Mission reading 2

Its been long time since i have updated my blog, i was busy ( At least i would like to think that way!) Its been 3 months that i have got into a B-school and it took time to settle down. I thought of writing a post titled "Life@ B-school" but in order to get back to my my writing habit i assumed writing a book review would be good. Well again i am not sure how much justice i can do to this book,nevertheless whats wrong in trying!




This is the second autobiography i have read, but the first one to complete! I really hate myself for not being to able to complete a book,a very bad habit to inculcate.I happened to see this book in the library in the New arrival section and i had set my eyes on the book. So rather than using my library card for issuing subject related books i got "Simplyfly"

I kept the book for three weeks! I couldn't find time to read it, well being a MBA student i have been told that giving this excuse is the biggest mistake you can do! But honesty comes with a price doesn't it? I finally finished this book and must say felt enriched after reading the autobiography.

This book is a story of a simple middle class guy born in a orthodox family in Karnataka,here i could easily relate to him,since i am also from karnataka and we both are from the same caste too! He completed his schooling from a sainik school and joined NDA and later IMA Dehradun. He has beautifully narrated his young age and how Military taught him discipline and how really an army soldier feels when he is at the border.

I felt good to read about a soldier and how he fought in the Bangladesh war and his Himalayan posting days, then he resigned from military and took to Farming!! A unusual decision but the way he has rationaled it made me agree to his view point.For about 5 years he was dedicated to Farming and espicially Organic farming, he has beautifully described the future and throughout the book he quotes some classic poets and writers which clearly suggest how well read he is.

Then he ventured into Hotel business and then enfield dealership and later into Politics ,he always had something on his plate never to be bogged down to routine life. Thats a wonderful quality i would love to inculcate,then finally he started Deccan helicopter business and the confidence he has shown in starting the business without any capital is commendable.
I felt his political connections helped him immensely to get past the labryinth of red tapism in our country,but he never lost his integrity by bribing the officials, thats truly inspiring.

He has shared some beautiful experiences of his helicopter business and how it transformed that sector in the country and after that he set his eyes on airline with main focus being to fly the common man. The way he set out to do the work is astounding, miliary discipline surely helped him great deal in his endevours. His book then explains how he started Air deccan and how it revolutionalised the passenger airline industry ( Effect of being a MBA student: Need to be specific about the industry!)

In the last part of the book he explains how Vijay Mallya tried unsuccessfully to acquire his airways and how he tried to solve many problems his airways was facing. Then due to many indsutrial effects he finally had to agree to mallya and they made the deal worth billions on a phone call ~Phew~ Both Mallya and Gopinath are two extremes when it comes to lifestlye and this marriage was not going to be successful but nevertheless it had to happen. Finally Gopinath resigned from his executive post and allowed Mallya to rule.

In hindsight a few mistakes cost gopinath his airlines but he played a huge part in bringing the LCC( Low cost carriers) concept to india, i mean bringing it successfully. He has now started his cargo business "Deccan 360" whose concept he got while he was running air deccan, he has capitalised on his learnings from life.

Its a great book and i am sure you will love it and it would be hard to put it down, you will learn a lot from it. Do get a copy for yourslf.

( Sorry for grammatical mistakes and my excellent 'Hinglish' I suffer from a fear called Englophobia :) :))

Mission reading-1

For me reading books is a mission, i have promised myself that i am going to read loads and loads of books, Something which i should have done earlier. Its never too late, is it?

This is the post about the two books i read recently,

I am not reviewing them since i don't think i am capable of doing justice to the job of reviewing. I shall try to write down my thoughts on them and what i got to learn from them.

I started reading Non-Fiction books recently and must say they are truly more rewarding than fiction. Though there are exceptions!

1] Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert kiyosaki

I was advised to read this book so that i get to know some basics stuff of finance, I come from a technical background(at least i think i do!) hence have no idea of financial concepts.When i saw the book in the crossword store i was skeptical should it. But then i thought lets take the risk and see what this book with a unusual title is all about. I am happy that i purchased the book since it has taught me very valuable lessons on how to deal with finances.

It is not a investment strategy book like some people call it,it is a book which teaches you, how to manage your finances and become rich. Yes it also tells you different ways to invest but that is not the main goal of the book. It gives some good insights on why people never become rich and why they keep on falling into debts. I understood some concepts which i would like to mention briefly,

-> People think that in order to become rich they need to work harder at their job but they do not realize that the more they earn the more they spend! Rich people spend smartly and middle class people dont.

-> The difference between asset and liability is defined in a simple and easy to understand manner. People generally consider their liabilities as their assets and never spend enough time to accumulate the real assets.

-> The biggest mistake what education is doing is, it is not teaching 'financial literacy' which is of utmost importance. If anyone wants to learn how to become rich he is said to be greedy but we are digging our own grave by falling prey to debt in the forms of loans.

-> In order to come out of rat race you need to be smart and have financial literacy. The book in no way tells you to avoid work infact it tells you to concentrate more on work but also handle your finances intelligently.

The author has explained in a beautiful manner of a story and not one minute will you get bored.

Everyone should read this book especially one's who have no knowledge of finance. Go ahead and get your copy and get all the gyan!

2] Tipping point by Malcolm Gladwell

In my city Hyderabad there is a market for second hand books which is put up every sunday. For people like me who cannot spend more money this place is a gold mine! You get all the famous books and also a few duplicate stuff. I try not to buy pirated stuff but at times have no other option. I have promised myself that once i start earning i will get the books from real book stores. Most of the times i buy second hand books and Tipping point was one such book.

I bought this book after checking out the cover and reading the brief intro about it. I was not sure whether i would like it or not considering how old the book was(both years and the condition of the book!) After reading it i again gained lot of gyaan!

This book answers some interesting questions,

1] Why certain ideas or behaviors get a spark and become a epidemic whereas others don't?

2] Can we deliberately start social epidemics in a positive sense?

The book explains this by using various examples and experiments performed by social scientists and psychologists.It is a very interesting way of explaining and the author makes sure that you get the point. He basically gives three concepts

-> Law of few:Connectors,Mavens

-> Stickiness factor

-> The power of context

Each and every point has been explained in a detailed manner.

You also get to know why fight against smoking is failing, because we are focusing in the wrong direction. Its a interesting way to look at the smoking problem.

Throughout the book the author says how little factors are responsible for major change and how little effort put in the right direction can get you amazing results. These factors are responsible for the ideas to reach their tipping point.

It is a must read book according to me. You should not miss out such a great book.

"In nonfiction, you have that limitation, that constraint, of telling the truth"

~PeterMathiessen~

"Nadi Astrology"

I have always found astrology very fascinating, who wouldn't love to know about the future.

so being from a family who believed in all kinds of astrology i had many fields of astrology to explore! From Numerology to Palmistry to traditional astrology based on stars to tarot and finally Nadi astrology.

I found nadi astrology to be very interesting and its results are amazingly accurate. Don't believe me? Just google for information you will find plenty of sites.

"Nadi astrology is the form of hindu astrology based on the belief that the past,present and future lives of humans were foreseen by hindu sages in ancient sages and written down as Palm leaf manuscripts"

The experience of getting your nadi astrology done itself is a experience! I had this experience a year ago and had written about it on a forum called "Pagalguy" For those who do not know what Pagalguy is 'Its a mecca of information about MBA' and for people like me it is a community of people who help each other which is rare in our world. Now you might be wondering what has a MBA forum to do with astrology. PG as we call it is a place for intellectuals to brain storm their concepts of cracking different entrance exams and also for them to relax and get to know each other via so many threads in chit chat section. I being a 'Non-Intellectual' use PG for that!

If you are not a member of it then be one!

