What 2005 was...

New year time is always celebration time...especially I have heard in Bangalore its to the peak - except that this time da papers were filled with news articles that the clubs, dance parties etc must be closed down even before the clock strikes 2006...uh huh...dint quite make sense to me...u can do it for ne other day except the 31st of December...probable reasons i can state today is the attack which happened in the Indian Institute of Science on the nite b4 yesterday...indeed tragic...n the thought of AK 56's, terrorists, Islamic JeHadis etc etc gives the shudders...

I should be saying as i mentioned to my friend today that every year seems to closing on a bad note, especially for India - this year it was this incident, last year it was the tsunami...fate and nature seem to be up to their old tricks again...helpless people can just hope for a better new year...a better beginning...

As for me, 2005 was a year once again of mixed feelings, emotions, and of course, indeed a decisive year in my life - fate working out in my favour at least in a certain way, by placing me in a comfy position in a major consulting company...grateful for dat...grateful for many more things...may of which I cant exactly discuss on the blog...or else u will be takin a nap on ur keyboard, but yea - things which have changed the course of my life to a significant extent...one major milestone in this year for me has been the amount of people I hav networked with...yea with my usual styles it has, as usual been goin good...da amount of people I have come in contact with, in both the halves of the year has been amazing - rite from simple and cheerful people, social guys who are satisfied with their life and where they are, to amazing geeks, tech freak outs and not to forget some master blasters at the Common 'Attitude' Test (got a gud friend in this category who i know will be huffing puffing with anger while readin this)...

bas ab zyaada kuch bolna nahin hai..the year beginning mite not be all that great with da results of all da entrance exams and of course - mor exams to go..I can only hope that someday in 2006 will be a day when people stand aside and make way for the guy writing this blog...

WISH U A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR...!!!

(Disclaimer: Da message persists till my next post)

Ctrl+C .... Ctrl+V

This post is entitled to all those who know its meaning...I can guess most of the guys from the software companies do...I wont take ne names - hush hush...but some renowned people from 'Indian' companies quite often blabber bout it on forums and in blogs which i have read - stating that thats all they seem to be doin the full day...unbelievable - Believe it...(picked up from Ripleys Believe It Or Not - great show - a must see on AXN)...

Kinda this is wat I was doin this week - was entrusted the task of preparing the docs for the tables, views etc etc etc for a certain project which i guess has to be delivered to the client somewhere in this year...yea u mite catch a hint in dat - only 36 hours to go for the year to rocket off into thin air...all i cud describe in plain words what i did to carry out the 'hectic, tedious' task is best explained by the title to the post...of course - it wasnt bad at all - it IS what most software engineers carry out when there is little time at hand and the work should be done faster...there is nuthin like this magical phrase for speedin up any task - (guaranteed motto for any s/w organisation)...

Well the work surely ends today...but what a week it has been - a week of mindless work - it dint really require any application of the mind - it was simply the copy-paste technique - wont say it was effortless though...the last 3 days i have been whizzing off in my head at around 8 to 9...tired out from the day's workload...reasons of course why i could not edit the blog at all...so pushing in 2 quick posts before i leave for the day...if u wanna see how i looked yesterday nite - look if u must - but beware - u mite not like me at all...

Here is ME...

Things I had missed for long...

Two things which had been missed for long finally culminated in the weekend, the visit to Iskcon in Vijaynagar...and the arrival of my new cell - an E398 Motorola black beauty...have no words to describe either - the former coz it was simply amazingly done...and the latter coz well, had analyzed and wished for this piece from quite some time now...finally it was in my hands...

Iskcon - International Society for Krishna Consciousness...this was one place I had had a kind of not so nice experience with at Mumbai, the reason I can explain well now I think...the temple at Mumbai simply seemed to be cluttered a lot...it was definitely smaller, and all things seemed to be at one place...heard yesterday that the Delhi and Bangalore ones are bigger and better...and yeah it was certainly true...the temple was well planned out, with a huge winding kinda stairway, which led to the insides from the entrance to complete the normal formalities like keeping the shoes or the bags and then led all the way up the hill to the actual temples (of course the place was flooded with people, and we took some time in the queues)...3 temples which we saw - the Prahlad Narsimha one, the Govinda one and of course the main Krishna temple right on top...the interiors of the third place were amazing - of course I couldnt capture them on my new phones...it seemed logical too...coz the beauty of the place could be felt and appreciated only after having visited it...

Of course the things which I had hated in Mumbai seemed to persist in Bangalore too...commercialization of the entire thing...people making good business by opening food stalls ,so much so that there was even a restaurant down...but of couse the place wasnt as noisy as it was in Mumbai, where the singing etc seemed to disturb the holy atmosphere instead of making it more divine...(strictly a personal opinion)...somehow being such a staunch Krishna bhakt, I dint seem to like the place as much at Mumbai as I did yesterday here...this experience was altogetha somethin different...the place was indeed far from the place where we stayed here...but evrythin was worth it...n plus, the second objective of visiting my school friends was justified too...

The phone, as i had expected was a beauty...hearty thanks to the person who bought it from the company, and of course to my friend who got it from her this Saturday...I think this would be the best place to thank them...I still have to experiment a lot with the phone and get used to all its features etc - howeva the blog would of course now be looking better which pictures from my day-to-day life...the camera isnt exactly what evryone calls a good one...but the photos are good enugh...

Dont have much time now, so just jotted the above quickly...some amount of work, and more experimentation with da new phone...tada for now..!

Nostalgia...

The reason I am writing this post late is simple - I FGOT...else i wud have got to tell a lot more bout how i enjoyed in Goa in da last week - enjoyed in da sense, in my words, spent time with parents...something which I had been waiting for since long..so much so that when i came back on thursday evening, the nite was too lonely in the pg...my roommate too had left for his native place on his leave - so no one to talk to...so ultimately landed up spending the next 2 days reading and in fact, finishing books...

One of the most memorable things which happened last week was my first flite journey...it was possible coz i cud get the flite ticket for less, but dat was not due to the continuous monitoring of the websites i had done in the last 2 months to catch a sudden decrease in the prices...the agent who booked the ticket himself neva came to know the fact that I would be getting it for less - so you can say it was my good luck...not so endearing though, as the Air Deccan plane was indeed small, appearing small even to the Spice Jet plane which i happened to see before my own flite...certain things i wanted to do during the flite - look around, of course have a nice look at the air hostesses(alas...they werent all good to look at - there were only 2, and it seemed they were packaged beautifully in order to sell you off evrythin they came to you with - lets add a disclaimer note here - Air Deccan charges for eatables online, dat also with prices befitting that of a king's palace! I think this is one thing which was outrageous...though I wasnt hungry so dint need them...

The 2 most important moments during the flight were of course the take off and the landing...the take off which took all the cake, feeling the pull of gravity when the plane attained a huge speed and then took left the earth all of a sudden...dat was wonderful to describe...surely some of the people around me had experienced it before(could make out from their sleepy faces in the latter half of the flite)...but during this moment, everyone tried to grasp the feeling of flying...I think this is one moment all people should get to enjoy...one of the best moments in life i should say...

The flight i should say was one of the most comfy journeys i had had ever...some of the best things to describe were we hovering above the clouds...and the silver lining of the clouds(as we normaly phrase it) enjoyable to all. Coming to landing - uh,oh...realized one thing...I had noticed when we took off...nice valleys and picturesque scenes of my own native land - Goa...what i realized when landing was that the scene was one of the most ugly ones i had seen in recent times...one nice swerve by the plane, and the city emerged like the gameboard of a game we used to play when we were small...filling those spaces with white cubicles...Bangalore was appearing at its worst...and for a second I couldnt understand how I was staying in this place! Why had I even left my own heaven to come and live in this so very polluted, densely populated city? No answers for this - as there are no much choices I have as of now...maybe when IT progresses in Goa I can answer it - again a vicious circle...I dont want that to happen, as Goa might start assuming the fearful face of Bangalore, with cubicle like houses etc etc...maybe Goa would now be best after retirement itself...

Some of the good things were - my nice holiday hadnt been disturbed by aching exam results, or tensions of any other sort...there arent any sort of expectations coz I know there isnt any reason to expect, but the worries persist...howeva all that seemes so good in the holiday was short-lived...I cant get huge holidays when I am on a casual leave of course...there were some moments when, lying on my bed in Goa, I would think 'hell...I gotto return too'...but I got over them soon...now sitting in my cubicle and writing down my diary entries..i can imagine how soon I will be back to my own self...my own place - back to Goa...

holiday time...

Wow - doesnt this post smell cheerful itself? at least it does to me - well if u guys dont know then me headin for Goa this aftnoon - back to my hometown aft more than three months...have been repeatedly tellin my friends that my parents mite even put up the 'devdas' act of havin their eyes closed when i enter the flat...hehe...wud be da same for them as their only beta returnin back home aft long...

Bangalore for the past 3 months hasnt been unwelcoming for me at all...in the sense have got pretty used to it now, n have taken it to be my second home itself...but well - can neone give up the thought of their primary home? - n in my case its a place where everyone vouch normally to go for in case of a holiday...aaj aur kal to sabhi yehi keh rahe hain ki 'kya ashish..goa jaa raha hai? wahaan se hamaare kya laaoge yaar?'

bas - its great to go back after havin got some reputation for ureself - passed out from an unknown college and landed in one among the top 3 companies in da world - with a quite comfy life in Bangalore...hopin for a relatively warmer weather in Goa than here - howeva i know it will be cold there too...some things i have to do once i go there - go to da beach(wont get one here of course), meet some relatives n friends (wonder who are left in Goa presently)...n of course - chat a lot with my dear parents - hehe...

Of course the shesh bhaag of my adventure for management entrances this year is still to come - shall be back with a bang for sure(overconfidence - haha)...shall get back with more incidences of those aft me back...

2005 and my MBA prospects...

