Well I've been absent from this blog the past month or so because of my exams. I've also been in some amount of physical discomfort. Yes exams are a pain in the ass but no literally! It has been the weather in Delhi! Too cold for comfort...
It was a torture studying during the exams, especially in the nights. Couldn't wait for that hot 2 am maggi from the canteen to warm my alimentary system. And once i fell asleep it was impossible to wake up in the morning. All the alarms and wake up calls were useless. Getting oneself off the bed was the toughest thing to do.
Initially I was happy they scheduled the exams between 2-5pm. Thought that would avoid early morning wake ups and shower. Also thought it would help me beat the cold. How wrong i was... I was always seated near the window and after 4 pm it suddenly started getting cold and I would always be caught unawares. And it would get difficult to write after that! So after the first exam i made a mental note that i have to finish writing my best answers up front coz not much can be done in the last hour.
After the exams it had gotten even colder and i had taken to jogging and sports to keep myself warm! Hell most of the hostel is doin the same to keep themselves warm! Now guys wake up only by about 8.30ish and get into the 8.50 shift for getting ready for the 9.00 am class. My roomie's friend in the Indian Military Academy came visiting last week and told us that in the IMA they get ready in 10 mins bath crap shave boot polish dress etc in that time. I told him we do the same too only we miss out some of those activities :D
Well I'm back in Chennai now. It feels good to be warm again! I guess the metro should have been extended till dwaraka by the time i get back so i get to my LG's place much more easily! And to Gurgaon too hopefully.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Sourav Ganguly - Whither Indian Cricket?
A long time has passed since my last post but more on that later. First I want to unload something that has been eating my head for the past 24 hours.
The recent Ganguly episode in my opinion marks the beginning of the end for Indian cricket. More now than even during the match fixing crises days. The rationale of the Ganguly brigade for bringing him back was that he was experienced, got more ODI runs save Tendulkar and was an asset to the team.
By the same criteria, Anil Kumble should be playing in ODI's too. He has got more ODI wickets than any other Indian, 329 to be precise from 264 matches and that is experience. And by all accounts his bowling hasnt gone down but on the contrary, the man is in the best form of his life. Pray tell me why should the same Ganguly logic not apply to Anil Kumble? Maybe they should've had a left Govt in Karnataka. Imagine Lalu pushing for someone from Bihar to be included in the team. The day is not far off as Lalu is already President of the Bihar Cricket Association.
Ganguly, no doubt should be given a chance to get back to the team but by the sheer weight of performance. ie His performance on the field and not his supporters off the field. He should've been scoring tons of runs in the domestic circuit to press his case. And its not like he is a man who can't do it. It happened to him at the beginning of his career and he did comeback on the sheer weight of his domestic performances. But the Ganguly of now seems content to ride the weight of his political backers. And they have not done themselves any credit with the pathetic way they treated the Indian team in Kolkata.
Sourav Ganguly made his reputation as a Tiger who didn't have to hide behind someone else but as someone was never afraid of confrontation. But his "comeback" is as a man who needed all other persuasions but the performance of his bat to merit a recall.
The irony of this entire show is that now the stage is set. He has made a comeback. How he did it is history. If he fails in Pakistan, then he is as good as history. Because there are a lot of powers that be who have a little less patience for him.
The recent Ganguly episode in my opinion marks the beginning of the end for Indian cricket. More now than even during the match fixing crises days. The rationale of the Ganguly brigade for bringing him back was that he was experienced, got more ODI runs save Tendulkar and was an asset to the team.
By the same criteria, Anil Kumble should be playing in ODI's too. He has got more ODI wickets than any other Indian, 329 to be precise from 264 matches and that is experience. And by all accounts his bowling hasnt gone down but on the contrary, the man is in the best form of his life. Pray tell me why should the same Ganguly logic not apply to Anil Kumble? Maybe they should've had a left Govt in Karnataka. Imagine Lalu pushing for someone from Bihar to be included in the team. The day is not far off as Lalu is already President of the Bihar Cricket Association.
Ganguly, no doubt should be given a chance to get back to the team but by the sheer weight of performance. ie His performance on the field and not his supporters off the field. He should've been scoring tons of runs in the domestic circuit to press his case. And its not like he is a man who can't do it. It happened to him at the beginning of his career and he did comeback on the sheer weight of his domestic performances. But the Ganguly of now seems content to ride the weight of his political backers. And they have not done themselves any credit with the pathetic way they treated the Indian team in Kolkata.
Sourav Ganguly made his reputation as a Tiger who didn't have to hide behind someone else but as someone was never afraid of confrontation. But his "comeback" is as a man who needed all other persuasions but the performance of his bat to merit a recall.
The irony of this entire show is that now the stage is set. He has made a comeback. How he did it is history. If he fails in Pakistan, then he is as good as history. Because there are a lot of powers that be who have a little less patience for him.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Random Musings
1. Libido levels are pretty high in Delhi. I guess its
the weather for even rank outsiders like me are
affected.
2. Its not even winter yet and already im having to
squeeze frozen oil out of a Parachute bottle!
3. I will die of pnuemonia by January!
4. Accounts can be so simple yet so irritatingly
complicated.
5. Its unethical to cheat in a Business and Ethics
paper...or is it?
6. The mess food is really good now with the new mess
contractor coming in.
7. As a result of point no.6, I think I might put on
weight as its too cold to go out jogging in the
morning.
8. I need to get some perspective on my life and start
looking at the bigger picture!
9. Statistics is killing me....BIGGER PICTURE DAMMIT!!!
the weather for even rank outsiders like me are
affected.
2. Its not even winter yet and already im having to
squeeze frozen oil out of a Parachute bottle!
3. I will die of pnuemonia by January!
4. Accounts can be so simple yet so irritatingly
complicated.
5. Its unethical to cheat in a Business and Ethics
paper...or is it?
6. The mess food is really good now with the new mess
contractor coming in.
7. As a result of point no.6, I think I might put on
weight as its too cold to go out jogging in the
morning.
8. I need to get some perspective on my life and start
looking at the bigger picture!
9. Statistics is killing me....BIGGER PICTURE DAMMIT!!!
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Its all about the money
Business Environment from a student's perspective.
As professionals, we look forward to working in the best organisations which offer us the maximum potential for growth and learning. From such a perspective, for a true professional, all things considered, geographical location shouldn't be a problem. That meaning, he/she has to find that place adaptable.
My recent visits to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai have set me thinking as to how we at MHROD are looking towards adapting. We have an alumni strength of about 320 and we have at best only around 25 people working in these cities. Straight up, the reason for this imbalance, can be explained to be that most of our students come from across North India. But these three cities, the IT triangle, is where the action is happening. Can we afford to miss the bus? And moreover what do these cities have to offer for us MHRODians?
Hyderabad, for one is one of the cheapest cities to live in. It has got everything to offer in terms of modern urban amenities-movie plazas, malls, posh apartment blocks etc but still is the cheapest of the IT cities to live in. Bangalore, for long having enjoyed the status of being the city to live in, is now under the cloud of "crumbling" infrastructre.It also has a problem with rising vehicular pollution. But, nevertheless,is furiously working towards regaining its pre-eminince. Chennai, the other end of this triangle, has a big problem for the non-Hindi speaking population but is ramping up infrastructure pretty fast too.
These three cities are pulling ahead very fast and offer companies a huge cost saving if they invest here. Hence, even these companies don't seem to mind the minor inconvenience as long as they work gets done.Its all about the money...
As professionals, we look forward to working in the best organisations which offer us the maximum potential for growth and learning. From such a perspective, for a true professional, all things considered, geographical location shouldn't be a problem. That meaning, he/she has to find that place adaptable.
My recent visits to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai have set me thinking as to how we at MHROD are looking towards adapting. We have an alumni strength of about 320 and we have at best only around 25 people working in these cities. Straight up, the reason for this imbalance, can be explained to be that most of our students come from across North India. But these three cities, the IT triangle, is where the action is happening. Can we afford to miss the bus? And moreover what do these cities have to offer for us MHRODians?
Hyderabad, for one is one of the cheapest cities to live in. It has got everything to offer in terms of modern urban amenities-movie plazas, malls, posh apartment blocks etc but still is the cheapest of the IT cities to live in. Bangalore, for long having enjoyed the status of being the city to live in, is now under the cloud of "crumbling" infrastructre.It also has a problem with rising vehicular pollution. But, nevertheless,is furiously working towards regaining its pre-eminince. Chennai, the other end of this triangle, has a big problem for the non-Hindi speaking population but is ramping up infrastructure pretty fast too.
These three cities are pulling ahead very fast and offer companies a huge cost saving if they invest here. Hence, even these companies don't seem to mind the minor inconvenience as long as they work gets done.Its all about the money...
Friday, October 07, 2005
ok Mr./hopefully Ms. Anonymous!
i had an entry from an anonymous person asking me to guess who he/hopefully she was! problem is how do i get in touch with the gentleman/ hopefully lady?
I'm currently in Chennai after a short stop at Hyderabad, again as part of my extended PlaceCom trip. At the end of two years, if i last in the placecom im sure well qualified to be a Head Hunter....Presentations, Negotiations, Deals....you name it...PlaceCom does it!!
It better be as well coz im not getting any live projects which the other students in class are getting right now. This is so seriously bad!!!...no regrets so far. Enjoying it.
Man never ask people in Hyderabad for directions. Its seriously sad. They wouldn't know the place but wud say seedha jaakar right maro while pointing towards the left!!... always find the nearest landmark to the location u want to go to. Mere address will not get you there.
I did have hyderabadi biryani...not in the old city but still it was very good. Much better than any other ive had. Rohan George and his fave Shameerpet Dabha stand forgiven!!
We had a good Alumni dinner for 5 at Hyderabad and one of em was a friend i was meeting after 5 years. What can i say...A Real Pleasure! And i also couldnt help thinking...you gotta be a hopeless loser in life to remain unemployed after getting out of MHROD!!!
I'm currently in Chennai after a short stop at Hyderabad, again as part of my extended PlaceCom trip. At the end of two years, if i last in the placecom im sure well qualified to be a Head Hunter....Presentations, Negotiations, Deals....you name it...PlaceCom does it!!
It better be as well coz im not getting any live projects which the other students in class are getting right now. This is so seriously bad!!!...no regrets so far. Enjoying it.
Man never ask people in Hyderabad for directions. Its seriously sad. They wouldn't know the place but wud say seedha jaakar right maro while pointing towards the left!!... always find the nearest landmark to the location u want to go to. Mere address will not get you there.
I did have hyderabadi biryani...not in the old city but still it was very good. Much better than any other ive had. Rohan George and his fave Shameerpet Dabha stand forgiven!!
We had a good Alumni dinner for 5 at Hyderabad and one of em was a friend i was meeting after 5 years. What can i say...A Real Pleasure! And i also couldnt help thinking...you gotta be a hopeless loser in life to remain unemployed after getting out of MHROD!!!
