Monday, December 24, 2007
3-2 and the ode
Jus for the sake of those non-existant readers of this blog...latest staus of teh apps is 3-2...admit from UC Davis on Friday.
The big ones are awaited...fingers crossed.
Now the ode...to the most famous bengali post independance, to my personal hero - The Prince of Kolkata.
Bengalis are known for their blind passion and support for the son of the soil, but Dada has captured the imagination of the nation and the world with this gritty comeback. But wait, I'm rushing this ode. Lets go back to the early 90's.
The Australian tour of 91-92, jus prior to the World Cup. Mohammed Azharuddin struggling, young Srinath generating some genuine pace and Sachin enthralling the Australian crowd with his talent. Part of that touring party was a nondescript 19 year old teenager, Sourav Ganguly. A talented left-hander but the victim of the politics that sub-continent cricket has come to accept. With one tour match, where he did pretty well, in a partnership with the run-out maestro of that tour, Sanjay Manjrekar. One ODI, a single digit score the bengali cricket dream after Pankaj Roy was finished. Touted as a "Maharaj" by the media, teh 19 year old was flung back to the anonymity of domestic cricket.
Still a boy in school, I watched Dada play Orissa at Eden Gardens on a Sunday afternoon, soon after his Australian night mare. Booed by his home-town, abused by one and all the biy became a man.
Four years in the grit and grime of ranji cricket, Dada steeled mentally.
It was 1996, i was in the 11th standard struggling with pressures of adolescence, engineering entrance tests, board exams. Dada made his debut at Lords. We didnt have a cable connection at home, so I managed to grab bits of his innings from the news clippings. Im sure I wouldnt have been able to sit throught the innings. Somehow I felt one with Dada. That image of Dada holding the Man-of the Series in his hand will be ever lasting one in my memory.
Soon I was facing the worst crisis of my life, a year at home after the board exams, preparing for the entrances. It was my time to steel up. I still remember that day, standing outside the gates of Bidhannagar Govt College, waiting to go to my Maths Hons class, I heard a classmate of mine sings praises of Dada's performance at Toronto. Salim Mallik had become his personal bunny, Dada was taking wickets, scoring runs, India had drubbed Pakistan 4-1. The pain of those defeats at Sharjah was a thing of the past. If Dada could bounce back, so could I !!
1998, a dream fulfilled as I entered the gates of Jadavpur University. I had achieved what I had setout to acheive a year back. I was no longer lost in wilderness.
The South African ODI series, Dada captain of India !! He was setting the bar higher.
Those six years of sheer joy that he gave us, his uninhibited display of emotion at Lords, beating the Australians at home and away, thumping that century at Adelaide, crushing one and all before falling before the mighty Australians at Jo'Berg, Dada was realising a dream.
Then followed the slump, the home series against Pakistan, ridiculed by the media and the public, the fallout with Greg Chappell in Zimbabwe, fighting for his place in Pakistan. Dada was out!!
Was the dream over?? Dada struggled in county cricket, domestic cricket!!
Obituaries were being written. Menawhile my dream of a MBA was slowly being flushed out.
Then came the turn-around, the prince ws fighting back. Match-Winning performances in doemstic cricket, dada was clawing back.
Finally in South Africa a fighting performance and the tide had turned.
England, West Indies, Pakistan, Dada devoured all in his path.
Now the 100th test match on Boxing day in MCG. A year back who would have thought Dada would still be part of the touring party, and its best player as well. Dada didn't give up. He gave me the strength to hango n to my dreams, and they too seem to be on their orad to realization in the fall of 2008.
Dada fights on..........
The big ones are awaited...fingers crossed.
Now the ode...to the most famous bengali post independance, to my personal hero - The Prince of Kolkata.
Bengalis are known for their blind passion and support for the son of the soil, but Dada has captured the imagination of the nation and the world with this gritty comeback. But wait, I'm rushing this ode. Lets go back to the early 90's.
The Australian tour of 91-92, jus prior to the World Cup. Mohammed Azharuddin struggling, young Srinath generating some genuine pace and Sachin enthralling the Australian crowd with his talent. Part of that touring party was a nondescript 19 year old teenager, Sourav Ganguly. A talented left-hander but the victim of the politics that sub-continent cricket has come to accept. With one tour match, where he did pretty well, in a partnership with the run-out maestro of that tour, Sanjay Manjrekar. One ODI, a single digit score the bengali cricket dream after Pankaj Roy was finished. Touted as a "Maharaj" by the media, teh 19 year old was flung back to the anonymity of domestic cricket.
Still a boy in school, I watched Dada play Orissa at Eden Gardens on a Sunday afternoon, soon after his Australian night mare. Booed by his home-town, abused by one and all the biy became a man.
Four years in the grit and grime of ranji cricket, Dada steeled mentally.
It was 1996, i was in the 11th standard struggling with pressures of adolescence, engineering entrance tests, board exams. Dada made his debut at Lords. We didnt have a cable connection at home, so I managed to grab bits of his innings from the news clippings. Im sure I wouldnt have been able to sit throught the innings. Somehow I felt one with Dada. That image of Dada holding the Man-of the Series in his hand will be ever lasting one in my memory.
Soon I was facing the worst crisis of my life, a year at home after the board exams, preparing for the entrances. It was my time to steel up. I still remember that day, standing outside the gates of Bidhannagar Govt College, waiting to go to my Maths Hons class, I heard a classmate of mine sings praises of Dada's performance at Toronto. Salim Mallik had become his personal bunny, Dada was taking wickets, scoring runs, India had drubbed Pakistan 4-1. The pain of those defeats at Sharjah was a thing of the past. If Dada could bounce back, so could I !!
1998, a dream fulfilled as I entered the gates of Jadavpur University. I had achieved what I had setout to acheive a year back. I was no longer lost in wilderness.
The South African ODI series, Dada captain of India !! He was setting the bar higher.
Those six years of sheer joy that he gave us, his uninhibited display of emotion at Lords, beating the Australians at home and away, thumping that century at Adelaide, crushing one and all before falling before the mighty Australians at Jo'Berg, Dada was realising a dream.
Then followed the slump, the home series against Pakistan, ridiculed by the media and the public, the fallout with Greg Chappell in Zimbabwe, fighting for his place in Pakistan. Dada was out!!
