Day 1 - Officially an ISBian

To say that this has been long due would be an understatement. I have been thinking about writing this entry for almost six months now. But whenever I sat down to write, the lazy me quickly navigated to Facebook or YouTube. To be completely honest, I couldn’t have written this in my initial few days because of two reasons. One, I was still getting used to the place and was still exploring, and two, and more important one, I did not get much of free time.

At this point, let me explicitly tell you, in case you haven’t figured out already, what I am talking about. I write this to share about a very important day of my life – April 19, 2014, the day I officially became an ISBian (Students and Alumni of Indian School of Business).

The credit for introducing me to ISB goes to my dad. He had told me about the school much before I was even eligible to apply. Having waited several years and spent considerable amount of time on the admission essays and interview preparations, I was really anxious about the results. Here, I must mention that I had already resigned from my job and was serving my notice period. An unfavourable result would have meant that I would be jobless as well as admission-less. 

On the afternoon of November 14, 2013, the notification light on my phone blinked and at the same moment my heart skipped a beat. All I could see in the notification was that I had received an e-mail from Indian School of Business. I closed my eyes, said my prayers, and mustered up all the courage to open the mail – “ISB Admission Offer” – read the subject. The subject itself was enough and in my excitement, I didn’t even open the mail. Celebrations were in order. 

I had almost two entire months off before the school started and I made full use of the time. My activities led to me gaining quite a lot of weight and my sleep bank over flowing with excess sleep hours. My dad used to joke – “Sleep all you want now. You will surely miss it once the school starts”. Well, in hindsight, it wasn’t really a joke! 

Cut to April 18, 2014, T – 1 day to officially becoming an ISBian. I had reached Hyderabad a day in advance and had checked-in into a nearby hotel. Needless to say, I couldn’t get any sleep on the night of April 18, as I was really excited for the next day. 

I had already finished the online formalities on the new admits portal before reaching Hyderabad. On the night of April 18, we got our room allotment mail from ISB and the local WhatsApp/Telegram/Facebook groups went crazy with people trying to figure out who their quad mates were. I was allocated a room in Student Village 4 (hostels in ISB are called Student Villages). 

The next day I had an early breakfast and headed straight to the ISB campus. I remember reaching at around 10:00 am although my registration slot was for 1:00 pm. I was guided directly to my SV and I checked-in into my room. Check-in process itself was pretty smooth and the housekeeping staff helped me with my luggage. Since I had a couple of hours to spare, I decided to unpack my bags. This was definitely the best decision I took that day because once the Orientation week (O-week) activities start, there is no free time at all and you would only be able to unpack after a week. 

I was amazed by how nicely the entire registration process was organized. Everything was arranged in such a manner that although there were 500+ people to be registered, there was hardly any delay or bottle-neck (Wow, I actually managed throwing in an operations jargon). All credit must be given to the folks from Class of 2014 who had put in a lot of effort to ensure that we didn’t face any difficulty. At any other place you would expect the process to take around a couple of hours, considering the number of formalities that we had to take care of. However, it took us just about an hour and never did we feel lost. Within a few hours of being at ISB, I was already impressed. 

During the registration, we were also given the schedule for the O-week and our section t-shirts. I must say that at first the schedule did look a bit daunting. However, what stood out in the entire process for me was the last step. I still remember the incident clearly. There was alum who said two things. The first was more of a question – 

Alum (A): Do you like parties? 

Me: Yes, of course

A: Great! See you at the Back-to-School party tonight! 

I was delighted by this conversation. I thought to myself, “Wow, a party on the first day itself!” 

Before I could leave, he handed me a sheet of paper which had stuff written all over it and said, “Oh, by the way. This is the case that is due for tomorrow. Ensure that you read this and come to class!”

All I could think of was – “Welcome to MBA!”

We had a small event in the evening where we were formally welcomed into ISB by the alumni and the dean. It was the first time when all 550 of us were standing in the atrium, together. 

The most wonderful feeling? Hearing the alum say – “Welcome to Indian School of Business! You are now a part of the ISB family and are standing in the atrium of one of the best business schools in the country.” The chant – ISB Rocks – filled the air and I am sure all of us had Goosebumps. 

My dream was finally coming true. This was just the first day of what has become a very eventful and transformational journey and I loved every bit of it. 

PS I have deliberately left out few events/activities of Day 1 as I don’t want to spoil the experience for the incoming class by revealing too much!
More on O-week and rest of the journey to follow soon, or may be not. 

Attitude

Allow me to quote Abraham Lincoln, “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters and very welcomed guests, a very good evening.

How many times have we been told that we could have handled a situation differently? How many times have we asked ourselves that if my friend can, why can’t I? How many times has it happened that we have been in exact same situation as our neighbor, but we managed to take control of the situation whereas our neighbor couldn't? If your answer to even one of the questions was more than zero, then I am sure you would have asked yourself, at some point or the other, how could have I handled the situation differently, or why my neighbor couldn't take control of the situation.

The other day, I was walking towards food court, after sitting in an air conditioned cabin for four hours and I was complaining to my friend about how hot it was. At that moment, I saw an elderly person, probably in his fifties, mowing the lawn, and he had a smile on his face. I felt ashamed. Why was it that I was complaining even after sitting in the air conditioned cabin whereas this gentleman had a smile on his face?