Sunday, September 18, 2005
alumni dinner
hey folks
we had our alumni dinner yesterday. Another party and another dance. This time i wasnt even in the vicinity of the dance floor. hmmm and the gals of our dept who turned up in sarees were positively hot!! yeah....! i wud put up pics but im too lazy for it!!
man the lappie is takin too long. tryin to tie up a lot of loose ends with the finance etc before i get this wrapped up. the time loss is seriously frustrating and gettin to me. Its a struggle each day without a comp!!!
finally got a new cellphone today but considering my luck with cell phones in the past 1.5 years im kinda wondering how long this one is gonna last!!
we had our alumni dinner yesterday. Another party and another dance. This time i wasnt even in the vicinity of the dance floor. hmmm and the gals of our dept who turned up in sarees were positively hot!! yeah....! i wud put up pics but im too lazy for it!!
man the lappie is takin too long. tryin to tie up a lot of loose ends with the finance etc before i get this wrapped up. the time loss is seriously frustrating and gettin to me. Its a struggle each day without a comp!!!
finally got a new cellphone today but considering my luck with cell phones in the past 1.5 years im kinda wondering how long this one is gonna last!!
Saturday, September 10, 2005
relaxed !!
well i have this strange relaxed feeling right now. I've just given in a paper presentation for TISS and made that just in the nick of time inspite of fears to the contrary. Mostly, thanks to my team mate! Well its not that i have nothing else to do now...we do have a mid term test in management coming up next week and a stats test the week after that plus load of placecom work and NCR region presentations. Need to sort out my laptop in the mean time and also deal with a heck load of class politics in the meantime!!...Yup ppl...i am in a B School!!!
I have lost heck load of weight!! I know ive been saying this for sometime now but i cant wait till i meet each of you and see the shock register on your faces!!! [:D] yup vanity is getting to me in delhi!! I do some jogging everyday and then exercise in the gym....no i use only light weights and am not into weight training.
I have lost heck load of weight!! I know ive been saying this for sometime now but i cant wait till i meet each of you and see the shock register on your faces!!! [:D] yup vanity is getting to me in delhi!! I do some jogging everyday and then exercise in the gym....no i use only light weights and am not into weight training.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Bangalore trip
yes ppl im back from a placecom trip to bangalore...we covered 75 companies in all...and the rest of the info is confidential!!
man bangalore is much better than delhi...if only they could do something about the traffic and burgeoning pollution...and as for the babe quotient is concerned...it dont compare with North Campus...but i wonder if the quality is better there....anyways wasnt around long enuff to find out.As for the trip itself i visited some really cool offices and companies but the place i would really really love to work in is google!! they had by far the best office. Its on Vittal Mallya Road in Bangalore and im not goin to go into details beyond the reception area...they have this huge 9ft*15ft screen on which every google search made anywhere in the world in any language pops up in real time...this is barrin the porn searches of course...but just the sight of it all scrollin up the screen in real time...in diff scripts....man.......... ....google isnt recruiting.... Another strikin thing was most of the campus relations HR execs seemed to be around our age and mustve been barely out of college... that allowed for some really interesting conversations with some of the ladies .
i did meet some friends good ones after a long time and some for the first time....and it really felt good...seein anup after 8 yrs....rohit with his fledgling pot belly and meeting girish aka zingo for the first time!!
man bangalore is much better than delhi...if only they could do something about the traffic and burgeoning pollution...and as for the babe quotient is concerned...it dont compare with North Campus...but i wonder if the quality is better there....anyways wasnt around long enuff to find out.As for the trip itself i visited some really cool offices and companies but the place i would really really love to work in is google!! they had by far the best office. Its on Vittal Mallya Road in Bangalore and im not goin to go into details beyond the reception area...they have this huge 9ft*15ft screen on which every google search made anywhere in the world in any language pops up in real time...this is barrin the porn searches of course...but just the sight of it all scrollin up the screen in real time...in diff scripts....man.......... ....google isnt recruiting.... Another strikin thing was most of the campus relations HR execs seemed to be around our age and mustve been barely out of college... that allowed for some really interesting conversations with some of the ladies .
i did meet some friends good ones after a long time and some for the first time....and it really felt good...seein anup after 8 yrs....rohit with his fledgling pot belly and meeting girish aka zingo for the first time!!
Monday, August 15, 2005
ID 15
well before i get on with this story i better say that i had put in a blog on a floppy last week but was not able to put it as the stupid floppy screwed up...damn!! ok moving on i had a great weekend .. i went to my uncs house at dwaraka on sunday and from there to stephens where i met up with a few friends. I had met my roomie at my hostel in the mean time...nice clean guy...very studious!! i spent the night at my friends house and i wudnt take any names. Lets call them A B C D E... before shackin up the night we went to a convenience store at a petrol pump...and there was this owners dog in the back of the store....and A decides to whistle at it while the dog gets right behind him and starts barking at us [it wasnt tied u see!!]...hehehe the other guys got pretty freaked out!! and then minutes later the clock strikes 12 and its 15th aug and the national anthem starts playing...4 of us were high and decided to stand in attention and start singing the song....:D yeah the patriot in some ppl has to be coaxed out by high spirits.!!! The best part of the night was around 3 am whe A B C D were sitting on the park bench in the apt complex and C wants to take a leak... he says he is goin to the bushes by the side of the park...it was pitch dark and i told him dude its kinda risky da...what if a snake takes a liking to ur snake!! he laughs it off and walks off...and midway through the park he turns bak and asks me if i was serious....and i said yeah....he looked around and decided to pee right there!!! in the middle of the damn park!! :D last night i moved into my hostel....cool place...we got a canteen that opens till 4am and yeah i washed my clothes for the first time last night at 12am!! ok ok only on a washing machine...but still i did it!!! :D... ill put in more stuff about the hostel as i discover more about it...
We had our annual HRD symposia last week ... we had talks from the top HR honchos in the industry from Bank of AMerica, Satyam, Aviva, Flextronics, Bhel, BirlaSoft, TNS etc... i learnt a lot from there talks though most of them were of the nature of preplacement presentations...but it gave a very interesting insight into HR processes and work culture of different companies. Gave me more of an insight into how to go about choosing which companies to work for and what are the criteria each individual should look for.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Is Life Boring If there is no inundation?
Well i just read a mail from a friend in Mumbai talking about his quite unbelievable experience in mumbai during the recent rains there and this led me to think if my life is boring! Well ive not been close to bein inundated by anything in delhi, except for that leakin flush in rohans place!!
Well ive made it to the placecom in College. hmmm...dunno about the realms of responsibility coming up...but definitely lots of hard work and politics!! yipee!!! :D BTW we did have two guest lectures so far one by rajiv khandelwal , Dir Internal Audit Ranabaxy and another by Omar Farooq Head HR at ATS, who is also an alumnus of ours. Classes are gettin on ok...just about getting used to the 2 hr lectures but it gets really boring and irritating if a class is cancelled or rescheduled. The profs are good so far, not as bad as the ones ive encountered in my UG!!
Oh ok another clarification to all these family types who are reading this....no i did not snip Shreya' s hair....it was an accident and there were not more than 5 strands of hair about 5 cms long...if u hear anything otherwise its a big exaggeration and i am not responsible for it!
Had my first experience in delhi of getting into a restaurant and getting out as it was way over our budget!! and in our defence we thought it was sagar not swagat!! and its really weird to have a north indian guy reading out the specials for the day in a south indian restaurant!!....seriously even a simple word like idli is pronounced weird!! :D
Well ive made it to the placecom in College. hmmm...dunno about the realms of responsibility coming up...but definitely lots of hard work and politics!! yipee!!! :D BTW we did have two guest lectures so far one by rajiv khandelwal , Dir Internal Audit Ranabaxy and another by Omar Farooq Head HR at ATS, who is also an alumnus of ours. Classes are gettin on ok...just about getting used to the 2 hr lectures but it gets really boring and irritating if a class is cancelled or rescheduled. The profs are good so far, not as bad as the ones ive encountered in my UG!!
Oh ok another clarification to all these family types who are reading this....no i did not snip Shreya' s hair....it was an accident and there were not more than 5 strands of hair about 5 cms long...if u hear anything otherwise its a big exaggeration and i am not responsible for it!
Had my first experience in delhi of getting into a restaurant and getting out as it was way over our budget!! and in our defence we thought it was sagar not swagat!! and its really weird to have a north indian guy reading out the specials for the day in a south indian restaurant!!....seriously even a simple word like idli is pronounced weird!! :D
Sunday, July 24, 2005
MHROD analysis
Well its been about a week at MHROD, DSE now and ive realised a few things here. What to do and what not to do and how things work here etc! Im hoping to get into a hostel soon...just hoping ill get in!!
The course is entirely run by students, seniors and juniors and if we leave it to the university it wud degenerate into the rut that college was for me! Im sure every other b School has its cribbing points but here i need to focus on the job at hand and keep the eyes on the prize and keep chipping away, regardless of other distractions.But this cannot be a one man show and i need to take the prime movers in my batch along with me. And thru them the entire batch..this is gonna be the toughest test.
I do have a few ideas which now have to be sold to the class. So now its back to the same old selling of ideas, planning, and again selling!!...will i love it the way i used to?? :D ?? let see!!
The course is entirely run by students, seniors and juniors and if we leave it to the university it wud degenerate into the rut that college was for me! Im sure every other b School has its cribbing points but here i need to focus on the job at hand and keep the eyes on the prize and keep chipping away, regardless of other distractions.But this cannot be a one man show and i need to take the prime movers in my batch along with me. And thru them the entire batch..this is gonna be the toughest test.
I do have a few ideas which now have to be sold to the class. So now its back to the same old selling of ideas, planning, and again selling!!...will i love it the way i used to?? :D ?? let see!!
Monday, July 18, 2005
B School/ D School
Hmmm ive spent two full days at MHROD at DSE now and have lots to say about it.
Firstly about the institute
there is always a question if MHROD and Dept of Commerce is part of D School or not...well for all practical purposes yes! Delhi School of Economics was started along with the dept of commerce and later geography and sociology but now the other 3 depts are under one diff admin and that of the dept of commerce is separate. But that however doesnt mean that we are not part of Dschool which at the end of the day is nothing more than a campus address! We do share all the infrastructre they have access to, the libraries, the hostels etc. Anyways this shud give u an idea of DU politics and its resultant bureaucracy and all the tides we and the guys from FMS have to swim against!!
First day at college
the first thing that struck me was that out of the 13 ppl in my GD group, 5 of them had made it to the batch which i thought was pretty decent!! We had to wait for about an hour and a half till the HOD and the other senior profs turned up for the lecture...DU culture!! At least one of them had the decency to apologise. you know one of the most important advantages of being a HOD at DU is that u can say very staid poems and go on and try explaining them and there will be whole room of helpless ppl listening to it. And there will also be a couple of chamchas praising ur poetry skills. But to save my own sanity, i assumed the praise was entirely tongue in cheek!!
