Osmosis - Celebrating Innovation @ MindTree

Osmosis - MindTree's annual technology festival

The whole of MindTree looks forward to this mega event that is scheduled in the month of December every year, where MindTree celebrates innovation. Osmosis the celebration of the nerd within all of us as we like to call it. It is MindTree's way of celebrating technology through showcasing achievements, through collaboration in form of discussions and various events & contests. We have lots of knowledge sharing that happens through out like daily quiz, crosswords etc. I had heard a lot about Osmosis, but hadn’t had the opportunity to be a part of it. I was eager to be a part of this celebration. My wait finally ended this morning when I got to experience the ‘Heat’. Boy! It was truly a memorable experience.

The specialty about this year’s celebration was the ‘unconference’ sessions that MindTree had organized. For the uninitiated, ‘unconference’ is this really cool concept of sharing thoughts where the audiences get to choose what they wanna listen to. Since osmosis truly stands for celebrating innovation, MindTree ensured that it would break the norms, by dropping the concept of having traditional conferences, and give this ‘unconference’ idea, a try and see if it works out well. By doing that not only did MindTree ensure that the ‘unconference’ topics addressed the intended audience, but also ensured that people get a common platform to discuss issues that would often be considered ‘unconventional’ for a conference. Trust me when I say this… ‘It simply rocked!’ MindTree is the first company in the corporate space to have implemented this new concept of unconference on such a big scale.

What was really cool about it?

1. To facilitate an unconference session you don’t need to have a mastery over that topic. The only requirement is that you should be able to guide the session in the right direction.

2. Also the topics to be discussed weren’t restricted to hard core technical stuff. For eg: we had topics like ‘I and my project manager’, ‘Are we losing Indian tradition because of globalization?’, ‘Self Deception’ etc.

3. The sessions are scheduled over a period of 45 minutes (between every session, we had a break of 15 minutes to facilitate people move to the respective halls, just in case they wanted to attend a different session of their interest), where it’s driven just like a group discussion, where people get to exchange thoughts and share their knowledge.

4. You are ensuring that the audience in the hall is present because they truly are interested to know about the topic, and not just for the heck of it! So you wouldn’t find people drowsing in the hall anymore!

5. I appreciate that MindTree broke the rules and was vigilant enough to pick up the changing trend of sharing thoughts! I consider myself fortunate to have got a chance to attend 3 unconference sessions in one single day. I attended these really enlightening sessions on ‘ Twitter for real time Micro Blogging’ and ‘ Jump start Open Social -- use existing networks for your benefit’, facilitated by Ujjwal Grover.

If you have built an impression, by now that Osmosis was all of unconference sessions and technology stuff, you got me perfectly wrong! We also had some real good fun. We witnessed a short play from MAG (MindTree Artists Guild), loads of song dedications (a stall put by Talent Acquisition Team), some hard core rock music by the October ’07 batch of MindTree.

All in all it was a truly festive atmosphere at MindTree. It’s also the time in the year that all the co-founders of MindTree are here to celebrate innovation with the rest of the family. I had a great time being a part of this festival. I am eagerly waiting for the next year’s Osmosis festival. I will definitely try to facilitate an unconference session!

Update: A few others who attended Osmosis wrote...

1. Shahnawaz Khan

2. Ujjwal Grover

3. Codelicious

Wanna get a flavour of how Osmosis'07 looked like? Follow the link below...

Shahnawaz Khan's photo take on final day

~IT's My Life

Impressions!

This might sound as a cliche... But do bear with, one last time. "The first impression in the BEST impression." Not really! It can be a bit deceiving at times!!

Yesterday I happen to speak to a colleague of mine, who spoke about a facilitator of his, whom everyone considers 'shrewd' a.ka. the villain! He told me that the facilitator was open enough to accept that he would be termed the 'Villain' of this story, popularly called 'Learning Interventions' at MindTree. The facilitator was well aware of the fact that people would find it exponentially difficult to understand the intentions behind his way of doing things. The facilitator, on the very first day made it loud and clear that the trainees should adhere to a list of 'rules' to be followed, to ensure discipline and decorum in the classroom. The facilitator didn't give a damn about the minority of so-called 'Boy! I'm not impressed with this facilitator' group. Unlike many of us, the facilitator was ready to stake his image of 'He is a really friendly person to approach' kinda image, that most of crave to build up, when we introduce ourselves to new people! He firmly believed that as long as his intentions were right, and he was successful in achieving the objectives (in his case... it was to ensure that he imparted right concepts to the trainees with full vigour), it was absolutely okies with him, even if everyone considered him 'shrewd' / 'unapproachable'. The facilitator 'promised' to take them all on a 'jolly' ride in 'hell', during the training. That's scaring!

But what he said in justification made absolute sense. He said, "For you to appreciate the comfort of being in heaven, you need to know how difficult it is to be in hell."

That really put me in to some serious thinking. What really bothered me after I ended the conversation with my colleague was, "Is the first impression always the best impression?" "Could it not be the BEST wrong impression you build about a person?" Come to think of it, you would realize that many a times we crib about an acquaintance, at a later point in time, when we realize that the so-called first impression we gathered about him/her was actually a myth! How many of us have the guts to say to this world at times, "Look... this is the way I do things. Take it or leave it. I know that my intentions are right, so I don't give it a damn, if you differ with my ways of doing things!" Trust me, many a time we compromise with end results (which should be the center of focus) by doing things which are influenced by this fear, "Oh my god! What will people think if I carry my self this way? Will I be able to convince everyone around me?"

Why does it happen?

I feel that you should to give any relationship a real good time to settle, even before you think of building up an impression about it. If you fail to do it, I can guarantee you that you are surely gonna crib about that relationship, some time or the other. It is absolutely okies to carry a neutral impression about people when any relationship is in the stages of infancy.

So the next time you pass a judgement about a guy/gal, being 'nice'/'shrewd', please ensure that you know their intentions pretty well. Everyone has a right to do things, the way they like it! If you feel someone is shrewd for all the right reasons in this world, then try to appreciate the good intentions behind it. I'm sure that they too would appreciate, if you could respect the candidness in their approach to life!

Statutory Warning: If you happen to be a first time visitor to my blog, wait for a while (read it as 'walk through my archives') before you build an impression. If you have already built one, don't go by it. Your subsequent impressions may change!

~IT's My Life

I'm inspired

Aamir Khan's Taare Zammen par

I have finally found time to jot down something on my blog. The learning sessions at the office have certainly begun to take a toll of my time. I have tons to share with you all but it’s just that I’m unable to devote that much of time in to blogging.

I happened to listen to audio tracks of Aamir Khan’s new flick Taare Zameen Par. I must confess that I was completely bowled out by the melody of each track of this wonderful album. I liked the title track of this movie a lot. But the song that really inspired me to post this article is ‘Kholo kholo...’. I couldn’t stop myself from jotting down its lyric. Just like the dominance of guitar work in the song ‘Alvida…’ from ‘Life in metro’, here too, the listeners are left mesmerized at the thrumming of the guitars at the background. Here is the lyric of the song ‘Kholo kholo...’

Kholo kholo darwaaze par dekaro kinare khutney se bhandi hai hawa milake chudao saare… saare… saare… saare…
Aaajao patang leke apne hi rang leke aasaman ka shamiyan aaj hame hain sajana… sajana… sajana… sajana…

Kyu is kadar hairaan tu? Mausam ka hai meheman tu…
Ho duniya saji tere liye… khud ko zara pehcaan tu…
Tu dhoop hai… jham se bhikar… Tu hai nadi oh bekahabar…
Behe chal kahi… Ud chal kahi… Dil khush jahaa… Teri to manzil hai wahi…

Ho kyu is kadar hairan tu… Mausam ka hai meheman tu…

Baasi zindagi udasi taazi hasane ko raazi garam garam saari abhi hai utari…
Ho zindagi to hai patasha meethi meethi si hai asha chak le rakh le hatheli se dhak le ise…
Tujh main agar pyaas hai… Bharish ka ghar bhi paas hai…
Ho rokhe tujhe koi kyu bhala sang sang tere aakash hai…

Tu dhoop hai… jham se bhikar… Tu hai nadi oh bekahabar… Beh chal kahi… Ud chal kahi… Dil khush jahaa… Teri to manzil hai wahi…

Khul gaya… Aasman ka rasata dheko khul gaya…
Mil gaya… kho gayata jo sitara mil gaya… Mil gaya…
Roshan hui saari Zameen… jag mag hua saara jahan…
Ho udne ko tu aazad hai… bhandan koi abh hai kahan…

Tu dhoop hai jham se bhikar… Tu hai nadi oh bekahabar… Beh chal kahi… Ud chal kahi… Dil khush jahaa… Teri to manzil hai wahi…

Ho kyu is kadar hairan tu… Mausam ka hai meheman tu…

Every time I listen to it, it brings in me a new hope, an optimism that just never seems to have an end.

