Monday, April 25, 2011

Arranged Love Story

He met a random girl in a totally hostile environment and He was thinking how can one decide about his or her life in one animated meeting.
He liked that random girl in the first meeting!!! But still it was just a five minutes meeting...
His friends called him crazy...
His pals called him impulsive...

But just a month later he could say that he was not a jerk... He was not crazy... He was not impulsive....

He got what he always wanted...
He got what he always needed...
Time might had been small but their bond was strong...

And now he can't thing of any thing else...

except of a small statement for her....

That he loves her so very much....

Monday, February 8, 2010

A-Z Bar

A B C
kitthe gaya si??
zindagi de mazze lene pub gaya si………………………….

D E F G
Oye itna na piii !!!!
Oye tennu ki ??? piye bina lage naa gee.....

H se gaye I
2 peg main hi ho gaya HIGH......

J se jana tha M gaye via L
mere saath wala toh inte main hi gaya fail....

N O P
Beer hui bahut ab Vodka bhi toh pee..............

Q ho ya R,
Peg pe peg pi le tu, kar de aar paar ;
Chahe kare puke, mat maan tu haar..............

S ke bad T
Wisky thi gilas main jiska rung tha rusty.........

U se pahonche W par yaad aaya I
Bahut chadh gayi ab :( ab nahi karna kuch try

X se seedha Z
Bahut hua TP ab “NOW GO TO BED”…….

This was the creation of few brilliant and non working brains of Atos Origin. Obviously I too was part of the group :)
Cheers to 7/8 Batch :)

Friday, October 30, 2009

Is Swearing Cool??



Bahen Ke L@@$%, Teri Maa C&&#@ Doonga!!!


Recently I was travelling from Delhi to Kanpur and got up after hearing these words… that too at 5:30 in the morning. But I ignored them (just like any other time) assuming that the kids who are fighting, are from the lowest end of the social hierarchy and are not aware of various social protocols that call for avoiding this kind of language.


But is there really any existence of social protocol which states that we should not swear? In today's world, is it really BAD to swear or is it COOL?


There were times when we used to look down upon people who used the 'F' word in their normal conversations and it was a big deal if some one used any abusive language. I clearly remember the day I used the F-Word for the first time and how all my friends boycotted me for next few days and all the fuss that was created all around me because of the newly acquired word in my vocabulary. I am not talking about some 18th century period but of the year 2000. It was this big a deal to swear against anyone in public at that time. The changed lyrics of the song, "Sexy, Sexy, Sexy mujhe log bolain" to "Baby, Baby" is the proof of how Indians looked at the matter, and this was not the only song to face the public hue and cry.


But from the mid 2000, the idiot box initiated the wind of change by naming lack of protest as acceptance to change. MTV, a very popular channel amongst the teenagers led this movement to change with its popular programs like Roadies.


When it comes to entertainment, our very own Bollywood can also not be ignored for a long time, with movies like Kaante (and many others) carefully used words sounding very similar to popular swears to the cult movies like Omkara, that started with verbal abuse, won as many as 3 National and 7 Filmfare Awards.


If one ever scans through any of the popular reality channel programs today, one can surely hear more beeps (that's due to censor board) than the real conversation. All the so called celebrities whom we idolize feel no shame in using these cool words in front of entire India. It is these beeps that help these programs in climbing the important TRP's. All these channels have time and again given the plain logic that if people (who respond through TRP's) like it then we show it and claim that the Indian viewers are coming out of age.


But I would like to ask that do we get any choice? All we can choose from is one beep producing program against the other. Or is the Gen-Y so habituated to swear that they don't care, indeed they feel it's cool to use swears in their normal lingo. Or does the Gen-Y find it's cool to use F-Word in public???


Do respond!!! I would like to know what you guys think about it.


IS IT REALLY COOL TO SWEAR???!!!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

