WhaTEveR HapPeNs, hAPpenS foR 'NO' ReAsoN !!!!

All these thoughts are what i, at times call LOUD SILENCE that leave me lonely even in a room full of people.....and other times SILENT NOISES that keep screaming in my mind when I am alone.......

How well do u have know someone before you actually 'know' them??....Never if the person doesn't want you to and yet people keep trying........

How long and how well can anyone 'lie'??....It seems people can lie for as long and as beautifully as they like and yet we end up believing in some people.......

How long before you can 'trust' anyone??.....Everyone knows that you cant trust anyone but still you end up trusting someone......

How long does it actually take to 'forget' someone??.....Depends...... An eternity or merely a minute......

I don't know the answers to these questions. I am no philosopher; I am no great thinker to either to even try to give an answer. But i do believe that the answer to all of them is that there is no reason for anything that happens......There is no reason for people to be what they are, what they do and how they be.....people are just.....well just people.....

"People are like islands, no matter how close they come, they can never touch!!!”

(For all those people who think that they know what others are all about.....)

My all time favourite quote.....So true isn't it?...You think you know someone, you think you understand, u believe u can trust and that is the time that it really beings to go wrong.....It seems you can live an entire lifetime (or at least what seems like a lifetime !!) and yet not understand her a rat's ass bit....Worse yet you end up knowing and believing something that was never there.....

All said and done......Papa kehte hai whatever happens, happens for a reason but can there ever be a reason for deceit and can there be a reason for betrayal.....infact he says "जो होता है अच्छे के लिए होता है......."...Whats good about cheating, lying........

Why don't people realise......Its not a war, its not a game and its certainly not fun.....Its life, love and its the very reason to be here.....

P.S.: What I have written makes no sense.....Not even to me.....These are merely:

things that don't let me sleep at night : the loud beating of my heart,

things that don't let me sit in peace : my thoughts in pursuit of a reason of the inexplicable,

things that don’t let me be happy: my eternal hope in finding a last thread to cling,

things that don't let me live : my mind trying to find solace in the arms of misery.............

LiFe @T 'IIFT' - Written when i had joined.(12th July 2008)

As the clock keeps ticking and with every passing second the eye lids get heavier and heavier, one begins to wonder that the deep pounding that one hears is the constant chugging of a loco running or is it one’s own heart..........

A sudden shout from the teachers jolts us back into reality {but without the euphoria of the time travel..}….It seems that the sheer concentration with which one tries to evade sleep, helps sleep elude us more..The VICIOUS CYCLE of SLEEP as i love to call it….

Then one realises while doing MATHS of how much time does one have to evade sleep that the PSYCHOLOGY of BUSINESS COMMUNICATION is that ECONOMICS is nothing but the MARKETING of the PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT which is like the ACCOUNTING for the STATISTICS of INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY…[ I know what I wrote makes no sense....but i guess GASSING is something that we should learn]…

The best [read WORST] part is the learning of names……With every person that enters or leaves the class, sits next to me in the canteen or mess, crosses me on the stairs or travels with me in the elevator…..All I can think of is “ISKA NAAM KYA HAI YAAR ???? “…..

Though for the pre existing and future LBs it has been a blessing in disguise as they can go up to any girl and say hey what’s your name and indulge in small talk…..Food for gossip : There seems to be a lot of people trying to win…..But it seems people dont respect equality of sexes because girls don’t seem to come out with nominations cos LB could stand for either….

As the days turn to weeks and with no respite from PDPs apparent on the horizon, the studies take a back seat as i yearn to learn WHAT TO DO @ IIFT….as opposed to what I thought I would be doing…[ Recall 5 point someone...:-)]

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .F.R.I.E.N.D.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

To My Best Friends
Asha and Pankaj

Without Whom I Wouldn't Be What I Am

Friendship isn't easily described, I mean there aren't many words to describe the relationship or the feeling and we usually end up using many adjectives.......viz Close friend. Best friend. Childhood friend. Intimate friend. Trusted friend. Beloved friend and so on and so forth.....
But whether you use adjectives or different words, few could deny the nearly infinite meaning in such a simple word.......We do not choose our family members and we are definately limited in how many family members we have, Society and mores (and often our own conscience) dictate we select a single mate and we also do not get to chose our relatives, but we chose our friends.....
Friends are special people, because they make you what you are (atleast they get the best out in you, though in my case what came out was a bag of crap i know but what the heck I am still better because I may not be the best but hey at least I am not like the rest)......Its like our friends, in a very real sense, reflect the choices we make in life and the kind of person that we truly are......
Best friends are a separate deal altogether (Boring fact but best friend comes before family in the dictionary where as friend comes before relative).....My best friends occasionally(i should use often but hey this is my blog and i am entitled to use whatever may damn please me) bring out the worst in me and yet, they love me as unfinished and sometimes as broken as I am.....While I am yet to learn how to comfort myself, somehow they can and they do.....
This is one topic where I can go on and on and on.......My friends are my life......