It’s just the beginning of a long journey. We are all bound to face difficulties at various stages of this journey. Whenever you face an ambiguity in taking a decision, just step back for a moment and give it a real good thought. Never lose optimism. I’m sure you would definitely be able to resolve any conflicts in life.

I wish Aamir khan and the entire team of TZP, all the very best in this venture of theirs. Thank you so much for giving us a really inspiring track!

~IT's My Life

Campus to Corporate – A smooth transition

Update: 600 Mindtree Minds in one snap!

I had been waiting quite eagerly for this transition to happen. The defining moment finally arrived on the 15th of October, when MindTree successfully assimilated 600 of the 1000+ MindTree minds (around 400+ had been assimilated during July); they had recruited this academic year. It was quite a memorable day, as were stepping out of the campus arena in to in to the so-called corporate arena. I was curious, anxious and above all thrilled to the core. The specialty of our batch is that; we are the largest batch ever to be assimilated by MindTree in one take!

Day 1: The Induction Day - 15th October 2007

The induction day was scheduled on 15th of October at Good Shepherd auditorium on the residency road at Bangalore. I reached the venue along with many other fellow MindTree minds at around 8:20 a.m. The special thing about this whole induction program was that even the parents were invited to attend this event. It was their way of building a rapport with the parents of their employee’s, right from day 1. After a quick tea/coffee session, all of us were guided in to the auditorium. I must confess that Good Shepherd auditorium is a pretty spacious and a neatly built auditorium in terms of acoustics.

I managed to find a place to sit in the last row of the auditorium with my friends from B.I.E.T., more for the reason that I moved in late, rather than by choice. The day kick started with the usual rituals like lighting the lamp, invocation etc. We were presented with a video that showed the activities that take place every year at MindTree. It also had some memorable snaps of the Technical Fest called ‘Osmosis’, where people showcase their technological brilliance. It was conceived and developed by the July 2007 batch. I think they had done quite a commendable job, as it succeeded radiating true colors of MindTree to a great extent. It was followed by a back to back addressing by the big shots of MindTree. They also played an enlightening video on ‘safety in Bangalore’. There was also this 20 odd minute video footage of ‘Making of MindTree’, which showed some of those defining moments in the history of its making. I really loved the way they had conceived the notion of telling their story (narrated by Subroto Bagchi and S. Janakiraman alternatively) to the rest of the world. At this point in time I would like to share a fact. Some of those people, who built this ‘institution’, hail from the most ordinary family back grounds. But they had extraordinary dreams to fulfill in life. After the video was played, we had 2 of the MindTree minds who joined in July 2007 sharing their experiences at MindTree. It was followed by a Q&A session with the parents. All the questions raised by parents were answered satisfactorily, irrespective of their triviality. After the Q&A session was completed, there was an arrangement made for the parents to visit the MindTree’s new West Campus. In the mean while the rest of us broke for lunch.

The post lunch session was the most eagerly anticipated one, simply for the reason that Mr. Subroto Bagchi was to address the campus minds on the topic, ‘Mission, Vision and Values’. I had read a lot about Subroto, but hadn’t had the opportunity to hear him before. The anchor introduced him saying that, “The next person we would have on stage prefers himself to be called as a thinker rather than an excellent orator”. Trust me, after listening to him; I was convinced of one thing, Subroto was a perfect combination of both these virtues. Subroto began the session with a crisp definition of Mission, Vision and Values and clearly differentiated what they meant in MindTree’s context. He crystallized beautifully, the real meaning of MindTree’s DNA, Imagination, Action and Joy. He also shared with us the interesting story of how MindTree got its ‘living’ logo. He also spoke on the CLASS values of MindTree and explained them in great detail. He managed to be extraordinarily charismatic in spite of the fact that the content he presented was extremely candid. They call this whole process assimilation because they ensure that each and every campus mind that joins MindTree assimilates all those values of MindTree and respects them.

After he was done with the presentation, I was convinced why I had some real good reason to take pride in calling myself a MindTree mind. In his close to a 30 minute presentation, Subroto had made it loud and clear that at any point in time at MindTree, a ‘breach of integrity’ is always gonna land you out of their family and nowhere else. In today’s corporate world where producing doctored resumes, medical bills, furnishing manipulated work experience details or even collaborating during the internal assessments at a work place during training period, have become a norm, MindTree has taken a bold step of never to entertain any such acts. If you are ever found to be involved in any such acts at MindTree, trust me; you would have your termination letters in your hand, latest by that evening. It’s as black and white as that, no matter who you are and what is at stake, we simply don’t care! There are no shades of grey at MindTree. We at MindTree believe that integrity comes first and then comes the rest. That’s exactly the reason why we prefer to call ourselves an institution, rather than an XYZ company.

His presentation was followed by a Q&A session with campus minds, where we shot a lot of questions at Subroto. (I also learnt the first lesson of my corporate life in that session. You don’t address anyone as ‘sir’ in the corporate world. Subroto made it pretty clear that he or in fact anyone in the company should be addressed by his/her first name. Trust me; it’s pretty difficult for someone coming out of that typical college mindset to get used to this. I’m gradually getting used to calling people at my work place, by their first names.) I consider it my privilege to get this golden opportunity to interact with Subroto, because it happens pretty rarely that you get to interact with these biggies, in person. Unfortunately we couldn’t get to hear from our Ashok Soota, as he wasn’t available for some reason. But what was really good about the whole session was that Subroto, in spite of his busy engagements, as usual, had managed to take his time off and arrived there in person to convey the whole idea on which MindTree stands, in the clearest possible words. I feel that this kind of one-to-one mapping of the employees at MindTree is what brings in them, a sense of belonging to a single family! I know that it’s all possible because of that fact we are still a growing company as compared to other oldies in the arena. But I’m sure that our management is really working out in building models to maintain this directivity, as we continue to grow every year.

The later part of the day was dedicated to some wonderful dance numbers, light humor (a.k.a pjs) and some vocal treat. It was real fun! We left the auditorium at about 6 p.m. with the kits that MindTree had provided.

Day2: Paper work! (Actually day 1 at MTW*) - 16th October 2007

The second day was probably the most tiring one as we spent it completely in furnishing all the necessary information on their database, creating employee IDs, opening bank accounts and so on and so forth. So I’m not gonna bore you more on this. Ha Ha… (Isn’t that really kind of me?)

Day 3 & 4 (At V’s place and at my room in the accommodation at BTM) – 17th & 18th October 2007

Two days were reserved exclusively for campus minds who hadn’t managed to find an accommodation for themselves in Bengaluru yet. MindTree had arranged for a meeting with brokers, who were to help the campus minds to find an accommodation for themselves in Bengaluru. I was quite fortunate, because I had already done with this house hunting stuff. So I had been to V’s place and we watched that nail biting match between India and Australia on Wednesday and shopped a bit at Marathalli on Thursday.

Day 5: (Actually day 2 at MTW*) - 19th October 2007

There were a lot of things pending and left unfulfilled. Some of the campus minds hadn’t received the kits on the day of induction that contained MindTree’s T-shirts and other necessary stuff. Since there was a photo session scheduled that evening, getting a T-shirt, along with the other stuffs like ID cards topped the chart. The other activities involved registering for the cab facility provided by them, getting house loan deposit cheque etc. Another important activity of the day was 'allocation of house' to each MindTree mind. They group MindTree minds in to 3 houses during the learning period. There are basically 3 houses at MindTree, Imagination, Action and Joy. I’m in to Joy. I think it suits my character very well! He He… (I will write more about this house allocation and all the fun stuff associated with it, regularly on my blog. Keep tracking this space closely.) We also had those 'inevitable evils', the people from Vodafone, who had come over with their ever confusing tariff plans, to woo some fresh corporate babus, while at the same time to ensure that they retained their existing customer base. Many of my friends applied for a corporate connection. I opted for a conversion from pre-paid tariff plan to a post paid plan, because I didn’t want to mess up with my current contact number. Bhool gaya, AirTel waale bhi aarahe hain Monday ko!

