Sitting Waiting Wishing

For December 15 to come!! And for me to rush back to Gurgaaaon!! And meeteatshoproamlive...
Till then, it's submissions, submissions...and yet some more submissions...
OB assignments that I can't comprehend
FinMan quizzes that make my head spin
OpsMan classes that make me feel like puking

They'd said 2nd term would be hard. It's not hard...its mind numbingly boringirritatingfrustrating...

Where's the rest of the junta gone...

$*%# off!

The candles burnt.....but the aura remained.

bought a laptop but the shipment got delayed by a week....blew up money on repairing my old pc but that didn't help....fought with friends....slipped twice on my bike....almost died, driving towards a big truck that came out of nowhere in the dark....the tyre burst and I had to walk for kilometers at a stretch....stuck in work about which I do not have the slightest clue....deadlines cut down by 60%....sleepless nights....and they say that a great year starts along with every birthday.

Interesting.

Diwali used to be Diwali back then.
Candles. Sweets. Gifts. Lights. Crackers. And all the fun.
Slowly and steadily we struck off one item after the other.
Diwali turned out to be just-another-holiday when it’s compulsory to take a bath.

But this Diwali was different.
Even though I was as usual left out – all alone – at home, that didn’t stop me from having fun.

First up, my PC went into flames (actually!)
It would easily have been the winner in the Best Home made Videos Ever! series. So there I was, with flames coming out of my machine, trying to blow it off using all the wind power in my lungs. With my first-hand experience, I can guarantee you that a burning PC may be a costly affair but it’s surely worth the fun :-)

Next up, my evil mind made me watch a crap (read – Om Shanti Om) on the Diwali night. Yes! The actual Diwali night – right after the pooja, when people go out and burst crackers and exchange sweets – I was there, holed up inside a theatre with the mall wearing a spooky deserted look, getting myself tortured.

You just can’t imagine it. You have to be there to get that feeling.

And on the top of that, Om Shanti Om!!!
Damn! We know that we like meaningless Govinda-type films. But secrets like these are to be kept hidden inside the closet. You don’t go out and declare it to the world, making a mockery of yourself and your fellow artists.

But, as they say – agar happy ending nahi hui toh samajh lo ki picture abhi baaki hain, mere dost (If there is no happy ending, then remember that the film is still not over) or something like that :-( (since it’s a quote from Om Shanti Om, I’m sure that people will overlook my ignorance).

Thus wishing that this extended weekend ends on a happy note.

p.s. I'm sure that even zz9 celebrated in style ;-)

Deadlier than the deadliest!

So, here we are - our annual winter hibernation mode.
With zz9 & marvin starting off with their (Am)-(Be)-A and bertie finishing his.
And with, madmita disappearing in thin air.
Am I the only one alive :(

Racism in India

Here's an excellent piece on the Symonds issue.

He.

They never saw
They never heard
All that he lost
in his way to Elysium

He left marks
Shifted stones
But nothing ever
really worked his way

Today, he's gone
In our memories
Though, still remains
in photographs

They took them out
Out of the almirahs
And burnt them down
one by one

Yet another day!

It's funny how good days turn into bad nightmares and that too in a flash that flies past you before you could even notice its presence.

So, there I was, feeling happy about the way the day progressed - successful meetings, flashy mails to clients and the good time I had with a friend.

But then suddenly , I got the 'New Mail' notification. The first few lines - We have carefully reviewed your ____ - and I knew it was over.

And suddenly I saw myself submerged in a sea of feelings.

The feeling of someone shouting at my face - Screwed you!
The feeling of someone saying - I told you so.
The feeling of someone saying - What are you gonna do now?
The feeling of someone saying - Are you sure?
The feeling of someone saying - Come on!! Move your ass.... Give your best shot to the rest...You got to make it man!!!
The feeling of someone saying - Don't be a loser.... Give it a fight...as u have always done.

All these feelings are making me, kind of, sick.
I better sleep.
Ummmmmm....... Naah.... Better watch - No Direction Home. Bob Dylan surely knows how to tackle the blues :D :D

Can't get any worse.

I knew that my humor sucked.
But this is outrageous :(

Me: Hey, Can you send me across your CV. Need to have a look.
Friend: Ya sure. But please make sure NOT to share it with anyone.
Me: Of course, not.
Me: Even if a girl agrees to sleep with me in exchange of your CV, I won't do that.

God! I deserve a BIG one for this.

Nuttin' Happenin'

What? Why? How?

If

I must have read this in some textbook during the school days but now is the time when I can appreciate what he wanted to say.

If - by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

Random Musings

It’s not glory but the feeling of being content that makes you bask the sunshine for a bit and take the next step forward. The rush of blood into your head that makes you believe in what you do. The dreams that refuse to go away even as the sun shines overhead. The faces that show you the light when there’s pitch dark outside. The gut feeling that refuses to go even though you know it is foolishness. The heart that overtakes the brain to reach your senses.