This incident stayed with me for a while and I did some soul searching. It brought be to the age old question of whether the glass is half full or half empty.

I once had a friend who was pursuing BE in Electrical engineering. Once, just before an end semester exam, we were sitting and talking, mind you, not studying but talking, he was complaining to me about how the electrical subjects were very difficult. I was just a patient listener at that point of time. Later, when the results were announced, needless to say, my dear friend could not pass the exam and had failed in one of the subjects. After six months, we were having the same discussion again, the only difference being that his exact words were, “Last semester was so easy, and this one is the toughest.” With a slight smile, I asked my friend, brother, you said the same thing six months back! So, what has really happened in these six months? How did the subjects that you found tough then became easy all of a sudden? The subject has not changed, what has changed is your attitude towards the course. The moment you think that it is easy, it becomes easy.

It isn't what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it. It is this thought that changes our whole perspective about anything. It is because of this thought that some people are unhappy and feel that they have lot of worries even though they are driving a Mercedes, whereas some people have a big smile on their face even while balancing their family of four while riding a motorcycle.

Have you, my friend, ever felt that a task you were about to do was a difficult one? And how did you feel after you finished the task? How would you feel, if someone asked you to do the same task again? Once, our attitude towards a job changes, the job itself becomes easy. We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.

Having said that, we have to be realistic as well. We can’t just say that I will jump from the tenth floor and nothing will happen to me or jump into the fire and still be alive. It is true that having a positive attitude helps us conquer most of our fears and we can achieve things which we had just dream of earlier, but the same attitude can sometimes cause immense problems as well. This attitude when misplaced, can lead to overconfidence and history is filled with examples when great empires have been destroyed because the emperor became over confident. Hence, it is very important to know where to draw the line and not get carried away. Rest assured, I feel it is right to say that if your motives are noble and your attitude is correct, no one can stop you from achieving your target!

I read this story about a 94 year young lady who everyone described as a delightful, cheerful and positive person.

One day her friends asked her, "What is the secret of your happiness?" She replied, "The secret is a very simple one. It is my enthusiasm for life. And because I always think positive, I am positive".

She paused for a while and then added, "Of-course I owe a lot of my positive thinking to my boyfriends."

"Boyfriends?" They asked her in disbelief, "Do you have boyfriends at this age?"

"You bet I do," she replied with a smile. "They are my constant faithful companions to this day!"

"How come you never told us before? Do tell us about them," her friends pleaded.

"I get up each morning with the help of my first boyfriend. He is Grat Etude (Gratitude). I go for a walk with my second boyfriend, Arthur Ritis (Arthritis). He has been my constant companion for the last 30 years. My evenings are spend with my third boyfriend Ben Gay (Bengay: an analgesic cream for joint pains), who has such a warm and soothing presence."

All her friends couldn't help admiring her attitude to life. They realized that the reason she was so cheerful and young at heart was that she had embraced all her aches and pains as friends, and because she had stopped complaining and resisting her condition, she lived her crippling life with ease.

Truly, the only disability in life is a bad attitude.

Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

I would like to leave you with a thought; I quote the Father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi,

“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”

So my friends, I hope when we walk out of this room today, we will take a deep breath and tell ourselves, “When life gives us lemons, we will make lemonade out of them”

Mr. Toastmaster, over to you…

Dreams

An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and guests, a very good evening. I request you all to close your eyes for a few seconds and let your thoughts wander. Think about the dreams you have had and if you have followed them. I am sure few of us are thinking about what we wanted to be when we were kids while a few of us our thinking about our dream girl or girls. It is safe to say that all of us, at some point in our life, have had dreams, some big while some small, some which we followed while others which we just left.

As a child, I used to dream. Well, mostly because I had nothing better to do. I used to dream about jungles and castles, about horses and airplanes. I remember that I used to tell myself that I would grow up to become an astronaut which later changed to becoming a traffic police man. I could sit at the same place and stare at the wall and be in my own little world, far away from reality and at the end of it, it made me happy. Though I was not physically strong and my resources were limited, my imagination was not!

Then the inevitable happened. I started to grow up. I was soon caught up in the “realities” of life. The only thing that I could see when I closed my eyes now was sin theta and cos theta. There was hardly any time to dream! It was as if someone had pinched me and I had suddenly snapped back to reality.

It was only after I was done with my graduation did I get the time to sit and think. The first thing that I did was I looked back at how my life has shaped up. I tried to recollect what all I used to dream about and whether I have lived those dreams or not. On analyzing, I realized that I had forgotten all about my dreams and I had stopped dreaming all together. At that point, I asked myself why I had stopped dreaming. Why could I now not think beyond a week? Why was I putting all my energy into achieving my short term goals? I had become so consumed by my daily activities that I did not get any time to think and even if I did, I would end up thinking about what I did that day or how I am going to survive the next day. The more I thought, the more I got confused.

I could come up with two main reasons regarding why people stop dreaming. Firstly, I feel it is the fear of failure that stops us. As we start to grow up, we build a wall around ourselves; a wall which curbs our thoughts because it puts in us the fear of failure.  We are so scared of failure that we don’t pursue our dreams and once we stop pursuing them, we stop having new ones.

