Decide first

In this very world there are multiple places where you get to learn real stuffs outside the classroom. One of such many places in a B-school.
When a boy or a girl in their mid-twenties start from his or her home with a bag full of emotions he expects to return with the same bag filled with fulfilled expectations. In most of the cases, Yes, he does. But the few months and years that he/she spends in a B-Skul turns out to be completely different than what he had expected. He gets exposure to multiple faces and facets of multiple events. He makes friends (or at least tries to), but fails miserably. This might sound weird to many who expresses his/her MBA days as some of the best days that he/she has spent. But conditions do apply. You gotta be bad and opportunistic, else the system will teach you to be that way. Yeah its good to be opportunistic in today's world, but the question that arises is 'where do you draw the line?'. Do you play the opportunistic game with your friends? With your family? The line gets thinner with every passing moment. You fail to make out what is ethical(also known to be stupid), and what is not(thats the opposite of stupid i.e. smart).
So there is a constant trade off between being smart and being ethical. Its a tough decision to take. Sometimes it fades out that particular purpose of getting into a B-Skul. You fail to decide whether you are here to learn or to cope up with the particular smartness that prevails in the environment. Nevertheless thats a learning too

Its been days ... real long .. and though he came across a lot of interesting things to scriblle upon , he didnt get the zeal to do that. So he planned to narrate what the day was like. It was just another day at Goa Institute of Management. Starting from breakfast in the morning , to the tea in the evening. He climbed back to his room and was googling (google is a verb in case u are not aware) when some viral advertisement got his attention. A simple 2 inch * 1.5 inch advertisement promoting the famous movie Rang De Basanti. He immediately called out for the same and a batchmate was eager to help him out. The movie changed his day.
"Sarfaroshi ki tamanna, ab hamare dil mein hain.. Dekhna hain zor kitna bazu-en qatil mein hain" ... a simple line that is not too easy to say if u are an Indian. It lights that vigour , the patriotism. India won her freedom from the british rule some 54 years back. And a script by Bismil Azimabadi still gives us goosebumps. Are we being deprived of anything even today ? Are we still in shackles ? Or is it just a stimulus similar to that of alcohol ?

Today we live in a world full of opportunities. Oppotunities makes us dream.... better, bigger , higher. But due to a lot of problems or rather some obstacles, our dreams live in wonderlands. We aspire to rise, we aspire to shine, sometimes we fight for it and most of the other times we are either forced or we prefer to give up. According to newton's second law of motion .. or should I call that an universal law ... "every action has an equal and opposite reaction". So in this particular discussion action being to let go our dreams, we get a reaction very commonly known as the piling o frustration.
Let us take up some examples,
1. The first example should always focus in the area of career. GIM is a place where we have a lot of students who missed out on IIMs, XLRIs NITIE, MDI .. and other top ranked colleges. But that never extinguishes the dream . Similarly everybody in their job field either fails to register to the place he dreamt of or the very same job dusnt meet his or her expectations. This obviously results in frustration.
2. Ill take up the second example from personal lives. Be it with family , or lovers (this being the most common), people make sacrifices. Each and every sacrifice kills a dream.

In such a state of mind when one is made to listen to an inspiring speech... it plays the hair-raiser.
It is not alcohol .. it is similar to a crowd beating up a pickpocket with no intentions of making him learn a lesson.
Its not a drug .. its a form of venting out the frustration in store.
Its unfair to deny that it is also an effect of the genes , the patriotism in our blood. But can we chalk out the slice patriotism has in the entire pie ?
Can it be denied that the song "luka chhupi" brings tear to our eyes when we are away from our mother ? Does a song not have a much greater effect when it is in sync with our emotions ? When we cant turn our face to any of these .. why deny the fact that we are in chains ?

At times we find it difficult to explain our actions .. but as Oogway in Kung Fu Panda has mentioned, " There are no accidents ", our each and evry action also have some cause.

