It's that time of the batch when everyday somebody is getting married. Of course, I find it quite depressing that so many people are getting married. After all, this has a direct corelation to the number of friends available in your circle since the mathematical intersection of singles vs couples social circle is almost equal to zero.
Anyways, the other thing is planning to go for these weddings. You start with the whole gang (both married & single) saying..oh..they are all ready to go...
then closer to the date...it starts happening...first the married ones... my in-laws are coming...my wife has different plans..then the committed ones...i have different plans...(never mention it is for the girlfriend)..will be going home...
So finally it boils down to the last enthu people carrying on...so therefore as it seems, the number of people joining up from the batches will be probably one or two....hmm..is it then surprising that finally it is probably the colleagues who are the only ones turning up if it is somewhere close by...thank god for the social pressure on relatives...otherwise no one would turn up for weddings.. ;-)
Well, am planning to go for such a wedding..so now we are down to 3...am expecting 1 more drop out... :)
Monday, June 26, 2006
Sunday, June 25, 2006
True Calling....
Career and Job are probably one of the top items that are discussed amongst B-school grads especially the recent ones and I have written quite a bit on this topic. Anyway, was on the phone with a friend where we basically listed out why our jobs sucked and finally came to the conclusion why we wouldnt shift out if given a chance....
Think of it...everyone has a reason to be unhappy in their jobs....
The IT Management Grad says..hey i get paid peanuts and I do a lot of crap work including being secretary to the bosses...the sales guy in Jharkhand in the hotshot FMCG company does not have to look beyond the mosquitos and the stinking loos....the investment banker in Tokyo and London looks outside the office at 2am and finds that the rest of the world is partying this Saturday evening....the consultants are sick and tired of adding more bullet points to a PPT slide and doing the bit in a new city everyday....
Oh...if we thought this was the end of it...the schoolmates who decided to save the world with their medical skills look at the engineers and go on...you guys have been earning for some million years now...and i am still mugging from my books...
But then would I want to change from my 9-6 IT job..no saturday work..trips abroad...do what you want out of office....probably not...Would a doctor want to relinquish the satisfaction of helping a human being or saving a life...definitely not... Would the sales mgr want to not have the cheap thrills of exceeding his targets...probably not...
Yet we keep looking at the rest of the world and keep getting confused about how and what it could have been... but the truth, it is as it should be....
The guy upstairs truly has a wierd sense of humor....Maybe the whole thing about 'true calling' is just an overrated one....
hmm..just another cynical day....
Think of it...everyone has a reason to be unhappy in their jobs....
The IT Management Grad says..hey i get paid peanuts and I do a lot of crap work including being secretary to the bosses...the sales guy in Jharkhand in the hotshot FMCG company does not have to look beyond the mosquitos and the stinking loos....the investment banker in Tokyo and London looks outside the office at 2am and finds that the rest of the world is partying this Saturday evening....the consultants are sick and tired of adding more bullet points to a PPT slide and doing the bit in a new city everyday....
Oh...if we thought this was the end of it...the schoolmates who decided to save the world with their medical skills look at the engineers and go on...you guys have been earning for some million years now...and i am still mugging from my books...
But then would I want to change from my 9-6 IT job..no saturday work..trips abroad...do what you want out of office....probably not...Would a doctor want to relinquish the satisfaction of helping a human being or saving a life...definitely not... Would the sales mgr want to not have the cheap thrills of exceeding his targets...probably not...
Yet we keep looking at the rest of the world and keep getting confused about how and what it could have been... but the truth, it is as it should be....
The guy upstairs truly has a wierd sense of humor....Maybe the whole thing about 'true calling' is just an overrated one....
hmm..just another cynical day....
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Courteous??
Mumbai has just been rated as the Least Courteous City by a survey conducted by Readers Digest. While the way they conducted this survey is vague, I think it does talk a little about the way cultures vary in the way 'courteousness' is defined.
