Life... In General...

Hello readers!!

Just over a year since my last post!! And what an year it has been!! The 'Eurotrip' ended without any action (sadly!!) in late December '08. The recession was at its deepest rut. People were at their cribbing-best. IIMA scraped through with decent placements (comparitively). Yours truly got into the Tatas, with a decent profile (thats what I thought then!!). I was asked to join in early April, immediately after our convocation.

A battalion consisting of my relatives (abt 15 of them), from all around the country, came to Ahmedabad to witness my convocation at IIMA. (My intuition tell me that my to-be-Mother-In-Law came just to confirm that I indeed passed out of IIMA and was not just bluffing!!). It was quite a memorable trip and I felt a pang of sadness when I locked D1330 for the last time, to return the key at the Students' Affairs (quite a shady name, though!!) office.

And then I joined work. After a less-than-well-organised induction session lasting 2 days, I was shown the door (Hold your breath. This is not what you think it is!!) towards the GSM Marketing division! :) The 'Boss' was as good as you can get. I suddenly realised the profile given to me was something I could not even have come up in my wildest dreams (bcos obviously, the wildest dreams you get wouldn't be related to your work profile!! :P). Work was great and continues to be awesome. So my life should be settled now, I thought. But still the circle wasn't complete. I had to wait till June for that to happen. :)

On June 7th 2009, after a quick-fire ping-pong conversation between my parents, my to-be-in-laws and briefly, my brother, I finally got engaged to Deeptha Mohan, after being WIP for more than 7 years!! Phew!! Thank you, thank you! (for those who just wished me now!). I know, I know! (for those who know what I am getting into! :P). The marriage has been fixed on June 24th 2010 in Chennai. So things were going real neat, thanks to the Free Tata-to-Tata calling facility my employers provided me with!! :) There were a few trips I made to Chennai, for various 'reasons' (some obvious, some veiled) and life was going smooth.

But there were two HUGE pain-points in my life, with their smug grins all over their faces, mocking me everyday, making my life absolutely miserable.

First of the two. The infamous 'Mumbai Locals'. No, not the 15million-odd Mumbai residents, but the brown-yellow (and recently white-pink, yeah pink!!) trains criss-crossing the city with as much load that an Airbus A380 would go weak on the knees and suicide for not being able to match these 'snakes'. Thinking about it, yeah, even the 15-million-odd-and-increasing-every-second population is to blame for this sorry state of affairs.

Second. The Andheri autowallas. My uncle's house in Andheri East (where I am put up right now!) is a nice locality with lots of residential properties. There are no Taliban-backed-safehouses which would prevent the autowallas to come to this area. But still these khaki-clad autowallas drive away without even acknowledging my pleading request to go to Sher-e-Punjab.

The fact that these two VIPs (Very Important transPorts, VITs doesnt sound pseud!! :P) are integral in my daily 2-hour-long-one-way journey to office, makes it extremely painful. Guess I will have to make-do till June next year, when I am planning to 'demand' a better transportation!! :P (Dont go to the lawyer already, y'all know I'm kidding!!)

I guess it's quite unlikely I would make another post this year (unless something as drastic as Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize happens again!). So wish you all a wonderful holiday season in advance!! Happy Christmas and have an amazing New Year 2010!!

Tale of Two Cities

London and Paris. Two wonderful cities known for their glorious history. Separated by a 3-hour train journey through the English Channel, but still worlds apart. While London is typical of its English male-dominated culture which can be experienced throughout the city, Paris, on the other hand, is very feminine. Though the whole of England and France are also similar respectively, these two cities stand apart in showcasing their respective cultures. Everything that you see in these two cities, speaks volumes about the cultural influence they have had over the previous centuries.

The moment you set foot in London, the orderliness and clarity of things amazes you. There is minimal ambiguity in information transfer. You dont even have to go to a "May I Help You" desk to ask for instructions. Although we Indians are never used to doing that because almost all the "May I Help You" desks in India are vacant!!