Well, this article is entirely a work of the mind of a dreamer and has no practical validity. So i would like to end with the very script that this article is based upon... read on ...

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qaatil mein hai

aye watan Karta nahin kyun doosra kuch baat-cheet
Dekhta hun main jise woh chup teri mehfil mein hai
Aye shaheed-e-mulk-o-millat main tere oopar nisaar
Ab teri himmat ka charcha ghair ki mehfil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Waqt aanay dey bata denge tujhe aye aasman
Hum abhi se kya batayen kya hamare dil mein hai
Khainch kar layee hai sab ko qatl hone ki ummeed
Aashiqon ka aaj jumghat koocha-e-qaatil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Hai liye hathiyaar dushman taak mein baitha udhar
Aur hum taiyyaar hain seena liye apna idhar
Khoon se khelenge holi gar vatan muskhil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Haath jin mein ho junoon katt te nahi talvaar se
Sar jo uth jaate hain voh jhukte nahi lalkaar se
Aur bhadkega jo shola-sa humaare dil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Hum to ghar se nikle hi the baandhkar sar pe kafan
Jaan hatheli par liye lo barh chale hain ye qadam
Zindagi to apni mehmaan maut ki mehfil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Yuun khadaa maqtal mein qaatil kah rahaa hai baar baar
Kya tamannaa-e-shahaadat bhi kisee ke dil mein hai
Dil mein tuufaanon ki toli aur nason mein inqilaab
Hosh dushman ke udaa denge humein roko na aaj
Duur reh paaye jo humse dam kahaan manzil mein hai

Wo jism bhi kya jism hai jismein na ho khoon-e-junoon
Toofaanon se kya lade jo kashti-e-saahil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai.
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazuay qaatil mein hai.

~Bismil Azimabadi

Friends ...

In our lifetime we may come come across a number of friends. For some the 'number' could be a huge one, for some it could be of some smaller value, for some it could be 'zero'. But when people claim "I've no friends", i doubt the statement. According to the English dictionary, friend is an ally, a booster, an acquaintance, but most important of all, a friend is someone who stands by us in ups and downs of our life. Now, the question that crawls in here is 'What do we mean by ups and downs'? Well, the answer is simple. These are certain phases in life that we don't desire. Even the Ups? Yes, even those. When I think of myself as a child I never wanted to study. But the competition was tough. My parents wanted me to rise and shine. So there i sat down with my books turning a blind eye to everything bright and beautiful, anything that I actually wanted to be. So that was the down, and when I managed to score a ton, that was the up. But did I really desire of this so called 'Up'. No I didn't. I had friends, I remember their names and faces, I am in touch with a number of them. I grew older. Lost in touch with most of my childhood friends. They moved on towards their goal and I towards mine. Then passed with time like a rough dash of wind the high school, the college. The number of friends in the social networking database kept increasing. But there were a few more, the closest of the friends who do not feature in the so called friend-list. The school days were good enough, but it wouldn't had been so if the time, the environment had not been beside me. I still remember the first day of my school. I walked in scared, astonished, and i knew "This is not the place I wish to be in". My school had no problem with any of my complains. She embraced me with open arms and soon I was friends with my school. She stood by me during every Ups and Downs, in every good and bad. I hated my books, but no sooner I took them up as my closest friends. Do we ever wonder how does a history graduate manages to survive? Because that person manages to love history. The things I have spoken about this far are friends by choice. But what about a person who doesn't have a choice. Think of a cripple. He took up the stick as his friend. Think of Stephen Hawkings. He also made a friend for himself. Think of a person who hates his government, his job, his partners. In spite of hating all of them, they stay with him during his ups and downs. So according to the dictionary meaning, everything he hates might be termed as his friends. Someone said it correctly, "Kaid huye thhe hum, kaid se yaari ho gayi re"

Against the world ... Against the way ...

