Second blog from Chennai and the first one from my new lappie which I won at BT Acumen. Its a Lenovo thinkpad and to use a much abused IIYumBee slang ... me thinks it is very pseud. Thanks to Pabbo for forcing me use the new lappie. It required him and Mausa to barge into the room and open the package to force me out of my sloth. Another thanks to GeeBee for installing some of the required software. Transferred the stuff I had on good ol' Dell to the new one. Appa will be using the Dell from now. Efforts on to make him and Amma computer literate in a space of 3 days. Fight are there. So long and thanks for all the dosas ....
p.s. -
1) Songs of Mani Ratnam's Guru rock. Vintage ARR stuff.
2) Statutory warning - do not watch Vallavan/Thimiru/Dhoom 2/Vivah, unless you get kicks out of self induced migraines.
3) Pls note that the last mentioned movie might also induce a pathological and irrational phobia against marriages. So if you are the marrying kind or even better newly married, this might just be the film for you.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
In Chennai ...
Back in Chennai for term 2 break. Bangalore may have its climate and all that jazz but undeniable fact is that Chennai rocks. If you were to ask me for any specific reason, I would be hard put to come up with a logical answer, but the simple fact is that the place grows on you, until it becomes an integral part of you as a person. One of the charges laid against us as a city is the fact that we as a species do not bother about the plight of the person next to us. In other words the concept of Vasudevya Kutumbam is sorta given the short shrift in the roller coaster that is life in Chennai. An instance was recently brought to my notice that helps dispel this notion. A lady and her husband (both senior citizens) happened to get into a rather crowded bus. Even as the lady was trying to buy a ticket, the next stop came and a ticket checking team boarded the bus. The lady promptly told the checker that she hadnt bought the ticket. Having said that, she requested the checker to permit her to travel (after buying the ticket, of course). She reasoned with the checker that it was very difficult to buy the ticket as the travel time between 2 stops is hardly 30-45 seconds and the bus was crowded. In fact the lady in question had already passed on the fare money to one of her co passengers for buying the ticket. The checker obstinately refused to believe the lady and asked her to cough up the fine (Rs.500) or get down from the bus, accusing her of travelling without ticket right from the beginning of the bus trip.The lady's husband noticing the commotion tired to reason it out with the checker only to be rudely put down by the latter. The lady, at this point had two options. Swallow her pride and pay up or fight for what seemed to her, a very just cause. Fortunately, for us, the lady chose the second option. The moment she refused to pay, albiet in a polite manner, the checker let loose a stream of abuse. Even as the lady and her husband kept appealing to his better senses, the unrelenting checker kept up his crude verbal tirade against the couple. Now, a curious thing happened. A girl (copassenger) who had been silent till then, turned to the lady and asked her not to pay the fine. This simple act released what seemed to be a flood gate of support in the bus. Every passenger on the bus started arguing with the ticket checker about the reasonableness of the woman's stand. Seeing the obstinacy of the checker, the passengers threatened to step off from the bus en masse if the lady and her husband were made to get down.The ticket checker, clearly taken aback by the public outcry, started to reduce the fine demanded, starting from Rs. 500 to Rs.400 to Rs.200 to Rs. 100 and finally to Rs.50. With the passengers not backing down, the ticket checker threw back (literally) the original fare money that had been tendered by the lady and got down from the bus.The rest of the journey proceeded uneventfully, with the lady thanking her co passengers for their support. The public outcry in favour of the lady who was "technically" on the wrong side of law, does go a long way in showing that we chennaites do care for others, as human beings. While the ticket checker was right to ask for the fine, he could have -
1) exercised his discretion
2) asked the conductor (who was incidentally was studiously silent throughout the entire episode) if the lady had indeed got into the bus only in the previous stop
3) asked the co passenger if the fare money had indeed been handed over to him by the lady and above all else
4) been polite to a senior citizen couple
What probably galvanised the crowd was the sight of an old couple being harrangued by a boorish government servant, when they were clearly not at fault. Once again, hats off to you, Chennai. And yes, thank you ... for that old couple were my parents. It feels nice to know that there is an entire city to take care of them when I am busy mugging in Bangalore.
p.s. -
1) I continue to believe that the public transport system in Madras is very efficient and rocks. In fact my exposure to Bangalore's (non existent) public transport system has only strengthened my belief.