After that we had the rest of the day with seniors who gave us a run of the entire scene at MHROD and here came strike two! The entire show is run by the students....everything from the college website [new one comin up shortly www.mhrod.du.org] to the alumni committee and the placement committee is run by the students. Also including the convention committee, the student development cell and the magazine. Oh yeah they claim even the disciplinary committee!! :) So a whole load of things to do apart from the studies and a lot of this in my opinion goes towards character building and making tougher ppl out of us!
Some things about the seniors, well couple of them were trying to act a bit too smart on day one and ended up showing themselves to be immature but i guess i shud give em a break coz most of these guys are first rate chaps who im proud to have as my seniors....cant say much about most of the gals as yet....is it that they act aloof or thats part of the "induction" atmospherics....je ne sais pas mais ce n'est pas mon embetement non plus!!
As for my own batchmates, things are pretty neat so far not too much to complain about though i wish there were some guys who showed a lil more interest in the course, there was this one guy who brought in a friend along on the induction day who pretended to be part of the course. I found that a real piss off. If i were my seniors, i wudve really mauled this guy for this. Then there is this really bunch of chickens who keep addressing the seniors as sir!!! i mean they didnt even ask to be called that but these chickens wud address anyone who talks sternly to them as sir i guess!!.....damn....whats next....plz mr. doggy sir dont bark at me plz!!! Get some spine dudes!!
As for the profs, well ive come across only two so far [we have 2 hr lectures btw!!] and these two guys showed us why D School has such a high reputation. Man there was this guy who teaches us Management Concepts and Practises and he was kool man....more than a Bschool prof, i was really impressed by his intellect, decency and professionalism. The guy cud also quote GB Shaw quite freely and not repeat the same thing again!! as some folks wud say...cool shit!!
We have been hit by an avalanche of presentations to make...part of the induction process and part of the seniors effort to evaluate our entries to diff committees. Ive been saddled with a presentation on Training and Development which explains what im doin online at this time of the night at a friends house 25 kms from college!! But.... a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do...adios ppl ... i hope to put up some pics of college soon.
Firstly about the institute
there is always a question if MHROD and Dept of Commerce is part of D School or not...well for all practical purposes yes! Delhi School of Economics was started along with the dept of commerce and later geography and sociology but now the other 3 depts are under one diff admin and that of the dept of commerce is separate. But that however doesnt mean that we are not part of Dschool which at the end of the day is nothing more than a campus address! We do share all the infrastructre they have access to, the libraries, the hostels etc. Anyways this shud give u an idea of DU politics and its resultant bureaucracy and all the tides we and the guys from FMS have to swim against!!
First day at college
the first thing that struck me was that out of the 13 ppl in my GD group, 5 of them had made it to the batch which i thought was pretty decent!! We had to wait for about an hour and a half till the HOD and the other senior profs turned up for the lecture...DU culture!! At least one of them had the decency to apologise. you know one of the most important advantages of being a HOD at DU is that u can say very staid poems and go on and try explaining them and there will be whole room of helpless ppl listening to it. And there will also be a couple of chamchas praising ur poetry skills. But to save my own sanity, i assumed the praise was entirely tongue in cheek!!
After that we had the rest of the day with seniors who gave us a run of the entire scene at MHROD and here came strike two! The entire show is run by the students....everything from the college website [new one comin up shortly www.mhrod.du.org] to the alumni committee and the placement committee is run by the students. Also including the convention committee, the student development cell and the magazine. Oh yeah they claim even the disciplinary committee!! :) So a whole load of things to do apart from the studies and a lot of this in my opinion goes towards character building and making tougher ppl out of us!
Some things about the seniors, well couple of them were trying to act a bit too smart on day one and ended up showing themselves to be immature but i guess i shud give em a break coz most of these guys are first rate chaps who im proud to have as my seniors....cant say much about most of the gals as yet....is it that they act aloof or thats part of the "induction" atmospherics....je ne sais pas mais ce n'est pas mon embetement non plus!!
As for my own batchmates, things are pretty neat so far not too much to complain about though i wish there were some guys who showed a lil more interest in the course, there was this one guy who brought in a friend along on the induction day who pretended to be part of the course. I found that a real piss off. If i were my seniors, i wudve really mauled this guy for this. Then there is this really bunch of chickens who keep addressing the seniors as sir!!! i mean they didnt even ask to be called that but these chickens wud address anyone who talks sternly to them as sir i guess!!.....damn....whats next....plz mr. doggy sir dont bark at me plz!!! Get some spine dudes!!
As for the profs, well ive come across only two so far [we have 2 hr lectures btw!!] and these two guys showed us why D School has such a high reputation. Man there was this guy who teaches us Management Concepts and Practises and he was kool man....more than a Bschool prof, i was really impressed by his intellect, decency and professionalism. The guy cud also quote GB Shaw quite freely and not repeat the same thing again!! as some folks wud say...cool shit!!
We have been hit by an avalanche of presentations to make...part of the induction process and part of the seniors effort to evaluate our entries to diff committees. Ive been saddled with a presentation on Training and Development which explains what im doin online at this time of the night at a friends house 25 kms from college!! But.... a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do...adios ppl ... i hope to put up some pics of college soon.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Eureka!
I found it!! errr...yeah the reason for the awful lump in my throat is coz i have an ulcer on a gland in my throat that has swollen up as a result...so once i take care of the ulcer the swelling will go too.
Boy it was raining cats and dogs in delhi today...more cats and dogs than ive ever seen before and i can assure you i've never walked the roads in this much of rain in my life before. All this for a meeting that never happened and i almost got my nikes spoilt for it.
To top it all i got back home, forgetting my purse and keys at my uncles house and had to borrow money from the society guard to pay the auto and wait out for an hour till my friend came in with the keys!
Now i wanna talk about the 2 guys im living with right now. The hairy bear-like creature is Rohan.
He likes to call himself amar chandi [my ass] as a tongue in cheek tribute to his employers. i just call him Ro! He has let me stay in his apt and has allowed me to use his car when he was away!! Thanks Da!!
The other dude is Gaurav, who is a law school junior of Ro's. He has just recently started working as the law officer for an NGO. Compared to Ro he has quite a lesser paying and demanding job but he is very adept at getting his friends to take care of him and envy his ability to do that!! The bugger doesnt even ask, they just pay up for him all the time!!
I think ive lost some weight since ive come to delhi but i have no clue how much as im yet to get around to a weighing machine. I've brought along a couple of pants that do not fit me, maybe ill try them on and see if they fit me now...then i know im getting into better shape!!
Boy it was raining cats and dogs in delhi today...more cats and dogs than ive ever seen before and i can assure you i've never walked the roads in this much of rain in my life before. All this for a meeting that never happened and i almost got my nikes spoilt for it.
To top it all i got back home, forgetting my purse and keys at my uncles house and had to borrow money from the society guard to pay the auto and wait out for an hour till my friend came in with the keys!Now i wanna talk about the 2 guys im living with right now. The hairy bear-like creature is Rohan.
He likes to call himself amar chandi [my ass] as a tongue in cheek tribute to his employers. i just call him Ro! He has let me stay in his apt and has allowed me to use his car when he was away!! Thanks Da!!The other dude is Gaurav, who is a law school junior of Ro's. He has just recently started working as the law officer for an NGO. Compared to Ro he has quite a lesser paying and demanding job but he is very adept at getting his friends to take care of him and envy his ability to do that!! The bugger doesnt even ask, they just pay up for him all the time!!
I think ive lost some weight since ive come to delhi but i have no clue how much as im yet to get around to a weighing machine. I've brought along a couple of pants that do not fit me, maybe ill try them on and see if they fit me now...then i know im getting into better shape!!
Monday, July 11, 2005
Delhi reloaded
Well im sitting in my friends place with at last a net connection good enough to put in a few pix on my blog. i've not been upto much the last few days...just meeting up a few friends here and there apart from generally getting oriented to life in delhi and getting used to travelling by public transportation...tell you what....cars spoil you!!
And in fact that has happened to me in delhi too. When my friend was away to mumbai for a couple of days i did get to drive his car for a few days and man i was taken in. you see, the fiat palio is a damn good car, with great pep for city drive and when you get away from a red light you can really leave the other cars behind and beat the next red light before they catch up with you!! The problem though is the shoddy mileage! But considering i was driving a friends car with fuel paid for by him, i couldnt care less!!!
But all said and done, things like this question my philiosophy of life. Should i be contended with a basic car like a maruti 800 or should i always aspire for a better car and hence more material comforts of life? Am i not polluting more? Am i not spending money on something which can be better spent otherwise? I guess its all relative....someone wud give me the same questions for choosing a maruti 800 over public transport!!
Talking about public transport, i was getting back to my friends place the day before by bus at about 10 pm and i noticed there were only 2 women on the bus and they too were accompanied by about 3-4 men. Delhi is very unsafe for women and that fact hit home last evening when i saw these two 30 yr old men stop their bike and peer at some bushes. It struck me as strange but when i followed their line of sight i hwas immediately repulsed as they were staring at a girl playing in the lawns of her apt building and she couldnt have been more than 14 years old. That was gross and to think that this is normal in delhi!!Oh in case u guys are revulsed by the above pic, its my throat!! i have got this swelling on the left hand side of the pic which i dont think is mumps because ive already got that but its getting painful to swallow things now though i have no fever. Any ideas what it might be people?
oh on my previous blog i had mentioned some bad things about jats, i apologise because that thing happened again to me but this time with airtel! them not accepting my id card! man these choms just wanna piss me off or god made them this dumb??
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Earning Karma Points!
Well last two days i've been doing nothing more than helping out friends who have no time for themselves! So got guys a CD-RW, a mattress and pillow, a mobile and SIM card and reading glasses.
Yup im not that much of the helping types but this does win some good karma points which i can encash later! Also gives me a good education of how business works in delhi, but with other people's money!!
I have been introduced to videos of the Monty Python Flying circus and South Park of late and have been having more than my share of fun on account of relentless spoofing of stereotypes and people! Man this is good...i recommend it to all! you shud be able to download them!
Yup im not that much of the helping types but this does win some good karma points which i can encash later! Also gives me a good education of how business works in delhi, but with other people's money!!
I have been introduced to videos of the Monty Python Flying circus and South Park of late and have been having more than my share of fun on account of relentless spoofing of stereotypes and people! Man this is good...i recommend it to all! you shud be able to download them!
Sunday, July 03, 2005
I Have Arrived.
I wish i were stayin here and this were my ride in Delhi. But it isnt! im staying at a lawyer buddys house with only human luxuries being a comp with no internet and some books to read. And plenty of time to myself if thats human amenity!!