"Its in my genes", said the boy as the measuring tape around his waist read 37". So when he said 'genes', that goes back to the days when his forefathers were famous for having a huge pot belly. At that time, the bulge along the equatorial line of the brahmins were a symbol of prosperity and respect. But time changes and so does the ongoing beliefs. The thing that failed to change is the 'gene' that this boy has in him. No matter how hard he tries but the bulge keeps coming back. Let us rewind a few years. This boy was a very thin chap as a kid. But as he started to grow he started gaining extra pounds and at the age of 17 he weighted over a quintal (Yeah! You read that right). It was a real embarrassment when he was named 'the quintal kid'. So he planned to lose. He started off with regular visits to a gymnasium and within a few months he was delighted as the hard work started paying off. At 21 he had lost over 30 kilos and he thought to himself "This would do" ;). But soon the 'genes' revolted and as he entered the physically dormant phase of 'concentrate on your career', the 'genes' executed an outburst of anger. The needle on the weighing machine started ticking again while the jeans and trousers started undergoing 'material strength test' when they were clipped across his belly.
Now, the boy has two options --
1. He could revisit the gymnasium
2. He could keep a check on his diet
But both the options has a negative.
After witnessing the Anna Hazare hunger strike, the boy is sure that no mass revolt should be neglected and nothing should be done to suppress the revolt. So if the boy goes for the gym,it would be against the revolt of millions of genes and that would be highly against the rules of this world. Again, according to his mother, dieting (over emphasized form of keeping a check on meals) is not the answer to obesity. It is not the way. Here stands the confused boy, scratching his head, trying to find the answer... Which way would it be ? .... Against the world or Against the way ??

Oh GOD .. and the industry ... Part 1:

It has been some one and a half hour that I’ve been standing in the queue. It was moving at snail’s pace. Suddenly a pilgrim takes a seat on the ground and starts rocking a kid. Whoa !! Haven’t I noticed that the queue is not moving anymore. For the past 15 minutes I haven’t moved an inch. I hear someone call to me, “Water.. Sir.. WATER”. I stare shocked. Well let me first describe the setup I was into, because that would help one understand why a single call kept me staring. Here I am, standing in a long queue where every single person is ready to pay in cash or kind to advance his/her turn to take at peep at Lord Venkateshwara at Tirupati Devasthanam. One can easily deduce that this long queue is not anything new just by looking at the 2 miles long caged path resembling a python’s chamber in a zoo. The queue was moving past the edge of the famous lake where this (spider)man with a bottle in his hand climbed down from nowhere. What he said next came as the second blow, “aanly twenty rupees sir”. Be it this bottle of water or a pack of mango drink, here in this holy place one needs to shell out an additional 66.6% over the printed Rs. 12. Well, its just not this!! Tirupati Temple is situated at Tirumala on top of a hill and as one plans to get there, it comes as a realization that the entire township not only at Tirumala but also at the footstep of the hill with over 12 laks resident is based on a single industry that is pilgrimage. Starting from the transportation, the restaurants and lodgings, the numerous vendors, the banks and whatever a person can think of is supported directly or indirectly by Lord Venkateshwara. Lost in my thoughts I was standing in the queue when a cry of relief brought me back. “Govinda.. Govinda “ ….. The other name for lord Venkateshwara. Most of the people in the cage were already frowning and we still had to move over a mile. I walked on and with me walked the bald man with his bald son sitting on his shoulder, the bald lady along with her bald hubby, the bald boys and the bald girls (NOTE: Bald girls don’t look good at all). Many devotees get their head tonsured on their way to Tirupati. The total hair collected everyday is over a ton. And this hair when sold to international buyers adds a sum of over 6 million USD to the temple’s treasury.

