how much is too much

Gowda: I don’t get the respect a former PM should

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hubli: Former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Sunday reiterated he would rather have not been born in Karnataka.
“It is unfortunate the way a former head of the nation is being treated in the state. I don’t get the respect other former PMs enjoy in their respective states,” he told reporters. He was in the city to attend a private function.
Gowda then turned the guns on a section of the media, which, he alleged, was unnecessarily provoking him. Losing his temper when a reporter asked him whether he had spoken with the railway minister demanding provisions for the state ahead of the railway budget, Gowda said, “How can you pose such questions to a former Prime Minister? I know my responsibilities. I have spoken to the PM for an hour and a half and apprised him of what the state needs.”
Asked to comment on terrorism, he said police should not torture innocents citing terror links as a pretext.

My views: Generally I do not follow Mr. Gowda's political circus. Somehow today this article grabbed my attention. And I could not stop laughing. This old man should stay at home and get some sleep. His time is over. And he should accept it gracefully.

Being a resident of Bangalore I feel ashamed when he says "would rather have not been born in Karnataka." Just wondering where have all those pro-kannadiga groups [or should I say gangs] gone. I guess they are too busy chasing Laloo.

Since my childhood, elders have taught me one lesson. Respect is always earned. You never ask or request for it. The day you need to start cribbing about "not getting the due respect," you should accept that you have lost it all. And that it's time to move on. I guess Mr. Gowda has had a different upbringing.

comfortably numb

How does it feel?
Nothing new. It's same old feeling. May be I have become too used to it now. Nothing gives me a high now. Have I accepted it as a part of life?
I don't know.
I don't want to know.

But I Do know is that it is over. And I am happy for it. It just feels to be great there. I can say that I have "been there done that".

IIMA interview was really an experience in itself. After coming out of that room, I can always say that I could have done better. But then it was never about "could". It was always about what I "did". And here I announce to the world... Yes I did it. I am satisfied and I guess that is one big achievement. Of course the cherry on the cake would be a admit from IIMA. (amen!!!)

The panel consisted of three of the most friendly people I have ever met. These people are brilliant in their ways. Within 20 minutes you become a fan. You feel like "yes, this is what I want to be like"

General awareness, current events, statistics and some faltu gyan. To top it lots of microwave theory. I don't understand why they always choose this shitty subject out of those 50 odd mentioned on my mark sheets. There is no escape. :(

Lots of smiles and a bird that hit the window pan.
A cadbury eclairs in the end.

I am going to cherish it all.

so whos the big daddy?

IIMA website claims [with a big proud smile] that we are world's toughest management school to get into. The-Economist has proved this through its surveys too.

So here is the news.
I am coming there big daddy. You may be the toughest place to get an admission into. But I am coming there tomorrow to give my best try.

7 years back when I was writing IIT-JEE, FIITJEE sent me a greeting card saying
"You have done all the hard work. It's time to be the winner now."

I am feeling exactly the same now.
May God bless me with the best opportunity.
Amen...

Indore 5 things

Five things I would like to change about in Indore:

1. The infrastructure needs a lot of fine tuning. Especially the drainage system, and water supply channels.
2. The central business district (Rajbada, Sarafa, Cloth-market etc) need a better traffic regulation. They are too congested.
3. Air connectivity needs to be upgraded. It still does not have a direct flight for Bangalore. Need more flights for Mumbai/Delhi.
4. There is a good supply of engineering graduates from the various engineering colleges. Need to develop IT infrastructure and get more IT jobs in city [or in areas surrounding].
5. Indore has good potential to be the food capital of India [or at least central India]. It should rebrand itself as tourist attraction in a better way.

validation

Validation is a very simple exercise that helps in lot of routine issues that you face in your relationships and interactions with others. Validation technique focus on accepting the existence of issue rather than denying [or not accepting] it.

It works on three levels:

1. Listen & pay attention: Whenever you are faced with a situation where someone comes to you and starts talking about his/her problem [or issue or concern], first thing you do is to listen. Listen to him with great attention and positive attitude. Your body language should be forthcoming showing your interest in listening about it. There are two more things that you need to take care at this moment - a) Stop finding an answer. Do not think about the solution. b) Avoid judgments.

2. Reflect and Clarify: Reflect on the situation and also clarify it. Ask the person if what you understand is correct. This step mostly will involve framing the issue in your words. Make sure you do not add your views or judgments at this stage. Just repeat what the other person has been saying and get confirmation from him. It will assure him that you have been attentive enough to listen to him. And it will be a positive display of your concern.