Aerials, in the sky.

Music. Music. And, more Music.
Have I ever had a moment when I couldn't relate a real-life scenario to a song? Guess, that's why they say - "Life is a song, let's sing it".

And here's the latest in my life (courtesy SOAD) -

And we are the ones that want to choose,
always want to play,
but you never want to lose.

p.s. btw, it's raining posts. looks like september is the month.

Random Thoughts

Disclaimer: Yet another post related to a "B"-school...now I know that my past (few!) posts reek of the "B" word, and can imagine the force per unit area with with you must be grinding your teeth right now in frustration but I can't help it. When you're totally engrossed in something so interesting, it comes out in all that you say/do [ read: a b-school sucks all imagination out of you :( ]
Anyways, coming to the point...following is a list of things a B-school definitely teaches you...and that too in a short span of time:

• Using words like 'definitely'. And 'totally', Im 'so' telling you, 'seriously'...
• Satan descended one day on this planet, and created what are now popularly known as "group assignments" in an MBA programme. Hence involvement in them must be avoided at all costs
• Doing the weirdest things such as 'PJ faceoffs' on the IP msgr at 4 a.m.
• Hence->staying up late. Insanely late.
  
• Accepting that best case scenarios DO NOT happen
• Mastering the art of 'gaseous' PPTs
• Doing the same things again and again and again, and still expecting people to appreciate it. For eg. Writing a blog
• Discussing how Mumbai sucks vis-a-vis Delhi...and both vis-a-vis Gurgaon...waise this I could do even before!
• Watching ads and thinking about the product positioning being used instead of checking out the hot new model...

And many more random behaviours...staying your own self here is one big challenge :(

Sachin, Douglas Adams, The Universe and Everything else....

You might be wondering about the title of this post. Its to do with a post i found on a blog at www.cricinfo.com. It brings out the undeniable genius of the two men and the fact that there is no book more insightful book than the HGTTG.
______________________________________________________

Sachin Tendulkar smiled. Now that's not a codeword for a nuclear explosion but it was how Tendulkar reacted to an umpiring decision when he was one short of his 42nd one-day hundred. What an injustice, cried millions of fans across the world. How can such a great batsman fall in the 90s in three out of five one-day innings? And how does one explain two 99s in two months?


Hang on. According to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything. Surely two months isn't long enough for solving such a mighty problem. It shows that the step from 0 to 41 is surely demanding but the one from 41 to 42 is gigantic. It's a leap that our Sachin needs to take. Douglas Adams obviously saw it coming several decades earlier but when it does arrive, it deserves one heck of a celebration.

and it's beginning to get to me.

I met an old friend, some time back. He was the topper of our class and could have easily made it into any of the world's top IITs and IIMs. But, there was one thing that differentiated him from us, the lower mortals - he had a dream.

So, all the time when we were busy, chasing our 'goals', he was taking a step forward towards his dream. He knew that the path was not easy and the pot at the end of the rainbow was not that lucrative either. But, he bravely fought against everything: the temptation of an easy life, the lure of easy money and the eternal peer pressure, from which all of us suffer.

And now, here we are.

We sit comfortably in our air conditioned office, contemplating about the next job change or the way out from the mundane job responsibilities we have. Whereas, he sweats it out in the high court, pushing files and talking to under-trials.

We rush off to the mall and spend our easy-earned money on things that, we think, will make us happy. Whereas, he is more than happy to return home at 11 in the night after spending all his evenings in the company of mammoth books that cover the Indian Penal Code.

But even after all this, he has one thing which we don't.

He has a dream!
And, all that we are left with are illusions of a nightmare!

Weekly Status : Week 32

First and foremost.
Homer Simpson Rocks !!!!!!

In Homer, we believe.

Finally, a weekend when I did it all.

• Blew up 22,000 rupees (some of my really hard earned cash)
• Actually traveled in a blue-line bus (God's very own messenger of death)
• Wondered around in Connaught Place, discussing why guys hold on to their girls while walking.
• Traveled in an auto-rickshaw (after a very-very long time)
• Got simpson'ed (finally!!)
• Wrote a crazy mail to all my friends, asking them to get back to me for all that I've done to them till date.
  

p.s.1. 2nd part of 'personal rantings of a guy gone crazy'
p.s.2. now we are officially global (with no two bloggers logging in from the same city). hell! we even have people seeing this from finland :D

Knock..Knock..

Oh! How I jotted down all the things I'd do, once I have the time.
The plans were on paper and the maps were ready.

But then, the usual vicious cycle of oh-wait-for-the-right-time-and-then-you-can-do-it came knocking on the door. I hate unexpected guests and, especially, this damn thing - it tops the list.

Yet again, I pulled myself back. I took a deep breath and comforted myself, promising that this would be the last time. But going by my dubious track record, I knew that it isn't. It's not even close to the last time.

