Christmas Carols..!

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, .......

This Christmas wasn't any different either in this regard. Though it was quite interesting. The amazing party brought out the flavors which wouldn't have been possible otherwise. The hosts were superb; and so were the arrangements. As expected, I was glad to be present at such an occasion, having fun with friends.

Got to meet loads of people. Moreover, when I come to think of it, I was the only one "unemployed" in the party, which comprised of more than 25 guests. Made me feel a bit strange & awkward, but I had to console myself with the fact that only a couple of months are left for me to enter the much-acclaimed corporate world as well.

The new year is nearby, and there are loads and loads of plans being made everywhere; be it Kodaikanal, Munnar, B'lore, or infact, even Calicut (If some people decide to come over here). I really wonder whats up, and why I am unable to decide what exactly should I do.

Even the mails are becoming irregular now, and as the time passes by, it gives a degree of discomfort. Only consolation comes in the way of classes (which I rarely attend fully), movie breaks, and the waiting period, of the unknown.

Harold & Kumar......

Thats the name of the movie I saw in the early hours of the day - "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle". Sounds a bit absurd, huh! Well, the movie is not. Made on the lines of "Dude, Where's my car" and "Starsky & Hutch", this is another comic flick which gets you to rock-n-roll, meanwhile getting you to have a hell of a time.

The movie's about two guys, in America (both un-American by birth), getting along with their lives. All the twists & turns in their lives are OK, but what matters most to them is to have a nice burger, which they are so much looking forward to. Just come to think of it, somebody going to such extent is quite unheard of. Reminds me of the times we used to go off to all those places(of the likes of Murthal) to have something to eat. Crazy thing to do if you think, but then, everything is fair and done, if one looks for the satisfaction one gets out of the whole endeavor.

A couple of dialogues surely caught my attention. One of them says, "There's no sense getting all wild up, everytime a bunch of idiots give you a hard time. In the end, the universe tends to unfold as it should." Hearing this at 5 in the morning made me realise that whatever happens doesnt matter at all in the end. It will be, as it should be, and as it has to be, in the end. There's no use thinking about it all the time, making our own lives hell, and of those who get affected by ours. Its all part n parcel of life, and should be taken as it comes.

"

If you love something or someone, you have to GO for it." This is another one. Though this seems quite ordinary, and well known, but this befits the context of the movie so well, that you have to watch the movie for yourself, to admire its relevance.

Worth watch, atleast once!

V.I.B.G.Y.O.R

"An empty head, a devil's home". This is a very bad translation what we have been hearing since our childhood, which says 'Khaali Dimaag, shaitaan ka ghar'. I can make out now why this saying has been on the rolls for so long a time.

Lately, I have been on the quest of observing anything & everything under the sun, which comes my way. I was just about to start the movie "Die-Hard 2", but suddenly I saw my desktop background getting transformed in a flash; from a beautiful wallpaper of a pretty girl [i won't disclose further details here, about the girl ;)], to a huge and lonely field, across which fared a big-big Rainbow, showing all the seven colors with a huge grin. (Don't think that this is something odd...Actually, I have installed a software on my system, which changes the wallpaper every 15 minutes..its just that, I got startled by this thing when it happened in a flash, in front of my eyes)

As I have developed this habit of thinking of the oddest things coming my way, this was just another thing. And I thought of writing about this here, and postponed my movie till the time this post gets over. Die-hard isn't dying "that" hard, as of now.

Now then, the rainbow, huh! And the seven colors, V.I.B.G.Y.O.R !

Each color holds a different meaning, a different pre-disposition, a different mindset, altogether, for each and every one of us. And it sure won't be the same for any two persons, because we all try and look this world from our own eyes - and it is a fact that the same thing we are watching, is also being observed by thousands and thousands of other pairs of eyes as well. In taking a look, we simply overlook the fact that though we have our perceptions, the synchro of our thoughts may not match with those near us, often leading to difference of opinions. Hey hey, this is going away from what I meant to talk about. So leave this philosophical stuff down under, and follow what's coming ahead.

