Reborn

A Tale of Two Cities

2011-07-03T23:05:00.007+05:30

I happened to be in Delhi this weekend as it was the main city on the way to my destination - Khurja - to observe fieldwork. Khurja – unknown to many - is a small town in western UP some 150 Kms from Delhi. The town's population is only 1 lac in sharp contrast to neighboring Delhi's population of 1.26 crores.

The contrast was alarming in a lot of other ways too. The 150 KM seems like a time trail with a gap of 150 months between the towns. Apart from one being a small town and another the country's capital, yet the differences are too stark and even surprising for me.

First let’s talk of basics … Khurja full of overflowing gutters, and garbage strewn around and monsoons only made it worse. There was only one "khotwali' in Khurja where I couldn’t even spot one havaldar. Khurja had only one Hotel with only10 rooms! The town had no restaurants. Yes not even one! There was a roadside Dhaba where we had to go to have our fill. The main mode of transport within the town is cycle rickshaw and if you want to go to the railway station (5 KM from main town), then its a tempo rickshaw ride. People are filled in like sardines and I was lucky to be inside the sardine tin and not hanging out like some others.

In sharp contrast, Delhi was much better and cleaner, except some parts in East Delhi. Accommodation for visitors to the capital is not at all a problem as I am sure Delhi has more than 2000 hotels. In Delhi one can see that even security is very well taken care of. Transport in Delhi is well taken care of with its Metro or Rickshaw and the nice CWG buses which some commuters use.

Now let’s come to other things. Delhi is known for eve teasing but even then the advent of the metro has changed the way the women in the city feel about their safety. Girls are no longer afraid of being groped at as in the Blue Line buses and are free to wear what they want and travel in the ladies compartment of the Metro. In Khurja post 7 PM it is difficult to see women folk. Even in the day they walk in groups or with other male members of their family.

Cinema being one of my passions I was irked that Khurja has only 2 theatres. One theatre, which looks the younger of the two, currently plays the Imran Khan Starrer 'Delhi Belly' while the older one plays a suggestively titled ' Taank Jhaank'. This feels so distant from the many multiplexes sported in the capital city.

I strongly feel that this disparity in the distribution of developmental resources is somewhere close to the whole poor - rich divide which haunts India. The silver lining to the cloud is that there is hope though - I saw all the top FMCG brands in Khurja. Maybe not the really classy ones like Loreal but definitely the Garnier Shampoos and the Gillette shave gels were there.

All in all a question that comes to mind … if the FMCGs could see hope in the Khurjas of the country then why can't the government?

Rains and the Economy

2010-06-21T17:38:00.002+05:30

We all know the co-realtion between good rains and the economy. In India we always thought that as we are an agriculture domianted economy, we are very dependent on rains .

However an interesting thought came to my mind the other day. Rains are great for the urban economy too. Look at Mumbai as an example. The moment it rains, all rickshaw and taxi drivers who otherwise have no 'bhada' are in business. people who normally take buses / trains will take rick / taxi to reach their destinations. The other day there were no ricks at the arrivals where normally there is a serpentine queque of ricks and supply overshoots demand. Why? because it was raining and the rickshaws in the area had already got long haul passengers to bother waiting at the airport.

talking of rains, we in mumbai are hoping it rains well this year and fills all our water supplying lakes. Keep your fingers crossed.

The Morning after

2010-04-28T23:07:00.003+05:30

Monday 26th April...the day after Mumbai Indians lost the IPL finals

the scene in mumbai in the morning was pretty much like a funeral procession. There were people who had mustered up the strength to get traveling, but the usual energy was missing...no fights, no pushing for seats

In office too people worked like silent zombies...the depression getting to them.

Quite a contrast to Sep 2007 when Dhoni and Co got the T20 world cup home...man did the same Mumbai celebrate and how...open air bus to welcome the heroes home!!!!

If franchisee loyalty is what IPL wanted, it's engraved by leaps and bounds into the Mumbaikar after this season. people already awaiting the Champions T20 and billing it as revenge time...

For the record - by Tuesday Mumbai was back to life ..the usual way :)

20 minutes at Churchgate Station

2009-03-11T11:25:00.006+05:30

Sitting at Churchgate staion is an experience. Varied people. Varied Situations. TC's. Gaurds. People of foreign origin. People wanting to go outstation. What a melting pot

Last weeend, I was to meet up with a friend near Churchgate. Since I came in early, I decided to spend time at the station itself.

I took up a vacant seat at the of a platform and began observing.

It was very interesting. First the symchronisations amongst gaurds. They arrive well before the local arrives. Then they wait pateiently for the motorman gets down and then get in and take command. And when the big digital clock at the strikes time , they blow the whistle and set off the train. Some dont blow whistles though.

People coming in are also varied-some ask the gaurd where the is going, some ask the motorman who bought the local in. Poor guy looks at the indicator and tells them.

Saw a group of woman who loked like have come from the Middle East- asking if the train went to bandra. Problem is she asked the gentleman next to me in English and that guy had no clue. I intervened and helped them. :)
Next came along a young man wanting to go to Valsad. We (me and that other gentleman who doesnt know English) told him that train doesnt go directly and he will have to go to Mumbai central and get an outstation train.

Two young women who just got down from an incoming train were caught by the TC and asked for tickets. As it turned out these girls did not have valid tickets or their pass had expired. They were trying to convince the TC and trying to wriglle out of teh situation without a fine by smoothtalking. I wanted to watch what happens further, but just tehn my friend called up and I had to go. It would be interseting to see what finally happened. maybe they asked the TC to overlook their mistake as it was Women's Day that day...

Ganguly's swansong

2008-10-26T13:50:00.002+05:30

I really liked the way Ganguly celebrated after he got his 100 in the 2nd Test at Mohali....The joy of the man who knew that he was not going as a sore loser but on his own terms.

He is certainly not the unfit (atleast not as much as Laxman and Kumble currently) but still he had so much to prove to all...and that he did

I read some days ago on how India lost out on 3-4 years of Javagal Srinath in his youth, just because Kapil wanted to retire after getting to Hadlee's record...that is still happening with the current Inidan team...I only hope the careers of people like Mishra, Gambhir and Co go don't go that way.