Oh GOD .. and the industry ... Part 2:

After another 2 hours I am sitting in a big hall with numerous chairs and an iron gate . In short , it again makes us the monkey in the cage. Here in this hall are seated over 120 pilgrims and the entire building houses over 30 such halls. Exhausted pilgrims continue to buy the fluids being served. I kept seated and continued to think about the industry. 30 halls … 120 pilgrims in one … that makes it 3600 pilgrims every 30 minutes and over 50000 people in the entire darshan time a day. Well this could have easily passed through my subconscious had the temple authority not charged 300 INR from every single soul out there. So in that way, this part of the pilgrimage adds 150 lakhs INR to the treasury every day. If we consider the entire year, it amounts to 122 million USD per year. This is just a part of the 75000 pilgrims who visit the temple every day. The others who could not afford 300 INR for a visit either pay a sum of 50 INR or if it is for free, one is required to stand in the queue for around 35 hours. The number of pilgrims and the waiting time shoots up during the occasions. Other activities out here include the sale of Laddus . On an average every person affords 4 laddus for 100 INR. That adds another 6 million USD to the revenue of this place. Other than this people love to donate in here. A golden Hundi at the gate of the main temple fills up the treasury with a maximum of 2.5 crore INR a day. The Iron gate screeches. Everybody starts to rush out. Scattered all over are the empty bottles, tetra packs and the coffee cups. Whoa !! The people who vendor the edible stuffs out here can easily make a fortune. I rush along with the crowd. At long the only thing visible to me are three long queues coming from three different directions to merge into one. There is no way I could pass this with an absent mind. The god helps all. In here he helps over 12 lakh people residing over 450 square kilometre of area. And with a revenue higher than many of the small and medium scale enterprises Tirupati Devasthanam is the richest and the most visited place of worship in the world. So god will help me push my way along and get a glimpse of the holy Lord Venkateshwara. Gear up and cheer “Govinda … Govinda “

'SO' some anger ... 'Show'CIETY

“Education cess (@ 2%) … Rs. 18.34 “ …. This quotation is from my monthly electric bill. And I am proud enough to serve the poor children of this country…. INDIA. But when I woke up today a different emotion filled my heart and soul considering the same quotation as above. It was the newspaper that played the culprit.

It has been a week that India lifted the ICC Cricket World Cup after 28 years. It has been a week that we all bled blue. We cried together as Team India roared with the trophy. All Indians followed the single religion – Cricket. Not a day after this event had occurred, every minister around were up on their toes to show their honor and gratitude to the Indian Cricket Team. So we came to know that BCCI will be presenting the glorious squad with a prize money of 1 crore INR each, the Delhi government INR 2 crore, Punjab INR 1 crore, Uttarakhand a house in Mussourie and land for a cricket academy and the railways says that they can travel AC-I Class free for life. Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam of Tamil Nadu has already violated the Model Code of Conduct and has decided to pay the Indian cricket team and Ashwin a prize money of INR 3 crore and INR 1 crore respectively.

Now, the question that is on every Indian’s mind is, “Where is the money coming from?”. Well our journalists have the answer. These special prizes are generally awarded from a fund that has an allocation of INR 2.4 Cr this year. So the extra money is being drawn from either the education or development fund. Yes, you read it right. The education cess that we pay is being used as the prize money for the champions. But why should one be angry? These men have served the nation and we should honour them.

In a country where we are still fighting against illiteracy and child labour, where projects are being stalled for the non availability of funds, a country where the roadways are the greatest challenge to our intra SAARC trade (Courtesy: SAARC Yearly report ), where over fifty percent of our agricultural production goes to waste due to improper storage and improper marketing chain, development fund is being used as prize money for sportsmen. But why should one be angry? The cricketers are poor fellas. For an example MS Dhoni with an annual income of INR 300 Crore is one of the highest tax payers of the country.