I would like to relate this strange incident which gives me a hint of things to come here! I tried to get a BSNL prepaid mobile connection here and walked into this shop and flashed the guy my ID card [my Chennai issued driving license]. He looks at it as though its some self detonating Martian bomb and then at me as though im the Martian. And he tells me Sirji yeh tho TameelNaaadu ka license hai...I replied woh Pakistan mein thodi hai!! And he gives me this "Oh im not so sure look" and says nahin sir par yeh nahin chalega...On a whim i tell him i have Gurgaon license and he tells me haan woh tho chalega!!
I dunno if its plain stupdity or insensitivity speaking but i decided to settle this issue the free market way and decided not to get the connection there even using my friends ID. I finally did get my card, Believe it or not from a Sardaar's shop!! I strongly feel all those Sardaarji jokes shud be made for Jats...anyways...time will tell!!
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Final Goodbyes
This week i did a lot of things for probably the last time in Chennai.
I jogged down the Marina for one last time. I thought about the number of times i had come here and though it never was my favourtie beach i had been here the most number of times. I thought about my first memories of Marina. Wading into those huge crowds there trying to buy something on the sand. I remember the Gus Logie
hat i bought there. I was in the fourth std then. That hat was indeed a lucky charm! How many runs i scored in garage and street cricket wearing that hat!!
Now the other big memory of Marina is my jogging bouts there lasting 3-6 months at a stretch. Its a nice place to jog in the evenings though the mornings are too crowded for jogging in the outer walking track though the inner service road is always good. The sad turn was the tsunami. I stopped going to the beach a month before the tsunami hit and at that time i used to jog 15 m from the waters. I used to stay back and watch some of those kids play cricket on sundays in the inner road...trust me cricket was never more fun! And they redefined sledging!!!
I felt very bad when i heard that a lot of these kids died in the tsunami. ..Shit happens...C'est la vie.
A very peculiar thing happened to me this week. I learnt that two people i knew were pregnant. And one of them actually told me that directly. I was so surprised that only after an embarassing 10 secs that i realised i was to say congratulations!!! I guess i will have to hear more of this now....These are the moments you realise you aint a kid no more and that your friends are becoming mummies and daddies!!
I had a real piece of good news today. One of my friends got into TISS. We had prepared for TISS together and now he got in through the waiting list. Great news for the day and I'm really happy for him!
Batman Begins
Before I walked into the theatre I knew that this was not a typical run of the mill hi-tech superhero flick. There was a different element to it. So I did take my brain along! 
There are two different caricatures of Batman that have been painted in the comics, cartoon and the movies. One is the fantasy superhero, the kind that can do everything, has all the answers to the villains and has fantastic gizmos. The other Batman, a human being fighting his fears and the dark tale of his struggle to fight crime in Gotham’s underworld.
This second version I dig!
And this is what this movie is about, more about Bruce Wayne than Batman. Batman has less than 20 mins in this 2hr 20 min movie. A good hour or so is dedicated to how Bruce Wayne confronts his fears and overcomes them. They should have called this movie Bruce Wayne begins!
But that is what makes this movie special. Its more about the man. Its more about reality. You can see this movie and come out of the theatre feeling you can make a difference to yourself and those around you.[Diff matter that the feeling evaporates by the time ur reach the parking lot!!]. This Batman movie is rooted in reality and hence more believable.
Christian Bale does a good job as Bruce Wayne…and as Batman….it doesn’t matter really coz even I wud look great in a suit like that!! Michael Caine as Alfred has the best one-liners in the movie! And as for Morgan Freeman…too small a role for an actor of his caliber yet the great actor that he is…he is brilliant! Katie Holmes…you almost miss her but for the fact that she is Tom Cruise’s gf. Cute girl but nothing remarkable in the film.
The villains in the movie get very little screen time compared to the almost 50% they used to get in the cartoons. The gizmos are there but not a big focus of attention. The Batmobile is truly atrocious…please bring back the old one! And it couldn’t even shake off the police cars with true speed. It moves as fast as a battle tank alright!!
All in all a good movie. I’ll rate it 7.5/10. Would have got a higher rating with some better action scenes. Because I thought it wasn’t as good as Spiderman 2 on the action front. Go watch it if you are a person who thinks about what you can do better in life…you wont regret it.
There are two different caricatures of Batman that have been painted in the comics, cartoon and the movies. One is the fantasy superhero, the kind that can do everything, has all the answers to the villains and has fantastic gizmos. The other Batman, a human being fighting his fears and the dark tale of his struggle to fight crime in Gotham’s underworld.
This second version I dig!
And this is what this movie is about, more about Bruce Wayne than Batman. Batman has less than 20 mins in this 2hr 20 min movie. A good hour or so is dedicated to how Bruce Wayne confronts his fears and overcomes them. They should have called this movie Bruce Wayne begins!
But that is what makes this movie special. Its more about the man. Its more about reality. You can see this movie and come out of the theatre feeling you can make a difference to yourself and those around you.[Diff matter that the feeling evaporates by the time ur reach the parking lot!!]. This Batman movie is rooted in reality and hence more believable.
Christian Bale does a good job as Bruce Wayne…and as Batman….it doesn’t matter really coz even I wud look great in a suit like that!! Michael Caine as Alfred has the best one-liners in the movie! And as for Morgan Freeman…too small a role for an actor of his caliber yet the great actor that he is…he is brilliant! Katie Holmes…you almost miss her but for the fact that she is Tom Cruise’s gf. Cute girl but nothing remarkable in the film.
The villains in the movie get very little screen time compared to the almost 50% they used to get in the cartoons. The gizmos are there but not a big focus of attention. The Batmobile is truly atrocious…please bring back the old one! And it couldn’t even shake off the police cars with true speed. It moves as fast as a battle tank alright!!
All in all a good movie. I’ll rate it 7.5/10. Would have got a higher rating with some better action scenes. Because I thought it wasn’t as good as Spiderman 2 on the action front. Go watch it if you are a person who thinks about what you can do better in life…you wont regret it.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Mr and Mrs Smith
Ahem... let me make one thing clear before this review...Im an unabashed Angelina Jolie fan...so if you think im biased....Blame her eyes, lips, cheekbones....etc etc...u get the idea!
The movie starts off with the smith couple visiting their marriage counsellor and u get introduced to this humour in banter style of delivery which is reminiscent of Oceans Eleven. Then starts the action sequences which are more truly Hollywoodesque!! In fact, you see most of the gadgets that you might possibly see in a hollywood movie in the Smith household. [Batman and James Bond franchisees excluded ofcourse!]
Angelina Jolie comes off as surprisingly subdued except in the fight scenes of course!! The memorable one being the battle in the house. That has to be seen to be believed and its hilarious too!! My fave scene in the movie is when Mrs Smith tries to frisk Mr John Smith while doin a tango and while she feels his crotch and looks at him wondering if there was a weapon, Mr Smith says, "Its all JOHN babe!!"
Angelina Jolie showed enough skin, for me to be reminded of why im so much in love with her .....hmmm!!
Brad Pitt on the other hand comes of with a more even performance. And the chemistry between the two of them is good enough to justify Jennifer Anistion's decision to quit on Brad Pitt!!And Im not gonna spoil the climax for you by tellin you what happens but that last shoot out wud put even a tyoical Vijaykant movie to shame but hell i rather see Vijaykant gored by a bull in a climax rather than a scratch on Angelina !! And most women wud say the same for Brad Pitt!!
Well if you see the review and think that all ive done is give a mindless statement of how i was star struck and watched a typical hollywood movie with a pinch of humour and a dash of action and served by possibly the best looking couple in the world, well your dead right.
This movie would win an Oscar but they dont have Oscars for Star Gazing Leave your brains at home and go have some typical hollywood timepass. You wont regret it.
Bunty Aur Babli
I saw this movie in mumbai and as is the norm with any hindi movie i did leave my brains at the door before goin in! Bunty aur Bubly is a laugh riot ppl!! Maybe not in a way the director intended it but hell its funny... The movie so full of cliches, sometimes you wonder if they think the audience are fools...hell i paid 50 bucks for it so they might be right after all!!
The story is about Abhishek and Rani from two rural backgrounds who want to break conformity with society and carve their own paths in life [ my heart goes out to that idea
]...so they run away from home!! For two ppl from small towns they have a surprising array of english words in their vocabulary with immaculate pronounciations! very good con artists i guess!!As the movie went through i thought Rani Mukherjee was looking good till they started that song Aaja udiye!!
u see abhishek bachchan's dancing abilities was not something the director was too confident about so he decided to get rani dressed in attire that gave maximum exposure to her navel and there began the fun!! Now how do i put this?....Rani doesnt exactly have a toned midriff there is a bit of baby fat that jiggles around as she gyrates!! do i need to say more???!By far the best acting in the movie is from Big B but at times it seemed he was wasted doling out trivial lines...but i tell you if it was someone else in that role he wudve been portrayed as a bungling buffoon. Big B doesnt change his costume once during the 4-5 year time period of the movie
kinda like superman?? 
The climax seemed to go like a typical hindi movie and but they retrieved it well i thought....all in all total timepass!!
If your gonna go to a PVR and dole out 150 bucks...either someone else is paying for the ticket or ur dad is real rich or ur gettin an expensive lesson in life that your a moron [thank you kumarjit!]
On the other hand if u have money to spend and the ticket cost is reasonable...leave ur brains at home...and go ahead. Its funny how many movies they make for ppl to leave their brains at home!!
Or is it that i watch only such movies!!
Friday, June 24, 2005
A Farewell To Chennai [ i prefer madras though!]
Ive lived my life like a frog in a well. Most of my life has revolved within a 5 km radius of where I sit now…home. I was born in a hospital 3 kms from here. Lived earlier in a house 2 kms from here. Went to school 4 kms from here and college 5 kms from here. I worked in an office in the same building. Ive live the past 17 years in this same house, old friends and great times... A typical frog in a well experience. But today the time has come for me to move on in life. While I move to Delhi I cannot but help going through all the memories have of this city.
The first thing that comes to mind when one mentions Chennai is the weather. One season called summer with three variations during the year – mild, normal and hot. And the humidity is a constant throughout the year…Chennai prepares you for the worst this earth has got to throw at you. And for precisely that reason I’m thankful for this weather!
And yes the Cooum!! This is something only Chennaivasis will now! I used to be pretty ashamed of it till I went to Delhi and discovered that the holy Yamuna was worse!! At least our river of filth is our dirty little secret while the Yamuna is nationally splashed and glorified in history and geography text books!!
And the beaches of Chennai….the pride of the city….i thought the marina was dirty and then saw the beaches of Kochi, Calicut and Mumbai and discovered that I was better off. Besides Marina is only the big one! The real places to take in the fresh air are outside the city, Nothing soothes one better than the
music of the Beatles as one drives down the ECR parallel to the coastline. And another spectacular moment was when we were sitting on the rocks of the Mahabalipuram beach and watched as IAF trainer planes make maneouvres overhead less than 150m up!! Hmmm so much fun on the beaches….Thats something im really gonna miss. Sometimes if one had the petrol and the time one cud stretch that drive to Pondicherry which is a nice lil place in itself. It was a very sad day for me when I realized how vulnerable these beaches were. I saw the destruction there within hours of the Tsunami.
