Enchanting Glorious Uncertainties

India may have won the first T20 world cup... they might had come close to lifting the ICC World cup in 2003.. but still the form i always liked more to watch was the longer version.. which they call a "real test". In the earlier days of my upbringing , there was no cable connection in the house.. so i used to watch the highlight packages or video snippets in news. Although i was too young when tendulkar sizzled in perth, i recall hearing the heroics of sourav ganguly in first 2 tests. Finally, the first series which i watched live was Ind-SA Test series in 1996. Alas! that was the complete blunder for the team India. I still recalled india bundling out for 100 and 66... and first time i saw the helplessness of indians on a bouncing deck.


Later in the ganguly era, some respect was restored, but still we were not able to dictat the terms on foreign soil , moreover so in south africa which remained a bogey-land for team india. So this team when the team crossed the pacific ocean, everyone was nervous, how would they perform, can they justify there no 1 tag, which is challenged brashly by their counterparts. They almost do a dis-service to their fans when surrendering meekly in centurion. Although little master added yet another milestone to his already glorified CV.. still it was a rout, to say the least.


Boxing day, as the next day after christmas is referred to, generally marks the last test of the calendar year. This time there were 2 tests. One where Australia was finding their gears to stage a comeback in Ashes.. and another in kigsmead durban , where south africa is going gaga over the plantation they have made on the playing surface.


But this indian team is known for turnarounds. Earlier they win the first match to lose the advantage in further outings. This team knows to bounce back , and to their believers they have done the impossibles this year. In SL, VVS Laxman played an incredible knock to secure a drawn series when the chips were down.. and then in mohali, he even surpassed his legend. If my heart needs the check-up for its cardiac health that match has certainly provided it. I remember being glued to the TV set. Every run scored by VVS was like gold-dust. Again the kid was back in me. Again i was shouting,yelling and dancing as if the on-field players are looking at me.


As the story goes, my mom used to told me that while watching a Ind-NZ test match in my younger days (mind you those matches started at 3 AM).. i used to shout a lot.. doubting my neighbors of a burglary in my house. And that day my mom told me that i was almost repeating my performance of the younger days.


So why this all now.. because once again my favorite format is back, once again batters are facing music.. once again bowlers looks like tanks on mission.. once again VVS showed why he is dreaded in opposition dressing room, and once again i am shouting, screaming , praying, dancing. I forgot i am 25 years old.. i forgot my examinations are going on.. its test cricket at its best baby... you better remember it.


P.S. Keiron Pollards and Dwayne Bravos of world may get unbelievable auctions in IPL, VVS is priceless, damn you lalit modi.. you put a knight among the pawns of T-20 circus.

Do we need god !!

Things were going at their usual place, people were looking for opportunities of growth and financial stability, when suddenly a genie ( or you can say ghost) of early 1990s came out of the bottle. I am witnessing this game of cat and mouse over the Ayodhya Issue verdict since last fortnight, and it really pissed me off literally. It is usually said that justice delayed is justice denied.. in some case it is even injustice. It seemed like government was hell bent on having a verdict when nobody else want it or even care for it. And this gave rise to the question.. Do we need Mandir or Masjid.. do we need the verdict.. or more fundamentally do we need a god at all !!!!..
Now I know many of you would think that I had gone crazy, and as a student of management I should do some kind of research to validate my hypothesis. So to claim whether we need god or not.. i first wanna know whether what is god ? .. so here are some of the replies which I got ..
God is a belief, we believe in god
If you ask a teenager, what did he believe in… he would definitely say that he believes in the power of expression. He can have the jeans he like, he can vouch for the bike he likes, he can choose his career and work towards it.. They say money is bad.. at least it does not discriminate between the people of flesh and blood.. money do not ask for the caste and religion of the hand holding it. So what do we really believe in.. if we have the will.. we have the resources.. there are enough choices available for us to make our lives better… do we believe in god to take our decisions.. do we believe in god to deliver our message 1000 Km away from one location to another. So, if god is a belief… where does it exist ?

God is fear, it controls people
Again it needed a bit of survey and things started pouring in. The things people are worried of is about their cell phone getting switched off rather than some god in the heaven being angry upon them. With science to our aid, we can almost predict and control all of the parameters in this world. So, who is the controlling force, its we.. so why should we afraid of some supernatural power.. who doesn’t even care what the hell their followers are going upon.

God is the unifying force
On this account I agree to a point, but then again examples are not in abundance in front of us. Let us take mobile itself, you get a camera, a Bluetooth, voice transmission, video transmission and data transmission on single platform, its like convergence of all the technologies, and we say all religions take us to one path !!!.. so who should be god here !!!!!

Well I know that there are no comfortable answers but there are no comfortable questions either. Whether it would be a temple or a mosque , how will it affect the people, they continue to earn the same, they continue to live the same life.. only impact could the negative disruption of their lives…
It is right to correct the wrongs of the past… but in order to do so.. we should also remember two wrongs will never make a right..

4 Reasons not to Watch Peepli Live

I usually have very high expectations from an Aamir Khan's Flick, which was further reinforced by movies like TZP and 3 idiots, but peepli live to say the least has been disappointing. Here are some of reasons which i found quite bizzare in movie :

• Is it Satire?
  

Well while seeing the promos of the movie, i got the feeling that the movie would be a satire on the plight of the farmers, who are so helpless that they are left with no other option than taking their own lives .Treatment of the movie was certainly not in line with that. Yes, the situation can be shown in a humorous way, but then director should have cared about a thin line between the fun and the message he want to convey by the movie. Suicide by farmers are a serious issue, and in the movie it was ridiculed more or so as a resort of extracting money from the government. They can take a leaf out of the book from "Munnabhai MBBS" which had a very delicate balance of emotional and comedy scenes. In this movie, there is hardly a poignant scene at which you feel moved.

• Media as a Joker

Alright , we have several movies depicting the act of media as a bunch of paid jokers. If my memory serves right " phir bhi dil hai hindustani" was based on the sensationalism of media, and there are few other movies too. More than that, we in our daily lives , experience this hoopla for media. So, apart from 15 minutes of entertainment, there was nothing more in the media circus shown in the movie. Media is the fourth altar of democracy, and there were instances where media had played its role in a very responsible way. It could have been much better if media had been depicted as a responsible agent. May be it has served as a model for the prevalent media in the country

• Acting by 'Natha'

Despite all the hype by Natha, the acting was sub-standard. The expressions were not there, body language was not apt. In place of looking as a despised farmer, he looked like a minor caught in a soup. At this moment , i can hardly recollect any substantial Dialogue by him. Most of the dialogues are given to Raghubir Yadav, who no doubt is a good actor, but then it became an overkill. I sincerely believe that much work could had been done on his character.