One of the tests that RD was checking was if a person held out the door for the person coming behind. In India, no body would really think of doing this. We are all in such great hurry. I guess it was unlucky Mumbai was just polled for this. I dont think any other Indian city may have performed better (except maybe Bangalore given the number of techies who have gone abroad and seen this)
Anyway,the surprise is that New York was rated the most courteous. Given the size of NYC, I would have thought otherwise. But in this article NYC Mayor Ed Koch says that it may be after Sept 11. Do calamities change the way a city acts?
For example, Mumbai pulled itself together during the floods, during the bomb blasts in a way no other city could have done.
My take, is that,it is the quality of a mega city that allows it to become stronger in light of a calamity. To put it simply, people can not afford to get back to their lives as quickly as possible since it is a struggle to begin with especially in such complex ecosystems.
Final word would be that it was a little unfair the way this poll was conducted. and of course all news channels are also making merry out of it.
One of the tests that RD was checking was if a person held out the door for the person coming behind. In India, no body would really think of doing this. We are all in such great hurry. I guess it was unlucky Mumbai was just polled for this. I dont think any other Indian city may have performed better (except maybe Bangalore given the number of techies who have gone abroad and seen this)
Anyway,the surprise is that New York was rated the most courteous. Given the size of NYC, I would have thought otherwise. But in this article NYC Mayor Ed Koch says that it may be after Sept 11. Do calamities change the way a city acts?
For example, Mumbai pulled itself together during the floods, during the bomb blasts in a way no other city could have done.
My take, is that,it is the quality of a mega city that allows it to become stronger in light of a calamity. To put it simply, people can not afford to get back to their lives as quickly as possible since it is a struggle to begin with especially in such complex ecosystems.
Final word would be that it was a little unfair the way this poll was conducted. and of course all news channels are also making merry out of it.
Monday, June 19, 2006
525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes - how do you measure,measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?
- Seasons of Love - Music from the Motion Picture RENT
(from a friend's blog)
- Seasons of Love - Music from the Motion Picture RENT
(from a friend's blog)
XXXX has come online....
How many people do we actually message regularly from our messenger contacts? I presume not too many. At least that's the case with me and I think most people would probably be the same...
You start adding people in messenger and the contact list keeps growing. You chat with some, then lose contact and then for a long time, you dont talk to the person....
Then you one day notice the popup saying 'xxxx is online'. That's when you suddenly realize that you have completely lost touch with him/her. There is a small pang of guilt in your mind...you could have put in a little more effort to keep in touch....
The other person is realizing the same when you log in...but both still dont make that simple effort to just send a hello...both are too busy in their own lives and tell themselves that they will find some time soon....
But the fact is there is never a good time...that's why I have great respect for those few individuals who make that simple gesture to say the hi and renew the relation just for the heck of it....
And in that note, there are quite a number of ppl who diminish the value of this by calling it 'networking'. I personally think it is one of the most decadent of words...or possibly I have started disliking it since the usage in IIMB...
Technology may change and you may have all the Skypes but then nothing can replace the basic requirement - a will to cherish the relationships and friendships that one has acquired over time...
You start adding people in messenger and the contact list keeps growing. You chat with some, then lose contact and then for a long time, you dont talk to the person....
Then you one day notice the popup saying 'xxxx is online'. That's when you suddenly realize that you have completely lost touch with him/her. There is a small pang of guilt in your mind...you could have put in a little more effort to keep in touch....
The other person is realizing the same when you log in...but both still dont make that simple effort to just send a hello...both are too busy in their own lives and tell themselves that they will find some time soon....
But the fact is there is never a good time...that's why I have great respect for those few individuals who make that simple gesture to say the hi and renew the relation just for the heck of it....
And in that note, there are quite a number of ppl who diminish the value of this by calling it 'networking'. I personally think it is one of the most decadent of words...or possibly I have started disliking it since the usage in IIMB...
Technology may change and you may have all the Skypes but then nothing can replace the basic requirement - a will to cherish the relationships and friendships that one has acquired over time...