The real thing to watch out for was the photo session which was scheduled to be carried out, anytime between 5p.m. to 6p.m. at the Café Coffee day in the West Campus. Everyone was pretty curious to see how the photographer would be able to capture all the 600 MindTree minds in one snap!! The defining moment finally arrived at around 5:45 p.m., when we everyone gave one of those million-dollar happy dent smile!! It was surely a memorable moment and will go down in to the history books of MindTree as the largest batch of MindTree ever to be captured in one frame! After posing patiently for approximately half a dozen of retakes, we were asked to disperse. Adi had brought her camera with which we managed to click a few memorable pics. (I also managed to get a solo snap of mine. I shall post it shortly.)

If I was to put my experience till date at MindTree, I would prefer to say this; if you are looking for a career and not merely a job, then MindTree should really top your charts!

*MTW – MindTree West Campus.

PS: I’m planning to share with you, the life stories of a few exceptional people at MindTree, who inspire everyone around here, as we continue to grow as one large family. I will finalize the blue print of the format of the same and shall publish them in my subsequent posts. Hope they manage to inspire you as well. Till then it’s me wishing you all, a happy and a colorful dusshera. Enjoy madi!!

~IT's My Life

Peace of Mind!

Well this post isn’t an elucidation of that ‘memorable’ room hunting jaunt. As you might have discovered by now, Hutch is now Vodafone! OMG!! I didn’t know it. Saaalo, itni baar us cute si kutte ki ad ko TV pe dhikaoge to ‘Black’ film ke Amitabh ko yeh yaad rahega!! Trust me every FM station that I was tuning in to, in Bengaluru was bombarding its listener’s ears, mercilessly with this make-over-of-the-millennium act!

I really have no issues with their promotional campaign. But what really pissed me off the other night was an unsolicited sms from Vodafone, which said that a caller tune a.k.a CT would be activated on my cell phone. As any other naïve (all subscribers, other than those of, the then Hutch!) subscriber, I was pretty happy that Vodafone finally was on an offering, free of cost! My first reaction to it was “wow. That’s kewl!” I had all reasons to be happy because S had enjoyed this one month ‘free caller tune’ activation service provided by Hutch a.k.a Vodafone. As the message read, the caller-tune (a song from the movie saajan, ‘Baahut pyaar karte hain…’) was activated. The fact that the CT was activated was brought up to my notice by V. He had called up a day later and asked me, “En le suri… Caller Tune activate madis bittidya?” I was like… WTF!! I was taken by surprise. I never knew that Vodafone was serious about that message! (I’ll come back this ‘breach of integrity’ act of Vodafone shortly)

After terminating that call, I quickly checked my balance, only to find that a cute amount of 30 bucks was literally ripped off my credit. Here money was certainly not the issue. I was *&#$ing pissed off the way they deducted that amount without notifying me. I went fuming. I called up the customer care (read is as customer-don’t-care a.k.a CDC) and spoke to them about this annoying act of theirs. As usual, I heard that *&#$ing one liners from CDC, ‘We will look in it!’ I also asked them to credit back the amount to my account. The gal from CDC promised me that the CT would be deactivated within 24 hours and I would be getting back my 30 bucks. I hung up, with little hopes of getting this issue solved in one stride! You see, Hutch a.k.a Vodafone has a tremendous reputation to live up to!

After an anxious period of 24 hours, I found out that Hutch a.k.a Vodafone had truly lived up to its past reputation. The people from CDC seemed to have not bothered to deactivate my CT. And guess what? They had also ‘forgotten’ to credit back the amount to my account. My instincts were right. I felt that what Shakespeare had said long back was damn right, “What’s in a name?” Saalono ne apna naam to badal liya, lekhin apni purani adaat nahi chodi! When money is the issue, it always gets the worst out of Hutch a.k.a Vodafone.

The next day I called them up again and this time I spoke to them in quite a belligerent tone. This whole CT episode seemed to have taken toll of my patience. I was in no mood for those hi-hello-how-are-you kinda chat with CDC people. I wanted an explanation, straight and square! Here is the verbalization of the call I made on that day:

CDC: This is xyz. How may I assist you sir?

S: I have this annoying caller tune activated on my cell phone without my consent. If this weren’t enough, you have deducted 30 bucks from my account. I want this CT to be deactivated right now and my amount back.

CDC: (In an unperturbed tone) Sir may I know your full name please?

S: Suresh S.

CDC: And… you calling from 98860***** right? (Just avoiding sharing of TMI)

S: Yesss!

CDC: Sir. You mean to say that this caller tune has been activated without your knowledge and you didn’t choose it. Am I right?

S: (Ailaa. Tumhe angrezi samajh main aati hain? To pehle kyu nahi kaha yaaar! Main to khamo kha Hebrew main baat kar raha ta. Tum log bhi na... Had karte ho yaar... mazak karne ki bhi ek had hoti hain) hmmm… I suppose that’s what I meant.

CDC: Sir from when has this caller tune been active on you phone? (In the same istyle as a doctor asks his patients, “Aap ko kabh se pareshaani hain?”)

S: Since a couple of days or so…

CDC: Sir. How did it get activated? You say that it was done without your knowledge?

S: (WTF! That’s what I want to know from you boy!) Well. I got a sms from Vodafone saying that they would activate a CT in a few minutes. Ever since then, this annoying CT has been playing on my cell phone. I spoke to your people yesterday about this thing. They had promised me to deactivate it and credit 30 bucks back to my account within 24 hours. But they haven’t done it.

CDC: Sir… First you need to lodge a complaint about this. Then we will inform about this to our systems section and they will take care of it.

S: (Saale tumhe kya lagta hain main abh tak koi Akbar Birbal ki kahani suna raha ta kya?) That is exactly what I had done yesterday.

CDC: No sir. There is no complaint registered regarding this issue.

S: (*&#$) Okies. Then would you mind registering it now?

CDC: Yes sir. Sure… Now that you have lodged a complaint, we will definitely take care of it. As soon as we are done with it, you will be getting a call from our customer care sir.

S: Okies.

CDC: Is there anything you want to know sir?

S: No…

CDC: Thank you sir. Have a nice day!

After 4 days (In Bengaluru…)

After watching this movie, I was waiting outside a restaurant, near the cinema hall with my friends. We were all hungry and planning what to have in that restaurant. It was about 4:30 or so in the evening when I got a call. The number flashing on my cell phone seemed quite familiar to me. Yep! You guessed it right. It was a call I had been waiting for nearly 96 hours. For you kindest information, my cell phone still had that annoying CT playing. This time around, I was all set, sleeves up to take on those CDC people. The conversation with a CDC gal went on something like this…

CDC: Sir… this is ABC calling from Vodafone sir. As you know hutch has become Vodafone recently, we are updating all the information of our customers. You had lodged a complaint regarding the CT being activated on you phone without your permission. Is that right sir?

S: Yep! I want to know why it hasn’t been done.

CDC: Sir… Actually since this entire CT and other information are stored on our database located in US, you need to send a sms ‘DCT CT’ and send it across to 56789. Then only your CT will be deactivated.

S: What about my 30 bucks?

CDC: If this CT has been activated from our side without your permission, we will definitely credit that amount to your account within 24 hours.

S: Okies…

CDC: Is there anything you want to know sir?

S: Nooo!!

Since I hadn’t asked them to activate this CT, the deducted amount should have been credited to my account. Well… I have been waiting all the way along. They have duteously deactivated my CT within 24 hours of receiving that call, but have cleverly ‘forgotten’ to credit back that amount. Maan gaye tumhko Hutch a.k.a Vodafone, you definitely lived up to your reputation! It is yet another instance where you registered a breach of integrity!