• Abuses in the Movie

okk, i agree to the point that this type of language is common in villages. But i sincerely believe that, director had been over-enthusiastic in using the flowery language. Words like G***d, Be****d, M*****d galore in the movie. Supposed to be a family entertainment movie, it places lot of people in a very uncomfortable situation. I also found it the tough way, went with my aunt and mom, and constantly had to fix my eyes on screen during the movie to avoid eye contact.

Movie is good, but then its not according to the status we associate with Aamir Khan. He had set the the standards high, and this movie really looks half-cooked. At best an attempt to score over the prevailing issues of ailing farmers and agriculture in the country. In my opinion. this is not worth a movie to watch spending your hard-earned bucks.

Game(s) People Play

Smoke came out from the pistol...sprinters started to run for their lives in a 100 m race with crowd getting behind them...they just got pass the 50m mark... suddenly the race track collapsed... and i saw my cell phone it was 0345 AM in morning ....!!! Thank god... it was a dream..

With so many stories unwinding around the CWG'10.. i am certainly very anxious about it. Do not be surprised if swimmers find algae in the swimming pool, or one of the football just cant arrive to stadium . because of the traffic jam.. most possibly because 2 cars have brushed each other..and the owner of those vehicles decide to settle the matter on the road itself.

Being in NCR for almost 3 years.. one thing i am pretty much sure about.. you can bring CWG to Delhi.. u cant take Delhiite mentality away from here... and believe me for most of the people the brazen social class of Delhi is an unpleasant experience at least in the beginning. Now the news channels are running rhetoric episodes on the dismal state of affairs.. and any tom dick and harry is giving expert comments here. As to put one of my friend's comment " Jisne aaj tak ghar mein shaadi bhi nahi karwayi.. wo bata raha hai ki CWG kaise karane chaiye".

Yes we are very concerned about the image of India.. by the way what is the image of India!!! A developing nation whose stock market is outperforming the rest of world, no matter few 100s of farmers commit suicide every year, or is a nation where people run crusades over Sania marrying Shoaib.. while youths are murdered in the name of honor killing. A nation of billion + people could not manage to create a decent football team... a nation where the gaps between the haves and have-nots is increasing day by day. A country where a chief minister can brazenly defend its communal minister or a state when traveling by a train demands an insurance!!!...

Anyways, we have to protect the image of nation, because various foreigners will visit the country. Its like putting a nice curtain on the door, so that people feel that everything is well and beautiful inside. But the curtain is now started having holes.. where people can peep to see the divide between India and 'Bharat'.

No i am in no way recruited by that psycho 'Mani Shankar Aiyar" who is praying to rain gods to unleash havoc and destruction upon the commonwealth games.. well its almost praying for a death of a person... i seriously wish that games go on smoothly..coz once u had taken up a commitment.. you should follow it tenaciously.. but the buck should not stop here.. these games ought to play a bigger role in developing a sports culture in the country.

P.S. As per Swapnil.. we indians are masters of doing things at the last moment.. so when India wakes up on the inaugural day of CWG... they will see a picture perfect games... Japanese may have invented "JIT".. we will put into rigorous test here

B-School Lexicon

In my 1.25 years of so called "B-School" Life, i observed certain phrases which was like gospels for the people living out here , so this is one of my humble attempt to mention some of those as to pay tribute to this wonderful and innovative B-School Lexicon

1. Bull-Shit : We, the people, in b-school somehow feel that it is more fashionable and kool to swear in english although there are various hindi substitutes available to that. So, one of the most common used word is bull-shit. When i first heard the word, i was a bit amused. Traditionally, in india cow-dung is popular, but why bull-shit is so revered in b-school parlance. Be it teacher, be it students , whenever they have to ridicule something, the first word which comes into mind is "bull-shit". I am seriously thinking of watching a bull shitting carefully, and may be attach a photo for you people also, so that we can demystify the code.

2. Fuckin : If there has to be a word , which is most abused in any language, it has to be this word. The power of this word is awesome. it could be noun, adverb, helping verb and adjective. There is no scenario which cant be explained by this word. Paper was "fuckin" tough, i am "fuckin'ly happy"... The usages are infinite, from the most momentous occasion to the most pissed of occasion, this word will never leave you alone. ( And oh Yeah !! there was a band performance by the college students, and they are using 'fuckin' almost 5 times in a minute, so no college song is complete without it )

3. It Depends: The beauty ( or u may say curse ) of MBA education is that seldom there are right answers. This helps students a lot, when they were basking in their blissful ignorance. Whenever you caught off-guard by a teacher , asking a question, the safest answer is "it depends". Coz there is no situation that cant be moulded as favorable or unfavorable. So basic tenet of MBA , don't be sure on what you are doing, and when you can not convince people .. confuse them..

4. "Case ki summary bata de " : We, the people, in B-school are always very hard pressed for time. Be it for playing tennis, watching movies , doing bakar and ohh yeah sleeping ( wait a minute.. i heard a lot about sleep deprivation in B-Schools.. make it very clear.. IMT never sleeps.. but IMTians do...) , that we hardly get time to do other stuffs. It seems that our professors do not understand our precarious situation. Heap of Case studies ( Typical HBS one .. with pages>20 ) keep on mounding in our rooms, and 99% of the times, we could not get time to go through them. So, what to do in class ??... Thankfully 1-2 holy souls had read the case, and before 5 minutes to class... the common request is " Bhai .. Please case ki summary bata de.."

5. "Meri Proxy Laga dena " : When i was a young kid, i was told by my parents that god is omnipresent, and they look at every good or evil deed of us. After coming to b-school i realized that we mortals can also possess same powers. People could be present at more than 1 place at a single moment of time. Giving and requesting for proxy is one of the most holy ritual of b-school. The bonding between "proxy-bretheren" is unfathomable to comprehend. Sometimes, i feel afraid that people may not get affected by "multiple-personality disorder", not even knowing which name they are representing. Any ways, this is the blood for the life in a B-School, else you would find a long queue in front of prof's office looking for their attendance.

6. 'Lunch/Dinner mein kya hai ' : when i first went for higher studies, i was surprised that why that dining place is called mess. Then somebody told me that anything you get there would be a 'complete mess' , and that's why this place is unequivocally called mess. To give credits, our college has a good mess, and a hard-working mess committee too ( which sends menu for a fortnight with due diligence..). But do not get misguided by the items on menu, you may find a helluva of difference in what was written on menu, and what you are tasting right now. As of now, the favorite item is rajma.. which i think they boiled for on month in advance. So, every time , some body asks "Dinner mein kya hai" he is hoping against hope.. that today he may get some good thing to eat. The safest answers to questions are "Chhole aur Rajma".. There is 90% probability that you may be right !!!