Strangely enough, the moment I set foot in Paris, it was reeking of urine. It took more than an hour and a half to get out of the railway station, since the ticketing machines do not accept Euro notes, but only coins (which we did not have)!! Even otherwise, unless you know French, Paris is very hard to roam around. And the first couple of people we asked for directions refused to utter a single word, after getting to know that we dont speak French. Such arrogance about their language!! This does not mean that the English are not arrogant, but atleast we speak their language, which makes it much more easier!! :)

So the reason behind my updating my blog, after more than 7 months since the last post, and writing about London & Paris, is because, it so happens that I am in Paris right now. Not the Parry's in North Madras, but the French capital Paris. So other than identifying the cultural dissimilarities, there are a few other highlights too, behind this trip and this blog post.

1. This is my first blog post from outside India
2. Mani's unassailable lead in the 'prasaddhi' list has become shorter now. I am in range to beat him, given that he does not get out of Indiana for the next 2 years!!:)
3. I get to see all the Parisien monuments, not to mention the gorgeous 5-foot-somethings found all over the city!!;) Well, London is not that blessed with these monuments, though still watchable/****able (i meant 'starable', u ugly minds!!) :P

And for my readers (are there any??!!) I promise that I will post more often!! (I am not a politician. Believe me!!)

The Lonely Battle

Well, let me start by wishing a very very.... (to the power of 76 (any guesses why it's 76??!!Answer at the end of the post)) belated Happy New Year 2008 to all my readers. And yeah, I am not talking about some obscure alien, hiding in Mars, still reading my blog. There are still some homo sapiens residing in this very planet who do check regularly if I have updated this blog. I have managed to do it today, bravely winning the bloody war against all those spiders that started spinning webs around this very piece of future-historic literature.

On a more serious note (not that the war was any less serious), life has become a lot predictable at IIMA than the first term or two. One of the most important takeaways for me, from this place, will be that - "Life does not become a candy store once you enter IIMA. It can only get worser". This theory might not apply to some individuals who satisfy certain pre-requisite criteria. It becomes too complicated if they are brought into the equation. So let me restrain from giving too much gyaan about that.

Getting back to the predictability thingy, throughout schooling and the undergrad days, the only worry you have about acads is - "How many hours before the board/semester exam do I need to open my books??". The closest similarity you can find here is equivalent to comparing a journey in a bullock-cart to one in a F-16. Not only that, however hard I tried, I could only barely manage to escape from utter embarrassment, while the others kept scoring Empire-State-high marks. And now, after 2 full terms and one half term, the grades dont keep slapping me hard, mouthing the words "Do better next time, be*****od!!", but just give a pitiful tap on the shoulder with the words "Kat lo, ch****ye!!".

And amidst all this, due to the lack of any 'physical activity' and the loads and loads of treats (group level, dorm level, section level etc) where we stuff ourselves as much as we can with the sole aim of increasing the bill, my 'mid-section' had gained some extra pounds. Thankfully, I was not alone (atleast in this!!). Thus formed the duo partnership between Vamshi & Me (Yeah, it was restricted to the gym, the mess & the class. Nothing physical personally. Believe me!!). We hit the gym with regular irregularity, the main culprit being the increased assignments this term.

Then came the Tennis mania. Sirpy plays Tennis quite well. And I, having gone for Tennis coaching for a month in May 2007, was all game for it. The first set, everyday, is always a Andy Roddick Vs (some obscure tennis player from Zambia). And as you would have guessed, I was the latter. For a change, Sirpy, the unofficial Exchange Student from Zambia (as he is 'fondly' called here), ditched his nationality. The second set was more of a (some guy ranked 275th by ATP) Vs (some guy ranked 250th by ATP). And now, I became the better player. The main reason for my victory, though, is not my improved game. Sirpy gets all tired and out halfway into the second set, being unable to run with his pot-belly, though his reduced stamina is also attributable to his smoking habits (I hope the targeted audience get to read this :P).

And to top it all, Dhokla became the (un)enviable Co-ordinator of MAD Club (Movie-A-Day Club). All the new and requested movies were being downloaded at totally high-speeds in MBps. Well, No. They were downloaded at a pathetic speed. But still we got a requested movie in DivX format, in about 2 days, which is a great turnaround time!!! There was never enough time to watch all those movies. Damn.