With a literacy rate of 74.04% (as in 2011) , with 41.6% of the total Indian population under the poverty line, with a rural population of 72.2% (as per Census 2001), with our major rivers polluted as hell due to shortage of fund in the river cleanup programmes across the country, a country with an yearly loan in the world bank touching up to 9.3 billion USD in 2010, the ministers are ready to show off their honour and gratitude to the Team India. But why should one be angry? According to the cricketers, these prizes never turn to reality. Remember 2007, when India won the ICC T20 World Cup, every player in the squad were allotted INR 10 laks. But according to the cricketers, they never received more than fifty percent of the prize money. So, hello ministers, where is the extra money going ?

P.S.: Im not against Team India. They deserve honour, they deserve privilege. But one does not require to be a rocket scientist to realize that hardly any cricketer would board a train to travel from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. One can easily make out where the extra money goes. (Ill keep mum on this). If we want to honour them, lets honour them in real sense. Lets present Bharat Ratna to the best of the bests, and some other honorary medal to others. Lets not give them some truckload of cash in a country that is already cripple and struggling to keep itself upright.

The Noble Game

I was twenty, she was the same,
We started this noble game,
Suddenly our hearts felt so lame,
And we didn't knew who to blame.
Do we ever wonder what is love ?
Its as white as snow, as pure as dove,
Everything around seems beautiful,
Someone who hasn't been is love is surely a fool.

There were people who used to whine,
Yet we said, "You are mine,
Stay with me, everything will be fine",
Love was our weapon, love was our wine.
Do we ever wonder what is love?
Its the spice of life, it is the clove,
Every challenge seems so easy now,
We are bound together in a tow.

External disturbances soon passed away,
We started living under each others' sway,
But happy days weren't here to stay,
Our love was slowly turning gray.
Do we ever wonder what is love?
Its not an incarnation of what our dreams had wove,
It creeps like a worm through our stupid mind,
It makes us lose our sane, its leaves us blind.

Descended upon us the darkest night,
Not a single thing felt alright,
We always indulged in a fight,
Yet we wished to hold on tight.
Do we ever wonder what is love?
Its a burden that we pushed and hove,
Everything around is agony,
Love is fake, love is phony.


Post Script: What is Love ?
Love is pleasure, Love is pain,
Love makes you cry like a child again,
Love makes you discover the 'mature you',
Love is false and Love is true.
Love is wicked, Love is wise,
Love makes you strong, Love demoralize,
Love is wild and Love is tame,
Love is THE NOBLE GAME.

The BEE School

Do you hear the buzz? Of course you do. We all do. Everyone around, whatever event you might be attending you get to hear the buzz. The buzz of the bee ……….. school. The buzz had been going around for more than a decade now but it was never this loud. Be it for approaching the appropriate age [Remember Om mangalam ;) ], or the excess of marketing, Ive been in the buzz for around 3 years now. A B-School or a Business School attracts members from each and every discipline of academics. So if one goes for a survey in a B-School he or she may find a great variety of students. To name a few, the person from a commerce background who aspires for a higher degree and MBA is the best he can afford, the economics graduate who wishes to go ahead and understand the economics of the country from a better viewpoint, the engineering kid who wants to take a better stand among the gross, the CA …… wait ….. rewind that !!

Whatever reasons Ive mentioned till now are secondary. The notion that draws people towards these B-Schools is …. MBA is a degree that one can cash out to get rich. Well, there was a time when this was actually true. You come across someone who has some distant relative with an MBA degree, and you get to hear that he/she is earning in lakhs. But with the approval and rise of some hundreds of B-Schools every year, the notion holds no good. One may even find an MBA working in an insurance firm selling insurance. We live in a world where we get what we wish for but we are hardly ready to take up the trouble to achieve. So just like in every winter some thousands and thousands of bees come out of the forests to the warmer parts of the locality, every summer some thousands of MBA graduates come out of the BEE schools to venture into the corporate world. Some survive, others get killed. ((AAaahh ! How much I like to smash those stupid bees ! ))

So, why do people still opt to get into the BEE schools? Because if you are among the hardworking honey bees, if you have made your way into the best and the largest hive around, if you know how to work in the team, and if you know how to venture into the fields (corporate) , what you get is the best golden crystalline A grade honey that not only has the power to heal, but is also a treasure, something that can actually make one rich. So this is where the notion turns into reality. Go ahead, choose your BEE School, and buzz along ;)

Belongings .....