Disclaimer: All the views expressed by author are personal and experienced in personal capacity. No offense is intended to the mess-connoisseurs, who find it best place to eat, or to the people of "yo-Gang" for whom 'fuckin' is second name for god. Also i might have missed some of the key-terms in my analysis.Please feel free

Kissa Kahani Ka..

Guest Lectures, to be frank, are generally a mundane affair. A speaker from a reputed organization comes.. Accolades are lavished, people clap.. and soon after a power-point presentation starts and people enjoy siesta, only to be disturbed by the claps in the end. So, when i was to attend the guest lecture of "Consumer Behavior".. i already had planned to make up for my lack of sleep.

In between the routine talks, there was one particular moment, which stimulated me. He was asking what is the most influential theme of communication, and all of us are giving answers which are consistent with the marketing jargon to which we are highly exposed day-to-day. His simple response was " story telling"... and yes it is the most influential tool for communication.

If we look it on a bigger scale, all our beliefs come from telling and listening story. What are religions ? A grand collection of stories to be the best. Why panchatantra is so popular ? because simple moral values are depicted through perfect sweet little stories. Stories are the way to help the audience relate to the incident and feel the consequences as if it were their own.

Take example of children, in their younger age of development, values are imparted to them by the means of story telling. Imagine saying to a child " Telling lie is bad ".. or " Hurting others is bad "... and they will reply " ok... but wats the big issue.. why it is bad... what are the consequences !! So, the stories and fables are constructed where there is a protagonist depicting the same behavorial patterns as our child can imagine, and then we can make him understand the consequences by telling him the fate of that protagonist .

People in general, do not change much from their childhood days. They still need a story to be stimulated by some marketing communication. That's why you might observe that most of the successful brands are the brands which have a story to tell. If you have heritage associated with the brand, nothing could be better than this.. but if you do not have , you have to construct a story around it. Just type "balbir pasha" in you tube and you can witness how creating a story can send the message across more effectively..

So next time when you have to market something or market yourselves, think of some story.. because its not the product, its not the benefits, its about the story by which you can engage your customers...

P.S. By the time i wrote this, our football team has done very well to play 2 very good competitive matches, and now we can tell this story for other sports too.. to motivate people.

Surrogate Nationalism

By the time i am writing this...streets in Spain must be jam-packed, and millions would be shell-shocked in the dutch-land.. yes 'Paul,the octopus' was again right, and beliefs and superstitions cut across each and every border of this world. An ardent dutch supporter, it was tough for me to swallow the bitter pill, but among all the things which shocked me the striking one was the amount of attachment people have with these foreign teams.

One of the scene of the night which shocked me most was the moment when the Spain national anthem was played down, and people sitting next to me actually got up... although they may feel ashamed doing the same for their own national anthem. Statistically speaking, we Indians have nothing to do with the world cup ( although i read somewhere that 'jabulani' has some material made in India). In the FIFA ranking, we are 133rd or 134th or whatever.. we actually do not care. Even if we take Asians as our identity still we do not have representation after the round of 16.

But still, come the world cup, we have a big screen in amphitheater, people with their divided loyalties , and i bet 1-2 must have wept for the Netherlands(i was very close to it). I wonder whether same would have been the scene if a WC cricket final was going on.

Final, to say the best, was competitive not beautiful. If any one would have got the chance to see the 3rd place match between Germany and Uruguay, it was the match of the tournament for me. May be some time reduced expectations allow players to play freely with their natural game. Anyways today Spain deserved it, they were marginally better than Holland.

The only thing consistent in WC'10 were the predictions of oracle octopus. I am sure maneka gandhi would be having a close look on the matter. After all, too much attention on him may infringe his right of privacy, but he is undoubtedly the biggest star of the world cup. Spaniards surely will exclude eight-leg creatures from their menu at least for a short time. From no onwards, when the football game goes to extra time or penalties, call the octopus.. at least it will prevent heroes from turning villains... hail the genius !!!

start of a journey

Coming and going is the universal law of this world.. and it cant be more true for a B-School. So after our seniors left for their corporate sojourn, yesterday we had the registration of the incoming batch. Among all the other things one enjoyable thing about this event is the delicious food served in the mess , which is a bi-annual phenomena ( second occasion is convocation), which also shows that how the incoming and outgoing of batches is a sacred event for a B School.

As i have been there , done that.. i can safely say that there is lot of anxiousness while joining a B- School. When you join a Engg college or any other graduation course for that matter, you are still in your teens and you dream for the sky. your mind knows no limitation, your ideas of this world is completely different. Now contrast this with a B-School. Few of the joiners come after a work-ex from good companies, some leave decent job offers.. so the first question which a student ask on joining a B -School , is how much he can expect to earn after the completion of the course. In this summer i address numerous queries regarding the ROI of the institute.

With all the humbleness, i just wanna suggest that if the view of the person is limited to such a small objective he will miss the bigger picture. From the very beginning i have a firm belief that the purpose of education is to make a person better human being. This comprises of a nice personality, knowledge of surroundings, confidence in what you do, and last but not the least the way you behave and act with other people. In the age of competition its very east to get carried away, but as i firmly believe that life is not a zero sum game. Its not necessary for someone to lose if you have to win. To keep it brief, try to learn from others and also help other learning what you know, so that collective worth of this place increases.

Last but not the least, summers is at it is torturous best now a days, and sincerely now i began ti believe what Mr Algore has said, that its very hard for the earth to survive like this. Thank god IMT G has AC Lab.. else this summer would definitely had killed me. Now eagerly waiting for the monsoon... and calcio rombio ( inter disciplinary football tournament)...

Incessant Chase(s) of Life

In couple of few days life has definitely turn around a whole circle. People are now calling me as whether to join IMT or not? and i recall my days as a MBA aspirant when i was so much confused that once i almost decided to drop MBA. Thank god, common sense prevailed and i joined IMT. But after one year of the so called management education, i came to know about one thing, no education in any of the school can make you a manager, it has to come from inside. The only thing which you can learn from a B School , is to apply common sense , and believe me its very uncommon, as there are numerous examples of various well planned campaigns went for toss. As quoted by somebody " After MBA, you feel that you doesn't need to do an MBA.. bit to feel this you gave to a MBA".

More on personal note.. things are not going that smooth. Life is never kind to anyone, but on some of the days i ask questions to the god and more to myself.. Why Me? I know people ask these questions only when they are in pain and not when al the things are going right for them. Some times things doesnt go your way, despite you give your best of the efforts. You try to improve yourself, change the habits in you, just to have something you desire. And its not the case that i desire a lot. Although there is no end of human aspirations, i only desire have company of someone who is dearest to me !!!!!