I gess all the MBA entrances this year will again shut their doors on me just as IIFT did today - just a very terse reply - not selected for GD/PI...now wat does that supp to mean? Somethin which i dont like about these colleges - they dont have proper sense of management themselves...now another thing which i heard on PG today - 'O well I got thru IIFT and yea I was pretty sure the cutoff will be in the range of 30-31...about 5 to 10 marks less than what the institutes have predicted'...oh yeah? Well I'll be damned if I havent heard one of those before...n yea - to think of it...after a nice exam i had had at St Joseph's...i am supposed to believe that my score is in the sub 30's...i very well refuse to admit that...

Why does my belief in these MBA entrances seem to be diminishin day by day - just coz i cant make it...naah..but just coz those who make it just seem to be havin their luck shining that day...either in terms of rockin speed - say like crackin all da questions in the paper in the allotted time...or a perfect bulls eye accuracy...or just like an 'in-pin-safety-pin'...and IIM is where i finally land in! No seriously, I will be happier now the day the entrance exam procedure becomes more transparent, more specific...n not just ranged over a wide range of topics as they say - 'a good mix of acads, work-ex, CAT score, blah blah...'The IIMs have already taken the first step forward by declaring the negative marking this year - something which they hadnt done i guess from when CAT had started being conducted...

Howeva the day wasnt so bad today - with the Time Management Workshop training for the full day, again taken by the eloquent Communication Skills teacher(ahem..an XIMB graduate)...did get to learn a lot though it turned monotonous in between...but it was better than sitin bekaar the full day...n here I am..havin just come from a friend's mini bday celeb...typin speedily so dat i can leave for today from office...

Anyway-the only exam which had gone gud for me in the 3 bygone exams has shown no mercy for this individual editin the blog - MBA prospects have been indeed bad for me in the year 2005...I dont know what the next year has in store for me...have stopped expecting things, but yes there is always a difference between what i expect and what i wish for...

People out here must damn well be knowin bout my wishes...

B Schooling – Hype and Hard Facts !

This is an article I have picked up form my all-time favourite forum, and I must give due credit to my pal from IIM Ahmedabad Suhas Anand for havin composed it...its certainly a must read...
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Before starting to write anything whatsoever about B School I would ask you to rent your ears to a truth which a lot of us forget in the big bang of salaries and entrance test preparations.

What might that be?

B Schools are a place where, at the end of the day you are going to do a post graduation in a chosen field. Doesn’t sound as romantic as those Swiss holidays and 6 figure dollar salary quotes? But yea that’s about it. All hype and hoopla must be put in the right perspective. I do not expect that all you young enthusiastic folks are going to take a post graduation for the love of learning and wisdom of words emanating from the Porters and the Kotlers of the world. But believe me when I say that it sure helps if you walk into the hallowed portals of a B School having a rough idea as to how you want to use two very important years of your life in an appropriate manner. It is entirely up to you as individuals to define and redefine what appropriateness means to you.

I don’t like your preaching. I’m in it for the dough!

Fine. But the catch is the media exemplifies everything that is wrong with projecting salary as the key driver of educational decision making. One Ravi Singhvi at IIMA getting 150000 + USD as starting salary must not be the driver for your decision for more than one reason. For starters, he has relevant and wide ranging experience spanning firms like Anderson and Citibank. Then again he was chosen as associate, a post not many graduates even from IIM A, can aspire as freshers. But the more critical aspect that a lot of folks tend to forget is that it is the highest salary offered. And by the very definition of highest, it follows logically (yea a no brainer!!) that it was offered to only one person! Logically it also follows that half of the batches in any B School gets less than or equal to the average salary projected (at around 7-8 lakhs) by most top schools. And the definition of average remains same whether it is A or B or Z! (Yea yea, I know. A no brainer again, but sad is the fact that a lot of people tend to forget this basic truth!).

Ok. Accepting that half of the class gets only around 8 lakhs, which in itself is some good money. 66666.666 rupees a month is good enough for me and my girlfriend to lead a happy life!

But unfortunately for you and your girlfriend, that is obviously not what you get in hand. That, in jobstreet parlance, is what is called the CTC (Cost to Company). At the end of the day if one gets around 35000 post the tax pie eaten by the government, one can consider oneself lucky.

Oops, I get more than that in my ABC Tech firm taking in underwear billing orders outsourced from Texas based retailing big wig !Why the hell should I then even heed this rigmarole of B schooling gibberish? Especially when I have been frightened by seniors regarding the sleepless nights and extreme workloads. Add on to that the unhealthy competition within batch mates and suddenly B school for me looks as appealing as Britney Spears and the boy bands!

Ok. Academic rigour exists. For the sole reason that there is so much to be taught, and only so much that can be learnt in a given period of time. At least the faculty thinks there is so much to be learnt before one can get out with the PG Diploma. If you are literally scared of studying, then it could be a tough time. But then one hopes you haven’t decided to do a PG for partying, pubbing and watching movies as prime motives .At the same time u shall get to sleep 4-6 hours depending on the match (or mismatch) between your aspirational levels (read positioning in the grade point scale) and smart study habits. I for one do not think intelligence has a lot to do with getting great grades in B Schools as much as smartness in writing exams and hard work has. It does help if you are a 9 pointer from IITs because you have been there and done that. The first thing one needs to do in the initial weeks of B Schooling is to understand that it is best to compete with yourself than with the entire batch. Set benchmarks for yourself and try to beat the bar. This in turn helps in relation building too! I reckon lot of people think that due to Relative grading (RG) relationships are tough to be built up at a B school. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The students understand the importance of networking. So whether with sincerity or otherwise folks here do build up relations and makes sure embarrassing fights are avoided. (The beer bottle swinging, drunk, rowdy brawls of engineering days are over for ever!!) The idea is simple. Most of the smart dudes surmise that tomorrow in the corporate world, a lot of their classmates are going to be head honchos in some XYZ corporation. They would rather not be in the bad books of anyone around, for you never know who’s going to be in need of whom! I for one have made some real fruitful friendships (which I hope stands for life) without such thoughts in mind. It again is incumbent on your own attitude to competition and how well you manage your relationships.

Ok. So what else can one practically gain out of 2 years other than building bosom buddies?

First up is a good first job!!!(Yea I come back to that!!) Hopefully in terms of profile as much as in terms of money! But there is definitely more to B schooling than placements. Remember that one gets out of any institution how much ever you want it to give you. If you spend more time with Sylvia Saint or J Lo than with something more productive (Ok, no pun!) you might not get too much of learning out of the system. But then you do not have a right to crib that there is no value-add in an MBA! You come across some amazing professors who are eager to teach and help you in any sphere, a great infrastructure setup, and a bunch of folks who generally are more ambitious and probably more intelligent than the majority. Their insights and drive might inspire you or at the very least help you appreciate different perspectives. You work a lot in groups (You are expected to work!!).Whether you end up doing it or not at least you get a feel of group dynamics. This is further bolstered by the innumerable chances you get to manage events and teams. If you want, you can go on exchange to international schools (in most of the top rung schools there are large number of options to choose from). You develop confidence by speaking/presenting your ideas in front of some of the best brains and getting it dissected by them threadbare. (This does help you in real corporate life especially in stormy meetings with subcontractors and clients).The course content also provides you some knowledge on theories which can come in handy in corporate life or even if you start something on your own. (Things like the accounting and financial management fundae, apart from the more critical aspects of Organisational Behaviour and Human resource management).

But can none of this be learnt or acquired out of a B School?

You can. B School helps you in being a single window providing these various services! If you individually start acquiring these, it might take you more time, energy and much much more motivation to be successful. But in the long run it wouldn’t make much difference. But again in the long run we are all dead!!
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givin ur best - but what if it isnt enugh?

You people must be sayin I blog after only an entrance exam...but well these days other than that there isnt nethin much to write u see...but kinda its better to write more bout the lessons one learns in life thru his experiences - JMET yesterday was another experience...

The IIT's are a brand by themselves - which sets them apart from the IIMs - i guess the only brand which has been havin recognition all ova da world from many years down the line now...so well - we can forget that the paper will even be misconducted - forget as shabbily conducted as IIFT did - besides da JMET process is carried by da GATE office itself...so well - n yes, it did have kinda da same standard a normal GATE paper wud have - normal sections like an evry'year' JMET paper...n yes, not to forget - an untouchable Quant section...

Had gone to stay over at my frenzs' place overnite at rajaji just as i had done for CAT...this time the centre was S.Nijalingappa College very close to their house. Did go to have a look at it da previous day though, but the other things done the prev day of course werent of ne use - eg. goin thru some basics in calculus,conics and vectors (folks, remember the higher math we studied?)...dint know wat was in store for me on 11th Dec...

As usual, 2 things were conspicuous by their absence - the hype of CAT which sets off the butterflies in one's stomach on DDAY...n the instruction on the first page of the test booklet to perform equally well in all sections. Reached the college by 9:30 AM...da normal situation - crowd outside...but heh...noticed some other things too - now i shud say some real innovative ways of makin money - number 1 - the mobiles were told to be deposited outside at a counter n ten rupees were collected from evryone as a fee - bull shit i shud say - i just switched it off and put it in my pocket, as must have some others...but yea there were a lot of dumb engineers out there i shud say... number 2 - a pandit from a temple standin outside, putin teeka for each kind of nervous student - hehe...dat was funny...n i gess he too was doin it for a ten rupee note to be put in his thali...

Howeva even more things...the bench of the same type which i had for CAT..but this time i even got a shaky one...i saw the dumb engineers of today also handin out evry bit of paper they had to da supervisor...as if he wud rap on their heads durin the 2 hours which wud follow and ask them to remove their gurlfrenz photo from their wallet as if they had xray vision - more bull huh?? me was unmoved though...the real fire set in wen the booklets were distributed...n yea it all began at 10:30 am...a normal start to a normal paper - verbal to begin - bashed the entire section, went onto logic...went very good in da beginning, with the exception of an arrangements caselet which was disguised and appeared real easy, but of course wasnt...wasted almost ten min there, n yes...if i hadnt left it the next sec i wud have ruined the paper...for a change DI was gud and i had a decent no of attempts there...came for a brief break in betn to Quant (shall call it a brief break coz i ran back to DI soon)...sectional cutoffs not bein there i guess is the trademark of JMET...but coz u gotto attempt this section, i had to scan for 2-3 sitters...which werent there of course...but some solvable questions were present...the level of the calculus and higher math questions reminded me of the paper i had answered five years back - IIT JEE - that too only the screening as i cudnt make it to da mains...