Secondly, it could be the fear of being laughed at. I remember, when I was a kid, I used to tell people that I dream that I will fly one day and people used to call me cute. I am sure if I say the same thing today, I will be laughed at. It is this fear of being embarrassed that stops us from letting our mind wander.

So should we let these two fears dictate our lives? All the inventions have not taken place over night. Just imagine what would have happened if Graham Bell did not dream about telephones because he was scared of failure or Wright brothers did not dream about airplanes because they were scared that they would be laughed at. Any successful story has a long history of failures. All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. We should not let the failures stop us; instead we should treat them as learning experiences.

I would like to share an anecdote that I had heard long back. A group of students visited Mr. Monty’s horse ranch on an education trip. He narrated a story to them. Once a kid was asked to write a paper on what he wanted to do when he grew up. He stayed up the entire night and wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red ‘F’. The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. There’s no way you could ever do it. Then the teacher added, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade. Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He stated, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream”. It was only later that they realized that the boy was none other than Mr. Monty himself. He had followed his dream and today owned a 200-acre ranch.

A dream doesn't become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.

To conclude, I would like to say, let us all try to break down the wall that we have created around us. Let us make a promise to ourselves that we will let our mind wander because without dreams we are no better than machines.  

Believe in love. Believe in magic. Hell, believe in Santa Clause. Believe in others. Believe in yourself. Believe in your dreams. If you don't, who will?

Mr. Toastmaster, over to you…

The Comeback

Wow! I do not even remember the last time that I had signed in to blogspot but I was definitely surprised to see the new look. Well I guess it has been a while and like everything around us, blogspot seems to have changed. Also when I look back at my last post, I realize that it was around a year back, the same time when we all were leaving the cozy and comfortable college life and talking a plunge into the "real" world! 

This is definitely not the comeback like the ones which our actors make very often these days. However, I hope that this time around I manage to post something regularly and do not disappear like few celebrities who's only claim to stardom is a cameo in a B grade movie.

Time is relative, well I never understood what this statement really meant. I always assumed that people say few things cause they either want to sound intellectual or have some deeply complicated theory which "less learned" people, like me, can never understand. I look at the date stamp of my last post and it reads July 10, 2011. I am still shocked that it has been more than an year and the thought of writing something had not crossed my mind for long. Was I too busy with my work? Well, no more busy than any one else. Was I too lazy? No more than how I was in college. So I was trying to figure out what stopped me for so long and I couldn't really think of anything as such. 

The past one year has been eventful. We graduated, which, frankly speaking is a very big deal for a few of us, got involved in ours jobs, distances increased and so did our phone bills and now everyone seems to be more or less "settled". A very common line which comes up in almost all the conversations that I have these days is, "oh, college was so much better" or to my surprise, I have even heard "training was so much better!" Well, frankly speaking, good or bad, like time, is relative. However, there must be a logical explanation to why all of us feel the same. One thing that I could think of was that we now have responsibilities. We have to defend our actions and realize their consequences are far worse than just "a suspension". I guess somewhere, deep down in our hearts, we still want to be kids, far from complexities of decision making. As I jokingly say, "Life was much simpler when all that we had to decide was whether to miss the first internals, or the second or as in some of our cases, both!"

When I look back at the year gone by, I realize that it has not been as bad as we make it sound. Agreed that we faced few difficulties and had to make tough choices, but it was the year when we earned our first paycheck. It was the year where we grew emotionally (some of us even horizontally). It was the year which made us more mature, in which we applied all the "life skills" that we had gathered right from our childhood. It was the year that taught us that we can survive outside our comfort zone even if none of the familiar faces are around us. Today, when I think of it, I am actually surprised that I did not realize that it has been an year since we have been working. The time did fly by, the same way it did when I was in school, the same way it did when I moved to Delhi, the same way it did when I was in college or the same way that it does every time when I go home.

I would just like to leave you with a thought that struck me when I was writing this post, if time really is relative and the year gone by was a tough one, shouldn't it have taken "longer" for it to pass?

Hoping for "faster" years ahead!!! Signing off...

The Transition

Well to start with I would like to say that, don't let the title fool you at all!!! I have already written a couple of blogs about the change from college life to the "professional" one and as I sit down to write this one, my intentions are totally different (WARNING: I may end up saying the same thing). As I sit here, at my home today, jobless and useless for past couple of months, I have had the time to think, which by the way few people complain that I do a lot! I have the benefit of hindsight. 

Most of us have already received our final semester mark sheet and the others are in the process of getting theirs. Soon the university will have a convocation and we will be officially declared as "engineers". This thought has unsettled me.

One day, I was just sitting at my home, lazing around, no worries, not tension and then some one asked me when will I come back to Patna next. I did not know how to answer that question because I din't have an answer. Earlier it was so easy to say summer/winter vacation but it struck me then that there are going to be no more summer/winter vacations. I would not say that its a bad felling all together, on one hand I am happy that I am going to be earning now, the whole idea of being independent is fantastic while on the other hand the idea of things changing so drastically is little frightening. So I though and I looked back and this blog is the result of that process. 

First year of college is always accompanied with excitement. There is a transition from school to college. In your school you were the senior most and now all of a sudden you are like a puppy lost in the crowd, left out there to fend for himself. I am sure college life is one thing which everyone looks forward too. First year was filled with getting used to the place and meeting new people. You had to brave the rains and then sit and listen to the lectures and also get used to the accent. I remember how everything sounded Greek initially, well not that we were not interested but how to you cope up when "M" is pronounced as Yuuummmm and "N" as Yeeenn. You make loads of friends in your initial days, some stay with you while you just move a little away from few. First year went in no time and before I realized I had loads on my hand.