Now to the real source of inspiration for this post. I received a sms from Vodafone recently that offered to provide me some real good peace of mind! It said:

“To stop unwanted calls, activate Call Filter Service for a monthly rental of just Rs 99 and enjoy peace of mind. Dial *514# or call 55144 today!”

PS: Hmmm... I never knew that peace of mind was just 99 bucks away from me. This is yet another chalo-din-dahade-hi-customer-logon-ko-lootenge kinda campaign from Vodafone! Kaash yeh Art of Living waale aur Baba Ram Dev bhi itne ‘intelligent’ hote! See it’s that simple. No yoga no khul khul ke hasna… Just pay these bloody SOBs 99 per month and enjoy full peace of mind! I seriously feel that Vodafone has gotta retain that punch line of hutch, but with a little change. It should be, ‘Wherever you go, our problems follow you!’

~IT's My Life

Ek nayi safar...

"oru messge ille, oru phone ille, oru missed call ille, oru scrap ille, oru e-mail kooda ille... Enaku rumba bayamarku... Nee thirumbe zoo ku podiya???"

I received the above sms from a friend of mine. I was wondering if he was eagerly waiting to hear from me. Well my friend, zoo waale itne kush nasib nahi yaar! Main aaj bhi khule aam aazad ghoom raha hoon... I probably gave TMI about my whereabouts...

Pata nahi yeh kaisi feeling hai. Lekhin jo bhi hai, badi hi confusing hai yaar. The wait has finally ended and I'm all set to start a new journey in the professional arena.

Kuch ajeeb sa lag raha hai mujhko. I have been staying here in harihar for the past 20 odd years and have zillions of memories attached to it. At this nick of time, I'm feeling very nostalgic. The time I spent at my school and those 4 golden years that B.I.E.T., has given me, will be something that I will treasure for an entire life time. Hailing from a close to sub-urban kinda place, I'm pretty much skeptical about of my life saving adaptability skills at a new place like bengaluru. But I have no choice but to get used to this life style sooner.

I know that I'm stepping in to a world where everyone is out there to prove a point and make a mark for himself on the professional front. I am optimistic about my chances as well. I hope that I would be able to meet the challenges posed by situations both on the personal and the professional front.

This is probably gonna be my last post from my harihar. The next post shall be definitely posted from somewhere in bengaluru. Till then have a great time and don't forget to wish me good luck:) Ha Ha.. (Abh yeh mat kehna ki saala kitna maangta hai... Wishes maang ne main koi burayi nahi hai yaar! Aur use dene main bhi!)

PS: This is not 'that' post which is supposed to have been resting peacefully in my fully packed computer's hard drive. It is yet to go public.

~IT's My Life

On a house hunting spree!

I am on a house hunting spree now! will update this space shortly!

Update: I'm finally done with the house hunting (in fact it was basically a room hunting stint) process. Thanks a million to my friend karthik. He has been instrumental in ensuring that my search ended fruitfully.

Last Punch: Since my next post is resting peacefully in my fully packed computer's hard drive, I'm unable to post it. I shall post it soon. Tab tak is update se hi kaam chalo yaar!! (As if u people are dying to read my next post. He He...) Chalo yaar Cya...

~IT's My Life

To err on G-Talk!

First things first... I would like wish all my blog readers a very happy Ganesha chaturthi.

A few days back, I was on g-talk as usual, when one of my friend kiran logged in. I was busy chatting with some one else, so I hardly took any note of his entry. When I was about to log off, I checked the list of on-liners once again. One of the things that caught my attention was the online status message of my friend kiran! He had been retaining an ‘age old’ status of ‘egggjjjhaaam fever!!’ (I don’t remember the exact verbalization of the status. So please bear with this closest approximation.) Now the status against his name read, ‘A ray of hope’. I wondered what he was up to and what was that ‘Ray of Hope’ all about?

Given the fact that I surf internet on a dial up connection (which is pathetically slow) that costs me quite an amount, I usually don’t strike unwanted conversations and invite ‘trouble’. His new status drove me curious (and not to mention, provided the much needed inspiration for this post) and I couldn’t resist the temptation to chat with him. Little did I know, that this chat was gonna end up in a ‘comedy of errors’.

Since the original conversation was carried off the record on G-Talk, I don’t have a copy of that befuddling chat, verbatim. I am sharing with you an approximate, but close to the truth version of the same...

S: En le UV rays nan magane? What's up? How are u maga?
K: I’m fine le. What about you?
S: I’m fine Kano… Where are you staying in B’lore now?
K: In Basavesvara Nagar...
S: Where is it maga? I guess it’s close to BSK?
K: What’s that BSK?
S: Banashankari Le…
K: No man… Actually it’s quite far…
S: Hey! Will it not be problem for you to commute?
K: Illa le... The bus facility is nice maga… So no problem…
S: Ya we have cab to the company na… It should not be a problem to us…
K: Hmmm… ok…
S: Hey did you collect the appointment letter from the placement cell?
K: Le yaav appointment letter macchhaa?
S: Le… Invyaad iruttappa??? MindTree’s maga… Naav Invyaad collect madkollokke saadhya helu?
K: Oh… Wait… I think there is some confusion here…
S: Matte in en confusion Le??
K: Whom did u want to chat with?
S: Mamaa comedy beda… Tell me did you collect it from college or not??
K: I’m not the kiran you wanted to chat with… I’m his class mate… I hope you know me… Read my name fully…
A pause... I opened the link of his orkut profile to confirm if I had managed to figure him out finally... Yes! I can be quite a dumbo at times!!!
S: Oh shit! #$&%... Sorry Le... I thought you were 'that' Kiran...
K: Its ok le… Sorry yella Beda…
S: Trust me… This is supposed to be the most hilarious episode I have ever had… Trust me; I had no clue that you were not 'that' kiran maga…

The rest of the conversation was all about me trying to patch up the embarrassment I had caused. It went on and on for another 20 odd lines. But I couldn’t help myself from laughing boisterously. What a terrible confusion it was?

For you kindest information:
· S – Suresh S. a.k.a Suri, K- The other Kiran!
· Jargons like macchhaa, Maga, etc are a part and parcel of the local lingo and are used to refer to your near and dear ones, especially your sidekicks!

PS: Poor chap kept chatting with me all the while thinking that I had struck that conversation quite consciously. Ha Ha Ha… (Wicked smile...)

Okies. This is it…

PS (PS): A couple of days back I spoke with someone called Pavan for a whole 3:27 minutes without even having the slightest of a clue which Pavan was I speaking to? I know quite a few of them. After he finally axed the call, I was sure of one thing; both of us had really confused each other to the core!! Ha Ha Ha… (Wicked Laughter…)

Ok Ok... Time for some update!

The pic in 'About Me' section has finally been changed to a more sought-to-be-close-to-a-decent-one. Few of my well wishers(?) (for reasons best known to them) had threatened to file a PIL against me, for appearing on public platforms, with visual IDs that closely resembled the looks of traditional 'Dhakoos' and the likes... Shayad maine un logon ki shikayat door kar diya hai :)

~IT's My Life

Alumni Meet @ B.I.E.T.

Yesterday evening was quite an eventful one for the reason that I had the opportunity to attend the alumni meet organized by our college. Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology, Davangere, is an educational institute providing quality Technical education. It was started in the year 1979-80 and has since then produced thousands (8000+ to be precise) of quality engineers. It is currently affiliated to the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum. I’m proud to be associated with such an organization.

Going by records, you would be under the impression that our institute, by now would have managed to establish a strong alumni base like many of the elite institutes in India. If you happen to have built such a notion in your mind, then that’s exactly where you went wrong! Unfortunately, our college hasn’t been able to trace back to its alumni base and utilize this resource to their fullest potentials. The reasons to this are many. Let by gones be by gones. There is no point in brooding over the mistakes committed in the past. The college admin seems to have realized its mistakes sooner than later, and is keen on rectifying them at the earliest. Keeping this in mind, they had arranged for an alumni meet on 8th September 2007 at 5pm in civil seminar hall of our college.