The experience was pleasant but i cud have done much better...attempts as usual werent much at all...howeva the bad memories for the day were extinguished with a blast with my frenz in the evenin which followed..one of the best get-togetha's in recent times...mornin dawned today - come n surf thru PG n i find dat some guys had actually cracked the paper like netin...there were no complaints of a tough logical caselet or nethin..(wer did dat go?)...

Realized well - howeva betta an average guy performs, there are always people who perform much better than him....n well, this time there are even more number of people vyin for the top b-schools...da guys n gals in India, as i had earlier estimated are indeed good at braining up in da exam hall...n there are some real good performers who will neva be missin...pushes me to think that I have no place here in this maniac entrance exam world now...coz sometimes even ur best effort isnt enugh in certain cases...just as an entrance exam...(opinions needed)...of course but thats how life is...all u can do is give ur best n just wait n hope for the rest to be the best for u...

phew! am tired for the 2005 at least - no more exams for now!! This whole rigmarole will make my trip to Goa this weekend even more excitin in fact...!

cant wait to get back home now!

Thoughts about making into HR...

Aha...finali i am findin days where i have nutin much to do at office...today is one of those red-lettered days...but well...nuthin to do also give u the feelin that well- u r good for nuthn, so nutin is given to u...such a feeling can be difficult to digest...

Wateva...a nice day actually to think of how i can make my blog a better one for my pals to read...write some more interestin stuff from my life, my thoughts etc etc..as from today mornin i have just been chattin n goin thru mails...as my object is done there isnt much to do (as of now no phones or emails from the PL or TL - hard to say bout this coz i can get one in the aftnoon itself)...tot i shud devote the time to enrich my laptop wid some good stuff...n make it more user friendly for my usage...so will probably spend the aftnoon dloadin the latest version of DirectX etc(I was surprised when my teammate told me dat i had only an 8.1 - dats pathetic)...cud have relied on the technical guys here to have installed the latest one much before...oh well - will have to do the same myself now...

neway comin to the topic of today- why HR appeals to me...had been goin thru a few blogs a while back about people, HR and technology, how the three are linked...the word people itself has a significant meaning for me...I know i can bond well, speak well, consult effectively, etc etc..(boastin eh?)...but all dat doesnt actually mean that i can get into the HR domain immediately does it? A few conversations with people and they tell me...'Oh for HR u require an MBA pal'...some others go like this on my question as to why one requires experience to enter HR..'oh dats gotto do wid da company's policies..now u cant fite those can u?'...i wud very well want to...

Put this question up for debate or a GD and i wud very well emerge the winner....no one has yet been able to justify my question as to why to enter the field of HR one wud require experience in the technical domain? I mean - what da hell do pointers, interface programming, or in my case,triggers or cursors gotto do with recruitment and other HR policies? Some others wud say that ok, well, for being a senior HR manager, one shud be experienced in da HR domain...now how to zoo zatt??? We enter IT companies obviously as consultants or programmers rite? then htf does one move into the HR side?

An experienced person had once given me a good reply,'Kinda maybe u require experience, so that with that experience, a person understands how to manage himself, and so he can move upto levels like HR'...but me not satisfied? Wat bout the previous notion bout experience in HR?

Will neva get ova this topic? Still think a lot of 'readin' knowledge about HR wud be good...da coveted MBA leaves only a few destinations for HR...the entrances of which are yet to come - in case dat doesnt seem possible, i gess i have to do it the hard way..

The topic is open for discussion...

How a software engineer matures...

Posting this after a long nite yesterday, and a late good morning from all my friends today…yea…it was some good amount of ‘work’ time…but not that I actually did a lot of work…yesterday was da delivery of my first object to the client. Yeah the object had been finished long back, but it had got delayed kinda due to other stuff with higher priority…mine n my pal Krishna’s object release was yesterday…so well – it was a long nite with the PL(Project Leader) and da TL(Tech Lead)…

Not all dat boring…pretty managed to enjoy myself coz of the great smiling faces of both of them…n the jokes which were cracked in betn the testing and the other procedures…was more of testing yesterday, my mentor was nice enugh to take the lead to prepare the Test Plan document for me – of course I helped him in every possible way…but it were his fingers which moved along da keypad…

Of course after all hoch-poch I finally embarked on my journey to the room at 2 AM in da cab – yea knowin that I will sleep a lot, but not knowin that I will sleep till 9:30 am today…2 and a half hours more than the normal sleep which I been havin these days…reached office todat at 11:30 am…Krishna of course came much later…at around 2:30 – dats a small while ago…was shocked to hear that he left at 6! Dats a full nite’s sleep gone…so well – truths of a software engineer which I had heard finally do turn out true…so indeed do people break their backs and ruin their sleeps for meeting the deadlines of the clients…of course it only meant yesterday that they werent kinda met as one object wud have been released today…don’t know how much it wud cost them this thing…maybe a fortune…but Pfizer finally doesn’t turn out to be zero defect error leakage after all…

Finally the points in my life have come when the transition of the boy to man have begun…when the midnite oil burns for more specific reasons…where I start returnin late for more relevant stuff, other than nite outs with friends, parties etc…of course those will always be part of life…but kinda responsibilities make u feel more broad-shouldered, more a part of the mature junta in the world…it feels like u have actually entered the corporate world..

Of course my choice of what I want to do in life, and what I want to get from it doesn’t end here…blog, lets hope me n u share this journey togetha 4 all da days to come…

The IIFT test - 2 down,3 to go...

Relieved a bit today coz my mentor is here to show me a bit of directions regarding my code – and have some insight into the performance issues I have been havin since last week…nice to sit with him n understand the code…shud have done a major part of it earlier…but yea it was tough – n no one kinda had time 4 me…Da delivery is supposed to be today…so lets wait n see what happens…

It was a relief that da IIFT test went fine yesterday – some changes in da paper,yeah,but not so significant. With a 100+ attempts…yea I can say that I mite make it big – but again…IIFT gives out only around 800 calls…naturally the top 800 and those who lie a bit below, say in the top 1500-2000 and having sufficient workex will be da ones called…the convert ratio of course is seemingly even more harsh…only 120 finally convert…so well…even if I have performed good…n there is someone who has performed better…there goes my chance at IIFT…

Sometimes I really cant understand howeva what do they get by putting questions like the foll in GK…

Which of the foll is true?
a) The climate of the equitorial region is 20 deg in summer blah blah…
b) In the tropics, the rainfall decreases from 30 deg East latitude to blah blah….
c) Blah blah..
d) Need I say more?

It makes me wonder whether MBA in International Business will deal with weather forecast. Have a look at the next one…

Which of the foll is true?
a) Of the 10 million species living today, about a few hundred are endangered and blah blah
b) Of the 70 million species living today, about a few fifty are preserved blah blah…
c)&d) more blah blah…

Yeh kya ho raha hai bhai?? Is this general knowledge or have I gone psyched? Who will go to learn this stuff? Are these facts or statistics? With these myriad questions in mind, all a student answerin IIFT entrance wud do is of course – resort to blind guessing – with dese kinda questions around there isnt even a need to read the question – the OMR is enugh…J

Big deal…IIFT kind of wants us to mug up evrythin possible…a relief that the IIMs at least don’t do that…n neither will XL from now onwards if my guess is rite…

And after all the torment in GK wat does one see in the Quant section is the following…


(forgive me as I cudnt replace da word below with the appropriate symbol)

- Integral of e^x(1+sinx)
___________
(1+cosx)


Now do we actually integrate this in the exam?? Where da hell does application of integral calculus come in foreign trade neway???


The less said the better about IIFT…nyway lukin fwd to a better JMET on the 11th…answerin it for the first time…

The evenin yest was as usual spent freakin out with the gang, and was giggling and laughing out at Deewane Huey Paagal…a definite time pass movie!!

Back to work now…!a

CAT - came, saw and conquered...the aspirants!

Don’t really know whether I shud shed my tears on my blog too, after I have done so on PG…but I mite as well do it as I gotto write sumtin bout the Common Aptitude Test…

The Common Aptitude Test…ahem! Was it just common aptitude this time or was it sumtin more dan dat? Wateva it was, it was certainly another bomb or a monster for sure..which about 20k-30k guys(kinda da serious aspirants from the mammoth 1.75 L guys) had been comprehending from the last six monts or so…The IIMs once away had their cake – n ate it too…even though the variable marking pattern had been introduced last year, the decrease in the number of questions from 123 to 90 created even more tension – no for me it dint…for me it just enhanced my fear of not bein able to solve the questions from areas which I dint know much about…coz with just 30 questions in quant n DI there was no much playing around…u had to stick to the questions given to u…

So much so for CAT…DI was tough as usual for me..there was only one calculation based caselet which was a bit time consuming…and one easy one…the scare was the more no of 2 markers in each section. True the IIMs once more stressed on the risk-taking ability of managers…this time with even more emphasis as there were 20 2 mkers in each section…

Some of the institutes have termed CAT 2005 as one of the toughest in history..with the Verbal section being defintely the toughest…howeva I dint find verbal so tough on Dday…verbal is a good day-bad day concept acc to me…u just got to have ur instincts rite in verbal n try to match ur thoughts with those of the paper-setter…at least dats what he means by stating ‘choose the most appropriate alternative’…in case of ne verbal question – new or old, and most importantly, in case of RC – good lord there were 2 mkers in tat section too this time…howeva was kinda my strong area this time so me was relaxed…

Quant was quant by its name – dint find it easy either – though I seem to have a good accuracy there…howeva the no of 2 mkers again was daunting…one had to go for them or else he wud comfortably ‘miss’ the so called cut-offs…

Wat is the main point is the tension that creeps in one mind during the paper, howeva much he tries to avoid it…this time I can say I avoided it to around 80 percent…but landed up lookin at the watch more than I was lookin at the paper itself…the passing seconds push one in deeper truble…if I hadnt done dat…maybe I wud have got past the cutoff in DI too..which I normally don’t – hehe…

Howeva there was some point in mind which told me continuously that dis was one paper where no preparation wud have helped…leaves me with more doubts regarding next year’s preparation – if at all the need will arise…da amount of people screamin on PG about the difficulty level and the vagueness of the paper are witness to dat..