Most memorable train ride of my life

2008-08-11T10:52:00.005+05:30

I was waiting at the Thane railway station, for my train to Mangalore. It was the start of a 1 week break from my work, and i was eagerly waiting to meet my friends in Mangalore and kickstart the vacation. Only one thing was in between - the boring train ride.

What??? Boring train ride does not match with the title of this post? That's cos even before I could settle down in the train I heard a voice call out ''Hi, are you Gary?". I saw this pretty bespectacled face look up to me with a kind of unsure but friendly smile. The face was partially hidden under a fat book (I am not quite sure- I guess it was a non faction book on Ratan Tata) she was holding unto her face. I was quite unsure how she knew my name , and asked if we had met before. She smiled back at my seemingly ignorant question, saying that she and her sister (who had come to leave her on the train on the earlier station ) had read the reservation charts. I later came to know that they had imagined my as a 80 year old man ! (c'mon, girls - I am sure that an age column would be around somewhere :)

Anyways, I introduced myself back and then settled down on my seat. The next 5-10 minutes were spent in knowing each other's backgrounds and instantly I knew that there was some kind of 'Kismat Konnection' between us. There was definitely some chemistry between us (she had done her Grads in chemistry). We were both kind of very happy to have found just the right kind of company in that train. She soon put her book down and got lost in our conversations.

It seemed we knew each other from kinder garden and not from a few hours. She shared with me many stories from her college days, about her family, her hobbies. She was quite different in the sense that she wasn't a TV or movie freak, she spent her time developing other skills like cooking, driving , teaching ...the list is amazing.

I was amazed by her personality and various instances she narrated about her life. The journey I wanted to get done with earlier - now seemed like i wanted it to last a little longer. Her love for food, her phobias of public restrooms, her limited knowledge of the Indian railways, her anxiousness about getting a return ticket back to Mumbai ...everything was so cute.

We exchanged numbers and mail ids promising to get in touch later. We are to let each other know if the return journey was as exiting (both of us are travelling alone by train ..again...but from different locations on different days) I am sure there would be more meetings . talks and interactions with her, but am sure it will be difficult to beat this experience of the first meeting.

The Dark Knight - A review

2008-07-20T12:31:00.001+05:30

The Dark Knight

Rating 4/5

One of the best superhero movies recently made (sorry for putting Batman in that genre - as Batman has no superpowers), this one is a thrilling ride all the way.

The opening few minutes , where the Joker and his bunch of cronies are robbing a bank is just the perfect setting for 2 1/2 hours of great entertainment. The script is the real winner - the characterizations of the major characters - specially Batman / Bruce Wayne, Harvey Dent, and the Joker are so detailed, that you actually feel like you are sitting inside the mind of these characters - as they go about their business on screen.

This is a Batman movie, and as in most Batman movies, the bad man (Joker) gets the meatiest role. The way the character is portrayed by the late Heath Ledger is simply remarkable. His interaction with Batman - in the interrogation room and with Harvey Dent = at the hospital , are scenes which are simply out of this world.

The movie is a bit long by Hollywood standards, but you wont get bored even for one bit. In fact the intermission, a sad compulsion in Indian cinema - was the only point when i got irritated.

The Dark Knight has already set records for the opening day in the U.S., with some predicting that this movie may well turn out to be the highest grosser of the decade.

Go catch it before it is taken out of the cinemas to make way for some mediocre Bollywood movies.

yesssss...We won the world cup !

2007-09-25T23:00:00.000+05:30

After a long wait of 24 years...India are world champs again...Words won't capture the emotions..nothing can...its a great moment for India and Indians....

Headlines of Major Dailies

Times of India - We are the world
Hindustan Times - Top of the world
DNA - we won

there was this great sense of positiveness in todays day..whether it was in the local train or at office or out in the streets..just amazing

will leave you with 2 snaps that will be embedded in history forever

1st one - Misbah, Jogi , asif and the umpire watch as the ball is in the air off Misbah's scoop shot. (look on Joginder's face : priceless)
2nd one - Victors and the Vanquished - Indian team crowds around Joginder and start celebrating even as Misbah is down in despair (reminds me of the opening scenes of Chak de India)

Oh Captain my captain

2007-09-16T21:39:00.000+05:30

Captaincy blues haunt the Indian cricket team as Dravid resigned even before India had played a match in the T20 world cup (the match against the scots was washed out)

Dravid, the captain over the last 2 years or so, has put in his papers saying that he wants to concentrate on the game.And now the selectors are making a mockery of it by trying to reinstate Sachin at the top...Hello..this is the same sachin who resigned from captaincy cos he wanted to 'concentrate on batting' just like Dravid. And now you want to put him back in the same spot? Sachin has just started playing freely (the England tour was great for Tendulkar)and now the selectors want to put teh crown of thorns on him again.I am a critic of teh way sachin has approached batting in recent years , but the England tour was a pleasant exception.

Who are the alternatives then? Dhoni, ganguly and Yuvraj.Ganguly - dunno if he wants the job. Dhoni - OK choice, just like Azhar was made captain when there was problems with the senior players in the early 90's. But can he take teh pressure? Maybe the T20 world cup can answer that. Yuvi ..well he is not even a regular in the Test side...

I quite like the approach some teams have taken in recent years to Captaincy. Lee Germon was made captain of a Kiwi side in his 1st one dayer, and Greame Smith took over as S.A. captain even as he had played just a couple of tests and one dayers..

Waiting for the drama to unfold at the nautanki called BCCI

Sanjay Dutt

2007-08-05T23:11:00.000+05:30

On 31st August 2007, Justice Kode sentenced Sanjay Dutt to 6 years RI. I don't know but i have this gut feel that Dutt, even is he has to undergo the sentence (if the SC turns down his appeal) will come back a stronger man, and will continue delivering hits.In the past he has risen like a phoinex when industry experts gave him no chance.

Lets look at his past comebacks.

Naam (1986) : after his debut in Rocky (1981) he seemed to fade away before getting back to teh box office with a bang in this movie.

Khalnayak (1993) : Released when Dutt was in Prison, this movie again established the fact that he could play Grey shades with ease, perhaps the first of the A grade stars of his time to attempt a negative character and be successful.

