A couple of days back i was feeling the urge to get some fresh air ( a rare commodity in mumbai :p) ...not knowing what to do, i asked my flatmates if they would be interested in travelling to south mumbai at 11 in the night in a mumbai local...2 of them (anant and karthik) agreed...pranshu as always was busy gtalking (in his defence he says he was workin on a project...but i know better ;))
Anant wasn't very keen but seeing our enthu he decided to come along. We took a 11:30 pm local to churchgate, not knowing where to ultimately get down. And although there was space to sit (yes yes there are seats...u probably cudnt see them during day time ;) , karthik and i decided to stand at the gate to enjoy the cool breeze...
At marine lines (this is the second last station on the western line), we decided that it was better to get down at churchgate...so we got down and just to be on the safe side, enquired about the last local which we were told leaves at 1 am.
So we had approx 45 mins to watch the sea...all this while we discussed our placement anxieties and also our plan to have a lavish dinner at the revolving restaurant that we had just passed, on gettin placed...(there is no service tax on planning as of yet in India...pls dont remind the govt ;)
Now this is where the fun begins :) ...although we knew that the last train would leave at 1, it wasn't until 12:50 am that we made up our minds to start walking back to churchgate station.
All this while anant kept pleading that we take a cab...lest we miss the last train. The reason y we never felt any urgency was probably bcos, somewhere at the back of our minds we (I) felt that 1 am is too early for trains in mumbai to stop running and also the torcher of Neha Dhupia's movie - Ek Chaalis (1:40 am)ki Last local was still fresh in our minds.
So on our way back we kept making fun of Anant, calling him lazy and pulling his leg; we reached the station at 1:02. Guess what?...The 1am train was actually the last one and obviously it had left(Indian trains will always be on time...when u dont want them to). Our jaws dropped, the look on Anant's face was definitely a Kodak moment. Thankfully all that he had in his hands was his newly purchased canon camera...nobody throws a 20K camera...no matter how angry he is...:p
Now came the big question...what do we do? How do we get back?should we wait for the next local at 4 am?
No one had any answers...so we decided to implement what we had learnt at our b-school for making quick decisions....
1. Search an eatery,
2. Grab a bite and
3. then worry bout the return journey
(i kno u xpected some mgmt theory...lol...all misconceptions bout MBA). Unfortunately, the vendors had already called it a day :(
The streets were deserted but this part of mumbai is completely different...its so beautiful...the British architecture is really breathtaking....at Flora fountain we found a coffee vendor on a bicycle...we all had a cup of coffee, clicked some pics and then decided to walk all the way to Gateway of India...
It took us approximately 45 mins to reach there...now overlooking the sea is TAJ, on seeing it, we cudnt resist the idea of including it in the list of the places where we were to have a dinner post placement (this list also includes Mariott, Leela, Sun n Sand and the remaining 5 & 7star hotels in mumbai :p)
It was 2am and we still had 2 hrs at hand....so next we decided to go back to marine drive and chat away the rest of the time...but anant wanted to visit Chowpatty...i think that was the only place left in this part of mumbai & we didnt want chowpatty to feel let down :p
So the taxi driver was given the coordinates to the new location ;)...it cost us 55 bucks to cover this short distance (at one point we were considering the idea of taking a cab to go all the way back to santacruz...lol)
The beach was absolutely empty and it was being cleaned at that time....so we picked up a clean spot and spent the remaining two hours chatting on nonsensical topics....
On our return journey the local was absolutely jam packed (since it is the 1st local after 3 hrs)...
Thanks to a misconception created by bollywood, the mumbai that I saw that nite was the best that i can remember...i think i've begun loving this city after midnight....Now that's some progress...;)
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
An Encounter with a Human Rights Activist
This is one incident i can never forget...
It happened during one of the numerous guest lectures during my first year of MBA. As part of our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) course we had one such lecture by an old Parsi lady who was a lawyer.
This much hyped term 'CSR' has become the buzzword today, but if one has to attend 30 hours of lectures harping on just one basic idea, then it looses all its sheen pretty quickly. Not that i am against CSR but i am definitely not in favour of the way it was dealt with, add to that a guest lecture and a speaker who will fall to any level to just prove her point and win a debate with a classroom filled with 120 MBA's and what u hav is a potentially explosive situation and that is just what happened...so here it goes...
The lecture began with the customary introductions. Until that day,i had only heard these activists on TV, so when i was party to such a discussion myself, i was shocked...
She started by blaming the government (much like all of us :p) ...but soon she dragged the media, the police and the judiciary into her list of useless instruments of state and society...(this was just the build up)...so ofcourse it meant that the only saviours of mother India were these human rights activists...(God knows where they disappear immediately after terror attacks..but they are definitely around to save the terrorists from being hanged)
She made many points some were acceptable but most others were not appreciated by the class...but people kept quiet and just looked at each other and scoffed at this lady who in her attempt to prove herself right equated Bhagat Singh and the Naxals. The only reason why I had kept quiet for so long was because i didn't wanna get into a verbal duel with a college guest.
Then she picked up the issue of Mumbai slums and unfortunately for her she asked us if we thought it was right to ask slum dwellers to vacate their shanties.