Yeah, so I was talking about V.I.B.G.Y.O.R , and my perceptions about these.

I have my own feelings for all my friends, and for those, who eventually are not my friends as well. I'll try and associate some human souls with these colors, and I hope nobody gets too sticky about why this particular color for this particular person.

I'll associate Aasheesh with Indigo. Though ideally, I would like to associate him with Pink color, but alas, Pink is not a color in the Rainbow, and hence, out of contention. I have a couple of reasons why "I" of VIBGYOR goes to Aasheesh. First of all, "I" consider Aasheesh one of the best guys known to this humanity (I know this is flattery, but you can't deny me on this, right! If you do as of now, dare not do it ahead). This "I" (Myself here), reminds me of Aasheesh at first, because he has always been behind me, in all the facets which I have come across.

Secondly, like VIBGYOR needs some vowels to make sense to the pronunciation of the word "VIBGYOR", Aasheesh acts the common source of bonding between quite a few of us. You need to know where a guy is; ask Aasheesh, and you'll get to know his whereabouts [applies to girls too ;)].

There's one more "Indigo" quality I associate with Aasheesh. Britishers considered Indigo to be quite a useful thing, and wanted to export most of it. Likewise, Aasheesh is such a person(an export quality), that his worth can't be evaluated so easily, in words.

Talking about Green, what reminds me on hearing "Green" is "TeamGreen" & "GreenStream". These are not people, but surely identities. TeamGreen is the Environmental initiative we started last year, when our batch joined here at IIMK. GreenStream is the Environmental Society, and the Website, which was started by our enthu juniors, in DCE. That was an amazing effort, I should say, to work for GreenStream. Though I didn't get to work much for GreenStream (thanks to all the pains juniors took themselves), GreenTeam asked for some time, and I was too happy to give my time towards its activities.

I consider "Yellow" as very peaceful color. Akshay is the one who flashes across my mind, when thinking of this one. He's so calm, and inspiring, that its beyond words to explain. You've gotta meet him, and you would start feeling better, anyhow. Whenever I face any anxiety, I drop him a mail, and get a reply asap, to pacify my eagerness. He's got such a nice and sweet personality, that even yellow color would feel shy, taking a look at this guy.

Come "Orange", and its fun & frolic time. I'll devote this to not one person, but two. Welcome, Swap n Bihari. Although I should have taken just one name, but these two form the crux of the amusement I see as valid. Not that others are not funny, or that others don't like to have frolic in their times, but "Real" masti comes up when it is not an anybody's expense, except the self.

Bihari has been a fitting guy for this, because of obvious reasons. I had already dedicated a post to him yesterday, so i don't need to elaborate much on him here. His assets include making everyone laugh, come what may, even if it comes at his own expense. Whatever he may say, he's a gem at heart. (Kisses!)

Swap is the one who creates the cheerful atmosphere when people are around. He's always been there for me all thru these 2 years of MBA, and even before that, to cheer me up whenever I feel down, or feel a bit low, thinking about DCE. Time's not a problem with him, and at times, he sits upto 5-6 in the morning as well, talking to me and getting me to calm down.

Moreover, "Orange" is supposed to be a juicy fruit, and these two here, fill up the juice (and the spice) in our lives. Orange befits them, for sure!

Now is the color "Red". The color of blood. The color of envy. The color of distrust. I wouldn't name anyone in this section, because its not in public good to call people names, and to accuse of some things which they may not consider acceptable. Anyways, there's this person I know, who, as far as I know, feels pretty insecure. This person has developed a virtue of making mistakes, but covering them up very well in the very next instant. Moreover, sometimes I feel it has been my mistake all the way through, to let this person make a fool of me. But then, it is my tendancy (read, human tendancy) to get back, if I feel that the peron is holding back, because of human dignity. However, whatever much I do, it doesn't matter at all. On a different note, "Red" is the color of the T-shirt I am wearing right now. :))

So now, I is over, G is over, Y is over, O is over, and R is over. This takes care of all the colors of VIBGYOR. Ask me how? Well, remember, Aasheesh was meant to be "I" here. He singlehandedly overshadows the deeds done by all of us, and beats us by miles. "V" & "B" of VIBGYOR are meant to be overshadowed by Aasheesh here as well, and thus, no one gets a slot for V or B. That's my way of saying "Hats off" to him.