Second year was the time when we moved into our respective branches. Our one big section was divided into smaller ones. It was this year that we cemented the relations we had formed and made a few new ones. You don't have any kind of tension in the second year, placements are still couple of years away and MBA is just a word that sounds good in news. Two of my friends, Rahul Sharma a.k.a Lallu and Jerry had already shifted out and it was at their place that we had the first house party. One hell of a night of which i still have some vivid recollection. Sidharth Singh a.k.a Sid (though my personal favorite is honey singh) graduating from boy to man and Mohit Morarka a.k.a Muru dancing like a fool with his broken arm (he always had one part of his body in plaster at all times) were the high points of the night. There was also this event of Abhishek Roy a.k.a Roy leaving us in the middle of the road and taking lift in a "shared" auto to get some stuff and never returning back. I remember how much Rohit Pandey a.k.a RP cursed him that day. So second year went in exploration which also included a couple of road trips. I say only couple of road trips cause at that time only Rohit Kumar (Roh) had a bike. So every time we planned something, we had to make like hundred phone calls to arrange for transportation. In class, Piyush (Poppa), Sid, Sarthak (Sexy), Divya, Saumya, Madi ensured that there was never a dull moment but then they were in a different section, in our section we had Mayur (MJ), Toshu, Roh to ensure we had all the entertainment required to cope up with the "difficult and tiring (read: boring)" course. Lot of times it used to end up on MJ, Toshu and me being on one side and taking Roh's case. 

Third year was the time when all of us moved out from hostel into "our own" place. We even got more vehicles and naturally the road trips increased. Personally for me it will always be a big year as I got a car, thanks to Papa and Kushal. Parents generally have this apprehension that once their kids leave hostel they are bound to get "spoilt". This made me laugh cause I seriously could not figure out how much more can we be possibly be spoilt. Jokes apart most of us did better academically once we shifted out. It was also the time when we had more number of parties and the secretary of our building was a constant nuisance. Third year was marked by people doing all sort of things. The definition of fun was changed and just when you thought this is it, everyone said, "bring it on". People throwing up in bathrooms, dancing till late, laughing for no reason. 

The beginning of the final year was a very unusual one. My brother, Abhinav, had decided to join MIT and I was to come with him to Manipal, full twenty days before my course was scheduled to start. To my relief I had MJ and Poppa for company there besides RP, Jong and Roy. Till date when Poppa and me sit together we end up talking about "those twenty days" at least once! Well I am sure Poppa would agree that this is not an appropriate forum to discuss those days. Final year saw us touching new heights in every aspect. We did all that one could possibly think of and before we realised placement season was upon us! The first company to visit the campus was Delloite. Only a few of us got into that! The placement season for us, "less intelligent" ones, opened with EMC. Morarka, got into it and gave us a reason to be happy! It was followed by Sid's Citrix! I remember us shouting "Sidhhhhaaarth Singh Sidddhhhhaaarth Singh" at KC! Soon all of us were placed and we then realised that what every any one might say, we did everything possible there and still ended up with a job in our hand. 

In the middle there were those random/planned trips to Goa. The number of road trips rose. We even played kabbadi at one of the beaches. Saraf's one liners kept us going even on the worst possible days. 

Today, when I pick up my phone to call any one I have to ask my self if he will be in office or not? The transition, so far, has been a smooth one. People have more or less settled down and have become comfortable with their new life. I just hope this is not the silence before the storm and that we continue to be what we have been! 

Cheers and Good luck!

Social cause or a political gimmick

I am not a political guru, nor am I an expert on social causes or rallies. I haven’t even been a part of a cause. I don’t support or oppose the concept of rallies or protest which are organized these days in India. I have not voted even once in my life. My experience might be very limited. However, I do consider myself to be a responsible citizen. I have no doubt that I love my country and understand the problems that it faces. I somewhat understand how things work here. I feel as patriotic when I hear the national anthem as anyone of you would feel. India winning the cricket world cup was as happy a moment for me as it was for you. However, having said all this, I look at my country; I wonder is this how our Father dreamt of it as? Is this what Bhagat Singh gave his life for? When Jawaharlal Nehru said, “At the stroke of mid night hour, when the world sleeps, India shall awake to life and freedom”, did he mean this?

Democracy seems to be the most loved and loosely used word these days. People can do anything these days in the name of democracy. You are not happy with the government – protest, you are not happy with your employer – go on a strike, you are not happy with the marks awarded to you by the board – shout slogans, after all you are living in a democracy, that too the largest one, so you have the right to protest.

It’s true that right to protest is one of the basic rights in democracy. Democracy, after all is, “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Everyone should get a fair chance to say what they feel. After all, the entire purpose of democracy is defeated if we can not speak our mind out. Democracy, in other words, gives us freedom. Freedom to express ourselves, freedom to live our lives the way we want to and freedom to do what we please but of course within legal limits. It is not wrong to say that today democracy is probably one of the best gifts that we could have got. We can say that we are gifted to be born in a democratic country. Right from the time we are born, the constitution assures us, at least theoretically, that we will not be oppressed and are free to have an opinion.

