Poem

he worked by the day and toiled by the night,

he gave up play and some delight,

dry books he read new things to learn,

and forged ahead success to earn,

he plodded on with faith and pluck.....

and when he won, men called it luck

Why?

i dont understand :

1. why i have to do inva

2. why ppl dont like OB

3. why HR guys are treated with some much disdain

4. why cant my fren get over his one sided love?

5. why we all display tendencies of masochism

6. why is the grass always the greener on the other side

7. why do ppl substitute pepsi for water

8. why does our media ignore the 50% ppl living below poverty line

9. why the seven sisters and south not given their due ?

10. why do i ignore the glaring signs of civic society breakdown arnd me

11. what is "mainstream" and who decided it

12. what wud i do without google

13. why am i hooked on dev anand / hemant kumar/ kishore 's old songs

14. why is tanay such a brat at times

15. when will i do the things that have aways been there on my "to do" list

16. why isnt god kind?

17. why are some pp tgtbt

18. why do i love hobbes so much

19. why do ppl not stick to their word

20. why didnt i get that

Naseerji

watch the movie "a wednesday" naseer ji is superb as usual

Bodyline

Things of value are won by pain and sacrifice..my dad recently told me that..its not his own though .although he has used it on me several times :)

i still remember where we had both encountered this stmt for the first time..long long back DD use to show a series called the body line..and coz of my dad's passion for all and any sport..we used to watch it together..i remember enjoying the drama of harold larwood and Douglas Jardine and don bradman.. i was more fascinated by Jardine than any other character. i still remember the sarci smile that the actor playing jardine had..and i cried a lot when they showed the episode that depicted how larwood's career abruptly ends

Although it was quite a while ago i still remember 4 key scenes:

1. the scene in which this particular line was uttered.thsg of vaue are won by pain and sacrifice.

2.the scene in which larwood opens his door and finds a new pair of running shoes left there by Jardine..how he struggled through hardships to keep his passion alive.

3. how Jardine remarks to his manager (i think) [who had said - "posterity will not remember you in gud light" ] -- "But it has already forgotten you !!"

4. how larwood refuses to sign the apology to aussies saying- " i did what my captain asked me too" and pays a heavy price for this refusal

it was a gud show and i wish they rerun it some time!

Superhero Prof.

Without setting the context let me just say i asked a prof here (he's german btw) if u cud have any super hero power what wud it be? Pat comes the reply - the power to mindread

so what super hero power wud u like ?

1 man's fish other man's bait

We all enjoy and relish our prejudices. i read somewhere that the news channel and the newspaper that we like are the ones that support and perpetuate our deep seated biases. the same can be said to be true of our friends. we do generally get attracted to people who in some way are a reflection of self. atleast thats been the case with me. i value "comfort" in a relationship a lot..if its easy to hang out with someone, if the silences are comfortabe, if the jokes carry a shared meaning well there i have a friend..but lately i have started seeing my refection in the strangest of places. how interesting it is to observe someone whose reactions are complete opposite to your own. enlightening, surprising and fun :)

LIFE@ISB

Term 3 is over and let me say that this time the alum feedback wasnt accurate..it was not a horror term by any stds. maybe in my case this was because the workload was intelligently shared bet study group members :) term 4 has begun..the first day is over. how was it u asked?

5 am: alarm goes off ..cant wake up rite now..hit snooze button
5.20 am: curse the world..have to get up for the pre reads .note to self - stop sleeping at 2 am..this term has early morn classes
till 7 am-read the well pre reads :) (have OB this term..there IS a GOD !!!)
7 am - tanay wakes up..all work stops
8 am- start walking to the acad centre.
8.15 am - session starts
8.30am - first sms fom a fren - "wake up.. you have payed 5000 bucks for this class"
8.32am- try to think of a befitting reply ..cant think of a gud one ..go back to the half awake half asleep state
10 am - class got over early. thats a rarity here
10.05- stroll down to Goel's (dinning room) with frens and have my first ever breakfast at ISB
finish with a very strong cuppa ..everyone catching up with everyone else ..term beginning so there is general merriment all around
10.45 back to class
11.00 am damn this last row..so hard to pay attention
11.15 a fren rings in midde of the class from opposite corner..y?.."to wake u up"..damn y dont ppl pay attention to the prof ..i know i was
11.20 - observe akki ..so busy taking down notes ..wonder what the hellis he writing
11.45 - break ..hahahaha
general guftagoo
11.55 session continues
the subjects this term arent very technical..gud news for us poets
12.50 class ends
12.55 P_____makes a damn gud presentation abt the Bihar flood relief initiative
the entire section (well allmost entire) wants to contribute ..such spirit !!!! ROCK EEEEEE
1.15 return home
till 2.15 give tanay his medicine ..try force feeding a 2 yr old ..make that cranky stubborn two year old..spill syrup on self, bed, sofa (in that order) + Lunch
2.30 back to LRC elp team first meeting - hurraayyyyy
4 pm elp group meeting ends
4.05 pm - elp meeting with our prof strats
5.45 meeting ends, rush home, check on tanay
6.45 - another elp meeting groan
8.10 head home , while away time and watch BIG BROTHER :)
1.00am write blog
1.20 set alarm for tomo