I'll ask you not to consider all this as flattery. All this is well proven truth, as you yourself know. Its just that, I am jotting it down here, for the world to know. No hard(or soft, for that matter) feelings for anyone, huh!

I'll get back to my movie now. As I see it, the wallpaper of the Rainbow on my system's desktop has changed to another beautiful lady now. ;)

One can enjoy a rainbow without necessarily forgetting the forces that made it.
------ Mark Twain, in "Queen Victoria's Jubilee"

Hosteller Vs DayScholar

The other day, I was watching "Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander". You'll opine the same as I do. No two opinions on this; a gem of a movie it is.

There were a couple of things which caught my attention while watching. (I wonder why I get to think of something or the other, whenever I am watching a movie, now-a-days). One of the things which caught my attention was the intimacy I share with Micky (He's my younger bro, and before I get too much involved into this nostalgic stuff, let me get ahead with it). The other one was the camaraderie shared by the friends in the movie.

The rivalry/comradeship, whichever you wanna see in it, reminded me of the Hosteller - Day Scholar attitude, around which so much of hype was created at all times. I myself have been staying in hostel since 6th standard, so I know what it means to be a true hosteller.

I'll jot down some of the traits, which have come out of the WOM (Word of Mouth), applicable to both, hostellers and day-scholars (called dayschi's hereafter, to build a Halo around the term). You might have heard of "22 Immutable laws of Branding" (Atleast my MBA friends ought to know of this). If not, take my word for it; it is supposedly the Bible for the Brand Management in Marketing. I'll present the 22 laws apiece for both, Hostellers and Dayschi's.

A Hosteller:

1. Is supposed to stay in hostel for atleast for 6 days a week, even if it is a 5 day working week.
2. Should never get up before the Lunch is about to be served. (Make it around 12 at noon)
3. Shouldn't leave any opportunity to hunt down the lunch-boxes of any of the dayschi's.
4. Should be able to be awake all thru the night, even if there's no need to do so.
5. Ought to have a Nickname
6. Should be amongst the last ones to enter the classroom
7. Has to develop a capability of sitting in the canteen day-in and day-out, without bothering over the petty issues over who'll pay, at the end of the day
8. Would have attended more marriages in the hostel, than the number even attended altogether in whole life
9. Wouldn't be the one to let go of any dayschi's, as and when the opportunity comes
10. The notes are never meant to be in order for a hosteller
11. Would be running around the house of the prof, the night before the exam, to get any clue of what's going to be the pattern of the exam
12. Will surely not have all the course with him the day before the exam, and would be seeking help either from a dayschi, or a girl hosteller (Ahem! Ahem!) [from a boy in case of a girl hosteller]
13. Should be accustomed to play all sorts of games & sports, even if he knows nothing about it
14. Should have a heavily inclined bias towards fellow group-members, as compared to other hostellers, and especially dayschi's
15. Ought to have a clear, but deniable bias towards the other sex
16. Must have atleast one case of kaatofying of his/her fellow mates
17. Should be able to prove his innocence as and when caught into the acts of unfairness
18. Has to have such a rapport that all the dayschi's should cater to his/her proposal, whenever there's a decision to be taken for the whole class
19. Should identify a room, strictly other than his own, to consider his own for all the acts of life
20. Should be able to tell the stories of his hostel life long after he's out of it
21. Dare not regret that he was a hosteller some time
22. Shouldn't care that its already 22nd law, and its still going on
23. Would consider his hostel time as the best time of his life
24. Wouldn't fail to give a comment on this post/blog
25. Would be eagerly waiting now what a dayschi's laws would include.