With such tempting things to pass time, who would devote their entire time studying and keeping on studying??? My thoughts exactly, 3 weeks ago. But, as always, 'she' was here once again to open my eyes. Yeah, here. In Ahmedabad. She gave one more of her super-inspiring lectures (Hey, there is at last some lecture where I dint doze off!! Or did I??! ;)). But this one was really different. No, I dint just mean the place it was delivered. I meant the impact, you moron. It has spurred me to act very differently from what I was earlier. Again, dont let your imaginary horses break free. I was talking about my preparation level for classes, on a daily basis.

But still the gymming, tennis matches and the occasional movie keeps happening. I am trying to manage time effectively. How effective it was, will reflect in this term's grades, which I hope would definitely be a lot more than the first two. So here I am, waging this lonely battle against the academic evils. I dont know if the gymming, tennis and other pastimes are worthy Generals in this battle or just diversions that lead to a dead end. Keep your fingers crossed, my readers, for you will soon get to know the outcome!!! (Dont keep your fingers crossed for too long. It might become painful!! :P)

(The reason for (very) to the power of 76, in the first line is because it's now 76 days since New Year '08 :D)

The "Bombay" Phenomenon

One of the cities that I always loved, right from my childhood, was Bombay. My visits to Bombay were usually during the summer hols or Diwali, when our whole family (consisting of abt 11 adults and 7 children) got together and had loads n loads of fun. The fun we had there was usually supplemented by the train journey. The train journey was a whole experience in itself. And jus FYI, for the journey from Madras to Bombay, I preferred the Chennai Express over the Dadar Express, for no reason whatsoever :|

The around-24-hour-long train journey contained a lot of memorable moments, with Mani & me fighting it out desperately to establish our superiority by obtaining "prasiddhi". A small detour. Mani & me had this quite funny game. Whenever the train stops at some station, the person who sets foot first in that station has obtained the "prasiddhi" of being the first there. And this continues till the train reaches Kalyan or Dadar, as the case may be. Whenever the train approaches a station, we both stand near the door, waiting to jump down and score a point. And apart from this, we also had the ubiquitous 'train game' i.e., playing cards [:)]

It was not until the final year of college did I first realise that I really loved the city. I was there for a couple of months for my engineering project. We (Gobi, Antony & Me) had a really great time, staying at Shri Kutir in Dombivli. Though I had been to Bombay many many times as a kid, I saw the city in a totally new perspective now. Oh yeah!! The city was brimming with females of my age!! [;)] The daily trek (read ordeal) i.e., the journey by the much-hyped, over-crowded "Locals" of Bombay was an absolute adventure. You had to be on 'Red Alert' all the time to save your purse, cellphone or any other belonging from being pinched.

And one incident that stands out during those two months was the 'date'. Incidentally, I got the date all because of Deeps!! I bet she still regrets why she ever did that!![;)] Anyways, things moved on and the 'date' finally got married (of course, to someone else :P), much to the relief of Deeps!![:)]

My 3-day trip to Mumbai last weekend made me come back to the city after a hiatus of 2 years. This time I stayed @ Andheri. Bombay was even more splendid, keeping me awe-struck in its grandeur. Fly-overs crisscrossed throughout the city and newer, taller buildings were being built everywhere. After all, you cant keep Bombay quiet when India is growing rapidly!! But sticking out like a sore thumb, was the city's road traffic. I had always travelled by the suburban trains and hadnt travelled extensively by road within Bombay. This time, most of my travel was by road, which exposed the congested traffic!!

The number of malls and theatre complexes seem to have increased at a rate faster than the Indian population!! Every road has a shopping mall with its attached theatre complex, with abt 4 screens, showing about 6 movies!! I watched 2 movies in the 3 days I was there. For the outdoorsy types, which includes me, Bombay has all the ingredients to keep you busy forever!!! And one of the main criterion, a beach, is also present (in addition to the abundant availability of the other two criteria - booze & babes!!)

With the location of my summer internship still not decided between Bombay & Singapore, I would prefer Singapore, though I would not be having any regrets if I am posted in Bombay!! So get ready Bombay, to welcome me with open arms!!!

