To do or not to? :)

A lot of people who are 1 or 2 years old in the IT Industry grapple with the question constantly worrying their looped up minds. Should I do a MBA or not? Should I continue in my current job? Is an Executive MBA worth it? Will giving up my salary for 2 years be worth it? I hate my current Job and I want to get out of it. What do I do? My parents are old or retired and I don’t have enough money. Will I be broke after my MBA? Will getting a job after MBA be much better than my current Job?

All the above questions plagued my mind 2 years ago. Nobody gave proper answers. It wasn’t as easy. Finally I took the plunge.

So, Do IT professional need to do an MBA?

The Answer to this is not that simple. It depends, as to what priorities you have in your life.

A lot of them get frustrated. And by mere getting frustrated, join the MBA Bandwagon. That may not necessarily be such a bad thing but it is important to know what one is getting into. Advice to such people would be think and think it over another time. Are You really cut out for it.

If you can't think enough, may be the below pointers might help :)  

Having completed 2 years of my MBA here are some answers.

When should you NOT do a MBA?

•        Do you depend too much on Money from your Job? Are you content with the money your IT Firm pays you? If Yes, Do NOT do a MBA.
•        Do you like what you are doing and see yourself as a mentor to junior techies by being an effective Team Lead or a Project Manager. Do NOT do a MBA.
•        Most Importantly, You like being a techie. You like Coding. You like to be in a challenging environment of Codes and Software. Do NOT do a MBA.

When should you do a MBA?

•        If you want to go beyond the world of Software and explore about what goes on behind a business strategically. Why is IT needed for them? Do a MBA.(though experience without a MBA will eventually teach you that.)
•            If you want your salary to increase and you do not want to switch onto another company and want a break from your Job. Do a MBA.
•       If money is not an issue and you can be well off by not working for a whole 2 years, do a MBA.
•       If you think you do not have a future in Coding and it you cannot switch because you feel Coding is not your thing and you want to get out of that world and management is something you would want to do. Do a MBA  
•           If you want to work for a Non-IT Firm and switch onto a different Industry, Do a MBA. (again one can without an MBA, but MBA just gives a different platform)
• Most importantly, do a MBA if you can get into a GOOD College. Good College gives you two advantages.

-          A Reliable Brand name which means decent professors and better education.

-          A good Profile when you are placed and a head start with good money to boot.

So there you go, That’s my take. If it's not your thing it is NOT your thing. But if you want to genuinely give it a shot, then just go for it :)

Will you go that Extra Mile?

During my MBA, I had an interesting lecture on Transportation Management where the Professor talked about the Trucking Business. In his lecture he said, there are lot of truck drivers from Haryana, Punjab who form the majority of the people driving trucks and there are not many from other parts of the country who are into it, because of which there is kind of a vacuum which gets built up wherein people who would want to be in the trucking business, cannot do so since they have to depend on people from Haryana and Punjab willing to do a certain kind of a job and not people from their own state for that matter, which is assumed to be more convenient method of working or doing business instead of the other way around.

So, here’s the million dollar question?

Are there people made for certain type of jobs and hence are more sort after?

Do the people who are “at it” kind of people, at it in their jobs and by “at it”, I mean at it for Decades all together, bound to be “successful”?

Jobs!

Having been in a job for 41 months and now having completed my MBA, I can certainly vouch for it that people who are not those “at it” kind of people get easily frustrated. And this frustration stretches and stretches and gets to a point where in you make a decision. The Decision of staying in the firm or not. How long will you be “at it”? How long will you do something which doesn’t give you that kick? How long will you eat the same food in the office canteen? How long will you keep staring at the same pay cheque every month?

But for some reason people who are “made for that job” don’t seem to have any problem with the above thing? They seem to be, let’s say “Acceptable” to their jobs and won’t just quit. May be they don’t quit because they are just happy and content. For truck drivers, they are happy or let’s say OK with driving trucks, for people in the South, presumed to be good in Programming, Maths and Science are seen to be either people working in the software Industry or are people working for ISRO. They just don’t quit. They retire. Yet Infosys or ISRO as an organization don’t face a resource crunch. A resource which could take their businesses ahead. Yet a person who would want to start a logistics business in say West Bengal would face so many difficulties. It’s not only about logistics. It’s about mindset of people who would not want to do certain kind of work and even if they do, they don’t sustain in that job for long. For Example, We find several such people from UP & Bihar working as Taxi Drivers, Press walas and other service kind of jobs in Mumbai which either Maharashtrians refuse to do may be because they find it “smaller” in comparison or are just not sustainable in it. The Plumbers or Cooks who come from Orissa, Jharkhand and work in cities like Bengaluru or NCR, Culturally inclined Singers, Artists or Musicians who come from West Bengal to make their name in Bollywood, there are umpteen such examples like that.