For now its back to my work, and da expectation of performing better in the other exams to come…at least those were the ones which I kinda lok forward to more than CAT itself…!

Dedications to this lonely Diwali...

Those of you who are wondering why the title ‘lonely diwali’ – well, diwali is certainly not very entertaining and lively for all – especially for those who do have holidays, but do not go home as they have a hoard of management exams approachin, and their scores in da mocks only seem to be dippin further down – and well, when 90 percent of their roommates leave for their homes and they cant – and when it’s a bright shiny diwali day and da visit to the nearby ATM yields null as their salaries havent yet been credited into their accounts- also when they spend the nite all alone watchin Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani on TV(now dats a switch- don’t remember havin seen one from ages), n plus a nite where the current goes twice on account of a stormy nite…

Ooh la la – dats Diwali there!!

Basically it was the same for all the people around – cudnt even sit in peace at a place due to the fireworks goin on in all directions – especially those rite outside the window, one side of which I was sitting in order to get some entertainment through Shah Rukh and Juhi…no big deal…isnt Ganesh the same way for Goans- when we don’t let even a single soul in the locality rest in peace – yes let the children enjoy their holidays, and da teenagers their free time – coz they aint getin ne later in their life, especially if they enter IT world…

Da absence of the salary realli stung me yest’day though – had to withdraw from the existing balance, which seemed like a beggars account, after havin donated funds to da likes of XL, FMS etc etc…except this time the etc doesn’t lead to much as I really don’t wanna flood da treasuries of more b-schools…Tot I’d buy a nice book instead – so picked Five Points Someone from the roadside – a friend had suggested I go thru it, as it depicted da life story of someone I cud neva be in life – an IITian…of course showin da truth of how da life in those institutes is…

Wid around 15 days to go, I don’t have much to say – except dat I keep tellin guys I shall give it my best shot, which sometimes is just not enugh to sail u thru…howeva a recent friend of mine wid whom I met day b4 yest encouraged me to some respectable extent – to say da guy is real gud at da mocks wud be an understatement…but me hapi dat I found a nice friend in him…

Retiring from the blog for 2day…spent an extra 2 hours at office, inspite of havin nutin much to do…but I am not very sure where the fatigue comes from – physical coz the responsibility at office can turn massive, or fear dat da whole cycle which happened post-July this year will repeat nxt year…Maybe only dat keeps me lookin ahead and not think of givn up…

Finali i leave da trainin room...

I am always think i will blog frequently - and proudly quote dat blogging is my all time hobby n well…I am seriously able to blog as much as a normal guy who works 17 hrs per day wud do – not that I do that much work- not for all da gold in the world…but well I simply don’t simply to remember the golden line – ‘blogger.com’ so dat it can sometimes adorn the explorer bar of my firefox with it…

Well da core line of the blog signifies it all today- training over- work begins…question 2- is the work hectic? Doesn’t seem so as of now, but afaihh(as far as I have heard) it is…question 3- is the work interesting? – pretty much – but I don’t know if I shall be completely honest in stating that…coz well it isnt part of my agenda in life – still experience to lena hi hai – and it doesn’t concern a specific department in SSI…covers a whole range of possibilities and functions, relating different departments – if I can best put it…and its altogetha a different kinda work – all I need is now to plunge myself into it, so that I can start liking it soon…

Although I still gotto get my concepts cleared…certain procedures etc taken care of…etc etc…for starters I have received a temporary desk on the 8th floor…and so have my other 2 teammates who departed from the training group with me…howeva ‘desktops’ wasn’t exactly my idea of a perfect job…still seekin da kinda system about 75 percent of SSI has here – a laptop to be specific – don’t know when I get dat, but it will be good workin wid it…

As of today we just had review of some docs, and then one of the guys in the team explained da flow of da code which he was handling, to me…so dat I wudnt have ne probs with it later – he is goin on a leave – which reminds me – I must think about setting my own timetable properly now…

So far so good…havent yet found ne bloggers here in SSI..though me sure there will be a pretty big number hiding deir faces in the laptops and typin out their day-to-day happenings…shall update as soon as I locate one…

Ciao for now..

Things sumtimes just dont go ur way...

This post is about 2 main things - how i want to proceed in life- and how is life proceeding for me...

Lets talk first bout da former...

Dreams - according to the most of the motivating books i have read till now, are wat take u forward in life - how many times in life have i heard the line - dont ever give up on ur dreams...thats what i have always agreed with n will to - think bout it - life will certainly change with say a high-edge percentile in the mocks - confidence enough to crack a 100 percentile on Dday, following which zoom thru the GD/PIs of the major b-schools, get thru the one rite at the top, slog ur ass for the next 2 years and move to the managerial field i have always wanted in life - an HR manager - or da least to say a Systems wida Marketing degree that wud me scale pretty high too...wat say then?? i get wat i want and a comfy life with a wife follows (correction - the second thing is an altogetha different experiment in life)...

Or say the famed management side proceedings dont go very well...well then proceed far off in the company itself - say the time taken to climb the ladder is long - still worthy enugh if u can be a functional consultant initially, slowly elevate upwards to the Staff stage and then move to the HR side..why not? after all, my skills reside in that area itself...life can be a cake-walk after that too naa? say a senior HR manager in 2-3 years...wudnt mind da toil of 2 eyars for that...

Lets come to part 2 of the discusssion...ahem! dats where i am at present naa...

Bored and bugged of life...as a rule to parallelism or shud i say 'antonymism', evry thing just doesnt proceed in da way u want it to sometimes...2nd attempt at the Common Aptitude Test and yeah - i'm a pretty bad second attempter - reasons - things not gettin serious enough due to the time spent at work...returnin home by 8-9 and well...formalities of bath and lunch takin up more time than normal...result - havin the preparatory material as the sleepin partner at nite - no dats not at all romantic...

Work seems to be goin fine with the trainin, but well things are gona get tough when we put in my stream - the name Interfaces and Conversions and all da things i have heard bout it till now dont reali sound so good as far as my career graph is concerned...but still the name Oracle - so gotto go by da rule that things will be tougher initiali- but well u gotto have patience...n maybe maybe better things are in store for u later...

Bout a month left for CAT and the tests to follow...n my blog overflows with my failure stories...

dont know what title to give...

Blogging a stupid and boring phase in Oracle 2day...me had fever yest nite and am still tryin to overcome the weakness caused by it...n heh...i cant seem to do it!

Trainin seems to be a real dull period in Oracle SSI - at least for me it is...learnin on how to work with Oracle Applications - and will continue to do so in the next 2 days...of course i think Friday evening is Oracle Day so mite be excused off then..for now me planning to take some rest/do some preparations for CAT(which isnt goin newhere believe me)...or even attend the function - keepig the probability of me gettin a coat(suit) by Friday above 75 percent, but i dont think that will be da case...

Some consolation - at least the new trainer is good, knows his concepts well inspite of going a bit faster than normal. Of course lets not forget that he is the CMD of some company and hence has a good amount of experience. He seems to be patient with us and yea, good to talk with too...wont mention his name - he wudnt like me doin it...

I think the training carries on for another 2 weeks or so...after which i shall be assigned to my 'destined' cubicle...(OH GODD long awaitin it!!!)...at least for the sake of the phone...now evryone knows how much they want a cubicle and their personal space along with a phone so that they can cu-chi-coo with their girlfriends and get reminded by their parents that 'betaa..do get me so-and-so the next time u come home'...evryone wants it, howeva no one mentions it...bloody why cant people speak out their emotions?? Does the feeling of sitting in this training class with a guy to preside over the session give u airs of bein a corporate executive - or does it take u back to ur school and college days..?? i wud lay my bets on the latter!!

guess i got another 10 min before the trainer starts the rigmarole again...n what do i have here?? a pc...so i continue surfin for the time being...n contemplating what will happen in the next few days of trainin...

My first company :)

FINALLLLY me accessing the net from the second largest s/w company in the world - Oracle itself - to be more precise Oracle SSI - Solutions Services India. SSI is basically a consulting company, and i am an Associate Consultant - to tell u the truth i still cant figure out why me called so - though i have some vague ideas.

SSI interacts with da Oracle country, ie the Oracle offices mainly at EMEA and APAC, who in turn interact with the clients and get the job done from Oracle SSI, which is located here at Bannerghatta Road in Commerce@Mantri. The job basically involves consulting in the sense upgrade and introduction of new features which the clients desire in the their products, and also development of new services(to some extent). So dats bout the gist of it - who cares as when the sal is high eh?

Well bout da induction - we had it as any other XYZ IT company - there was nuthin 'Oracle' bout it...normal talks and presentations from the various departments in SSI - like the HR, da managed services etc...along wid the normal masala of the Communication Skills programs - which was thankfully conducted by 2 XIMB graduates who i must say were really excellent...dat was a good time...

At present a highly bugging and boring guy is trainin us on the tech stuff - SQL to begin with...continuin with pl/sql blah blah yawwwwwn...too borin for a non-developer like me...hee hee...well not so much too..wanted to get into dbases so here I am...lets get goin wid it now...

Ciao for now!!

ORACLE - here i come!!

Pancham of Ganesh Chaturthi today...n we are all busy...gettin ready for preparations of the nite when the ganesh visarjan is there as well as the preps for leavin tomm for Bangalore...mom n dad comin with me - nice holiday for them too...leavin by train from Vasco - a change of trains in between at Londa...

Parents and relatives kehte hain-'beta Oracle acchi company hai- use chhodna bewakoofi hogi- CAT vagaira ke baare me sochna chhod de'...well well well - does Oracle mean the end of the world? Does it mean that i have acquired all that i have to in life ? How can i discard my options now itself...when i havent even given my best to CAT and all the other exams to follow? Can i just leave my dreams stranded? Certainly not..

Howeva i am most certainly excited of the fact that Oracle happened for me - and well just 3 days separate me from joining it...shall edit you next on joining Oracle officially from my blog...till then -
c ya at Bangalore!!