Have we ever wondered, how with every passing day some of our treasured belongings become worthless ?

Just a few days back as I got over with the season of Group Discussions and Personal Interviews, my entire family started pushing me towards getting m…….. ……… y closet and room cleaned up. Its been a few years that Ive been through this ritual, so I started by pulling out everything that I came across. So here’s a list of things I CAME ACROSS:

1. Here was the blue printed, specially tailored shirt that used to be my favourite 2 years back. It was amazing to notice how the equity of this piece of fabric has deteriorated.

2. I came across the remote controlled miniature of the BMW over which I had a fight with my brother [Im guilty of violating the Brocode]. Now, it was not worth that space in my closet.

3. Next was waiting for me the Atlas and the Pocket Dictionary which I carefully saved from my sister because I was in love with those stuffs. Now, it was absolutely fine for me to share these stuffs with anyone around.

4. I was almost done with the ‘most precious things’ when I came across the magic knife which my father bought me at a fair. It was the exact same as I had left it. The black short bakelite handle with a shiny blunt extension that slips into the handle as one applies pressure. I was quite amazed that this little thing mattered the same to me. I stored it again. I looked back at the knife … I smiled.

5. I started collecting the scraps and bits when suddenly something drew my attention. It was a small white plastic box wrapped in a tissue. It was a ‘pan masala’ box from some marriage ceremony that I had stored because it appealed to me. As I opened this I found that it was filled with phosphorus alum. It was me and my sister who during a play filled it with the amorphous material and thereafter I felt that it was precious. Yes it was precious. How come after so many years that I remember every single thing that led to the creation of this memento. I stored it.

6. I was about to throw away some crushed bits of papers when I found a crushed handmade card hidden inside the pile. I pulled it out and opened it. “Happy Birthday Bhai. U have turned 9” said my 10 and a half years old sis. And it wasn’t precious to me because it was handmade. Because it was delicate and perishable. Because it was not so good to look at. Because it was the best my 10 years old sis could have created. Because it saved the smile when my sis thought that I would be happy when I receive this. So I had threw it to the darkest corner of my closet. Worthless is not something I would term this as. It is priceless now.

Isn't it amazing how with every passing day some of our treasured belongings become priceless ?

There were a lot of other things I found in the process. Ill come back to those later.

Remember Rock 'n Rolla .....

"You see that pack of Virginia killing sticks on the end of the piano?

All you need to know about life is retained within those four walls.

You will notice that one of your personalities is seduced by the illusions of grandeur.

A gold packet of king size with a regal insignia.

An attractive implication toward glamor and wealth.

A subtle suggestion that cigarettes are indeed your royal and loyal friends.

And that, Pete, is a lie.

Your other personality is trying to draw your attention to the flip side of the discussion.

Written in boring, bold, black and white, is the statement...

...that these neat little soldiers of death, are, in fact, trying to kill you.

And that, Pete, is the truth.

Oh, beauty is a beguiling call to death and I'm addicted to the sweet pitch of its siren.

That that starts sweet ends bitter.

And that which starts bitter ends sweet.

That is why you and I love the drugs..."

Flying Past ...

Ohkay... it is that boy ...

Someone who was never attached to his college with some truckload of emotions. Stupid are all those who get attached. Well, how can someone feel for some shitty institution featuring some seniors loaded with sidereal attitude upto the cork, with some juniors with a similar error, with a crappy tea stall by the gate and a few low-stat vendors who do not stock any standard kingsize fag. One needs to walk some 15 to 20 minutes down the most horrible lane with scraps and bits of household wastes scattered all along. And god save the one who plans to cross the same during the heavy monsoon. Two sweets shop(that vendors samosa) and a parathha-wallah is all one can afford if the canteen is out of stuffs to serve. When the institution celebrates holidays there are more cows and buffaloes than homo sapiens in that region.