3. Now try and guess what the person might be going through. Try and formulate small questions that will help the other person express himself in a better way. Many a times the person in distress find it very difficult to express his feelings. Help them by guessing lots of possible feelings. Something like "oh so you are feeling tired?" "oh but are you feeling ashamed?" or so on. These questions will help you in knowing more about the situation.

Once you have followed these steps, you will find yourself in much better situation to deal with the issue. And even if you are not capable to solve it, you have been a great help for someone to understand it better.

Give it a try. I feel it will work well.

ps: Learnt from Dave and Fiona in the workshop organized by Dream-A-Dream. Will update about it more soon.

ek cutting chai

Sitting in front of my system sipping chai from the same old cup - that's me these days.

Sometime I feel really alone at home; am getting bored of listening to same songs; there are no new interesting mails in my mailbox and I am losing my interest in cricket. I am jobless too. It's the same stuff again and again and again. But you know what I am loving it.

I feel so happy that I took this break. I have finished reading two books in last one week. I have written 6 posts in last 7 days and more are in the pipeline. I am getting back the enthu and energy to start working again with those children. And yes, I am preparing for my interviews too.

"What kind of preparation do you think you needed for these interviews?" someone asked me.
And I here is what I can think of.
I needed to find my reason. I wanted to halt for a moment and look back at my achievements. I wanted to see where all I could have done better. And wanted to check if I actually learned from those mistakes.
It's the time when I want to open my eyes and look around. And of course look inside too.

I am loving doing all all these. I am finding myself. This self-realization would be the greatest achievement from this journey.

Mithya and Jodha Akbar

I am one of those movie-goers that go for a movie because they have to go for it. Mithya and Jodha Akbar were added to my list from the day I watched their first promo. Alas, I took sometime before actually watching them. Anyways, here is my take on both of them.

Mithya

Johnny Gaddar, No Smoking, Bheja Fry, Mixed Doubles - these are all movies that the director makes for his own pleasures. Call it his self-indulgence or self-satisfaction. End result is the same. An honest effort of movie-making. Mithya is another movie in same genre. That Rajat Kapoor (director for the movie) had to wait for almost 10 years to get this script on cinema-screen, shows that how difficult it is carve your own paths in this fantasy lands. But again, the fact that he has finally done it speaks a volume about his passion and determination. Story is novel so is the execution. Time and again I have said that I am a big fan of Ranveer. This movie just adds one more feather to his cap. Storyline is fast and you would love to flow with the plot. Watch it if you like to watch a good movie.

Jodha Akbar

Govarikar is the showman of new millennium. If you think Lagaan was a movie of grandeur scales. Think again, Jodha Akbar is the father of all the grand scale movies. And when I talk about scale, I am not talking about the big and lavish sets. They are just the symptoms. The actual strength of the movie is in the conviction with which he has made it. Mera Naam Joker was another such grand movie. It just shows the passion he has for a dream-cinema. And take my words, you have not seen such a beautiful movie in recent times. Watch it for its camerawork, watch it for its execution, watch it for Hrithik. I just loved the movie.

Entry No. 444

One bad thing about new expressways is that they do not give milestones their due respect. Most of the signboards are either the advertisements or the information charts. Journey is losing it's significance, and so are milestones. Nobody wants to see what they have achieved. The hunger of moving forward (or keep going) is insatiable. Every junction where you have a chose the next course of action is the new generation milestones.

I am in the mid of a journey. The work is only half done. I do not want to stop; but I do not want to miss these milestones either.
Let me note down my footsteps. Someday I will look back and trace my journey.

Entry no 444.

An African Proverb

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter if you are the lion or the gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.

- An African proverb.

while i was sleeping

All of you who have read "The World Is Flat" by Thomas Friedman would surely relate to the title of the post. I wanted to write a post on the same last night, but somehow did not do.
Today I have got one more reason to write about it. And that's why I am here.

One of my biggest fear is that I will get behind in the Race while I was sleeping. Which Race? you may ask. It is the race of time. Sleeping is a symbol of ignorance. Last 7 years or so, one the biggest learning I have got is that information and knowledge is the most influential thing in life. It makes you what you are. Of course character and vision [dreams for us not-so-larger-than-life human beings] play an important role too. So the race is always on. To gather more knowledge, to use it more.

I had another interview today. And to my good luck [or was it bad luck? Doesn't matter now] I mentioned about "The World Is Flat". From that point till the end of interview, the discussion revolved around the book and its theme. I have not yet finished the book. Still it was a great experience discussing that book with those professors. They know so much and share their knowledge so nicely. This is what I want to be, I say to myself day in and day out. Till now all my interviews have been a really great time meeting nice people. They make you feel special and trust me that makes your day. I hope this continues for the remaining ones too.