Of course Money and one’s livelihood is the MOST important factor. Agreed. But is it only about the Money? Doesn’t even that saturate after a while? Either ways, it seems if you are just there and there for good, you rise in any organization. Just be there and Walk that Last Mile, Question is how many of us really have that kind of Patience?

MBA : Are the right "skill-sets" being tapped into?

And so I complete my Post graduation. Not that I ever thought it was important, but to have it in my kitty makes me feel, well let’s just say a little more “educated”.

So now that it’s over, I kind of ask myself, was it really needed? This MBA Degree of mine. Now I have to confess, I did very little research before getting into MBA, which can be a good thing because it could be start of a new adventure of finding out things but also an uncomfortable thing if you get to discover things which you may not have foreseen. I for one, wasn’t really prepared for 20 year olds sitting besides me just out of their BBA’s or BSc’s to be my classmates. Not that I thought I was much superior to them but yes it meant me and they were in the same platform learning the same thing. But this blog post isn’t about them, rather it seeks to ask a fundamental question. Question being, what are the expectations from a MBA? And what are the actual skillsets expected from a MBA Graduate?

I will answer that but first let me go through my own experience.

Once I was into my MBA, I always knew after the 1’st odd month that I would be taking up Marketing. Philip Kotler’s “bible” with picturesque products and one liners fascinated me. Financial Numbers, Operational things and Human Resource never really excited me as something like a Maslow’s theory or a Porter’s 5 forces did.

Now 3 months into my MBA, I get a “Connect with me” request on LinkedIn from a girl who had taken up Marketing and whom I knew from college. Curiously I go to her profile and see that she had done her BBA and worked in the industry before that for 2 years. Then I read her one line Summary which basically gives everyone a heads-up as what skill-sets they have and where would they like to see themselves etc. Now that read something like this.

“I am a confident and effective communicator with strong interpersonal skills and am able to build a rapport with people from different backgrounds and interact well.”

Subsequently there were other non-engineering colleagues of mine who wanted to connect with me via LinkedIn. Curiously, I go and check out their profile details and that read, something on these lines.

"Popular for my strong communication skills, I am a true believer of the fact that “The art of communication is the language of leadership”. Always reckoned for the fact that "I can sell ice to an Eskimo & sand to an Arab”, I am constantly looking to hone my skills to better suit any environment I am in."

Now that clearly is copy, pasted from somewhere. Given my experience as a Techie, I could clearly make that out:-D.

Reading those summaries, I actually was mesmerized. There were several things running on my mind. These were some of them.

1. Is that it? An Effective Communicator. In other words are you saying to me that MBA’s are the ones who can speak Good English? Yeah, sure you got to know about Economics, your financial jargons, the service industry around you. But nobody is talking about that in the Summary. All they are saying is “Effective Communicator”. That actually gave me an unexpected form of confidence.
2. Now say you are a 10’th/12’th grader. You speak well. You have this great “interpersonal skill” and you can build a great rapport with people and make them instill confidence in you. Yes you may not have been introduced to the world of Economics and Balance Sheets yet but hey, you can “sell” your ideas well. Now I was kind of curious to know. What would then be the difference between you and a suited booted MBA? Only the “experience” and the “knowledge” part right? Knowledge about say, Finance, Economics and the Industry. Now is that really important? Can that be easily learnt and “effective communication” cannot be?
3. Is this “skill” of being this effective communicator or having an interpersonal skill a rare phenomenon? Are there very few people around who can communicate that well? Is marketing for example only about that? Or is it much deeper and complex than that?
4. On a lighter note I thought, As a Software Engineer earlier the skills on my resume had to be proficiency in any programming language say a Java or a Dot net. Now I just have to be this “effective communicator” with great interpersonal skills and get a job which pays higher than a coder. Now the latter sounded much more enticing to me rather than the former.

Having completed these 2 years I realized, Marketing is all about convincing the other person. You do that with your communication skills, you do that by putting up facts and figures or you do that by any other way possible, at the end of the day it’s all about how much you sell and help the business grow. A person who doesn’t know how to speak, may have great strategic marketing ideas which have the potential to take the business to the next level. He may not be able to articulate it well but he may understand the market or the sector better, more than the person having this great “interpersonal skill” and give out sensible marketing ideas.