Was the dream over?? Dada struggled in county cricket, domestic cricket!!
Obituaries were being written. Menawhile my dream of a MBA was slowly being flushed out.
Then came the turn-around, the prince ws fighting back. Match-Winning performances in doemstic cricket, dada was clawing back.
Finally in South Africa a fighting performance and the tide had turned.
England, West Indies, Pakistan, Dada devoured all in his path.
Now the 100th test match on Boxing day in MCG. A year back who would have thought Dada would still be part of the touring party, and its best player as well. Dada didn't give up. He gave me the strength to hango n to my dreams, and they too seem to be on their orad to realization in the fall of 2008.
Dada fights on..........
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
3-1
Finally the home team scores..
3-1...Carroll's admit info came in on Friday..
yet to get any info on the funding situation...need to call the admissions office on Monday...
3-1...Carroll's admit info came in on Friday..
yet to get any info on the funding situation...need to call the admissions office on Monday...
Friday, December 14, 2007
What If....
What if things don't work out the way I hope they would.....
What if none of the applications work for me...
What if I have to give this application process another shot next year....
These thoughts are beginning to cross my mind now, but still 6 decisions to look out for, so the flame of hope burns, albeit a little dimmed...
Abhra in-fact lightened my mood yesterday with his story of rejects from 8 schools before he got his admit in 2004.....
What if none of the applications work for me...
What if I have to give this application process another shot next year....
These thoughts are beginning to cross my mind now, but still 6 decisions to look out for, so the flame of hope burns, albeit a little dimmed...
Abhra in-fact lightened my mood yesterday with his story of rejects from 8 schools before he got his admit in 2004.....
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Heartbreak
1 interview and two dings, thats the week so far.
The Simon interview was ok, I definately could have done better with a couple of questions.
Got to my hotel in Houston from Rochester, checked my mail, bang, the reject from Columbia.
Three days later, boom, the ding from Emory.
Phew, its going to be a long week.
My last shot at a top 20 school is gone.
I know where I went wrong, the essays didn't have enough substance in them and this year the applicant pool seems to be stronger than ever.
Will submit Tippie today, come what may.
I am depressed, but the dream isn't over yet. Still have five shots at it.
Oh dear God, dont break me like this......
The Simon interview was ok, I definately could have done better with a couple of questions.
Got to my hotel in Houston from Rochester, checked my mail, bang, the reject from Columbia.
Three days later, boom, the ding from Emory.
Phew, its going to be a long week.
My last shot at a top 20 school is gone.
I know where I went wrong, the essays didn't have enough substance in them and this year the applicant pool seems to be stronger than ever.
Will submit Tippie today, come what may.
I am depressed, but the dream isn't over yet. Still have five shots at it.
Oh dear God, dont break me like this......
Monday, December 03, 2007
Subbu's Car
It was getting really late. Anirudh glanced at the dashboard of his car, the digital clock in his dashboard showed 7:15 p.m. He had to reach his home in fifteen minutes, but given the traffic conditions, there was no way he would reach home by 7:30 p.m. He had another twenty minutes of drive left, provided there wasn’t any traffic !!!
He decided to call Mr.Subramanium.
Out came his latest N-Series, his pride and joy. Searched his phonebook for Subbu, he was too busy to punch in the exact name, and anyways he would get the spelling wrong, keep it simple he had reasoned to himself!! Anirudh chuckled at the thought of the nickname he had given his new boss Mr.S.Gangadhar, what an apt nickname for the SOB he thought
Subbu’s phone was ringing.
Anirudh – “ Hello, is this Mr.Subramanium?”
Subbu – “Yes I say, who is this?”
Anirudh – “Good Evening Sir !!, This is Anirudh Singhania, I have a telephonic interview scheduled with you today at 7:30 p.m. Is it ok to postpone the interview by an hour, Sir?”
Subbu – “ Hmm..ok, not a problem. But make sure you don’t delay it any further I say”
Anirudh – “Thank you so much sir!! I’ll give you a call at 8:30 sharp. Bye”
Anirudh was applying to this open position at a MNC. He had given innumerable interviews at the place, today’s interview was supposedly his last. He was scheduled to be interviewed by the MNC’s India operations’ head honcho Mr.K.J.Subramanium.
Anirudh was working for a firm in the suburbs of Mumbai, and it was difficult for him to appear for the interview in-person at the MNC’s offices in south-Mumbai at 7:30 in the evening. He had requested the HR handling his case to request Mr.Subramanium to agree to a telephonic interview. Thankfully Subbu had agreed.
Anirudh had certain documents to refer to before he called Subbu, and like a fool he had left it at home. He had to give himself at least ten to fifteen minutes before calling up Subbu.
But the traffic that day on Western Express Highway was unbelievable, for the last thirty minutes his car hadn’t moved an inch. Added to that frustration was this car behind him, which was constantly honking. The honking continued for the next five minutes. Unable to bear it, Anirudh got out from his car.
The culprit was a chauffeur driven jet black C-Class Mercedes Benz. Anirudh’s heart skipped a beat. His dream car!!
Keeping his emotion in check, he knocked on the driver’s window. As soon as the window slid down, ever so sweetly, Anirudh let fly a range of expletives, the best of the breed, the choicest collections from his four years spent in those dungeon like rooms spent in the REC-Suratkal student hostels.
Before the driver could react Anirudh ran back to his car.
He had noticed that the car had a passenger, an elderly gentleman, but that didn’t matter for Anirudh. Back in the safe confines of his car, Anirudh allowed himself to smile. The driver must still be in shock he thought. Content at having taught the honking maniac a lesson, Anirudh’ tension slowly disappeared, aided also by the fact that the traffic jam seemed signs of easing up.
But much to his horror, the honking resumed soon. Anirudh decided to wait this time a little longer before swinging into action. He was inching close to the signal. He waited for his moment, as soon as the signal turned green, seeing the road relatively maneuverable up ahead, Anirudh backed up his old Fiat and hit the C-Class’s front fender, before speeding away.
Victory !!! Anirudh punched his fists in sadistic pleasure speeding away.
“Bloody rich b******. Think you own the world !! Njoii!!”, he shouted while making a getaway.
Anirudh reached home just in time to glance through his notes and give Subbu a call.