Ganesh ne vaapas bulaaya...

Know i havent edited you for long blog - but just as i had told i will...well da month that passed in Bangalore had actually been the month where i did learn a lot...to write evrytin bout it is actually out of bounds, coz there is so much which happened...listin the main events here -

- enrolled for TIME Aimcats - defintely worth takin them...six are over and my ranks are hoverin in the 1100's...want to pull them up to the 500's which is definitely possible...i answer them at St Francis College at Kormangala where i used to stay with my cuz...

- enrolled for Career Avenues Mock Cats - slightly on the easier side but here are the actual teachers who can give one a real feedback on how to answer the paper etc etc...struck up one 60 lately in one of the papers - but nowhere does that mean that it will be easy enugh to do dat on Nov 20...

- used to travel to Richmond Street almost evryday to go to Career Avenues(cav for short)...real tiring as i had to get down on Double Road and walk ahead from there..the buses wud neva wactually go there..

- usse yaad aaya - one great achievement...the BUSES - which i have got a good heck of by now - i mean the bus numbers which most people dread coz they tend to be hard to remember...n most of the times u have to change two buses etc to go to a single destination.

- Another thing which happened recently - my Ganesh gift i shall call it...made it thru Oracle - to be precise Oracle Solutions Services India or OSSI for short at Bangalore...here were the proceedings
-> 6th August called for test at the OSSI office at Commerce@Mantri on Bannerghatta road(sweet dreams of IIMB)...
-> Test in mornin comprisin of aptitude, math, englisn(exactly of CAT) and tech stuff too(databases and pointer programmin-picked for Y Kanetkar)...bombarded it like netin- probably main reason why i got thru...a good score
->selected among the top 33 from the 300-400 students- (this was following an essay - topic -'Finish what you start'...wrote real well - quoted examples of da Software Industry itself...
->immediate interviews...mostly HR kind..but main tech part bein of the Final Year project on which i was asked a lott..but went well...
->told to leave as we wud be notified later...guess wat - first notification aft 2 weeks (had almost given up hope - only for the fact that it had all gone real well)..sent a form which i was told to fill along with updated resume and send to be called for da next steps of entrance...me was surprised..
->waited for one week...only to see the offer letter itself in my inbox on the next friday..elated like netin!!

Now back to Goa to an awaitin thrilled parents...after havin spent some great time with my best friend who was who equally quite thrilled bout Oracle happenin...and me bein selected as an Associate Consultant (ahem!)...and what a great occasion - Ganesha Chaturthi itself...party time indeed!!...So me here for the next 2 days now n leavin on friday with parents to Blore...where i have found a pg at Kormangala...Oracle joinin on Sept 12th ie coming Monday..so maybe i can edit some more of you after i join there..

till then blog - tada!

Goodbye Goa...

As i write this post, i am tryin to recollect alllll...almost all the things dat may have happened to me in Goa in da last 20 years..dats since i was born...of course i cant..but its so difficult to leave Goa...!

Shall miss the beaches, the quite alleys and streets at our place here, Panaji most of all...the cool free-from-contamination air, da BEST people in da whole world, all my friends and relatives, and of course my parents whom i love so much...yeah but me goin ahead to the next city now only to accomplish somethin..to achieve sometin great...my job, my MBA preps...just prayin to God dat things work out well for me...

As of now i dont know where i shall be ahead - Bangalore, Chennai or God knows where...but for me headin once again for a month to the city of all IT dreams...dats Bangalore...! So till then blog - ciao!!

packin up for a new life!!

phew!! da days seem to be goin fast n i cant kinda help it..time's comin soon to say a goodbye to Goa...

decided to take up the TIME AIMCATs which are commencin from July 31st...n TIME's got no centre here...so well off to da nearest city to ans them..dats in case Caritor doesnt begin now for me...ie back to Bangalore...da city of dreams for a Software Engineer...but i am not one as of now - of course passed out with a 76.7 in da final year and with a 71.4 aggregate tag on my head now and printed for good on my resume - i go ahead...

What awaits me at Bangalore are a lot of things - my cuzin, apparently with whom i got to stay with, but just got da news dat he will be in Sweden for the next 2-3 months..so ab mujhe mera pataa thikanaa maloom nahin...shaayad kisi friend ke yahaan..jahaan kismat le chale - (dash of philosophy - excuse me)..

4 now mw packin up...just now mom's voice pierced the air - 'what about ur shoes? u dont have to take them?' yeah.more weight to the innocent arms...put it on..i can carry da full world..no probs at all - 4 now its just 2 bags..filled more with MBA preparatory material than my clothes n other stuff...coz thats what i shall be doin more there i guess...aimcats every sunday n preparation thruout the week just in case caritor doesnt bring itself out in da middle of the month..preparations will go a bit slower then...

feelin a bit dumb havin to make my parents pay up for the MBA stuff(application forms etc)..when i wantd to do it myself this time...still i shall be able to manage a huge chunk of it so no probs...hope the stayin at Blore is managed easily..

Da only thing that remains - mite not be able to edit da blog for a while now...so its up only until my last post which i guess comes on friday mornin...friday evenin i set off...!2

B A N G A L O R E !!

Really a long time since i edited my blog...reasons for a sudden trip to the city which mite be my future home - the city of all IT dreams - Bangalore...

After my best friend set off on July 7th, dejectedly staring at the pc at nice brought me upon the arrival of a red letter mail in my gmail inbox...i rubbed my eyes to see nuthin but a call from Motorola for a technical test...(i had applied to the company some days back)...well n the test was the day after that day - Saturday 9th in the morning at 10 am...

The events that followed were fast-paced and hectic...had a brief sleep only of about 3 hrs dat nite after havin packed the luggage and arranged my certificates etc for which mom n dad woke up to and helped me out..the next day the bus tickets were taken n bfore i knew it, i was takin a nap on the KSRTC bus to Blore...

After quite a long journey (realised that day dat KSRTC buses dont take the margao - karwar route but go via Hubli)...reached Bangalore at around 7:30 am n there were only 2 hrs or so to reach the company for the test...had already called Kiran (introducing my close friend who was having his final semester internship at Motorola that time)...his brother Arun( introducing my second closest pal) came to pick me up from Navrang theatre where i got off the bus n took me home...

After a quick bath and breakfast i was off to Motorola with Kiran in a rickshaw (cost us 90 bucks - the b**st***s...daylite robberies i tell u...da test began exactly at 10..was surprised to see that it was totally a new paper and none like the questions of the recent test papers which Kiran had sent me the previous day...howeva got into the mood immediately n found that the test was fine - not so bad after all...da link-list data structure programs seemed comfy too...although the second program dint make ne sense (remind me to revise my theory of short n long integers later)...

Once da test was done my primary objective of being at Blore was done...n the remains was to enjoy with my friends..meet my best friend and party!!...This of course was to follow in da next 3-4 days...now yeah..cant possibly rite down evry bit of it...just a gist of da events...

Spent most of the time at their house as mostly Kiran was busy later...so was with Arun...met my best friend a couple of times...she was placed in Siemens and was stayin in a guesthouse temporarily given by them - in contrast with another friend who was stayin in a posh colony (ahem! Raheja Residency)...also managed to check out some cool places like Forum at Kormangala with Kiran where lunch was at McDonalds...and also had dinner at a nice place called Green Onion on Brigade Road (man i luv those places)...

Managed to catch Sarkar on Monday the 11th...a FANTA FABULO movie...RGV(Ram Gopal Verma) does it again...with absolutely brilliant performances from the entire starcast - especially AB bfore the interval and AB Jr after the interval - a nicely balanced version...go watch it - i saw it for 45 bucks at Tribhuvan near Majestic...but u can catch it at PVR or neother multiplex...the movie is even worth a 150 buck ticket...!!!

Also stayed over with my cuz on Wednesday nite...a bachelor who works at Wipro Embedded and is a real great guy...have always loved his company coz i can get to learn so much from him...maybe i shall be stayin with him in the near future..n maybe dat shall be too early from now...the mocks are gonna start soon n i dont know when i shall land up next in Blore coz Caritor isnt yet out with our joinin letters...

All said and done all the party time overshadowed my loss of the job - i cudnt make it thru the test...cudnt understand why but yeah was dejected as it had been one in a million chance...howeva decided i shall try my best for a better job in Blore...

Left on Thursday n was back on Friday the 15th mornin at Goa...intime to see my grandma who had arrived last week (sigh!)...Blore had whiffed away like a dream but seemed more than real to me now...sumtin bout the city -

Bangalore had changed from good to bad n to WORSE now...movement in the traffic had been sickenin and tiresome...we mostly roamed on bikes (Arun's new Wind)...but used to get terribly bugged when caught for long in a jam with the traffic counters showin 90 minutes to go etc etc...howeva the pollution and travel with the traffic maybe were the things which did make me lose out on a lot of energy when i arrived at Goa back..dats why my health hasnt been so good in the last 3 days..howeva i am feelin much better today...reasons enugh for editing the blog...

Blore is cool n happenin if u want it to be...in reality the city of dreams for an IT professional but even worse that Mumbai in several other cases as i have noticed...

Check it out!!!

Cleaning up...

Am I tired or wat?? I think this is the last time me clearing my shelf n papa’s…lies above it…got a whole lot of assorted stuff spread out on the floor yest nite which I have spent the morning cleaning up…now ninety percent of it is safely tucked in the buags – a major of which will be leavin the house soon…either with me, or with my cuzin for her engg studies, and some for my junior engg boy who pays me so well..(grin!)

Arranged the stuff exactly like I wanted it…the newest stuff bein the nearest – none other than my MBA preparatory stuff – assorted from TIME, CL, IMS etc etc…gotto go thru the whole lot in a span of few days now…few days shit – Caritor seemed to be least interested in callin us to join soon – rumour has it that we mite be called in the third week of August or so, which sounds so late..for now I think I have already applied to more than 20 companies but not a reply from a single one. My resume isn’t that bad eh? But of course it lacks the mammoth percentiles bestowed by universities such as VTU and Annamalai down south, due to which the only guys beatin us to the jobs are the southies…me kinda tired applyin…n will be more bored now waitin for Caritor’s joinin letter…I’ve got a score to settle with the people there…

Got used to wearin these 3/4ths now…dey look cool and will suit me when I’m outa Goa…poor me don’t even know whether me at Chennai or Blore itself…help me God…!!

