Lots of TV Sitcoms are available in the humongous student entertainment server, nicked ‘Wormhole‘. I have seen some varitey in order to figure out which are the one I ought to be taking in my laptop whil heading home after the end terms (Gosh! how that’s awaited). I have checked out ‘L.O.S.T‘, ‘F.R.I.E.N.D.S‘ and some others. My favourite continues to be Mr. Joey Tribiani in and as ‘Joey‘. Matt LeBlanc in simply so ‘Calvin’ish in his desires.
Matt reprises his “Friends” role as charming and still-single
Joey, who has struck out on his own and moved to Hollywood, hoping to
truly make it as an actor. Joey says goodbye to a time when his friends
were his family and welcomes the chance to turn his family into his
friends.
His next door neighbour, Alex Garett is educated, very pretty and quite dtsy to say the least. Overall the duo make a great pair! The best part being the superlative attention that Joey gets from members of the fairer sex, he still falls in love with a pretty, not so hot, next door girl and then keeps trying to get her ‘go around’ with him!
Simply waiting for this semester to get over so that I can get to watch as much Joey as I want. As of now, the status is that three evalutions due next week and one of them real big stuff and I am not even close to prepared. One of the things that B-Schools gets you in the habbit of is to do things at the nick of time or as the MBA’s would say Just-in-Time (affectionately called JIT).

Meanwhile eagerly looking forward to the Dabbawallas of Mumai comming over to speak at our Operations Management Seminar. Having spoken at Ahmedabad before, we got the feedback that they do for a very interesting hear. Really looking forward to hearing from them the nuances and the nitty gritties of implementing six sigma without knowing about it!

As I stood by my hostel room Verandah on Diwali day, dusk setting in, I couldn’t help miss my family back in Delhi. My brother back from his hectic Law School schedule is currently spending his end of terms vacations in Delhi and with that my parents have taken a couple of days off from the daily nitty-gritties to make a short trip to Nainital. I am left outas my B-School schedule does not allow me to take a day off even during peak festival season. Festivals are really that great fun without your near and dear ones around. A realisation which refused to stop haunting me this Deepawali.

I was engrossed in these thoughts and would have contined to wither in them had I not been shaken up by my next door roomie. The Official celebrations were about to star, he exclaimed in half breath without half as much as caring whether I was receptive to him or not. Of course it did not matter to him, I was as unaware of happenings as anyone could ever manage and he took it as a personal responsibility and challenge to ‘Strike a light, where ther is darkness all around’ Afterall, It was Diwali!

His spoken message almost missed me, but his half-breath excitement was difficult to ignore. I was drawn back to reality, to ground-zero so to say. Quickly managed to freshen up and put on the cleanest, ironed shirt trouser I had in my closet. Not to mention took my camera along, and off we went.

Just as I came out of my room a magical sight awaited me, the whole corridor had been lit up with bright candles spaced at a uniform distance. The sight was most resembling to that of an Airport runway at night. I stood there for a while savoring the beauty around. It was indeed somthing worth capturing in my camera (See the pictures in the right handside column, click there to see many more of them). As my friend trudged me along, eager not to miss the free ‘halwa‘ in the canteen, we met with another interesting thing. someone had used his/her creative juices to write ‘K’ with soe candles in a rather dark gloomier corner of the coridoor. The effect was that the ‘Briht K’ was showing light all around! (See the pictures in the right handside column, click there to see many more of them).

We joined for Puja, followed by sumptuous Deepawali special meal. Almost everyone was in traditional dresses and it was easy to notice that even the ladies looked a lot more gorgeous in traditional outfit that they were ddoning today than the skimpier western ones that they normally wear. I was like the odd man out with shirt-trousers on.

Greetings of ‘Happy Diwlai’ in many forms were echanged and we then rushd for the fireworkd. It was a spectacular sight, to say the least, some of the firecrackers thatwe had got reminded me of the ones that we see on the opening day of Olypics or any other such grand event. Such was their captivating nature. Engrossed in fun and frolic, I witnessed many rockets going astray, many crackers going leak-puff and many flower pots rising whoooosh.. sky high. The neo-classic 500 sky shots, were the star cast of the entire event and each of them continued to lighten up the sky in brilliant dazzle for what seemed like close to 5 minutes. By the end of it all, people were still rushing back to their hostels for extra rounds of cracker biursting, on individual hostel budgets. I somehow had enough for the day.
(See the pictures in the right handside column, click there to see many more of them).