Feeling pretty good about his evening’s exploits, Anirudh called Subbu.
Anirudh: “Hello Subb…err..Mr Subramanium. Good evening !!”
Subbu: “ Yes hello, tell me I say!!”
That was odd, thought Anirudh, Subbu seemed irritated, but he had called him sharp at 8:30 p.m.
Anirudh: “Sir, is this a good time to talk to you?”
Subbu: “ Well!! Err..carry on anyways, in Mumbai its never a good time!!”
Anirudh had his window of opportunity, he seized it.
Anirudh: “You are right sir, Mumbai, phew what a city, jams, pollution. It is tough Sir, especially if you are new to the city”
Anirudh knew Subbu had moved in from Singapore recently to head the MNC’s India operations out of Mumbai.
“Am I smart? Or am I smart?”, thought Anirudh to himself.
Subbu: “Yes, yes the jams. Pardon my saying this but Mumbaikars are animals on the road. I was on way back home from office, this maniac in his Fiat shouted at my chauffeur like a bl**** hooligan near a traffic signal on the highway!! And can you imagine he damaged my brand new car too!! My stupid driver couldn’t get his number or else I would have I sued the bugger for damages I say!! Sorry for bothering you with these details, but I’m really upset I say, is this the way to behave?...Ok, anyways, lets get started with your interview, tell me a little about your self..e..a..what was your name again?..Hello..hello..is there anyone there I say..hello..hello hello….?”.
He decided to call Mr.Subramanium.
Out came his latest N-Series, his pride and joy. Searched his phonebook for Subbu, he was too busy to punch in the exact name, and anyways he would get the spelling wrong, keep it simple he had reasoned to himself!! Anirudh chuckled at the thought of the nickname he had given his new boss Mr.S.Gangadhar, what an apt nickname for the SOB he thought
Subbu’s phone was ringing.
Anirudh – “ Hello, is this Mr.Subramanium?”
Subbu – “Yes I say, who is this?”
Anirudh – “Good Evening Sir !!, This is Anirudh Singhania, I have a telephonic interview scheduled with you today at 7:30 p.m. Is it ok to postpone the interview by an hour, Sir?”
Subbu – “ Hmm..ok, not a problem. But make sure you don’t delay it any further I say”
Anirudh – “Thank you so much sir!! I’ll give you a call at 8:30 sharp. Bye”
Anirudh was applying to this open position at a MNC. He had given innumerable interviews at the place, today’s interview was supposedly his last. He was scheduled to be interviewed by the MNC’s India operations’ head honcho Mr.K.J.Subramanium.
Anirudh was working for a firm in the suburbs of Mumbai, and it was difficult for him to appear for the interview in-person at the MNC’s offices in south-Mumbai at 7:30 in the evening. He had requested the HR handling his case to request Mr.Subramanium to agree to a telephonic interview. Thankfully Subbu had agreed.
Anirudh had certain documents to refer to before he called Subbu, and like a fool he had left it at home. He had to give himself at least ten to fifteen minutes before calling up Subbu.
But the traffic that day on Western Express Highway was unbelievable, for the last thirty minutes his car hadn’t moved an inch. Added to that frustration was this car behind him, which was constantly honking. The honking continued for the next five minutes. Unable to bear it, Anirudh got out from his car.
The culprit was a chauffeur driven jet black C-Class Mercedes Benz. Anirudh’s heart skipped a beat. His dream car!!
Keeping his emotion in check, he knocked on the driver’s window. As soon as the window slid down, ever so sweetly, Anirudh let fly a range of expletives, the best of the breed, the choicest collections from his four years spent in those dungeon like rooms spent in the REC-Suratkal student hostels.
Before the driver could react Anirudh ran back to his car.
He had noticed that the car had a passenger, an elderly gentleman, but that didn’t matter for Anirudh. Back in the safe confines of his car, Anirudh allowed himself to smile. The driver must still be in shock he thought. Content at having taught the honking maniac a lesson, Anirudh’ tension slowly disappeared, aided also by the fact that the traffic jam seemed signs of easing up.
But much to his horror, the honking resumed soon. Anirudh decided to wait this time a little longer before swinging into action. He was inching close to the signal. He waited for his moment, as soon as the signal turned green, seeing the road relatively maneuverable up ahead, Anirudh backed up his old Fiat and hit the C-Class’s front fender, before speeding away.
Victory !!! Anirudh punched his fists in sadistic pleasure speeding away.
“Bloody rich b******. Think you own the world !! Njoii!!”, he shouted while making a getaway.
Anirudh reached home just in time to glance through his notes and give Subbu a call.
Feeling pretty good about his evening’s exploits, Anirudh called Subbu.
Anirudh: “Hello Subb…err..Mr Subramanium. Good evening !!”
Subbu: “ Yes hello, tell me I say!!”
That was odd, thought Anirudh, Subbu seemed irritated, but he had called him sharp at 8:30 p.m.
Anirudh: “Sir, is this a good time to talk to you?”
Subbu: “ Well!! Err..carry on anyways, in Mumbai its never a good time!!”
Anirudh had his window of opportunity, he seized it.
Anirudh: “You are right sir, Mumbai, phew what a city, jams, pollution. It is tough Sir, especially if you are new to the city”
Anirudh knew Subbu had moved in from Singapore recently to head the MNC’s India operations out of Mumbai.
“Am I smart? Or am I smart?”, thought Anirudh to himself.
Subbu: “Yes, yes the jams. Pardon my saying this but Mumbaikars are animals on the road. I was on way back home from office, this maniac in his Fiat shouted at my chauffeur like a bl**** hooligan near a traffic signal on the highway!! And can you imagine he damaged my brand new car too!! My stupid driver couldn’t get his number or else I would have I sued the bugger for damages I say!! Sorry for bothering you with these details, but I’m really upset I say, is this the way to behave?...Ok, anyways, lets get started with your interview, tell me a little about your self..e..a..what was your name again?..Hello..hello..is there anyone there I say..hello..hello hello….?”.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
A new direction
Jay's movie got released today. Had my name in the credits...yippeeeeee
Story - Arindam Majumdar
A proud moment for all in the Majumdar clan..finally someone in the family takes a step into tinsel town..albeit a tiny minuscule amateurish one..:-)
Will upload the link soon....as soon as I get a go ahead from Jay....