2) Just travelled on the TIDEL Park road. Awesome is the word!
3) I am very much against ticketless travelling.
4) Happened to travel on the bus with plastic chassis running on 47D route. It was a delight to travel in and very comfortable. Hope it is replicated in more buses.
5) This is the last blog from my trusted Dell lappie. Goodbye HAL, its been great working on you. More about it later.
1) exercised his discretion
2) asked the conductor (who was incidentally was studiously silent throughout the entire episode) if the lady had indeed got into the bus only in the previous stop
3) asked the co passenger if the fare money had indeed been handed over to him by the lady and above all else
4) been polite to a senior citizen couple
What probably galvanised the crowd was the sight of an old couple being harrangued by a boorish government servant, when they were clearly not at fault. Once again, hats off to you, Chennai. And yes, thank you ... for that old couple were my parents. It feels nice to know that there is an entire city to take care of them when I am busy mugging in Bangalore.
p.s. -
1) I continue to believe that the public transport system in Madras is very efficient and rocks. In fact my exposure to Bangalore's (non existent) public transport system has only strengthened my belief.
2) Just travelled on the TIDEL Park road. Awesome is the word!
3) I am very much against ticketless travelling.
4) Happened to travel on the bus with plastic chassis running on 47D route. It was a delight to travel in and very comfortable. Hope it is replicated in more buses.
5) This is the last blog from my trusted Dell lappie. Goodbye HAL, its been great working on you. More about it later.
Monday, January 01, 2007
I am back!
Wokay, this is in response to the ever increasing number of people/fans (acshully 2) who have demanding that I start blogging again. The question I beg to ask - when did I ever stop? Now that I back in Chennai for my term break, I hope to come out with some profoundly disturbing ramblings before heading back to the loony bin/heaven that is IIMB. It sure feels great to play my small part in desecrating the web!
And oh yeah, wish ya all a very happy new year!!
And oh yeah, wish ya all a very happy new year!!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
In chennai and loving it...
Term 1 finally got over. Blogging from singara chennai :)
The weather is balmy, almost reminds you of Bangalore. Even as I hog to my heart's content at home, my mind keeps going back to the learnings over the past term. So here goes - This post is devoted to my learnings and unlearnings over the past 3 months -
1) It is possible to survive with 3-4 hours of sleep. Yes, after a point of time your eyes get as bloodshot as a drunk guy but then it hardly matters when the entire batch is sporting red eyes.
2) The place is ruthless to people with backlogs. Remember the homily that your mom, dad, teachers, uncles, aunties and every other soul used to give about finishing your work on time. Over here it is the rule to survival.
3) The pressure that one has to undergo at this place is directly linked to the pressure that one actually wants to take upon himself or herself. It may sound a bit weird to the outsider but ask any guy who has been here and done that, he would readily agree.
4) Continuing on the pressure thingie - it plays tricks on people and you can see people change for the better or worse right in front of you.
5) Choices abound in this place. Everything you do is either at the cost of your acads or sleep. So, you are better off doing a cost benefit analysis before embarking on new activity/adventure.
6) We have a lot to learn from the profs. I had a chance to go through the profiles of some of the profs who taught me. It turned out that apart from being excellent teacher's, they had what in IIM parlance is called - "God level" profiles. What struck me the most was the total humility of the profs!
7) More than anything - this place is fun. Its not often that you get to learn so much and have fun at the same time.
Looking forward to 5 more terms in this beautiful place that I have come to regard as my second home.
The weather is balmy, almost reminds you of Bangalore. Even as I hog to my heart's content at home, my mind keeps going back to the learnings over the past term. So here goes - This post is devoted to my learnings and unlearnings over the past 3 months -
1) It is possible to survive with 3-4 hours of sleep. Yes, after a point of time your eyes get as bloodshot as a drunk guy but then it hardly matters when the entire batch is sporting red eyes.