Now that its enough for the hostellers, and its clear that the laws for hostellers are never gonna end, we should get over to the traits of a dayschi.

It is a well-known fact that for hostellers consider 1+1=11, when it comes to standing up against the dayschi's. I'll take the liberty of calling 1+1=11 here as well, and so, the immutable laws for dayschi's would be-

A dayscholar:

1. Loves to attend classes, and moreso, loves to go back home

11. Would fear going in for a marriage party, and wouldn't bother for anything happening after 8 in the evening.

11+1. Doesn't care for the college after passing out of it

11+11. Would hate anyone calling him a "dayschi"

Now that all the 22 points are over for dayschi's, let me not waste much of my time on this, and get back to work. Research is still on, over the real facets of a hosteller, or a dayschi, but the results are not expected very soon. It would be very difficult to acquire all the traits of a true "hosteller", but becoming a dayschi isn't that big a deal (This much is quite evident from the study given above). Now its enough, its already 3 in the morning, and I still gotta see another movie. So, get back to your work. Enough for the day.

"Anyone who refuses to speak out off campus does not deserve to be listened to on campus."

E-ternal E-Sunshine of the E-Spotless E-Mind

E-ternal E-Sunshine of the E-Spotless E-Mind. Or should i use the name the world knows this movie with "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

Sure was a weird movie. On the lines of Vanilla Sky.

Oh Oh! Let me first clarify why there are so many E's in the title of the movie. Actually, this movie, I dunno why, reminded of my good ol' Bihari (My friends from DCE know him like the back of their hands!). He's so predictable, that I can even tell you what he would be doing at this point of time, sitting in Delhi.

He undoubtedly was the most reliable source of entertainment for each and every one of our group. A "Mirror-cracking material", he was the first one from our group to be knighted to the honours of having a "Girlfriend". She-Maa was the first blood, and unfortunately, the last one for him too.

Raising to the standards of the top-officials was his pet habit. The Vice-Chairman of the SEM, I really wonder how he would look like, 20 years down the line, Vice-President of some established Construction Company. Or rather I should put it this way, either he would be the President of the company, or the Vice-President would be the highest post in the company.

I admire this guy for being the boldest of all I have seen, from our group. My group members would agree on this. If you don't agree, its not my problem. Meet me sometime in Delhi; I'll get you to meet him, and if you are a FMCG manager, I can bet you that he'll be able to sell you a sack of cement, not to talk of the future commitments he'll draw out of you. An engineer in disguise, but a "Real" Marketer.

His room used to be the central point in Delhi for the first year after our engineering. Now his flat is. And I can assure you, his would be the home where I would be going to freak out, even when I'll be the one with kids (Picture this later! I'll come to this some other time). His would always be the place where I would find most comfort with friends.

Adding more to his already glorified grace, he got an offer from the likes of "Dubai" as well, but like he had chucked off his plans of going to US after a successful GRE, he had abandoned such plans even before he had applied. Seems like he amuses himself with such achievements (And more so by showing people like "Gullu Billu Babbu Pappu"). I know i don't remember the right names here, but it conveys the meaning it is supposed to.

I would like to continue till eternity talking about Bihari, but I am too anxious to show this post to Swap, to continue writing this. Maybe I'll write about Bihari again sometime, but I'll bring this to an end now.

And yes, with all due respect, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is a nice movie. And it has nothing to do with Bihari at all.

Till next, the Best!

~Cheers~

Un-under-stand-able

With nothing else to do, this seems to be the only valuable, infact, invaluable proposition.

This Blog is dedicated to all the countless nights I've spent encouraging others for their deeds, asking them to come up to their own expectations, uselessly trying to make them ponder over the issues they never could think about, and moreover, making them feel good for themselves.

Now that I myself am facing an identity crisis, it would be fruitless to say that i still have the capability of pursuing the same. This is made 'all the more' interesting by the fact that the term is coming to an end, and in days to some, i would be left out of such issues for ever, as there are better things to do coming up everyone's way.