Vastav (1999) : after releasing from prison , Dutt starred in several unsuccessful movies and was declared a spent force when he came back with Vastav.

Munnabhai MBBS (2003):again to put a rest to the doubting thomas of the world, here came a rejuvenated Dutt , with his producers laughing all the way to the bank.

i wont count Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006) cos i won't classify it as a comeback film.I was itching to include Saajan (1991) but its just missed my cut.

Work and Home

2007-07-30T22:58:00.000+05:30

One should keep his tensions of work away from home and vice versa.....easy to say, but so hard to achieve :)

News !

2007-06-23T19:28:00.000+05:30

Well I was just watching the India - Ireland ODI when my dad asked me to switch to a news channel to catch the news.Well i asked him if i could switch to a news channel after 2-3 overs.

I can switch back to the scene about 10 years ago.people would still want to catch the 7pm 'Batmya' or Marathi news on DD1. Now they are spoilt for choice. At least 10 news channels...24*7...

But, is it that the frequency of significant events has increased in the last 10 years.I don't think so.Then how come there is enough news for these channels to showcase.how come 10 years ago all the news could be fitted into 30 minutes a day, and now there is enough news to last 24 hours?

The answer is repetition .The same news on all channels with little diffrentiation. also the same clips repeating again and again.Any stupid niche news becomes 'BREAKING NEWS'. Also put an astrologer here, a tarot card reader there...and hey you managed to create content for a 24 hour news channel.

Heartless Mumbai

2007-02-04T19:59:00.000+05:30

A recent incident in the Local train has left me speechless about the heart of the city.
I was traveling in a local train in the morning.Although it was peak hour, since it was a Saturday, there wasn't much rush.I boarded at the starting station i.e Borivali and sat down.At Kandivali, some people got in.Just as the train was about to start, someone noticed a pickpocket trying to flick a purse.he was caught, although he tried to get down before the train started.The people started abusing him and then started hitting him like he was some punching bag.Thy hit him without any mercy.I was totally stunned by this misbehavior.The crowd then stripped him of his garments ad threw him out of the train at Malad, the next station.
I think that even if someone would have tried to stop the crowd, they would have hit that person too.It seemed as if the crowd was just channeling their everyday life frustration on that pickpocket, be it their boss, wife or someone else.I know the pickpocket was in the wrong, but did he deserve all this? when one old gentleman told the mob to stop and hand the person to the police ,he was asked to shut up, and told that the police is hand in glove with such guys.

Is it that Mumbai has lost its heart?

Dry day blues

2007-02-04T18:51:00.000+05:30

Last Friday got a call from Nandan...We thought of meeting up fr dinner and daroo...we thought of sitting at on of these sidey places in central Mumbai and catch up with each other.

Well what we weren't aware of , was that since it was the day for counting for the civic elections, it was a "dry day", which means that bars and wine shops will be closed!

Nandan thought that only the central suburbs being a sensitive area had this problem, so we went to another suburb of Mumbai, but again we were left disappointed.

Ok, here is the fun part.When we were looking tor open bars in Dadar, we met a Havaldar patrolling traffic on the street.Hence is the gist of the conversation, translated in English.

Nandan : Hellos Sir, is there a dry day today?

Cop : Arey boys, see today is counting day.Now actually we don't need a dry day today, but the powers above think that people might drink today, and may cause a law and order problem.

Nandan : oh, OK

Cop : See actually the wine shops and the bars would love to remain open today.The victors in the election, would love to drink and celebrate, and the losers would probably like to drown their sorrows in booze.But the authorities think otherwise.
now everyday drinkers know when are the dry days, so they have stocked up the booze already.Its just people like you who drink once in a while who are caught unawares.

Nandan : so what do you suggest now?

Cop : well most of teh shops here in this area are closed. a wine shop down the 1st left from here may be open, just try your luck.

Nandan : but then we can only bu the booze there, where should we drink?

Cop : well just head for the beach

Nandan : but then you guys(cops) will come there and drive us away...

Cop : No no my friend, we visit teh beach to drive people away only at 12. now its only 10 pm, so you guys can enjy for 2 hours

Nandan : Thanks, nice talking to you, bye

Well we didn't find that elusive , "open" wine shop and had to settle only for a nice non veg dinner, without booze, but the conversation with teh cop did lift up our moods for a while!

India in south africa

2007-01-07T19:37:00.000+05:30

Hi,
am posting after some time!

The Indian cricket team has flattered to deceive once again.I thought that this time we will win a series in south Africa, something that we haven't done ever.

The disappointing end however had a silver lining.Dada now looks set to play the one day series against SL and Windies , as well as the World cup.And Shreesanth has finally managed to get a foot in the door and looks set to play the WC2007.Dinesh Kartick has done well in the few opportunities he has got on the tour.

Ox,Bull,Buffalo,Cow

2006-12-10T19:22:00.000+05:30

ok, we spent 3 hrs on Saturday in office trying to argue about the "distinguishable features" of all the above named animals

True Spirit of Christmas

2006-11-26T13:04:00.000+05:30

Since, I was a kid, Christmas has always been special for me.It was always an occasion to look forward to, not only for gifts, but also because it gave a change for us kids to feel good, meet other cousins and have a good time.

And so when I decided to do my MBA away from Mumbai, one thing on my mind was, how will Christmas be away from home? I want to be at home, i must.But that wasn't something I had control over.

Christmas eve came.Although my parents were not with me, mom tried to make up by sending some foodstuff for me from home.Although it wasn't enough, at least something is better than nothing.I decided to go along for mass with my friends.I have always had a lot of non catholic friends all my life, and MBA was no different.My friends had never been for a mid night mass before, and I asked them asking them to come with me.We had a nice time at the mass, in the open grounds, listening to the Christmas story and singing carols, and I almost forgot that I was away from home.Being with my new family, my college mates, made me more than happy.Before we knew, mass ended, we greeted each other, came back to the hostel and went to our respective rooms.

I felt something missing, there was a family here, but where is the spirit of Christmas? It is then that I saw the bag of cookies sent by mom, and it hit me.I sat on my laptop and typed a message on the instant messenger calling one and all in the hostel to share the cookies.Moments later, my room was full of people, all sharing the stuff I had got.Another Catholic friend barged in, apparently he had just received some stuff from his folks sometime ago.And there we were, now celebrating the true spirit of Christmas.Yes the true spirit of Christmas is in sharing.