Off late, we have seen a lot of protests being organized at large scale, to either curb the menace of corruption or to bring back the “black” money or just because someone is unhappy with the management of his company. As soon as someone realizes that there is some social problem another person is already protesting for the same. While I am not against the freedom guaranteed to us; we all must understand or at least try to understand if we, as a society, are ready for such a freedom. Are we, in general, responsible enough to carry the load of this freedom and the responsibilities that comes with it on our shoulder?

Today, we like a leader, not for any other reason but just because he is famous and we have been told by our parents and more “informed” peers that he is an honest and true leader. We don’t even stop to ask ourselves what exactly are the values that the leader stands for. If someone asks us, we simply say, “Oh, we believe in him and what he says.” A lot of times we don’t even know what the leader actually says. Since, we live in democracy and are entitled to our opinion; we just make an opinion without even considering various factors. Again, I am not saying that this implies to all of us, but then I am sure you must have come across people or at least heard of them or seen one on TV who are protesting or are part of a large gathering and when you ask them that what exactly are their demands, the best reply that they can come up with is, “Oh, its ‘something’ about XYZ, I don’t have much idea but I know this is a noble cause because my friend told me so and I am here just with him!”

I agree protests are the integral part of democracy. A lot of times we need protests to keep the government in check and get a point across. At times a simple plea or a letter is not enough to get you justice or to ensure that your point is heard. No one ever questioned the candle march for Jessica Lall and the slogan “Justice for Jessica.” However, we as responsible citizens should not misuse this “luxury”. We should be aware of the issue at hand.

I am of the belief that the power to protest should only be exercised by a person when he or she truly believes in something, however major or minor it might be. For every individual the magnitude of the issue varies according to ones need and position. There is nothing wrong in standing for what you believe in and your point should be heard. It is never wrong to stand up for yourself; however one should be responsible enough not to misuse this power.

This power to protest when misused becomes a menace and a tool to cause unrest. It no more remains a just cause but merely a political gimmick. I would just like to ask you one thing, where should we draw the line? When should we stand up and say enough is enough? How do we ensure that we don’t get carried away and end up being on the wrong side? When do we start to say, this is it, you can not gain sympathy and support under the disguise of social welfare? Time has come for each one of us who claim to be a proud Indian to stand up for our beliefs but at the same time make an informed decision. It is only when the people start to separate the good from the bad, genuine from fake and light from dark; will the country rise.

Only when every citizen becomes responsible and worthy enough to carry the “burden” of democracy on his shoulder shall the country rise.

*DISCLAIMER*

There is no intended reference to any person living or dead. Any  such resemblance is purely coincidental. 

Life beyond "everything"

Well it is that time of the year again, the board results have been declared, the college results have been declared, new set of graduates have been introduced to the world and people are ready to face the challenges that lie ahead of them. Some of us are looking forward to it excitedly while others are wondering what will happen.

My last four months have been really hectic and a very learning experience. Some call it as the life from the other side of the fence. In my opinion, once you get to the other side, all of a sudden it strikes you that you are solely responsible for all your actions. All of a sudden you feel that a huge load of responsiblity has been placed on your shoulder. People whom you would have never expected to get serious, become really serious. 

Today, as I sit in my friends' flat and see them pack I realise that this is probably the last time that all of us will be sitting together with absolutely no tension and nothing to worry about. This would probably be the last time that we all will sit together, one guy packing his bag and others just taking his case. 

Time does fly by. While most of my friends will be goin to Pune, there are still few of us who will be scattered here and there. As I sit down to write this blog, a friend enters the room and says that he feels like going somewhere and without thinking twice we just get up and go. 

I still remember how we joined college in first year and all of us were still so raw. As time progressed, bonds were formed. We became like a close knit family. Initially, we had just one bike, Rohit Kumar's avenger, I remember how we used to make calls everywhere to arrange for bikes so that we can have a road trip. Slowly our "collection" grew and we ran out of parking space. The party place shifted from Dollops to Deetee.We had our own "transport manager", Mr. Mayur Jain, who ensured that all of us got back home safely. 

Today, as the time to say good bye comes closer, I hope sometime in future we all can get together and look back at everything we did and laugh about it. Slowly, we all get involved with work and everyone starts their own life. It is weird how lives which at one point looked glued together are going to become independent now. 

Hope to see all you in future and I hope that we can pick up from where we all left. Wishing all of you a lot of luck, love and happiness. Good luck.

Faith - Something that keeps us going even when we know the result

"In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't."  

                                                                                    ~Blaise Pascal

Faith is a personal belief. It is something that has been debated over more number of times than we can probably count; and faith has no one meaning! To a young adolescent, faith is knowing that birds will chirp at stroke of dawn, for a teenager faith is believing that his/her friends will be there for him at school today, for someone in college faith is probably believing in the fact that his friends will put 'proxy' for him; for a father faith might be knowing that his son will make him proud one day! Faith in a very general sense is believing.

All of us, knowingly or unknowingly, have faith. Whenever, anyone is in any trouble we hear the near and dear ones say, "have faith in yourself", and sometimes thats enough to give us the courage to face anything. So I often find myself asking this question that what is faith? Is it simply a feeling that needs to be realized or is it a belief in some higher power. By higher power I don't refer to God in particular, for a kid, his father or mother is the higher power.