But at the end of the day, there are somethings which you can do.. and there are somethings which just happen. You can study hard.. you can try to improve yourself.. you can make efforts to excel in your life.. but you cant make a person become a friend of you . Friendship and Love are the things which usually happens. So, then why people try for it, if the effort is not required at all. Again the vagaries of human life, the more a thing elude you , the more you are after it. In life we do not value the things which we have, and constantly chase those which we do not have. So, for the time being , just have to keep the matter in cold.. and i think i should believe in adage of true love? Lets test the age old mantra .....

And the Search Begins..

Half past midnight.. one of the days when the sleep is shying away... so once again back to writing something.. one of the thing which engages me quite well !!... Last month has been a pretty happening one.. once again back to corporate jungle (read internship) after a wonderful 1 year sojourn at IMT. But somehow today mood is quite thoughtful.. may be rainfall couple of days before is having some lagging effect.

Last weekend i went to home, and while i was traveling i saw a very interesting scene in train. There was a couple and a small kid, and as usual the baby is troubling parents and was not in mood to eat anything. Then the father hold him in hand, while mother took the bowl and then they start travelling all over the compartment trying to distract him, by showing him different things. Seeing it, i remembered my childhood days. Papa used to tell me lots of stories and in between put stuff in my mouth , and that's how i eat the food then. Today, we sometimes take our parents for granted, but we don't know what efforts they had put in bringing us up. It was really like traveling down the memory lane for me.

In life we do mistakes, and some time the situation is like that you know you are doing a mistake, but you cant stop yourself. This is the beauty of life. Rational and irrational are very much hyped concepts, just tweak the consequences and you will see the most rational person in the world behaving irrationally. The problem lies in trying too hard for something. There are somethings in life which just happen. you cant force those things to happen.But poor mortals, the heart can defy every logic presented by mind.

So i will also try to dissociate myself, dunno how successful, i would be, but still i will give it a fair try. Somehow, today there is a new hope inside me, somehow i feel myself lighter. I was too much afraid of loosing something, that i was not even asking myself that was i happy holding on to that thing? really wanna thank someone who said " do those things in life which make you happy", this is the only way you can make your loved ones happy. Will try to follow the path, and hope for the god's grace with me.. till then c ya.....

Time to play "The Game"

When 'Satyam' was exposed about 15 months ago , it was quipped to be the nadir of the corporate life in india , but i fear that current IPL row has surpassed it big time. The protaganist , Mr Modi. not only riding the tiger, but also feeding him, and believes that he can always be able to ride on it. Once, in my younger days, i heard a proverb that things which rise fast comes down faster. The adulation , the money and the glitz involved with IPL had blinded many eyes, or they chose to shut their eyes remains to be a matter of contention...
Generally, a big puntcure starts with small prick in the balloon. Everyone remembers the emergency imposed by indira gandhi but few remember the historic judgement by high-court responsible for that. Similary, in the history of the "India Paisa League" , the tweet of Lalit Modi would be remebered for its historic impact on arguably the biggest thing happened to cricket.
After sacricing Mr Tharoor, Ruling party is on the prowl, and i expect some very high profile casualities in the coming week.
As a passionate cricket fan, i never liked IPL from the beginning itself. People may accused me of old-fashioned, but i am the guy of the era where run rate of 6 is considered very good , and 300 was still a respectable score. 3 Ads in an over, karbon kamaal catch, DLF maximum, Max Mobile Timeout and MRF Blimp make me go crazy. Sometimes i wonder whether commentators are covering the game, or they are pimps of the franchisees.
So, what next? well one thing is certain, IPL is too big to fail.. So after the cleansing act, somebody else will be appointed head , and the show will go on, but what about corruption? Well somebody quoted few days ago " Its the money which makes people crazy and make them run pillar to post" so i, least expect the corruption to end. As aptly said by the head of the company on first day of my summer training " If you are working in field of finance, dont look at the source of money. It will unnecessarily bother you, coz in this world only 2 people have money Politicians & Criminals.. Rest other are their Proxies "...

Clash of Titans

In recent days, there is lot of hue and cry between the 2 regulatory bodies viz SEBI and IRDA on the issue of validity of ULIPS. For uninitiated, unit linked insurance plans (ULIPs) are the products sold by insurance companies, which have some insurance component, but fair percentage of the client's money is used to invest in the equity market.After a course on business ethics, i sometime wonder how people can't see obvious things in world, or rather they didn't want to see.

Why do we need regulators? because the common people are not expert to judge whether the products and services offered to them are in their interest or not. Suppose, you go to a doctor , then you believe that he will offer the treatment in your best interest, without fulfilling his interest. You have no way of checking this out, as you are not an expert in the field of medicine. So, people vest power in the hands of the regulators , who ensure that professionals work for the best interest of the customer, and to ensure that there are certain guidelines which should be complied.

So, what will happen if regulators start to get dysfunctional... we need a regulator to look over the regulators and thus the system would be crippled by the sheer number of the regulators in the systems. It will become a classic example of "who will guard the guards ??". so this ugly spat between the 2 of the reputed regulators had left a bad taste in the mouth of the investors. Insurance companies, despite their best of efforts, can't deny the equity nature of the ULIP products, and my hunch is that SEBI will get the mandate in its favor from the high court. After all, for mutual funds like products,why a investor should pay a commission in range of 40% , where it is in single digits in the case of Mutual Funds.

People who live by the sword.. dies by it.... Nobody will appreciate it better than our own Shashi Tharoor.It's so ironical that his problem started with a tweet.. which was his forte till now.His alleged involvement in Rendezvous sport world (RSW) has raised quite a few eyeballs in media even before the truth is out. I am sure. Lalit Modi would have astronomical increase in his followers after this incident (Your truly is one of them). One of the interesting thing which i pondered over is that is twitter and facebook, replacing the media in the world. Now you get to kisten directly from the horse's mouth, it may be the sign of things to come.

I just had a week working as a summer intern in gurgaon, and already i am sick of it. Gurgaon as a place sucks. with only cars, malls and dust. And yups, core finance job, with data crunching gives me nightmares (with number falling like matrix...). Hope i can survive the remaining 5 weeks. So, signing off for now.. c ya soon !!!

Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

Business Ethics Classes for this term ended with a documentary " The inconvenient Truth" by the noble laureate, Mr Al Gore. He is a wonderful orator and the things which he said had all of us moved. During, the fag end of the video, he demonstrated us an example. Suppose, a frog is put in boiling water, it would jump out of the jar immediately. On the other hand, if you put it in lukewarm water, and then gradually increase the temperature, the frog will not notice the change in temperature, and hence keep sitting on jar, and ultimately will lose its life.