The UC Davis interview lined up today, need to scoot from office a tad early...
Rude shock yesterday night..Remembered Im going to be 30 next Fall....God these are depressing times...
Story - Arindam Majumdar
A proud moment for all in the Majumdar clan..finally someone in the family takes a step into tinsel town..albeit a tiny minuscule amateurish one..:-)
Will upload the link soon....as soon as I get a go ahead from Jay....
The UC Davis interview lined up today, need to scoot from office a tad early...
Rude shock yesterday night..Remembered Im going to be 30 next Fall....God these are depressing times...
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The wait..aaargh
This wait is excruciating.
Currently the score is 0/1. The Chicago ding was expected, didn’t hurt at all.
Tomorrow have the UC Davis Interview lined up, need to get my presentation in place before that, along with the pending essay for Georgetown.
Work work work…..god I hate this period….
Currently the score is 0/1. The Chicago ding was expected, didn’t hurt at all.
Tomorrow have the UC Davis Interview lined up, need to get my presentation in place before that, along with the pending essay for Georgetown.
Work work work…..god I hate this period….
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Rakesh's Secret
Doctor Sunil Agarwal was a well known gynecologist in Kolkata. In his mid-30’s he had dedicated his life to the study of medicine and now its practice.
Due to the rigours of his profession, he never had any time to think about relationships. Let alone be involved in one. But much he was subject to a lot of pressure to “settle down” in life. Off late he too was feeling that living ones life alone probably wasn’t such a great idea and finding a companion made a lot of sense. So he decided to succumb to his parents wishes and decided to get married to a girl his parents had selected for him.
As soon as news spread in the Agarwal clan that the prodigal doctor was getting married, relatives from far and wide made plans to attend the last wedding in Sunil’s generation in the Agarwal clan.
Sunil had a lot of cousins, living across India, all of them were married.
One of his cousins, Rakesh lived in Mumbai. No one had seen him in a long time because he never came down to Kolkata for famiuly functions because of his work schedules. He was a business man and had his own automotive parts exports unit. Rakesh was Sunil’s mom’s elder sisters only son.
Rakesh was married for close to 7 years and had a baby girl.
Sunil and Rakesh were very good friends as teenagers and even went to the same school.
But Rakesh wasn’t as bright as Sunil and after the 10th moved to another school pursuing commerce and later moved to Mumbai in search of a career.
It was decided that Sunil would have a sort of a get-togethar come bachelor party at his place before the day of the marriage, where some of his really close cousins would be there with their wives. Rakesh too had given his word that he would be present for the occasion, after all this was Sunil’s wedding.
On the day of the party, Rakesh arrived with his wife. Rakesh’s mother was baby-sitting his daughter for the evening.
Sunil was ecstatic on seeing Rakesh and his wife, whom he was meeting for the first time, becase Rakesh had married against family consent to a Maharashtrian girl in Mumbai itself.
As the evening wore on, drinks started flowing and everyone started having a lot of fun.
But something was bothering Sunil. He felt that he had seen Rakesh’s wife somewhere, but couldn’t figure out where it was.
Probably it was the alcohol which was getting to him he thought.
He mentioned this to Rakesh, but Rakesh brushed it off, saying it couldn’t be possible because she had never been out of Mumbai.
Sunil said that he had been to Mumbai on business visits once, for a couple of days, nearly 2 years back, maybe he had seen her then.
But Rakesh took no notice off it and started asking Sunil about his fiancée.
But Sunil still couldn’t help but try and figure out why Rakesh’s wife seemed familiar.
A little disturbed Sunil turned towards the mini-bar to pour out a drink for himself.
As he turned, he saw Rakesh’s wife standing next to him, teary eyed. Sunil asked her what had happened.
She broke down and held his hand thanking him.
Rakesh spotted her and came to her side and tried pulling her away from Sunil, apologizing to him for her behavior. He said she was a little unstable because she was under medication for a medical problem and probably it was the alcohol which was talking.
On hearing this Rakesh’s wife shouted out, asking him to stop with the lies.
The room went silent.
Wiping away her tears, she thanked Sunil again for saving her during her delivery in Mumbai 2 years back. She said her condition was very serious and all the doctors said that there is this visiting doctor from Kolkata, Dr Sunil Agarwal who could save her.
She thanked him for her life and for her giving her, her daughter.
Suddenly it struck Sunil. Now he knew where he had seen her. But before he could stop himself from speaking, he blurted out that she was the wife of that cab driver whom he seen for a really complicated caesarian delivery.
There was a palpable hush in the room.
Everyone looked at Rakesh’s white face. He looked at Sunil sheepishly and then at his wife and walked out of that room with her without speaking a word.
Sunil knew, that would probably be the last time he would get to see his favorite cousin again.
Due to the rigours of his profession, he never had any time to think about relationships. Let alone be involved in one. But much he was subject to a lot of pressure to “settle down” in life. Off late he too was feeling that living ones life alone probably wasn’t such a great idea and finding a companion made a lot of sense. So he decided to succumb to his parents wishes and decided to get married to a girl his parents had selected for him.
As soon as news spread in the Agarwal clan that the prodigal doctor was getting married, relatives from far and wide made plans to attend the last wedding in Sunil’s generation in the Agarwal clan.
Sunil had a lot of cousins, living across India, all of them were married.
One of his cousins, Rakesh lived in Mumbai. No one had seen him in a long time because he never came down to Kolkata for famiuly functions because of his work schedules. He was a business man and had his own automotive parts exports unit. Rakesh was Sunil’s mom’s elder sisters only son.
Rakesh was married for close to 7 years and had a baby girl.
Sunil and Rakesh were very good friends as teenagers and even went to the same school.
But Rakesh wasn’t as bright as Sunil and after the 10th moved to another school pursuing commerce and later moved to Mumbai in search of a career.
It was decided that Sunil would have a sort of a get-togethar come bachelor party at his place before the day of the marriage, where some of his really close cousins would be there with their wives. Rakesh too had given his word that he would be present for the occasion, after all this was Sunil’s wedding.
On the day of the party, Rakesh arrived with his wife. Rakesh’s mother was baby-sitting his daughter for the evening.
Sunil was ecstatic on seeing Rakesh and his wife, whom he was meeting for the first time, becase Rakesh had married against family consent to a Maharashtrian girl in Mumbai itself.