Amen!!

one step at a time

After certain extent 'it' does not feel any odd. It's like a religious duty that you do without questioning its motives.

I gave one interview on tuesday morning in Bangalore; took at late night flight to Mumbai; Gave two rounds of group interviews [plus two irritating psychometric tests] on Wednesday; and took a late night flight to Bangalore.
Now I am here preparing for the next one, that is tomorrow afternoon.

I will call it my good luck to be facing such a mad rush.

But one thing I have realized is that it is always one step at a time. All these days come in their own signature style. And yes, one bad or good day has no bearing whatsoever on the outcome of the other; except the mental conditioning that comes from the experience. Learning from one does help in the next one. And that's the only thing that is going to form a link between all my interviews.

As I have told earlier, "It is me against myself now" And I really stand by it today.
Will update as and when I have more stories to share.

your time has come...

"Weary of his company's fear of change, Andi took it upon himself to show them exactly what they'd been missing"
"Whoa, okay!! We'll switch to J****!"

Sitting on my comfy seat in cube 4.0.3.3 whenever I raise my head, the comic strips on the wall greet me with messages like those given above. They bring smile on the face immediately.

Life has been so good so far. Fun mixed with work. It's addictive, my friend. Take my words for it. I have got used to it now. I have met so many interesting people in such a short span of time. I am really lucky.

Today:

"Your password is about to expire in 2 days. Do you want to change your password now?" When I see this message everytime I log in to my system, it gives me a blatant warning that your time has come. You have been here for so long. Time for a change!!!

Oh No... Not so soon!!!. This joureny is not yet complete.

But then I feel the omens are shouting it aloud. It is the best for everyone. Last year almost the same time, one gyani gave me this small lesson:

"End of the day you can say only two things:
1. Yes, I did it.
2. If I had done it.
& you know which is more glorious"

Truely. I have got responsibilities that want me to give my 100%. And I am certainly going to do that. This last one year has been a good learning experience and I surely will charish it my whole life.

Time for a change. It's my time.

ps: As I write this post, I realize that even my yoyo has stopped working smoothly.
Yes yoyo, I got what you saying. Just one more day buddy. Bear with me.

i vs myself

It's going to be I v/s myself from now on.

Bring it on baby...

just 5 minutes

"Just 5 minutes"

I came out of the interview room and saw AB standing there. "How was it?" he asked. "It was good," I said. "But it took just 5 minutes for them," I concluded. "No dude, it was not that short. It was more than 20 minutes, check your watch," said AB. I checked my watch. Yes indeed, it was no that short. For the first time I realized that time actually passed so fast. I did not realize it at all.

"Yes, It was good" - my first thought. I term it as a 'feel good' experience. Overall I did not feel any pressure (I accept I was nervous in start. I actually repeated one whole line in an answer). In fact I enjoyed it. I am 4-5 Mock PI veteran and I can easily vouch that this was the best experience I have had. The interaction was healthy where the jury (or panel, whatever you want to call it) actually helped me in every way to express myself. There were some funny and light moments that helped me tune my thought process. As it was the first PI in the day, all the jury member showed their interest in listening to me. That kind of environment make you feel better.

What now?

I do not bother much. As I said it was a feel good moment for me. And I know next time I enter another interview room, I will have more confidence in myself. I will have some good memories and experience from this instance to keep my spirited. As someone said, "sometimes the journey is the reward" I know I had one such journey.

The fish market

The GD which took place before the PI was not a bad experience either. 10-11 people sitting around a table tried to discuss "change in investing patterns of Indian middle class" Lots of ideas and facts were thrown out for discussion. Some grabbed group's attention while some just lost their way. There were moments were we behaved like fish traders. But still, we did a good job. I myself am not satisfied with my contribution. This GD was a good eye-opener. It showed me so many gray areas in my preparations and behavior. I need lot of improvement and this is going to be the highest priority in my life now.

the moment

It's not the most comforting situation to be in. Expectations are sky high. Dreams too. Last few days have been those fight-within-myself types. Soul searching has its added disadvantages. In long term, though, I think the pluses will overtake the minuses.

The dilemma is still prevalent, so is the determination to come out of it. Many a times in my life I did not know about "What I wanted to do?". But at those same times, I always knew "What I did not want to do?". This theory of elimination works. It works most of the times. At least for me.

But I think it is time for me to actualy make a informed decision.

RD said it correctly, "There are two ways to go about it. Either you learn trick of the trade or you learn the trade itself."

I guess I have always taken the shortcut, and it is the time for me to find my own way. It's the time I learn the trade.

"Why?" is the question that needs answers.
And I am going to find the same.