We have countless examples from past to show us how powerful faith can be. Many battles have been won and lost based on faith. It is said that true defeat occurs when a person succumbs to the situation and accepts defeat, if he still willing to fight, if he is still willing to survive, he has not been defeated. I think this is where faith comes into play. There is a very thin line between giving up and carrying on. I am sure each and everyone of us might have come across a situation more than once in our lives when we would have wanted to give up because it was becoming tougher to carry on. Few of us might have given up while few must have carried on, and I am sure when you look back at it, you can judge for yourself what was the right thing to do.

Having said all this, does faith really give us some special power, some energy? No, faith is just the realization of what we already have. We can not stand on the roof and say that we have faith that we can fly and jump off the roof. If someone even thinks of doing something like that, he himself knows that he is fooling himself, because even if you say that you have faith in such a thing, deep down there will be a seed of doubt. 

Faith and doubt can not exist simultaneously. Faith kills any doubt. It gives us that extra push that is required for us to move ahead, to do something which we are capable of. Of course sometimes faith makes us do things which we never thought we were capable of doing. 

Faith is something you have within yourself. It gets tested a lot of times and the only thing to remember is that come what may, we should not lose faith, we should never deviate from our beliefs. If you believe in your actions then you will realise that your actions have new meanings. 

We all have faith at one point or the other, in one thing or the other. It is not something that we should be ashamed of. It is something that gives us the strength. The moment you let go of faith, you realise that going gets tough no matter how easy the task maybe. So I would like you all to think, and think hard of the times when you have lost faith and how that turned out for you. You will have an answer. I would like to leave you with this thought - 

"As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit."  

                                                                                            ~Emmanuel

August 24, 2010

It was 1st of August, 2007, I joined Manipal Institute of Technology. I still vividly remember that day. Heavy rains and long walks to the lecture halls used to be as cohesive in our lives as the same daily menu of egg curry and 'coconut' chicken! I had heard so much about college life and here I was experiencing it first hand.

Days passed quickly, we were hoping from one set of sessionals to another; jumping between end semester exams and lab tests and before we could even realize; I am done with three years of my course. All of us used to ask ourselves the same question everyday, "How will we manage surviving for four years in this boring dull place?", and yet here I am, today, a student of final year, telling you that 1st August 2007 looks like yesterday.

I was sitting in one of my lectures, listening to everyone around me, of course professor excluded, when the idea for this entry struck me. I am not writing today to tell you about how much fun we had or to complain about college life coming to an end. I guess I have already done that in my last post. Today I am here to write about something different. Something that I have noticed over the past few weeks and something thats got me thinking!

I see my friends, my classmates, even people I do not know, and I feel that they have all somehow woken up from deep slumber! There is something about all of them that tells me that reality has caught up with all of them. Maybe this is what they mean when they say, "the rat race makes us a rat!". All of them have a look of fear and tense on their face. The topic of girls, crushes and alcohol seems to be a thing of past and have been replaced by what few would say, much more serious things like GRE, GMAT etc.

Everyone is either busy with their word lists or trying to configure routers on a simulation. Few have already aced the tests they took scoring 1550 in GRE while others have become Cisco Certified Network Associates (sounds pretty heavy)! Few of them are happy for being certified by Sun as Java programmers; while I sit here in front of my laptop singing praises for them!

I was always under the impression that the last year of college is meant for fun; after all it is supposed to be the last year of your life when you can sit and chat with your friends (or few with their girlfriends/boyfriends) till you pass out on their couch without worrying that you have to wake up early tomorrow or report to your boss. Well chats still happen, but now its mostly about placements, grades, scores and certificates.

All this has got me thinking about where I stand. I have not done any word list or any certification course; I was not even eligible for first few companies that visited my campus for recruitment. I sit back and I think. Where do I fit in? Looking back, these three years have been wonderful. There is nothing about them that i would want to change. Of course I would'nt mind a higher GPA or a few more certificates; but if I had to do it all over again; I would probably do it the same way. 

Was I too casual in my approach? Did I drift away? Did I go wrong somewhere? These are probably the questions that will haunt me and few others like me for sometime. I agree that there have been times when I could have probably been more serious but tomorrow when I look back, I am sure it will bring a smile to my face.

Cheers!!

PS I could not think of an apt title.

To be happy or be sad?? Its coming to an end!!

Day before, 7th of March, 2010, was a very lazy day. I slept through the entire day and when I could not force myself to sleep anymore; I finally decided to rise from my slumber. There used to be a time when the thought of going online used to make you happy; but I tried even that and got bored after thirty minutes. Its then that I met a friend online and we decided to go out somewhere for supper. As we were getting out of the lift, we met another of our friend who decided to give us company.

So three of us debated for sometime, deciding where to go. Finally we could pick a place from the very limited options we had. Oh, but am not writing this blog to tell you how boring my day was, or to complain about the very few eating options that we have here. My purpose to write this blog is something totally different.

We sat down, placed our order and started talking. Initially it was mostly random stuff, how someone hooked up with someone, how the college fest was, or the new hot girl that someone had spotted (lol), but I don't remember how it came up but it hit us suddenly that in another eight to ten months our college life will be over! Trust me when I say this, there was literally a moment's silence as if we were mourning!