But I realized that this unfortunately is not the reality. Once I had this conversation with an elderly gentlemen, who when told I was doing MBA, retorted back with disgust and said, “So you are the ones who come in suits, speak Good English (his spoken English was bad), make lovely powerpoint presentations and go out of the board room making us all look like assholes.”

The above perspective needs to change. It’s not about the Good English. Yes, Language is important but so is the understanding of Economy, Market, Industry and what goes into making an effective strategy work in this ever changing VUCA world. How you communicate is important, yes, but can you as a MBA come up with ideas, come with solutions to make a change. MBA’s should be looked at as being problem solvers. Unfortunately, the outlook now-a-days is more to do with how they speak and not what they speak which is unfortunate.

Forget Communalism, its Regionalism now!

I witnessed an incident last week which made me think as to where we are taking this nation of ours. We, the Middle-higher middle class generation often forget that there is an India which earns 5K-10K a month or may be even less who have got their own share of “problems” to deal with. But the question remains, Are those “problems” justified?

I hear a ruckus going on in the front end of the state transport inter city bus between 2 people having 2 diverse form of opinions. 1, A person from U.P (won’t use the term which is often used), lets call him “X” and another person who claims to be the “son of the soil” i.e. a localite from Pune, lets call him Y. Now allegedly “X” who was a passenger hadn’t paid for his ticket to Y who was the conductor and was getting off the bus without the payment. Y caught him and started abusing him. Y also got to know that he is not from his state as he did not speak the language. “X” began to defend himself and at last paid the price of the ticket. To my utter dismay and horror, Y gave him the ticket and ordered him to get off the bus. “X” now got angry and said, I have paid for the ticket, why should I get off. “M.C and B.C started, there was some pushing and shoving and finally something happened which was shocking and uncalled for, Y thought it was right and I am sure he was proud and “X” was well, I wouldn’t try to guess his reaction. Y threw X off the bus. Of course, the bus was stationary all this while with the entire ruckus on. So he wasn’t seriously hurt, but the mental hurt would have been a permanent one. Okay, he could have been getting off without paying a ticket, okay he could have been a thief, but whatever happened in front of eyes, wasn’t the right thing and sadly I couldn’t do anything about it.

The whole point of Y throwing X of the bus makes me wonder here. Would Y have done that if “X” would been a localite? I.e. spoken the same language as him? Did Y perceive “X” to be one of those who comes to “his territory” and engage in activities like the one mentioned above I.e. (Assumption that he had not paid his ticket). And perhaps the question to which I am sure there is answer to is, Should he have shoved him off the bus? The Answer to that is obviously “No”. But there is a deeper question to be asked here. Do we live in our own state or do we live in our own country? And why are we so Paranoid of other people coming from other states? Is it the problem of the state itself of not having/giving the required jobs for the locals? Is the problem of people coming from other states and staying the real problem or the people in their own respective state not coming to terms with them, a problem?

Unless we answer these questions I am afraid it will be state vs state and not religion vs religion that we would be seen next.

That all Important Bus Ride !

We all have families and am sure we cherish them. But I am not sure how many of you value them.
You don't often realize their value until you stay away from them. I have done that for almost 2 years now and trust me it's a difficult thing...So here's presenting something which happens with me every friday when I make my trip from pune to my home in Navi Mumbai :) Hope you like it.

She waited, waited and waited endlessly

For any particular “thakeli” bus to arrive

In that rush of the so called “weekend public”, she stood

Waiting to go home, waiting to spend some time.

Her face, I saw, was just like mine

Enthusiastic, vibrant and fresh

Just the thing that a Friday evening does

It rejuvenates, it excites and it ends that wait.

That wait for the weekend and those 2 days

2 days with your friends and family

2 days of sleep, 2 days of good food

Oh those good ol’ 2 days

And finally that bus arrives after an endless wait

Pushing and shoving happens, almost like a local train

The “Mamaa” tells the driver…”Zaaoo Deyaa”

The lucky few get a seat while she doesn’t.

Disappointed, her endless wait stretches a little,

Still her face remains as fresh as a daisy,

Awaiting and almost reminiscing her last weekend

She has a wry smile, as innocent as a child.

Finally she manages to get inside the bus

I too luckily hop along.

Yes mom, I got the bus, I’ll be home soon

Her voice, all happy, excited and vibrant

And then, I see her again, her face a little disgruntled

Quite Opposite to what it was 2 days ago

That is exactly what a Monday Morning does to you

Makes for a gloomy, sad and a sleepy start.

But one thing I realize in all of this

It’s the family, friends and that surrounding

That makes one come back week after week

It’s not for anything that someone had famously said,

Home is where your heart is !