2) The place is ruthless to people with backlogs. Remember the homily that your mom, dad, teachers, uncles, aunties and every other soul used to give about finishing your work on time. Over here it is the rule to survival.
3) The pressure that one has to undergo at this place is directly linked to the pressure that one actually wants to take upon himself or herself. It may sound a bit weird to the outsider but ask any guy who has been here and done that, he would readily agree.
4) Continuing on the pressure thingie - it plays tricks on people and you can see people change for the better or worse right in front of you.
5) Choices abound in this place. Everything you do is either at the cost of your acads or sleep. So, you are better off doing a cost benefit analysis before embarking on new activity/adventure.
6) We have a lot to learn from the profs. I had a chance to go through the profiles of some of the profs who taught me. It turned out that apart from being excellent teacher's, they had what in IIM parlance is called - "God level" profiles. What struck me the most was the total humility of the profs!
7) More than anything - this place is fun. Its not often that you get to learn so much and have fun at the same time.
Looking forward to 5 more terms in this beautiful place that I have come to regard as my second home.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Life at IIMB
Been meaning to put up a post that sorta reflects what being in IIMB is –
Time – 0300 hours
Snapshots –
1)One leafs through his eco textbook for the class next day, after having watching Syriana on the intranet.
2)Another returns from the block party, promptly pings above guy for dope on the fin acc assignment.
3)A group is taking a break from a case analysis/project report.
4)The block parties continue unabated.
5)Confused facha sits with his PGP2 mentor, getting some gyan on the intricacies of QM.
6) Couple of ppl on their mobiles whispering sweet nothings… distance does make the heart grow fonder.
7)A PGP2 returns from his jog.2 fachas set out for a walk after mugging away to God’s glory.
9)A DML types sets the alarm clock for 6:00 am and hits the sack.
10)Inter section tournaments are on in full swing with future CEOs slugging it out on the futsal court under floodlights.
The above is just a small sample, of what goes on here. If you thought getting here was tough, you my dear friend are in some rude awakening. CAT and GD/PI are the easy part. And did you think getting a %ile of 99.85 made you a stud or something? Wait till you get in. Some junta here, get 99.85 on their bad days.
With the kind of activities that keep going on around, you have run flat out just to remain where you are. You sometimes do end up surprising yourself. I, for example never thought I could keep hitting the sack at 3 and be up by 7, but here I am. All this when I am just 20 days into IIMB. On the positive side, hey, it actually is fun.
Time – 0300 hours
Snapshots –
1)One leafs through his eco textbook for the class next day, after having watching Syriana on the intranet.
2)Another returns from the block party, promptly pings above guy for dope on the fin acc assignment.
3)A group is taking a break from a case analysis/project report.
4)The block parties continue unabated.
5)Confused facha sits with his PGP2 mentor, getting some gyan on the intricacies of QM.
6) Couple of ppl on their mobiles whispering sweet nothings… distance does make the heart grow fonder.
7)A PGP2 returns from his jog.2 fachas set out for a walk after mugging away to God’s glory.
9)A DML types sets the alarm clock for 6:00 am and hits the sack.
10)Inter section tournaments are on in full swing with future CEOs slugging it out on the futsal court under floodlights.
The above is just a small sample, of what goes on here. If you thought getting here was tough, you my dear friend are in some rude awakening. CAT and GD/PI are the easy part. And did you think getting a %ile of 99.85 made you a stud or something? Wait till you get in. Some junta here, get 99.85 on their bad days.
With the kind of activities that keep going on around, you have run flat out just to remain where you are. You sometimes do end up surprising yourself. I, for example never thought I could keep hitting the sack at 3 and be up by 7, but here I am. All this when I am just 20 days into IIMB. On the positive side, hey, it actually is fun.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Its been quite a while.....
A month and 21 days since I landed in IIMB. Lots of factors contributed to me not posting -
- Acad and other pressures in IIMB
- Govt's rather pig headed move to bar access to blogspot
- Laziness on my part, that prevented me from going to other proxy sites
Hope to start posting more frequently. May be, if my writing skills improve sufficiently, I could even publish this crap that I dish out as a desi "Snapshgots from Hell" or better enter into a tie up with the Rapidex folks and publish a " Learn how to get into IIMB and survive in 30 days"
Have to get going.... but all I can say is this - Getting in was the easy part, the "fun" has just started :)
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Chennai to Bangalore ...
