Day 1 back in helL

09:00 - get room cleaned, transfer all luggage

11:00 - Registration, endless forms (Umang counter guys speed of working seemed like the super slow motion cam they use in IPL)

13:00 - helLs kitchen, back to endless aloo varieties

13:30 - catch a wink, only to be woken up by usual Tiwari nautanki

14:30 - Another line, another counter, get some books (after 3 terms, wonder if its worth the effort)

16:00 - Manage to find the dummy GOD of IIML these days, the cooler guy!!!!

17:50 - Catch up with Taklu and Mishra at Fauji, good old bakar

19:00 - Squash :) :) :)

21:00 - Dinner conjures up a movie plan - Rajneeti it is

21:30 - Off afer a quick shower

22:00 - Jugaad Pandhi's car and rush to WAVE

22:30 - Rajneeti

02:00 - Back at campus, surf some while and drift away to sleep

07:55 - Manage to wake up in time for 1st class of 2nd yr

08:15 - "Welcome to Consumer Behaviour" - Satish

All in a day's work!

Why?

• is there a second serve in tennis? No other game has it. Its quite ridiculous actually. Imagine a volleyball or badminton player getting a second serve. I am sure an elder brother invented it. He missed the serve while playing with his younger brother and demanded a second serve, and it became a rule.
• is the hindi movie named Ram Lakhan? Was it a typo? Shouldn't it be Ram Lakshman?
• do aliens visit only the US? I mean statistically the US has just about 6.5 % of the earth's land area. I would like to see a movie where the aliens land in the Amazon rain forests and are killed by anacondas and mosquitoes.
  
• did Microsoft buy Lookout (excellent search tool for Outlook), and then make Outlook 2007 incompatible with Lookout? I mean seriously, wtf????
• are girls of mixed parentage so hot? Katrina Kaif, Tulip Joshi, Isha Sharvani, Laila Rouass, Snajana Kapoor to name a few.
• did Richard Attenborough get Ben Kingsley to play Gandhi??? He couldn't find find one good Indian actor for the role?? Same for Danny Boyle. He did not find one decent actor from more than a billion Indian people to play Jamal?? There is something about an Indian "slumdog" character speaking English in an obvious British accent that I couldn't digest. Ben Kingsley on the other had did full justice to the role though.

The other kind of IIM

I never thought the letters IIM would ever bring me such despair. Of course, trying to get into the coveted Indian Institute of Managements have brought despair to many aspirants, but I am talking about being labeled an IIM, or an Indian IT Male for the uninitiated. Probably 8 out of 10 profiles in PaGaLGuY belong to IIMs.

Let me dissect this abbreviation a bit. One cant really do anything about the first and the last words, you are born with it. I have no issues with being born in India (except for Visa headaches) or with being born a male. And lets face it, the average Indian male has far less issues in life compared to our fairer counterparts. While there are millions of alcoholic men drinking their way to self destruction without regards to the financial or social consequences, females in India can't enjoy a martini in a lounge bar without the fear of being beaten up and molested publicly.

Anyways, the crux of the abbreviation, the cataclysmal force which makes this mixture venomous, is IT. One doesn't need to be an IT or Computer graduate to qualify, just experience in the IT industry is probably enough to doom you. International MBA schools will run like a scared rat if you've got the IIM venom. Now we try our best to carry some anti-venom with us while applying to a B school. This can be in the form of 750+ GMAT score, professional qualifications (CFA etc), Social/NGO activities and what not. But when all IIMs are after the anti-venom, and many manage to get it, B schools claim that it doesn't work for most, and you are still poisonous.

Most International B schools have a limit on the percentage of Indians they want to admit (Of course if they don't, they might cease to be international and become desi). But the problem is that number of engineers passing out of colleges in India have increased exponentially, and most common streams are Comps/IT of course. Most software professionals get bored within 2-3 years of work, and start applying for MBA. While the schools in India seem to have accepted this (read somewhere that more than 90% students in the IIMs are engineers, and I assume that majority within these are from software background), the International schools will never adapt to this changed scenario. Hence competition for us IIMs will keep on getting tougher and tougher. Whether the actual IIMs should have changed their own policy or not is debatable too. I feel that 90% + engineers isn't exactly a healthy mix at all.

Now in being an IIM, the only choice one makes consciously is taking up IT. But unfortunately, this choice is made by most prospective engineers in India with as much thought as ordering breakfast. "Whats available" is more commonly asked than "Do you have xyz". So depending upon marks/rank, one accepts a branch and college regardless of interests and aims (which are very unclear at the age of 17). So you just become an IIM, without putting much of a thought into it.