Love All Of Them & Hope I never Lose Contact With Them

"Cut off the talk, and many a times you cut off the friendship". - Aristotle

iTs JusT aNoTheR TesT....

I do not understand what the fuss is all about...Tests, Quizzes etc...As in aren't just another one of a bunch that you have already gone through...Haven't we been giving tests for like ages...अब तक तो आदत हो जानी चाहिये थी.....पर ऐसा होता नही है....लोग अभी भी एकदम hyper हो जाते है...
Cheating नही करते..गलत answer बता देते है ताकि कोई उन्से ज़्यादा number ना ले आए...That too in b school...
Too childish and immature but hey who am I to pass a judgement...I was merely wondering is it bothers me only or others too....Gawd when are people going to understand that it is not just grades that matter, it is more about what you really have and what you can really show to the interviewers which matters in the end....And then again in the job what really matters are not grades but what mettle are you made up of....It is an entirely different ball game there.....
:-p

PaiD ToRcHeR : @TTeNdaNce

Now why is attendance compulsory??...Why is attendance taken at all in b-schools??...

Come to think of it, thousands of students slog for more than an year (some for many years in a row) to get into a b school but then they don't attend classes...Why do you think students want to get in college but not attend classes??...
As far as i know I came to college for a number of reasons, none of which were that 'I wanted to study'...There was the reason of taking a break from work (Phew two years of work was taking it toll on my health!!!), the monitory reason, the 'other' reason...;-)...
Anyways now that I have made it into one of the top 10 b schools, I wanted to chillax but that just doesn't seem to be possible...There is this constant fear of DGPs...(Deficit Grade Points) which means that you miss a couple of lectures and you are screwed for your MBA life !!...
I think, no wait, I know it for a fact that no amount of classes can do you any good if you do not want to attend them...besides, medical science says that an average human can not concentrate and listen for more than 45 minutes...50 minutes tops...(Though the recent internet survey suggest a more believable figure of 10 mins or so.....)Then imagine the plight of the students in two hour lectures....

I guess colleges need to understand that -

"You can take the horse to the river but you can not make it drink !!!"

aFTeR 'CAT' iTs a RaT RaCe !!!

A little over 2,00,000 graduates apply, only a handful get through to being 'branded for life !!'....
The rest either get motivated to try again or demotivated to take the next best college while some get demotivated enough to never try again...No prizes for guessing that I am talking about the CAT exam !!!!
Well I am not patronising CAT or taunting people who didnt get through....All I wanted to say was, "Been there Done that"
This is a sequel to the string of lies that I earlier wrote about....Again I was told, "Get into a good B school and then life would be a bed of roses.........". Agreed that they meant the IIMs but hey one of the top ten is good enough for me.....
Now the problem (as always) that I have is that the competition the urge to be better does not end with CAT, it was just the start....There is this race (I like to call it rat race...) to be better, to be known, to be judged the best......No one seems to understand or realise that even if you win it you are still a rat....This is fine to an extent but spice it up with a tinge of crab mentality (not a tinge but a bag load of it !!) and you have the recipe of a typical B school.....
Only a handful get a hang of this fact but then they feel that they are being bogged down by the hyper achievers that even they join the race (heartlessly and grudgingly)......

'la estupidez conquista todos' i.e. stupidity conquers all !!!

PResENTaTiOnS GaLoRe !!