Compared to the previous year, this year’s alumni meet had more number of attendees both in terms of number and diversity of representation. We had people who had passed out of our institute way back in 1984 to the very recent batch of 2007. The ground was all set and everyone was eager to discuss on how to go about the whole initiative. Practically speaking it would be highly impossible to trace back every alumni of this institute. So it would be a commendable accomplishment, if we could at least trace back to the alumni who passed out of our institute in the recent years.

The event began with a beautiful invocation. It was followed by a feedbacks/suggestions session, where alumni shared their views on how to strengthen the alumni base. The following are the suggestions/ feedbacks given by the attendees of the event.

· The biggest problem the alumni are facing currently is communicating effectively with the institute. In order to overcome this, they need a common effective channel for communication. What can be more effective than having an interactive college portal?

Ø Building an interactive web portal helps the alumni to update their contact information without much of a hassle.
Ø The alumni can contact the college admin directly and can give candid feedbacks and suggestions.
Ø The college can promote itself through the website which would help aspiring students to get the required information about this institute.
Ø It will be a great platform to share tons of valuable information and can have experts in their own fields share their experiences with others.

· Inviting the alumni as guest to various events in the college would help them build excellent rapport with the students who are currently studying in the institute.

· Starting activity clubs to bring together students and alumni who share a common interests in fields like music or any other technical field. This would help them to get exposed to wonderful talents who share common interests and thus build new acquaintances.

· Inviting alumni with expertise in a particular field to deliver technical talks, conduct workshops for pre-final year students on how to face interviews, guiding students who are aspiring to pursue M Tech/MBA etc.

· The recent trends in campus recruitments reveal that most of the colleges which have a strong alumni base have managed to woo biggies in the IT industry to visit their campus for recruitment. As a lot of the college alumni are currently working for reputed companies, they would definitely try their best to persuade companies to visit our college and thus enhance the opportunities for students aspiring to get in to reputed companies. In order to achieve that we need to have a vibrant training and placement cell which should be headed by a full time (I say this because we are currently having one of our professors as our P.O., who manages this task along with his regular classes) placement officer.

· Issuing identity cards to alumni so that even after they graduate from the institute, they could still have access to the resources of the college like the magnificent central library, etc.

The event was presided by the principal of our college Dr. B. T. Achuytha, who gave valuable insights on the current ventures taken up by the college management. He went on to speak about the expansion of the ECE and CSE department. He also spoke about plans to build a sophisticated auditorium in the college campus, which would be able to accommodate around 1.5k – 2k people at a time. The college looks forward to get some kind of monetary assistance from the alumni. Being a full fledged private institute has its own limitations. Hence I don’t see anything wrong in them seeking help from alumni in this regard. Our principal also promised to look in to the issues discussed in the meet and do the needful.

Everything has to have a beginning and this alumni meet is definitely a small step in achieving the same. It’s good that they have taken some firm decisions in this regard. We still have got a long long way to go. They have kick started a new movement. I wish them great success in their venture!

PS: The next alumni meet is scheduled to be held in the first/second weekend of December 2007, in Bangalore. I am really looking forward to it. Hope they disseminate the information regarding the same well in advance and ensure that the meet is a grand success!!

Winning – A counter perspective!

I received a sms from a friend of mine, which said, “Winner can show you the way to success, but a loser can make you aware of all the ways leading to a failure.” What a beautiful thought isn’t?

It has always been a mystery to me as to why people always turn up to only the winners (or toppers) to get the much needed tips for success. When I was in school, a lot of my friends used to approach the toppers of the previous batch and enquire about their methodology of preparation and the way they managed their time. They used to run behind them and ask them about the strategies they adopted to succeed. I didn’t see anything wrong with that. That is exactly how the world goes about. People always turn to winners for advice.

You might have already begun to feel that I’m some kinda rebellion or something, who is all set to break the norms of the world. No!! Not actually…What really bothered me then were questions like, is that the only way to succeed or achieve your desired goals? Aren’t there any alternative approaches to do the same? Amidst the devouring eagerness to achieve success, what my friends usually forgot to enquire, was about the set backs he/she faced while achieving the same. I was pretty much sure of one thing; success isn’t always a cake walk! There ought to be hard times and there ought to some sacrifices behind great achievements. But unfortunately the world around us barely seems to acknowledge the same. We all feel it pleasing to know about the brighter side of the success story.

Labeling winners as a different breed of species altogether isn’t fair enough. At some point or the other, they too would have begun the race as beginners, just like anyone else. Then what is that makes them stand out of the breed? It is their ability to hold nerves till the very end, when others failed to do so. Sometimes I really feel that what one needs to know about winning is not what he/she has to do, but rather what he/she must rather avoid doing!! With this very logic in my mind, I would often consult a lot of my seniors who, not necessarily had topped the class but rather failed to do so. Trust me folks, I always managed to gain more information from them than what I actually got from the so-called winners/toppers. Those whom I approached, told me clearly what-not-to-do, rather than what-to-do. As I used to implement those tips, I would discover that it was those crucial don’t-do-these set of tips that helped more than the lambi list of must-do-these ones!! One mustn’t blindly follow the tips given by a winner for success. He or she must have the patience to analyze the situation he is currently facing, along with his/her limitations. When you know precisely what you can’t possibly do, then it becomes very easy to build a winning strategy that would suit you perfectly. When I see parents forcing their kids to run behind a topper to gather those precious pearls of success mantras, I feel sorry for the poor kids. The mantra for success isn’t that generic folks! Remember that what’s good for someone might be fatal to the other!!

Now having spoken about a counter perspective on winning, I would leave you with the following set of questions to think about:

Is it always a winner who can enlighten you about the infallible ways/secrets for success? Aren’t failures aware of what it takes to win? Isn’t he/she worth being consulted for an opinion or guidance? Don’t you feel that all winning strategies are unique in their own sense?

Just a tangential thought!

They say that the most successful people in this world are those who have handled their failures far better than they handled their successes. It isn’t a crime to approach a failure for guidance. Is it? Think about it… You might actually be seeking a piece of advice from one of the most successful people in this world!! Trust me, by doing so; you would be doing yourself a great deal of favor!!

PS: I remember having read this long time ago on the cover page a note book, “I cannot give you the formula for success but I can definitely give you the mantra for failure, try to impress everyone.” See it’s as simple as that!!

~IT's My Life

Meera Madhava Raghava - A Review

Thilak, Diganth and Ramya!

I have been full of praises for T. N. Seetharam sir. T. N. Seetharam or Gouribidanur Seetharam is a proven director, a prominent law professional and a writer. He is also considered by many as someone who could get close to the maestro himself, the legendary Puttanna kanagal, when it comes to the much needed articulation and creativity in direction. T.N.S., as he is popularly recognized by all, has always been counted amongst the most intelligent breed of directors in the industry. He has directed some of the most wonderful serials in Kannada television industry like Maya Mruga, Manvantara and Mukta (the last one took him to the pinnacle of so-called name and fame!) Who can forget those court scenes in Mukta? It was reported that the TRP ratings of e-tv Kannada, which was telecasting this serial, recorded an all time high during the court scenes in the serial!!

If you concluded that this maestro has restricted himself to the small screen, then you are definitely undermining the potentiality of T.N.S. He has also directed a movie called ‘Matadana’, which elucidates clearly the mindset of a typical desi politician and the intricacies of vote bank politics in India! If you have been an ardent fan of his, and followed him quite closely, you would have discovered by now that, T.N.S., has a special affection towards this alphabet ‘M’! All his ventures have begun with this alphabet ‘M’. So I wasn’t really surprised when I first heard that T.N.S. sir is directing another movie that also begins with the alphabet ‘M’. It was titled ‘Meera Madhava Raghava’.

I was with V in Bengaluru (that’s official folks! Bangalore finally gets the much needed kannda touch to its name) last week, where the movie was being screened at santosh, a theatre near city central. Both of us had screwed up at an interview, an hour back and we badly needed a break! It was nearly 1:30 pm by my watch, on an all-set-to-clean-the-streets-of-Bengaluru kinda day! The clouds were all set to pour in really hard! So we badly need to hangout somewhere. We quickly hurried towards santosh theatre and bought ourselves 2 tickets of balcony. (Hey! They costed us only 50 bucks each!!) We literally galloped all the way to the balcony since we were a bit late to the matinee show. When we checked in to the balcony, the movie had already begun. We had huge expectations from this movie and I was praying “Oh god! T.N.S. sir shouldn’t disappoint me now! Not again please… especially after that screwing interview!!!”