This was the opportunity and i am glad i siezed it...i said it was right and that just because someone had illegaly squatted on a piece of land, that in no way entitles him to own the land and by accepting his wrong doing we were only encouraging others to do the act & the fact that most of these were Bangladeshis who had been given all these privileges just because they were easy vote banks for political parties. There are definitely exceptions but they are definitely miniscule in number. Where do you think the 12 lakh Bangladeshis (these are only official figures of Bangladeshis who entered India as refugees) disappeared??
She hadn't expected anyone to oppose her so bluntly, so she tried to kickstart a debate....but ma'am u dont get into a debate with a classload of MBA's who got into this institute by preparing for 100 such burning issues and who are here after fighting a much tougher battle every time they entered a Group Discussion room (this was in a way our means of earning a livelihood).
Thankfully my classmates jumped in at this moment...i think they were waiting for this opportunity and with such well read colleagues u really hav nothing to worry about...soon facts and figures from the leading dailies and magazines and news channels started pouring in from every corner of the room to prove her wrong....obviously she did not accept any of these as she had already discounted the existence of media at the beginning of the session.
What followed was a really heated discussion and a complete disapproval of her school of thought.
I know she has the right to have her opinion but so do I and although even i personally do not accept the impartiality of media, i definitely cannot accept the freedom fighters of my country being equalled with some criminals who are being funded by the enemies of my nation just because some activist wants to portray herself as the next Mother Teresa.
I can only imagine what a debate with Medha Patkar would be like...;)
It happened during one of the numerous guest lectures during my first year of MBA. As part of our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) course we had one such lecture by an old Parsi lady who was a lawyer.
This much hyped term 'CSR' has become the buzzword today, but if one has to attend 30 hours of lectures harping on just one basic idea, then it looses all its sheen pretty quickly. Not that i am against CSR but i am definitely not in favour of the way it was dealt with, add to that a guest lecture and a speaker who will fall to any level to just prove her point and win a debate with a classroom filled with 120 MBA's and what u hav is a potentially explosive situation and that is just what happened...so here it goes...
The lecture began with the customary introductions. Until that day,i had only heard these activists on TV, so when i was party to such a discussion myself, i was shocked...
She started by blaming the government (much like all of us :p) ...but soon she dragged the media, the police and the judiciary into her list of useless instruments of state and society...(this was just the build up)...so ofcourse it meant that the only saviours of mother India were these human rights activists...(God knows where they disappear immediately after terror attacks..but they are definitely around to save the terrorists from being hanged)
She made many points some were acceptable but most others were not appreciated by the class...but people kept quiet and just looked at each other and scoffed at this lady who in her attempt to prove herself right equated Bhagat Singh and the Naxals. The only reason why I had kept quiet for so long was because i didn't wanna get into a verbal duel with a college guest.
Then she picked up the issue of Mumbai slums and unfortunately for her she asked us if we thought it was right to ask slum dwellers to vacate their shanties.
This was the opportunity and i am glad i siezed it...i said it was right and that just because someone had illegaly squatted on a piece of land, that in no way entitles him to own the land and by accepting his wrong doing we were only encouraging others to do the act & the fact that most of these were Bangladeshis who had been given all these privileges just because they were easy vote banks for political parties. There are definitely exceptions but they are definitely miniscule in number. Where do you think the 12 lakh Bangladeshis (these are only official figures of Bangladeshis who entered India as refugees) disappeared??
She hadn't expected anyone to oppose her so bluntly, so she tried to kickstart a debate....but ma'am u dont get into a debate with a classload of MBA's who got into this institute by preparing for 100 such burning issues and who are here after fighting a much tougher battle every time they entered a Group Discussion room (this was in a way our means of earning a livelihood).
Thankfully my classmates jumped in at this moment...i think they were waiting for this opportunity and with such well read colleagues u really hav nothing to worry about...soon facts and figures from the leading dailies and magazines and news channels started pouring in from every corner of the room to prove her wrong....obviously she did not accept any of these as she had already discounted the existence of media at the beginning of the session.
What followed was a really heated discussion and a complete disapproval of her school of thought.
I know she has the right to have her opinion but so do I and although even i personally do not accept the impartiality of media, i definitely cannot accept the freedom fighters of my country being equalled with some criminals who are being funded by the enemies of my nation just because some activist wants to portray herself as the next Mother Teresa.
I can only imagine what a debate with Medha Patkar would be like...;)
Monday, August 18, 2008
A strange day
Its 3 AM. At the moment I am on my way home (Mehsana). The ride today in this coach is really bumpy, I can’t understand how everyone around me is fast asleep. I tried sleeping too, but in vain. So here I am blogging in the train as I listen to some of my favorite songs. You should have started expecting something so ridiculous; I’ve been blogging for quite some time now ;).
Well, last day was really strange or you could also call it interesting. Depends on which part interests you. There are 3 parts to it. One is related to a dream that I had, second – since it was a Saturday, I had my Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)class (I have already written a blog on this special lecture before) and the third is a lucky escape from death (phew!!!).
First the dream, I dreamt that my 10th standard class teacher was in NMIMS, and that I had taken Hindi as one of my subjects (she used to teach us Hindi in school and was a very strict teacher). So on this fine day, she decided to take a surprise test, and as I am not the one to study in advance, I couldn’t answer anything. Obviously I wasn’t gonna give up that easy, so I copied :p. But there was another surprise in store, she had seen me copy and therefore instead of getting a zero, I got a negative score and the dream (nightmare) finally came to an end. More on this a little ahead….