Thanks Shatabdi for asking me for my blog link…That thing made me write this :)

The New Template

Google keeps coming with some awesome things. The doodle for example.
The doodle paying tribute to Les Paul was one of the most mind blasting things I have seen in the recent past...Work and other matters have kept me away from blogger ..so when I opened my page today, I thought the template design needs a change. So I went to the design change page after a long time and boy !.. Hasn't the whole set up changed. There are such fantastic templates available now...I remember a year or two ago I had to Google search for new templates but now blogger itself gives so you so many decent choices to choose from that you yourself get confused as to which one to choose.

Finally I found this and I think my page looks neat...I know it would look a lot neater if I write something :P...I am sure I'll come up with something soon guys. I promise :)

Never make it Mundane

Life, Yeah dats what I am talking about. Sometimes, actually not sometimes, every time, everyday we tend to do the same things again and again, in the process forgetting that we even live a life you know. How much would one try and live according to somebody else? Your own family, Your own over hyped career growth, your own client, your own company. Sometimes you just would want to let it go.

It's like cricket players now-a-days. The more they play, the more they tend to get saturated or worn out. And I am not talking about being over-worked. I am talking about doing the same things again and again, everyday and every time. It's never easy to just break from your routine life. Never was and never will be. It's just that we don't try enough! Writing is another such thing. You just break away from it and then just don't tend to get that push to go on and blabber again :P

It's important that one should redefine himself every time and question thyself and try to learn in each step. Learning new things for a person should never stop. And when you are overworked. that one holiday works, try it , it really does and re-charges your battery every time. I end it with what I started with. Never make your life mundane . Be happy :)

The Transition Phase

P.S: Below post is kind of boring and has 0 % humor in it. The Author is not responsible for any boredom which the reader may feel. :P

College Life: Attend Lectures. Bunk classes. Study 10 days before Exam. Mug up things and then vomit it in the paper. It was fun. But as far as gaining knowledge went. It was zero. Unless we made an effort to do so which we didn’t, there was nothing to learn. It was sad actually, the fact that we blame professors for the same. Yes, they are responsible but now being trained at something I realize that if we made on our part some effort to learn and understand things, the training part wouldn’t have been necessary :)

Coming to the Training phase. This is where the real transition happens. We change from students to professionals. We “LEARN” things. And I am not talking technical learning. I am talking about learning about life too. We interact. We communicate. Well don’t know about you, but I was short of these things during my college phase. Here as they say the knowledge transfer happens. Slowly and steadily we change into the working class lot.

Next comes the Working man. Here we apply our training into work. This is where the real joy comes in. You work based on your learning. Work seems fun then. You begin to understand and work. You learn the domain if you want to. How things work? How things function? How things Happen? The Cubicle Gossip over coffee :P

You slowly turn into the working class hero. Well I am not one as of now, but probably would turn into in the year ahead. But the first two phases is what I have gone through and hence this post of what you feel turning from a college going MUG-UP Kid into a working class MAN :) …Feels Good :)

New Beginning :)

I am off to Mysore for my job tomorrow. Feel Nervous, Excited.Blank. A variety of emotions playing in my mind.I don't know what's going to happen in the next 3-4 months.That's the reason may be of me being Blank.

I'll have to leave my city too.And when the city is to be a place called "Mumbai" ..it's doubly hard. I don't think I have to go on about what I feel about the city as you guyzz would know what I would miss. But more than that the thought of me living in a completely new place puts me in a tizzy. How would I manage that? Why can't I have things done of me? *Confesses in a way* :D

In a way independence is good. Not in a way...Independence is good.Period. :D...Away from home though is never easy. Though the country would be the same ...the environment would not. But there will be new people, new friends to be had, probably a new me :)

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn
The taxi's waitin' he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane(on an express train :D)
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go :(

John Denver~~ What a song! and how apt!

But alas I have to go :(

Cya....Chalo All the best bolo sab :)

Rapper in me :D

I had written this for my good friend Stephen ages ago....I hope you guys like it :)

Okay People in the house reading this …Since this is a guest post …and since it has to be fun ….I want you people to read the following as a RAP...So get that Eminem cap on and Burst that damn balloon coz it’s Stibu Mama’s 200’th post celebration …*Woohoo*

The Solitary Writer , he is one cool guy
Now that’s a fact, nobody can deny
Here’s a dedication on his 200’th post
On his boat floating on his own coast

He writes some super cool stories
And has an uber cool blog
He also works really hard
And doesn’t shy away from a slog.