Name starting with an 'A'. Is there a special reason why almost 18% of the people of india have their names started with that specific letter. (I know...I know I made the statistic up but sounds correct...doesn't it??)..But the parents who christen their children do not seem to understand that what the 'A's of the class of the have to face through school and college and in my case b school too...Being first on the roll call does not mean being first in the class similar to the way that being a front bencher does not mean that he/she would be a topper...It just means First Day First Show for all presentations, case studies, viva voce and almost everything else there is to do...
Anyways I think it is unfair for people of a certain kind to be punished for no apparent fault of theirs...But guess what the misery does not end with just that, being in 'Section A' also has the same drawbacks...All lectures at 9 being one of them...The list is endless and I cannot hlep complaining...
Wish there was someone who wud know the concept of rotation or the use the idea of luck/chance and use it for scheduling the presentations, case studies etc etc etc........So that the sad little 'A's of the world can breathe a sigh of relief.....
:-)

mY FaVoURiTe QuOTeS !!!!

People are like islands, no matter how close they come they can never touch!!

Money is NOT the most important thing in life....LOVE is, fortunately i LOVE money !!!!

I don't know why they call it heartbreak. It feels like every other part of my body is broken too.

Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.

Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated.

The eTeRNaL LiE !!!

Remember our golden years when we were little children and were told that lying is bad and that we should never do it....But there is one lie that almost all children are told and funnily enough it is not even considered a lie....This is my story so let me say it my way.....
I distinctly remember the times before my 10th board exams....I was told, "बेटा ये तुम्हारे लिये बहुत ही ज़्यादा important exam है । बस अभी मेहनतकर लो फ़िर पूरी ज़िन्दगी आराम रहेगा । "
Then came the 12th board when the 'IIT-JEE' fever catches on (For some people Medical fever too but that inconspicuous in comparison). Then came the extended version of the above statement, "सोनू, ये last मौका है सुघरने का....अभी भी time है, थोडी मेहनत कर लोगे तो पूरी life आराम करोगे. एक अच्छे college मे admission मिल जाये तो फ़िर कोई tension नही होगी life long।"
Then came the extended extended version of the above statements when I finally managed to get into a college. (well not good but a decent one for sure). It went like, "एक बार अच्छी नौकरी मिल् जाये तो फ़िर कोई भी tension नही होगी.बस ये आखरी बार है।"
When I finally managed to scrape through college and get a job. Then I realised that there is no end to this. Because then it comes down to a अच्छी company, अच्छा job and अच्छा pay.
This is just a vicious circle of lie that all children are told.....So that they keep running after a better life and an easy life.....Its like we are race horses programmmed to run....n keep running.... And the best part is that when we grow up and have children of our own, we, in all probability would do the same.....Like a elder sibling's hand me downs or a family heirloom this lie is going to percolate through generations and will be told to every gullible child...... Unfair isn't it??..But hey try complaining about the same when you have your own kids..... ;-)

Sum 'MAR's aka SuMMerS !!!

Since when does summers mean being 'SUITED UP', trying to sleep with eyes open while attending PPTs and listening to pompous HRs talkin endlessly about the greatness of their companies for which they have been working for a little more than an year......How every company is a great company with every growth opportunity for everyone...with a great work life balance...with a great learning experience...

Long gone are the days when summers meant ice creams and vacations.....Where is the playing of business during the day and cricket in the long hot evenings.....

Welcome to MBA.......!!!!!!

Its said that MBAs grads never go to hell, its like been there and done that for them.....The hell is called a b school and the punishment PPTs including the ones that they themselves give during for various subject evalutaions.....

But hey thats where the fun lies....Because ppts mean, internship, money, PPIs or better still PPOs and hence the ultimate goal of each and every B school aspirant and graduate....
:-)

GaMeS PeOpLe pLaY !!!

What is it with the world !!! (I call it so because every college is a self sustained planet in itsefl because you can see every facet of life and experience everything in a college in a matter os a few months)...Everyone seems to be busy or at least seems busy to people like me...Studies, games, dating, competitions...Something or the other keeps them busy...Where as I feel I have all the time in the world to sleep (though I hardly seem to catch any of it !!)...Good thing about colleges is that there is no dearth of movies or sitcoms to watch on your lappie if you dont mind staring at it for hours together...
People are so busy that at times I begin to wonder if I study in the same college or not...
It is like I am by stander watching all the action from somewhere else...It really seems that I am a bystander watching the people pass by in apparent hurry as days turn into night and nights into days...I guess I have to start and start soon because it is already half time ..And these games can be fun...Today I helped a few of my friends with their game...It was pretty easy but I could not really solve it in time...Which means I have to really work hard at it...
But as I have always said, "I like the word indolence, it makes my laziness seem classy !!"