It was 9am, time to get up for my IMC class, which although was scheduled for 9am, was unofficially supposed to start at 10 am. But if getting up at 12 noon becomes a routine, a 9am start to the day can be a really demanding task. So obviously after numerous failed attempts by the alarm to get me out of bed (even an alarm can be such a motivator, despite repeated rejections, it does its job dutifully), I rescheduled it for 11 am (just like last week :p). Later in the day, I learnt that the class was eventually cancelled as the faculty had failed to turn up. J
The coming four days, will start with my mom scolding me on this habit of getting up late, I really miss her scolding so much ;).
The next lecture was of Production Planning and the faculty is pretty much similar to my 10th std class teacher. And guess what, there was a surprise test and just like my dream, I hardly knew anything :p. Now that’s some freaking coincidence….(the surprise test was a coincidence…me not knowing anything was expected ;))
Finally it was time to get back to my flat and get ready for my train journey. On my way back, I was talking to a friend from NITIE about a case study competition entry (on ‘save the environment’ theme) that both of us had sent; as I was about to enter my building, I heard a loud thud…A coconut had fallen from the tree at the building’s entrance and landed just 5m ahead of me…Guess nature wasn’t very appreciative of my feeble attempt to save it and chose this way to let me know ;)
An emergency trip to the hospital in Mumbai can be a real nightmare at any time of the day, its so common to see ambulances getting stuck up in traffic jams and obviously nobody has the time to spare and let another vehicle pass by. The feeling is sickening, it makes me wonder, what this much talked about ‘Spirit of Mumbai’ is all about…:(
Thank you God for saving me the trouble and letting me write another blog ;)
Well, last day was really strange or you could also call it interesting. Depends on which part interests you. There are 3 parts to it. One is related to a dream that I had, second – since it was a Saturday, I had my Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)class (I have already written a blog on this special lecture before) and the third is a lucky escape from death (phew!!!).
First the dream, I dreamt that my 10th standard class teacher was in NMIMS, and that I had taken Hindi as one of my subjects (she used to teach us Hindi in school and was a very strict teacher). So on this fine day, she decided to take a surprise test, and as I am not the one to study in advance, I couldn’t answer anything. Obviously I wasn’t gonna give up that easy, so I copied :p. But there was another surprise in store, she had seen me copy and therefore instead of getting a zero, I got a negative score and the dream (nightmare) finally came to an end. More on this a little ahead….
It was 9am, time to get up for my IMC class, which although was scheduled for 9am, was unofficially supposed to start at 10 am. But if getting up at 12 noon becomes a routine, a 9am start to the day can be a really demanding task. So obviously after numerous failed attempts by the alarm to get me out of bed (even an alarm can be such a motivator, despite repeated rejections, it does its job dutifully), I rescheduled it for 11 am (just like last week :p). Later in the day, I learnt that the class was eventually cancelled as the faculty had failed to turn up. J
The coming four days, will start with my mom scolding me on this habit of getting up late, I really miss her scolding so much ;).
The next lecture was of Production Planning and the faculty is pretty much similar to my 10th std class teacher. And guess what, there was a surprise test and just like my dream, I hardly knew anything :p. Now that’s some freaking coincidence….(the surprise test was a coincidence…me not knowing anything was expected ;))
Finally it was time to get back to my flat and get ready for my train journey. On my way back, I was talking to a friend from NITIE about a case study competition entry (on ‘save the environment’ theme) that both of us had sent; as I was about to enter my building, I heard a loud thud…A coconut had fallen from the tree at the building’s entrance and landed just 5m ahead of me…Guess nature wasn’t very appreciative of my feeble attempt to save it and chose this way to let me know ;)
An emergency trip to the hospital in Mumbai can be a real nightmare at any time of the day, its so common to see ambulances getting stuck up in traffic jams and obviously nobody has the time to spare and let another vehicle pass by. The feeling is sickening, it makes me wonder, what this much talked about ‘Spirit of Mumbai’ is all about…:(
Thank you God for saving me the trouble and letting me write another blog ;)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
A Nation's envy.....owner's pride
We are all going ga-ga over the first ever gold won by an Indian in an individual event at the Beijing Olympics 2008 at the same time there have been news articles about Abhinav Bindra's private shooting facility.
No doubt, it is a great achievement and it speaks volumes about the dedication and perseverance of this sportsman who had to earlier win a battle against a severe health problem and therefore 'ALL CREDIT GOES TO HIM' literally. Thats 'owners pride' for you.
Yes we did have the ceremonial statement by our esteemed PM, congratulating Abhinav on his remarkable achievement and hoping that his performance will inspire the youth to take up sports and bring laurels to India...blah blah blah.
And how can i forget that more than half the people in my gtalk list changed their status message to something like - 'Abhinav does India proud'...
But since this is my blog, you will have to read my opinion guys :).
I hope that his victory DOES NOT inspire Indians to take up sports, not with the current state of affairs atleast. I know you think that i am crazy....but i never promised that my words would represent sanity ;).
Why do i say so??
This guy was lucky to have had the money to pump in and ofcourse he himself put in as much hardwork as he possibly could, to achieve this feat. If Indians were to be inspired to take up sports, not many would have the money to finance their dreams and ambitions. Mind you, there is no lack of sincerity and talent in this country, but sports is not just about talent. Technology and training play an equally vital role in shaping a sportsman and edging out ones opponents.