Recovered soooo many things while cleaning up in the last 2-3 days…my KG-I report card, stating me perfect in all respects of studies but a final remark – ‘rather talkative’…cant understand if children aren’t talkative who will be? Maybe she was grading me relatively to the class dat time…the rest all bein sad souls who cudnt utter a word…but acc to my mom they all used to chatter a lot too – just that when the teacher came around, she used to see me with a broad smile…which from some angle appeared like that of a thief – aur phir mera time aa hi jaata tha…

In the midst of the cleaning process, was reading another blog and got a load of some real good pics of IIMK…mannn its like a summer resort on a hill station or something…the campus and the views around are breath-taking…wonder who ‘studies’ there…but it seems to be the ideal place for dat too…at once IIMC seemed to drop down from the image I had of it…but well – IIMK zaraa door ki baat hai – with an average batch profile of 24 months workex (as I heard later)….ahem! for now IIMs hi to zara door ki baat hai…!

Cant write more for today…gotto go off to do some more cleaning..n got a bday party in an hour and a half…so gotto rush to dat…!! Catch ya later…

da secret....

finally i am at the PC once again - unkempt as ever on a Saturday nite...but with a sense of satisfaction and a smile of peace on my face...a lot of things had been taken care of in this week...reasons enugh for the light heart and the relaxed winds flowing by...

But maybe this is da first secret i keep from the blog...sawwy buddy but i just cant leak this one out until its da rite time.(which it isnt now)...all i can say that somethin really wonderful happened this week...for which i (majorly)...n my best friend had waited for a long time...n well it did happened...to which we rejoiced..but got little time to do so...hush hush...secret ok...u not supposed to leak it out to neone...

Da proceedings of the week had been hectic...in order to carry out da 'unsaid' task..but all da worries and tensions were immediately set aside once the task was executed successfully...n i cant still believe it has been done now...n that i can heave a sigh of relief n say that part of the tensions etc are done with...

Holiday mood settled in...but well i cant elt it overcome coz this is da only time i can get goin with my preps or the MBA entrances - the mock CATs for which will start soon now...at July end...n of course i shud have packed up my ammunition etc and be fully geared for it..

saali yeh meri company bhi itni jaldi joinin letter hi nahin bhejti? wats up with it huh?? n to the think of all the IT companies (around 13-14) to which i have spent my valuable time in applying havent even given me a faint look - apparently all still have their backs turned....the next resume i send will definitely be perfumed...chahe woh email se hi bheja kyon na ho!!

Liked one thing a good friend said to me today - 'Ashish...u really seem to know what u want in life'...but to how much extent is it true re? i dont know my stuff well - a bad coder- but not exactly the reason me runnin away from it...howeva yeah..can spend more n more time now...n wud like to too...to find out more bout the specialisations in which i wanna 'expand' myself...n where do i fit in!

lets hope i succeed in doin so...

Termination of graduation!!!

I knew i would neva fget the last look on the external examiner Raikar's face as he said 'ok..dats just about it - all done'...a sense of relief, satisfaction, and a feeling of completion - the completion of my four years of toil n bull shit hard work, of copied assignments, of bunked lectures, of nervousness and tensions of by-hearting 1200 page text books for a single semester paper, of gossip and flirting with gals, of eating the pastries, resoice and frankies from Monginis at Leonaras, n God knows wat wat...need i say more?

The last presentation for the final year project was done today, with the external asking some SDLC related questions, and of course our internal guide Antao adding some rubbish doubts in between much of which he must have not understood nethin himself...all in all an OK presentation - not bad i shud say...but now who is bothered anyway - its ALL DONE...i can safely look back now and say that Padre Conceicao was a dream that has passed and is never to return - howeva of course being nostsalgic and adding some really fond memories...

Well certain thumbs up and thumbs down - which i would list later on the blog regarding what i faced at Padre...but all in all - the 4 years course had been worth it only because of the great friends i had found and the network i have presently established...its not huge...but big enugh to spread the word and contact...to be safe the yahoogrp for our class owned by me itself, entitled Bandarnagar can do most of the work...

Cheers!

ghanan ghanan ghir ghir aayo...

my eyes opened n i heard the first sound of the 'heaviest' rains today mornin - a loud sound which promised never to end...baahar dekha to it was pouring cats, dogs, lizards, bears, tigers and whoeva else cud be thrown down. Yes, the monsoon was on...

Finally the long-awaited season had broken out and the atmosphere had became much cooler...the sky had assumed the darker colours, but i cudnt even see it clearly as i was blinded by the rain. The rain. Aha! i think all had awaited it long enugh this time - but what a timing...my friends, including my best friend had finished her project presentation at college yesterday, havin safely said goodbye to good old under-raduation days and there i was - stuck as eva with my team, with da project stil on our heads...had to collect the report from the place where it had been given for binding 2 days earlier...so had to hurry out...evrythin was a muddle as it normally was with the first rains - i somehow managed to fish out the umbrella from under all my old books under the bed - it was perfectly fine...imagined all the lazy people like me in each house doin the same at that time itself...coz they just cudnt find 'time' to do it earlier...

Mom's leg had had a hairline fracture and she had to walk slow as we took our first steps in the puddles down...the scene as we proceeded in the car was terrible...exactly as predicted by the sewage expert and city hygiene officer Ashok Naik - the work left incomplete due to the collapse of Parrikar Government had shown its results well...half of Panaji was badly flooded in the first half of the morning itself...never before had i seen so much water collectin on the main road near the Secretariat...n heh..there wa more to come...

Mom had to leave me quite at a distance from the pavement where she dropped me as it was totally flooded...i walkd across and waited outside the shop to collect the reports after da others arrived...n then yeah - the thoughts on a rainy day as i always imagine them - had the mobile...so msged and smsed a couple of people...

da wait was long..but watchin the rains was pastime...these guys arrived n then it was back to the normal day once again...well but of course there is a long time to go bfore the season finally closes its doors on us...so me cooool..!!

my furst mobile...!

actually acc to the indian riwaaj, nethin new to the house must receive a BIG welcome along with da usual 'aarti' and stuff...howeva the mobile dint receive ne of this kinda 'naariyal swaagat'...it just slipped in the house - and i guess my best friend too doesnt have an idea bout it...coz well - she is outaaa range - n when she was the one i wanted to tell first...!!!!

got the motorola c200 as a second hand from one of my friend who is a mobile geek - he has just bought a nokia 6680 from one of his friends for 25k...the ass was showin it to me - n well - i was dreamin of the phone i shall take for myself later, with which i wud show off with...a higher end one - but me reconsiderin the video option - it isnt really much of use u see...

nyway - talkin bout the mobile i got today - of course papa ki krupa se...mom n me initially tot of it for him...n now of course its there with me itself - (the only son rulez)...well shall teach him the controls but me myself figurin it out to a certain extent as it is kinda like a primitive cell - no color display etc...only txt based...me satisfied as i have da option of sendin sms and callin itself...in fact me ok with just smsin...its just 25 p u see...!

have just msged a cuple of my friends n received deir missed calls...well - had experienced wat a mobile was only thru my best friend's one till now - today i had one in my own hand - n of course it was no big deal - coz more than 99 percent of my friends had it already...in fact there is still a time when i will get a cell i have been wantin to take - this was juz to experience wat a cell is like - n yeah it has proved to be quite good too...except that my best friend's missin and havent got her call as yet...she will be back to her place tomm and shall question me of course - 'now u tellin me?'...

so acc to dad da last thing which was supp to come in the house(basically as it had almost become a necessity now) has come - and can be used by all now...dis line must appear funny for all - but its not for him coz he has gone a long way to see this little thing - also bein not at all tech savvy...n of course me too coz me been waitin a long time for this...

cheers!!!

Congess rises to power...

da results of the by elections were announced yesterday n well - at 4 outa 5 places Congress set their flag...seems like a joke when takin into consideration all the Parrikar Government had done for da state in da last year...especially with things like IFFI, the eradication of the Baina cubicles etc...

How cud the people fget all that?? Are they ready to fall prey to the misleadings of the goons like Babush, Pacheko, Deshprabhu, Faleiro etc...??? It doesnt make any sense to me. I had felt da people had appreciated the dynamic nature of Parrikar...wen he was around everyone only appreciated him...but soon enugh the baddies arrived to stab him in da back...i admit Parrikar wasnt all that right too...he intentionally never differentiated betn religions but gave importance to the Hindus - as such the Christians and the Muslims were bound to feel neglected...the Congress took advantage of that n kept their support from da Christians etc strong - of course Babush won y a huge margin due to da votes from the Taleigao people...da rest of the people fgettin that Babush wud only help out the Taleigao residents in their development and not those of newhere else...

Izidor Fernandes lost badly at Painguinim though...n the Congress had to lose out on one place...i guess all the beer he had ordered in da mornin to 'pre-celebrate' da success of his victory had to be drained out - the Painguinim people were strong and determined to throw the Congress off stand...howeva at Margao Digambar Kamat got da majority by a mere 1300 votes..i shud say the new candidate Sharmad Raiturkar almost made it by gettin 7300 votes which itself is a huge number for a newcomer...just wish he had made it...

Finally today Margaret Alwa officially announced da ascension of Pratapsingh Rane on the Throne of the Chief Minister - da place was worth a site - lookin more like an 'adda' of gangsters announcing their next plan of conquerin Goa...Dayanand Narverkar, Luizin Faleiro, Jeetendra Deshprabhu, Babush, Pacheko etc etc...all havin more roles to play in the uncivilised life in Goa then in politics...of course der wud be a lot of partyin these days...each thinkin in his mind that Parrikar Government is finally gone...

Tommorow will be the swearing ceremony - and then we can safely say that we have handed over Goa in 'cleanest' hands...

D

with about a week and a half left for the project demo, and with dat Uma and Mangirish leavin soon from Goa...we decided to get onto one final good meet today...a movie n the day to enjoy of course...