Beasant Nagar…Elliots beach and the eat out joints I shall miss. Not to forget the matchless peanuts on the beach. Hmm though I suspect that I will find better luck at ornithology in Delhi, if I find the time !! The good old pre-teetotaller days at the erstwhile Park Wines behind Taj Coromandel!! Some Beer and Sidees!! [side dish]. Ah also the old days when we used to park behind the Seeranai Arangam on the Marina and sit on the boats there till the cops came to chase us out!
Seeing Amma pass by in her Sierra [now Pajero] every now and then while I seethed stuck in blocked roads. Chatting for hours on end at the Barista on KNK Road till closing time else at the CCD at Ispahani Centre. The 55 buck buffet at the Dhaba Express. And when we were really broke going for our fill of bread omlette either in front of Alsa Mall [the middle stall] or the one near the Nike showroom on Nungambakkam High Road!!
And then used to come the odd day when we would be loaded with cash and our tastes got refined as we headed to Gallopin Gooseberries for our sandwiches, Cascade for the Oriental food or to the many gourmet joints around TTK Road when we were plain confused! And back to Movenpick for some expensive dessert! Then was that day when we rented a beach house on ECR for 3000 bucks for a party….total fun!
I went to school here…I met my closest friends here. We had the best years of our life here. www.unionchristianworldwide.com
And now for the sports culture of Chennai. That is probably what I’ll miss the most. I used to make sure that I had some money on me when any cricket match or the ATP Chennai open was around. Just going and watching these matches was fun. The crowd and the spirit of it was always amazing.. I was there when we beat the aussies 2-1 at Chepauk. Man was that a match!!! I was there through the highs and lows of the Paes-Bhupathi era at the Chennai Open. And the crowd which lived through it.
I never visited the harbour too much but one unfulfilled wish would be that I didn’t try my hand at sailing at the harbour. Though the fun I had at Alliance Francaise de Madras instead of goin sailing was worth it!!
Alas the time has come to move on. New city. Newer routes to learn Shortcuts to master and Gaallis to perfect!! ….Hell….Ladies and gentlemen, This frog is out of this well.
The first thing that comes to mind when one mentions Chennai is the weather. One season called summer with three variations during the year – mild, normal and hot. And the humidity is a constant throughout the year…Chennai prepares you for the worst this earth has got to throw at you. And for precisely that reason I’m thankful for this weather!
And yes the Cooum!! This is something only Chennaivasis will now! I used to be pretty ashamed of it till I went to Delhi and discovered that the holy Yamuna was worse!! At least our river of filth is our dirty little secret while the Yamuna is nationally splashed and glorified in history and geography text books!!
And the beaches of Chennai….the pride of the city….i thought the marina was dirty and then saw the beaches of Kochi, Calicut and Mumbai and discovered that I was better off. Besides Marina is only the big one! The real places to take in the fresh air are outside the city, Nothing soothes one better than the
music of the Beatles as one drives down the ECR parallel to the coastline. And another spectacular moment was when we were sitting on the rocks of the Mahabalipuram beach and watched as IAF trainer planes make maneouvres overhead less than 150m up!! Hmmm so much fun on the beaches….Thats something im really gonna miss. Sometimes if one had the petrol and the time one cud stretch that drive to Pondicherry which is a nice lil place in itself. It was a very sad day for me when I realized how vulnerable these beaches were. I saw the destruction there within hours of the Tsunami.
Beasant Nagar…Elliots beach and the eat out joints I shall miss. Not to forget the matchless peanuts on the beach. Hmm though I suspect that I will find better luck at ornithology in Delhi, if I find the time !! The good old pre-teetotaller days at the erstwhile Park Wines behind Taj Coromandel!! Some Beer and Sidees!! [side dish]. Ah also the old days when we used to park behind the Seeranai Arangam on the Marina and sit on the boats there till the cops came to chase us out!
Seeing Amma pass by in her Sierra [now Pajero] every now and then while I seethed stuck in blocked roads. Chatting for hours on end at the Barista on KNK Road till closing time else at the CCD at Ispahani Centre. The 55 buck buffet at the Dhaba Express. And when we were really broke going for our fill of bread omlette either in front of Alsa Mall [the middle stall] or the one near the Nike showroom on Nungambakkam High Road!!
And then used to come the odd day when we would be loaded with cash and our tastes got refined as we headed to Gallopin Gooseberries for our sandwiches, Cascade for the Oriental food or to the many gourmet joints around TTK Road when we were plain confused! And back to Movenpick for some expensive dessert! Then was that day when we rented a beach house on ECR for 3000 bucks for a party….total fun!
I went to school here…I met my closest friends here. We had the best years of our life here. www.unionchristianworldwide.com
And now for the sports culture of Chennai. That is probably what I’ll miss the most. I used to make sure that I had some money on me when any cricket match or the ATP Chennai open was around. Just going and watching these matches was fun. The crowd and the spirit of it was always amazing.. I was there when we beat the aussies 2-1 at Chepauk. Man was that a match!!! I was there through the highs and lows of the Paes-Bhupathi era at the Chennai Open. And the crowd which lived through it.
I never visited the harbour too much but one unfulfilled wish would be that I didn’t try my hand at sailing at the harbour. Though the fun I had at Alliance Francaise de Madras instead of goin sailing was worth it!!
Alas the time has come to move on. New city. Newer routes to learn Shortcuts to master and Gaallis to perfect!! ….Hell….Ladies and gentlemen, This frog is out of this well.
My Mumbai Trip
I had made a trip to Mumbai earlier this month and had posted my experiences on www.pagalguy.com also referred to in my posts as PG.
I had gone there for the TISS group discussion and personal interview. TISS being Tata Institute of Social Sciences and i had gone for the PMIR programme [Personnel Management and Industrial Relations].
Day one on the TISS PMIR trip / 05 June 2005
hey my GD date is the 6th of june...landed this morning at DADAR railway station. There were three of us who endured the worst weather that can be thrown at you on a 2nd class Indian Railway coach travelling across AP and Maharasthra in the peak summer heat!
At 6.05 am the train landed on the dot at Dadar and all i could think of was a nice shower! We split with two of us taking a taxi to TISS and ramkrv going to his relatives' house. TISS is pretty close to the RK Film Studio...about 300m. but remember to take the 2nd left and not the first like we did! And avoid a 2 km detour!!
Looks like they're pretty used to straddlers like us turning up every June hoping to try our luck at TISS admits! The security guards didnt even bat an eyelid as they told us where to go. Once we went in were given our tokens after we paid for 2 days stay and told to go to the New Men's Hostel. Which was another climb! TISS is situated on the side of a hill so u either walk up or down to places...the only even ground is inside the buildings.
This is one of the better men's hostel you will come across! The bathrooms were clean [maybe coz we were the first few to arrive 10th i guess] But they had a geyser there!! AND IT WORKED!! That was a major surprise. Now for the shock!
On the bulletin Board at the men's hostel there was this warning about poisonous snakes on campus...cobras, vipers etc!! and they even listed whom to contact for an anti-dote! Im hoping this is a practical joke!! There was a warning about not walking on the grass and to wear shoes and not sandals after dark!! I'm supposed to meet a friend and be back only after dark tonight! If i do not post after this .... i demand to be declared a PG martyr!!
The campus itself is really really beautiful. Both the seniors and the website understated how beautiful this place is. Its real greeney man! That explains the snakes!! But be advised to move around with an umbrella or a cap else u might be a target for aerial manure bombing like urs truly!! Though you might look like an idiot with an umbrella in a campus where u barely see the sun!!
Your not allowed to lock your room doors when you go out so i suggest you leave all fancy paraphrenelia at home. There was this poor soul from Delhi who had come to our room pantin heavily to take rest. He had taken a bus to TISS from the Station and having lost his way eventually turned up and had to lug his baggage all way up initially to get his token and then to the Mens hostel. MY advise ppl...take a taxi...might cost u 200 bucks but if ur a first timer in this city. Just take the taxi and get as far into the campus as u can and just save the hassle! You can save money on other things
The weather they say is hot and humid. I'm coming from Chennai and i find this cool!! But guys not used to humidity might wanna rethink your blazers or suits!
Only crib so far...Though there is an STD booth in campus, i had to walk 1 km to find this net cafe...and this is supposed to be india's commercial capital!!
Thats all for now
Cheers
EDIT: that snake warning was in the new mens hostel campus which is about 100 m from the TISS campus. Its a separate annexure campus which is close though not in the same campus as TISS. So I dunno if the snake warning applies to the main campus! Though im gettin some vicarious pleasure out of relating this msg to ppl who are scared of snakes!! ... Truth be told i am too!!
Day two on the TISS PMIR trip / 06 June 2005 as posted on www.pagalguy.com
After bloggin my experiences on PG yesterday i decided to proceed to Colaba. But not before changin into some shoes! I counted the lamp posts on the way from the gate to the room and thought...dude do you really wanna risk it with a King Cobra, Russell's Viper and a Krait?? [ these were the names listed on the notice board!] And thats when i decided to call their bluff coz u see there are no kraits in india!!
off i went to colaba, which if u see a mumbai map, is at the south end of the city!! crazy man !! and after meeting my friend i waited about an hour for a bus but to no avail....These damn Mumbai buses have nos written in hindi... and i boarded the wrong bus once and was chucked out!! Eventually i decided it was getting too late and they might not lemme back in teh campus!! So Taxi it was and Rs.215/-!! on my post i said take a taxi to TISS from the rly station and save the money elsewhere!! Well this is something you can save on!! Dont Go To Colaba and Stay Late!! ...IDIOT!!
And to compound my feelings of stupidity i came back to realise that there wasnt exactly any curfew time as there were guys who came back even an hour after me and wud refuse to keep their mouth shut in the corridors!!...Dude ppl are trying to sleep u moron!! This a boys hostel who the hell are u trying to show off to??
I caught only 4 hours of sleep last night...Woke up early at 5.30 am and had a jog...It felt really good running up those slopes and no fear of snakes! Got ready and was at the dining hall by 7.45 am and met a few friends. Assembled at the main porch at about 8-45 am. Thats when it hit me...the nos flocking to TISS. The conference hall to which we were directed was overflowing with ppl....i was thinking gosh...10 more days of so many ppl for 30 seats!! all because of overpopulation...and i was cursing all our forefathers while the seniors were giving some gyaan on TISS...Nothing which has not already been said here...so if u follow this thread chill...Take a look at the gals and vice versa!!
From there to the Essay test and apparently only about half the students in most halls had turned up! in my room of 40 ppl there were 25 absentees so only 15!! This was a pattern in most halls with about 50% abstaining!
My topics were
1. Nation States are becoming irrelevant in a global economy.
2. Decentralisation and democracy in India.
3. Can Eco-tourism contribute to Regional Development?
I chose the first topic and wrote only 2 sides in their ruled four side booklet. People wrote a lot more. I dont really know what to make of it, Some of my friends have finished their GD. The choice given was
1.Knowledge generation or practise which is more important to managers?