As the evening wore on, drinks started flowing and everyone started having a lot of fun.
But something was bothering Sunil. He felt that he had seen Rakesh’s wife somewhere, but couldn’t figure out where it was.
Probably it was the alcohol which was getting to him he thought.
He mentioned this to Rakesh, but Rakesh brushed it off, saying it couldn’t be possible because she had never been out of Mumbai.
Sunil said that he had been to Mumbai on business visits once, for a couple of days, nearly 2 years back, maybe he had seen her then.
But Rakesh took no notice off it and started asking Sunil about his fiancée.
But Sunil still couldn’t help but try and figure out why Rakesh’s wife seemed familiar.
A little disturbed Sunil turned towards the mini-bar to pour out a drink for himself.
As he turned, he saw Rakesh’s wife standing next to him, teary eyed. Sunil asked her what had happened.
She broke down and held his hand thanking him.
Rakesh spotted her and came to her side and tried pulling her away from Sunil, apologizing to him for her behavior. He said she was a little unstable because she was under medication for a medical problem and probably it was the alcohol which was talking.
On hearing this Rakesh’s wife shouted out, asking him to stop with the lies.
The room went silent.
Wiping away her tears, she thanked Sunil again for saving her during her delivery in Mumbai 2 years back. She said her condition was very serious and all the doctors said that there is this visiting doctor from Kolkata, Dr Sunil Agarwal who could save her.
She thanked him for her life and for her giving her, her daughter.
Suddenly it struck Sunil. Now he knew where he had seen her. But before he could stop himself from speaking, he blurted out that she was the wife of that cab driver whom he seen for a really complicated caesarian delivery.
There was a palpable hush in the room.
Everyone looked at Rakesh’s white face. He looked at Sunil sheepishly and then at his wife and walked out of that room with her without speaking a word.
Sunil knew, that would probably be the last time he would get to see his favorite cousin again.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The Hypnosis
Rohit and Tanmay were the best of pals. They were high school classmates in a CBSE school in Jamshedpur. Both of them grew up together in the small industrial town and had known each other since they were toddlers.
Rohit and Tanmay had just appeared for their standard 10 board exams and were enjoying their holiday’s at home.
Jamshedpur a town in Jharkhand, is quite small. It has grown up around the TISCO factory, were both Rohit and Tanmay’s fathers work. Comprising of primarily middle class families, children in the industrial town were encouraged to be academically oriented and almost every child in Jamshedpur grew up dreaming of one day going to an IIT.
Rohit and Tanmay were a little different. Though sufficiently pushed and coaxed by their parents to concentrate on their studies, both harbored a secret desire to become movie stars. Rohit had come to learn as a young child that his mother’s elder sister’s father in law's cousin’s son was the famous movie star, Mithun Chakravarty. Ever since that day, he never missed a Mithun flick, whenever it came at a nearby theatre. Rohit’s passion soon became Tanmay’s too, as it would often happen between the two of them. Tanmay always did what Rohit wanted or asked him to do.
The exams had gone off reasonably well for both of them and they had two months before school re-started post the results being published. Most their friends had already joined private coaching classes preparing them for the IIT battle two years down the road. Rohit and Tanmay’s fate was no different.
However, today was a Friday. The day movies changed in theatres across the country. A Mithun Chakravarty flick was being screened in the only theatre in Jamshedpur, there was no way Rohit, and Tanmay were going to miss the screening because of their physics tuition classes.
It was a regular Bollywood action thriller with the hero despite his age wooing his lover as a college student and later killing his nemesis in a pitched gun battle in the streets of Mumbai. But this movie was different because Mithun’s character had shades of grey in it. Mid way through the movie, he is tricked into evil ways with the villain hypnotizing Mithun and commanding his every action.
Rohit and Tanmay thoroughly enjoyed the flick, especially the part where the villain hypnotizes the hero in a dark room by rhythmically moving a pencil torch in front of his eyes.
Entertained and satisfied with a day well spent Tanmay headed to Rohit’s home to spend part of the evening gossiping at Rohit’s place and gorging on the hot pakoras that aunty made for him every time he visited.
On reaching the house, Rohit found that his mother was not home. She had probably gone to the market. It was then that the idea struck him. He suggested that he would try the movie hypnosis trick on Tanmay. As always, Tanmay agreed. Rohit managed to retrieve a small torch that his father had in his toolbox. Tanmay sat in the chair, in Rohit’s darkened study. Moving the torch in front Tanmay’s eyes, Rohit asked Tanmay to repeat after him that Mithun Chakravarty was his father. Both laughed but Rohit asked Tanmay to play along with him and to take the game seriously.
For 10 minutes, Rohit kept repeating the same thing until he lost interest and switched on the lights of the study. Tanmay had fallen asleep. Rohit was very pleased with his effort and woke Tanmay.
After gorging on the pakoras prepared by Rohit’s mother, Tanmay trudge home slowly. His head felt a little woozy and he was feeling really tired. As soon as he reached home, Tanmay crashed. Suspecting he was tired from the physics tuition, Tanmay’s mother decided not to bother him.
The next day morning, Rohit was rudely awakened in the morning by his mother. She looked flustered. On asking her what the matter was, she blurted out that Tanmay was missing. Rohit could hardly believe what he had just heard. How was that possible? He must have gone out for a morning round of cricket with his friends. Rohit soon rushed out to Tanmay’s place. Tanmay’s parents were worried. Some of his clothes and a bag along with his sneakers were missing. Surely, Tanmay wouldn’t carry that entire luggage for a cricket match or a morning walk. The police were informed. The whole town was awakened from their Saturday morning slumber.
Rohit, stunned with the happenings of the day, headed home. What could have happened to his best friend? Morning turned to noon and then to night. Tanmay whereabouts were still unknown.
Rohit sat silently on the sofa. His brain racing, trying to reason with the happenings of the day. Soon his father returned from his duty at the factory. Disgruntled, he looked at Rohit and scolded him for his obsession for movies. Rohit was confused. What did his obsession with Bollywood flicks have to do with any of this? On asking him the reason for his outburst, Rohit’s father said that the police had interrogated a few porters at the local railway station. One of them had seen a boy matching Tanmay’s profile. Apparently, he was asking a few people about trains to Mumbai, because he wanted to go and meet his father, the famous movie star Mithun Chakravarty.