After the lecture, i tried to extend this idea into the other realms of life. Somehow, i have the feeling that this concept affects the human behaviour and particularly the consumer behaviour to a large extent. I searched for some literature in the library, and then I came across the term “Just Noticeable Difference ( JND) coined by Weber in early 20th century. To put in simple terms, suppose you are watching 2 light beams of same intensity ( Say 100 W) and then intensity of one is varied,then after how much variation of the intensity, will you observe the difference in the intensity of 2 light beams. This variance, is sometimes also called the differential threshold of JND.

Many of us know that it exists, but still we never give much of a thought to it. This is one of the concept which are used by companies to manipulate ( or sometimes say fool customers). Here, I would like to quote the example of FMCG companies, because the products in this category are generally the low involvement products with the price being the key determining factor in the decision making process of a consumer. Companies, by the way of packaging, by promotion mixes create a clutter of products with JND often less than the threshold level. So, when a consumer goes out to buy toothpaste, he is often subjected to the choice of 80g of pepsodent for Rs 25 and 100g of Colgate at Rs 30. Now, by packaging them cleverly, Pepsodent reduces the JND between these 2 products. So, consumer tends to behave that both the products are almost the same. Now, the key determining factor for them is the price, and here they will go for the one which is quoting lesser price (Pepsodent in this case). Even though, by buying Pepsodent they are paying more Rs/g than Colgate.

JND concept is also leveraged by the companies, which over a time try to evolve as per the business environment. Particularly, for the strongly positioned brands, a sudden transition could be Hara-kiri... so they change over a period of time, in which every time the gradual change is less that the differential hold of JND.If you get a chance to see the logo of Pepsi, in last 10 years, you will definitely notice the difference. But as everything has another face, this concept is also utilized , particularly in rural India, by the companies which copy and fake the well known products. By closely resembling names, packaging, and promotion mix, they hold the change below the JND level, and thus fooling the consumers.

Apart from business, JND is part and parcel of human life. When you meet some one after a year or two generally the reaction is "tu to bahut lamba ho gaya yaar". While his family members would not be noticing the gradual change. I use to visit mussorie very frequently, and one of my favourite place is kempty falls. Every year or so, i go there and enjoy the scenic beauty. Last year, i went after a gap of 3 years, and i was shocked to see the condition of kempty fall. When i enquired about the reason, it was due to a reservoir which had been building there for last 10 years, gosh!! i hardly noticed that.

This can also be leveraged in relationships, when things start getting wrong, initially we do not notice the gradual damage to the relation, unless it reaches to JND Level. After that, it is very difficult to resurrect a relation. Thus in relationships, we should be conscious in keeping our JND threshold level low, so that we could read the distress signals, in their primitive stages. For the time being, yours truly signing off, wishing you a wonderful time.. muaaah !!!!..

Beauty or the Beast

In the times of integrated market communication ( a jargon for peeping in your life 24*7).. you would have inevitably see the number '1411' at some place or other. Numbers are fascinating ( or at least you have to fake it as a finance student), but i found this number very mundane in the first go. There are magical numbers, squares, cubes, fibbonaci series and i also did a quick calculation to check whether it is a prime number. But surprisilngly, it is none, but yet it is fascinating as due to claims from the authority, it is the number of tigers left in India. Alarming !! isn't it... but from when we started tracking the number of tigers in our country. We never knew when the number went 3000 and when it touched 2000. So, it needed a well drafted marketing campaign to drive home the point that yes they are in danger, because every one of us want to look benovolent, provided we are informed about the problems prevailing..

Coming to tigers.. i think they are one of the biggest brand of 'incredible india'. Once i read it somewhere, that a succesful brand should have majesty and exclusivity. Well, no body can challenge the majesty of tiger in the eco-system of jungle, '1411' also provides them exclusivity. Thus, its one of the most favourite brand of india. Take any travel magazine remotely wirting about india and you will definitely find the pic of tiger in that. In fact tiger is the darling baby of our corporate world, when you feel the need to do CSR.. start a campaigning for saving tigers, because everybody knows they are in danger. ( No need to educate consumers !!!)....

Aircel, after Idea, is the company in the telecom demain, which came up with this CSR activity. Well, in case of idea, it seems to solve issues by leveraging the features of mobile, i am still not convinced that how can a mobile used to save tigers , and i want to be proved wrong if i say that there are hardly any cellular netowrks in tiger habitats. So, the exercise is more about increasing the brand visibility than something else. But again, i really fear about brand cannibalization in this case. When you think of kingfisher, you think of beer and aeroplane, when you think of camel, you think of paints, but when you think of tiger, you think of majesty and exclusivity, and i seriously doubt whether aircel is either majestic or exclusive.

Ohh my god.. i am getting obsessed with tiger..or i think this is the year of tiger, lest you forget Tiger woods...during his hey-days, his shots have an air of majesty, and most of the women think he is exclusive ( now they must be sulking)... and thats why he is the star endorserer , from a game, which is popular(or notorious) for its mundane pace . Then , he lost his exclusivity, almost a dozen times, and now even accenture is having different ads on air featuring dolphins , whales, and other animals ( off course , except tiger)..Grapevine is that he may be back sometime in this year, and then i could check another jargon " Wounded-Tiger"..

At the fag end , i just wanna mention some of events happened with me in recent times. After almost a decade, i attended a marriage of my home, albeit i have to go to Bikaner. If you are from delhi, where in a metro 4 people are touching 4 different parts of your body, you will feel that your personal space hs increased out there. Vast areas with sparse population, sometimes you long to see a vehicle on road. Back in college, another mutiny is brewing up... against some draconian( Most of the people say so..) ruling of college administration. Some times, we need to revise our history a bit... you can view a thing both as opportunity and threat... and there is always a tradeoff between choice and competetion. In india, we typically hate competetion (may be our socialistic heritage..), but we are here, after facing so much of comptetion. The bottom line is that if you are good , you will get good things, and once for a change, this is a universal truth and not a relative phenomenon. With this, yours truly signing off.. take care.. and save tiger.. oops.. not tiger woods... cya ... muuaaaaah..