BacK To ThE GrINd !!

Now that the first trisem is over, we thought that the next would be easier on us but there seems to be no respite from the rigorous schedule....
Mind you , i am not talking about classes because we hardly have those anymore...It is about the b school competitions that are supposedly the most important part of an 'mba experience'....
Now every waking moment and every conversation and every action ultimately aims at one of those competitions...
But most people just take part in order to take part....As in what good is participation when the effort is not up to the mark????
But i guess that the cat race that got us into these prestigious b schools continues albeit in a different form and under a new guise...But this competition gives rise to crab competition and this is what ruins friendships...This is what ruins lives of others...And this is what I was running away from....

MaR-Ke-TanG [Aka Marketing]

I have question: Why do people study text books for marketing??

As in, isn't it all about experience....Tell me one thing that works for two products or companies....Doesn't every company have a separate and different marketing strategy??..They do and thats why we have so many case studies in the first place....If thats the case, what is the point of this rote learning??..Kotler wrote a book in four years but we are supposed to read it, understand and repeat the same for our end term....Which is easy for the book worms and the hyper performers but what about poor little souls like me???

Infact when people ask what marketing is all about, the kotlers and porters of the world come up with fancy words to describe the same, but ask a person who does it day in and day out and i am sure he will have a different story to tell....Nothing really works as per the written script....a story which will actually tell what marketing is all about....
Newaz i dont think we have many options though....It's Kotler for us....Lucky for us that we have a lady Kotler (she will probably kill me for this) amongst us who voluntarily helps us out....

Nonetheless the subject marketing which is supposed to be fun and interesting still seems as drab and boring as ever and makes me wonder if I am in the right place and if I am doing the right thing....

WhY aRe wE HeRe !!

A philosophical statement but then seems so logical....Doesn't it?
I have the uncanny habit of asking the wrong questions to the wrong people at the wrong time.....Usually the people close to me suffer.....My father and my friends are the usual targets....
One of those conversations.......
Over coffee one mild winter night, I got hold of my father in a mood to talk......
Me: - "Dad, you are 50 now, you will live for another 50. What do you think your life was all about, the full 100 years?"
Before he could really understand i had a series of things to say.
I piped again: - "Papa, you have had a full life, an amazing wife, two great kids (being presumptuous helps when you are asking such questions.. :-p ). You had a good job, you are an ideal son, husband, friend and an awesome father. But 50 years from now what would you say your life was all about?"
He kept silent and looked at me for a minute. I don't know if that was look of pride or that of bewilderment but he just said, "Son, this question is not for me to answer, it is for you to find the answer on your own and I am sure you would do so when you reach my age."
Well I was not going to let him get away so easily. So I kept badgering him. "Dad, What about your answer to the same?"
He looked at me and this time he smiled. He said, "Beta, you have already answered it for yourself."
I couldn't see it at first but then i realised it. I had said, "you are an ideal son, husband, friend and an awesome father."

I loved and respected him more ever since. His life was about the people around him whom he loved rather than being about himself....

MY DAD, MY HERO, MY IDOL........................................

I love you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ThE SuPeRioRiTy CoMpLeX !!

It is said that right and wrong are man made things. If you manage to remove humans from this planet then there is no right and no wrong. Things are just the way they are. But then people argue playing the 'superiority card' i.e. we think and hence we are superior. But are we really?

They say we think, we speak, we feel and ofcourse there is the opposable thumb hence we are superior. But animals also think (look at the way a tiger hunts or the way the rabbit gets away), they also speak (it is a different case that we are not smart enough to understand them) and they also feel (ever seen a dog sulk away when the owner shouts him or seen a cat defend its kittens?). Yeah okay the thumb point is taken thats a structural difference and we have many flaws too. All animals are natural born swimmers whereas we have to learn, dogs can hear extremly high pitched voice.....(The list is endless and i have to stop somewhere) So what is actually different about us? Nothing?

No wait...There are a few rather clear differences and those are the ones that are disturbing too...Animals only eat when they are hungry, retaliate only when they are hurt, react only if instigated and they never hunt for fun !!! Actually the differences are right there staring at our face but we fail to acknowledge their presence. But it seems, we being 'SUPERIOR' are allowed to do all that.........And its US who take an offense at being called an animal, where as it should be the other way round.....