Just the 4 of us...spent time full day till 6 in da evenin...food from 'Royal Foods' was good indeed...its really worth a try once again n i must tell my parents bout it...wonder why they dont have it up at Panaji...it wud have been a greatt success for sure...cant say much now as the Congress is up in Goa once again with a majority, and with all the goons possible like Babush and Pacheko - guess its 'gundaraj' now...

The movie seen was D -> Ram Gopal Verma's latest underworld flick - this time focussing on Dawood's life itself...Ranveer Hooda playin the lead role in da movie (i managed to catch the name at the end of the movie)...n well he does literally carry the film on his shoulders...his character is portayed fabulously by Verma - although he hasnt even directed da movie - just produced it..but da drops of Verma's ideas are all over da movie's canvas...

Verma has once again managed to create a very good film undoubtedly...having focussed a lot on the main character...he even has shown the linkups of da actor (called Dishu in da movie) wid a heroine from Bollywood - presumably Mandakini from the actual Bollywood...who is Dawood's wife...n mann does she look beautiful!!!! I mean - where does Verma pick such characters - name is Rukhsar n guess i shud do a bit of checkin on her online...wat ya say?

D proves to be a good followin (wont say sequel) to Satya and Company - looks like Verma RULES when it comes to makin movies on da underworld...gave it a four and a half on five...the movie is of short length...n is definitely worth a watch...so yeah catch it at ur nearest theatre.

Alchemist points the way ---->path to motivation and destiny...

'Baapat, with one hand to his cheek- in a pose to slap himself any time and Antao, staring like the dumbest asshole in da world...wat more is needed? the 10 minutes of a orals were to pass soon - the questions easy..n Limy and Shruti in good form today...guess all's well that ends well...justified by da 'yippppeeeeee' and yell from Limy's side da moment the door of the lab opened out to the temporary free hold and shut onto us from behind da portals of one sick n boring theory subject we had this time (true i had asked for the elective - par come on yaaron - kuch raham karo!)...dats Multimedia Systems for us...'

The orals done with..spent da rest of the day with my best friend and others, stopped to talk to my juniors aft da exam at Leo's and i was off home...now for the main part of today's story...ahem!

finished a greattttt book today which was really really appreciable...and was worth all da comments i had seen or read bout it earlier...Paulo Coelho's Alchemist...not that da title under Ayesha Takia's (mannnn she's hotttttttt) interview in the newspaper attracted me to it...a few other friends had too...but it was really worth it. I had discovered it accidentally in the library, even when Rohan had told me i wudnt find it...guess it wanted to be read by me...

wont state much on the story - just that its that of a boy who seeks a certain trasure hidden in some part of the world for him...n hopes and aspires to find it only on the basis of his dreams...coz he believes in them...some important lessons we learn from it - neva fear from pursuing one's own dreams - perserverance and determination will help one achieve them and MUCH MORE soon enugh....its just that we shudnt give up in life - dats coz for each one of us in da world, there is some treasure hidden somewhere...just waitin for us to cast our eyes on it...but maybe it just takes more that a mere view...it takes dedication and effort to pursue one's dreams - so GUYS dont be afraid of dreamin !!!

wud recommend the book to neone who
a) wants some motivation in life
b) is broken down n nothin in life seems possible
c) who needs some pastime
d) all of the above

Cheers!

first meetin wid a PGite...

to sum up day's events...library today mornin...n luckilly got the book i wanted very soon - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho...read only 30 pages and was drawn to the simplicity of the book...really good books written here...simple language but highly motivatin...plannin to finish it off in 2-3 days...got mannny more books to read...

met up with my best friend in college today later and had lunch with her and the others..but stupidly ended the day with a silly argument..which i proposed to end the moment i reached home...had other plans today..was supposed to meet Jormund Elver- the PGite i used to chat with on Yahoo mess...got a lift to Panaji in Aditya's car - he was the guy who had apparently appreciated my performance in the GD classes at IMS...by da way he is from IIFT..

Jormund Elver - or Kunal as is real name was, yeah was cool...a strike-on 100 percentiler in English...i guess a whole lot owin to the HUGE amount of readin that guy does - believe me i guess he has realllly read a LOTTT...mythology, sociology, fiction, non-fiction etc etc etc etc....a lot more to name....so i was basically takin suggesions from him on how shud i improve my readin habits...

he is gonna join NMIMS..guess only coz his Math n DI performance wasnt upto mark...n had to lose out on some greatt calls...else his percentile was a 99+...wonder why he dint convert SP Jain as he had workex n was an MCom too...hamesha lagtaa tha main bhi english mein kuch teer mar hi saktaa tha..but well - english bein my strongest section let me down on 21st Nov...so der is nuthin much i can say now but pray for da best for ne entrance exam now onwards...

Kunal apparently loves Goa..like ne other b-schooler around i guess...have met many more on chat who do so n havent been surprised...looks like me am runnin away from Goa though...simply bcoz it cant give sufficient exposure to my priorities, and also my growth...as Goa is normally meant to be a place post-retirin n for a holiday..but one shud prefer to have his/her education outside Goa acc to me...as it has more exposure to muchhh more stuff...

day endin out with da last words of the blog- yes do come to GOA and have a BLASTT!!

first blog in evenin i guess...

just returned home from college n well - the Image Processing viva had turned out good...Princy himself was at the chair along with another guy who resembled Chakravarthy from Satya n well - gave the say to Adu in most of the cases...my viva lasted for juz around 10 min...thanx to the gals along wid me who well, dint know that da height of an image is measured in pixels...i was wonderon what da hell was wrong with them...

spend the rest of the day wid my best friend...some real nice talks over a long lunch (well it was her eatin slowly as usual - she'll kill me if she reads dis)...went back to college only to realize that da orals day aft tomm wud mostly be postponed coz of the election scenario...left at 5 n well - found myself in da bus with my English teacher from school...another for whom i was like the 'fav' student...moreover i had scored the highest in her subject at da Goa Board...the meeting reminded me of those days once again - the busy mornin - the tears in my dad's eyes...shakin hands and distributing pedaas - well the remanin day had gone in that itself - in a couple of days itself i had become top notch famous in Goa i guess...aaaah - welll...those were the TIMES!!!

I had a nice talk wid the teacher all the way...she seemed interested to hear dat i had resumed the habit of readin...n asked me how i get time for it - to which i bragged - 'i have to the best of the time available- n have to FIND time'...she wud be leavin for Germany in a few days to meet her son...so i wished her the best for her journey...

wished i cud step into my school shoes again for once - as life was gonna be hard now...once i got into the corporate world - wud be losin much of the 'happy-go-lucky'
part of myself n turnin into the more serious guy - sob! dont wanna do dat...but work, MBA preps and varrrious otha responsibilities mite push me to the edge...
It seemed all da more peculiar though...Goa was sort of wavin me a slow goodbye...as though it knew i was gonna leave soon - as i was meetin all da people i cud have missed meetin bfore i left...like the teacher today wfor example whom i wudnt have met as she had already retired...also manny other friends who somehow managed to bump into me even though the others hadnt heard of them...strange huh?

boy o boy - da corporate world - am i waitin for it NOW!!!!

'memory blast' exams end for now...

da last glass of 'rasna' drunk for da nite...n da last chat window closed- me only wid my blog for today now...i'm already into the nexy day - but peeped in to rite bout the end of the Semester 8 theory exams...

'memory blast' coz well - dese exams involve no actualy application of stuff - just remember and vomit in paper...so wat is the use? i for one did one subject well this time- coz i think i understood it well and have started likin it - Image Processing..dint know i will like it though...howeva looks like dis is the only electronic signals lesson i shall be likin...regardless of whether the beauty queen from college 'Natasha' was there to teach it or da old man 'Adu'(princy for those who dont know)...

Image Processing was today - n well it was a nice paper - set by Adu itself..so guess all went accordingly well - da think to post was bout the post plans- went so bluddy fast tat i had to catch a breath...decided last minute for Bunty and Babli - aftnoon show...so there we were..movie was total timepass and doesnt make sense at all..so it isnt at all worth wastin ur time n money in it ...Big B isnt so good but chemistry betn Abhishek and Rani is cool...rani looks reallllll cute tooo...

da post 8 pm was one of my dearest friend= Raghu's phone aft a real long time really..chatted for long...he too apparently wanted to talk a lot...

closing down for today...

Alvidaa PCCE...

does the title of the post give way to somethin? naaaaahh...its not that i am actually leavin da college now itself - but wanna brag a bit bout the hop which our class itself hosted for the farewell for our batch at PCCE...

happened yest..still da faces of friends and mates are fresh in mind...a grand farewell hosted by our juniors - followed by the hop which was hosted by our class - BE Computers. Thinkin bout it makes me wonder dat yeah well - i gotto write a lot...so much happened n so fast since last week - discussions on how the farewell shud be n whether we can arrange for the hop....but of course da nitty with of Mangirish's mind cant be matched...once he makes up his brains regardin somethin no one can have a say rite? The rumour of the hop was soon ON....of course along with this was the idea bout wearin a suit for the farewell....gosh i know me wud look like a clown n well..hadnt ever thought of wearin it but yeah...friends managed to convince and well Pramesh n some of the others did have these weird ideas in their mind rite from the start...

Borrowed the suit from one of the sons of Dad's close friend...ahem..well i dint look dat baaaad too...5th may was up..was to head in da car to college...mornin jampacked with errands regardin the arrangements of the hop as well as a movie- SRK n Johar Productions Kaal which we managed to fit in somehow...got to Mangirish's house and puffed up perfume all over n there all of us were - lookin as handsome as ever...there was a surprise awaitin me at the hop though - 95 percent of the boys had turned up with suits...n of course the gals with sarees lookin real nice...the farewell was a BIG BLASTT and my sincere thanx to our juniors...esp Roma, Reema, Ralston and Liz Anne. There was a cake cutting ceremony, several contests, we had special sheets to write bout each other which we cud take home then ie each one take his own...another surprise that me n mah close friend was chosen as the best couple for da evenin...evrythin was perfectly arranged - rite up to the final Mr and Miss Computers prizes which Hrishikesh and Snehal bagged...