P.S: As you would have noticed throughout this post, I prefer to call the city by its old name "Bombay" than "Mumbai", again, for no reason whatsoever!![:)]

Plight of a "Tam" guy in WIMWI

As you all know, WIMWI is the toughest B-school to get into, in Asia-Pacific (and as some might argue, even all over the world). Such a brand image attracts participants from every corner of India and Tamil Nadu is no exception. With a lot of coaching centres setting up shop in every nook and corner of Chennai, and the other Tier-II cities, the average CAT aspirant has an increased chance of making it to the hallowed portals of IIM-A (though the contribution from the coaching centre's part is absolutely negligible, in my opinion).

Students slog it out, day and night and clear CAT. And those who manage to keep their heads up, make it thru the GD & PI. And when the "Tam" (Tam - Tamil or Tamilian, depending on the context) guy does make it to IIM-Acads, he is not alone. Last year, about 40 ppl made it here. This time the figure is around 35. So, with about 15% of the total population, Tams are the largest ethnic community in WIMWI. And there is a separate informal 'association' (if I may call it that), named "WTF". No. Its not "What the f**k?". It stands for "WIMWI Tamil Fraternity". :)

Basically, there are two kinds of Tams. True Tams and Fraud Tams. Fraud Tams are the ones, who have never lived in TN, but speak Tam and are Tams by birth. And there is one more classification of Tams, based on their fluency in Hindi. Many of them have no clue (except the famous Hindi movie names), while the others are quite proficient in conversing in Hindi. But nothing to worry. The former group would not have too much of a trouble communicating with people, since everyone speaks English, and that you are not required to know much of Hindi, to survive outside the campus, since you rarely go out alone (if at all, you get the time!!).

Almost all the Gults (i.e, the Gultis) are quite fluent in Hindi. So when people converse within the campus, they almost always speak only in Hindi (except of course, when you need to put a CP in the class!!). So the Tam guy, with no clue about Hindi, would be reduced to a silent listener, gaping open-mouthed, trying to comprehend what is being communicated. And most of the Mallus also go through the same ordeal as these Tams. Only a handful of Mallus know Hindi here. Believe me, I have seen some people, who just act as if they understand whats going on, only to be humiliated by me, when I ask them to repeat what was just said!!! ;)

I was saved from all this, since I can understand Hindi quite well and somehow I can put forward my point to the other party. People say I have become quite proficient in Hindi now, though I still prefer to converse in English. I have started experimenting with Hindi lately, and hope to get better and better!!! Agar tujko ye samajh mein nahin aa raha hai, tho, tu zaroor Tam hi hai!!

And yeah, I have updated my Hindi vocabulary with all the expletives!!! ;)

1st Term @ IIM-A

I apologise to all my faithful readers for keeping this blog very silent all these days, err...months!! Life @ IIMA has been going at an unimaginable speed that I hardly have time even for a wink. This, from a person who used to sleep a minimum of 12 hours during college days!! Well, gone are those days when you have something called 'free time'. I doubt if I will get to see it before my retirement.

But all said and done, IIMA is really THE place!! It rocks big-time!! The academic rigour might try wearing you down with a minimum of 100 pages of cases and readings everyday. But there is a wholly different 'other-side' of IIMA, which takes you on a once-in-a-lifetime fun ride.

D1330 - My address @ WIMWI. UnDaA - My Identity. ClaC - My Section

We were given the "best-ever opening ceremony" that lasted a whole week!! Due to insti-loyalty, I cant reveal much about it to my readers. My Dorm Tuchchas gave us Pizza treats and there was a rampty party (read disco) arranged for us. We learnt our Dorm Tempo Shouts (Tempo shouts - Slogans praising our group [dorm,class etc] and making derogatory remarks about the other groups). Shortly, the dorm-naming ceremony was held and yours truly got rechristened as 'Undaa'!! The naming process and meaning will again lie a secret due to insti-loyalty. Dont get mad at me!! IIMA has lots and lots of such cultures, which is very unique and specific, that the legacy is not to be revealed!!

The four sections (ArbitRaj,Beagles,Clac & Dhinchak) in PGP-I fought hard for the first sports event - the Inter-Section Cricket Tournament. B (beat A) and C (beat D) met in the Finals. ClaC romped home to a comfortable victory (Undaa took 2 & 3 wickets in the 2 matches).

