Quotes i love

dunno who said these words... they used to be my favourates during engineering days.. I used to write them all over my submission files so that i appear cool...(those who are laughing shut up...many people actually thought i was cool...very very cool...by Bharati Vidyapeeth standards)

• Jesus can do anything..tell him to try engineering...
• ifucantreadthisthenuarehigh
• reality is an illusion created by alcohol deficiency
• i am not lazy..just very very calm
• why to booze and die when u can dope and fly...
• Hardwork never killed anyone but why take the risk...
• Dont steal, the governtment hates competition..

Finally..

19 months after joining my first job i am finally excited about work, i can now feel the passion building up inside me. Sounds strange..lemme explain..

December-04, the placement season had just started, the primary aim which i had set for myself (like 99% of my batch) was to get placed with a package decent enough to make ends meet. Any package above a certain level (lets say X) would be an added bonus and so would be a job which requires you to stay in Mumbai (in my case, their respective hometowns in the case of others). So i finally began my hunt. But before i could start working on my CV the first bank arrived on campus. 6 hours of madness (includes the time spent to make a CV, get dressed, appear for GD, wait and appear for an interview), i had finally landed my first job, a decent package and location in good ol Mumbai. Life rocks.

May-05, the vaguely worded job profile says Product Development. Me- very excited, thinking that i would be developing products that the bank would sell to millions (ok-thousands) of its customers. Very Happy. After a short chat with someone from HR and a few senior managers who has come for the induction, happiness slowly starts fading.

June-05, finally joined job, Boss says job is to test software. Me- wtf... %^ #*&%#. Later Boss explains that its an IT consultant type of a profile where we would constantly be interacting with vendors and IT department and explain them what software to create for the bank.
Truth finally dawns, i was not one of the super smart ones to be chosen for product development, in fact i was one of those fools who was stupid enough to fall for their ploy and land this testing job.

what happened from then till Oct-06 is really of no consequence...i moved from one profile to another...from a tester to a consultant to a business analyst to a product manager to an operations guy to personal secy to super boss to software tester again.... till finally i decided to move on and either quit the organisation of join another department (in fact efforts had started as early as May-06)...

So after many arguments, interviews and gyan sessions later i became a relationship manager in corporate banking, sounded cool. I always wanted to be like those smartly dressed guys constantly on the move, meeting client s and cutting big deals (yeah i did meet clients and cut deals in my old profile also, but never made any money for the bank)...this was my chance to do that and style...

So began my journey into the world of balance sheets and credit analysis, tough but interesting...

back then in B school..me and old man used to eat, sleep and dream work (drink also)...that's what made us so passionate about our work...when i say dream i meant it literally...i had glorious visions of superbly organised festivals and seminars floating in my head...with huge amounts of sponsorships and the best speakers / entertainers that money could afford...

Last night i dreamt of work...my head was filled with visions of how i could cut those tough deals which had been stuck for the past few days...how i could offer a proposition which was profitable to as well as my client...like the don would say...'make and offer he cannot refuse'...

yes m friends...m back...and this time i love my job...

Points to Ponder

What they say: Money cant buy you happiness...
Reality: Lots of money can make you happy....very happy...very very happy.....

What they say: If you love someone let her her go, if she comes back then she loves you...
Reality: If you let her go...she will definitely come back...with a husband by her side and a kid in her arms...

Indigo

We all want to lead good lives. Wine and Dine at the best places. One day Nishith, Mallu and Pooh decided to celebrate the small insignificant successes that had come their way recently. They decided to wine and dine in one of the best places in town. Since it was their special night they did not want to spare any expenses. So promptly a booking was done, plans were made to leave offices early so that they reach the place well in time.

Given below is the menu they had (will upload a photograph soon):
Soup:
Spinach & Gruyere (i have no idea what it means) with Toasted Almonds

Appetizers:
Corn Crepe raviolo with Lobster and Cumin peppers
Artichoke & Palm Hearts with Basil dresing

Main Course:
Braised Shank of New Zealend Lamb....with a galss of El Retiro Reserva Especial Tempranillo 2004 (whatever that means)

Poha Crusted Roast Chilean Sea Bass with a glass of Chardonnay Torrontes 2005 (it was nothing like the poha my mom gives me for breakfast every morning)

Tea Smoked Grilled Chicken with Creamy Shitakes with a glass of Malbec El Retiro (shitakes??)

Dessert:
Cranberry and Walnut Crossata WITH basil ice cream
Creme Brule with Biscotti (very very different from what we used to have at Mocha)
Grand (something) Cheesecake

Mallu was very happy he did not have to share the tab because both of them owed him a treat. Nishith and Pooh are still figuring out avenues for alternate employment apart from their 9-9 jobs so that they can earn enough money to make ends meet.