Lot of things started to come back to me. People say that college life is one of the best part of your life and to think that it was going to get over was something big. I still remember the day my class twelfth board results had come. I was still deciding that time which college to join. The whole idea about finally going to college was very exciting and I was looking forward to enter a life which everyone has spoken very highly of. I am pretty sure that towards the end of our high school all of us have thought about college life and it has always brought nice good images to us. We have always looked forward to it. Though we have been really sad about the fact that we were leaving school; but still all of us have looked forward to see what college holds in store for us.

I still very clearly remember the first day of my college life. I had just left my parents in Udupi and along with another friend of mine was taking a rickshaw back to Manipal when we got a call from another friend warning us that seniors were looking out for freshers and ragging them (which turned out to be a false warning). The call did scare us and I remember getting out of the rick and just running away! Those initial days when we kept asking each other names cause we were still trying to remember them, or getting lost in place as small as Manipal, still discovering something new everyday, those times when we shouted out of frustration cause we had not been given our laptop yet, still trying to find our drinking buddies! It all seems like yesterday!

Its really hard to believe that time flew by so fast. There we were, all new faces, wondering how the place is going to be, how people are going to be, will be manage surviving here; and now we have almost reached the end of our course and I can't even believe that in another year we won't be here. We saw people going from very happy state to sad state; we became a family; shared our happiness and sadness; saw our friends really excited about a girl/guy to those bad break-ups; someone scoring A+ to people getting F; we saw buildings coming up; we saw the entire face of the campus changing and am sure all of us at one point or other cursed this place for being really boring or monotonous or sad. Now, today I want to ask everyone, each and everyone of you if you disagree with me when I say that these have been one of the best three years of our lives! Did anyone of you realize how time just passed by? We cursed the administration for making it so hectic for us; one sessional after the other, then those assignments and lab exams, now all we can think of is, we din't even realize and  it all just went by!

While there is a part of me which is really excited to enter the 'real' world out there, the world that exists on the other side of those college gates, and to experience first hand various things; there is a very big part of me which asks me if I really want this to be over? The various changes, so many of them that we will have to adapt ourselves to, do we really want all that? Changes which are going to be really hard! People who really matter to you, who you really care for, they will go, trying to make a place for themselves. I am in dilemma, should I be happy that finally I will be graduating (hopefully) and will be earning; getting my chance to conquer the world, to make a place for myself out there or should I be sad cause none of this is ever going to come back. Life is never going to be so simple and relaxed! It will always be a race from here if it wasn't already!

Time flies by and those of us who adapt to the changes around us manage to survive and the rest of us just perish. I just hope that while adapting to these changes I don't change, I don't lose my identity and I don't lose the people who matter so much to me. I am lost, I am confused, I don't know what to do, I don't know where to go. All I can do is hope that everyone, each and everyone of you, make a place for yourself out there and we are still together and I still have you and am sure with you by my side, rest of my life will also be like my college life.

Good luck to all of you!!! Cheers!!!

Bottled Up!!

"Tears are words the heart can't express"
I have been caught crying many a times and most of these times I have heard people say, "be a man, don't cry"; what I still don't understand is what's ones sex got to do with ones feelings? Men are expected not to cry and keep their emotions and feelings bottled up inside; and we tend to try our level best to do that. However when words are not enough; when it becomes to much for us to keep it to us anymore; it all comes out in form of tears.


We have been told since time immemorial that we will portray our selves as weak if we cry and that its not manly enough to cry; but what I don't understand is that how can the entire male  specie be expected to turn emotionless. Well wait, before you start hurling abuses at me let me amend my previous sentence a little; the male specie is expected to keep his emotions bottled up inside only when it will portray him as a weak person (read make him cry), otherwise he is expected to show full emotions,feelings and understanding. 


I am sure most of us have come across circumstances when we feel the urge, the need to cry. Its supposed to be one of the best ways to let out your emotions. Its scientifically proven that after you cry, you feel more relaxed. Metaphorically speaking you feel a big load off your chest.


You can close your eyes to the things you don't want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you don't want to feel. Emotions are such a big part of ones life that its almost impossible to be emotionless.  A person without emotions is as good as a dead person. Emotions like any other thing have two sides to it. A happy one and a sad one. How can someone be expected to show the happy side whereas keep the sad one just bottled inside?


Is it fair to ask a person to laugh along with you, to make you laugh and to show it when he is happy but at the same time if he becomes sad he must not as much as tell someone that he is sad? Is it possible to ask a person to show love but at the same time not show hatred? Is it possible to ask a person to care but not feel bad? Is it possible to ask a person to  be cheerful but never be miserable, to be happy but never sad? I think this is as impossible as tossing a coin and hoping that you always get heads. 


I feel if a man cries, he doesn't become less manly. Only a man who is totally comfortable with himself and is courageous enough can cry in front of others. There is nothing wrong in letting go of your emotions in what ever way possible. So all I want to say is that next time you see a guy crying don't say, "Be a man!" or "Guys don't cry! or "You are such a sissy!"; just try to understand that there can be a very deep reason for him to cry; that maybe you should talk to him instead of making fun of him; that maybe all he needs right now is a hug or an ear to hear him, cause you never know the little actions you do can make or break a man. Remember no one other than yourself is going to love you for what you are; people love you for how you make them feel.