What is there to be said? Next 2 days free for me, then classes for 3 days, to be followed by another ruthless, boring, lonely 7 days; following it would be a lone 4 hour class, which would be accompanied by another 5 days of blackness.

I wonder why it happens; i am not saying this happens with me and me alone, but you see, i can't say on behalf of others. So to say, the number of friends in the yahoo messenger, msn messenger, orkut list, hi5 list..etc etc... exceed anyone i know, and, for that matter, I really try n stay in touch with a good enough number of them.

But give me a break yaar! I have my own self-committment as well.

On a different note, am i still just a kid, who needs to be told of each and everything that goes on. One who needs to be taken care of all the way through, as if i m not able to judge people in a proper way. Agreed, that I have made mistakes in the past, which really has affected the relationships with many people, but that's what some people might call as mistake. On my part, later on, it was a well-informed conscious choice to make. Aware of all the implications, which could have affected me, I took my chances, and here i am, standing alone, am i not.

I wouldnt say that all the ways I undertook have been futile. Atleast some of them were appreciated from almost all the corners of the world.

What should i call it: Good People Skills, enabling me to a better HR manager, or should i call it a stupid attempt to aggregate some souls to take care of their solitude.

The time's running out. Hurry! Hurry!

Quick Glance at last few days, and the days to come !

With the narrowing down of the list of movies I haven't seen, its getting too difficult to think what to do at times, especially when the classes are getting on to the possible minimum. No classes today, 3 hours tomorrow, 3 hours the day after, none after that for 3 days, then 2 days of classes, followed by none for a week. What follows it is a four hour class, again to be followed by a 5 day break. I wonder if this really is the MBA life, with nothing to do except thinking ways of killing time.

Agreed that we can do lot many other things as well, like writing papers, reading books, preparing Business Plans (Ahem!) , and yes, blog and spurt out all you could....Interestingly, the former couple of things don't happen all the time. And the latter one is what I am left to do, anyhow. Phew!, what a couple of days these were. Wrote as many papers, b-plans, etc etc in the last week, as I havent even written in my whole life. And now that the deadline is over, I am left out to do nothing at all again.

Its cool to know that people have started getting jobs. GE's worth it. Another one's going over to Morocco. (No, these people are not from IIMK, but from my gud ol' DCE). Seems like everyone's climbing up the ladder, with me still there, waiting for my turn. I am still skeptical about infy, and don't know at all what to do. Heaven's grace may guide me on what to do.

In the meantime, the relations with people are also getting affected with this uncertainty. Whatever much I try, it doesn't seem to be casual at all. I've started getting this feeling that as their session is nearing completion, I am not needed anymore. Out of sight, out of mind is a causal effect. Not that it matters much when I am in-sight though.

Just a couple-of-days, and I hope that either it would be as it should be, or it would be as it would be. Ultimately, the difference of opinions and a matter of preferential choice will set in. Have tried to keep back all the blurting out, but the dam's filling in.

Next couple of days to be critical.

Best!

Wedding

Back from Delhi, and yet again, Exams are here. Today's exam was cool. Not much time though, but did it JIT. An Open book exam mostly gets me a confi which brings out the best in me. ;)

The Wedding was fun. Had full masti out there. Got to see, for the first time, what really a wedding means, and what all rituals are to be followed. Twas quite amusing and interesting. Taking the bulk of responsibilities, and then working them out in the minimum available time was the key thing which made me run thru.

Hope Shuchidi takes on a fine way from here on. The prospects seem bright enough. Amen!

And yes, met Surbhi, Sachin, Prabhjot for the first time. The long awaited delay, atlast, came to a halt. Had heard so much about them that I couldn't resist anymore, to get to meet such personalities.

In one word, I would call it "Serendipity". Boy o Boy. Thats my favorite word, and what a moment it chose, to describe its importance. Not that this decreases any admiration I have for the so called movie, but "A fortunate Accident" is what I gathered from this trip. "A small world" it surely is.

Hats off!
~Cheers~