It was indeed a Merry Christmas now!

Trip to Bangalore

2006-11-25T20:44:00.000+05:30

there are cleints..and then there are clients

our clients want us to see fieldwork ourselves, to verify if its taking place correctly...sothey manage to sendus to bangalore fr a day

24 hrs in total...work of about 8 hrs, hunting housesand locations fr 4 hrs...sleep for 8 hrs and tp for 4 hrs

Cricket Unites

2006-10-27T15:19:00.000+05:30

Cricket is a religion in India, no doubt.and hence it is one of the greatest binding factors I know of. I mean 2-3 people, who have never met each other, can suddenly start chatting/discussing/arguing or quarreling, when it comes to the mention of this game. It doesn’t matter if the place of disscussion is a local train, or a office cubicle.Talking to that tough looking VP the way you chat with friends doesn’t look possible, but then start talking cricket and he will talk as if he knows you from years!

I can recall this incident about 4 years back, when I was still doing graduation. I and a friend were traveling in the Mumbai local train, back from college. The second class compartment was crowded as usual but we managed to grab a place. As soon as the discussion veered away from studies and towards cricket, 2 gentlemen who were sitting besides us got involved in the discussion. One of them gave his expert analysis on why John Wright was not the right coach for India, while another was lamenting the fact that the BCCI does not keep enough day-night matches, which means the common man doesn’t get to see matches. (Day matches get over by the time the guy comes back home)

By the time we reached our station, we got enriched on a lot of aspects of Indian Cricket.

Diwali / Eid Holidays

2006-10-24T20:47:00.000+05:30

man, Diwali n Eid are gr8...since i joined IMRB, ihave never got 5 days off on a trot..and now that i have, i didnt know how to spend them!

but i guess everythin has its way, andi found it out too

Saturday: went to awedding...manglorean one, so lots of hoggin of food....Something i noticed and wanna share with u guys, i the way music has changed in these weddings...from western classic and rock to Indipop...heard more of himesh than anyone else!

Sunday :made chilli shots at home ...Ya i made my own variations..but then its cool...Later in the day had some great non veg food at Bhendi bazar ((iftar hosted by my frends)...and then watched Schumi in his final race

Monday: Packed off my bike...my bros gettin it on friday

Tuesday: Enjoyed at my 8 year old cousin's place!Its really fun playin with kids!

Wednesday: well my weekly Mahim novena...and maybe wld meet sum friends!

Happy Diwali and Eid Mubarak

An hour at SBI

2006-10-17T23:41:00.000+05:30

Today I happened to go to SBI at Shivaji Park, to get an MBA entrance
test form for my bro. Reached a bit early so I tried looking around
and amusing myself. Since it was early morning, I saw all those ppl
hurriedly walking towards the rail station, the BMC dumpers trying to
pack the garbage from the dumps, the shopkeepers just opening their
shutters...and before I knew it, it was time for the bank to open.

Typical babudom rules the roost.

Here is a time trail

Trying to find someone in the bank who knew abt the form I wanted- 5 mins
Waiting fr theperson (as the person hadn't come)- 10mins
Finding out that I need to fill a slip first- 2 mins
...and finding the counter to deposit it-5 mins
realising that the line I am standing is not moving - 5 mins
making the decison to jump to the other line-2 min
The list goes on

and SBI is the leading bank in India...Amen

Aksar

2006-10-09T21:25:00.000+05:30

Somehow I like movies where the bad guy gets away with doing the wrong things. And Aksar is one of the rarities in Bollywood in this regard. Most of the villains have to pay for what they do in these Bollywood masala movies.

In this regard, Hollywood is much better. Remember Primal Fear (Edward Norton, Richard Gere ) ?I loved that movie and its Climax. Only to find that some years later Bollywood made a mess of it with Deewanagee (Ajay Devgan, Akshaye Khanna, Urmila Matondkar) where the bad guy is humbled in the end.

Schumi retires

2006-09-10T19:53:00.000+05:30

Ever since i started watching formula 1 sometime in 97...I cheered for only one driver and only one team ...they are Micheal schumacher and the Ferrari. I can't imagine watching formula1 w/o schumi on track ..i kno life will go on..
But won't it be strange to cheer for kimi or massa..i dun kno ...

Herez hoping schumi end with a bang..winning the Driver's championship for 06'

Lage Raho Munnabhai

2006-09-06T21:55:00.000+05:30

Hi guys,
I saw Lage Raho Munnabhai today. I never thought someone would put the Mahatma's message across in a flim so nicely....Richard Attenberg...u gotta take notes dude.

However watching the movie did incite something else in me...That feeling that the Mahatma erred somewhere..but where???

He followed the path of Non-voilence and speaking the truth, but somewhere he was not as aggressive as he should have been.You have the Raj almost on its knees during the peak of the Non Co-operation movement, but one stray incident at Chawrichawra was a detterent enough for the great man to withdraw it.I can never get a rationale behind this .A few more months and Non co-operation would have got us freedom in 1927..not 1947!!!!!

Also...during the mid-1910's when Britan was in the middle of WW1. Mr. MK Gandhi did not negotiate with the british the way Lokmanya wanted ..i.e complete freedom in return of Indian soldiers fighting for her majesty...andinstead waited for after the warto negotiate..and as expected all Britan offered was some cheap reforms!

Can Aggasi do it?

2006-09-03T21:21:00.000+05:30

Thats the question thats been haunting quite a few tennis fans.Andreis on his swansong and all his matches at theUS Open could potentially be his last.On saturday, he came up against Bagdattis, who battled against all odds.In the end ,he broke down physically to hand over andre the win.Andreis gonna comeup against roddik in the 4th round if he gets past teh rookie becker...and then therez Nadal further on. Still early days in teh tournament, but i still feel it will be a nadal federer final

Hi

2006-07-22T19:07:00.000+05:30

Just wanted to know whether bloggers is still working or not..looks like its banned by most ISP's but notby mine!