Winter's Day Out

So, at last the historic end term exams ended on 15th of January. Historic in the sense, that for the first time in my life (albeit only 24 years old !!!) i had gone through this experience... For us , 3rd term classes was scheduled in the morning, and we had our exams in afternoon. Whola!! this is MBA at its most unique way, and the icing (pun intended!!) on the cake was, characteristic windy and chilly January days of infamous Delhi winters... Still we survived, which shows that how much we underestimate ourselves.
So, after the exams , people having BFs and GFs went for shopping, movies and outing.. people having LDRs ( Long distance relationships) increased the congestion of the mobile networks.. and yours truly who, fortunately or unfortunately, does not fall under both the category so was thinking what to do to kill the time.. Then i decided that the best option is to do some jogging and exercise, i had to break my new year resolution quite a few time during my exams ( I know its it’s hardly a fortnight after new year :( ).....
Next day i decided to have a tour of Delhi, so i caught hold of one of my dear friend, netaji ( figuring the real name is left for readers!!).. and went to chandni chauk and India Gate. When I just came to Delhi about 2 years ago, Delhi metro seems very beautiful and comfortable to travel. But, now a days, it is also running as a DTC or Blue line bus jam-packed with the commuters. With the extension of metro line, the crowd is increasing exponentially. In some of the stretches yesterday, we really struggled to go to the door to de-board the train.
But , the most interesting of Indian people is that they talk a lot, and when you are in such congested arrangement, you are bound the hear. So here goes one pretty girl in metro " Meri muumy bol rahi thi ki surya grahan (solar eclipse) ke baad sardi kam ho jayegi, dekho aaj ho gayi" , here you go the meteorological department, even a mom can predict better than you !!...
And the boy with him, was nodding in affirmative as it was the perfect scientific reason !!!....
Our first destination was India gate, and somehow unknowingly, we were days before 26th January, so the preparation was on full swing. New seats were being arranged, roads were marked for parade , and practice for parade was going on. Really, it was a good experience to be there. Next , we headed toward chandni chauk, as a food connoisseur i relish the paranthas (which was aptly termed as kachori by netaji) of chandni chauk.
After satiating the appetite of stomach and mind and somewhat eyes too ( read gals of delhi !!)... we finally decided of returning as the chilly night of winters is fast approaching. But our ordeal was still not over, we somehow managed to board a local train , which was not supposed to be boarded. All the lights switched off, it hardly stopped at any station. At the Ghaziabad station, it stopped in somewhere , where there was no platform to be seen off. Netaji was grumbling " saala 3 Rs ke kiraye mein aaoge to yahi hoga ".
So, this completed a day out and from Monday again there would be classes , lectures, and projects.. but do watch this space.. as we Indians love to talk....
P.S. If you ever heard about tongue in cheek.... go and ask Mr Sehwag.... he must be hiding behind some curtain, by making an audacious comment yesterday. That is way it is said, greatness lies in humility....

jaane nahin denge tujhe !!!!

First morning of new year, there are lots of reasons to be happy, but this blog is being written because i am not finding any other medium to release my grief and frustration. The front page of the news paper is covered by the news of ruchika girhotra's case. Though, i was following this case for around 10 days, but when i was reading it during the breakfast today, when i read it, food refused to go down my throat.....

Though all of us know the details of the case, i was really moved ( on the verge of tears..) reading the statements of her brother and her friend aradhna. Last night, when the songs were played at their loudest volume combined by beautiful fireworks, that we entered 2010.. proclaimed to be the decade of india , huh !!! , its a nation, where it's still a crime to be a girl and her to be her family members. The torture and mental agony under which her brother underwent, is the story of almost every sexually assaulted girl's family. India is perhaps the only nation in the world , where an assaulted gal and her family is victimised rather than provided protection, lest forget about justice.
But, i was really moved by one person in the whole episode, Aradhna her friend. When i was returning back after watching 3 idiots i was asked " does this type of friendship happens in real world", this one is for you , prakhar. Their friendship has transcended the realms of life and death. At these sort of times even the family members do not support but she fought the case for 19 years among all the adversaries. We always talk about jai and veeru, aradhna and ruchika would be the new epitome of friendship.
Now the most important player in the whole episode, the celebrated indian media. We may make a lot of fun of them, often accuse them of making a lot of hue and cry... but with all their shortcomings , they are the only option left for the "aam aadmi" of india to raise their voice. As we have seen again and again , the cases where all have lost the hope , media ensured the justice for the victims be it jessica lall or priyadarshini mattoo. Once again a striking feature, all the cases are pertaining to girls. To shameful for a nation, priding on its culture...huh...
Also, in hindsight, as i mentioned in the one of my previous blog 'u, me and us', i think that technology has played a major part in ameliorating the situation. If she could have written a mail to president, could have made a blog entry against all the atrocities or could connect with her friends , a life could have been saved ,and various others would have been in a much better condition. Although, excess is harmful, but this can play a important part in helping the youth population of india.
In the land of rani laxmibai and indira gandhi, the girls are still compelled to live a fearful life, i really feel grief and shame .... lets hope that new year bring justice to ruchika and all other victims and their families.

P.S. Reading this case, i felt watching a 90's movie, with ajay devgan as protagonist . The only difference was that at that time there was a belief that all would be settled by the hero, and it would be a happy ending. In the real world, bhaiyya all is not well !!!

Picks of the year !!!!

Amidst the chilling cold and freezing winds , finally the last night of the year arrives. On the eve of new year their would be lots of celebrations, news channel will roll the reel back, entertainment channels will arrange the circus of Bollywood stars. So, making hay while the sun shines ( although it rarely do now a days !!!) , i also try to dirty my hands in picking some moments of mine throughout the year.
Disclaimer : All comments are personal by me, and any resemblence with alive or dead would be considered co-incidental !!! ...

So, lets start now :
1. Loosing "Virginity"
No... No... No, its not what you all are thinking. Its about loosing my virginity regarding alcohol. After 23 years of resistance, i finally sucuumbed to the pressure of alocohol when i first drank a peg on 1st Jan 2009. Well, about expirience, 1 peg seemed very normal, 2nd peg... some thing started shaking and 3rd peg.. i puked !!!.... After that, i had some further misadventures with it, but now i am sure that me and alcohol are not a happy couple.
2. Group Sangraam
Well, meanwhile i got first of my mba call from IMT Ghaziabad ( Which is where i ended). I had practiced GD/PI rigorously in my coachings, so i was confident of doing well. So when we were seated in a group we were 16 in number ( or was it a crowd !!) and then the moderator announced the time limit "8" minutes , like a ration quota in a famine stricken area. So, as soon as the signal is given, all the loaded missiles shot at once. No body was listening to any body, some were speaking to fan and some were to floor. The best part , though, was " stop pointing your finger towards me " :) :)
3. Bharat Darshan
Due to my desperation of fleeing from my job, i applied to all the MBA colleges , i had heard the names of !!!. so, march was the month where i started the exploration of "incredible" india !.. My first destination was Manipal ( TAPMI).. and to all of my horrors, the train didnt stopped at the station. It stopped 90 kms away and then i have to came back, and i reached the institute, just before the gates were being closed. Then i had a "jab we met" journey from mangalore to Chennai. BIM profs screwed me hard . But the trip ended very well , with my seat upgraded to 2nd AC from the 3rd AC on return journey.
4. Jahapanah ....Tohfa Kabool ho !!!
Although it was not exactly the "tohfas" as depicted in the new amir's flick "3 idiots", the most popular 'PDP' program of IMT Ghaziabad was very much same in the spirit. To non-imtians.. this is an softer version and euphemism for 'R" word in the boarding schools. Newly arrived bacchas, almost forget what sleeping means.... but its lot of fun doing some bizzare things that you would not have done in a sane mood. The best part is "shav-asan" in the morning yoga ....
u dont know why ??? just lie down in the same pose on a clean sheet for 2 mins !!!
5. "Gravity of Situation "
The chances are that you must have felt it some times in your life, but it is very common in IMTian Life. If you are not feeling it, you would be constantly reminded by some Zombie committee people time and time again. If you want to have the expirience of "Nazi Concentration camps" just attend their open houses. Any ways jokes apart, i really salute the efforts they put in and i really appreciate their hard work and spirit. Kudos to u guys !!!!
6. Sir... Actually.... We are coming to that...
A MBA life is synonumous to presentations.At the end of every day, you will find yourself making one presentation or another. So, when i was standing in front of class, with some muscles of my leg vibrating, equipped with a shabby presentation prepared last night , last thing i wanted is the prof interjecting in between. And to every questions of his, the standard answer was " Sir .. actually.. we are coming to that point.. we have covered in further slides... " and it continued till the " Thank You" Slide !!!
7. "Immediately "
During the much awaited weeks.. a cherubic female voice, announces this as a signature word. Although , the important words precede this "immediately". If you happen to hear your name, then it sounds nothing less than honey to your ears.