I am going to copy paste that post here ( Laziness ka baap :))

My parents had got their reading years back and not surprisingly most of what was said in the Tape( given by nadi astrologer) has happened. I was pretty much confused after my Engineering. I had this idiotic idea that i should do MS in Computer networks in England. But then i was planning to write CAT and all other exams. So in order to make a decision i thought lets go to Astrologer( I know its stupid). Astrology always interested me.

Now coming to that day,the guy here in hyderabad is a Tamilian and speaks a very strange Telugu,He took my Thumb impression and gave me a Pamplet on which i had to decide which all chapters of life i wanted to know. I being so curious ticked them all and had to shell out 3500rs for it.( I know thats heights of stupidity!!) He asked us to come after 2 days.

I was having loads of free time those days( 3 months back). So after coming to home i did lot of research( Googling!!) on Nadi astrology and got to know a lot of info on that and about a person named Shashank Oak who was a Air force personal and has written a book on Nadi astrology. I read that book in the night until 3 am!! ( If i had same interest in my engineering books,i would have had better percentage!) I read many Experiences of different people and was anxious to know about my reading. After 2 days it was show time!!

The astrologer started asking me questions to which i had to answer only in Yes or No. He asked me a few questions regarding my date of birth whether was it in May,june. I said no. Then he said it is April and after a few questions he said Its April 14 1988 I was shocked!! Then he said my mother's name and that she has completed Bcom and is working in a Government and deals with Finances. My mother works in a Bank. Then about my father.Even that was absolutely correct!! Then he said i have done Engineering in Electronics,i was in no position to react I have met with this person only twice in my life and he knows everything about my past!!
He said i am in a confused state about my higher studies,well that was very true. Now that my past and present were absolutely right,he started revealing my future.

He said i would do my Masters( MS or MBA??) in a Place where there is a Ocean,he gave examples of Mumbai,chennai etc If not in India then surely abroad. My masters would start from 2010 and complete successfully in 2012.
I will do a job in a Place where there is Ocean!!( Obsession with Ocean)
I will eventually have a love marriage with a girl who is 3 yrs younger to me and has same qualifications as me and is from a Different caste( My dad was surprised). Now this is the fun part,the girl lives in a place which is 6hrs from my place and there is a Open land or a school or hospital right in front of their home!!( I was just enjoying the session)

I would change a few jobs and my company would send me abroad and i would be for most of my life there and i have one more education which i am going to do part time( 3 yrs). Then i am going to be very good at a job which includes a lot of talking. I would become some advisor of sorts to a company!!
I will have 2 kids and i am going to get lots of guru krupa later in my life( I already have a guru in my life).
I am going to die at the age of 76 in afternoon on a Day which is one day after "Ekadasi". He said i would get moksha

You can believe it or ridicule it, I love to believe it when its good and i completely ridicule it when its bad! So when i can believe what is written on leaves by some unknown sage centuries ago then why should i doubt Octopus baba??

PS: I love to change my blog themes and this one seems to the best of all i have used so far. Isn't it good?

Helpless

"RTE is the tryst with destiny in the education sector"-Kapil sibal

With above words we added a fundamental right to the constitution and civics books. I don't know about all the fundamental rights but one that is commonly used or should i say abused is the right to freedom of speech and expression, an example of which we saw in yesterday's hugely "successful" bharath bandh. By the way did you participate in the bandh? I dint because all i needed was a holiday.

Coming to the point of this post, RTE provides free education to children between the age 6 and 14.

According to the right any child between the said age group if found not going to school or working during the school hours becomes a violation of the act and is illegal. we can complain to concerned local authority which will ensure that the child goes to school.

{For complete information on RTE check out this brilliant article here}

There is this girl who is 8 years old who comes along with our domestic help( Honestly called maid) and helps in cleaning the home. When asked whether she goes to school, she said she used to but now she isn't. On further questioning i got to know why she doesn't, her story makes me feel that RTE does not help in her case.

