Demons on Tar

"Road fear and Exam fear are the two fears I've never had and will never have" - so said a 16 year old Shilpa who was studious and raced town buses on her BSA Ladybird! 

I have strongly stood by my statement till date, well, literally till date!

This very evening, a motorbike screeching past, too close to the right of my vehicle and a not-so-pleasant experience of being sandwiched between a carefree push-cart vendor and a car whizzing along, left me with something like an electric shock in my heart.  Is it sane to call yourself fearless of a blind demon slashing away in all possible directions? 

Possibly, the speeding car that rammed my vehicle's front panel and left my circulation system short of a few hundred millilitres of blood (or whatever quantity is sufficient to soak a sandal and drip over), has made me more conscious and cautious on the road. 

My two-week bus travel post the accident made something of an early bird out of me and on resuming my two-wheeler ride to college, I found that it was actually possible for me to start earlier than (the usual) 8.30 a.m. to reach the 10 km-away college before 8.50 a.m.! Travelling in a relaxed mood, I have been able to observe my fellow road-commuters. A surmise that applies to a majority of them is this- An Absolute lack of a sense of coexistence! Eight out of ten people seem to possess a book of traffic rules that reads:

• Your own job is the most important! Get to it as quickly as possible; never bother about anything else.  
• You may start as late as you please; but ensure that you always reach your destination on time!
• You don't have to slow down at cuts or U-turns; the  moron driving straight ahead with no clue as to your sudden arrival in front of him shall pay for his ignorance.
• Jump the red signals; the recently installed cameras near traffic lights are actually for screening people for bike-stunt ads.
• The noble pedestrian has all rights to cross the road with no regard to the vehicles coming ahead; the road, after all, was built using his tax money!
• "Keep Speeding" is the mantra; "Keep Left" is outdated.
• Horns that sound like a pack of wolves' howling are the in-things.
• You may remove the silencer of your motorbikes, to draw attention to your sleek assembled bikes and your cool riding stunts.
• Helmets are for sissies who prefer safety (haha! what danger can ever befall a hero?!) and don't mind hair loss!! 
• You may even start your bike without a key (well, some new technology will crop up) but never ever start it without both your ears plugged to your I-Pod or Cellphone with its media-player belting out your favourite songs!  

There are definitely more of these and might be observed by yours truly in the days to come.

I admit that I used to be a very fast driver pre-feb 18,2011. But now my eyes are wide open to the road around me. I'd always believed that if I ever met with an accident on the road, it would be by my mistake. Alas! I was shown that there was atleast one guy who was a more careless driver than me. 

Does everyone need to pass through such an ordeal before he/she realizes what I have realized?!

Fear, may be uncalled for; Awareness, most definitely, is needed!

The Sine Curve called Life

Life is such an amazing thing! It has put me through a vast gamut of emotions in the past one week.

The week last started with a visit to the lab where we do our project, with the least of hopes, for we had been going in circles, trying to resolve a recurring and seemingly incorrigible error. We had no hopes of wrapping up the project and were sad that we may have to disappoint the most wonderful project guide one may get. But wonder of wonders! A slight change to enhance the compatibility between certain sampling rates and there we were with our almost accurately working code. We later learnt that a 100% accuracy can never be obtained in practice! :D 

Then came the trip to Delhi. I was a little tensed and the usual thrill of visiting a city for the first time was somewhat missing. The vast Delhi University campus left me in total awe! The Group Discussion and Extempore (where I was lucky to speak on Hogwarts!!) processes went decently well. The Interview's gruelling last part left me apprehensive and I returned, with no big hopes. 

On return, a news of a certain unjust occurrence reached my ears. Though I knew the right way to handle it, I was also aware that I was not mature enough to accept injustice with nonchalance. The declaration of the final admit list of a B school (whose written test I had failed to clear by a whisker) added to my woes and I felt that I was at the very rock bottom, then. No words of consolation or advices of "ignore-it-it-doesn't-matter" could penetrate my thick skull. 

The next day dawned and I was sure that the soon-to-be-declared results of my Delhi trip would be negative. After all, I had run out of luck long back, in my opinion. But I was ready to face anything. Talking to a respectable person who gave me neither consolation nor advice but just hard facts from her life, made me bold enough. 