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Soulful Soundtracks
I started listening to soundtracks, i guess about 4-5 years back and since then I have enjoyed so many of them. I am now totally hooked on to instrumentals as a genre. But the thing about OST is that it is not easily accessible on the internet. I have been trying torrent for the last week and it's been great..getting more of these..
Well, anyway, just downloaded this track from 'Crash' the movie called A Really Good Cloak. If anyone has seen the movie, they would realize the scene I am talking about, probably one of the most touching scenes from the movie.
The point, I guess, I am making is that, if you have enjoyed the movie and can place the track in context, I guess you enjoy it even more. Every time, I listen to this, I can feel the moment from the movie...the kid, the father, the mother, the gunman and the invisible cloak....
hmm...really miss watching these amazing movies out here....
Well, anyway, just downloaded this track from 'Crash' the movie called A Really Good Cloak. If anyone has seen the movie, they would realize the scene I am talking about, probably one of the most touching scenes from the movie.
The point, I guess, I am making is that, if you have enjoyed the movie and can place the track in context, I guess you enjoy it even more. Every time, I listen to this, I can feel the moment from the movie...the kid, the father, the mother, the gunman and the invisible cloak....
hmm...really miss watching these amazing movies out here....
Orkut.....
I have never been one for social networking on the web. Therefore things like orkut never appealed to me. However in the last 1 week, since I got onto orkut, I have been meeting people that I had lost touch some zillion years ago.
There was this friend of mine...while in school, we were real pals for a good 10 yrs....somewhere something changed and we started drifting apart.....now it's been more than 10 yrs and i suddenly find him on orkut....that's amazing...
I guess I am at that stage of life the value of friendship is so much greater..
I am converted....but still think i will mail more than post messages... :)
There was this friend of mine...while in school, we were real pals for a good 10 yrs....somewhere something changed and we started drifting apart.....now it's been more than 10 yrs and i suddenly find him on orkut....that's amazing...
I guess I am at that stage of life the value of friendship is so much greater..
I am converted....but still think i will mail more than post messages... :)
Look at photos past
With the advent of the digicam, the number of photos one clicks has become so many that it almost is impossible to have those 'special' photos. But months later when you look back at your photo albums, it does bring memories of the good days gone by.
I have about 3000 photographs from my Europe trip in many folders in Picasa. On a day like today when there is nothing else to do, it is just good fun to go through them and refresh my mind about those umpteen trips that I have taken in the last 1-1.5 yrs...
However, this photo was taken in Bandipur Sanctuary. It was a lucky shot that I got but thought it was just amazing.....
I have about 3000 photographs from my Europe trip in many folders in Picasa. On a day like today when there is nothing else to do, it is just good fun to go through them and refresh my mind about those umpteen trips that I have taken in the last 1-1.5 yrs...
However, this photo was taken in Bandipur Sanctuary. It was a lucky shot that I got but thought it was just amazing.....
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Interview with God
THE INTERVIEW WITH GOD
Note: View the presentation in the site at leisure. It's just amazing...
I dreamed I had an interview with God.
“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.
“If you have the time” I said.
God smiled. “My time is eternity.”
“What questions do you have in mind for me?”
“What surprises you most about humankind?”
God answered...
“That they get bored with childhood,
they rush to grow up, and then
long to be children again.”
“That they lose their health to make money...
and then lose their money to restore their health.”
“That by thinking anxiously about the future,
they forget the present,
such that they live in neither
the present nor the future.”
"That they live as if they will never die,
and die as though they had never lived.”
God’s hand took mine
and we were silent for a while.
And then I asked...
“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons
you want your children to learn?”
“To learn they cannot make anyone
love them. All they can do
is let themselves be loved.”
“To learn that it is not good
to compare themselves to others.”
“To learn to forgive
by practicing forgiveness.”
“To learn that it only takes a few seconds
to open profound wounds in those they love,
and it can take many years to heal them.”
“To learn that a rich person
is not one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.”
“To learn that there are people
who love them dearly,
but simply have not yet learned
how to express or show their feelings.”