Coming back to the institution that boasts a well to do infrastructure, there can be nothing good about it. The boy hates his teachers for presenting him with low scores and the other faculties for ‘more than the required’ attitude they present. Every day he prays to God to bring an end to this ramification of the mistake he has made by taking a decision to end up here. He has no friend in here, he doesn’t intend to get one. Tiring are the ‘College Days’. No ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hain dance group’, no ‘Mohabbatein short tempered Amitabh’, no ‘Akshay kumar type stuntman’, no Farhan , no Raju, no Rancho. Yet his classmates call this a college.

God answers every prayer. So soon his college days are about to come to an end. He is happy. He does not mind being a member of the group in Facebook formed by his college mates. But he does mind something else. The posts all across.

It goes back to the day when Debanjali all of a sudden reminds him that after three months his sufferings would come to an end. Soon everybody follows. Sourav Sen comes up with a album named ‘Nostalgia :-(’. Why is there this smiley? Well, there in the album are those arrogant seniors, his stupid emotional classmates, the stupid activities and …….. …….. SMILES … Ironic … people are smiling in an album that has a ‘:-(‘ in its name. Haha … its sarcasm… the boy is not smiling any more … fate is laughing at him …. Has he missed out the most precious and enjoyable phase of his life ?

He repeats to himself, there was no ‘Priyadarshi dance group’ in Kuch kuch hota hain, there was no ‘Short tempered Debajyoti Das’ in Mohabbatein, no ‘Sourav Sen type cameraman’, no ‘Rishav Dugar type entertainer’, no Rupam, no Pratim, no Joydeep ……. the list goes on …..

Was he the senior loaded with sidereal attitude upto the cork, the junior with a similar error? The tea stalls seems to be a better place than CCD , sharing a Flake with Ardha G**** and the others seems better than smoking away a Classic. And chatting ones heart out while walking down the station is the best thing one can experience…. There is a lot to say …. But how can he ?? This boy was never attached to his college….. Stupid are all those who get attached. Well he realises … he has been stupid !!

Tomorrow ...

Standing in the elevator of success I sway,

Goodbye to the days I’ve left away,

The machine will take me to the topmost floor,

This is all that I’ve craved for.

I’ve faltered, I’ve tripped still I’ve soared,

I’ve made my way through this 'life' named war,

I’ve dreamt of this life all the way,

Have I awakened or I’m still dreaming away?

From my balcony the sky seems so near,

With all the pride I’m holding my head up in the air.

But suddenly I feel a chill, I feel a fear,

The cuckoo in my wall clock is just a mechanical gear!

Oh lord! Don’t take me so high,

Where the sweetest birds can’t fly,

In my room I don’t want to rest,

Staring at the vulture's nest.

Today ....

Is this a war or is it a game ?

Everybody is trying to shoot to fame,

I’ve set my goal in this dilemma called life,

In that castle where success and stardom thrive.

At the doorstep here I stand,

Keeping a check over my adrenal gland,

I need to strike the perfect note,

To reach the elevator of success across the moat.

I stare with joy at the unprecedented height,

Where in the silicon valley the warriors fight.

Where resides the steel king without a wince,

And lives forever in our heart the 'polyester prince'.

The close ones' trust banks on me,

I’m not afraid, I don’t want to flee,

I believe that someday I will rise,

So I move towards my goal with dreams in my eyes.

Santa Claus: India is an Emerging Market (adapted from the blog of Festivities)

Festivities (F): Hello, Mr. Claus (SC) and thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us.

SC: Please call me Santa.

F: Very well. So Santa, tell us how does Christmas really work?

SC: Well, I don’t want to get into the religious aspect of Christmas, but what I will get into is the moral aspects of it. Christmas encourages people to be good. And good behaviour is rewarded.