This girl is the granddaughter of our maid's elder sister, she used to live in village with her parents but her father who was unable to look after her sent her to the city(Hyderabad) to stay with her grandmother. After coming to the city she started going to school for a few months but then her grandmother had to go to a different city so she decided to hand over the responsibility to her sister. (Our maid) Now the girl has stopped going to school since our maid does not want to pay for her school. Even though government gives free education still there are additional expenses which need to be taken care of.

So instead of sitting idle in her home she also comes to our home and helps in cleaning.

Now the question arises what does RTE does in this case? Kapil sibal had made it clear that it is our responsibility to make sure that all children around us go to school. But what can we do when parents do not want to send their child to school?? This girl's father now wants her to come to village and he does not want her to go to school!!

Government through RTE provides free education until 8th class but then in this case it cant do anything. I feel helpless in this situation and also feel responsible in some way because we are letting a child work in our home.

I am optimistic that RTE will help many children go to school which is where they should be.

Great news:Fuel prices go up.

( Disclaimer: This is not sarcasm,I am serious. :) )

For people who are lazy and smart enough to not watch news channels and read 'informative' (Read: masala!) Newspapers, this is the news which is rocking the parliament and the whole country. Fuel prices have gone up! ( Nothing new right?)

Petrol: Rs 3 and some change..

Diesel: Rs 2 and some change..

LPG Gas: Rs 35 and no change!

Kerosene: Don't know, You can read your paper for further details.

Opposition parties,state ruling parties and all other state level organisations are doing what is expected of them, Protesting Vehemently by Burning effigies and stuff ( There is huge potential in Effigies manufacturing business,demand never dies down!!)

But there are few people, who recognize that the move made by government is brilliant and planned keeping future in mind. After all they have a vision for our country.

Of that few people,i would love to call myself one but i cannot! I am still not well qualified!

But i have some thoughts on the issue which will sure get affirmative from brilliant people.

There are many benefits from fuel prices hike, some of them include:

Health Benefits

1] Now you can keep your two wheeler/four wheeler in your garage/parking lot and forget about it. Yes you can! We can walk more,and am sure you all people know the wonderful benefits of walking. You can walk short distances but for long distances comes the second point.

2] Public transport(PT): You can use Buses and trains to cover long distances,and you save money too! Now if you use PT, there will be less pollution as the number of vehicles on the road will decrease. Great news for people who wear the suffocating scarfs to avoid pollution!!

3] No tension of spending money on petrol and handling irritating Petrol pump guys! Less tension more peace of mind. You can even try out spirituality!!

4] This is the best benefit according to me, You can have a clear thinking process! Pretty simple explanation for that, Time spent on vehicle to reach destination will be lot lesser than spent on walking or using PT. Now you do not have to concentrate on driving too. So you can utilize your time in thinking. Because you have already got peace of mind you can think about the betterment of society!! Hence making our country a better place to live in.

Economic benefits

1] As already explained above you will shell out less money on PT and save a lot of money on petrol too. You also don't have to spend on service charge of your old vehicle.

And the biggest save would be giving the money too Traffic policeman!

Now i will give you the rough figures which i will save every month, I encourage you to calculate your savings too.

Petrol for my 2 wheeler-> Rs 500

Traffic policeman-> Rs 100/200/300 ( Varies according to the greed)

Service charges-> Rs 300 ( Considering that my vehicle needs servicing every 3 months)

Air for Tyres-> Rs 10

Total spending per month-> Rs 710 ( Service charge per month is added as Rs 100)

If i use PT for travelling then it would amount to Rs 300.( As per Hyderabad PT charges which by the way are expected to increase!)

Amount saved: Rs 410!!

"Money saved is money earned" Now if you are sensible then you will not spend this amount but save it for investing later. 1 year savings would be Rs 4920!