2. How possible is people participation in development
They had time to interact with their group for 5 mins before the GD and they decided not to make it fish market...so theyve done ok
Ive just come out to post this and have lunch,,,as i said the same net cafe 1 km to your left after u come out of the TISS main gate ...
My GD is at 2.30 pm. I dont know what to make of it. Ive seen the crowd that turned up and not many were very impressive but thats the point. You just need 15 good ppl to come every day to make your life miserable and thats why TISS is so tough.
I'm due for my GD in an hour...adios amigos and wish me luck! I would love to stay for the PI...who wudnt!!
TISS GD/PI exp as posted on www.pagalguy.com on 6th June 2005
What a diff 3 hrs make to a person's mood! I really dont know what to do now. Between now and the next 4-5 hrs when the results come out im left in limbo to brood over whats left now.They dont seem to be repeating GD topics...so whatever you get from me is only worth for practise, at any time there are 4-5 GDs running with the same topic.
My topics were
1.Entrepreneurship or managers what shud be the emphasis of B School education.
2.Should FDI be allowed in indian media
We Chose topic 1. 20 mins and the process of chosing the topic is also included in this 20 mins. There are times when you wonder and wish you had a great GD. And this was close to that. We almost even came to a conclusion. Of the 10 ppl 8 were very robust speakers and only one kept quiet through out. It was a great group with a bunch of good freshers and guys with good work ex.
We were all very active in putting forth our view points but whenever there was a conflict of many ppl speaking at the same time it was immediately resolved. There was no one person in control of the GD . Total of 4 guys and 6 gals. It was one of the best GDs ive participated in. I dont know how they evaluate GD's in TISS but anywhere else at least 6-7 of us wudve made it.
I dont know how to judge myself today, This is one of the very few occasions ive come off a GD not sure of my own performance, I can only twiddle my thumbs and go back and catch some sleep. Im taking an auto back!! ...im too tired!
TISS GD/PI exp as posted on www.pagalguy.com on 7th june 2005
I did not make it to the PI for PMIR... yes it was very disappointing. The results came out around 6.30 pm yesterday. 46 ppl made it to PMIR. None from my GD group. That was what set me thinking. Why? I have been through enough GD's to know that it was a good one, but that didnt fit the pattern of what they were looking for. It was a good aggressive GD but not a fish market. And I felt good about it. If that did not fit the culture of TISS that they were expecting it was too bad for us. But i have no regrets because I am sure it wasnt a reflection of the wonderful ppl in my GD but more on what the institute was looking for.
However, there were others who didnt have a chance. There was a GD in which our very own Thedragonreborn was involved in which they entire grp was out coz of one gal who went ballistic. This after they decided beforehand that they wud have a quiet GD. It took me about an hour to get my bearings right after the result but it wasnt as bad as it might have been 3 days back before i came into TISS. All of u who read this post wouldve guessed i was keen on it! But i met some great ppl here and greater men from PG who i always wanted to meet!
I had a nice dinner with dragon bhai last night. Good man to man discussions! i got out of TISS early this morning. Didnt want to meet the other guys who might have come along for their GD's! You see i wanted to move on! Went to Colaba and now near Gateway of India! Guess what...there are Tiss rejects roaming around Mumbai all around right now!! Met two of them there! and one standing and smirking reading this post right next to me!!
Life moves on. I have no regrets not getting into TISS. You might start to have an idea why when you begin to see their presentation! If anyone comes here to TISS plz do try to meet vinayshende if he is free. He is a great guy and inspite of how busy he was he really tried to help me out. I owe him one for that! Some great senior you guys who wud get in have there! Too bad i couldnt meet Mystique! But kya pata...its a small world!
TISS GD/PI exp on www.pagalguy.com on 9th june 2005
My Final TISS Post!
The other day after posting my experiences on PG i went to watch "Baunty Aur Baubli" at Regal Cinema!! It was a hilarious movie for Tiss rejects!! My friend and i Totally had fun!! There was so much identification with the main protoganists! Lets face it...not all of you who come to mumbai and go for the GD will get thru to the PI...but go watch this movie...its the best antidote!! This is the first time i watched Amitabh Bachchan in a theatre...wow! His opening scene in the movie is really amazing!
But the tobewatched part of the movie is the song is Aaja Udiye and Rani Mukherjee's costume in that!! My friend and I almost got thrown out of the theatre coz we were laughing so hard!! Ramanathan should thank his lucky stars there werent women dressed like that at TISS!! ...Rani mukherjee has some baby fat on her midriff and she gyrated there were layers on undulating fat moving like unceasing waves! At that moment and time Tiss was a distant memory....After the movie...i broke my vegetarian vows and tried some chicken bhel at a small joint opposite Regal...It was Good!!
Then we went to Marine Drive and to near that spot where that gal got raped in the police booth and my friend decided to do her bit for Women in mumbai and started adam teasing every man who went by!! At that moment and time i realised why she didnt get into TISS!! Another realisation was that she might provoke someone and since i was the guy there...mujhe maar kanne padenge!!
So out of there back to Navy Nagar to take a bus back to TISS and again no bus...this time i was determined not to pay out 215/- on a taxi! So a bus to VT and train to Dadar then to Kurla and then to Govindi and finally a rick to TISS....total 23.50/-...Thats mumbai for you....you can have fun at 10% of the cost and it took me only 30 mins over the one hour in taxi!!
I heard 61 ppl got selected that day! Ramanathan and Suhail Khan included...Good luck to them and hope they make it! I heard on Day 2 it was the opposite criteria the selected ppl were the more dominant ones in the GD! and i also heard that 61 is the largest number ever for PI's almost unheard off!
Next day morning i was out of TISS at 7 am after saying bye to dragon bhai...You might notice i stayed the extra day at tiss...well i thank tiss for that! But leave as soon as possible guys! I reached NavyNagar and put my Bag at my friends place and we headed to Bandra. Carter Road. Cafe Coffee Day... Great view. They had this bigger than life poster of Bipasha Basu there...i sat staring at it for 2 hrs while my friend was trying to analyse a couple having a fight at the next table! ...That was fot the First time we went somewhere in mumbai and didnt meet any tiss rejects!! Maybe we didnt recognise them! Then went to Crepe Station around the corner for lunch...that is dino morea's restaurant and we did meet morea!
Off to colaba and Barista there...final adieu to mumbai before i headed back to NavyNagar and picked up my bags and left for the station! It was a much better journey back to Chennai as most of south india seemed to be under a cloud cover! Im home now!
Thank you all for your best wishes... Someone said let the force with me...thank you mate but the Force is Always with Me! I head off to Delhi this month end to start my MHROD course in Delhi School of Economics. Good luck to all aspirants. Im sure we will be in touch.This is my last post on this thread. Its been great fun on this TISS thread! Helped me boost my post count on PG and also find some really good friends on PG. Im thankful for that.
God Bless.
I had gone there for the TISS group discussion and personal interview. TISS being Tata Institute of Social Sciences and i had gone for the PMIR programme [Personnel Management and Industrial Relations].
Day one on the TISS PMIR trip / 05 June 2005
hey my GD date is the 6th of june...landed this morning at DADAR railway station. There were three of us who endured the worst weather that can be thrown at you on a 2nd class Indian Railway coach travelling across AP and Maharasthra in the peak summer heat!
At 6.05 am the train landed on the dot at Dadar and all i could think of was a nice shower! We split with two of us taking a taxi to TISS and ramkrv going to his relatives' house. TISS is pretty close to the RK Film Studio...about 300m. but remember to take the 2nd left and not the first like we did! And avoid a 2 km detour!!
Looks like they're pretty used to straddlers like us turning up every June hoping to try our luck at TISS admits! The security guards didnt even bat an eyelid as they told us where to go. Once we went in were given our tokens after we paid for 2 days stay and told to go to the New Men's Hostel. Which was another climb! TISS is situated on the side of a hill so u either walk up or down to places...the only even ground is inside the buildings.
This is one of the better men's hostel you will come across! The bathrooms were clean [maybe coz we were the first few to arrive 10th i guess] But they had a geyser there!! AND IT WORKED!! That was a major surprise. Now for the shock!
On the bulletin Board at the men's hostel there was this warning about poisonous snakes on campus...cobras, vipers etc!! and they even listed whom to contact for an anti-dote! Im hoping this is a practical joke!! There was a warning about not walking on the grass and to wear shoes and not sandals after dark!! I'm supposed to meet a friend and be back only after dark tonight! If i do not post after this .... i demand to be declared a PG martyr!!
The campus itself is really really beautiful. Both the seniors and the website understated how beautiful this place is. Its real greeney man! That explains the snakes!! But be advised to move around with an umbrella or a cap else u might be a target for aerial manure bombing like urs truly!! Though you might look like an idiot with an umbrella in a campus where u barely see the sun!!
Your not allowed to lock your room doors when you go out so i suggest you leave all fancy paraphrenelia at home. There was this poor soul from Delhi who had come to our room pantin heavily to take rest. He had taken a bus to TISS from the Station and having lost his way eventually turned up and had to lug his baggage all way up initially to get his token and then to the Mens hostel. MY advise ppl...take a taxi...might cost u 200 bucks but if ur a first timer in this city. Just take the taxi and get as far into the campus as u can and just save the hassle! You can save money on other things
The weather they say is hot and humid. I'm coming from Chennai and i find this cool!! But guys not used to humidity might wanna rethink your blazers or suits!
Only crib so far...Though there is an STD booth in campus, i had to walk 1 km to find this net cafe...and this is supposed to be india's commercial capital!!
Thats all for now
Cheers
EDIT: that snake warning was in the new mens hostel campus which is about 100 m from the TISS campus. Its a separate annexure campus which is close though not in the same campus as TISS. So I dunno if the snake warning applies to the main campus! Though im gettin some vicarious pleasure out of relating this msg to ppl who are scared of snakes!! ... Truth be told i am too!!
Day two on the TISS PMIR trip / 06 June 2005 as posted on www.pagalguy.com
After bloggin my experiences on PG yesterday i decided to proceed to Colaba. But not before changin into some shoes! I counted the lamp posts on the way from the gate to the room and thought...dude do you really wanna risk it with a King Cobra, Russell's Viper and a Krait?? [ these were the names listed on the notice board!] And thats when i decided to call their bluff coz u see there are no kraits in india!!
off i went to colaba, which if u see a mumbai map, is at the south end of the city!! crazy man !! and after meeting my friend i waited about an hour for a bus but to no avail....These damn Mumbai buses have nos written in hindi... and i boarded the wrong bus once and was chucked out!! Eventually i decided it was getting too late and they might not lemme back in teh campus!! So Taxi it was and Rs.215/-!! on my post i said take a taxi to TISS from the rly station and save the money elsewhere!! Well this is something you can save on!! Dont Go To Colaba and Stay Late!! ...IDIOT!!