F: So good deeds get rewarded?

SC: Well, you are over simplyfing it. But, yes good people get presents from me and bad people get coal. Now, since coal is expensive, we have decided to give people on the naughty list a CD featuring songs by Himesh Reshammiya.

F: (gasp) Isn’t that a bit too harsh?

SC: Well, yes. But we do need to drive a point across.

F: How does the logistics of Christmas work?

SC: Before I get into logistics, let me give you a brief outline on how we are structured. Considering we are operate in multi-national chimneys (MNC), we are increasingly operating on a ‘Globalocal’ model. The flagship brand still remains Christmas…

F: …and you as brand ambassador?

SC: Yes. However, we have started creating localized identities in various parts of the world. Like Saint Nicholas, Kris Kingle, Father Christmas, etc. We basically developed a mother brand that supports a variety of sub-brands that address every possible demography, region and language.

F: So, would I be right in assuming that the logistics are tough to manage?

SC: Well, yes. We have had our production issues. However, since Jessica (Santa’s wife) came on board as CTO (Cheif Toy Organizer) we have had fewer issues.

F: What about the overall environment in the North Pole?

SC: Yes, that has been a problem. Before Jessica joined us, the Christmas experience was undertaken entirely in the North Pole. However, considering there is not much to do except during season, we started having labour problems. Elves were getting high and emulating stunts from ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Strangely, they were copying ‘Gimli the dwarf’. So we had a period where our entire workforce used to sport beards and axes.

F: And also the North Pole shrinking.

SC: And the North Pole shrinking. When Jessica came on board, she suggested taking a hard look at our operations. We found that given the labour problems and the North Pole shrinking on account of global warming; it would be wise for us to outsource our operations. And we did.

F: So where have you outsourced?

SC: We have outsourced manufacturing of toys to China and support functions to India.

F: How is that working for you?

SC: Well with all outsourcing ventures, we did have our problems. Like one Christmas we had delivery issues and confusion at the vendor’s end. We got a shipload of babies and the Stork ended up with toy trains. Fortunately, the Stork and Christmas Inc. have been on good terms and we just exchanged lists. But, yes it has been a learning process for us and we feel more confident about outsourcing.

F: Where is Christmas Inc. headed in the coming years?

SC: Well we are looking at new markets, and India is at the top of our list. We feel it has strong potential and potency to embrace Christmas. We have started pushing it through a few partnerships in India. But, we have to still explore the market and understand it better to truly enter it in a big way.

F: What do you think are the biggest challenges while entering the Indian market?

SC: Well the biggest and most obvious is the lack of chimneys. We are still evaluating various mechanisms that will allow us to get as many people interested in the Christmas spirit. For example, we have established one mechanism which is getting our representatives interacting with people in malls, hotels, parties, etc.

F: Do you think the concept of ‘good list’ and ‘naughty list’ will spread in India? I mean if you look at any newspaper all you see are scams, corrupt politicians and generally bad people. How would you address this?

SC: Well, I will be honest with you. We had a major problem with our list management. When we outsourced our support functions to India, we had some problems with our vendor. There were some complex algorithms that needed to be built. These algorithms determine who is ‘good’ and who is ‘naughty’. For a few people, there were overwhelming scores on the BC parameters. Thus, the system went into an infinite loop and instead of punishing them, rewarded them.

F: May I ask who these people were?

SC: Well there are a lot, and we are rectifying the list by taking corrective steps. But it will take time. Typically this list consists of politicians, businessmen and a few governments. But we need to thank Kalmadi and his siphoning of the ‘Common Man’s Wealth’ that helped us spot the error in the first place. Since then we have sacked the vendor – who we suspect might have intentionally put the error and used it as a loophole to bypass our list algorithms.

F: Who was the vendor?

SC: (wry smile) Satyam.

F: Explains a lot…