The dreaded results came in due time. Opening the pdf, I found the names of some famous Puys and felt happy for them. Suddenly, just beneath the name of one of the most respected people in Pagalguy, I found my name and roll number!! I couldn't believe it. I reopened and refreshed the pdf some ten times and took out my admit card to verify my roll no.

I am getting to do an MBA this year!!!  

Well, the sine curve of life has started moving upwards for me. I am well aware of the fact that it will start falling again, sooner or later, but I am prepared for it :)          

The Case of The Missing Blogger

'The Social Network' won Three Oscars today. But its real victory has been on a much larger scale, over this very Blogosphere. 

I joined Facebook around the end of May 2010, basically to get in touch with my old schoolmates and relatives who live far away. But it turned out to be nothing but a pointless chat platform, with most of the people commenting on your statuses and photos being the ones you actually interact with daily! 

The popularity of these social networking sites is mainly attributed to the human mindset. We tend to get bored, looking at long pages of text which will require more time than what our average attention span lasts for. A mere :) or :( on your wall will attract a good number of likes and appropriate comments (albeit in inappropriate cool or rather kewl lingo). 

Sharing photos of everything from your latest lunch with friends in a nearby hotel to a random bee on a flower in your garden, eagerly pressing the F5 button for comments and likes and visiting friends' profiles for updates- can easily be a very popular pastime today. 

Facebook also has other apps. Farmville and Mafia Wars provide gaming attractions while you can create/like any number of pages, describing anything from a popular personality to an institution at the corner of your street. 

Sharing videos, writing notes (by far, the closest to blogs) and getting to send your friends virtual gifts on their birthdays and anniversaries.. Mark Zuckerberg has created (even if not conceptualized) a revolution of sorts in the human interest domain.

Each creation has an equal and opposite destruction. The victim of the latter is the free flow of thought that leads to enjoyable prose in blogs. My blog has been a victim, yes. And I have been distracted and diverted by fb. 

Still, thanking the rusted iron gates of my mind for not being permeable to Twitter usage and subscription to further social networking sites, I shall end on a hopeful note that I shall be back on Blogger sooner rather than later ;)  

A Root Canal operation needed..

India is not new to scams. Power and money have an anti-gravitational tendency- they get to people's heads easily. But the recent spate of exposed corruptions is nothing short of an avalanche of stinking reality, breaking through this bubble of democratic freedom that we live in.

While the general feeling that prevails these days is frustration at all these, I'd rather feel happy that issues previously in the dark have come to the fore now. The more the scams unearthed, the better.Fear has been instilled in corrupt minds.
You can be dethroned in a jiffy even if you head Asia's largest integrated aluminium production firm. Black money in your pocket will reach out to stain your white collars, even if you had the highest judicial contacts or if you felt the landscape in Switzerland would beautifully camouflage it. Flout rules and just norms, favour your cronies in handing out spectrum or contracts for games or apartments (which are non-Eco-friendly by the way), and your next stop would be at the headquarters of the CBI (which is learning to stop being a ruling-party's-investigator). If you were a hypocrite sitting at the vigilance headquarters, you shall soon be exposed. You will be fined five years from now, if you currently manipulate stocks during IPOs. But if you are an Italian gun-deal middleman with compatriots who ghost-rule the country, you are safe at least for the time being.   
The backbone that supports the whole of the previous paragraph is the fourth estate, the common man's informer, the supposed-to-be-honest Press. But our Great Indian Democracy has proved its capability of managing to corrupt even this area, resulting in the "Paid News scandal" which was ironically aired by none other than the Press. Freedom is always prone to be misused. A journalist's job is to take the truth- to the people- as it is. To this extent, he has the freedom of speech and expression. Learning about the misuse of these, by those pursuing the only profession I have passionately adored, is painful.
However, we, as a nation, seem to have woken up to address the root cause of all troubles- the  now-so-familiar word "Corruption", in every domain. But how do we tackle this issue? We cannot be corruption-free tomorrow or the day-after. It is a deep-rooted evil. Let us start from the grassroots level. Mere Moral Science lessons don't help a bit. A sense of pride in being honest, a true feeling of integrity in upholding one's ethics and values sans yielding under any circumstance, the joy that results from giving one's best to one's job- all these will need to be instilled strongly.
Okay, I do sound like an idealist. But this is just the beginning of what is required to overcome the problems faced today. If these are unrealistic, then the calls to clean up the blotched democracy are, sadly, in vain.