Thinks he cannot write a poem
But comes up with some pointed darts
He gets onto your nerves sometimes
And sometimes melts your hearts

He sometimes talks sense
Sometimes acts like a noob
But reading his stuff on his blog
Sab ho jaate hain “doob”

In his glasses, he looks like a geek
But don’t get fooled, coz he is not!
He is one clever guy, any women would seek
They would find him rather handsome and hot!

He has this friend, won’t tell her name
They talk to each other every single day
Hope this is not just another silly game
Hope it’s for real and may long it stay

Lastly mate, I know this has been one silly rap
But don’t let our friendship have a gap
For you are a really good buddy, stay as you are
C’mon Mann.. Now let’s meet up in a bar!

:D

It's the fear...Damn it!

Saw 3 idiots for the 5’th time. And one who has seen the movie would know why. Not because the movie is funny and witty, but because of the message it carries. And the best part is that it does not have one single message to drive home. There are several take-aways that one gets from the movie. One of which I took, watching it for the 5’th time :)

I so identify with the character of Raju, the one played by Sharman Joshi. No, I don’t have a poor family to look after and neither was I a bright student in school as his character was in the movie. But the fact that he had this “darr” or fear in him is what I identify with. Fear of how he is going to support his family, fear of not getting a good job, fear of not doing well for himself. The fear of “failure”. That fear of failure is also perhaps in me and majority of others who are not able to tackle it head on. It’s all very easy to say I loved rancho’s character and one should be like him. But someone like him is special, the majority are not! As Chatur’s character in one of the scenes says “These ideals don’t work in the real world. They don’t...Yes, but one could work on it especially if some one is like Raju’s character i.e. me…work on my fears and instead of saying “Ye mujhse nahin ho payegaa…because of the fear and say “Yeah, I can do this…I need to work on it but eventually I will get it done. It’s all about staying optimistic about one self.

What I wouldn’t do though and this is also where I differ from Raju’s character in the movie is that I’ll never take my life. Something like my life is very precious to me and I would like to live it to the fullest. It’s scary to see 3-4 suicides in the city already. People are so negative these days. When will they learn that failure is not the end of the world.Raju does get a job afterall. People are wrong when they blame the movie for every damn thing. Aamir does teach the raggers a lesson. There is such a touching scene in the movie where Madhavan’s character Farhan tells his dad of how Aamir had kept his parents photo in his wallet to remind him that whenever he feels like committing suicide to just look at their photo…he would himself retract from doing so. Why don’t people see that and feel inspired?

Well as for me I have learnt to stay positive and say “Aal is well” or atleast try to feel it whenever anything goes wrong or does not work. And everyone else should learn to do so :)

P.S : Sorry to not blog for a while...Don't know what was/is wrong. Can't say I am back...Keep Blogging people :)

Growing up

The other day I bumped into my old school friend/classmate while going to my classes.He had worn a formal shirt, had sunglasses on, was looking all smart, and why not.. he was working! But that's not the point.He was working and was married. Yes that was not a typo.He was MARRIED! Ohh just to add one more thing to it, he was living separately. Now I am not going to go about making the point of how wrong or right it is to do that, but my point is completely different.

When do we know that we have grown up? Or is there anything to know about? I mean the guy is married and earning.If not in a year, but in say 2 years time he will be "settled".And here I am, fighting my way through life, ofcourse on my way to settle..but does one need to "grow up" so quickly? Does one fix up his or her priorities at the age of 22?

May be I am writing about this coz I find myself kinda insecure now, a little less grown up a little less mature. But I wonder is it me who's less mature or is it him who's taken responsibilities so quickly on his "tender" shoulders(pun intended) :D. Whatever it may be I know that I have to grow up one day and be a man..take up responsibilities...But I guess there's still time for it...My own sweet time :)

Perfect Sh*t

OK I hv to confess that I watch this show in bits and pieces...but seriously ain't reality shows going a bit too far with this...The "Perfect Bride"...not only is the name sexist...but it's just making the term "marraige" derogatory. They have this question and answer session where they ask .."Kya aapko ye bandaa pasand hain?"...and she giggles and says maine unko abhi tak jitna jaana hain..woh mujhe pasand aane lage hain...Yeah right!

I know all these shows are scripted or so it is alleged but they can't go onn showing s*it on television and expect people like us to just gulp whatever they feed to us. It's just like what stimulates is there in front of the idiot box. Washing dirty linen in public is kind of becoming a fashion statement now-a-days...Whatever it takes to be in the lime-light...one is prepared to do. But surely there should be something called as ethics and morals. Why is everybody "becch khaiing" that..why is there no accountability if people are seen "becch khaainng" that? Why can't people tell others that dude whatever you are doing is not good for your image and ultimately you are damaging yourself personally...but alas the stage, the glamour, the money all, over-power these things and one ultimately falls into the trap.