And to compound my feelings of stupidity i came back to realise that there wasnt exactly any curfew time as there were guys who came back even an hour after me and wud refuse to keep their mouth shut in the corridors!!...Dude ppl are trying to sleep u moron!! This a boys hostel who the hell are u trying to show off to??
I caught only 4 hours of sleep last night...Woke up early at 5.30 am and had a jog...It felt really good running up those slopes and no fear of snakes! Got ready and was at the dining hall by 7.45 am and met a few friends. Assembled at the main porch at about 8-45 am. Thats when it hit me...the nos flocking to TISS. The conference hall to which we were directed was overflowing with ppl....i was thinking gosh...10 more days of so many ppl for 30 seats!! all because of overpopulation...and i was cursing all our forefathers while the seniors were giving some gyaan on TISS...Nothing which has not already been said here...so if u follow this thread chill...Take a look at the gals and vice versa!!
From there to the Essay test and apparently only about half the students in most halls had turned up! in my room of 40 ppl there were 25 absentees so only 15!! This was a pattern in most halls with about 50% abstaining!
My topics were
1. Nation States are becoming irrelevant in a global economy.
2. Decentralisation and democracy in India.
3. Can Eco-tourism contribute to Regional Development?
I chose the first topic and wrote only 2 sides in their ruled four side booklet. People wrote a lot more. I dont really know what to make of it, Some of my friends have finished their GD. The choice given was
1.Knowledge generation or practise which is more important to managers?
2. How possible is people participation in development
They had time to interact with their group for 5 mins before the GD and they decided not to make it fish market...so theyve done ok
Ive just come out to post this and have lunch,,,as i said the same net cafe 1 km to your left after u come out of the TISS main gate ...
My GD is at 2.30 pm. I dont know what to make of it. Ive seen the crowd that turned up and not many were very impressive but thats the point. You just need 15 good ppl to come every day to make your life miserable and thats why TISS is so tough.
I'm due for my GD in an hour...adios amigos and wish me luck! I would love to stay for the PI...who wudnt!!
TISS GD/PI exp as posted on www.pagalguy.com on 6th June 2005
What a diff 3 hrs make to a person's mood! I really dont know what to do now. Between now and the next 4-5 hrs when the results come out im left in limbo to brood over whats left now.They dont seem to be repeating GD topics...so whatever you get from me is only worth for practise, at any time there are 4-5 GDs running with the same topic.
My topics were
1.Entrepreneurship or managers what shud be the emphasis of B School education.
2.Should FDI be allowed in indian media
We Chose topic 1. 20 mins and the process of chosing the topic is also included in this 20 mins. There are times when you wonder and wish you had a great GD. And this was close to that. We almost even came to a conclusion. Of the 10 ppl 8 were very robust speakers and only one kept quiet through out. It was a great group with a bunch of good freshers and guys with good work ex.
We were all very active in putting forth our view points but whenever there was a conflict of many ppl speaking at the same time it was immediately resolved. There was no one person in control of the GD . Total of 4 guys and 6 gals. It was one of the best GDs ive participated in. I dont know how they evaluate GD's in TISS but anywhere else at least 6-7 of us wudve made it.
I dont know how to judge myself today, This is one of the very few occasions ive come off a GD not sure of my own performance, I can only twiddle my thumbs and go back and catch some sleep. Im taking an auto back!! ...im too tired!
TISS GD/PI exp as posted on www.pagalguy.com on 7th june 2005
I did not make it to the PI for PMIR... yes it was very disappointing. The results came out around 6.30 pm yesterday. 46 ppl made it to PMIR. None from my GD group. That was what set me thinking. Why? I have been through enough GD's to know that it was a good one, but that didnt fit the pattern of what they were looking for. It was a good aggressive GD but not a fish market. And I felt good about it. If that did not fit the culture of TISS that they were expecting it was too bad for us. But i have no regrets because I am sure it wasnt a reflection of the wonderful ppl in my GD but more on what the institute was looking for.
However, there were others who didnt have a chance. There was a GD in which our very own Thedragonreborn was involved in which they entire grp was out coz of one gal who went ballistic. This after they decided beforehand that they wud have a quiet GD. It took me about an hour to get my bearings right after the result but it wasnt as bad as it might have been 3 days back before i came into TISS. All of u who read this post wouldve guessed i was keen on it! But i met some great ppl here and greater men from PG who i always wanted to meet!
I had a nice dinner with dragon bhai last night. Good man to man discussions! i got out of TISS early this morning. Didnt want to meet the other guys who might have come along for their GD's! You see i wanted to move on! Went to Colaba and now near Gateway of India! Guess what...there are Tiss rejects roaming around Mumbai all around right now!! Met two of them there! and one standing and smirking reading this post right next to me!!
Life moves on. I have no regrets not getting into TISS. You might start to have an idea why when you begin to see their presentation! If anyone comes here to TISS plz do try to meet vinayshende if he is free. He is a great guy and inspite of how busy he was he really tried to help me out. I owe him one for that! Some great senior you guys who wud get in have there! Too bad i couldnt meet Mystique! But kya pata...its a small world!
TISS GD/PI exp on www.pagalguy.com on 9th june 2005
My Final TISS Post!
The other day after posting my experiences on PG i went to watch "Baunty Aur Baubli" at Regal Cinema!! It was a hilarious movie for Tiss rejects!! My friend and i Totally had fun!! There was so much identification with the main protoganists! Lets face it...not all of you who come to mumbai and go for the GD will get thru to the PI...but go watch this movie...its the best antidote!! This is the first time i watched Amitabh Bachchan in a theatre...wow! His opening scene in the movie is really amazing!
But the tobewatched part of the movie is the song is Aaja Udiye and Rani Mukherjee's costume in that!! My friend and I almost got thrown out of the theatre coz we were laughing so hard!! Ramanathan should thank his lucky stars there werent women dressed like that at TISS!! ...Rani mukherjee has some baby fat on her midriff and she gyrated there were layers on undulating fat moving like unceasing waves! At that moment and time Tiss was a distant memory....After the movie...i broke my vegetarian vows and tried some chicken bhel at a small joint opposite Regal...It was Good!!
Then we went to Marine Drive and to near that spot where that gal got raped in the police booth and my friend decided to do her bit for Women in mumbai and started adam teasing every man who went by!! At that moment and time i realised why she didnt get into TISS!! Another realisation was that she might provoke someone and since i was the guy there...mujhe maar kanne padenge!!
So out of there back to Navy Nagar to take a bus back to TISS and again no bus...this time i was determined not to pay out 215/- on a taxi! So a bus to VT and train to Dadar then to Kurla and then to Govindi and finally a rick to TISS....total 23.50/-...Thats mumbai for you....you can have fun at 10% of the cost and it took me only 30 mins over the one hour in taxi!!
I heard 61 ppl got selected that day! Ramanathan and Suhail Khan included...Good luck to them and hope they make it! I heard on Day 2 it was the opposite criteria the selected ppl were the more dominant ones in the GD! and i also heard that 61 is the largest number ever for PI's almost unheard off!
Next day morning i was out of TISS at 7 am after saying bye to dragon bhai...You might notice i stayed the extra day at tiss...well i thank tiss for that! But leave as soon as possible guys! I reached NavyNagar and put my Bag at my friends place and we headed to Bandra. Carter Road. Cafe Coffee Day... Great view. They had this bigger than life poster of Bipasha Basu there...i sat staring at it for 2 hrs while my friend was trying to analyse a couple having a fight at the next table! ...That was fot the First time we went somewhere in mumbai and didnt meet any tiss rejects!! Maybe we didnt recognise them! Then went to Crepe Station around the corner for lunch...that is dino morea's restaurant and we did meet morea!
Off to colaba and Barista there...final adieu to mumbai before i headed back to NavyNagar and picked up my bags and left for the station! It was a much better journey back to Chennai as most of south india seemed to be under a cloud cover! Im home now!
Thank you all for your best wishes... Someone said let the force with me...thank you mate but the Force is Always with Me! I head off to Delhi this month end to start my MHROD course in Delhi School of Economics. Good luck to all aspirants. Im sure we will be in touch.This is my last post on this thread. Its been great fun on this TISS thread! Helped me boost my post count on PG and also find some really good friends on PG. Im thankful for that.
God Bless.
The First One
Hey this aint my first ever blog...in fact i used to blog elsewhere but now am transferring it here as my old site wasnt satisfactory. So here we go!
I wud transfer some of my earlier posts on my old blog to here.
My Bangalore Road Trip!
29/05/2005 to 31/05/2005
Well i had my first road trip to Bangalore! With my dad and in my omni!! 345 kms and Bangalore here i come!!
5.20 am 29/05/2005 : Start from home
6.15 am : Sriperambadur, Cross Rajiv Gandhi's memorial...beautiful site in a mad area....road under construction and very much an industrial town if u can call it that
8.00 am: enter the Golden Quadrilateral Route of the NH 46 Chennai Blore highway. For the most part one side of the road was closed for finishing work.
8.15: Begins to rain.Thank God i had replaced the wipers before i left.
8.30: Dad suggests we detour via NH6 from the current road and go via Ranipet and Chitoor
10.00: Well the road was good...coz traffic was light but anyday i wud take NH 46 when it is complete
10.15: Man the Bangalore side of the road had some stretches that went straight as arrow for quite a few kms not a bend nor a porthole
11.00: Reach outskirts of Bangalore. Dad tries to contact his friend unsuccessfully.
11.05: Call Rohit. Tell him where we are he has no clue. He says ask for Manipal hospital
11.08: Call Rohit. We realise we're close to his place.
11.15: Take a wrong turn and a detour of 2kms. First lesson in Bangalore. Lot of one ways if u take a wrong turn be prepared for the extra miles!!
11.30: Reach Rohits place. Drop of luggage.
11.55: Reach Dad's hotel and check him in
Ok here starts my actual experiences in Bangalore. I was supposed to meet up with Rohit for lunch so we decide that he can pick me up from Mallya Hospital. We head to this restaurant called Nandini's Palace. Then we had to go find a florist. That done an ATM...apparently it seems to be quite a hunt to find an ATM that accepts your card in Bangalore! Strange!
Then we split and i hiked back to St.Marks Road where i had to meet a few friends at 4pm. Shravya turned up first and eventually Amit and Shyan! And guess what...Javagal Srinath was at Barista too at that time!! He was constantly approaced for autographs and he kept obliging even though he was meeting up with his friends!
Met up the BJ and Rohit came to pick us both up. Rohit wanted to interview Srinath as he had his recording kit with him. Anything to impress his boss in the first month of his new job!!
We headed bak to Barista at the Leela Palace and bitched about women and relationships while BJ with his new found love preferred silence! Headed back to Rohit's place and then to this pub called Sins where the " Bombay Rocker" was performing...these guys turned up late and had to wait for a couple of hours amidst all the smoke women and booze!! Was interested in the 2nd category and yes bangalore is better than chennai! The concert itself was fun but i wudnt wanna go into detail about their musical abilities!!