A cold shiver ran down Rohit’s spine!!!! The hypnosis had worked!!!!!
Rohit and Tanmay had just appeared for their standard 10 board exams and were enjoying their holiday’s at home.
Jamshedpur a town in Jharkhand, is quite small. It has grown up around the TISCO factory, were both Rohit and Tanmay’s fathers work. Comprising of primarily middle class families, children in the industrial town were encouraged to be academically oriented and almost every child in Jamshedpur grew up dreaming of one day going to an IIT.
Rohit and Tanmay were a little different. Though sufficiently pushed and coaxed by their parents to concentrate on their studies, both harbored a secret desire to become movie stars. Rohit had come to learn as a young child that his mother’s elder sister’s father in law's cousin’s son was the famous movie star, Mithun Chakravarty. Ever since that day, he never missed a Mithun flick, whenever it came at a nearby theatre. Rohit’s passion soon became Tanmay’s too, as it would often happen between the two of them. Tanmay always did what Rohit wanted or asked him to do.
The exams had gone off reasonably well for both of them and they had two months before school re-started post the results being published. Most their friends had already joined private coaching classes preparing them for the IIT battle two years down the road. Rohit and Tanmay’s fate was no different.
However, today was a Friday. The day movies changed in theatres across the country. A Mithun Chakravarty flick was being screened in the only theatre in Jamshedpur, there was no way Rohit, and Tanmay were going to miss the screening because of their physics tuition classes.
It was a regular Bollywood action thriller with the hero despite his age wooing his lover as a college student and later killing his nemesis in a pitched gun battle in the streets of Mumbai. But this movie was different because Mithun’s character had shades of grey in it. Mid way through the movie, he is tricked into evil ways with the villain hypnotizing Mithun and commanding his every action.
Rohit and Tanmay thoroughly enjoyed the flick, especially the part where the villain hypnotizes the hero in a dark room by rhythmically moving a pencil torch in front of his eyes.
Entertained and satisfied with a day well spent Tanmay headed to Rohit’s home to spend part of the evening gossiping at Rohit’s place and gorging on the hot pakoras that aunty made for him every time he visited.
On reaching the house, Rohit found that his mother was not home. She had probably gone to the market. It was then that the idea struck him. He suggested that he would try the movie hypnosis trick on Tanmay. As always, Tanmay agreed. Rohit managed to retrieve a small torch that his father had in his toolbox. Tanmay sat in the chair, in Rohit’s darkened study. Moving the torch in front Tanmay’s eyes, Rohit asked Tanmay to repeat after him that Mithun Chakravarty was his father. Both laughed but Rohit asked Tanmay to play along with him and to take the game seriously.
For 10 minutes, Rohit kept repeating the same thing until he lost interest and switched on the lights of the study. Tanmay had fallen asleep. Rohit was very pleased with his effort and woke Tanmay.
After gorging on the pakoras prepared by Rohit’s mother, Tanmay trudge home slowly. His head felt a little woozy and he was feeling really tired. As soon as he reached home, Tanmay crashed. Suspecting he was tired from the physics tuition, Tanmay’s mother decided not to bother him.
The next day morning, Rohit was rudely awakened in the morning by his mother. She looked flustered. On asking her what the matter was, she blurted out that Tanmay was missing. Rohit could hardly believe what he had just heard. How was that possible? He must have gone out for a morning round of cricket with his friends. Rohit soon rushed out to Tanmay’s place. Tanmay’s parents were worried. Some of his clothes and a bag along with his sneakers were missing. Surely, Tanmay wouldn’t carry that entire luggage for a cricket match or a morning walk. The police were informed. The whole town was awakened from their Saturday morning slumber.
Rohit, stunned with the happenings of the day, headed home. What could have happened to his best friend? Morning turned to noon and then to night. Tanmay whereabouts were still unknown.
Rohit sat silently on the sofa. His brain racing, trying to reason with the happenings of the day. Soon his father returned from his duty at the factory. Disgruntled, he looked at Rohit and scolded him for his obsession for movies. Rohit was confused. What did his obsession with Bollywood flicks have to do with any of this? On asking him the reason for his outburst, Rohit’s father said that the police had interrogated a few porters at the local railway station. One of them had seen a boy matching Tanmay’s profile. Apparently, he was asking a few people about trains to Mumbai, because he wanted to go and meet his father, the famous movie star Mithun Chakravarty.
A cold shiver ran down Rohit’s spine!!!! The hypnosis had worked!!!!!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Make Hay......
Make hay while the sun shines....is what the great men say. Perfectly apt saying for me to implement now.
Boss dear is away on a family emergency in bengalaru...sounds so non-chic..bangalore was way cooler. I sure wouldnt want to see a bengalaru in my address...Chennai sounds hipper..:-))
Anyways..so bossie dear being away for a whiel..i decided to make hay.........etc etc..
Time to leave office in the afternoon and see Team India notch up a famous victory in Robin Hood Land....beating the toothless England back and blue...with some jelly beans for taste..:-))
Post that need to hit the books...need to keep the preps on track..just 3 odd weeks to go...post which I hope all MBA preps will be a thing of the past for me...have had enough of it in my life.....
Boss dear is away on a family emergency in bengalaru...sounds so non-chic..bangalore was way cooler. I sure wouldnt want to see a bengalaru in my address...Chennai sounds hipper..:-))
Anyways..so bossie dear being away for a whiel..i decided to make hay.........etc etc..
Time to leave office in the afternoon and see Team India notch up a famous victory in Robin Hood Land....beating the toothless England back and blue...with some jelly beans for taste..:-))
Post that need to hit the books...need to keep the preps on track..just 3 odd weeks to go...post which I hope all MBA preps will be a thing of the past for me...have had enough of it in my life.....
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Do Celebrity Endorsements make sense?
Product : A chocolate
Actual Ad 1
A Indian movie mega-star sharing screen space with a bovine creature talking about movies.
Imagine Ad 1
A very small kid talking about how he feels when he thinks about chocolates
of this brand it to the strains of Sinatra crooning away to glory in the background with his parents looking on fondingly.
