name XLRI will fetch good dividends in the years to come.


An escape from the conventional code jock thing:

Yes. That is a very important incentive.

Vertical growth :

An MBA can really do this. And considering the roles offered for the last passed out batch, I am sure,most of the folks from my batch will land up with good roles.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

I do not proofread

Please excuse any construction errors in my blog ..I write as I think ...I have just discovered some sins in my first post ..But I am too lazy to edit it ..Please excuse me ..But I promise , I will deliver content in the upcoming posts ..

On resigning ...

It seriously doesnt feel very good to quit an organisation where you have done and learnt a lot of things . Some of them are mentioned below ..


- Made up things during appraisal
- Organised parties with a menu tailored specific to your needs
- Learnt to make most out of them
- Been through almost all the continents ( majority of them in the transit though)
- Had regular friday night drinks (They matter if you have a view of the Opera house from the lounge)
- Worked

Got the tickets !!

Courtesy ...my friend , I got the ticket to go to Jamshedpur !! No he didnt buy the tickets online ..He stood in a queue for two long hours !! He deserves a chilled KF mild for that .....

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Tickets to Jamshedpur

Need to book tickets to travel to Jamshedpur on 10th June.Just checked but as always nothings available. Need to resort to Tatkal I guess...The site irctc.co.in as always is pathetic and gives connection errors..Is it that difficult for the worlds largest railway network to maintain a site ?