Now coming to the real plot of the movie… It is basically the story of a trio Meera (played by Ramya), Madhava (played by Diganth) and Raghava (played by Thilak). If you were to conclude by the above description that it is just gonna be yet another movie involving a triangular romantic plot that sucks to the core, then you are surely in for a shock. Meera Madhava Raghava is certainly much more than that. Raghava plays the so-called (rich) bad boy in the movie. Madhava plays the supposed to be god boy in the movie. Meera is the one who neutralizes both the acidic entities in the movie. Raghava is basically a local rowdi, who is passionately in love with Meera (but he is shown to be an ethical rowdi! Now don’t ask him how a rowdi can have ethics?) Meera’s family members are forced to fix her marriage with Madhava, a part time lecturer in a college. It is done merely to save her daughter from the hands of Raghava, who promises not to wed their daughter if she has already been engaged to someone else. Meera moves over to her husband’s house after the marriage. Meera, who is gifted with a nightingale’s voice, gets an offer from a Mumbai based audio company to sing for their albums (a 3 year contract, with a remuneration of Rs 40K per month). This naturally catapults happiness amongst the members of her in-laws and all of them quickly share it with a musical cock-tail on screen. But! Yes, it’s these ifs and Buts that provide every movie the much needed twist and turns. Madhava isn’t happy about Meera working at Mumbai, as he wouldn’t be able to handle that ‘dooriee!’ The innocent Meera complies to her husband’s request and turns down the proposal made by the audio company! Madhava in the mean while is shown to have an insurmountable desire to become an IAS officer. But the biggest hurdle being Vitamin – M. He reveals his clandestine desires in front of his wife. She suggests him to borrow the required money from someone. But Madhava justifies his anti-money-borrowing theory and also asks his wife not borrow money from anyone in life.

In the mean while, Meera’s father expires and Meera plans to claim her share by selling the house her parents lived. Her share in the assets would nearly be around Rs 10 lakhs. With these ideas in mind, Meera manages to persuade Madhava to chase his dream of becoming an IAS officer. She promises to give him the required amount of Rs. 10 lakhs, from her share in the family assets. With the assurance of financial support from his wife, Madhava moves to Delhi, where he clears an entrance test of a coaching institution which trains students to pursue IAS. But to her great dismay, Meera is highly disappointed and heart broken when her family members express their inability to give her share of money in the assets immediately, on accounts of other financial commitments. She finds herself in an absolute fix, as she has reached the point of no return. If she fails to send her husband the required money, he might have to let go a golden chance of pursuing his dream, begging. Here arrives the first biggest twist in her life time. Under circumstances which seem to be highly unfavorable, she is forced to borrow the required amount from the BAD BOY, Raghava himself. He finances the required amount, after asking her to forge on a document which says that her husband has borrowed the amount to pursue an IAS. She forges the signature of her husband reluctantly! The rest of the movie is all about how she is tortured by Raghava and how she is made to do things that would favor the Bad Boy!

The last 45 minutes in the movie are really worth every penny you invested! T.N.S. sir shows you why he is considered as the next Puttanna kanagal of Kannada Industry! The story really pushes you to the edge of your seats. It brings out all shades of emotions like intense suspense, love, betrayal etc on screen. Climax is surely the one thing that would linger in your mind for a quite long time!! You will surely walk out of the cinema hall questioning yourself, “Heegu unte?” The movie is also marked by its unconventional star cast. They all have acted in Seetharam sir’s previous TV serials. They have all done justice to their jobs! I personally felt that after Amruthadhaare, this is Ramya’s best performace till date. Thilak as Raghava looks very convincing in the bad boy role! Diganth as Madhava has a very limited scope, as his screen presence is very much limited. The music composed by Hamsalekha is very melodious. The track ‘Vasantha Vasantha…’ (sung by Rajesh Krishnan and Anuradha Bhat) from the movie is my personal favorite.

If you haven’t watched a really good family movie for quite a long time, then Meera Madhava Raghava is certainly the movie you gotta be checking out this week end. You will surely acknowledge the claims made by me in this post about T.N.S. Sir. He is truly a gem of a director!

PS: His next big venture on the 70mm screen is titled Mrs. Mukya Mantri. I wish him great success in his next venture as well! I’m really looking forward to watch his next movie!!

Photo Courtesy: http://www.kannadaaudio.com

~IT's My Life

Music, The ultimate stress buster!

I'm an ardent follower of music. I can't think of a better stress buster than music. I listen to music of almost all genres. I'm a big fan of bollywood music in particular. Apart from bollywood music, I love to listen to Kannada, Telugu and Tamil music as well. (I had posted the lyric of a song Hrudayam Ekkadunnadi from the movie Ghajini on my blog).

The following are the songs that have made me fall in love with them. I have been listening to them over and over again, without getting bored.

1. Alvida - Life in Metro.

2. In dino - Life in Metro.

3. O Meri jaan - Life in Metro.

4. Rishtey - Life in Metro.

5. Tumse Yoon Milenge – Ankahee.

6. Ek Pal Ke Liye – Ankahee.

7. Beetain lamhe – The Train.

8. Teri Deewani – Kailasa.

9. Jaane kya chahe Mann – Pyar ke side effects.

10. Kyu aaj kal – Woh Lamhe.

Music Rocks!! The strength of music amazes me at times!! It surely has a sanctity associated with it. It is my ultimate companion and not to mention, an ultimate stress buster!!

~IT's My Life

Keep it simple!

I strongly believe that a relationship can bear all the hardships only if there is a TRUST factor involved in it. I have a lot of my friends, with whom I communicate very frankly and try to be as candid in my responses, and as straightforward in my affairs as possible. I like to keep things simple! I firmly believe that you should either operate in WHITE or BLACK shades but never in the GREY shades. Once you promise to shoulder a responsibility, you should go about achieving the same in a manner that involves transparency of the highest degree. It really pisses me off when people conceal the truth from me, on occasions where they might have failed to do something they had promised to finish on time. On such occasions, all I expect from them is a simple truth about what really happened. I don’t wan to see them bluff. All I expect from them is something like, “Look! I couldn’t do it on time because I had such and such a commitment…” Trust me; this is the best thing to do. For god’s sake, stop beating around the bush and bluffing. By doing so you might ward off an immediate headache of being accountable. But in the long run, when the truth comes out, you will have to face a bigger ignominy.

I some times wonder why people can’t speak out openly about things. Is it a crime to say NO? Why do they take up a task when they know in advance that can’t complete it? Is it because they have this fear of being tagged as INCOMPETENT? Is it because they want to IMPRESS someone? Is it because they are under the impression that the other party might FEEL BAD or OFFENDED, if they turn down the offer to shoulder a responsibility? Is it because they fear the consequences of being tagged as some one who is a point-blank?

Well… let me tell you something. If you answer to the above questions in affirmative, I can bet that you will never ever be able to do what you actually wanted to do in life. You will always be haunted by the guilt of having wasted your precious time in appeasing someone. Please don’t complicate issues with anyone. If you can’t do something, (may be on time) please for god’s sake speak the truth!! Avoid making false promises. You might find it tough in the beginning, but I am sure that you will soon begin to appreciate it . Try to imagine yourself in the shoes of the other party. What if someone promises you something and ditches you in the Nth moment? Would you expect some blah blah stuff from him? I’m sure that you too will be hurt to the core and develop a feeling of disrespect towards him. On such occasions you too expect him to speak nothing, but the NAKED TRUTH!!

I have constantly been disgusted by the behavior of someone in my friend’s circle. I have been wondering why that person does this each time. I mean, when you take the responsibility to complete some task, you got to take the responsibility to finish it on time, unless something unprecedented occurs. You cannot behave so irresponsibly and take things and people for granted! It might work with someone whom you know, but not when you enter your work place. Trust me; this is what pisses people off, the most at a work place!! You cannot take away the ACCOUNTABILITY factor from your character. People ask you to do a task, only when they trust you. It becomes your responsibility to finish that task, no matter what and thus retain your credibility and trust. If you aren’t willing to shoulder the given responsibility, say it on their face, flat and square, “Look! I can’t do this. Ok!!” This would at least ensure that you don’t make false promises and later deviate from your own words.