This trap of trp's is a very dicey trap...It's ending up destroying,of surely what one stands for. Or should stand for anyway! But I wd rather watch a Rakhi's Swayamvar which again was a lot over the top...I happened to watch the finale only and roflmaoed when rakhi sang that "Jesus Song"...But I wd rather watch that rather than this Perfect whatever thing..Atleast rakhi's show wasn't sexist...and from what I gather..it was watchable too...We are falling into the UK trap people..where according to a study..people are getting obese or simply wasting their time watching reality shows rather than working out...It's time to wake up you junkies..which includes me too btw :D

P.S:->"Becch khaana" means Selling your moral...Eating it away..I hope that's the right translation :D

Baby, I am addicted!

Opened my diary and hence writing this post after a long time. Don’t know what’s wrong with me? Perhaps the title of the post is! Not perhaps but that is it! I am Addicted. Addicted to a certain kind of life. Sleep, get up, spend useless time in my comp. Eat. Sleep. Spend useless time on my comp. and then eat sleep again.

Yesterday when I got bored of all that, and it was just for a moment…I picked up the newspaper and read this nice article about addiction. There, it mentioned regarding Lakshmi Mittal, the richie rich guy, who was once traveling in his car to spend time in his golf course which he did every Saturday Morning, but then mid-way he stopped his driver and told him to take him back. Why? Because he thought he was getting addicted! Addicted to playing golf every Saturday! And apparently he hates addiction, addiction of any kind. Even Hard work! Then it also mentioned about Miley Cyrus deleting her Twitter page for the same reason! She explained so beautifully when she said that she thought that people all over the world could maybe take a little vacation from Cyberspace. Her problem with the internet was that it made negativity so available. It allowed people to anonymously hurt others without any consequences. That was not the real world. Not only that, but if we spent more time enjoying what we were doing besides tweeting about it, we would enjoy our lives a whole lot more. She said she had very little free time and the moments that she did have, she should have been spending it with her family and friends and love every minute of their company…That was so true. In a way she said about how she was getting addicted to the virtual world and wanted to quit to get a feel of realism.

But is getting rid of it so easy? One just has to say I quit! And that is it? Surely one is addicted to one thing as he/she likes doing it. In my case though I would say I have nothing better to do! Can I get rid of it? Yes, if I find something better to do! Writing may be! But it is difficult…like quitting smoking or drinking… A monotonous life gets to you after a while! It really does…Perhaps the best kind of advice I got was from a old school classmate of mine…I didn’t ask him directly about what to do but in a conversation I told him something which only a person who has nothing better to do would remember! I mean it was not a thing which a normal guy would give heed to…and he was like “Wtf dude! Do u secretly spy on us or something? Get a life man! Get a girl! Everyone from school that I know of... is committed except u! A girl will keep you in check and make you meet with reality. I laughed of the idea…but anything will do to get me out of this…Any suggestions people? :P

A Hair Raiser

Ok I have to confess first off that I have a problem with my hair. Yes I do. I am not a baldie though…No I am not, neither am I on my way to becoming one but some people and I mean SOME PEOPLE just don’t get it or may be they do but just for their own beneficial reason, choose not to. Okay so what happened? This is what…

I was walking on the streets in my own merry way which means I usually don’t give a damn of the people around me. So if a friend or an acquaintance happens to pass by me, I wouldn’t know unless he/she calls me in a crowd. So as I was walking down the street I hear a woman go “Aapke baal jhadd raha hain naa”? I was like Wtf? where ‘w’ was equal to who? I turned around to find a saleswomen in her mid 30’s(not like the one in the pic... though I wish! :D) standing with different kinds of ayurvedic medicines kept in a dingy. I kinda went huh? ..She was like haan haan jhad rahe hain… Ye medicine aapke baalon ko…blah..blah..blah…She kept on saying stuffs which I kept hearing from my one ear and let go of another. I was least interested. What bothered me more was…was this saleswomen saying it because she was one? Others don’t say it coz they are not trying to sell their stuff? They don’t wanna hurt me? Well it’s not that people haven’t pointed this out to me but geez…it hurts when some stranger tells you out of the blue. It hurts deep down.