I joined my friends Don and Mark for a round of impromptu music jam session. They had almost perfected the acoustic guitars and the sound of the stoked strings somehow reverbated me into a different realm altogether. I am a connoisseur of music and some of the best in speakers, withing my affordable range, find place in my belomgings. My Slim, contoured and beautiful Altec Lansing speakers are a sheer delight.But somehow there as I sat , the sound suddenly seemed so distinctly fresh. I was easy to realise that the ones I normally hear in my room are no match fpor the ‘authentic’ humming strings. Took me back to the days of my ‘Don Bosco School Band’. Memories. I was once again a standard 7 student singing in the ‘Carnucopia‘ Music challenge.
Back in the ground, we sang a number of hindi and english numbers attended by a small but highly participative audience. Some of the songs had lyrics in prim and proper shapes other were like rags stiched by stings of ‘hummings’. A wonderful feeling, when you continue to sing even when you are not aware of the lyrics. Its like then its your heart which does the singing.
(See the pictures in the right handside column, click there to see many more of them).

The Music Sammelan was by far the most enjoyable event of that day. I wanted to carry oin there, byut by now it was 01:00 hours and my laziness coupled with a sumptuous meal was getting better of me, edging me to call it a day. So, took final leave of all singer-listener buddies and headed back to my room happy and contented.

So, missed Nainital, but got God’s Own Kerala in Return. Not a bad deal at all !

Reading this wonderful book by, ‘Surya Lama‘. My dad picked up this book sometime during his waiting period at Heathrow and according to him transformed the way he looks at life. I have actually seen a percievable change in the way dad looks at things these
days; now that’s not what I would admit in front of him, but that’s a different
story altogether.

I just started reading this book yesterday evening as I ran out of episodes of JOEY to watch (now that’s another interesting one .. will talk about that later). Believe it or not I found myself deeply engrossed in the key concept by the
time I had finished reading the 6th page.

Reproducing some lines from the original text, which forced me to get
contemplative about the purpose of my life.

In a very real sense all our day to day problems can be linked to spiritual issues and understanding. For example, I have frequently spoken with men and women who complain that even though they have painstakingly followed Life’s Little Operating Manual they feel as though they as though they are coming up Empty Handed

Spiritual Life has always been in quest of answers to two existential problems, “Who am I?” and “Why am I?“. A search for truth, personal authenticity and reality, a search for ‘what is’ a search for purpose.

Too often life’s path seems paradoxical and confusing. Even in the brightest daylight the atmosphere is Murky; the guide posts are barely visible; the arrows and direction symbols when and if we find them seem to be pointing every other way.

When I look at my life in retrospect some obvious things stand out.

• Whatever happens; happens for a good cause I got admitted to DPS and then one visit to the school premises, that my parents got disillusioned about the most hyped school in town. I was pulled out by my parents and put in Don Bosco. I have a strong belief that whatever little are my speaking and writing skills have a strong Bosco influence to it. The fact that my language is spontaneous and I am able to use it while focusing more on content rather than correctness of delivery is due to the incredible English teachers that Don Bosco provided. I clearly have to thank the likes of Uma Sirkar, Shobha Prasad, Dolly Mazumdar, Meenu Bajaj and Grace George. Similarly at every point in my life, I found that that every thing seemed to fit in the ‘Bigger Picture’ something that was only visible in ‘Rearview Sight’. Going ahead you got to believe that each step that you take and each event that happens is like a dot which you keep joining in order to get the complete picture (Rmember the Join-the-Dots Game)
• Nothing in the life is ‘MOST IMPORTANT’
  • My Parents had me believe that the ClassX^th was very important. Then it was the IIT JEE and on went the story. At every point I was made to believe this is the single Key Factor to success in life. And every time I negotiated the turn successfully, did I realize that there was one more awaiting right ahead which was even more difficult, even ‘More Important’
  • In many ways life is much like a video game. You keep playing the game until you reach your level of incompetence, then you stop progressing and start fighting the odds!
  • There is no one Lock with that one ‘Key Success Factor’. Life is a treasure chest in which every time you open it, you will find some riches smeared around and another ‘Cast iron’ Chest hidden within with an even bigger padlock protecting its contents.
  • The idea is to keep finding the Keys and keep opening the chests!

• • The experience, whole plethora of them have always been a healthy mixture of sweet and sour. For every Uma Sirkar I had an Alice Anson. For every kind Grace George I had a rowdy and rambunctious Uma Thomas.
  • The Hopes have always been interluded with despair. The happiness with sorrow, the friendships with enmity, the exhilaration with crestfallen times.
  • IIIT was something of a treasure. While at it I never knew what it gave, while out of it I know that I can’t imagine what It meant. Treasure the friendships with most of my pals there. People with whom I rarely interacted, are the same ones who do unthinkable to me and for whom I would do almost anything.
  • My achievements have always followed my failures and vice-versa. A silly careless error on the part of ETS, saw my MS(computer Science) from Cornell
    University get squashed. But likewise, a successful tenure at Kanbay followed by an almost undeserving performance t my first CAT attempt saw me soar back up again

I always found that whenever I called his name with all my devotion, with a solitary objective of asking him to help me out, he always delivered. Whether it is saving me from principal for not getting my English textbook (thanks to Thomas Sir), or whether it was getting into IIIT for computer science Engineering.