Water water everywhere

2006-07-05T20:25:00.000+05:30

Rains have lashed mumbai for the past 5 days ..and it looks like they will continue doing so for some more days...Life is affected badly specially of people like me ...For whom local trains are a lifeline and BEST buses a close friend .

My Colony is flooded..Yesterday I managed To go to office thru knee deep water, but today I resigned to fate and didn't attempt to go.Good for me because later in the day my colony got flooded

.Too much of anything ain't good..and certainly not rain.

ZEE Germans!!

2006-07-02T19:31:00.000+05:30

Germany showed on Friday night what Home -Advantage was.In the penalty shoot-out the crowd gave them the momentum that they needed to sail past the fancied Argentine team.Talent was overshadowed by Crowd support.Its a natural phenomenon.
Office is full of Argentine fans and I am more or less the lone German supporter...Hope the frustrated fans keep their emotions in check!!!

The shockof the turnament came when the favourites for the title- Brazil were eliminated by their old nemisis -France!Portugal was one up over England in the lottery

all eyes to thesemi finals on tuesday and wednesday...maythe best teams win!!!!

What a Day !

2006-06-11T21:55:00.000+05:30

The match between Fed-Ex and Nadal went to the wire ...Nadal won the 4th set in a tie break...had he lost in the tie break..he would have certainly won the 5th and the match...Alas..he can;t conquer clay and Nadal..Cheers to Nadal

In F1 Alonso won in Britan and Shumi was 2nd..Shumi is still in the hunt 23 points behind ...can he catch up?

India are pounding on the Agony...God knows when Dravid will declare..

And the dutch prevailed over serbia 1-0

Super Sport Sunday

2006-06-11T11:45:00.000+05:30

Today is June 11...what a day for sport buffs...

Lets start with Tennis.Not since the days of Agassi and Sampras in the mid 90's has such a famed rivalry taken on the awe of the tennis world.Fed-Ex and Nadal.The 2 best players of the world are gonna lock horns once again , this time in Paris.While Fed is the reigning No 1, Nadal (World No 2) is the master of clay, the surface on which the French open is played. Nadal enjoys a 5-1 win/loss recordover Fed...something none of his other compatriots can boast of...

Moving to formula 1, the British Gp is here.Alonso has taken the pole followed by Kimi and Micheal in that order.Alonso looks unstoppable so far this season, theonly semblence of a fight has been from Ferrari's Micheal Schumacher.Questions about Micheal's future are the major gossiping point all over the Racing world with tranfers being discussed..and no one sure where they will go.Kimi has been a distant 3rd so far, with Mclaren having major reliability problems.Wait for the drama to unfold at Silverstone.

The world cup group stage matches go on ....and it becomes more interesting as the days go by

And finallywe have the rejuvinated Indian Cricket team playing in the 2nd test at St Lucia.Sehvag has set the pace with a almost Run-a-ball 180 and the visitors finished at 361/4 yesterday...lets see whats in store for Dravid and his Men today.

Back in Mumbai

2006-04-02T12:43:00.000+05:30

Convo is over and so are the best 2 years in my life so far....GIM goodbye..i will miss u.

What lies ahead is MUMBAI.Yes I am back in the city of dreams ... joining my new job ..lemme wish all my batchmates the very best in life

Kamat's Party

2006-01-21T02:56:00.002+05:30

Last saturday , Vikram Kamat a batchmate from Goa had invited me over to his house fora party.Lemme give you some background into this

Vikram's parties are very famous at GIM. The Whos who of the batch gets invited to his parties. I can sa that he is the "Vijay Mallya" of GIM.

I had a lot of fun at his arty.In this party I was the Bartender ..Well I broke the Golden Rule of bartending at his party...Bartenders are supposed to be Sober !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats a Picture of me with the great socialite

Kamat's Party

2006-01-21T02:56:00.001+05:30

Thats a Picture of me with the great socialite

Basant cup semi final 1

2006-01-21T02:29:00.000+05:30

Something very strange happened at Basanti Cup last week.. The clear favorites (Bhau's team) was made to bite the dust by Sid and his boys.It was a brilliantr turnaround after Sid's team could muster only 60 odd runs in their innings .But batting against Sajjad and Co turned out to be a nightmare for Bhau's team.With ghiyaz out due to a sore back,they didn't have a great batting lineup and everyone looked rusty. Dany Matthew was a lone warrior and battled till the end.In the end the task got a bit big on him and he crumbled under pressure. PGP2 teams take a lesson from Sid and boys...

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T23:42:00.000+05:30

This New Year has been one of the best I have had for years.I mean the New Year celebrations . Except the fact that I was not with my family, everything else was so great.

It all started with an evening at Onkar’s house .Onkar is a batch mate of mine who stays in Panjim .He was kind enough to invite some of us to his house for tea. We all ate dholkas and jalebis here (Yummy!!!).

After this I was back on campus at around 7.had to go for a party so got all ready. I was wearing proper formals complete with blazer and formal suit for the party, because that was the dress code!

After we friends were ready we decided to dine out , so went to our favorite restaurant in Goa. Don Pedro’s. Amazing dishes, but mostly non – vegetarian, so veggies stay away.
After food we went to a friends house to pick her. She also bought her cousin along, my date for the evening. A very pleasant personality and I did enjoy her company.

Now to the party. The place is Rendezvous, same club where we had this year’s GIM fresher party. I didn’t actually want to go there but then democracy rules and my group wanted to go here. I had no problems, it’s important to be with our friends for New Year, place isn’t so important.
The dance was more formal, so I didn’t actually like it.The count down to the New Year was great and so were the hugs and kisses after the New Year started. We danced to some foot tapping music before it was time for the Miss teen contest there. The contestants were good looking but somehow their answers to questions by the judges were not that good

Anyway we got out of that place at 3:30.went to Miramar CCD but found it crowded so went to the Panjim CCD.sat there doing gupshup for an hour and then went back to campus.

Once back on campus, we thought about going on a road trip and seeing the sunrise somewhere at a vantage point. So we reached the 17th century built Aguada fort and from there we viewed the rising sun. After that me and a friend, Nandan went down the western cliff before the fort till we reached the ocean. After taking some snaps we came back .It was 8:30 by this time.