Ohh for those wondering what I did next. I didn’t wait there for more than 10 seconds before I said to her thank you! Ohh but she was a saleswomen and a good one at that…She said these two words putting more salts on to my wounds as it were… “Khyaal rakhna!” …I went “F U” in my head…the thing kept on playing in my head for the next 20 minutes before I could reach the comfort of my house. Why pick me up out of the crowd. Do ordinary people on the street notice it too? But I ended with a sigh in the end …*Saleswomen* …I think I did the right thing. I shouldn’t let these things bother me. There are million other things to bother about. No point in raising my hair for this as it were! But I concluded with a thought that..Never go through a street where there are sales persons around especially those selling Hairy products :D

P.S : The pic is just to show how the saleswomen was "dragging" me as it were, to take her stuff :D ..She was unsuccessful though :D

Moonlit Sky

She stood there, almost numb, as she saw the dark clouds gather over the moon. But she was looking for something else. Something which she thought, would haunt her for the rest of her life.

He went down on his knees that day as he proposed to her...
Do you mind spending the rest of your life with me, Anita? The room went silent. She didn’t know how to react. Obviously she was happy, but a part of her heart wasn’t quite sure. The crowd of 5 people inside the room including Rishi awaited with bated breadth. “Yes!” came her reply and everybody in the room got what they wanted to hear. But was it a wholehearted yes, Rishi Wondered.

“What’s the matter Ani?”

“I don’t know Rish, I just don’t know!”

“Have you found someone else in these last 2 years?”

“No that’s not the case Rish, it’s just that 2 years ago you were not a captain in the Indian Army”

“I see, you have a problem of me being in the army?”

“No Rish, I am worried about you…they have posted you in the north-west frontier.”

“Your concerns are uncalled for Ani, there is very little infiltration now-a-days”

“Still …Anything could happen”

“What do you want me to do Ani, Make sacrifices??

“Well somebody has to rish…ain’t it?

“I have made enough sacrifices to get into where I am now Ani…I am sorry I can’t leave that.”

She thought long and hard that night and had made her decision. I am sorry rish I can’t marry you.

He was heart-broken.

Can I have your number, she asked almost embarrassed

What’s the use Ani…Just incase I die…just look up in the sky and I will be right up there as a shining star, he bid her a goodbye.

And there she was, looking towards the sky that night, but she couldn’t see any star…All she saw were dark clouds covering the moonlit sky.

Engineered, But...

So, I am done with my engineering finally. I managed to get a distinction in my final year. But now, I ask myself this, Was it all worth it? Does Er. Anurag make me all proud? Have I achieved anything except may be graduating from an AICTE Approved University? Well the answer to all of the above is obviously a Big NO!

You know, now that I have graduated and am ready to make that transition into an office kind of an environment, I am kinda starting to understand the difference here. Why on earth do companies come and take fresh graduates like us? What is it that separates us from any other guy on the Street? It’s the quality of education one would say! Naa… I think they expect something much more from us. And that “Much more” thingy sadly is not taught inside colleges. The Professor who teaches us inside the classroom just imparts his knowledge and goes away. But frankly is that of any use? Last 10 days of exams…Put in as much of stuff as you can in your squeaky little mouth and once you reach the exam hall and the bell sounds, just vomit or puke it out…Or then dress up properly during Viva time and plant a nice li’l smile in front of a zombie who would either try to grin at you or try to terrorize you blabbering all sorts of things like ”I will fail you” or “You know absolutely nothing, why don’t you go and do a bsc?” Ironically some girls even shed tears coming out of the viva room. Noobs don’t even realize that these things won’t have any effect on their viva marks. They ultimately lie with the internal. So it’s the subject teacher's wrath that they should be scared about and not of any zombie who’s job is to mock and ridicule you… All these are disappointing realities in our education system.

But sadly this reality doesn’t quite work in a private office environment. Here one has to have a know-how of various things. One has to practice what one has preached…But sadly no one has done that…All one has done so far is puked…puked out knowledge. The one’s responsible for this i.e. exams…they are gonna continue…I don’t think anybody will scrap that and may be it shouldn’t… But one could do with some kind of accountability. That yes I understand this. I don’t wanna puke if I know this! Eventually the onus is on us. How can we ourselves enhance our own skills and come out trumps! Perhaps the old man’s saying is applicable even today… Self Help is the best help one can do for himself. :)

Do You Have it in you?

Two of my friends who will pass out with me this year (Results are yet to be declared) got jobs in their respective fields, there are other acquaintances of mine who are working too. Work, in this recession time you would ask? Well I ask, Recession…what Recession? If these people can get jobs in this slump period, where is Recession? There is a small differentiator though, a differentiator that makes them different.