All this amidst a tough academic course, which required a person to stay awake till atleast 4am. Though it looks as if people would be having the toughest time of their lives, I really had a nice time with this kind of rigor. The half-prepared OM cases, looking for some kind of insight into the HR cases, the clueless MANAC, the sleepy Economics classes, high-energy QM classes etc etc. Every bit of it was fun, in a way!! After all, it all depends on our perspective. There is no point cribbing about having to read so much, when you have no other choice. I would rather not look at it as rigorous, but just that the learning curve is a little steep. Life becomes much more easier if you have this mindset.

The Mid-Term examinations came in no time. I fared quite well in some subjects and quite badly in some others. But more than the mid-terms, everyone was looking forward to the inter-section cultural war called "TNite". It starts from the day after mid-terms and continues for 4 continuous nights (and days). TNite is one of the most important phases in the life of a fachcha. He/She gets to know every other person in the class during this time. The whole section bonds together like a gel and continues that way thereafter.

The name ClaC was chosen for our class just before TNite. And as we hoped, TNite was WON by ClaC!! Undaa danced for 'Andangakka Kondakaari' from Anniyan (in a group of 6), sang 'Anjaane' by Strings and 'Du Hast' by Rammstein. The TNite Photos can be viewed by clicking here.

The academic rigour was even more stressful during post-midterm. MANAC went over the head. OM was mostly arbit. I started accumulating backlogs in Economics. Life seemed really tough. But still, I was able to keep my head above the water. End-terms approached much faster. The exams loomed large in front of me, while the prospect of going back home and seeing Deepu was topmost in my mind. The exams were better than midterms (I hope!!). The exams just raced past me, 2 in a day!! And the much-needed, much-deserved holiday of 5 days raced past even faster!!

I am back @ IIM-A, setting foot into 2nd term now. The acads is a given now. No one seems to worry about the rigor anymore. But there is something else thats looming large in front of me now. The Summer Placements. I hope I can get into a good-enough company for my summers. Wish me luck, readers!!

I will definitely try writing more often in future!! I promise!! :)

Off to Ahmedabad!!

The flight to Ahmedabad departs tomorrow at 09:35 Hrs from Chennai. All my bags are packed. All the items in the checklist have been ticked. The tough but exhilarating life ahead @ WIMWI beckons me. (For the uninitiated, WIMWI is an acronym for Well-known Institute of Management in Western India.)

After an endless wait, the time has finally arrived for me to say goodbye to Chennai (at least for the foreseeable future), a city I really love. Ahmedabad doesn't seem to be the ideal alternative. But given that I am going to IIM-Ahmedabad, I can salvage some pride. I know that my blog posts have been trickled down to a few spurious posts, occasionally. And I also do not know, if I can make it better in the near future. But still I will try, at best, to keep my online existence as much as I can.

One thing you would notice right away, if you open my bags, is that I am carrying a lot of sports goods (my baseball & glove, Flight control Joystick, TT bat, Tennis raquet) with a rather far-fetched dream of using them regularly. The only difference will be that instead of me using them, it will be the tuchchas who will utilize it to the maximum. (again for the uninitiated, Tuchchas - PGP 2nd yr students & Fachchas - PGP 1st yr students).

The sign ahead of me shouts "Tough Life Ahead". I neither ignore it, nor brood over it. Let me do my best. It all depends on how you wish to lead your life. I guess I am getting too philosophical. It must be the sleepiness that has crept over me.

My next post will be from Ahmedabad, my city for the next 2 yrs. Will share more and more of my experiences. See ya all there!!! Bye!!!

P.S: I was really happy to know that there IS someone who is really looking forward to new posts in my blog. Felt truly elated. Dint know ppl were actually waiting to read this crap. Anyway, do keep waiting for more posts!!! (See, i dint say wen i wud post it) ;-)

I am still alive!!!

First of all, I owe an apology to all my readers for keeping this blog in abeyance and not posting anything for the past 1 month. But I guess the reason is good enough to talk you out of throwing ur choicest epithets at me!! Let me elucidate the happenings in order.

Firstly, once the IIM results were out, I initiated my resignation from Wipro. And my image of Wipro has never been the same again. Ever since I joined Wipro in August '05, I regarded the company very highly for all its quality processes, the freedom it gave the employees, good recognition of talent with a linked compensation etc etc. But since the day I came to know for sure that I will be leaving this place, all I see are its shortcomings.