On a more serious note. The food was awesome..the desserts were even better. But since i have been bought up on a pav bhaji and pani puri diet i do not understand the intricacies of good food (forget pronouncing it). Like a friend once said...if you happen to run into a place which is full of firangs and you are NOT in goa then either the food is very bad or it is obscenely expensive. Am glad it was the latter in our case. But it was an experience indeed.

The personalised menu for the evening for Nishith Pandya and friends lies proudly pinned to Mallu's desk with a line stating " I MADE HIM PAY FOR THIS'

Tired....

6.00 pm on a Monday evening...just finished reading 2 reports, one more to go, also have to finish a 20 page proposal and a briefing session with boss.

Spent a rather boring weekend...Most of Saturday was spent in office trying to fix some presentation for boss. Sunday afternoon was used for a nice lavish lunch followed by some shopping. I think Shoppers Stop is in business because of people like me ( the amount of money i have blown there to get myself to a certain level for job shift is insane). Windies disappointed me a lot. I was expecting a repeat of the previous final (and was quite happy also after the blazing start). I have now joined the official 'Australia is unbeatable' believers club. Ashes is going to be a complete whitewash.

Looking forward to - my first meeting with a couple of clients this week, Mom coming back.....(food here sucks)

If you have the time please read 'The Mephisto Club' by Tess Gerritsen. I read the review here.

Couple of other interesting articles i came across today:

IT Biggies forced to chuck out trainees failing grade.

Tendulkar promises victory in South Africa. (i say-fat chance, have already put my money on the africans)

The Departed

Saw it last night...and loved it. I think its worth every bit of the of 4 and 1/2 stars the rediff reviewer has given it.

The performances were awesome, especially Jack Nicholson. I wont divulge any part of the story..please go watch it yourself. But Scorsese is brilliant, his deft touch is evident by the way the story alternates between the characters of Matt Damon and Leo DiCaprio and how their lives are connected to each other. Nicholson has his sinister presence looming large over both the characters. Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg are also good and make their presence felf in the screen time they have. Wahlberg has some lovely lines (watch him where he says " I'm the guy who does my job, you must be the other guy", he is brilliant). Personally i felt the film dragged a bit towards the end...but then all Scorsese films are supposed to be long.

The dialogues are full of cuss words but witty nevertheless, very well written. Hope Scorsese wins the much deserved Oscar for this one. Leo and Nicholson are going to be right up there when the nominees for the Oscars are going to be announced.

Enough said. Now go watch it. I feel it was every bit worth the 180 bucks i spent on it (damn...metro adlabs is expensive)

Classic Quotes.....

Movie: Dil Maange More
Soha Ali Khan to Shahid Kapoor: Tum Samarpur ke kunve ke maindak ho....
Means: You are a frog in the well of Samarpur

Movie: Cant remember the name
Jeetandra to some baddie: (baddie accuses Jeetu of blackmail)... Saale tu kud paap ka mail hai....
Means: you are the dirt of sins

Movie: Julie
Neha Dhupia to Yash Tonk: Aag mere badan mein lag rahi hai aur biscuit tum kha rahe ho........
Means: My body is on fire and you are eating biscuits

These three were my favorate ones....lemme know if you guys can think of any classic lines which better these ones... No mithunda lines please...these is a separate category for those ones... They are the timeless masterpieces....

am finally back...

Am finally out of hibernation....been very busy last few months (doing nothing of consequence). Finally after a lot of serious thinking and contemplating have made my first big career decision. The incessant cribbing and whining about old job has finally come to an end and i have moved to a new profile within the bank. Last Thursday i joined the corporate banking division as a relationship manager. Still in the learning + getting settled phase yet, will keep posting about job later.

So with all the thinking and contemplating a lot of reading and watching movies has also happened. On the reading front i finished Jeffery Archer's latest short stories collection...Cat o nine tales...quite nice and highly recommended, am close to finishing Shantaram finally (should be done this weekend hopefully), also finished Prince of Ayodhya and The lord of the Flies in between. As for movies am eagerly looking forward to Dhoom 2 (just for ash) and Guru (based on the life story of my hero)...might catch departed tomorrow.

To all those (few) people who used to visit my blog (and comment sometimes) - please do drop in more often from now onwards, will try to post something interesting at least twice a week (time permitting).

Revival

Lots happening....lots to say....have finally decided to post regularly and try to become a serious blogger.. so whoever is interested in knowing whats up..please do drop in from time to time...

Its convo time again...