Just finished packing up my stuff for B. Dad insisted that I clean the toxic junkyard that is also my room before I scoot. Mission accomplished in 8 hours flat. Yup, It took me 8 hours to undo the damage inflicted over a period of 9 years. That’s less than 1 hour for every year, eh!
The good thing about cleaning up wholesale is that it allows you to get unemotional about stuff. You tend to view things as junk and non-junk. No more staring wistfully at the farewell card given by your colleagues in the organization before last. Especially not at 1:00 am, when you have been slogging away for the past 6 hours. You know it is junk and there it goes.
Now that I am all set to bid farewell to the city that has been my home for quarter of a century (and man, why do I suddenly feel old), what is it that I will miss –
1) Masala kadalai & Milaga Bhajji by the beach – my definition of paradise.
2) The beach itself – nothing like sitting on the beach all by yourself n just watching the waves.
3) My colleagues in St.Gobain. The guys were clever… very clever and a joy to work with.
4) The public transport system. The MTC buses for all their faults are thoroughly dependable and cheap. I will feel the pinch in B, as it does not have any public transport worth mentioning.
5) Watching English movies dubbed in Tamil on Vijay TV. Wholesome entertainment. Where else would you see “Holy shit” get transformed to “Hey, Kadavulae”(Oh My God!!) or get Jackie Chan to sing that immortal classic – “Raakamma Kaiya Thattu”.
6) The heat of Chennai. People visiting Chennai do crib quite a bit about the climate or the lack of it. For me though, give me Chennai’s heat and it’s occasional rainy spells on any day.
Going on to what I definitely will not miss –
1) The company bus – the driver who is other wise a very nice person, becomes Schumi’s guru when he sits on the drivers seat. The bus suddenly transforms itself into a F1 truck and the race begins. The company bus is a menace on the roads and I am only too glad not to be riding it. The fact that I am alive today only goes to show that miracles happen even in lives of people who call God all sorts of names.
2) Spending 3 hours everyday in a bus commuting to and from the place of work is idiocy.
3) Autowallas of Chennai – they fleece, period. This from a guy who has been in the city for quite some time. God help anyone who does not know Tamil/Chennai and lands up in their clutches. And about their notorious road habits, the lesser said the better. While we are on the topic, scientists may want to study the unique fuel used by these 3 wheeled chariots and patent the same. I just cannot get myself to believe that driving skill alone could result in such acrobatics on the road.
4) Cooum - You see some, you hear some and then in case of dear Cooum, you smell some. The once proud river is now an open drain. Sporadic attempts have been made to set things right, but to no avail.
5) CAS – Chennai is the only place where Conditional Access System has been implemented. That means we are asked to pay for watching TV. And why is it that i am glad to escape CAS?
a) We Indians hate to pay for things. Guess, it's a part of the national conscience and there is nothing we can do about it.
b) It sucks even more when the entire nation is getting the stuff for free, while you alone are asked to pay.
c) It sucks biggest when that country cousin of yours living in a God forsaken part of Tamland walks in and gives you the latest dope on the your one time fav show on STAR World.
Going off on a tangent - Free tip to any political party that wants to romp home in the 14 assembly constituencies of Chennai - Promise to remove CAS and thou shall rule (at least in Chennai).
So, that’s that for now. Leaving for B tomorrow. This is my last post from Chennai for the next 2 years. So long Chennai … I will miss you.
The good thing about cleaning up wholesale is that it allows you to get unemotional about stuff. You tend to view things as junk and non-junk. No more staring wistfully at the farewell card given by your colleagues in the organization before last. Especially not at 1:00 am, when you have been slogging away for the past 6 hours. You know it is junk and there it goes.
Now that I am all set to bid farewell to the city that has been my home for quarter of a century (and man, why do I suddenly feel old), what is it that I will miss –
1) Masala kadalai & Milaga Bhajji by the beach – my definition of paradise.