Imagine if a not so rich sports enthusiast was to put at stake his career for something like this, and then realise that, all that the top corridors of the government and their leader are good at, is making statements to suit public mood, then how disgusted he would feel. And it is then that he would feel envious of the fact that had he been in Bindra's place he too might have won a medal. Thats 'nations envy'.
I read about the miserable state of the practice shooting range at Tughlakabad near Delhi and it makes me feel that it would be better if the government convinced the big business houses in India to push their children into sports, that way, the government need not do anything for improving the pathetic condition of Indian sports and we may also get some medals. And yes, in all this celebration we forgot the dirty politics that was played with Monica Devi and the fact that this year our Hockey team has not even managed to qualify for the Olympics.
Maybe we could take a cue from the Australians, who after their Olympics debacle and shameful performance in the 70's, decided to have a dedicated policy towards sports and sportsmen, that has today yielded startling results. Unfortunately we feel no shame and are happy with our own daily bickerings and quarells.
The only consolation point is that some business houses like Laxmi Arcelor Mittal, have launched their own initiatives to lend some support to an otherwise outcast arena called 'Indian Sports'.
I hope you understand the title of this blog, no doubt we are all happy for this 25 year old lad who did us proud, but what role has anyone in this country played to be a part of his achievement??
No doubt, it is a great achievement and it speaks volumes about the dedication and perseverance of this sportsman who had to earlier win a battle against a severe health problem and therefore 'ALL CREDIT GOES TO HIM' literally. Thats 'owners pride' for you.
Yes we did have the ceremonial statement by our esteemed PM, congratulating Abhinav on his remarkable achievement and hoping that his performance will inspire the youth to take up sports and bring laurels to India...blah blah blah.
And how can i forget that more than half the people in my gtalk list changed their status message to something like - 'Abhinav does India proud'...
But since this is my blog, you will have to read my opinion guys :).
I hope that his victory DOES NOT inspire Indians to take up sports, not with the current state of affairs atleast. I know you think that i am crazy....but i never promised that my words would represent sanity ;).
Why do i say so??
This guy was lucky to have had the money to pump in and ofcourse he himself put in as much hardwork as he possibly could, to achieve this feat. If Indians were to be inspired to take up sports, not many would have the money to finance their dreams and ambitions. Mind you, there is no lack of sincerity and talent in this country, but sports is not just about talent. Technology and training play an equally vital role in shaping a sportsman and edging out ones opponents.
Imagine if a not so rich sports enthusiast was to put at stake his career for something like this, and then realise that, all that the top corridors of the government and their leader are good at, is making statements to suit public mood, then how disgusted he would feel. And it is then that he would feel envious of the fact that had he been in Bindra's place he too might have won a medal. Thats 'nations envy'.
I read about the miserable state of the practice shooting range at Tughlakabad near Delhi and it makes me feel that it would be better if the government convinced the big business houses in India to push their children into sports, that way, the government need not do anything for improving the pathetic condition of Indian sports and we may also get some medals. And yes, in all this celebration we forgot the dirty politics that was played with Monica Devi and the fact that this year our Hockey team has not even managed to qualify for the Olympics.
Maybe we could take a cue from the Australians, who after their Olympics debacle and shameful performance in the 70's, decided to have a dedicated policy towards sports and sportsmen, that has today yielded startling results. Unfortunately we feel no shame and are happy with our own daily bickerings and quarells.
The only consolation point is that some business houses like Laxmi Arcelor Mittal, have launched their own initiatives to lend some support to an otherwise outcast arena called 'Indian Sports'.
I hope you understand the title of this blog, no doubt we are all happy for this 25 year old lad who did us proud, but what role has anyone in this country played to be a part of his achievement??
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Civic sense...what nonsense!!!
On a recent trip to Malshej Ghat, a friend recounted an experience that is worth mentioning....what reminded him of this story was the fact that some of us were trying to convince the others in our group (we were 10 in all) to not throw any waste here and there on our way to this beautiful place in the Sahyadris...
This is what he said - 'During my engineering days, once it so happened that as i was walking on the road, i threw a wrapper on the ground...a foreigner came up to me and asked me to pick it up and throw it in the dustbin...i found it annoying...how dare he ask me to do so??..so i said 'What is your problem? it is my country and i can do whatever i like', to this the foreigner replied,'I know it is your country, but i live in it and so i can ask u to keep it clean'. I realised my mistake, picked up the wrapper and threw it in the dustbin. This man then thanked me and went away. That day i decided that i would never again throw waste around.'
I wish there was one such foreigner allotted to reprimand every Indian who threw waste without any care or concern for the filth that this habit creates (I don't understand why we always need an external force to make us realise that what we are doing is wrong)
However, I feel that the new generation is changing and that it is a lot more aware of its responsibilities...i say this out of my own experience...
During my third year of engineering, i decided to do a part time job during the Navratri season, i was at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad for 9 days. On some days entry was opened to outsiders and they could bring along their families & on some days only college students were allowed.