I remembered that my mom had told me to attend mass and reaching Panjim for 9 am mass didn’t look possible .So I decided to go to my friend Sharon’s house for mass. She has a chapel just outside her house, in her yard. After attending mass there we came back on campus.

I had a late breakfast and slept. It was around 11:30 AM by the time I slept. It was a long and eventful night

Happy New Year everyone

Placements over

2005-12-27T18:10:00.000+05:30

wooh//placements at GIM were just great this year

Read more abt it on www.gim.ac.in

Moi landed up at IMRB, Mumbai

Placements

2005-12-10T15:45:00.000+05:30

Placement week begins at GIM on Dec 17 ..Lets hope for the best!!!!!!!!!

2005-11-14T20:37:00.000+05:30

Hi,
We have an Intra College Cricket Tournament called Basanti. My personal Basanti campaign came to a Not so Happy end when we ended up on the Losing side in a Nail biting Encounter.it was my last match at Basanti.
Basanti was a Very Important Part of My stay at GIM .We were a Second srting Team ,But the way we gelled, Played and Had fun for 2 years in the Tournament was Fabulous.

Hail Basanti

The Movie Analogy

2005-10-20T01:10:00.000+05:30

Did this ever happen to u?

The movie u go to see in a multiplex is going housefull whearas the movie u dont want to see..u suddently get a complementary pass for it...

This is a gr8 analogy fr whats happening in my life now

Talking of my roomie..he hasnt even asked the ticket counter if tickets are available.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Team

2005-10-16T15:03:00.000+05:30

Choosing the best team is so damn difficult..take the example of Cricket .Are the best 11 necessarily the best team .We talk about how the Indian team seldom has the best 11 playing.tats becayuse maybe the top 1 can't gel together as a team .Whats the use of them being in the same team then.

The best example is the World 11.It had arguably the best 11 payers outside of Austrailia who were fit enough to play.Yet they lost badly to an Austrailian team which was out of form and luck.Why ? Cos the Austrailians played as a unit which the World 11 cound't do..Period

Hence I say..the best people don't neccessarily make the best team.

Festivities Galore

2005-10-13T02:49:00.000+05:30

We celebrated Navratri and Dussera in Campus .Saturday night we had the Gujrathi Dandiya and Today we had Dussera , with the burning of Ravan's Effigy signifying victory of good over evil.

I sometimes feel like the Campus is a Mini India .Its true in most Top MBA colleges in India nowadays.wegetto learn new cultures , eat good food from other regions in India etc.I fel that its a good thing fr students.

Salaam Namaste

2005-10-08T14:38:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I saw Salaam Namaste On LAN.I Think its strictly an OK Movie , and certainly does not live up to the hype some of its ardent fans create.

The kind of life Saif leads .well cannot even be a creation of the most irrational of thinkers .What crap about him going to a restaurant to design it and becoming a chef there..huh.

And the Side Characters are really Sidey.Whats with the overacting of the Restaraunt Owner, the Radio Station Owner and most shockingly Javed Jaffery's Character.AB's Baby in the final moments is a real pain ,when he comes for a guest appearance in Yash Uncle's Film.

And any Rational person who saw the film would kno..The 2nd half of the movie looked so similar to "Kya Kehna".And I saw Saif Giving a lecture toArshad Warsi on Using Protection ..Hello Chote Nawab..havent u heard of the Dictum "Practice Before U Preach"

All in all I felt that Arshad Warsi's Character was well written.Jugal Hansraj was a waste .And whats this new craze in the Yashraj Stable to base all their films Abroad?This Yashraj film certainly didnt live up to the hype...

Checking

2005-08-31T20:44:00.000+05:30

Hi checking the MS word Publishing wizard for blogger

Volunteer Party

2005-08-26T03:18:00.000+05:30

another volunteer part..another evening of fun.

this time however , it was much more grand and happening.lots more people and yeah even the Director was present to felicitate the volunteers.it was a nice occasion and the informal session that happened after the Director left was even more amazing.

Patents Symposium

2005-08-26T03:00:00.002+05:30

wooh
Finally done with the Patents Symposium .I was responsible for working on the PR part, so I was pretty happy with my role. I had minor hiccups and dissapointments, but overall the eperience was great.Learning was of course great.I learnt as much as idid in my summers in these 2-3 days onf the conclave.

Cheers to the patent symposium and the entire team of volunteers and of course Dr Anand , because of whom I got involved in all this.

Patents Symposium

2005-08-26T03:00:00.001+05:30

They Are Back

2005-08-13T16:32:00.000+05:30

Yippee....Its the Annual Alumni Meet at GIM and we get to meet all of them wh come from various parts of the country for this Event.

I am looking forward to meet my Seniors ..Oh Boy we miss them

So we all are gonna party over the next 3 days and have the Time of our lives!!!

Raksha Bhandan

2005-08-12T02:51:00.000+05:30

This is Gyan from the "Dude" of my College

Agar aap bus,train,plane ya kahin se bhi aa jaa rahe hon aur kisi mahila/larki ke hath mein phool,dhaga,chain ya chamakti hue koi bhi vastu dekhein to turant wahan se bhag jaye.Ye vastu RAKHI ho sakti hai. Apki zara se laaparwahi apko BHAI bana sakti hai.

An Outdoor Trip I won't forget

2005-08-09T00:58:00.000+05:30

Last weekend I went for an outdoor trip to Mollem. The place is in the South East Goa, Near Dudhsagar falls. We basically planned it as a Barbeque trip and Overnight stay and then visiting some nearby tourist spots before coming back to campus the next day.

This place is some 75-80 kms from GIM, so we took a car and some bikes. I was a pillion behind Sopan. Now let me tell you something bout this guy. He literally is the kind of person who "Lives on the Edge”. He races along the roads at a blistering 90 Kms/Hr. Well that’s O.K. but then he also has this "ROADRASH" style of overtaking. Hence it wasn't much of a surprise that I straightaway grabbed a helmet before I sat behind him. And yes...said my prayers.

The roads in Goa during the Monsoon ain't very Driver friendly and the journey was full of Jumps and Bumps. This guy just drives across the Rumblers on the road. Somehow the Rumblers in Goa are large enough to be a row of Speed breakers, so imagine my agony when I literally jumped out of my seat a couple of times. Then this guy has to smoke while riding, so he just leaves his hands from the Handle to alight it. I just sit still on my seat. Period.