Product : A mobile phone
Actual Ad 2
A lady speaking on her mobile, but because a person next to her doesnt see the mobile, thinks she is speaking to him and makes a fool of himself.
The point being highlighted here is the size of the mobile.
Imagine Ad 2
The above mentioned illustrious mega-star bragging about his sons marriage on the mobile being marketed.
Well I could give flight to my imagination and come up with innumerable such instances where star power can or has come to nought while advertising for goods for the Indian consumer.
I'm also sure many of you will come up with instances where a Prahlad Kakkar or a Piyush Pandey might have used the stars of this subcontinent to sell products to us in a manner which we shall remember fondly.
Before digressing any further, the point I'm trying to make is Indians buy products not becuase of their personal likings for a celebrity endorsing it but becuase he/she thinks the product makes sense to shell out his/her hard earned moolah for it.
Just because a cricketer washes his dirty linen in a particular brand of washing machine, would the Indian consumer troop into a shop and take the washing machine home?
Or take the instance of a leading lady using a mosquito repellant to enhance the acoustics of her house so that she could give audience to her nth suitor, does this encourage you to buy the repellant to save your family from dengue?
Well some might agree that these are instances of bad advertising rather than diminishing the rationale behind celebrities endorsing products, I might be tempted to agree.
But the agreement will be restricted to my conforming with the judgement on the quality of the ads.
Products sell in India because of a few critical points:
1) Utility
2) Affordability
3) Longevity
Celebrities can restrict the consumer to watching the ad and probably highlighting the brand value in the subconscous of the end user but cometh the hour cometh the economics of the user.
Imagine this situation:
Shopkeeper : "Sir which air conditioner would you want to buy this summer"
Average Indian Consumer 1: "I want the air conditioner in which Dhoni's hair flays about, infact my mother mistook him for Aishwairya Rai in the ad"
CUT....
Average Indian Consumer 2: "Gimme that one I saw in the ad, the one which was taking bragging bout using less power, can it also run without power??"
Hope you are getting the picture......
PS: All original ad ideas mentioned in this atricle are the IPR of the author, only the highest bidder will be given entertained for the rights, and the new ad should feature Abhi-Ash......
Actual Ad 1
A Indian movie mega-star sharing screen space with a bovine creature talking about movies.
Imagine Ad 1
A very small kid talking about how he feels when he thinks about chocolates
of this brand it to the strains of Sinatra crooning away to glory in the background with his parents looking on fondingly.
Product : A mobile phone
Actual Ad 2
A lady speaking on her mobile, but because a person next to her doesnt see the mobile, thinks she is speaking to him and makes a fool of himself.
The point being highlighted here is the size of the mobile.
Imagine Ad 2
The above mentioned illustrious mega-star bragging about his sons marriage on the mobile being marketed.
Well I could give flight to my imagination and come up with innumerable such instances where star power can or has come to nought while advertising for goods for the Indian consumer.
I'm also sure many of you will come up with instances where a Prahlad Kakkar or a Piyush Pandey might have used the stars of this subcontinent to sell products to us in a manner which we shall remember fondly.
Before digressing any further, the point I'm trying to make is Indians buy products not becuase of their personal likings for a celebrity endorsing it but becuase he/she thinks the product makes sense to shell out his/her hard earned moolah for it.
Just because a cricketer washes his dirty linen in a particular brand of washing machine, would the Indian consumer troop into a shop and take the washing machine home?
Or take the instance of a leading lady using a mosquito repellant to enhance the acoustics of her house so that she could give audience to her nth suitor, does this encourage you to buy the repellant to save your family from dengue?
Well some might agree that these are instances of bad advertising rather than diminishing the rationale behind celebrities endorsing products, I might be tempted to agree.
But the agreement will be restricted to my conforming with the judgement on the quality of the ads.
Products sell in India because of a few critical points:
1) Utility
2) Affordability
3) Longevity
Celebrities can restrict the consumer to watching the ad and probably highlighting the brand value in the subconscous of the end user but cometh the hour cometh the economics of the user.
Imagine this situation:
Shopkeeper : "Sir which air conditioner would you want to buy this summer"
Average Indian Consumer 1: "I want the air conditioner in which Dhoni's hair flays about, infact my mother mistook him for Aishwairya Rai in the ad"
CUT....
Average Indian Consumer 2: "Gimme that one I saw in the ad, the one which was taking bragging bout using less power, can it also run without power??"
Hope you are getting the picture......
PS: All original ad ideas mentioned in this atricle are the IPR of the author, only the highest bidder will be given entertained for the rights, and the new ad should feature Abhi-Ash......
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Tubthumping
35 days to D-Day
2 weeks to mom-dads visit
1 year to sort out my life
3 years to marriage
3 years away from hitting the 30 mark
Life it seems is all about "dead"lines...ironic isnt it..
the next 35 odd days will be really crucial....sounds like a cleche..but it really is Now or Never...
I dont have a Plan B, my plan A hasnt yet hit the high road..nbut Im banking on the exam fever hitting me hard and forcing me into overdrive...
Work touchwood is nt great now, the reason being, in my current state I cannot concentrate on nything other than D-Day...
My heart is thumping....35..34..33....the countdown has begun....
2 weeks to mom-dads visit
1 year to sort out my life
3 years to marriage
3 years away from hitting the 30 mark
Life it seems is all about "dead"lines...ironic isnt it..
the next 35 odd days will be really crucial....sounds like a cleche..but it really is Now or Never...
I dont have a Plan B, my plan A hasnt yet hit the high road..nbut Im banking on the exam fever hitting me hard and forcing me into overdrive...
Work touchwood is nt great now, the reason being, in my current state I cannot concentrate on nything other than D-Day...
My heart is thumping....35..34..33....the countdown has begun....
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Late Resolutions
Some late new year resolutions
1) No more tele till D-Day, that will some resolution to honour, lets see, will take a channel tut tut a day at a time...
2) Learn a new thing every day, thats excluding stuuf to do with D-Day
3) No more breaks till D-Day...
More on D-Day in subsequent posts......
1) No more tele till D-Day, that will some resolution to honour, lets see, will take a channel tut tut a day at a time...
2) Learn a new thing every day, thats excluding stuuf to do with D-Day
3) No more breaks till D-Day...
More on D-Day in subsequent posts......
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Reality Check
27 and ticking......