I would reach my place of work at 7pm much before anyone else and leave at 2 am after almost everyone had left...what i noticed is that, although the ground was cleaned everyday, on the days when people were there with their families, they would leave empty plastic bottles and wrappers everywhere on the lush green ground, but when only youngsters were permitted, the ground was visibly clearer...this gives me the hope that this once extinct civic sense is making its way into the hearts and minds of young Indians ( God pls prove me right)
I remember when i was a kid, we would visit Juhu beach and it used to be absolutely dirty...the government on its part has taken cognisance of the issue and has started cleaning up the beach almost every night...but believe me the sight of this beach at 12 in the night is pathetic, people just don't understand...during our occassional football sessions on the beach at midnight, we have witnessed the beach being cleaned employing both men and machines only to be dirtied again the next day...it seems like a never ending cycle...
I think the only solution besides imposing fines (if even this was done sincerely, half the problems would have been solved) is recruiting foreigners who can reprimand us cos there is no other language that most of us seem to understand...
I Hope that people would be willing to change their habit like my friend did...I am an Indian but i don't mind being considered a foreigner if that helps you to kick this habit of littering :)
This is what he said - 'During my engineering days, once it so happened that as i was walking on the road, i threw a wrapper on the ground...a foreigner came up to me and asked me to pick it up and throw it in the dustbin...i found it annoying...how dare he ask me to do so??..so i said 'What is your problem? it is my country and i can do whatever i like', to this the foreigner replied,'I know it is your country, but i live in it and so i can ask u to keep it clean'. I realised my mistake, picked up the wrapper and threw it in the dustbin. This man then thanked me and went away. That day i decided that i would never again throw waste around.'
I wish there was one such foreigner allotted to reprimand every Indian who threw waste without any care or concern for the filth that this habit creates (I don't understand why we always need an external force to make us realise that what we are doing is wrong)
However, I feel that the new generation is changing and that it is a lot more aware of its responsibilities...i say this out of my own experience...
During my third year of engineering, i decided to do a part time job during the Navratri season, i was at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad for 9 days. On some days entry was opened to outsiders and they could bring along their families & on some days only college students were allowed.
I would reach my place of work at 7pm much before anyone else and leave at 2 am after almost everyone had left...what i noticed is that, although the ground was cleaned everyday, on the days when people were there with their families, they would leave empty plastic bottles and wrappers everywhere on the lush green ground, but when only youngsters were permitted, the ground was visibly clearer...this gives me the hope that this once extinct civic sense is making its way into the hearts and minds of young Indians ( God pls prove me right)
I remember when i was a kid, we would visit Juhu beach and it used to be absolutely dirty...the government on its part has taken cognisance of the issue and has started cleaning up the beach almost every night...but believe me the sight of this beach at 12 in the night is pathetic, people just don't understand...during our occassional football sessions on the beach at midnight, we have witnessed the beach being cleaned employing both men and machines only to be dirtied again the next day...it seems like a never ending cycle...
I think the only solution besides imposing fines (if even this was done sincerely, half the problems would have been solved) is recruiting foreigners who can reprimand us cos there is no other language that most of us seem to understand...
I Hope that people would be willing to change their habit like my friend did...I am an Indian but i don't mind being considered a foreigner if that helps you to kick this habit of littering :)
Coffee with ex-roomies at 1am
Until april this yr, i was stayin at G R Jani hostel. The only good thing worth mentioning here is that i met 3 new people, who were my roommates (yes 4 ppl in a room big enuf to accomodate 2 ppl...at double the cost for such a facility in that area). Alok alias kola( he insisted we call him so...cos everyone else did in his engg clg...lol), vishal (tripathi) and ashish (hashish) and obviously me bharat (bachcha-name given by my roomies as i am d youngest among them)
This academic year i shifted with another set of friends to this flat in santacruz...but it is only now that we ex-roomies realise how much we miss each other...y we didnt shift to a new place together is another long story...we'll save it for some other time...
Coming back to the title of this blog- 'Coffee at 1 am'; now that we are spread in a radius of 1.5 km from each other (all 4 of us are stayin in different places), kola tripathi and i meet for a cup of coffee at Barista or CCD or Mocha every once in a while...ashish is busy learning french from a french lady teacher ;)
However, wats interesting is the way we plan it...
Kola generally gives me a call at 12:30 am (he's a nocturnal creature :p) and i can't say no for a meet wid my ex-roomies and then calls up tripathi...
The first time we tried CCD at Santacruz S V Road, but they shut too early for lukkhas like us...so we went to Barista Juhu...thankfully they stay open till 1:30 am...we spend most of the time discussing general issues...theres usually some hot babe havin a cuppa coffee with her brother ;) so our sleepy groggy eyes open up wide before the drive back home (we completely believe in road safety ;))
Last time we met at Barista knowing CCD would be shut as they believe in d saying 'Early to bed, early to rise...makes a company healthy, wealthy and wise)...sorry but u r not gettin any of my money to get wealthy cos u down ur shutters too early...
But Mr. tripathi had some other plan in mind...so we drove to Mocha opposite Juhu beach at 1am and were happy to know that they would serve us before shutting down..we ordered cappucinos and sat down discussing a business idea on tripathi's mind (he really wants to be an entrepreneur)...
We had just started when the manager at mocha told us that he had to shut down the place cos the police would trouble them otherwise...so we left hoping to catch some space on Juhu beach...
We went to the entry point near tulip star hotel hoping we wont b chased away by the beach patrol...but we were wrong, not only were we asked to leave...but the patrol waited for us to start our bikes and go beyond their line of sight...guess finding a place to spend some time with friends at 2 in the nite is not so easy after all in mumbai...
But we weren't gonna give up that easily...so we went to the one place that we cud call our own...NMIMS...