I still remember the night, when right after paying for admission at Delhi College of Engineering(DCE) I was crying in bed, because I did not want to study anything other than computer science, and REC Trichy was not the place I wanted to go ( My all India Rank for REC was 23).

And the next day early morning I got the news that IIIT results were out. A quick check confirmed that I was in!

I can go on and on, but this writeup already has become quite long. And I have been forewarned by some of my ‘well-wishers’ about writing boring long and cumbersome blogs. So I think I will put a pause here (Not a STOP; just a Pause!!).

I would sincerely and strongly recommend you to read this book.

Buy it, Beg it or Steal it….! its Worth all of that and more!

Been busy with a fairly interesting thing the past couple of days. Its called ‘Neutral Riddle’..
The game goes like this, its a riddle which is open for all and open with all. As in, the key idea is to reach the next level by any means possible. You can ask a friend, look up a dictionary, enquire in a forum or simply google it out. In fact the riddle assumes athat you will do all this and more!

So the difficulty level is so set that you would really need to whack your brains, tease your senses and appease your temperament in order to proceedyour way through the labyrinth.

Sometime, I was pleading for answers, but most of the forums that you’d find will not allow any direct answer revealation. So beneath I will do some ‘Charity’ and give soe answers for those who have reached that level of desperation where the means no longer matter… Only the end does!

** Spolier Alert :: Explicit Answers Mentoined **

1. Change URL directly to level2.htm
2. keyboard.htm
3. golden ratio.htm
4. wheel.htm
5. animals.htm  5b dice.htm
6. ronaldo.htm
7. sunset.htm
8. trashcan.htm
9. creative.htm
10. hole18.jpg

For more on assistance at any level these two are very wonderfully informative sites

• Norinho Forum
• Official Help Forum

Do give it a shot and let mw know till what you reached !

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Quintessence of Dust

What a piece of work is a man!
how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty!
in form and moving how
express and admirable!
in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god!
the beauty of the world!
the paragon of animals!
And yet, to me,
what is this but
quintessence of dust!
~ William Shakespeare

This is the question every passerby whom I greet or who ends up greeting me invariably pops up. With the first round of B-Skewl evaluation (mid-terms, in lay man’s terms) beginning on Monday, Academics are probably the only thing on one’s mind.

But what’s troubling is the invariable impression people build up about others. I for one am the last person to dig deep into the course material, tons of it and my current status shows over 50% of the subjects are untouched and awaiting last night rescue!

To think, that quite a few actually believe me to be on the upper echelon of the batch is indeed troubling and of course burdensome.

This is something I really like about an performance evaluation on D-day. Whether it is an examination or a cricket match or electoral polling in a democratic process. The out come of the event is unbiased and free from the ‘extra baggage’ of image and ideas. It is a great leveler. The evaluation is free of any prejudice. And it is this evaluation hence, which finally does the noble task of separating chalk from cheese.

Ending with this link about one of the most interesting person on Kampus. Though I would not completely agree with the author, but then again, freedom of speech of expression is to be revered and respected!

P.S : My next post might only be possible a week later with the ending of the burdensome mid term exams

Thanks to the running quizzes and the academic load that the course puts me in, and to add to it the absence of my laptop; I was almost ’sanitised’ of my cultural identity.

I have never really been a TV watcher, credits to my parents who stubbornly refused cable connection as long as I was in the house, even though our next door neighbour was the cable operator and he was keen to give it to us without any charge whatsoever.

I instead became, whether driven by choice or by circumstances, an avid music buff. Music, over a period became the HIGH point in mylife, an instant relief & soothening balm for perturbed nerves. the past few days were stressful, and with my favourite antidote gone missing ( all my songs were in my laptop!), it became increasingly difficult to look up to the brighter side of life.

My favourite in terms of Antidotinal effect against stress is “Rabindra Sangeet”, songs of Rabindrantah Tagore sung in a mellifluous and gentle rythm. Finally I managed to borrow I-POD video of a friend from CTS Kolkata in my hostel for a few hours.

Its Magical the instant effect that this GENRE has. Its like a neuran stimulant, or rather a Neural muffler!!

The haze seems to instantly clear up and the maze seems suddenly a lot easier to get through. simplicity suddenly creeps in, hedging out labyrinth and confusion and despondency is replaced by the clear reflections of hope and optimism.

Will end with these words from the ‘Kabiguru’ (Poet Master) himself,

ABAKUS, The Annual Systems Seminars would be starting shortly with the main eventls lined up on 12th and 13th of August. The theme for this year is “IT India : From cost advantage to Strategic Partnership”.

 This year being the tenth year for IIMK, big things are lined up in the event list. We would be having some of the most prominent speakers from different organizations comming over and sharing their thoughts.Organizations like PwC, CTS, E&Y, TCS, IBM, Virtusa, HLL and HCL are expected.

Apart from that there would be numerous competitions for students to take part in and test their skillset on.

The site would give all the other details like the detailed event list, the competitions and the various speakers with their topics.