And then the news came around the 5th of May. While I was trying to book flight tickets to Ahmedabad for Appa, Amma, Myself and 'She', she was booked on another flight to Chicago, due to depart in another 20 days. We both felt the ill-luck. While we planned that she would send me off to Ahd, it so happened that I needed to send her off to the US first. We fought against time to spend time with each other, relishing every moment spent together. We left no road in Chennai, unvisited.

Her shopping list was prepared and the items started accumulating as we delved deep in the shopping spree. No shopping mall was left alone, and no sales assistant was spared. We ransacked all the outlets to buy her wonderful formal dresses and cool casual tshirts.

And between all this, I still had to go to office. I need to do that till June 8th, after which I will be unemployed for the next 2 years (assuming that I will land up in a job, once I complete my course @ IIMA).

Also, I gave treats to my family members and friends, separately. Both the occasions were well-attended and were fun-filled. There was also a Bhajan at 'her' house, on my behalf, since their prayers that I get admission in IIMA came true.

And finally, she was all set to leave to the US last Saturday, after I spent 2 days packing all her belongings. The separation, though for 3 months at the least, proves to be very disturbing. If you have managed to read thus far, wading through all the crap this post contains, you would have found a stark contrast in the writing style and attitude, which was a trademark in the previous posts.

Though they say, separation makes the heart yearn for more, it also makes one feel bitterly lonely. To change the topic, a meet for all IIMA fachchas and tuchchas from Chennai has been planned on June 8th in Besant Nagar. (For the uninitiated, fachchas = 1st year students & tuchchas = 2nd year students, as per IIM-A lingo). Hoping to meet some of my fellow batchmates there.

And mark my words, my next post will be out very soon... :)

Time for sheer exhilaration!!

There are times in our lives which, we feel, should remain frozen, etched in our hearts and minds forever. Today was one such very special day, causing untold happiness and satisfaction to myself and everyone else around me.

The day started when I woke up from my middle-berth no 5, coach S11, KanyaKumari Express at 0600 Hrs, with my bladder parting at the seams, trying to break free. I obliged immediately to take the call from nature and could not put myself back to sleep. I was coming back from Tirunelveli, after attending a friend's marriage. (I am indebted to write a separate post on the entire trip, with the kind of fun we had for 2 days. But since a lot more happened today, I will save that for another day.)

I got a phone call at 0610 Hrs informing me that the IIM results will be annuonced by today morning, after 1000 Hrs. Myself and 'she' got down at Chennai Egmore and went straight to Anna Nagar. After dropping her there and gulping down a nice filter-coffee-OR-Bru, went home. I waited impatiently for the clock to strike 1000 Hrs, but started hitting the IIM sites well before that. Cometh the hour, but cometh not the results. :-(

I called up IIM-A, only to find that the HRD Ministry had not yet sent an official communication to the IIMs to release the admission list. I was infuriated. The HRD Ministry had already done enough to keep the students' fate in abeyance. And after announcing to the press that the results can be published, they have the audacity to remain incommunicative. I was frustrated with the way these people played ping-pong with the students' lives.

And at around 1400 Hrs, 'she' informed me that the HRD Ministry had just sent the fax to all six IIMs, allowing them to release the list of selected candidates. She called them 5 times, to get this information. But I was already off to her place and was on the way. She called me up again at 1405 Hrs to inform that IIM-C had decided against offering me admission. I felt a little sick, given that the IIM-C GD&PI were the best ones I had. I felt scared about my fate with IIM-A. Not that the GD&PI were bad, but just that they were not as cool as IIM-C.

I returned back home, a little jittery. I confirmed my IIM-C reject, and waited for the others to publish their results. The wait was very annoying, and adding fuel to the fire was the 'IIMC Results Out' thread in pagalguy.com, where every selected candidate was broadcasting with messages like 'I got thru','I am IN', etc etc with funny smileys. I did not know when I fell asleep. 'She' called me up at around 1500 Hrs and informed me that I got into IIM-I. I was a little relieved, because of the fact that I can proudly submit my resignation letter at my workplace, avoiding the no-IIM-admission-continue-work situation. (Note: 'She' had been faithfully checking all the 5 IIM websites for the results, since morning.)