We all want to do various things in life. But how many of us really do it in real life? Wanting is one thing but doing the same in reality is another. Perhaps those two and my other acquaintances do more, than want. One would argue that there is that luck factor too. But I always believe, one makes his or her own luck. As that Celion Dion song goes

“Love comes to those who believe in it”

Well even work comes to those I guess who go for it, not simply want it.

One would argue though that there is something called as “Luck” too. Well there is this girl
in my class who tops in every sem, yet is not placed anywhere. Whenever we have a chat, she always cribs of not being lucky enough and I always tell her this that someone will have luck come to them in a jiffy while others get it a lit later in their lives. May be you fall into the latter category. But there is no denying in the fact that you have to do it …to get it... You must have that extra zing in you to survive in this competitive world. Period.

P.S: Now I know for a fact that there are lots of tamilians who visit my blog ;)..So I want ask them this… what’s with Tamil Film Makers and over the Top Cinema?
I was watching the Wanted Promo and It so looks like Ghajini ..One Man Army who has a chick that dances all around him ??

P.P.S : I liked Ghajini though :D

Tag time

Before going to the tag, Aarthi said I've to post the rules. So here we go-

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share the ABCs of you.

I deleted the last 3 rules…Meri marzi :D

A to Z about me…. Main gita par kasam khaa kar kehtaa hu ki jo bhi kahungaa sach kahungaa aur sach ke sivai pata nahi kya kahungaa. :P

A – Available/Single? - Both

B – Best friend? - Can't single out one :P

C – Cake or Pie? - Pie

D – Do I want something right now? – Pie :D

E – Essential item you use every day? – My P.C and the tele :P

F – Freedom to me is? – Doing something without any hindrance

G – Giggle / Laughter – None..Smile :)

H – Heart / Brain – Use it when either one of them is required :P

I – Indulgence? or Addiction? – The Internet :P

J – January or February? – Right now ..I can’t wait for February to arrive :)

K – Kids & their names? – Baah …Abhi se :P

L – Life is...? – Baah ….long :P

M – Mom – means everything :)

N – Number of siblings? – 1 ..My big bro

O – One thing I hate to accept? – Uncomfortable “Sacchais” about me :P

P – Pictures / Reality – Reality ..Pics are highly deceptive

Q – Quote for today? – Tags should be banned from the world of blogging :D

R – Reason behind my brain working these days? – Eating fish :P

S – Season? - Winters. ..Thanda Thanda …kool kool

T – Tag 3 People? – No I won’t :D.

U – Unknown fact about me? - I am an extremely shy person

V – Vegetable you don't like? – Jackfruit ..Yes it's a vegetable :P

W – Worst habit? – Not to be mentioned in public :D

X – X-rays you've had? – Too many ..I was a “sick” kid :D

Y – Why ?? *Sigh* :P

Z – Zodiac sign? – Taurean and no I am not stubborn :X

Tag No :2

Tagged by Stephen and Aarthi again …..Phew :P

Where is your cell phone? Kidhar toh padaa hogaa…Apne aap bajegaa re :D

Relationship? Bole toh :P

Your hair? A Sensitive Issue :D

Work? Is something I hardly do :D

Your sister? Cousin ..is in the US ..Will not be there during rakhi :(

Your favorite thing? P.C

Your dream last night? I sleep peacefully :P

Your favorite drink? Paani :D

Your dream car? Realistically ….The SX-4 …Audi is a dream though :)

The room youre in? Has a fan :D

Your fears? Not being loved ….

What do you want to be in 10 years? Successful

Who did you hang out with this weekend? Don’t remember…Today is Friday :D

What are you not good at? You tell me :D

One of your wish list items? Many things :P

Where you grew up? Mumbai and bhubaneswar.

Last thing you did? Had Lunch

What are you wearing? Khekhekhekhe …*Evil Laugh*

What aren't you wearing? Muhahahahah ….why r u asking that :P

Your pet? Don’t have one

Your computer? Is a cherished possession ..and is working well now …* Touchwood*

Your life? Is kinda on the right track.

Your mood? Keeps changing

Missing? Yeah too many people

What are you thinking about right now? Why would someone like to know what Am I not wearing in a tag….Muhahahaha

Your kitchen? Smells nice every time ;)

Your summer? Bole toh :P

Your favorite color? Blue

Last time you laughed? I watched Shriman Shrimati after some 13 years today …Mann It’s still hilarious

Last time you cried? Don’t remember

School? Love to go back

Love? Duh !!!

Anybody intrested in picking it up ...Go onn ..Do it :P