2) The beach itself – nothing like sitting on the beach all by yourself n just watching the waves.
3) My colleagues in St.Gobain. The guys were clever… very clever and a joy to work with.
4) The public transport system. The MTC buses for all their faults are thoroughly dependable and cheap. I will feel the pinch in B, as it does not have any public transport worth mentioning.
5) Watching English movies dubbed in Tamil on Vijay TV. Wholesome entertainment. Where else would you see “Holy shit” get transformed to “Hey, Kadavulae”(Oh My God!!) or get Jackie Chan to sing that immortal classic – “Raakamma Kaiya Thattu”.
6) The heat of Chennai. People visiting Chennai do crib quite a bit about the climate or the lack of it. For me though, give me Chennai’s heat and it’s occasional rainy spells on any day.
Going on to what I definitely will not miss –
1) The company bus – the driver who is other wise a very nice person, becomes Schumi’s guru when he sits on the drivers seat. The bus suddenly transforms itself into a F1 truck and the race begins. The company bus is a menace on the roads and I am only too glad not to be riding it. The fact that I am alive today only goes to show that miracles happen even in lives of people who call God all sorts of names.
2) Spending 3 hours everyday in a bus commuting to and from the place of work is idiocy.
3) Autowallas of Chennai – they fleece, period. This from a guy who has been in the city for quite some time. God help anyone who does not know Tamil/Chennai and lands up in their clutches. And about their notorious road habits, the lesser said the better. While we are on the topic, scientists may want to study the unique fuel used by these 3 wheeled chariots and patent the same. I just cannot get myself to believe that driving skill alone could result in such acrobatics on the road.
4) Cooum - You see some, you hear some and then in case of dear Cooum, you smell some. The once proud river is now an open drain. Sporadic attempts have been made to set things right, but to no avail.
5) CAS – Chennai is the only place where Conditional Access System has been implemented. That means we are asked to pay for watching TV. And why is it that i am glad to escape CAS?
a) We Indians hate to pay for things. Guess, it's a part of the national conscience and there is nothing we can do about it.
b) It sucks even more when the entire nation is getting the stuff for free, while you alone are asked to pay.
c) It sucks biggest when that country cousin of yours living in a God forsaken part of Tamland walks in and gives you the latest dope on the your one time fav show on STAR World.
Going off on a tangent - Free tip to any political party that wants to romp home in the 14 assembly constituencies of Chennai - Promise to remove CAS and thou shall rule (at least in Chennai).
So, that’s that for now. Leaving for B tomorrow. This is my last post from Chennai for the next 2 years. So long Chennai … I will miss you.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Coasting along ...
Quite some time since I posted, so what have I been up to –
1) Serving out my notice period.
2) Handing over stuff that I was doing at workplace and KT (knowledge transfer – One thing I still cannot get myself to believe is that I actually have knowledge to transfer. But then, if people want to labor under that illusion, don’t blame me)
3) Orkutting.
4) Reading up some stuff – trying to get back into the student mode. Working (in my case at least) has reduced my ability to sit in a place and read any printed material. At best I just skim through it and move on to something else. I have been spending the last few weeks trying to get back my studying habits.
5) Getting in touch with friends and renewing acquaintances. It struck me, a few days back that I was losing contact with my friends and I started a conscious effort to keep in touch with them. Happy to note that they do remember me :)
6) Browsing PG. Don’t spam like the pre CAT result days but I do keep browsing.
7) Visited the dentist and had my tooth set right.
8) Started getting together stuff that would be required for my stay in B.
9) Calling up future classmates and cribbing about life in general and notice periods in particular.
10) Reading up stuff on reservation in higher education.Honestly, I have not been able to form an opinion about it, but one thing I am sure about is that the UPA government screwed up big time with the way it went about the whole affair.
Pretty dull post, eh? But that’s the way life has been for the past few weeks.
1) Serving out my notice period.
2) Handing over stuff that I was doing at workplace and KT (knowledge transfer – One thing I still cannot get myself to believe is that I actually have knowledge to transfer. But then, if people want to labor under that illusion, don’t blame me)
3) Orkutting.