When we reached the place, we were lucky to find accommodation in a Forest Resort. After we settled in we started on the Prime event of the evening. Barbeque Time. Add to it the Booze. The Barbeque was a great experience in itself. The chicken was fabulous and credit must be given to our In-house Barbeque specialists Sindhura and Vikram. The booze hit most of us and started a round of Fun, bakar and Time pass. I slept at around 2 after having my capacity of drinks. Luckily I didn’t Puke, some others did.

End of Day One.

It’s Morning and we realise that out of the 13 who came in, 4 have gone back
without even informing us. After cursing them for sometime, we decided we will visit a couple of temples in the area before heading back.

We reached the first temple at a place called Tambisurla.Its a beautiful place, very serene and natural. Took some snaps, saw the temple and headed for the 2nd place.

Now this second temple was located on the other side of a stream, away from the main road. Its important to remember that we were a bit away from Civilisation, without mobile connectivity et al.The crossing the stream idea was Sopan's since he had been there before. However we had to leave our car and Bikes behind and wade waist deep into the stream to reach the Temple. The problem was that Sopan didn't anticipate the Tide and Strong currents in this stream during Monsoon. On our first
Attempt we failed, the current literally dragging some of us. Sopan and Pabitra went upstream, to check if its easier to wade through the River there.

They didn't return for some time now, and another guy Aushin now started making up this Concept that we are all part of a teenage Slasher movie.4 guys who tried leaving n the morning already gone, and then 2 others also missing now. Before he could add any more spice to the Story however, they came back, however with a worse problem.

Sopan had apparently tried to wade thru the stream and had lost the car keys in the current, when he lost his balance. Now without the car keys, we were totally cut off. This place was in the middle of nowhere and we were stranded.

Nandan went off on one of the two bikes to look for a mechanic, but didn't return for 2 hrs now. All are valuables were in the Car. We were totally at nature's mercy. Somehow Sopan managed to open one of the doors with a Ruler. Waiting in the car was much better than waiting in the rain. Now Nandan wasn't back for 3 hours so Sopan decided to get a mechanic himself. Now with both bikes gone, we were totally isolated.

Its 3 PM when Sopan finally returns with a mechanic. The guy shorts some wires and starts the car, but the steering is locked! So we can't drive it. We are scared about Nandan, hoping he isn't lost in the forest. Out of the blue comes Nandan, our Knight in Shining amour. He had gone some 20 kms away to Ponda where he found a mechanic who unlocked the steering and got the Car started. Finally after an agony of 5 hours not knowing what Fate we would endure, we finally left for Campus.

This Adventure (More of a Misadventure) taught me a few things. One is that nature still can control you and make it dance to your tunes. Other is that Adventure is dangerous too.

Mourge v/s Ot

2005-08-06T01:22:00.000+05:30

We have 4 boys hostels, OT ,Mourge,Hill Top and Admin.

Lot of my erstwhile Ot friends(thats one of the boys hostels) tell me that they miss me there.I was the only OT guy that went to Mourge.well truth is that I miss them too, but I kinda wanted some change .OT is the happening place, I admit, but then I needed some peace and quiet I guess.I had an overdose of Bakar and Fun last year.
So whenever I get time I do go to Ot, my erstwhile abode.people tell me that I am an "OT Guy" , so I shouldn't have left it in the frst place.I say on the other hand that I will change the image of Mourge and make it a happening place.

NEWS

2005-08-03T11:50:00.000+05:30

I noticed a strange thing today.Yesterday night I was surfing the net when this news caught my eyes.It was about an Air france flight which crash landed at Toronto.While TOI website said that all 309 aboard werew feared killed, the reuters site confidently said that there is not even a single casualty.Now that TOI realised its mistake, it quickly removed the article, instead of correcting it.

IP War

2005-08-03T00:41:00.000+05:30

Although students here at GIM have tons and tons of work to do, their appetite for fun somehow always stays intact. The latest craze here is IP war. It consists of flooding the local network messenger with so many messages that people are totally bugged off..Well most people like my roomie always log out of the network when this happens .Vella people like me however enjoy it and also participate in it.

Viruddh

2005-08-02T01:24:00.000+05:30

saw this Movie "Viruddh" at Panjim Inox with some of my batchmates. I thought the movie rocked, but some others disagreed. Amitabh was good , and so was Sanjay Dutt in a cameo.

I wondered how Sanjay did a cameo in this flim, but then it struck me .Mahesh Manjrekar does such cameos in Sanjay Dutt produced flims all the time. Great idea to reduce costs na?

Hungarian GP

2005-08-02T01:18:00.000+05:30

The Hungarian GP was a treat to watch. Though I missed the previous couple of races, I had to watch, cos Micheal was on pole. The man does not have the best car on the circuit anymore, but he surely does know how to get the best out of it.

Being a Schumi fan , I do think sometimes how it hasn't rained at all in any GP this season.Ferrai and Bridgestones are traditionally good in the wet..perhaps things could have been different...

Who talked me into learning to Ride a Bike

2005-08-01T20:32:00.000+05:30

The friend who persisted me hat I learn to ride a bike is Vineeta Chakkungal>Althugh I always wanted to learn, somehow there wasn't enough motivation for doing so.now that she has bugged me so much..I finally had to do it

Of Thriller Novels

2005-08-01T19:59:00.000+05:30

In the recent past I have lost my zeal for reading novels and the like. So when a friend gave me his novel I was sceptical about whether I could finish it. But it was a interesting one, so i somehow completed it. It took me 7 days, which is slow considering I used to read enid blyton books in 3 hours flat.

BTW , the name of the book is "Area 7" by Matthew Reily

Happy bday Shinta

2005-07-31T03:42:00.000+05:30

Today is the Birthday of one of my very close friends on Campus , Shinta

Happy Bday Dear

Complete man

2005-07-30T18:28:00.000+05:30

Well a few days ago we did this interesting Brand Management assignment on "Raymond " and its subsidary brands like Park Avenue and Color plus.Saw all these ads about a "Complete man" et al

Strangely today I had to go for a Project and i dont know how to ride a bike ..Yeah yeah its true.
I know how to ride the ungeared ones like Activa and Knietic , but no experience in the Motorbike category .Now this female friend of mine, who had to go with me said that its absolutely nessacary for a guy to know how to ride a bike. She Brainwashed me like hell about how important it is to ride a bike and all that.She said that a guy not knowing to ride a bike was not a "Complete Man".