Can hardly believe its one year since leaving NMIMS...Juniors (DJ&co.) have their convo on 29th April. Feeling damn senti now...one entire year has passed since convo day...never really got a chance to post my thank you list (like mallu long oscar award winning speech) or list my favorate moments at NM..so here goes..Many of you who read this might get bored..pls bear with me...those 2 years meant a lot to me and this is one way or reliving those awesome moments...Chai at govind..dosas and vada pav outside college.movies at fun and fame (with pooh having 120 degree fever)..5 min jhatpat presentations (like maggi...)..Paragana..Euphoria..the list goes on and on...
But here are my top 10 unforgettable moments at NMIMS:

10-Paragana -04: As usual fight till last moment for speakers, sponsorship..permissions...2 days of pure madness running between my suite (yes...they actually gave me one), college and the ball room..
Unforgettable-3 mad chicks jumping on my bed and refusing to let me sleep. Me , mallu, nitin and DJ sitting with loads of cash and an endless supply of booze (some 20 cases of beer, 100 cans of redbull, 10 bottles of vodka and whisky eah)...corleones revisited..

9-Journey to Allahabad and Back: the top 2 ppl (who supposedly run college...much to the displeasure of others) take a quick 3 days holiday from Euphoria and hop into a train for a quizfest.
Unforgettable-Mallu reasoning with the ticket inspectors and cops after we are caught for pulling the chain..in typical mallu accent " Aap bihar mein jaakar log ko pakdo...woh roz chain khhechta hai..." and just before the cops come our man taking a hanky and trying to wipe our fingerprints off the chain (remembering his CIA days)

8-Fight at Fame: A screening of troy turns into an actual war between mallu and some baldy...with me madly calling every person i know and screaming "jaldi aa..raada ho gaya"..
Unforgettable-The look on pooh's face when rahul casually tells her that such fights were a daily occurance at Bharati Vidyapeeth and we are veterans of many such battles.

7-Euphoria-05: The last fest of my illustrious organizing career...signing off in style.
Unforgettable-Late night eating sessions at Amar...watching movies lying down on comfy gaddas in room no 21.

6-Presentation on Budget05 in Forex management class: Toughest course i ever took in my life...understoof jackshit...was happy changing slides in the presentation till suddenly the prof looks at me and says--"Now Nishith will give us a summary of the entire presentation....."
Unforgettable-The speech i made after that..." hmm...ahem....the budget was very nice...the fin minister did a very good job...he did now bow in to the pressure from the left" Prof: what are the implication on forex mgmt..Me: "hmm...we need investment in infrastructure...we need to allow more Fdi...the budget was very good...the fin min did a very good job"

5-Euphoria 04- One of the most enjoyable fests of my life...me, mallu, shubhs, dipika and good ol abbaji...along with the nair brothers..the best fest organising team i have ever seen in my life...
Unforgettable- The first razzy awards...uday dancing on sexy sexy..my first razzy...MUMBHAI award...and the reliance fiasco...what a fest...

4-Summer Placement: october-placement season starts...feb-not placed yet...totally depressed..finally get shortlisted for IDBI bank..cracked the gd and interview...but a long long wait till 9pm to get my placement confirmed..
Unforgettable-The celebration at Mocha...finally using all those free coupons which we had been hoarding all this while...drinking the obscenely expensive Lindt chocolate shake just becoz its the mst expensive thing on the menu...free ka maal hai yaar...

3-Final Placements: After a 3and a half min interview where i was asked point blank...why should we hire u?...i somehow mumbled some answer..had lost all hopes of getting placed in Kotak till that phone call 2 days later..
Unforgettable-12 pm in the library on day 1. The ambience was simply mindblowing...

2-Farewell (unofficial): The last party we had at velocity...totally smashed...hugging everyone i knew (and didnt know also)..
Unforgettable- Mallu and pooh finally confessing what i had been suspecting for quite some time...old man, little man and the fat lady..all crying and hugging each other...

1-Consumer Behaviour Presentaion (neeta Acharyas class): The best presentation team ever born in the universe...Mr Gas and Mr Razzy...what a combination...Me, mallu, pooh and the nair bros...made the presentation in exactly 2 hrs...and got a whopping 9.5 (out of 10...the highest ever)...leaving a class full of shocked faces and a very happy teacher...
Unforgettable-Me looking a some boring slide..suddenly getting inspired by looking at nitin and announcing to the teacher " our research shows that the girl child is much smarter than the guy.." Bravo says the teacher...5 points extra for that...
Some guy in class (to mallu): the figures which u ve shown in ur graph add up to more than 100%...how is that possible...
Mallu (confidently): Actually it was a very big graph..we used only a part of it...
same guy (smirks): If u used only a part of the graph then the precentage should be less than 100 not more than 100...(i ve got him by the balls look)
Mallu (scratching his head...yeh kya bol raha hai): actually i am quite bad at maths....
And that was when he won the crown-the god of gas..me and the nair brothers give up all claims on the throne....

well technically the convo was the happiest moment...but these were the best moment of my student life..while i was in college...sorry to those who got bored reading this...to those who ve reached this far...ur comments please...they matter a lot...miss u guys...