IIT MBA League

There is an old saying, “Empty Mind is devils workshop.” And in my case this workshop works with at least 2-3 times the optimal efficiency rates. For past year and a half I had been in Kanpur, mostly sitting in my room thinking about various ideas. My computer is now over loaded with hundreds of half cooked business plans, marketing ideas, analysis of various issues that rocked our world. A few even spilled out of my computer and reached my blog. (This was again created, during the past year of my empty mindedness.)In this article I will be talking about an event, which was created by me and a few of my friends. It was called IML or IIT MBA League. The basic idea for this was inspired from the very famous IPL. But before I take you further with it, let me talk a bit about making of IML.
IML: How the idea was born
Let me take you people to January’09. We were cheerful 21 management students who went down to IIT Roorkee for Spornado, an inter IIT MBA sports competition. In this event, MBA students of 4 IIT’s (Delhi, Roorkee, Kanpur and Khadagpur) compete in various sports events for the overall cup. So we participated in all the competitions and to be very honest with you guys, we were virtually thrashed out in all the sports we played. I had never been a very active and passionate sportsman at any point of time, but still it was hurting me that we lost nearly all our games. As per my understanding of my classmates, the main reason for our whitewash was quiet simple and straight… “We never played”.
It is an open secret that IIT Kanpur boosts about its world class sporting infrastructure. But the thing that many people don’t know about is that IIT Kanpur also has one of the most developed and robust LAN infrastructure. Most of the students from our batch, were optimally utilizing the later of the two state-of-art facilities that our college has.
So I was thinking of something that can motivate people from our batch and push them out of their rooms and play. (I believe talent makes a player but practice produces winners.) So I zeroed upon the competitive event that can involve a lot of students. I along with a few batch mates of mine decided on the number of sports to be played, number of teams the batch should be divided into etc.
I had a lot of ideas up my sleeve and I used all the tricks in my bag to do the publicity of the event. I worked over time to create catchy teasers for the event, which were sent by people who had been traditionally the least active members of the class (Thus including them into the group). For many days every one was talking about IML, but could actually not figure out what it was. A friend of mine commented, “These days if I find you guys talking about some thing that no one else can understand then that is IML”. The first teaser was so random that people thought that it was some B-Club type literary activity that we are planning.
IML launch
IML was formally launched on 7th of February 2009, with a cake cutting ceremony. With just the launch of the event it became the talk of the town. We had a 100% attendance in the opening ceremony and it was an achievement considering the fact that even our professors can’t ever touch that 100% mark.
Team Distribution
For team distribution we had a bidding system. A few players were declared as owners, they had to bid for each of the remaining classmates with the virtual money they had. The excitement for the event was already Himalaya high. I remember people staying up till late in the night, a day before the bidding for the event. One team even used complex mathematical function to gauge the value of players. Each of the teams came full prepared with their prices, expectations and wish lists for the bidding process.
The Rise of IML
The event started with a bang. The first sport for the competition was Cricket. It had participation from the girls as well. Each game of the sport witnessed a full house. People didn’t only stay for the full length of the game; IML also became a regular topic of discussion over a cup of tea in the hostel canteen. Due to this event, some of the unknown and untapped players of our batch became over night stars.
The cracks appearing
The best thing of all the sports is that it creates a special bond between the team members and a sense of rivalry between the competing teams. Team spirit is one of the biggest gifts of all competitions. But strangely that was the biggest flaw in the concept of IML.
As usual a person can not be equally fond to all the other 50 people in the group, same happened here. The charged spirits and excitement due to a few close games created a few quarrels which even continued off the field (which should have not been the case). These petty quarrels acted as the epicentres or primary stress points on which bigger issues were born.
Closure of the event
The recurring issues and fights that started on the field at the heat of the moment escalated to such a high level that we had to unwillingly call the event off for this year. It had been a very ambitious event with 7 sports in it, but just one wrong assumption (on field emotions are left on field only) killed the whole event.

Rise of the ashes
IML was an event and a culture that was and is must for budding managers more than anyone else, as it teaches the nuances of team dynamics that no book can teach.
After months of soul searching, thinking and planning I promise that the new version of IML that will be starting soon will be meaner and tougher competition but will also have vents to release all the heat and friction to make it a sustainable and a popular attraction at IIT Kanpur.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Story of a Cycle....

Press Release by the company
I announce a successful acquisition of a new bi wheeler eco-friendly and cost efficient transportation system by SS Inc from PK Ltd. This investment will act as a milestone in our long term strategy. This investment will take us into new avenues of providing a better health as well as faster and economical transportation solutions. This deal will also help us in a significant cost saving in long term. And we look forward for the success of this deal.
What news papers report
After month long negotiations and inspections, today in a land mark deal SS Inc bought the latest high end bi wheeler eco-friendly and cost efficient transportation system from PK limited. As the CEO of SS Inc said, “This deal will also help us in a significant cost saving in long term.” The company expects to reduce its ever growing expense sheet. The acquisition is in line with the company’s long term strategy of providing its customers with cleaner and greener product that will be economical as well as much faster than the current system. Apart of it the new product will also provide a lot of job avenues to people in the supporting industries.
Analysts say:
1. I feel that the product will help in further enhancing the company’s market reach and share.
2. The greener system will help it in getting carbon credits which will further help the company.
3. Sensex experts will put “Buy” on the company’s shares for its strong fundamentals and for its increased margins and expected profits in long term.
How Left acts
There was a strong protest from the locals in the area, these people feel cheated as with the new technology getting implemented there will be a massive job cuts or revenue cuts which will be directly affecting the lives of these poor people. Local Union has announced a bandh with the support of left parties on coming Friday.
Now the Fact is:
SS is Shashank Saini/ PK Ltd is Prem Kumar Cycle Shop
I bought a second hand bicycle. And it will help me move around.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Corruption