So, these are some of the picks of the year for me... although some are classical but not to mention here like " dont touch me i have a boy friend ( after boozing !!!)..." to " i got the imt blues !!!! "....

Wishing all of you ( The patient readers , thats why i kept this part last :) ), a very happy and prpsperous 2010. May god bless you all...

Adieu for the last tym in 2009.....
Yours truly

State(s) of Nation

If anyone get a chance to look at the globes of the era before 1990s, he is bound to be perplexed by what he would say. The world and thus nations look completely different from what they was 2 decades ago. The present fiasco in the telugu land is the latest bead in the necklace. Once again the political map of India is bound to change.
As a north indian, to be frank i am relatively naive to comment on the issue of a separate telangana state. So, at lunch i caught hole two of my andhra friends. So, for the benefits of the readers (like me :) ) , andhra is broadly divided into 3 parts viz telangana, coastal andhra & rayalseema. While the coastal andhra is most propesperous owing to the agricultural prowess, telangana has lot of heritage, with the jewel "Hyderabad" , one of the heriatge city of the world. People of telangana feel that they are inequitably treated and hence are demanding for a new state or it seems so. Telangana is like a proverbial phoenix which rises again and again at the time of elections or some other political activity. It is the bread and meat for the politicians of andhra pradesh.

Before dwelling on pros and cons, i want to understand the dynamics behind it. Are big states destined to be partitioned ?? , well the answer is not very easy. At the time of the independence, India was a confederation of 9 British provinces and 500 princely states. With the help of 'iron man' vallabh bahi patel , the federal system in India was conceived with dual system of centre and states. Initially, established geographically, the later states are conceptualized on the linguistic basis. According to me, this is the root cause of the conflict. If a state is considerably big, then there is bound to be regions with different culture, languages and dialects. Certainly there would be place which will become the economic hub and other places which will left behind in the race. So, in the long run, the clash of the humanity in these states are inevitable. To strengthen the point, we can see that parallel governance system of Maoists started from the states which are struggling to handle their diversity.

So, are the smaller states answer to the problem? Well, the tempting answer wouls be yes !!. Smaller the states, lesser the diversity, lesser the conflict and the utilization of funds would be more effective, common sense huh !!!. Well, sometimes the common sense is very uncommon. To, examine these points, we can always look at the fate of the 3 states viz uttarakhand, jharkhand and chattisgarh. The first one was separated due to the geographical terrain, other 2 due to their tribal base. But the situations is far away from what envisaged. Jharkhand , a state rich in natural resources, still remains the poorest state of the nation, Maoist insurgency is almost uncontrollable in chattisgarh, and uttarakhand although faring a little well , is still under debt of crores of rupees from the centre. These new states , to an large extent , were unable to serve the purpose for what they were created.

we as a country, celebrates our uniqueness of 'unity in diversity'. This is the foundation of our very culture. But by giving into the demands of the creation or more aptly the partition of states, are we not jeopardizing our basic tenet. Did we become so intolerable of the diversity, or whether we always were. Today, it is telangana, tomorrow the voices would be raised for gorkhaland, Coorg, bundelkhand, and god know how many states... We know that, history repeats itself , are we going to see 500 states in India again. Jawahar lal nehru , in his book 'discovery of india' , says that if you see a pathan and a south indian, you will hardly believe that they are part of same country, but if you spend some time with them, you will find a intangible string of indianness which would be binding both.

Is that string is breaking, do our differences have become big enough which can overpower our felling of unity and belongingness, well the future holds the answer... who knows our knowledge may become obsolete when we would teach geography to our kids !!!!

On the finishing note, fasts as a way of protest , was attributed to mahatma gandhi as an unassailable tool of non-violence... in those times, they were for uniting india, now they are done for dividing it, life definitely comes the full circle !!!

Sach is Life !!!!

Indian media is now a days flooded with the endless memoirs on sachin and his journey through the 20 Yrs in the international cricket. So, much has been written, that people are now struggling to find words to write about him. But in the millions of words printed and read, the phenomena called Sachin Tendulkar is yet to be covered holistically.
Growing up in an era which fortunately coincided with the evolution of sachin from a child prodigy to the player carrying hopes of billions of people. Never a single human has carried so much expectations on his shoulders. Although a very mediocre player, i was a cricket enthusiast from beginning ( Helped form the fact that my dad is also a big fan..). Childhood memories are still fresh with the moments where sachin . almost unknowingly entered in our lives

Here i want to share some of such moments in my life related to the “God of Cricket”
1. Burgulars in House : It was one of my very fond moment of sachin tendulkar. Being a middle class family we used to live in a rented house. It was India’s Tour to New-Zealand, new cable connection and match start at 2:30 Am in morning. So, one fine night me and dad was watching a match in a clod north Indian morning, when the guy called sachin tendulkar start smashing bowlers all around the park as he might be swatting away mosquitoes. Me, being a child cant help my emotions but the surprising part was that dad was also shouting at the top of his voice. Mummy, as accustomed, put pillow over ears and tried to sleep. Next morning the landlord aunty ask my mom “ Bhabhijee kal aapke ghar mein chor aa gaye the kya.. subah subah bahut halla ho raha tha.... hearing this mummy laughed and laughed because now
she knows who were the burgulars !!!

2. Speech in the school: We have some crazy house systems in my school. So, it was my turn to conduct the assembly in the coming week. I have to give an opening speech and i was woefully nervous !!.. A day before assembly , sachin blasted an Australian attack for back to back hundreds in desert , and the next day i produced the story by including the elements of determination and talent. That was my best assembly ever , with people clapping at the end of the speech, and i was silently thanking to sachin to save my soul.