Da farewell dun...we were off to the hop aft a quick change (ahem in the college corridors)...now this was somethin which had been long planned and i can say was a grand success due to the efforts of the four main guys - Samson for his SUPERB deejaying and music, Preston and Braulio for the arrangements and of course dear Mangirish who takes the overall credit...we really danced like mad...at least i did and i noticed dat the rarest people had a great time too...was a treat to watch balls dancin...n of course his matchmate(our creation of course) laksha doin the jhatka dancin...Malvika, Phanikar for his amazing pelvic thursts, n all the others had a great time...Sam had seen to it that evryone gets their fill of the hop - so had planned allll kinda music...includin hip-hop, rock, trance, indi pop, slow etc etc etc...BE Computers was rockin it out...!!

I know i will neva be able to fget the day - esp when Neha (my esteemed bench partner) and the study geek had stayed the full day, when Anay and Pashmin danced again - n it was nice to see them do so...n of course all the zealous faces of tmy friends...buddies for all the great times we had had in the last 3 years...all the picnics, hops, get togethers - the plethora of college activities was comin to an end - and what an end it was....gleamin with the soulful melody of KK's Pal...and me watchin each one as they hugged each other n waved their last goodbyes..werent exactly last as we still had the dreaded exams to go..but we knew we wud neva be able to enjoy like this...eva again...

for once i shud be sayin long live BE Computers - PCCE batch of 2004...!!

end of engg college days...

gosh havent seen u from quite a while blog - have i? even when India lost to Pak in tat pathetic final i dint find it interestin enugh to give my own view of the mess...coz maybe it wasnt kinda necessary...they got the full thing and are out searchin for a good coach for themselves...

party time today - n nostalgia time too...officially, we are out of Engineering college, havin finished our 8th sem engg...with only the exams to go now..(n ahem!- of course the remains of the project work including the docs etc)...how was the last day? poocho mat...class mein last day to ho gaya...dat was wednesday...when we were out stalkin the class for every but of chalk piece to throw on each other...n of course despite all grumbling managed to catch a last bit of the last lecture of the semester in multimedia systems...(woh to hona hi tha)..n well then that day saw its end...

today? well fine - the last internal test we wud have ever answered - and of course a bit of work on the project..a lot of it in fact...(somehow i saw myself doin a lot too today)...lekin chalk pieces aaj nahin miley - to kya hua??? paper balls se kaam chalaana padaa...i think the lab was a place to see with all the paper balls flyin all around - me too jumpin around likea kid throwin balls on my friends and showerin them sometimes...surely no one must have done this ever bfore in da history of PCCE...n no one will too...the lab assistant too got a few of them on him and dat was indeed a funny sight...all the more the day ended on a great note...

To think widely, will i miss college days? naah - not this college - but the friends..aah yes...they have really been a great treasure...n i will treasure all my friends i have gained here always...keepin somethin from u for now blog..a new relationship which appears to be struck up, but hasnt flowered as yet...so will update ya later on it...more nostalgia on the farewell day in another 3 days if i get to edit u that time - till then...ciao...!!

My Night out - (anonymous post)...

Dont actually know why i am postin this..but juz coz i liked it...it was posted on PG...

__________________________________________________________

My Night-Out


My feet were getting numb. My arms were getting tired. But I sat there, looking at the monitor, pretending to work. What if I slept off on the keyboard? What would people around me think? Am I not competitive enough. Would another night out hurt. "No it won't." I consoled myself. "Work a little more." I told myself.

Images of links between tables and pages from what we call, ETRMs crossed my mind. "Why?" I asked myself. "Why doesn't my mind wander away to the more beautiful things in life?" "Why does it always have to be WORK!!!?"

That was it. I couldn't take it anymore. I pressed the shutdown button on the PC as if to say, "I hate you". As if in reply, it took me twice to shut it down. I kicked my locker and walked out of my cubicle. The security at the reception looked into my eyes sympathetically. I pretended like I am solving problems in my head. As if the world depended on my silly program. As if to justify the fact that the Security needs to respect me. I hated myself. I walked down the corridor towards the lift.

There I was, on the fifth floor. It was 3.30 in the morning. The terrace looked deserted. I loved the feeling. I was all alone. Just me, and the sky and the stars and the early morning breeze. I looked all around. The world looked much beautiful. Somewhere, far away, I could see lights. I presume that must have been another workplace where people like me are working away at their PCs.

I stood at the edge of the terrace. As I looked at the road that ran in front of our office, I slowly kept my palm on the wall. A chill ran down my spine. Tiny droplets of water had formed on the wall, which I touched. I wanted to feel it again. I touched it again. It was the most wonderful feeling. I wondered why I don't do these things often.

I decided to stay there till sunrise. I closed my eyes and waited. Finally, I could see a faint light in the east. Even though we hardly notice, these things do happen. Like sunrise and stuff. I saw the sun rise. As he rose I could see more and more buildings like ours. The breeze had got much stronger. It was like sitting near the window seat of a bus that was moving through some lonely road near a lush paddy field. I got that taste in the air. I got the feel. It was like heaven had met earth.

In the cubicle, I congratulate someone when his SELECT statement works. There I was, all alone, on the terrace, when more important things were happening and I had no one to congratulate. I wanted to cry "Thank you God". "Thank you for giving me this beautiful world to live in." But... the words wouldn't come out. I felt guilty. I knew very well that I would go back in the cubicle once my emotions wore off.

"No" I said. "I am NOT going back there again." I ran down the stairs. I wanted the glass that covers our reception to break and let some of this air in. I rushed into my cubicle and got my bag and stuff. Running out, I did not bother to sign the register. Strangely, my vehicle started with just one kick. I rode my bike quite fast, just to feel the air on my face.

When I reached the road, I realized that I was late. Considering the fact that I was in office since yesterday, I was really really late. The world had moved on. People had spent another night with their families. Kids had spent another day studying for exams. Old folks had spent another night wondering when to dye their hair. Teenagers had spent another night dreaming about their loved ones.

There I was, like a machine coming out of my office building. I saw people taking their morning walks. Some of them jogging. Some of them standing and talking. Some old aunties jogging and talking and laughing, all at the same time. There were newspaper-boys, milk-vendors and what not.

I started feeling out of place. "Was I from another planet or something?" I thought. I was dreaming I guess, a milk-vendor chap on his bicycle nearly hit my bike. "Idiot" I said. Didn't he know I am going home after a tough day? Didn't he know that I am tired, and do not have the energy for such crap? "Wait a minute," I told myself. "Are you doing somebody a favor by staying in the office so long?" "Will this world be a better place if you do that?" "Do you have it in you to buy one meal for that milk-vendor's family?"

YOU CAN'T!!! And that's the truth. You can't do anything except writing pieces of code, which you regard as full of life for reasons known best to you.

I broke into tears thinking about my own plight. I hated the fact that I existed. Why was I going through this entire trauma? What was holding me here? The money?. The passion to program?. The feeling that I would be isolated if I didn't work?. I don't know. I am still searching for the answers.

Then, suddenly out of nowhere, images of my family came into my mind. My dad, who had taken care of the family since I remember him. In fact, since I remember anything. My mom who would not have slept even a little bit, since I have not reached home. And my brother, who doesn't actually show it, but misses me when he doesn't see me. "I am not alone" I shouted. "I have this beautiful world to live in, with beautiful people in it"

Friends, do go out sometimes. Share your life with the people you love the most. Share your life with the nature. Share it with the wind. Share it with the sun. Share it with the rain. Things much much more important than programming is happening out there. But it won't come for you, you have to go out and find it.



Source: Unknown, recieved thru email.

Very well written Mr Anonymous

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Goan dreams of MBA...

had been missin mah best friend so much today dat i did tend to fite a bit online with her juz wen she had come online a few min ago...as i dint want her to leave soon...but she had to...so i guess now its me n u dear blog...

heard today dat well - da topper in CAT 2004 here in Goa dint make it to the final calls of IIMB and C...so all the huff- puff he had gone thru durin all his preps was down the drain for a minute...cudnt really imagine it..as i know he had prepared, of course i had too..but my luck cudnt just strike up on the D Day i guess..whereas his did...reasons enugh for the 99.10 numbers...

howeva the panels of interviewers dont seem to be impressed by a Padre Conceicao profile..(for dose of u who dont know - dats my eng college - unheard of, in ROI - rest of India dat is....so finally me not gettin thru dat time..n tryin again now with a better profile - dat of work ext mite really add to somethin...wonder if i will be able to work n prepare togetha...but i think me made for managin things...n neway - things are gonna get even more hectic afterwards in b-school life...so i better gear up now itself...

dreams tonite will comprise Alto of course - the new one we bought yest..hee hee..n the new music system i put in it...n maybe me drivin it along with mah closest friends...rockin the town...dat will be some fun...at present me confused...yes CAT, submissions, study for sem exams, n also the work at my company...all are lined up...so manage?? big deal eh?

one month to go...

Nite time - time again to edit the blog as usual - dis was the last week juz befaw the 'one month to go' time...bizy bizy with projects evryone - howeva me not takin so much interest in our project for starters...gotto finish it..dats it...but well - gotto learn heck of Java - every bit of it...although i hate the stupid syntax it has...so kinda gonna sit down tom n work on practically with the java features of our project - ahem in detail...we are workin on p2p system architectures using JXTA set of protocols intro by Sun Microsystems...

Have been readin quite a bit these days n wud like to delve further into it, coz later me into the work field der kinda mite not be ne time for moi to relax n enjoy turnin the pages of ne book even if i wish too...me gettin interested into the economics stuff...n buildin up my interests into it...howeva well one month before i have to start prep for exams too...da last kinda tech exams i shall have...

One month also to be departin from friends...some very close ones...n of course mah best friend whom i think i have spent max time with dese days...n from the last year...think somewat she has been a lot to think about for me...n has shared a lot of my life - wish it cud have even been more, but i guess its a race against time now; gotto make the most of it...

A great deal this month then...n a lot of catchin up to do...more importantly i gotto enjoy ebethin i do !!!