Dream,dare and run

i was running ..running panting running completely out of breath ..oh if only i cud stop and take a few breaths..but it was soo near..so preciously near and i just cudnt cudnt bear to wait any longer..it had anyway taken so long and now i cud almost touch it .. it was so near that i cud smell it too and i knew it in my bones that it was just a hair breath away.. the very thot that i wud get it finally after so much of praying and hoping and fighting made me nearly stop and smile..the journey itself was so ardously long and now if i get it even the most terrible of days wont seem so bad after all..yeah just there...come on just a lil more ..there..almost there
for once i think i touched it ...felt it almost brush thru my fingers ..even with all the sweat and panting and heat a tingle went down my spine..and then it happened ..i tripped ..didnt see the that stone on the way ..was i not looking at the road or ...the stone wasnt there last time..ateast i dont rber it ...was it recentlly placed ? but by whom...At the moment that i was falling even before i hit the ground i knew it was gone ..it wasnt meant to be..still i wanted it ..i cudnt lose..i mean how cud i ..in the entire scheme of thgs i had not thot abt losing even once..i had just assumed tat if i wanted it enuff it wud come to me..thats how it was supposed to be.how the hell cud i not get it ..after all those God damn years ..as the blood trickled to the ground it was these thot that made me stand..i saw it ..it looked distant but cudnt i still reach it..maybe with a lil more effort ..maybe i will get a break for once..god is just testing..its in times like this u mustnt quit..go on ..go on ..try ..just get up and run ..i dont know from where my soul summoned the will and my body responded but up i was ..up and running ..i think i caught up a lil..the last i remember ..when i fell again my eyes were not on it ..they were closed as if praying for a miracle..i mean how cud i not get it ..wasnt it meant to be..

years pass..each more futile than the other..i saw so many ppl running and it hurt the most when they fell at the same exact spot..no it didnt..it used to ..but after some time..i just laughed at them..foolish ppl dont know any better..cant u see the bloody stone right in front of u ..such morons really..dont u know u r not suposed to run after it..nobody gets it..thats the whole point isnt it..thats what makes it special ..and yea if i didnt get it after so much of my life that i put into it ..u as hell for sure cant

and then the unthinkable happened ..one day i heard..some1 caught it ..they had it ..i refused to believe..it cant be..show me..u dont know who was it exactly! HA! so u think u can make a fool out of me..it cant be had..better men than u have tried and failed so just go away ..just look at it from a distance and dont u dare think about catching it

years later.i am now not what i used to be.. bitter hardened and cynical but i still go down the same road ..some times ..dont ask why..i havent seen it since that evening ..when i see the spot that i first fell i can still close my eyes and smell it..see it was right here..just let me close my eyes and see this is how it felt like..it still feels so near..a tear run downs my cheek i open my eyes and there it is ..i blank out..close my eyes again..hate these mirages ..i have imagined it everywhere for quite some time now..open my eyes again..its still there ..ITS STILL THERE ..my heart beat just starts galloping..i am back in the same moment of 10 yrs ago..what do i do? do i run..i will lose again i know it i can feel it i have never won anythg since that evening ..i know i will lose ..dont do it..it took u ten years to get over that 1 evening ..dont do it..walk away..it is just tempting you ..testing you ..just walk away

i close my eyes and

i run.........

bad teams poor performance

As far as my worklife is concerned the one thing that annoys me the most is a bad attitude. Now you add incompetence and nonchalance to it and you have made the perfect recipe to irritate the hell out of me. as an HR manager i am of the opinion people are to be groomed and trained to reach their potential but still i don't know what to do with those who are incompetent and just don't care about it. they are the ones who miss deadlines habitually and don't even regards them as important, they interfering every one's work and bring the overall productivity down.. they bring bad work culture to the organisation and end up corrupting the efficient order. what is to be done with these people? counselling, warning, penalty and then layoff. i think most people will go for this order. now the twist. suppose they don't report to you and u have no authority on them. then after the initial cajoling, counselling etc what do u do ? how the hell do u deal with the free rider? one group i know has solved this problem in a simple way- let the free rider ride and move on. is this the best way to handle this? why are we so scared of a small one on one session in which open dialogue and honest feedback are used? my friend says - its not worth the trouble yaar..move on . what do u think?

Life @ Indian School of Business

ISB ISB ISB ISB ISB (then a deep sigh!)

thats how i responded when a dear friend asked me hows ISB..this blog and a few coming after this are dedicated to all those who are curious abt ISB and want to know every gory detail abt the horrors it contains. Let me begin by throwing in a disclaimer every experience of ISB is unique..so while a particular person may find the going tough it might be cakewalk for some one else. What u see here is a self confessed Regular Jane's view of the world. So take it with dollops of salt. :)

How is life at ISB? hmmm imagine all human emotions the gud, the bad and the ugly and then add a few more and this what life at ISB is . Its all that u expect and a lot u dont ! let me begin by saying that there is tremendous scope of learning and growth and how much of it u r able to accomplish depends totally on u. The trick is to identify what is it that u want from ur stay here and work towards it.