“To learn that two people can
look at the same thing
and see it differently.”
“To learn that it is not enough that they
forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves.”
"Thank you for your time," I said humbly.
"Is there anything else
you would like your children to know?"
God smiled and said,
“Just know that I am here... always.”
-author unknown
Disclaimer: I do not preach religion or faith. I just find this quite inspiring
Note: View the presentation in the site at leisure. It's just amazing...
I dreamed I had an interview with God.
“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.
“If you have the time” I said.
God smiled. “My time is eternity.”
“What questions do you have in mind for me?”
“What surprises you most about humankind?”
God answered...
“That they get bored with childhood,
they rush to grow up, and then
long to be children again.”
“That they lose their health to make money...
and then lose their money to restore their health.”
“That by thinking anxiously about the future,
they forget the present,
such that they live in neither
the present nor the future.”
"That they live as if they will never die,
and die as though they had never lived.”
God’s hand took mine
and we were silent for a while.
And then I asked...
“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons
you want your children to learn?”
“To learn they cannot make anyone
love them. All they can do
is let themselves be loved.”
“To learn that it is not good
to compare themselves to others.”
“To learn to forgive
by practicing forgiveness.”
“To learn that it only takes a few seconds
to open profound wounds in those they love,
and it can take many years to heal them.”
“To learn that a rich person
is not one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.”
“To learn that there are people
who love them dearly,
but simply have not yet learned
how to express or show their feelings.”
“To learn that two people can
look at the same thing
and see it differently.”
“To learn that it is not enough that they
forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves.”
"Thank you for your time," I said humbly.
"Is there anything else
you would like your children to know?"
God smiled and said,
“Just know that I am here... always.”
-author unknown
Disclaimer: I do not preach religion or faith. I just find this quite inspiring
Lord of the Flies
Lost is one TV series that has been catching the attention of viewers worldwide. There is nothing new about a bunch of airplane crash survivors on an island with its perils. But it is the characterisation that works for the series. However this post is not about the series...
This series reminded me of a book I had to learn during my 9th or 10th class by William Golding called 'The Lord of the Flies'. I dont know if it is the way the book was written or the way my English teacher took us through the book...
The book talks about a bunch of kids stuck on an island in a similar fashion. Even amongst the kids, we have the natural leader who institutes governance and a semblance of civil society and then we have the rebel group who is against anything that is governed. As a result, we have some gruesome incidents where there are murders on the island all depicted by some gory imagery and this from a bunch of kids who are expected to be 'pure and innocent'.
Basically the point that the author was making was that, in the absence of a civil society, Man is not too far away from chaos and violence even if he is not exposed to it....
So therefore it really hits me when Lost has its bunch of adults who come from different backgrounds, prejudices and fears. All this would be a definite recipe for chaos. The series works because of the strength of the characters....the book works because of the strength of the message...
This series reminded me of a book I had to learn during my 9th or 10th class by William Golding called 'The Lord of the Flies'. I dont know if it is the way the book was written or the way my English teacher took us through the book...
The book talks about a bunch of kids stuck on an island in a similar fashion. Even amongst the kids, we have the natural leader who institutes governance and a semblance of civil society and then we have the rebel group who is against anything that is governed. As a result, we have some gruesome incidents where there are murders on the island all depicted by some gory imagery and this from a bunch of kids who are expected to be 'pure and innocent'.
Basically the point that the author was making was that, in the absence of a civil society, Man is not too far away from chaos and violence even if he is not exposed to it....
So therefore it really hits me when Lost has its bunch of adults who come from different backgrounds, prejudices and fears. All this would be a definite recipe for chaos. The series works because of the strength of the characters....the book works because of the strength of the message...
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Muenchen calling
To think that a few months back, I was in the city where the FIFA world Cup was played out yday makes me nostalgic for Munich. Though I lived there only for a year, it was a great time indeed.
hmm..would have been a great time to be over there now....with all the crazy football fans over there.... :(
hmm..would have been a great time to be over there now....with all the crazy football fans over there.... :(
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