Totally frustated by all this I gave myself an ultimatum that I had to learn how to ride bikes no matter what comes in the way.So I borrowed a bike from one friend and then found a volunteer who would help me learn riding a bike.went to the nearby place called Divar which is sparsely populated and took some driving lessons.Wish me luck in this crazy endavour of mine.

More Pics from Mumbai

2005-07-29T04:23:00.000+05:30

Mumbai's "The day After Tommorow" Adventure

2005-07-28T17:25:00.000+05:30

Check this

2005-07-28T17:21:00.000+05:30

I got tis from a Batch mate..something to do with my name

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/flash/fluhoward.html

24 Hours

2005-07-27T17:10:00.000+05:30

Rains have lashed mumbai like Hell.
Life is totally wrecked here.The visiting faculty that I talked about earlier has still not left Goa due to bad weather.
My Dad and Brother didnt return home last night.Bro stayed back at a friend's house, but dad was stranded at a Local platform for the whole night.

The most sophisticated city in India ..with the worst drainage system.

Hoax

2005-07-27T17:07:00.000+05:30

How easy is it to pull off a hoax?
I just Did

i created a hypotetical situation last night when that situation never did exist in the first place

VISITING FACULTY

2005-07-26T22:55:00.000+05:30

Visiting Faculty is a big pain in the ass.They kill ur weekends as weekdays they have lectures sheduled in their own institutes.Also they shedule as much as 3-5 lectures of the same subject, that too on saturdays or sundays.

hence when they announced that a Visiting faculty was taking Consumer Behaviour classes, I was not too optimistic.But I must admit , the guy was pretty good.he took seperate classes for 2 sections, hence there were no continuous classes, a big relief.

The only annoying thing was his Pronunciation.He pronounced "consumer" as "Conzumer" and "Education as "ezucation".Why he even called my roll call as Jarry Monteiro...

old pals

2005-07-23T02:59:00.000+05:30

you know it feels great chatting with old pals once in a while .today i chated with an old pal frm Engg days....Assad.He is a great guy now doing his MS in the US.man ..i just remember those old engg days..

Also spoke to chandra , a friend doing MBA at ICFAI Hyderabad. He is doing well too.

By the way

2005-07-23T01:22:00.000+05:30

Cheers to the GIM Spirt !!!!

Volunteer Party

2005-07-22T12:36:00.000+05:30

I had volunteered in one of the events held here at GIM .As always did some PR for them.It was the Finance conference.The Co-ordinator for the evnt was Miss Kshama Fernandes , one of our esteemed Faculty.

All volunteers for the meet were taken for a party by Miss Kshama.the place was Nostalgia , a quite authentic goan kind of restaurant in Ria near Madgaon.It was a great party you bet.Great Music and Great Food.And to top it all off.yeah..great booze as well.

I was specially sentimental about the food.The Prawn curry was tasting exactly similar towhat my mom cooks at home .wow!

The place is far from my college , so we had hired a car to go there.the trip to and from the place was just like a School Picnic atmosphere, with song and all.

Even after we got back, we did a lot of halla(Noise) in the campus .I hope the Warden is not listening!

2005-07-21T01:42:00.000+05:30

Now try this and see if it works

Hectic

2005-07-20T09:50:00.000+05:30

I am totally bogged down by work now.loads of projects.Each of the electives i have taken has a project which requires visiting a company and doing a project.

Even then I am managing somehow.Plus doing PR for GIM has taken a lot of my time.Butthats my passion and I have to follow it.

Cheers

2005-07-13T15:12:00.000+05:30

I just don't know , but i don't have the same fasination for sharapova as others....Maybe cos I prefer tennis stars who do't model a lot and stick towhat they can do best...Play the Game

Freshers

2005-07-13T02:39:00.000+05:30

I have started doing PR for my coolege..Man its such a good experience to give back something to GIM.

This week was eventful.We had this freshers party which was gr8 fun.Its a tradition at GIM that a fresher asks a senior to go out with him/her to the frehers party. Now since they boy: girl ratio is somewhat like 2:1 only some lucky bastards get a date.I had more than my share of luck...was asked out by 4 girls...man it was embarrasing.

Returned at 6 am from the party after being stranded outsidee the disc for 4 hrs. don't even ask me how....

I am Back

2005-06-10T21:15:00.000+05:30

After being away from this blog for about a year..i return back..What was i doing?

MBA 3 letters that have changed my life

Sleeping habits ..Eating habits all have changed

Dunno what the future has for me

Cant write the germans off

2004-06-17T01:31:00.000+05:30

wow what a splendid match . one cant write the germans off at any stage of a tournament . they always prove their critics wrong

Cant write the germans off

2004-06-16T13:31:00.000+05:30

wow what a splendid match . one cant write the germans off at any stage of a tournament . they always prove their critics wrong

french win the battle

2004-06-14T19:37:00.001+05:30

what a shocking result in euro 2004 . the match turned on its head in the last 270 seconds . unbelievable

shock start to euro

2004-06-13T12:10:00.000+05:30

well in one of the most socking results in euro 2004 greece got the better of spain . the portugal defence looked tattered and their attack lacked tooth . they got many chances upfront , but i guess it just wasnt their day . perhas they were overwhelmed by the crowd response

Euro 2004

2004-06-12T12:08:00.000+05:30

Euro 2004 is starting , and its football fever all around . Well France look like favorites again , but I will always root for the underdone , this time most like England

Euro 2004

2004-06-12T11:33:00.000+05:30

Euro 2004 is starting , and its football fever all around . Well France look like favorites again , but I will always root for the underdone , this time most like England

who am i?

2004-05-28T05:49:00.000+05:30

hello there mate

something bout me

I am Gary, an electronics engineer(thats what my graduation certificate says)from mumbai university . gonna join GIM (goa institute of management)in june .Life has been up and down , but really looking forward to this gr8 experience of being a B-schooler.

Thats it from me for now