If one accepts that there is a general lack of direction and career counseling for Indian youth, and most pursue graduation and MBA just for an obvious secure lifestyle, I think there is a scope for improvement even within this. If there are any wannabe MBAs out there, and you are unsure of what graduation to take up, please consider Commerce/Law/Arts/Architecture anything. This might pay you a little lesser immediately after graduation, but will help you a lot more while applying for an MBA. Just don't loose touch with maths, and I believe you'll be a lot better off than an IIM.

Aim in the right direction

Notice put up by Rajiv in our office toilet:

Are the results out???

I realized today morning that I have never really waited anxiously for any results in my life, at least not till this week. If I remember correctly, the 10th CBSE result dates are never announced beforehand, and they just pop up one fine day. In my case, I was celebrating my uncle's 25th wedding anniversary in Alibag with the entire family when the results came. I actually happened to be in the toilet minding my "business", when I heard my dad on the phone, asking my rank in the school, marks, et al.

The 12th HSC result dates of course were known well in advance. My exams had gone well, and I am not generally too perturbed/anxious/afraid of results. Starcity theater is a stone's throw from Ruparel college, so me and some movie crazy friends decided to watch "Ice Age" from 1:30 - 3, just before collecting the results from the college. Now bear in mind that there was no CET etc in Maharashtra at that time, so basically my engineering admission depended on the HSC result. My father was livid with me, saying how could I go for a movie before such an important result. My logic was that exams are well in the past, and anything I did then definitely couldn't affect the result, so why not? At least it keeps your mind occupied!! My mother wanted to send my brother or someone with me, having read all these stories about students jumping from the train after their HSC results. Anyways, I had it my way, went alone, enjoyed the movie and got the result which was thankfuly pretty good.

Now an entire separate post can be written about the engineering results. But except the 1st sem, I was usually confident of getting a 1st class, and that's what mattered. And I don't really remember being too anxious anytime. I got through the 1st company I sat for in campus placements, so no nervous moments there either.

I applied to some B schools few months ago. I gave an interview for one of them last week, and am waiting for the final result. For the rest, they are yet to tell me if I am shortlisted, but no rejects yet. Most schools should announce something by end of Jan or by Feb 1st week. Which brings me to the point - I almost jump out of bed every morning, to check my mails for any sort of notification from the schools. I also check pagalguy 50 times a day to see whats happening with the other guys. This wait is driving me nuts!!!

Can't you switch the damn light off???

One of my flatmates is a guy who lives in his own world, and has little interest in mundane earthly things like closing the fridge door, taps and switching the lights and AC off after use. Amongst my flatmates, I generally come home from work first and this eccentric fellow usually leaves last in the morning, so I am accustomed to coming home and finding the tap water running, lights on etc. One day I even found the gas on. My flatmate had used it in the morning to light his cigarette, and did not bother to turn it off. Fortunately he left the gas on with the flame, otherwise one can imagine what would have happened on my return after about 8 hours. My repeated attempts to ameliorate my friends senses have yielded no effect so far.

So while having the same old "Can't you switch the damn light off when you leave?" argument with my friend, I remembered a childhood incident. I was at a friends house, who lived in a very small village. By small, I mean really small, with no roads, where a lot of houses were just mud huts. We were playing cricket, and headed to the kitchen during one break. Everyone huddled around the fridge for some cold water. My friend left the fridge open while we were drinking water, and since we were about 7-8 kids, it was taking some time. Seeing this one of the village boys was astonished. He asked "How can you leave the fridge door open like that? My mom won't even let me put the fan on during summer to save electricity costs". Not that I had an awakening or anything after this, but somehow the way the boy had said it in his rustic ways left an impression on my mind.

Rocking Chef

Found this cool chef from Chennai on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/vahchef

This guy is absolutely incredible. The sheer enthusiasm he exudes in his videos honestly inspires one to start cooking. Fittingly, his motto goes as "Inspiring others to cook".
He has his own website too: http://www.vahrehvah.com/
The availability of videos to go with the recipes really helps.

I was always a utility cook so far, cooking more out of necessity than any passion. My experience was limited to omelets and tea while in India. After coming to Cyprus, I graduated to dal-rice, khichadi, and some basic vegetables. We tried chapattis few times but failed miserably. Last year, I got a new roommate who was an awesome cook. He taught me a lil more, but everything was forgotten when I changed appartments. Anyways, Mr. Thumma has got the fire burning again.

Some of the recipes I have tried so far are: Ginger Chicken, Lamb fry, Lamb curry, Chicken Chettinad, Tuna Cutlets etc. All have turned out quite good. Have been boasting about this to my mom, so I'll need to prove myself when I go back home. I mean, feeding roommates is a different thing, as bachelors generally don't ascribe adjectives to food. If its cooked, we'll eat it. Hope this lasts