The behavior of my friend reminds me of the story of a cow boy, who used to call for help unnecessarily, even when he faced no threat. When the villagers would come to his rescue, he would make fun of them, and feel proud about how he had managed to fool them. But one fine day, when he was in really trouble and begged for their help, no one turned up. All the villagers thought that he was playing the same prank on them again. Because of his previous conducts, he had to lose his life. People had lost FAITH in him. The TRUST factor in him was missing!!

I have spoken to my friend in this regard on innumerable occasions. But that person simply doesn’t seem to take my words in the right spirit! As a good friend of yours, I sincerely request you mend your ways! Even if this means that you will start to avoid me from here on. I simply don’t care! All I need is to make you realize that it hurts someone pretty badly when you break your words, not on account of some genuine reason, but on grounds of falsity. If you think that people would never get to know what the truth is, I can bet that there is no bigger a mistake you can commit in life than that! Stop being someone you are not!! It’s not a crime to be the way you are in reality! Why do you project yourself as someone you not? People might not speak ill about you when you are there, but they will certainly make fun of you and ridicule you behind your back. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to push yourself in to such a situation. Would you?

Abh Main yeh sab kyu keh raha hu? Tumne aaj TRUST ki baat ko cheda, to mujhe yeh sab kehna pad raha hai!! Being a good friend of yours, I felt that I should speak the truth about what I felt about your ways of dealing with people (that’s how you have behaved with me), rather than putting up a face of false comfort, where everything seems ok! Please drop that chalta hai attitude of yours!!

Remember that you can fool someone all the time; you can fool everyone some time; but you cannot fool everyone every time. They say that it is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not! Please keep it simple!! I wish you great success in you career!!

~IT's My Life

Beete lamhein...

Note: All the characters, places and incidents in this post are highly ‘infectious’. Any resemblance to something remotely real, is purely co-incidental. Kya kare bhaiyya, apna batch jo aisa tha?

I swear in the name of all the VTU guides I have referred and all the JC parties I have attended till date, "Engineering is the best thing that has happened to me till date..." Today, when I sit back and refresh my 'hard drive', all the memories are just bubbling out. I am feeling very nostalgic! As I watch at all the wonderful snaps, which were clicked in sheer 'euphoria', on all the occasions which were worth a treat at JC, I simply have nothing else to say but to confess, "College days were THE BEST days of My Life!!"... These 4 years have given memories to cherish which are undoubtedly worth remembering an entire life time. I would like to share a few of them with you :

1. On any given day, JC would surely top the ‘Best places to hangout’ charts of everyone in my batch. All my batch mates owe a lot to this place. All THOSE people who were the protagonists of innumerable creative jokes at JC deserve a standing ovation! So folks, before I move on any further, please halt all the processes running on you system for a while and join me in saying this, "East of west, JC is the BEST..." What more can I tell you about those memorable parties at JC. Woh jannath thi, jannath!!! You know something? Not many in my batch know that the stall is actually called ‘Renukamba Juice Centre’. Hmmm quite a trivia isn’t it?

2. I was once asked by a senior when I was in my I year, "Do you know the MG road and Brigade road of B.I.E.T.?" I was quite a dumbo then, and mumbled some crap and escaped. But 4 years down the line, I know what they were referring to? I truly miss them now. For all those fella BIETians who still walk around with an aroma pseudo innocence, you know whom to ask about it. Don’t you?

3. Schmoozing!! Abh usse accha time pass to aur kuch ho hi nahi sakta? Phokat main time-pass karne ka maza hi kuch aur hain yaaro! All of us would grab the most coveted positions on the ‘chat-stand’ which is THE best place to watch the 2 roads meet (in perpendicular). The place is situated perfectly. It serves the purposes of everyone who come to its shelter, without any discrimination. It has been habituated by many ‘Legends’ over the years, for the most trivial ‘bench warming’ task, to the most daunting task of waiting anxiously to know their fate after attending a written test or interview of a company. rK has churned out N-number of memorable jokes, on all the famous personalities of our college. You name them and they all trace back to this ‘chat stand’.

4. I badly miss all those ‘Namgu-ond-slot-hakrappa’ sessions we used to have in the college canteen. All credits to SM. He is the source of inspiration for initiating the historic ‘Mil-baat-ke-khao-aandholan’. This used to be our mantra ‘Plate-ek-lekin-chamche (spoon)-anek’. Koi pehle plate lekhe aaye ya na aaye, lekhin spoon zaroor pakad letha tha. Yahan par saabhi log mil baat ke khate to the, lekhin coupons kareedna ka saza kisi ek ko milta tha!! Some of my friends later developed an ‘optimized’ strategy called ‘khaao aur khaane do’, according to which they would avoid breakfast at the regular break time of 10:00 a.m. and instead have their breakfast during the 11:30 a.m. break (mostly during the final year) when the ‘threat’ of intruders would be less. I really really miss those slot sessions!!

5. Abh college main fresher ho to ragging wagging to hogi hi. According to the universal law of ragging, "The more the number of seniors you know in a college, the greater is the probability that you will be ragged by the same hey-I-know-them guys!" I wasn’t an exception to this law either. One of my senior who was in his final year (I knew him pretty well) asked me to go to a girl seated at one corner of the reading room (I will speak more about this historic hangout, which used to be the favorite place of students to chill during college hours, shortly. Khair aage ki baat aage...) and get her bio-data. The reading room was quite an action-packed place as always, and I approached that girl (who was probably his class mate) and asked her to give me her bio-data. She looked at me and asked, "Yaar kalsiddu ninna?" I pointed towards the table, where my senior was sitting with his friends. She replied quite sternly (almost in a belligerent tone), "Kodalla anta hel hogu…" When I came back to my seniors, I realized that both the parties knew the consequences of this age old ritual pretty well in advance, and were laughing their heart out. I was out there standing like a Bakra!! Even to this day, this is one the most hilarious episodes in my college life. Every time I remember it, I cherish quite a lot.

6. I mentioned something about the famous reading room of our college previously. Isn’t it? Believe me; if I were to list all the misnomers in the world, in the decreasing order of their appropriateness, B.I.E.T.’s reading room would undoubtedly top the chart! Every guy/gal who has studied (or is studying) at B.I.E.T. would testify my claim. Wahan par kya mahol rehta hai yaaro? Door door tak aap nazre milaao, to aapko sirf chaffers hi milte hain. Except a few misled nerds (who lost their way and landed up there), you will (not even by mistake) find some one who is actually reading. Yeah! People do read there. They read your hands, bestsellers and of course not to mention the eyes of guy/gal seated opposite to him/her. Most of the people can also be found busy messaging their dear ones. I wonder sometimes, are Hutch’s profits staggering record high solely because of these duteous short-service-messengers in B.I.E.T.’s reading room? Chahe jitna bhi ghanta bajalo VTU waalo, yeh log mobile use karna kabhi bandh nahi karne waale. At times, the noise levels in the reading room are so high that even a guy with sony-erricson w700i, listening to his favorite flick (full volume + hands free) would request them, "Arey thoda dheere baatein karo yaaro, mujhe kuch sunayi nahi de raha hai.."

7. I miss all that masti I used to have by bunking classes (whenever I felt them boring) on account of forum activities. It was looked at, as a sort of compensation we claimed, for the shedding those extra gallons sweat in organizing events at our forum. I am proud to say that amidst all the differences we used to have, all my friends were so cooperative. Our forum is one of the vibrant forums in our college. It has given us so much. I owe a lot to all my profis in this regard, and especially to our HOD, without whom all this wouldn’t have been possible. Thanks a lot sir!

8. I used to hangout with sri (my project mate) and enjoy a KT or Badam milk (along with god-knows-how many biscuits) at a tea stall near the high school field. We used to discuss all the matters, remotely imaginable under the sun! The tea and badam milk were absolutely awesome. The stall has currently removed... I would pay any amount to sip a cup of KT again. I miss that hideout pretty badly!!