That said let me tell u figuring out what u REALLY want is decidedly one of the most difficult thgs to do. i mean i still feel like i am standing in front of a lavish buffet with all sorts of exotic dishes with a fork in hand !! Ok thats a bad food analogy..skipping dinner tonite was not a gud idea! What i mean is u just have so much stuff going on that choosing what to do becomes the key ..and the choices are quite stark..markstart decision (grades matter dude or dont they !!!)or say attend Kiran Shaw's talk..u got to choose and manage ur time well..this i think is going to be one of my biggest learings at ISB..i mean the most precious commodity at ISB is time and u better spend urs wisely.The faculty ..truly world class (well most are anyway!!) i have been taught by some of the best teachers in the world and that has twin benefits : one is obvious ..u end up understanding the most obscure / the most boring subjects and the other follows from it..if u still dont understand the concepts after attending the sessions taken by these gentlemen GIVE up (on that subject that is :) ) the second point is debatable but i kind of stand by it . what i mean is if after sessions by robert stine and richard waterman u still dont get stats leave it !!! try mktg instead !!! i had my aha moment in the Fin accounts last term.. i finally got it !!! accounting that is and i also realised that its not all that crappy ..an insight that made me warm up to my CA mates.

the first term was bad ..i mean a lot if us took time to settle in to the ISB way of life ..its a different world all together ..a world were a gud night's rest means 5 hrs of sleep ..where parties typically start at 1 am..where u throw ppl in the pool when u r happy..where u develop a love hate love relationship with ur study group ..where ur self esteem sits on a roller coaster ride which has more down slides than up..where the engineers (IITians ) are gods walking on the planet with a halo around their head (the dean's list) ..well i exaggerated a lil on the halo part..its not always visible..u got to stand close and observe maybe then if u r lucky u can see it :) I am kidding life's not all that bad ..:) i wudnt exchange my ISB days for anythg with any1.

okay now a lil abt the ppl here ..needless to say they are a talented bunch but i will not gush abt them right now..let me just say that i already have a couple of ppl who are my 2 am friends..i call them when i am happy and more importantly i call them when i have made a mess of things which is quite often it seems these days.oh well..i will consider myself very lucky if i am able to make and sustain a few gud friendships out here..i like and admire so many ppl here ..some for their intelligence..some for attitude and some for sheer goofiness :) the power of positive attitude, the willingness to laugh at oneself, the ability to cheer some1 else these thgs really matter at here

i am in Sec e ..and i swear its the kewlest section !!! we spam like crazy and i love it :) i mean we have had 200 mails in a 2 hr DMOP class, 2 am poetry competitions, a dunk ____ campaign, and hoax mails on just abt everythg from water on mars to kingfisher calender !! the CP is our section is gud ..we have had some gems tht i willl possibly share with u later and yes i think we are the only section that conducts in session polls..ie the class is on..the professor is explaining conjoint analysis and my neighbour passes me a sheet stating - poll of the day -- who is going to start snoring in class today . option 1 , 2 , 3 or 4. i check around to see all the nominees ..needless to say they are inches away from their afty siesta and after much deliberation i put a tick next to my fren's name and then dutifully pass the sheet along ..let me add we all take our voting rights seriously including the TAs. :) last poll list was passed to the TA too

oh that reminds me i didnt mention the sleeping cell of E ..there are a few famous ppl in our section..famous for their ability to fall asleep during all sessions and still get straight As.. thats the sleeper cell ..no i am not a permanent member of the cell (i aspire to be but thats for another day) rather i am the life time member of the Arbit CP (class participation) club..they have put me in the last row at the rightmost corner - the worst place for CP (the prof never sees u) but i am on to them..down but not out..thats the motto here :)

my study group is a unique first at ISB three girls and a guy! so u can imagine :) and no hes NOT having a gud time trust me :Dthe markstrat world (for the uninitiated - just know its a simulation we play in marketing class that makes us want to hunt down our competition and beat the crap out of them ) is one thg u will encounter in the second term and let me tell u nomatter what u do ..u will either be screwed by the competition or by the customers.

Heard at a markstart meeting:

A: our product didnt sell

S: why

A: it turns out our customers were braindead irrational morons who commited mass suicide!! (translation : no units sold, huge inventory on hand)

S: oh that explains it ...i thot maybe we took a wrong mktg decision somewhere :)

i think i have rambled enuff for the day..if u r still reading this ..i just have one question WHY? :)

btw i heard piece of gud news today after a really long time ..am going to be involved in a very unique project at ISB..really excited abt that but have been asked not to talk abt it so will share it with both of u (the 2 who r still reading this ) later :)

on another note i want to thk a special person in my life who really helped me thru some stuff today..thx dude.. appreciate it big time

chalo more arbit stuff later :)

take care

ciao