If you chose to save the money for three years it becomes a whopping Rs 14760!! You can invest this money on accumulating your assets. I am not good at financial matters,i am sure you will come up with great ideas to invest that money.

The money can be spent on buying essential commodities for home as well,Food inflation is expected to go up. Government had planned this too! Great vision!

You know the benefits now, i encourage you people too thank the Government for taking such a Amazing step for the betterment of the people of our great country. We should encourage them too come up with similar ideas to make our country the best in this world.

The calculations above are based upon a middle class perspective, you may ask what about poor people. Government are coming up with great ideas to solve all their problems.

Jai Hind*

* Conditions apply

7 things you don't know about me

This post has been due for some days now, I was tagged my shyam govind to write this post.

For those who are thinking what tag? There is this theme which is being followed, I write the post titled "7 things you don't know about me" and then tag to my friends who in turn tag to their friends thus continuing the chain.

You can check out shyam govind's post here

Seven facts you do not know about me:

1] I am fat,hence i am optimist! There is a connection between fatness and optimism,people who are fat are more optimistic in nature. The amount of time 'sensible' fat people spend on dreaming about becoming slim cannot be measured! Even if we do not follow any diet or do any physical exercise still we are hopeful that magically we will lose weight! As they say "hope is a good thing" no one knows that better than us.

2] I know first point was absurd. Coming to the second point,my friends say i am extremely silly and childish. I have to agree to that! Even though i am 22(err..23 confused about my age,will check out my date of birth certificate and update later) I have no 'maturity' and do not know what is my 'True calling'. I am still waiting for that enlightening moment where i get to know the purpose of my immature life.

3] Talking about Purpose, i read it in a book that "Purpose is a combination of want's and don't wants" Taking cue from the statement let me try to think what my purpose is.

I want to become rich,I don't want to be materialistic.

I want to be a altruist,I don't want to remain as a 'social worker' all my life.

I want to change my country,I don't want to pay tax though!

I want to bring some sense to this post,I don't know how to do that!

So my third point is i am a thoroughly confused guy.

4] I am extremely emotional,I cry when i see a typical bollywood flick for wasting my hard earned( Borrowed from parents) money. Seriously speaking,i am emotional, cannot live without friends and parents.

5] I like to hog the limelight. In doing so i have embarrassed myself many times in past,but i never learn from my mistakes hence i keep on committing same mistakes again and again.

I am that guy in a group who tries to be a leader but does not know even one quality of a leader.

6] I like people who smile when there is no reason to! I hate people who are always serious. I have a stupid sense of humor,i am sure you would have known that after reading this post.

I crack jokes and laugh on them! Obviously no one else does! I love it when people laugh at me for my fatness. It gives me the satisfaction of making people laugh which i don't get after cracking my 'excellent jokes'

7] I am a combination of good and bad,i try to be good but am not consistent. I am spiritually inclined and believe there shouldn't be any divide on the basis of religion. I believe in the philosophy of Karma, I also like seeing a child in everyone. As the great philosopher "Joker" of "dark knight" religion says

"Why so serious?"

I pass the baton to

Satwinder

Prerna munshi

Business-Basic rule

Three incidents which occurred today evening prompted me to write this post. Being a MBA student( I can call myself that now!) i will get to know all the rules of the business world in the coming two years, but i have some basic knowledge which i would like to express through this post.

Business as everyone knows is for making profits, now ethics is also a very important issue but i will keep that topic for some other time. When you want to make profit be it in small scale or large scale business it is imperative that customer/client is the king. Main purpose is to satisfy the needs of our customer/client.( Nothing new right!)

So the basic rule is and always will be

"Customer is the king"

Now coming to the three incidents that happened today,let me try to write how three different people had different perspectives of running their business.