Headed off for a late night dinner with Rohit, Saggy and Darius...the latter two being the most famous RJ's in Bangalore! Had great dinner at this place called Paramount...dunno where! But apparently it opens up real late in the night.
There was this really hilarious moment when Saggy called Rohit and Rohit says "Ya Saggy tell me" and BJ gawks at rohit wide-eyed for 10 mins and says "Dude was that Shaggy, the singer?!" ...Hehehehe im sure BJ is never gonna hear the end of this one!!
Day Two:
Got to dads room and we went shopping at National Market. 1 Fake Nike's and one fake Tommy Hilifiger tracks...lets see how many days they last?!! En route managed to have my brush with the Bangalore Police for jumping a traffic signal! Gosh i felt so stupid!Then went back to the hotel and i decided to take the car with me to Rohit's place. I didnt know the route but managed to find his place without trouble! Got there by 2.15 om...Surfed the net a while...slept a long while ...watched TV!! man i got to see cable after a long long time!! I saw Friends!!!
Rohit came back about 7.30 ish and Asha too had come with him! Asha was his classmate in school and my senior! So we talked a while and then headed out for dinner to this Chettinad restaurant and then we moved to this icecream shop called CornerHouse! Good Icecream!! From there for a long drive and back home after dropping Asha!
Here's an anectode! a gal asks me to meet her in bangalore and gives me directions to her house...Cut left at the tree![lady blore is full of trees] then she tells me to take the last right on the road...now how am i supposed to know which is the last right? Go to the end of the damn main road and backtrack??
ok the return trip dad me leave at 10.30 am...we decide to take the hosur route this time. It was a really crowded exit off bangalore and initially we regretted it. I think that set us back by atleast half an hour. But once we were out of the suburbs it was a real good drive. Beautiful scenery and great road. We did about 94kms to the hour between 12pm and 1pm.
Then once we hit Vanniyambadi it all went bad. The road construction wasnt complete and most of the way for the next hour only one side of the road was complete. And to top it all a railway level crossing. All in all 44 kms the next one hour. Though patches of road were good after that for the most part cudnt match the high avg speed of before. However i believe it will all be good once the roads are complete and i wud give them about 5-6 months to do that.
There was rain too for quite a stretch.Good. Coz it cooled down my already worn tyres! and saved me from the afternoon heat! The rain stopped just after we crossed Vellore. About 30 kms from Chennai i had my own Salman Khan moment when i had my lil accident! More on that on the next entry. Reached Chennai at 4.30 pm. 6 hours 370 kms and one dead cow!! not bad for an omni i would say!!
My Salman Khan Days
Now why are cows so stupid? Cant these MooMoos understand that those black stretch of land which has no grass on it is meant for humans to ply themselves on their toys? those are called roads mr.MooMoo and though u might confuse their color with the muck u like to bathe in.. lay off pal...its human territory go shit elsewhere!
You know humans are taught in school to look on both sides of the road before crossing ah but since god realised he made u so stupid he gave u eyes on the two sides of ur head so even if u forget to look both ways u just cant miss the damn vehicles coming towards you.
And inspite of seeing them if u think you can outrun them you stupid moron! You deserve to be eating grass and nothing else! I wish you guys watched TV ! I wudve played you a video of what happens when you cross the damn highway and try to outrun a truck! A lesson for all you stupid cows out there.
Coup De Vache!
Well this is what happened. About 30 kms from Chennai, I was beginning to overtake a truck at about 85 kmph when a stupid cow crossed in front of the truck, and needless to say he hit him. And the cow got thrown onto my path and with a reaction time of less than a second the only thing that slowed down my car was the cow itself stuck under the chasis. After dragging it for another 3-5 metres i finally pulled through clear over it...Stupid Damn cow. Maybe he wanted to commit suicide?! Wasnt getting quality grass i suppose!
But one thing that really stuck me was how much of a dummy he looked like as he got thrown in front of me...I always thought that the cow they showed on Me Myself and Irene looked very fake but this one looked just as fake! It was like a stuffed doll doing a sommersault and the next thing is I see him dead on the rearview mirror.
Thank God that was a stupid cow and not a stupid man.
I wud transfer some of my earlier posts on my old blog to here.
My Bangalore Road Trip!
29/05/2005 to 31/05/2005
Well i had my first road trip to Bangalore! With my dad and in my omni!! 345 kms and Bangalore here i come!!
5.20 am 29/05/2005 : Start from home
6.15 am : Sriperambadur, Cross Rajiv Gandhi's memorial...beautiful site in a mad area....road under construction and very much an industrial town if u can call it that
8.00 am: enter the Golden Quadrilateral Route of the NH 46 Chennai Blore highway. For the most part one side of the road was closed for finishing work.
8.15: Begins to rain.Thank God i had replaced the wipers before i left.
8.30: Dad suggests we detour via NH6 from the current road and go via Ranipet and Chitoor
10.00: Well the road was good...coz traffic was light but anyday i wud take NH 46 when it is complete
10.15: Man the Bangalore side of the road had some stretches that went straight as arrow for quite a few kms not a bend nor a porthole
11.00: Reach outskirts of Bangalore. Dad tries to contact his friend unsuccessfully.
11.05: Call Rohit. Tell him where we are he has no clue. He says ask for Manipal hospital
11.08: Call Rohit. We realise we're close to his place.
11.15: Take a wrong turn and a detour of 2kms. First lesson in Bangalore. Lot of one ways if u take a wrong turn be prepared for the extra miles!!
11.30: Reach Rohits place. Drop of luggage.
11.55: Reach Dad's hotel and check him in
Ok here starts my actual experiences in Bangalore. I was supposed to meet up with Rohit for lunch so we decide that he can pick me up from Mallya Hospital. We head to this restaurant called Nandini's Palace. Then we had to go find a florist. That done an ATM...apparently it seems to be quite a hunt to find an ATM that accepts your card in Bangalore! Strange!
Then we split and i hiked back to St.Marks Road where i had to meet a few friends at 4pm. Shravya turned up first and eventually Amit and Shyan! And guess what...Javagal Srinath was at Barista too at that time!! He was constantly approaced for autographs and he kept obliging even though he was meeting up with his friends!
Met up the BJ and Rohit came to pick us both up. Rohit wanted to interview Srinath as he had his recording kit with him. Anything to impress his boss in the first month of his new job!!
We headed bak to Barista at the Leela Palace and bitched about women and relationships while BJ with his new found love preferred silence! Headed back to Rohit's place and then to this pub called Sins where the " Bombay Rocker" was performing...these guys turned up late and had to wait for a couple of hours amidst all the smoke women and booze!! Was interested in the 2nd category and yes bangalore is better than chennai! The concert itself was fun but i wudnt wanna go into detail about their musical abilities!!
Headed off for a late night dinner with Rohit, Saggy and Darius...the latter two being the most famous RJ's in Bangalore! Had great dinner at this place called Paramount...dunno where! But apparently it opens up real late in the night.
There was this really hilarious moment when Saggy called Rohit and Rohit says "Ya Saggy tell me" and BJ gawks at rohit wide-eyed for 10 mins and says "Dude was that Shaggy, the singer?!" ...Hehehehe im sure BJ is never gonna hear the end of this one!!
Day Two:
Got to dads room and we went shopping at National Market. 1 Fake Nike's and one fake Tommy Hilifiger tracks...lets see how many days they last?!! En route managed to have my brush with the Bangalore Police for jumping a traffic signal! Gosh i felt so stupid!Then went back to the hotel and i decided to take the car with me to Rohit's place. I didnt know the route but managed to find his place without trouble! Got there by 2.15 om...Surfed the net a while...slept a long while ...watched TV!! man i got to see cable after a long long time!! I saw Friends!!!
Rohit came back about 7.30 ish and Asha too had come with him! Asha was his classmate in school and my senior! So we talked a while and then headed out for dinner to this Chettinad restaurant and then we moved to this icecream shop called CornerHouse! Good Icecream!! From there for a long drive and back home after dropping Asha!
Here's an anectode! a gal asks me to meet her in bangalore and gives me directions to her house...Cut left at the tree![lady blore is full of trees] then she tells me to take the last right on the road...now how am i supposed to know which is the last right? Go to the end of the damn main road and backtrack??
ok the return trip dad me leave at 10.30 am...we decide to take the hosur route this time. It was a really crowded exit off bangalore and initially we regretted it. I think that set us back by atleast half an hour. But once we were out of the suburbs it was a real good drive. Beautiful scenery and great road. We did about 94kms to the hour between 12pm and 1pm.
Then once we hit Vanniyambadi it all went bad. The road construction wasnt complete and most of the way for the next hour only one side of the road was complete. And to top it all a railway level crossing. All in all 44 kms the next one hour. Though patches of road were good after that for the most part cudnt match the high avg speed of before. However i believe it will all be good once the roads are complete and i wud give them about 5-6 months to do that.
There was rain too for quite a stretch.Good. Coz it cooled down my already worn tyres! and saved me from the afternoon heat! The rain stopped just after we crossed Vellore. About 30 kms from Chennai i had my own Salman Khan moment when i had my lil accident! More on that on the next entry. Reached Chennai at 4.30 pm. 6 hours 370 kms and one dead cow!! not bad for an omni i would say!!
My Salman Khan Days
Now why are cows so stupid? Cant these MooMoos understand that those black stretch of land which has no grass on it is meant for humans to ply themselves on their toys? those are called roads mr.MooMoo and though u might confuse their color with the muck u like to bathe in.. lay off pal...its human territory go shit elsewhere!
You know humans are taught in school to look on both sides of the road before crossing ah but since god realised he made u so stupid he gave u eyes on the two sides of ur head so even if u forget to look both ways u just cant miss the damn vehicles coming towards you.
And inspite of seeing them if u think you can outrun them you stupid moron! You deserve to be eating grass and nothing else! I wish you guys watched TV ! I wudve played you a video of what happens when you cross the damn highway and try to outrun a truck! A lesson for all you stupid cows out there.
Coup De Vache!
Well this is what happened. About 30 kms from Chennai, I was beginning to overtake a truck at about 85 kmph when a stupid cow crossed in front of the truck, and needless to say he hit him. And the cow got thrown onto my path and with a reaction time of less than a second the only thing that slowed down my car was the cow itself stuck under the chasis. After dragging it for another 3-5 metres i finally pulled through clear over it...Stupid Damn cow. Maybe he wanted to commit suicide?! Wasnt getting quality grass i suppose!
But one thing that really stuck me was how much of a dummy he looked like as he got thrown in front of me...I always thought that the cow they showed on Me Myself and Irene looked very fake but this one looked just as fake! It was like a stuffed doll doing a sommersault and the next thing is I see him dead on the rearview mirror.
Thank God that was a stupid cow and not a stupid man.
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