So, till that time, let me sing aloud -

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home
Oh, won't you please take me home

p.s. 1st part of 'personal rantings of a guy gone crazy'

The power of uhhh....... Pink!!

Today was a gloomy day.
Not because it rained cats and dogs.
Neither because a bus drowned at the Dwarka underpass.
Nor because I was asked to (yawn!!!) study some docs at office.
And, particularly, not because a client replied to my mail that I had sent her on February 28th, 2007.

In fact, I made a friend suffer a minor heart attack by telling him that I'm getting promoted and being sent for a 9-month on-site stint (which of course was a lie). And for the fact that after such a long time I finally failed to miss My name is Earl and 30 Rock.

But it was gloomy. And it was strange that I wasn't able to identify the reason.
And, hence, the day was about to end at a very gloomy note but then...

A phone call at 12 o'clock and the midnight sun started shining bright behind the dark clouds in the sky. A conversation which made me realize the things I enjoy the most.

"To each his own", they say.
Some people find watching television interesting, some people feel the happiest in the company of books, some people gorge like pigs to make the blues disappear and some people do good in their own company. But, for me, I have realized that one thing that can beat the shit out of my bluesy moods (ok! let's try and not think about beer for a moment) is -

trumpets......
rolling drums......
tadaa......

Office Gossip !!!

So, there I was - happy like a little child who just snatched away the lollipop out of the bull dog's mouth; with sparkling eyes of a scientist who invented something today; the guy who realized that he'll be marrying Paris Hilton;

And why was I happy? Because I'd just concluded a 2 hour phone call discussing - pink!
Oh! how I love office gossip. I adore it. In fact, I have a business plan to make a living out of it (any b-school student listening).

God save the souls of those who interact with me at work :P

If life were a song

The rain that wakes me up in the morning; the sun that peeps through the slit; the music that plays in the background; the wish that life were a song.

Years and years of music that went through my ears (to such an extent that my friends point out that my hearing has impaired to some extent), thousands of catalogues that I went through, hours that I spent waiting in the line to get into that big gig-in-town and I realized what life would be like if there was no music.

There would be no Tequila Sunrise and there would be no one to Start Me Up and make me cognizant of the Morning Glory that lay ahead. No Fourth Time Around for All I Lost. No one to tell me that We’re Gonna Groove at times when I sat Dazed and Confused. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing wouldn’t have been that easy had there not been The Everyday Love Song that made you learn Walking The Blue.

I would have never realized the joy of singing Somebody Else's Song and shouting Fuck the World just to accept at the end that it’s just a Cynical World, the World Where You Live.

No one to make me stop thinking about What Will They Say and let me fly away Up in the Sky, Flying in a Blue Dream, shouting Don't You Know Who I Think I Am At the Top of My Lungs

And, as Louis Armstrong sang, no one to remind me –

Don't Forget To Mess Around.

*Courtesy –

All I Lost – Zero
At the Top of My Lungs – Dashboard Confessions
Cynical World – Thermal and a Quarter
Dazed and Confused – Led Zeppelin
Don't Forget To Mess Around – Louis Armstrong
Don't You Know Who I Think I Am – Fall Out Boy
Flying in a Blue Dream – Joe Satriani
Fourth Time Around – Bob Dylan
Fuck the World – The Vines
Morning Glory – Oasis
Sitting, Waiting, Wishing – Jack Johnson
Somebody Else's Song – Lifehouse
Start Me Up – Rolling Stones
Tequila Sunrise – Eagles
The Everyday Love Song – Zero
Up in the sky – Joe Satriani
Walking the Blue – Willie Dixon
We’re Gonna Groove – Led Zeppelin
What Will They Say - John Swan
World Where You Live – Pearl Jam

People Power


So my first post out of Kozhikode...a bit late because with the superb weather and scenery around, it's actually painful to sit in your room/CC and write a blog (or pretty much do anything else :(... )

...

Anyways, as per my first impressions, more than being than anything else, a B-school is amongst the best places to meet and experience people. But of all kinds...

Contrary to the office, people here are generally loud/pushy/argumentative..and sadly, just like something Bertie was talking about a few days back, most of them take themselves too seriously. Two days into the programme, a person with 2 yrs of IT workex is dead sure he wants to handle m&a at an investment bank (or something like that only!). In the sociology class, people protest during an amazing lecture that this course does not add value to their CVs. And don't even get me started on the whole shenanigans over class participation.

But on the other hand, there are (albeit a few) interesting people to meet too. Beautiful ones who give you an insight into the life of an army family :-). People who talk in all sorts of accents as they vividly, and indivdualistically describe their experiences, expectations, how much they miss their homes n stuff. People with phenomenal ideas and passions to match.

If these few days spent here paint a true picture, then the next 2 years are surely going to be one big rollercoaster ride. But what probably excites me the most, is the wealth of human management to gauge and learn from here.....for sure.