Kalina vs NPT

This one comes due to a special request by friends and colleagues who wanted me to compare present office location to the old one..


life was so good in 2005. Office was in nariman point (bakhtawar). Travelling by ac bus...so many options at lunchtime...walk over to inox whenever u wanna watch a movie (thursdayz only...they have some manhattan card 1+1 scheme)... A lovely office building (recently voted the best in nariman pt by some organisation) and so many goodlooking women around. We were slightly taken aback when it was announced that office would now move to kalina (yeah the same place where double decker buses also drowned during the july rains)...

So many ppl were happy...reduces commuting time...can travel by rick were the main reasons given by them. Anyways most of mumbai's population lives in the western suburbs so they would be ok with kalina. But pls spare a thought for the ones who live in the central line and harbour line...yeah coming to kurla is much faster than coming to VT...but has anyone noticed what kind of a place kurla station is...the only other time i have seen so many humans together was when i went to see a match at wankhede stadium...getting a place to stand in the platform is tough at kurla leave alone getting inside the train..

so me finally decided to compare the two locations in true MBA fashion. I list down the strengths and weaknesses of each location. Then i shortlist some parameters which i think are important for an office location. Then i give each parameter a certain weightage. Finally every location is scored on a scale of 1 to 10 and the weighted score is calculated. i am proud of myself now. never ever did this in b school...but now i am finally applying this in real world...this is what i call application...however in order to be completely sure about my findings...i try to convince ashish and nishant to rate the locations also...then maybe my findings will appear more substantiated (once again i am using big words in real life situation...my application is becoming better by the day...) so here are the findings:

finally the debate is settled...the wise men at Kotak did make a smart decision by opting for Kalina instead on continuing at Bakhtawar...and i have proved my worth as an MT...by effectively utilising my time and analysing these locations on a bunch of silly parameters suggested by colleagues...maybe raju should read this...so that he can stop making fun of me for working out of kalina...


So what if i drown during the rains...so what if the road to office is filled with more potholes than the surface of the moon...so what if we get to get food at nithyanand instead of status...it doesnt matter if the only remotely feminine thing we see is aunty's going to buy vegetables at kalina market and the only smartly dressed people we see here (apart from the kotak clan) are the mechanics repairing the dozens of ricks and taxis parked outside office...it has ben officially proved that kalina is better...long live dani compound...goodbye bakhtawar...i am off to learn swimming...with monsoon fast approaching..its better to be prepared when calamity strikes...

state of mind

another day...still figuring out what work to do. Have to finish reading a 100 page document before tuesday and present my valuable inputs in the meeting. I definitely don't want to spend the weekend reading 100 pages on internet architecture and database connectivity so its time to follow up on my new found hobby.

Met Nikhil after ages yesterday. He was always the smart one. Used to top the class in BVCOE.. went to IIM B..and always managed to keep in touch with his photography and books and sports and social issues...i always felt like the poor country cousin...barely managed to scrape through 4 years of engg. in Mumbai university with the usual share of KTs. Could only manage a NMIMS (not that i regret it at all). Didnt show enough dedication and determination to wait for another year to give my CAT and try for A, B or C...i was always happy hopping into a rick and going to b school...eating yummy home cooked food while my batchmates were forced to digest hostel food or had to survive on the food dished out by cooper hospital canteen...

So me , nikhil and dj decided to head for dinner. he was in quite a bad mood. In fact yesterday was the first time i felt that he might actually hit someone. He was really upset with the HRD ministers decision to extend 27% reservation for OBCs to IITs and IIMs. I dont want to get into details of the decision and its modalities. Am sure enough people are writing about it right now. What really touched me was the story of this guy (apna nikhil)..who has come from a middle class family...always worked hard for everything in life...braved the peak hour mumbai locals..changed trains to reach college in faraway belapur...and had a paid seat...because most of the free seats were for reservation candidates....if anyone deserved a free seat it was him. Not becoz he is my friend or a very nice individual. Becoz he is the only example of a perfect student i have ever come across in my life. Brilliant in acads. Goalkeeper of college football team. A great fielder and decent batsman in cricket. An enthusiastic participant in debates and quizzes. Managed to organise a couple of decent tech fests (with very very limited resources and HUGE amount of dificulties)...always helpful..did his bit by mentoring many junior students (dj was one of them).