My first encounter with working lifestyle

Till now I was living in a very well guarded world. My boarding school in Ajmer was like a fort; I was not allowed to go out neither could someone just come in, so my interaction with the outside world was very limited. Then came my high school in Delhi. It was a place with relaxed rules. I could go in and come out, we had day scholars, we had people from different backgrounds; so my interaction with the outer world increased. Finally came my college. College as we all know, places almost no restriction on you. It is assumed that you are now mature enough to decide what you want, to distinguish right from wrong. Here I chose my set of friends. My life was again going very smoothly. My parents kept meeting my demands for money and I never faced any difficulty as such.

It was towards the end of my fifth semester that the thought, "Life is not a bed of roses", rang a bell. I started to wonder that for me till now life has been more or less 'bed of roses', with only minor hiccups here and there. It is then that I decided I need to experience first hand how life outside the protected walls of my college is going to be. How it is going to be after I am forced out of my comfort zone.

So armed with 126 credits (thats what you get for clearing every subject in your course even if you don't understand a word of it) I went looking for a place which would be kind enough to offer me training. In time of recession, when people are finding it hard to retain their jobs, finding a place willing to offer training was surely a tough task. Here also I was again saved the hard work as a place was found through 'contacts'.

So we(me along with two of my friends) reached Mumbai, all set to experience the working culture, thinking about how I will manage when I have no support! The experience started right from the time we got down at Andheri Railway station. Looking for a place to stay was not only very confusing but a big hole in pocket too. Finally we found a place and decided to stay over there for a night.

The next day we were supposed to go to the head office of the company. The ride in the local Mumbai train is a experience in itself. When I saw the building which housed the office, I was awestruck! It was so huge and beautiful. Excitement took over me. The person I was supposed to meet was very helpful (contradictory to my belief that no one treats college students seeking training nicely)!

My training was to start from the next day. I was supposed to go to Vashi which is very far from where I was staying. Again the local Mumbai train came to our rescue. I admire the person who gave the concept of local train. It would have been so difficult without it!

I was expected to reach office by 10:00 AM and by the time I reached it was already 11:30 AM. On my first day at office I was late by an hour and a half! So you see things didn't exactly started as planned. To be honest I was little scared cause I didn't know what to expect. After waiting for sometime our department head came to us. He was a very helpful person. During the entire course of training he never made us feel as if we were trainees and took really good care of us. We were treated very nicely.

Everyone in office seemed to be busy with their own work. A few of them I guess where even surprised to see three undergraduate students walking in the office. All my fears vanished soon. The next few days were decent enough. Other than the fact that we had to travel more than three hours everyday, everything else went fine.

The entire experience taught me few things. They are :

• Once you go out of college, life is not easy. I saw people working there. They probably reached home late and slept cause they have to wake up again next day cause they can't afford to be late.
• Discipline is a must. You should be disciplined in whatever you do
• If you are good to people, they will be good to you

So friends I would like to say one thing, don't get scared. Go out and have fun. Its not an easy world out there but its not that scary also. Remember who you are and don't get lost in the crowd. 

Cheers!!

..Going towards the sea bed..

"Two roads lead into the woods, and I took the one less travelled by.. And thats what made all the difference!!!"

One of the most interesting part of life is that it manages to surprise you at every corner. Just when you think that you have everything figured out, you are confronted with somethingor the other. Well it won't be right on my part to complain about it cause this is one aspect of life that ensures that we encounter something different from normal or which puts us out of our comfort zone and tests us. It ensures that life does'nt become monotonous. Just when you think you have it all figured out, it throws a surprise at you!

The ship which I took to sail in the sea of life was yet to hit any rough patch and the journey seemed to be going on pretty smooth. There were those minor hiccups but nothing big enough that my ship could'nt handle. What more could I have possibly asked for?

One morning I woke up and went to the 'deck'. The sun was shinning bright. It was what we call the perfect sailing weather. I was sitting there and enjoying the sea and my wine. I could'nt have asked for anything more. And just then I heard a deafening noise! I was thrown out of my chair. The force was very large. She had hit an iceberg!

A perfect day has just turned into a nightmare. The hit was big and there seemed no way to save her. I could hear the captain saying, "Abandon Ship" but how could I just leave her? We have sailed through the toughest days together, we have sailed through all the rough patches and come out of it strong; and now there she was, bleeding, making her way to the sea bed.

The captain came to me and asked me to get into the boat so that we could leave immediately but I could'nt do that. How could I just leave her? I finally decided to stay aboard. She had been there for me when I needed her, through all my tough times, through the worst phase of my life and she had hardly disappointed me. Now it was my turn.

Life is like a see saw. One moment you could be at the highest point and the other you could hit bottom. The only thing we should remember is that we should never give up. We should stay positive and have faith. If something is bound to happen, it will happen. However the least we could do is to make sure that we don't do something that even destiny decides to change its road; and ofcourse we should not be afraid to take hard decisions cause at times these hard decisions help us in the long run. Every day is a learning experience. I have had some wonderful times and I guess I should be strong enough to accept that I have made loads of mistakes. Some of which I really regret; but then I guess this is life. We can't really do anything about things of past. We just have to deal with it. Though I hope that one day I will be able to correct all my mistakes. I am still a kid who is learning with every passing day; afterall life is all about learning, is'nt it??