It felt so strange to find our ever crowded quadrangle almost completely empty...so we sat there chatted for almost another 1.5 hrs and finally decided to leave...
Today i tried fixing up a similar program and called up kola at 9:30 pm so that we cud meet earlier...but thats not how it works u know...
It only happens in an instant when kola calls us and i rush to spend another memorable evening with friends i can call my own...
Waiting for your call kola :)
This academic year i shifted with another set of friends to this flat in santacruz...but it is only now that we ex-roomies realise how much we miss each other...y we didnt shift to a new place together is another long story...we'll save it for some other time...
Coming back to the title of this blog- 'Coffee at 1 am'; now that we are spread in a radius of 1.5 km from each other (all 4 of us are stayin in different places), kola tripathi and i meet for a cup of coffee at Barista or CCD or Mocha every once in a while...ashish is busy learning french from a french lady teacher ;)
However, wats interesting is the way we plan it...
Kola generally gives me a call at 12:30 am (he's a nocturnal creature :p) and i can't say no for a meet wid my ex-roomies and then calls up tripathi...
The first time we tried CCD at Santacruz S V Road, but they shut too early for lukkhas like us...so we went to Barista Juhu...thankfully they stay open till 1:30 am...we spend most of the time discussing general issues...theres usually some hot babe havin a cuppa coffee with her brother ;) so our sleepy groggy eyes open up wide before the drive back home (we completely believe in road safety ;))
Last time we met at Barista knowing CCD would be shut as they believe in d saying 'Early to bed, early to rise...makes a company healthy, wealthy and wise)...sorry but u r not gettin any of my money to get wealthy cos u down ur shutters too early...
But Mr. tripathi had some other plan in mind...so we drove to Mocha opposite Juhu beach at 1am and were happy to know that they would serve us before shutting down..we ordered cappucinos and sat down discussing a business idea on tripathi's mind (he really wants to be an entrepreneur)...
We had just started when the manager at mocha told us that he had to shut down the place cos the police would trouble them otherwise...so we left hoping to catch some space on Juhu beach...
We went to the entry point near tulip star hotel hoping we wont b chased away by the beach patrol...but we were wrong, not only were we asked to leave...but the patrol waited for us to start our bikes and go beyond their line of sight...guess finding a place to spend some time with friends at 2 in the nite is not so easy after all in mumbai...
But we weren't gonna give up that easily...so we went to the one place that we cud call our own...NMIMS...
It felt so strange to find our ever crowded quadrangle almost completely empty...so we sat there chatted for almost another 1.5 hrs and finally decided to leave...
Today i tried fixing up a similar program and called up kola at 9:30 pm so that we cud meet earlier...but thats not how it works u know...
It only happens in an instant when kola calls us and i rush to spend another memorable evening with friends i can call my own...
Waiting for your call kola :)
Monday, August 4, 2008
My blogging habits are so much like me...
For the past few days i've been blogging and i've realised one thing about myself....If there is something i like, i go crazy after it....there's no stopping me then...
I wanted to start blogging long time back...when i finally did, and logged into my account, i would post one blog after the other on the same day...guess there's no stopping me then...u wud say blogging is addictive and there's nothing new...mayb u r right...i thot the same...but then i pondered over my actions over the last few yrs and i was convinced that it isn't just addiction in my case...
And more than that i just cant continue something if i dont get a feedback or a response...the response need not be in my favour...its just that i need to kno that i am not banging my head against a wall and wasting my time....
2 years(long time huh??) i chatted with someone on the net whom i had known since school...and made clear my feelings (some serious leg-pulling is comin my way ;))...but i felt that there wasn't a complete loop and now i feel that things are almost over (not that i would have ever wanted them to turn out this way)...some guys would have persisted....and my friends still tell me to give it another try...but i can't do it beyond a point...
On a lighter note, i and my flatmates have been planning a B-plan now for more than a month...but there's hardly been ny progress... i had an idea in mind which they agreed to...( toughest part got over quite easily..phew!!!) and even now my roomie is trying to make me read a case for a competition as i write this blog....
When i was in engineering, i and my friend Anirudh were completely into paper presentation competitions..and thankfully we won quite a few of 'em. We were just crazy bout goin to a clg and presenting our paper on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)...thats d backbone of WiMax (we did not invent it...just presented it :p)...3G is being implemented in India, OFDM is a much better technology than that too...
Have been waiting for that urge to win for quite some time now in MBA...unless that feeling comes in...no amount of pestering by my roomie is gonna help...that feeling had crept in for some time during december 2007 and we won a few events around that time...but somehow it faded over time...
Am desperately waitin for that feedback loop to once again work its magic...hope it engulfs me soon...which feedback loop from the ones posted above??
I don't know...cos i have stopped expecting things in life...
P.S. No queries on identities of undisclosed characters will be entertained under any circumstances so pls dont bug me ;)
I wanted to start blogging long time back...when i finally did, and logged into my account, i would post one blog after the other on the same day...guess there's no stopping me then...u wud say blogging is addictive and there's nothing new...mayb u r right...i thot the same...but then i pondered over my actions over the last few yrs and i was convinced that it isn't just addiction in my case...
And more than that i just cant continue something if i dont get a feedback or a response...the response need not be in my favour...its just that i need to kno that i am not banging my head against a wall and wasting my time....