9. I miss all those anxious moments I used to experience before the results were ready to be put up on the notice board. We used to enquire about the results with the attenders of our department, Rammanna or Rameshanna. They used to reply quite monotonously, "Result bartiate bidu, tali yak kedskotya? En munche display madodrinda number change aagtava?" We used to nod our heads, half pacified by their logic. But the anxiety would still be lingering in our hearts, ready to take a toll of whatever we were engaged at. I still remember how I was taken by surprise when my 6th SEM results were out. I had scored nearly 8 percent more than what I had expected. That’s VTU for you folks! When you fear to fail, you end up passing in flying colors. But when you fantasize to top the class; you will end up being ‘stamped’. (Samjhe nahi ka? You will score just 35!!)

10. I miss all those last bench photo sessions that we had during CIP classes. We used to occupy the last benches in the class and click photos, in angles nothing less than the ones taken in a screen test. I got a golden collection of such snaps! Sri had bought a low-cost but mast-looking goggle, which was used by all the legends of the last bench to pose for the million dollar snap! Even during such boring classes, a minority of dweebs in our class couldn't resist the temptation to jot down whatever crap was written on the black board! Thank god, I already had my share of enlightenment by then.

I have countless memories in my heart. Likhte likhte space kam padjayegi, lekhin yaadein kam nahi honge! Thank you B.I.E.T., for having housed zillions of such memories. Na jaane kitno ki yaadein judi hey is college se? Co-icidentally this also happens to be my 101nth post on this blog. I have finally slammed a ton!

~IT's My Life

It happens only in India...

For the past one month or so, we have been bombarded with a second-to-second update about the Glasgow airport bomb blast and its aftermath. The media has left no stone unturned in presenting their viewers (or readers) with the latest (or rather hottest) news. Dr. Sabeel Ahmed and Khafeel Ahmed were the prime suspects behind this inhumane act of terror. Just take a look at the kind of education (?) they had pursued. One of them is a doctor and the other an engineer. Both of them are in to a profession that is very much respected in the society. A doctor is supposed to save the lives of people and not kill them. An engineer should work to make this world a better place to live in and not smoke the beauty out of it. One of the accued, Kafeel Ahmed has died after battling hard for survival. What a waste of talent?

Sources say that they were completely brain-washed and the seeds of jihad had already matured in their minds. They were at a stage where it was ready to bear fruits. They were constantly intoxicated with the ideas of jihad and the ways by which they could get closer to closer to HIM. It was taught that all this could be achieved only by becoming a shaheed in any of the jihadian battles. The ideas of hatred, revenge and intolerance towards other religions (or call it glorification of their own) had strongly been nurtured in them from quite a long time. They were constantly motivated by zillions of ‘inspirational’ pro-jihadian speeches by their warlords! People, who should have been using their resources for the welfare of humanity, were indoctrinated to pursue the path of violence. They were instilled with the misconception that the ultimate path of obtaining ‘MOKSHA’, was by pursuing violence. It has been rightly said, "As you sow, so shall you reap."

The aftermath of Glasgow episode was all about some Dr. Haneef, who was taken in to custody by the Australian police with the charges of having involvement in the bomb blast in London. He was subjected to rigorous questioning about the SIM card he is said to have given to his cousin Sabeel Ahmed. They have also questioned him about the chat (which is said to be about the terror plot in London) he is said to have carried out with his brother shoaib on 2nd july. After enduring all the Q&A sessions, the Australian police were forced drop all charges against him as they couldn’t gather sufficient evidence to prove him guilty. Finally Haneef was allowed to return to India. At times I felt that the media were probably a bit hyperbolic about the whole episode. C'mon folks, he was suspected to be involved in an international terror plot. You can’t expect any country to deal with a person accused of such serious charges, as though you were dealing with a picket-pocketer in Andehri! I don’t see anything wrong with Australia being very serious about this whole issue. After all they have shown open support to the US in the war against terrorism and being an ally to US only means that you are constantly on the radar screens of the terrorists. When he came back to India, he did try to gain some sympathy from the Indian media on the grounds that he was ill treated and the only reason being the fact that he was an Asian Muslim! His lawyer Peter Russo urged Australian government to provide him a suitable compensation for defaming his client and for

the entire family trauma his client's family had to undergo until then. Dr. Haneef did go one step further in asking the Australian government to give him honoraray citizenship. This probably was a bit too much for Australia to digest. The Australian Prime Minister John Howard slammed back at Dr. Haneef, and declined of any such options available in the Australian law.

But that is not what irked me folks! What really irked me are the 2 incidents that I am gonna share with you now.

1. After the whole bitter episode, why is Dr. Haneef so hell bent on returning to Australia? He wants to get back to a country, which left no stone unturned in ensuring that the charges against him be proved right, even if it meant that Haneef’s stature would be denigrated to the core. Is he that desperate to find a job for himself? Why can’t he serve the people back home? Our honorable chief minister has already offered him a job as a senior practioner in any government hospital in his home state. Mr. Haneef, isn’t this a golden opportunity for you to pay back all the millions of hearts that prayed for your 'clean' and 'safe' return? It is these very people back home, who supported you until the very last minute when you were looked up on by the whole world with an eye of suspicion! What more do you expect from our people? Are the dollar dreams so compelling Mr. Haneef? I feel that, by rejecting any offers from Australia (if ever you get one from them) to work for them, will certainly go a long way in registering your credibility? What do say doctor?

2. I am damn sure about this one. No responsible government in any part of the world would have acted such shamelessly as our Karnataka government did on that day! Our honorable chief minister Mr. H D Kumaraswamy was busy posing in front of the media alongside Dr. Haneef, while in another part of B’lore; our real heroes who had laid down their lives for our mother land were being cremated with all the military honors. But there was not even a single soul (do they have one?) who was a representing our government. Even to this date, the family of Colonel Vasanth which resides at Sada Shivanagar in B’lore hasn’t received a single word of condolence from the government in written, let alone someone meeting them in person. They are not demanding any job in your ministry sir. All they need is a gesture of humanity from you. Is that too much to expect from a family that lost its supporting pillar? How can you be so cruel Mr. Chief Minister? We all know how secure you and your party people are, under the covers of this knavish 'secularism'. Are you so busy in appeasing someone/some community that you forgot to utter even a single word of condolence to the members of that distressed family? What are your people in the ministry doing? We all know that this act of sharing this family’s grief isn’t gonna help you in strengthening your vote bank. Then why the hell would you do it sir? What a shameless act!!!

Now back to the media. I know you people have done all that you needed to increase your TRPs. You ensured that the viewers/readers didn't miss any scene in the whole Haneef v/s Australia episode. The media projected Haneef as though he was on the frontline in the battle field, and has returned home after winning a battle for India. He was projected as a hero? Does he deserve so much of a media attention? For god sake, we have trillions of burning issues to focus. You have all the time in this world to run behind Mr. Haneef or his family and report duteously what Haneef had for his breakfast? Or what special dish has his wife prepared for him? You have no time to share the grievances of the family of our soldiers? Why the hell would they bother about the lives of a colonel or some xyz in the armed forces? These people in the armed forces are paid for it folks! Isn’t it? Are they doing us any favor in protecting our borders? No certainly not… At least this is what the government thinks, and so does the media...

Our Prime Minister had sleepless nights on viewing Khafeel's and Sabeel's family members in tears. Why can't incidents like ruthless 'slaughtering' of the native Kashmiri pundits which happens almost everyday, render our PM sleepless? Why can't such inhumane gestures by our CM towards colonel Vasanth and his family render him sleepless? Why won't our PM lose a night's sleep on hearing about the torturous acts of naxals in malanadu? Why can't more dreadful problems like poverty, illiteracy, child labour, land mafia etc render him sleepless? Any guesses??? None of them will strengthen his vote banks folks!! Isn't it that simple? There is an adage in kannada, which suits the behavior of our ministers pretty well. Dina sayorige aluvavaru yaru anta!! How inhumane of you sir?

PS: Someone has rightly quoted, “You don’t know the value of a doctor when you are well, and the importance a soldier when the nation is at peace.” Who ever said this buddy, must have understood India quite well.

~IT's My Life