Today corruption is virtually synonymous with all government agencies and bodies. We constantly crib about the level of corruption we face at all levels while facing government agents or officers. The idea of a corruption free India looks bright and beautiful to each one of us while we are discussing about the Indian governance system, sitting cosily in our living room. But can we Indians really live in that totally fare and just system?
I can not think of any person around me who has not offered that 100 bucks to the traffic constable to avoid getting a ticket, or giving that extra amount to get a confirmed berth in the train at the last moment. So is it just the government officials that are to be blamed? It has always been very convenient for us to put the entire blame of doing wrong on these Babus at various offices.
So why is it that we Indians who have historically been just and fare by nature; started this epidemic that till this date; about 60 years down, stand untreated and with no immediate cure. I feel that the corruption was the cause of the economic utopia that our constitution makers assumed India to be.
As the constitution of the nation and the government policies treat each and every individual as equal, this fact is hardly true in the real world. It is these corrupt practices that act as the external correcting agent to balance or bring the whole system into the stable equilibrium state, which can be sustained over the years.
Let us take an example, suppose you want to get your LPG connection or even passport, if you are a poor man who can’t afford to bribe, the process has a lot of complications and reiterations of form filling. But for a person who grease’s the system with a few gifts to the right people, the whole process streamlines to a smooth and efficient system, with his work being done virtually in a flash.
Now if we look at the most basic diagram of economics.

The root cause for the whole bribery dominated system is that the government is charging a very small amount of money. But there are people who can pay higher amount than the prevailing rates to get the things done faster or more conveniently. So the bribery nexus just taps into this group of people, charging them the amount that rich people are willing to pay.
Had the rule makers made different set of rules for different people, these things would had scaled down considerably. So as it is well known that the forces of demand and supply actually take care of a lot of things in the free market, so a lot of rule making and guidelines are indeed not actually helping the cause.
The “haves” and “have not’s” can never be equal, and finally a few departments are now appreciating this fact with the services like “Tatkal” in railways and passport office actually accept the fact the people who are willing to pay more should be given preference. I hope one day all the agencies do appreciate this fact and try working in tapping it to get more revenues for themselves instead helping Swiss Banks accumulate the wealth.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Board Exams... Whats the use???

Recently our HRD Minister came out with a maverick kind of an idea of scrapping the much hyped class tenth board exams. The logic he gives is also very sound. Board exams do create a lot of stress, strain and pressure that too not only on the students but on their family as well.

Indeed I guess no one will disagree on this fact that the board exams create a racket if nothing more. The first thing anyone says seeing a class tenth student relaxing or playing, “Boards hain is baar.... dhang se padhai kar lo.” (You have your board exams this year, study properly.) I myself bravely faced this dialogue at least a million times in that one year.

The school also puts a lot of pressure on the students with extra classes becoming more regular than the regular classes. I clearly remember that I wrote 6 full length exams that year before the final board exams, while in normal classes we wrote just the half yearly’s before the finals.

The year in which any one kid in the family is having board exams, the whole family observes and follows a strict schedule with substantially reduced outings, from frequent weekend getaways to only a flying visit (that to by just a few people from the family) for the urgent outstation work.

So what is it that makes class tenth board exams so important? They are just like the other final exams that each student has been appearing for in the past nine years of their academic career. There is only a minor alteration that in this case the exams are held in different buildings or schools, and are not corrected by your class teacher and finally the mark sheet that is issued after this exam acts as a date of birth proof for your all future uses. This is what board exams are to the students who take it.

But the major stake holders or the affected parties in these board exams surprisingly are neither the students who take the exam nor the various boards that organize or conduct these exams. The people or bodies that are most affected by the results are schools and coaching centers.

For schools and coaching institutes it is the most important single quantifiable KPI (Key Performance Indicator). For any given school, one board exam can produce a huge amount of data on which the performance can be tracked. Be it number of distinctions, score of the batch topper, average score of all the students, to number of compartments and number of students failed in the exams. The success of any school is governed by these factors more than any other. Same is the case with coaching institutes; their overall success is totally based on the kind of magic figures their students produce.

The level of hype amongst the common people is also planted by these organizations only, by publishing full page advertisements of the successful candidates. Earlier in 90’s when 70-75% score was considered as a good score, today even 90% is just an average score.

These schools and coaching institutes blow the whole issue out of proportion and create undue pressure on the kids. With the growth of India and opening up of more and more private schools and coaching centers, things are surely going out of hands. The stress was way too low till these private institutes came into the picture. An irreparable damage has been done to the education system of the country with the focus shifting from learning to scoring marks, with the amount of focus on marks, the form of these students continue even in higher studies, thus they turn out to be excellent scorers in all the exams and toppers in all international universities.

This is the reason why Indians had been constantly excelling in the service oriented jobs but still very few of us actually turn out to be the pioneers in the path breaking new fields. In the fields where there are no written rules or processes, we actually turn out to be the back benchers or just blind followers of the west.

So even when I feel the idea of scrapping the board exams will actually help the Indian education and growth in the long term, but I also feel that the flourishing education industry will never let it happen, as this will take a huge money making opportunity away from them.