2 years(long time huh??) i chatted with someone on the net whom i had known since school...and made clear my feelings (some serious leg-pulling is comin my way ;))...but i felt that there wasn't a complete loop and now i feel that things are almost over (not that i would have ever wanted them to turn out this way)...some guys would have persisted....and my friends still tell me to give it another try...but i can't do it beyond a point...
On a lighter note, i and my flatmates have been planning a B-plan now for more than a month...but there's hardly been ny progress... i had an idea in mind which they agreed to...( toughest part got over quite easily..phew!!!) and even now my roomie is trying to make me read a case for a competition as i write this blog....
When i was in engineering, i and my friend Anirudh were completely into paper presentation competitions..and thankfully we won quite a few of 'em. We were just crazy bout goin to a clg and presenting our paper on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)...thats d backbone of WiMax (we did not invent it...just presented it :p)...3G is being implemented in India, OFDM is a much better technology than that too...
Have been waiting for that urge to win for quite some time now in MBA...unless that feeling comes in...no amount of pestering by my roomie is gonna help...that feeling had crept in for some time during december 2007 and we won a few events around that time...but somehow it faded over time...
Am desperately waitin for that feedback loop to once again work its magic...hope it engulfs me soon...which feedback loop from the ones posted above??
I don't know...cos i have stopped expecting things in life...
P.S. No queries on identities of undisclosed characters will be entertained under any circumstances so pls dont bug me ;)
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Zzzz...Feelin sleepy
Its about 9:45 in the morning...and am waiting for my Integrated marketing Communication faculty to arrive...there are bout 15 ppl present for this class of 60...
i went to bed at 3 am...i think i fell asleep at around 4...got up at 8 and now i feel like a fool...the lecture is officially supposed to start at 9...but the faculty was candid enuf to admit that he can never reach a class in the morning on time....and therefore we shud not bother comin b4 9:30....
I guess these marketing (advertising) ppl have a strange way of working and i am sincerely not amused...not that i like attending lectures or nythin...its just that i wud hav rather spent this time catchin on some much needed sleep had i known the teachers wonderful teaching plan...
This is gonna b a long day (from 9 am to 8 pm) loaded with lectures and some faculties that i am not really fond of...dunno if my groupmate is gonna bring us d completed grp assignment...wat?? u thot mba requires teamwork....yes it does but only wen u hav no other way to save ur ass...if he doesnt we r screwed....sorry...it wil cal for some team work ;)
i went to bed at 3 am...i think i fell asleep at around 4...got up at 8 and now i feel like a fool...the lecture is officially supposed to start at 9...but the faculty was candid enuf to admit that he can never reach a class in the morning on time....and therefore we shud not bother comin b4 9:30....
I guess these marketing (advertising) ppl have a strange way of working and i am sincerely not amused...not that i like attending lectures or nythin...its just that i wud hav rather spent this time catchin on some much needed sleep had i known the teachers wonderful teaching plan...
This is gonna b a long day (from 9 am to 8 pm) loaded with lectures and some faculties that i am not really fond of...dunno if my groupmate is gonna bring us d completed grp assignment...wat?? u thot mba requires teamwork....yes it does but only wen u hav no other way to save ur ass...if he doesnt we r screwed....sorry...it wil cal for some team work ;)
What do you know about Gujarat?
Gujarat the land of enterprising people...the land that was shaken by earthquakes and bled during the riots...and ofcourse its CM Narendra Modi...this is what most outsiders know about Gujarat. But for most people who have never been to gujarat, a visit to the state can be a real shocker (not even an eye-opener).
My dad was transferred to Gujarat about 5 years back. My image of Gujarat was completely tarnished what with the countless media reports bout public going on a rampage and a state government that hardly bothers about development.
We landed at Gandhinagar airport from mumbai and the taxi driver drove us to our destination 70 kms from the airport to the northern part of the state. I had heard that there is a 4 lane state highway, but the driver decided to take some other route that was only 2-lane and connected some smaller towns and villages of the state...not to take me on a tour of the state but to save toll tax ofcourse :).
But to my surprise, this simple 2-lane road was much better than most potholed roads of Mumbai. We reached our destination in about 1.5 hrs....
The next 4 yrs that i spent really opened my eyes about this progressive state and i also understood that media has its own way of representing things....
Ahmedabad a city that is home to more than 50 lakh people is a good example of the rising wealth of this state and the development that Gujaratis are witnessing under the leadership of its CM...all the projects that are being discussed in Mumbai or being implemented in Delhi are already underway in this city..(mark my words 'discussed' and 'implemented' cos they tell u a lot bout the bureaucracy in the two cities)
During the Navratri revelry (a 9 day festival that is celebrated with a lot of enthu), girls return back to their homes without any fear in this Dry state (liquor is banned in Gujarat) at 2-3am at night and not one untoward incident makes it to the news in a country where frenzied news reporters are ready to pounce on any morsel of news that can help them increase their TRP's. People in the east and most parts of north India cannot even dream of this...
I feel this secure atmosphere is a very strong reason for the liberal mindset of Gujaratis...
The Narmada canal and the Narmada dam (i haven't been to the dam site...but i hear its beautiful and a human engineering masterpiece) are attempts made by the same maligned state govt to provide water to the most far flung areas and those regions that have been witnessing a drought for years now....
People say Gujaratis are rich...but what makes them rich??
Lets leave aside the NRI's and talk bout development at the grass root level...