Our mornings conversation triggerred this absurd thought process in my mind......
Whn I look at myself in the mirror, I still c a guy fresh out of college.....
But wht do ppl think of me whn they c me.....
a person who is fast approaching middle age and yet to hit his stride?
a person is still young with time opn his hands to sort himself out?
no opinion , too average to form an opinion on....
I c the strands of grey hair on my temple, the gasps for breath when I climb the stairs, two at a time, the want to settle down in life, the want to slow down....
I am no longer Gen-Next.....Im just ex-Gen-Next........
Guess till I hit 30 I'll give myself the benefit of doubt, Im Still Young....
Till 30 all u doubting thomases, go fish............
Our mornings conversation triggerred this absurd thought process in my mind......
Whn I look at myself in the mirror, I still c a guy fresh out of college.....
But wht do ppl think of me whn they c me.....
a person who is fast approaching middle age and yet to hit his stride?
a person is still young with time opn his hands to sort himself out?
no opinion , too average to form an opinion on....
I c the strands of grey hair on my temple, the gasps for breath when I climb the stairs, two at a time, the want to settle down in life, the want to slow down....
I am no longer Gen-Next.....Im just ex-Gen-Next........
Guess till I hit 30 I'll give myself the benefit of doubt, Im Still Young....
Till 30 all u doubting thomases, go fish............
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Blogging from office
tadaaaaaa...its tht time of the year again when I dont have any work and am in the mood to type out jestful mails(jestful from my perspective, mostly stupid mails as classified by the recipients)
today's topic is...come to think of it..such mails of mine dont have any topic generally and I think I will follow tht convention and keep this mail as confusing and generic as possibel, thus enabling freedom of thought for me...which truly refelcts my state of mind..confused, bored and with no specific thought..:-)))
To begin with , lets talk about bout FW@NJ Syndrome....more commonly known as the FirstWeek@a New Job....the victim of such a syndrome will reflect one of the following characteristics...if not all of them...or a combination of some of them...nyways..u get the drift right...
1) Immaculately Dressed
2) Very Polite
3) Restless till he/she gets the official mail id
4) Very happy if internet access is enabled and without restrictions
5) Very sad if the above condiution is not satisfied
6) Embarassed to display his/her temporary access card
7) "Checking" out the office "crowd"
8) Increased heart beat when assigned first task
9) Increased flow of "feel good" hormones when new mails from old friends hit their brand new inbox
Please Note : Beware of long mails from such victims, they tend to be never ending and make no sense, infact u start questioning the mental stability of the author...
Lets also talk about another common malice ailing todays young office goers, the ALSA syndrome, Im sure all of us have been ex-victims or are constantly attacked by this common yet dangerous syndrome......
Oh Sorry forgot to inform my highly learned audience bout the full form of the abopve mentioned acronym - ALSA - AfterLunchSleepAttack
The root cause of this syndrome is a non-existant entity in all bachelor office goers lifes...Breakfast...labelled by many as the most important meal of the day...
as soon as the clock strikes 12 noon, those enzymes hit our stomach wall and the fingers punching on the keyboard suddenly loose their strength and the pantry beckons out to you...
But those who are strong willed and ofcourse blessed with the gift of a heavy breakfast ignore this call....for weaker mortals like me..this call is too strong to ignore..
but wht follows afterwards should be seen to be believed....
Post lunch the two eyelids metamorphose from flesh to metal....the brain ceases to be a netwrok of neurons but becomes a blood eating peice of meat....
ur limbs suddenly feel the existance of gravity and that mattress lying in the one corner of ur room seems ur utopia.and..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
today's topic is...come to think of it..such mails of mine dont have any topic generally and I think I will follow tht convention and keep this mail as confusing and generic as possibel, thus enabling freedom of thought for me...which truly refelcts my state of mind..confused, bored and with no specific thought..:-)))
To begin with , lets talk about bout FW@NJ Syndrome....more commonly known as the FirstWeek@a New Job....the victim of such a syndrome will reflect one of the following characteristics...if not all of them...or a combination of some of them...nyways..u get the drift right...
1) Immaculately Dressed
2) Very Polite
3) Restless till he/she gets the official mail id
4) Very happy if internet access is enabled and without restrictions
5) Very sad if the above condiution is not satisfied
6) Embarassed to display his/her temporary access card
7) "Checking" out the office "crowd"
8) Increased heart beat when assigned first task
9) Increased flow of "feel good" hormones when new mails from old friends hit their brand new inbox
Please Note : Beware of long mails from such victims, they tend to be never ending and make no sense, infact u start questioning the mental stability of the author...
Lets also talk about another common malice ailing todays young office goers, the ALSA syndrome, Im sure all of us have been ex-victims or are constantly attacked by this common yet dangerous syndrome......
Oh Sorry forgot to inform my highly learned audience bout the full form of the abopve mentioned acronym - ALSA - AfterLunchSleepAttack
The root cause of this syndrome is a non-existant entity in all bachelor office goers lifes...Breakfast...labelled by many as the most important meal of the day...
as soon as the clock strikes 12 noon, those enzymes hit our stomach wall and the fingers punching on the keyboard suddenly loose their strength and the pantry beckons out to you...
But those who are strong willed and ofcourse blessed with the gift of a heavy breakfast ignore this call....for weaker mortals like me..this call is too strong to ignore..
but wht follows afterwards should be seen to be believed....
Post lunch the two eyelids metamorphose from flesh to metal....the brain ceases to be a netwrok of neurons but becomes a blood eating peice of meat....
ur limbs suddenly feel the existance of gravity and that mattress lying in the one corner of ur room seems ur utopia.and..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Bored to death
life s sucha roller coaster, at one point u wanna some time for urself, the next u have so much of urself that ur sick of it....hahaha...
Life post Iflex has been tough, with all the change happenning and not happening at the same time, its been a emotional roller coaster....
personally this is a tough phase in my life, lets c how I cope up with it...
Life post Iflex has been tough, with all the change happenning and not happening at the same time, its been a emotional roller coaster....
personally this is a tough phase in my life, lets c how I cope up with it...
Monday, January 01, 2007
New beginning - 2007
Its a another new year...time for a fresh start, but that is such a big cliche.
Fresh starts never happen.
Fresh starts never happen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)