Payanam FDFS

A movie on the first day of its release, after a long time! By pure coincidence,we had to do quite a lot of payanam/ travel to reach a theatre where the reels would be available for the morning show. But the movie was worth it.

Yes, there were flaws in the screenplay. Like the close-up shot of a dead man where his breathing is visible. The cast of T-shirt donning youngsters as terrorists is seen to be in tandem with the Mumbai attacks. But the guys need a good course in acting. They don't need to scream hysterically and slap random people to induce terror. Which sensible parent will leave a four-year-old kid with heart ailment on the aisle seat in a hijacked plane? 

But there were a few good issues highlighted in the movie.  For instance, the indecisive nature of the Indian Bureaucracy and the consequences of Irresponsible Journalism. The religious integration endorsed the Priest is good, but his character later on becomes melodramatic. Maybe in a normal environment we would not enjoy it so much but the Indian commandos' instant human ladder formation at a nail-biting moment during the climax makes us Proud! But at the same time, the hero's predicted-by-all-in-the-audience escape from the bomb is the pictorial description of the word "cliche". 

The movie gets a bit thrilling in the second half after the drag of "Okay. What Next?" feel that comes over one in the first half.  

Overall, a definitely better way to spend the morning session, instead of lazing around, shifting between the Department's labs. And I did learn a few things. Like the consequences of  accidentally getting into an adjacent screen's hall, sitting and starting to watch a different movie after the Intermission! :-D       

The sacred word- "I"

The one-month-old year has provided me with quite a versatile set of days. A good mix of happiness, anger, dejection and silly enjoyment. 

While JMET and FMS made me happy in the first week of January, the Feline Queen was let out of the bag in another week's time and it has generated a wide range of reactions from me. 

Anyway, I am looking forward to my D-days- two in Feb and three in March. It does look like every other experience shall culminate as a training for the Big day on March 31. 

These days, as I run around with SoPs, CVs, Reference Letters and Bonafide Certificates, I realize that there is just one main and ultimate subject I need to be thorough with... "I, Me, Myself"

Surprising as it sounds, this happens to be one of the toughest parts for a considerable section of the aspirants. There is no Wikipedia or Google to help you out in this aspect. Well, to most of us- the spoilt brats of today's techie world- answers have been provided by the Internet for far too long that introspection has become just another word in the dictionary, used when appropriate in GDs and Essays but never practised. I have seen some posts in PagalGuy asking for "good answers to Why MBA"! 

Is this not a matter of our own choice? It is possible that 100% clarity may not exist in most of our minds. But those gaping holes need to be plugged into. I am enjoying the process, despite the occasional off-mood moments caused due to meaningless apprehensions. Only these moments cause exhilaration when I find answers to those very doubts from within my own self. 

Another important aspect in life, I have come to realise, is Passion. The Great Indian Mould, which churns out Engineers and Doctors in plentitude, erodes the once-cherished dreams of many an adolescent heart. One such example I know of is a girl who is sitting in front of this computer right now. But she is on the road to self-discovery and is very excited about it. 

With a lot more to be found from deep within herself and also from Wikipedia , Ayn Rand and certain Eco-Fin enlightened souls like Roshni, she signs off from Blogosphere for the time being. :) 

 

Yet again.. Another year in review!

This is the one post that I have been consistent in writing, since the inception of this blog. I remember completing my review of 2009 in a sort of last minute haste. This year I have the luxury of a copious amount of time in hand to collect my thoughts and put them across :) 

Ah 2010.. "Eventful" would be too inadequate to describe this year! A vast gamut of personal experiences- pleasant and otherwise, combined with a world waking up to a whole lot of important issues (none of which this indolent girl has posted about :-/ ) have made this year more important than a mere conclusion to the first decade of a new millenium. 

On the Personal Front...