4) Reading up some stuff – trying to get back into the student mode. Working (in my case at least) has reduced my ability to sit in a place and read any printed material. At best I just skim through it and move on to something else. I have been spending the last few weeks trying to get back my studying habits.
5) Getting in touch with friends and renewing acquaintances. It struck me, a few days back that I was losing contact with my friends and I started a conscious effort to keep in touch with them. Happy to note that they do remember me :)
6) Browsing PG. Don’t spam like the pre CAT result days but I do keep browsing.
7) Visited the dentist and had my tooth set right.
8) Started getting together stuff that would be required for my stay in B.
9) Calling up future classmates and cribbing about life in general and notice periods in particular.
10) Reading up stuff on reservation in higher education.Honestly, I have not been able to form an opinion about it, but one thing I am sure about is that the UPA government screwed up big time with the way it went about the whole affair.
Pretty dull post, eh? But that’s the way life has been for the past few weeks.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Pagalguy
This blog was long overdue. A thank u note to www.pagalguy.com (PG).
If I am in IIM-B today, its because of PG. Sure, I did put in some serious effort, but it was PG which guided me through out. Right from sustaining me through the mock cat debacles to telling me that IIMB results page was behaving funny, it was PG all the way. More than anything I owe 1 great freind to PG - Opiate. But for PG, I might have never met such a wonderful person.
PG showed me that it actually was possible to believe people who you may have never seen before and may never even see ever. In some ways PG operates on trusting the inherent goodness in each and everyone of us, and surprisingly it worked most of the time. Given my rather caustic attitude towards life in general and human behaviour in particular, this was a pleasant surprise.
So a big "Thank u" to PG, to all the people who make PG such a great place and to Alwin ... the guy who built it all. Hope to remain a part of this community and give back in whatever way I can.
If I am in IIM-B today, its because of PG. Sure, I did put in some serious effort, but it was PG which guided me through out. Right from sustaining me through the mock cat debacles to telling me that IIMB results page was behaving funny, it was PG all the way. More than anything I owe 1 great freind to PG - Opiate. But for PG, I might have never met such a wonderful person.
PG showed me that it actually was possible to believe people who you may have never seen before and may never even see ever. In some ways PG operates on trusting the inherent goodness in each and everyone of us, and surprisingly it worked most of the time. Given my rather caustic attitude towards life in general and human behaviour in particular, this was a pleasant surprise.
So a big "Thank u" to PG, to all the people who make PG such a great place and to Alwin ... the guy who built it all. Hope to remain a part of this community and give back in whatever way I can.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Travel time
My workplace is situated about 40 km from city. That means I spend more than 3 hours traveling everyday. That I am the first to get into the bus and last to get out doesn't exactly help either. Having put in my papers and being all set to scoot by mid June, I decided to calculate the total time that I have spent traveling under my current employer. So here goes - I would have worked for 472 days by mid June. This is after eliminating all weekends and holidays. I have assumed that any leave that I have taken to date would be more than compensated by the weekends and holidays during which I worked.
My daily travel time is slightly more than 3 hours. But then, it would be wrong to take all of it for the purpose of my calculation, given that I would have anyway spent some time traveling to my workplace. For the lack of a better alternative, here I take the traveling time under my previous employer - 80 min.
U don't have to be a math whizkid to arrive at the total incremental number of hours spent traveling - 826
In terms of 24 hour day - 34 days
In terms of 8 hour man day - 103 days ... phew
Moral of the story - Next time I choose a workplace ... maybe commuting time ought to be given due importance.
My daily travel time is slightly more than 3 hours. But then, it would be wrong to take all of it for the purpose of my calculation, given that I would have anyway spent some time traveling to my workplace. For the lack of a better alternative, here I take the traveling time under my previous employer - 80 min.
U don't have to be a math whizkid to arrive at the total incremental number of hours spent traveling - 826
In terms of 24 hour day - 34 days
In terms of 8 hour man day - 103 days ... phew
Moral of the story - Next time I choose a workplace ... maybe commuting time ought to be given due importance.
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