Our man does not complain that he did not get a free seat. He happily pays the fees (50 grand for teachers teaching in marathi, classrooms with no fans and tube lights which don't work and half a classroom full of students whose IQ was well below the retarded level..actually the same applied for the profs too). He takes a loan from his relatives to meet his educational expenses. Here in college he sees his classmates zipping around in fancy cars...eating and drinking (lots of it) at fancy places...taking their vacations at places like goa...and above all failing in every conceivable subject there is under the sun (even communication skills). These are the students who fall under the OBC category and have been allotted a free seat because their ancestors were oppressed by upper caste people in the past.

He gets into IIM B later and then TAS (still maintaining the simple lifestyle) but very happy with the fact that at least now everything in life is fair. People study and get jobs on merit and not on the basis of their caste certificates. And then comes the stupid old HRD minister who wants to implement this crazy ordinance (or act...whatever it is). Now Nikhil is worried about his kids..never ever did he want his kids to struggle in life as much as he did. He can afford to pay the high fees but he cannot come to terms with the fact that sooner or later there will be reservations in schools...in private companies..everywhere. maybe the stupid government will have reservations in trains (bcoz their ancestors were made to travel standing) and planes (becoz they didn't exist in those days, so the deprived classes should be given a chance to sit and travel in them). Now he plans to migrate to the US so that he does not have to worry about the quality of education and opportunities for his children.

Many might think its a hasty decision. Taken purely on the basis on emotion. Life out there is also not easy. Why would someone want to live like a seocnd class citizen in some other country. If we have casteism here they have racism there. But thinking from his point of view..i feel the decision is justified. Today its the IITs and IIMs...tomorrow its the schools and day after its private companies..trains and airplanes might sound a bit far fetched but its a distinct possibility. Merit is losing prominence here and the government is acting as a catalyst. Agreed there are lots of opportunities here and indian companies are doing as well. Agreed that many indians are returning from abroad to find many exciting challenges here. But think about our children. Will he ever be able to send his children to a good school if there are 50% reservations? There are only a handful of good science and commerce colleges in the city and its is quite difficult to get into them (reservations already exist here). Will his dream of sending his kids to the IITs be fulfilled here? I don't think so. Instead of improving the infrastructure and the level of teaching in technical institutions here the government is more interested in fulfilling poll time promises.

This is creating an even bigger problem. The lack of technically qualified and competent people. We are creating a new beed of incompetent and quota educated people which is going to seriously hamper the competitiveness of our country. Consider a kid who got through to a good public school due to the quota system. Then he gets into one of the best engg. Colleges because of his caste certificate. He hardly scores 50% marks in the entrance but is pusjhed thorugh. If he manages to survive the 4 yesrs of rigour he has a seat waiting for him in one of the IIMs. Once again we give him the benefit of doubt and assume that he will survive the 2 years. Once again the kid will kind a 8-10 lakh per annum job waiting for him in a private sector company. The question is how good is this kid. is he capable of handling the responsibilities given to him. Will he hold his own against the best in the business? Very debatable.

So this discussion went on and on for a coupe of hours. Me and DJ majorly inspired by RDB thought that as responsible citizens we should do something. But could not figure out what...maybe someone could help us out here. People across the country are planning marches and protests. I will defiinately join them. Cases will be filed in the sumpreme court. The apex court might also give a judgment in out favour. But then what. The government will go ahead and pass a constitutional amendment to make the judgment redundant. And no politician in his senses will dare to oppose the bill. Becoz coalition politics demands that every 6-8 months u have to submit to the whims and fancies and childlike tantrums of your partners who in this case happen to have considerable clout in the hindi heartland. So every citizen with a coinscience and a will to make a difference should vote fopr the right candidate. But how many of us actually have the patience to stand in the scorching sun to cast our ballot. How many are directed to the right poll booth...how many have faced no difficulty in obtaining a voter id card..its surprising that despite informing ward officers and poll officers about our change of residence we are shunted from one poll booth to another to cast our vote till many of us give up in frustration. How come slum dwellers never face such a problem?

i await comments from friends who read this. In the meantime i am in constant touch with nikhil to help him figure out his plans of migrating.

my first blog

thanks to nandu for introducing me to blogging....never done it before...spent the last few days reading lots of blogs and found it quite interesting...lets hope i continue to be so vela at work that i have so much time to and post a blog during office hours everyday...