By around 1530 Hrs, the IIM-L result was OUT and I was IN. I was a little more relieved, but not jubilant at all. I had hoped to make it to A or C. Meanwhile, as expected, IIM-K rejected me from even getting near their campus, after my dismal performance in the interview. That left only IIM-A and IIM-B (which I was not concerned about) to publish their results. I was frustrated. The IIM-A website was behaving oddly, going down often and coming back with no updates. I was in a foul mood. So I dozed off again.

I was woken up by her call, and I cut it religiously, opting to call her back, as is the custom. But she was adamant. I kept cutting her call, trying to call her back, but in vain. The landline sprang to life suddenly, making me jump in my chair. I mumbled a feeble 'Hullo' into the receiver. It was her father, from his office, in a high-pitched, excited voice. "Congratulations!!!!" "Thank you!!(thinking it was for the L&I admit)" "You getting into IIM-A was really an expected one" "What???IIM-A result is OUT??And I am IN???(suddenly becoming alert)" "Yes!!Dint you know??(what kind of a person is he?will my daughter be happy with him?)" "No!!I dint know!!Oh wow!!I am sssoooo happy!!" etc etc. And then I called her up, she shared the great news with me. We both were flying (or atleast feeling like it!!).

My happiness knew no bounds!! I felt the feeling of the previous sentence, in its whole purest form. I was over-joyed and other-words-which-I-am-not-able-to-find-in-my-vocabulary. The journey has been confirmed. This itself had taken loads of efforts and hard work put in by her to make me come this far. I wonder how the journey will be. I wouldn't have to wait for more than 2 months to get an answer.

I called up my friends and relatives to share this moment of happiness and for those whom I missed, I do it through this blog. I have made my parents, my brother, her parents and my friends feel very proud. And as my Mom rightly put it, " 'She' was the sole reason for this achievement of mine. What I am today, is mainly because of her". I cannot imagine what I would have done without her. Thank you sweetie!!

I am eagerly looking forward to my 2-year sojourn at IIM-A, however hard the curriculum tries to hit me!! I will keep my readers updated on the joining procedures as and when I encounter them. And for the time being, I am looking forward to a peaceful slumber, and waking up to find that my admission into IIM-A is, indeed, true.

Bizarre display of wit!!

Imagine you are all alone in your office in the eleventh floor of a 20-storey building. Your brand new Tag Heuer reads 01:45 AM. The office management personnel are very particular about electricity wastage. All lights are switched off except the one directly above your balding head, radiating the room with a faint brightness due to the reflection of the light off your head. You have not stayed so late in office ever before. After being here a full 8 years, the job stress has started taking its toll on you.

When you joined the firm, all pastures were green and nothing could have been better. A new job always has its store of advantages, outnumbering the disadvantages. The people at the new firm would never come to know how incapable you have been in the previous employer's firm and other information capable of keeping you unemployed for the rest of your life. But here you are, boasting a highly responsible position, earning enough to spend lavishly and still have money left to stuff all your orifices with gold. You have been happy all the time, except one nagging thought that has accompanied you all these 8 years.

And tonight will be Judgement Day. You are resolved to unravel the mystery tonight. At 6 PM, when the last few colleagues started to leave, they shot furtive glances back and forth, unable to find the reason for your unusual presence in the office. You have not told them yet. That can wait. This needs to be announced to those lesser mortals only by someone like you.

When the sun was retiring for the day, you started seeing the first signs. And as darkness was creeping in, it was happening!!! At this time of the night, it's normal. Everyone knows that. You decide to wait. You wait for the dust to settle down. As your Tag Heuer shows 10:00 PM, you know it is happening big time!! But still you decide to wait. It's not time yet.

Now its almost 02:00 AM. You have been witnessing it all. And then suddenly without any precaution, it hit you!!! YOU KNEW IT!!! You had the answer to why the adjacent 18-storey Citibank building never had any of its lights switched off, why their workforce was interchanged every 8 hours, why they had no dormitories for employees who stayed late and a host of other 'why's. The surge of relief you felt was fathomable, given that you have been pondering this for over 8 years.

Your heart beats faster. You are pleasantly surprised by your unusual wit in deciphering this. You had to write this down, in case your memory fails unpropitiously. You take the felt-tip pen and scribble down in the notepad.

" The Citi never sleeps."