The state highways are simply wonderful....4-lane highways with service lanes on both sides....how many states have even thought of implementing such huge projects??
There are industries being set up everywhere along these state highways bringing wealth and prosperity to the villagers living nearby...not only are they being offered employment, their farm produce can be easily sold at the right price (a supply chain masterpiece...wat say??)...i guess thats the secret to the prosperity of these villagers...
I have been to some remote villages of the state and let me tell you that their roads are much better than most of suburban mumbai roads...and pls dont think that i am exaggerating here...
Most of the villages are being provided 24 hr nonstop power supply(thus enabling irrigation)...i used to travel from ahmedabad to mehsana almost every weekend...and there used to be numerous villages on the route....not once have i seen a village in darkness...However, during a recent trip to Malshej Ghat i saw the pathetic condition of villages plunged in darkness and they are not even 70 kms from mumbai...who knows wat the condition of those poor farmers in vidarbha region is....
Modi's opponents (from within his party too) oppose him...but isn't that expected?? here is a man who is not going to let your lethargy slow down the growth of his state...and he makes you work for every paisa you earn (God only knows how much u steal)...life can be really shitty for such oppressed people ;) and this includes most ministers and bureaucrats....
You really have to see it to believe it...am lucky to have stayed in Gujarat for 4 years, else even i would have fallen prey to the media that has become nothing more than puppets in the hands of their patrons who will go to any length to promote their hidden agenda and help their political affiliations....
The only frightening thing is that, somehow this one man makes you believe that autocracy is the only way to tame the irresponsible and uncivilised minds of some of us Indians...i sincerely hope i am proved wrong on this count...
My dad was transferred to Gujarat about 5 years back. My image of Gujarat was completely tarnished what with the countless media reports bout public going on a rampage and a state government that hardly bothers about development.
We landed at Gandhinagar airport from mumbai and the taxi driver drove us to our destination 70 kms from the airport to the northern part of the state. I had heard that there is a 4 lane state highway, but the driver decided to take some other route that was only 2-lane and connected some smaller towns and villages of the state...not to take me on a tour of the state but to save toll tax ofcourse :).
But to my surprise, this simple 2-lane road was much better than most potholed roads of Mumbai. We reached our destination in about 1.5 hrs....
The next 4 yrs that i spent really opened my eyes about this progressive state and i also understood that media has its own way of representing things....
Ahmedabad a city that is home to more than 50 lakh people is a good example of the rising wealth of this state and the development that Gujaratis are witnessing under the leadership of its CM...all the projects that are being discussed in Mumbai or being implemented in Delhi are already underway in this city..(mark my words 'discussed' and 'implemented' cos they tell u a lot bout the bureaucracy in the two cities)
During the Navratri revelry (a 9 day festival that is celebrated with a lot of enthu), girls return back to their homes without any fear in this Dry state (liquor is banned in Gujarat) at 2-3am at night and not one untoward incident makes it to the news in a country where frenzied news reporters are ready to pounce on any morsel of news that can help them increase their TRP's. People in the east and most parts of north India cannot even dream of this...
I feel this secure atmosphere is a very strong reason for the liberal mindset of Gujaratis...
The Narmada canal and the Narmada dam (i haven't been to the dam site...but i hear its beautiful and a human engineering masterpiece) are attempts made by the same maligned state govt to provide water to the most far flung areas and those regions that have been witnessing a drought for years now....
People say Gujaratis are rich...but what makes them rich??
Lets leave aside the NRI's and talk bout development at the grass root level...
The state highways are simply wonderful....4-lane highways with service lanes on both sides....how many states have even thought of implementing such huge projects??
There are industries being set up everywhere along these state highways bringing wealth and prosperity to the villagers living nearby...not only are they being offered employment, their farm produce can be easily sold at the right price (a supply chain masterpiece...wat say??)...i guess thats the secret to the prosperity of these villagers...
I have been to some remote villages of the state and let me tell you that their roads are much better than most of suburban mumbai roads...and pls dont think that i am exaggerating here...
Most of the villages are being provided 24 hr nonstop power supply(thus enabling irrigation)...i used to travel from ahmedabad to mehsana almost every weekend...and there used to be numerous villages on the route....not once have i seen a village in darkness...However, during a recent trip to Malshej Ghat i saw the pathetic condition of villages plunged in darkness and they are not even 70 kms from mumbai...who knows wat the condition of those poor farmers in vidarbha region is....
Modi's opponents (from within his party too) oppose him...but isn't that expected?? here is a man who is not going to let your lethargy slow down the growth of his state...and he makes you work for every paisa you earn (God only knows how much u steal)...life can be really shitty for such oppressed people ;) and this includes most ministers and bureaucrats....
You really have to see it to believe it...am lucky to have stayed in Gujarat for 4 years, else even i would have fallen prey to the media that has become nothing more than puppets in the hands of their patrons who will go to any length to promote their hidden agenda and help their political affiliations....
The only frightening thing is that, somehow this one man makes you believe that autocracy is the only way to tame the irresponsible and uncivilised minds of some of us Indians...i sincerely hope i am proved wrong on this count...
Some good news!!!
2 days back i wrote a blog about me and 3 other friends wanting to get into an mba instt and that aditya was preparin for GMAT...nd some tym bac today adi told me dat he has got a score of 710, which is a really gud score...awesome man...u rock!!!
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