3. Boy goes missing : 137 made in the second test in Chennai against Pakistan, was one of the most painful moment in my life. I was following the match from the beginning. Lost hopes about india winning during the stary of the day, got dumstruck by the batting prowess of a genius and felt helpless as hell, to see 3 lower order players wasting a gem of the innings. I was so frustrated, that i took my bicycle and went to a nearby park, and started crying. I cried for about 2hours ( albeit in breaks..). When i reached back in my colony, 2-3 boys told that my parents are worries and looking for me, where the boy had gone missing. Aah ! those were not the days of mobile phones and internets ....

4. “sachin hai kya” : This is the most repeated line i have heard in all these years watching cricket. Everytime when india is batting and you tell someone score , this is the inevitable question. Even if india are 8 wickets down still people will ask this question. As they are assured by jawans protecting the border, they tend to feel comfortable while sachin is guarding crease. In a country of so dissimilarities, he keeps all of us unite in happiness, grief and prayers. With all the vagaries of caste, religion, regionalism, i think a crtical review is required how he has kept this country united as one.

5. First Time i lost bet: There are some characters in ramayan, who were famous only because lord rama had given them nirvana. Henry olonga, is not a demon by any way, but he was definitely slaughtered in the desterts of sharjah by a little genius , we all know as sachin tendulkar. A match prior he dismissed sachin tendulkar with a freaky short ball, and celebrated a lot, doing war-like dance. I was watching the match with my friend, and he told me that this bowler’s career would be ruined by sachin. He was proved right a couple of days later when he thrashed him all over the park. May be the career was not ruined in the literal sense, but by then i had lost my first bet.

6. Bunking my School : After a historic Test series , india and austraila was playing a ODI in Kanpur , and i just cant resist myself from going out there, being living in Kanpur. So, in lunch time , me and my friend made a plan, talked about some emergency in home and bunked school and head straight towards the greenpark. And boy, sachin made it worth the effort. Sixes of Warne, Bevan and Lehman keep hitting the stands on a regular basics. All in all he hit 11 sixes as we keep the count by breaking a cold drink bottle each time ... In the evening i told dad about it, and he said why hadn’t you told me i would have taken a break from office.

7. India-Pakistan Matches: India –Pakistan matches were used to be a demo-war for all of us. It was 2003 World cup, India’s Last League game against the arch rivals Pakistan. Dad was ready from the morning, doing all sort of prayers and tricks. Agarbatti in front of television and devotional songs may sound a bit weird but believe me it was the case. Pakistan on back of saeed anwar had put a stiff target of 272. There was a silent nervousness in the house. Mummy who relatively doesn’t show much of the interest was also watching the match very interestingly. Shoaib akhtar came charging up, banged a short one, and it disappeared over the point boundary. The rest is history !!! , and one more thing i could remember is the wonderful food cooked by mummy that time.

8. IMT Public Going Crazy: This is one of the most recent moment in my life. Australia amassed a total of 349, virtually impossible to chase. By chance, my parents also came to visit that day. So, i and dad was watching match in Mess. Sehwag and yuvraj were gone , but still sachin was looking in a good nick. But since, there is little hope, i came back to room with mummy ans started chatting with her. Meanwhile i had opened live scores on cricinfo in the Laptop. Suddenly sachin went berserk, a Six... another one...a boundary.... i said to mummy you rest and i rushed towards the mess. Well the scene was completely changed in mess. There was a considerable crowd now in mess, watching very anxiously . Sachin was on for something special and he started to bamboozle all of us by his master class batting. Suddenly some people started banging table.. some dishes with spoon and the ambience changed in a moment. Everybody started shouting “sachin, sachin...” and the breathtaking strokeplay matched up to every cry. Ironically, it was another heartbreaking loss, but when my father came out , he said that i never expected MBA Students to be so cricket crazy. This is what Sachin can do mere mortals.

Decade of You , me and us !!

Yesterday, i found one of my very old friend online on Gmail. We were used to study together during my school days ( till class 10th). During the conversation, she suddenly said , do you remember how little we used to talk. I replied back that , we do not have mobiles that time. otherwise we could have played SMS-SMS, missed calls and other stupid games. At that moment i realised the giant leap which India has taken in last 10 years. I bet if we rewind the clocks down the years you will almost feel that it was altogether a different world 10 years ago in India.
Although, i am not old enough to write a memoir, but this decade has been a real fast forward. 1999-2000 was a different ball game altogether. Although , a new millennium was round the corner, cell phones were still a luxury ( now every rickshaw wala has one in the pocket..), bikes started to dominate the scooter market, dot com bubble was still inflating and India had started to shine..So, then what does this decade stand for !!

This decade in my view stands for the expression. The expression of youths , their wish to announce them on the world's stage has completely change the face of the nation. Their energy has propelled india from the category of developing country to the emerging nations. Increasing employment opportunities , good quality of education led by IITs and IIMs , and an liberalising culture had made the youth confident to take on the world. Now they do not doubt their capabilities, neither they consider themselves inferior to anyone.

Apart from that, this was the decade of me , you and all of us. Independent and yet interconnected!!.. we have facebooks to share our emotions, orkut to be interconnected and last but the most powerful tool in the pocket, the ubiquitous cell phone. I got my first cell phone in my 2nd year of college, joined orkut in 2006 and ventured into facebook few months ago, and i feel that how come i was alive without them. Malls and PVR's are the talk of the town and if i will tell my mom that i spent 200 bucks for a movie that it would be a nice 3o minutes "Gyan Session". This power of youth and interconnectivity was even saluted by Time magazine while declaring the personality of year in 2006 ( It was "You" ). The independent and ambitious girls had finally started to rub their shoulders against the males ( and some beating them also !!!..).

But there is also fillip side of it also. Life has become easy and relations had become very complex. Now relations start on mail, flourish on mobile and end on facebook. The human touch is so missing !!!. We as a generation is so busy in calculations ... what is my career growth, how much i should earn, which job i should switch too.. . so, the relationships always take the back seat. We are so afraid of responsibilities. Everyone will champion the case of live-in but very handful will be willing to commit and be responsible. We could be chatting online for hours but doesn’t even care to move to the next room to have some chat. Every thing is so 'e' in nature but still human beings start from "h". We still have the same organs as we have earlier , the same heart not a microchip.

We are fortunate to be in a country ,which despite all its deficiencies , practice democracy and freedom of speech. The power of expression had propelled us in a new era, but as the old cliché goes "with great power comes the great responsibilities". Today’s youth have to be responsible so that they can help india getting its judicious picture in the world scene !!