I have definitely grown up substantially! And No, GlaxoSmithKline shall not take credit for this. The growing up process that they claim their drink enhances, has not occurred! Relationships- their making and breaking- have helped me realize myself. Realization of what core values I respect and expect in people I mingle with, has made me take pride in the ethics I have imbibed implicitly. The second half of this year saw me learning a lot more than CAT basics and 7th semester ECE stuff. 

Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, 

departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.

I have been inspired by a few such great people, who have already achieved some success in their struggle for the well-being of deserving and talented students! Juxtaposed against certain societal equals whose driving force in taking up one of the most noble professions is nothing beyond the monthly cheque, these people's lives and their actions are a lesson in the true meaning and spirit of communism, unblemished by the Ayn Rand-style-hypocrisy! For the Rand follower in me, this has been a good experience at viewing the other side of the coin. 

On the other hand, I have also had trysts with the true-Rand-style pseudo communists who do stuff that are supposedly "good for all", giving "opportunities" to all. Ha! Comrades, Communism is not about sacrificing Talent at the altar of Incompetence!

I had two major losses in the family this year. A friend who came home for the first time early this year asked with awe "Are all your grandparents alive?". I replied with extreme happiness "Yes!!". There couldn't have been a moment I have damned more during this year than that. I have no one who now responds to my calls of "Manni.." or "Paati..". 

I gave the much-anticipated Common Admission Test and followed it up with three other entrance exams. I have displayed extreme competence in one of the three mentioned in the latter part, displaying my acute inability to distinguish between printed words- "saturday" and "sunday". The result of the possession of such skills has been the absence of a certain "Shilpa Suresh" in a certain PDF called the IIFT GDPI shortlist. The CAT is very much on the wall! In fact, CAT 2010 brought out the Humane Nature of the IIMs! To err is Human, isn't it? ;-D

Now for The Bigger Picture..

Let me now tear my eyes away from the mirror and look at the world around me! There has never been a shortage of movies in Indian cinema depicting Corruption! Guess it's now time for the Real-Life-anti heroes to have their heyday in the media. King Cong has  given the sack to Suresh Kalmadi (the genius who welcomed Princess Diana with Charles during the CWG Inauguration :-D ) and Ashok Chavan, on grounds of revising "Charity begins at Home" to "Everything Monetary reaches the society after serving home and family". The currently-hot 2G scam involving Namma ooru Raja is nothing short of the Biggest Ever Act of Corruption in the history of, well, everything. Even Vijayakant has not reeled off such a huge number in any of his statistics-revealing punches! The harmful side-effects of Radiation are very much in focus!

Obama came visiting and took the easily-impassioned compatriots off their feet with impressive prepared speeches and a few diplomatic replies. Say the things the Indians like to hear and they'll love you! Mr.BHO stuck to this wise one-liner and had a successful stint here, hinting at the goodness of India being a permanent Security Council member while his Secretary of State had been more veracious in opining on the issue, as revealed by Wikileaks. 
Ah Wikileaks! The Sensation of 2010. The Talk of the World! I love it for the one purpose it served- Showing a spade as a spade and a club as a club! No diplomatic sweet-talk or nonsense involved. Just plain true facts! For a person like me who has experienced the frustration of trying to get one just need satisfied (and failing eventually) by traversing the layers of bureaucracy and coming across hypocrites and sycophants, there can be nothing more refreshing than the Simple Straight Truth! Don't we, the people, deserve it?

There does exist, one class of people whom I do loathe more than the hypocrites and sycophants.  In fact, this lot's right to exist is seriously in doubt. The child-abusers. How on earth can they even dream of inflicting pain and horror on the blooming buds of the garden of the Earth? I was satisfied to note that one such non-human who had murdered a couple of kids from my town was shot down by the cops.

Alright, now that's enough cribbing for one post, I guess. Let's face the facts. The World around us is Ugly. Unfair. We can't realistically hope for a radical change in a mere three hundred and sixty five days. But we can definitely hope for a marginal improvement in the right direction. The issues in the spotlight now should help raise the public awareness and create a better place for us to live in. Let organizations like "Fifth Pillar" which promote anti-corruption flourish! Let more people get back their lost cellphones like my mom did :)  and fewer if not none, lose them in the first place! Hoping to crib about fewer things in the next year's post :)