1] First one-Tailor

We had to collect our newly stitched clothes(My dad's) from our family tailor. It is a no brain work,all we had to do was give him money and take clothes. But while we are doing that the tailor talked to me

" The Kurta is looking good on you, you should stitch yourself two more" ( He was the one who had stitched the kurta i was wearing)

Now he has planted a thought in my head and if that thought turns into action then he is going to make money out of it. So he is a good businessman who is trying to maximize his profits. Its secondary what i do but he has made me think thats where he scores his points.

2] Petrol filling guy

Next we went to the petrol bunk which we usually visit, there a short tempered guy came on his two wheeler and stood right in front of the filling guy. This guy asked him to go the next pump ( less than 5 feet away) since this one had a queue. Angered by his rudeness he asked whether he wants to fill petrol or not, our guy din't answer and the angered person went in frustration.

If the guy talked to the customer politely and asked him to join the queue or go to the next pump i guess the angered person would have listened. Because of the guy's rudeness he lost his customer. You might say it would be very small loss but then if it becomes a habit then losses will multiple.

3] Book store manager

Then i went to a big book store to buy some books(Novels). The manager was standing in front of the counter and asked me which book i was looking for. I was looking for "connect the dots" by Rashmi bhansal. I got my copy and then i wanted to check out some management books and i asked him where the section was. To my surprise he asked me to come tomorrow! It was only 8:45pm! I wanted to buy more books and he blatantly asked me to come tomorrow! I am not even a regular customer there, it was my second visit.

He was denting his own profits! He has lost a customer in me. Even if he was sitting in the shop from morning 9am still it does not make sense to close the shop before time. Couldn't he had stayed for 15 minutes more?? It was he who was to gain after all!!

Tailor had more business sense than book store owner!! See business does not have class or caste divide! Thankfully!!

"Books"

"Reading - the best state yet to keep absolute loneliness at bay" ~William Styron

The above quote explains why i try to read books. I say try because i am still a novice when it comes to books. I have not read much but i would like to have my own library in future.

It is said that reading Non-fiction is better than Fiction and i disagree because i consider non-fiction boring! But i know Non-Fiction gives you abundant knowledge whereas fiction gives you entertainment( There are exceptions!)

The first book i read was "Secret Seven" by Enid blyton. I read it in my School library, we use to have a class once a week where we use to spend 45 minutes in a large enough library. But good books were scarce hence we use to fight for Enid blyton books like Famous five,secret seven etc

If we dint get any good book we use to sit and chat in library. I was never encouraged to read books not by my teachers or my parents( I dont blame them) Library in school was more of a formality to get CBSE affiliation than to serve the actual purpose.

School did help me in one thing "To hate books" We were made to focus more on the questions which followed the lesson than the actual lesson! No one cared if we understood what the poet or author were trying to say. We only had to know what were the answers to the questions. If you wrote the answers different from the "Prescribed" one's your marks would be cut!

School got over,we entered Pre university college and our Library was two racks! Nothing more than few textbooks of Mathematics,physics and chemistry. For those 2 years we were donkeys trying to grasp the concepts of Integration & Nomenclature. No contact with books. But all this while we had one thing for entertainment "TV" Two letters which have changed the defination of entertainment. My idea of fun was watching "Hum Paanch" on ZEE TV and movies on ZEE Cinema.

Choice or no choice i got into Engineering. We had a beautiful library which was the only asset our college had. Library was filled with numerous technical books of varied concepts. But I never cared reading them and thus again i had no contact with Books.

In the third year of engineering my friend gave me a book which had become very famous "Five point someone" by Chetan bhagat. I loved the book and thus started my love for books. I borrowed some and bought some, but i dint stop reading. From then on i read Jeffrey archer,Dan brown,Sidney sheldon ,John Grisham,Ayn Rand etc All of them fiction!

Few months back i read Fountainhead by Ayn rand. It was a superb book which makes you think a lot and changes your perspective towards life. Then i realized there are many good books which are out there but it was me who was ignorant of those. Now i have started reading more frequently and thoroughly enjoy reading them.

Children should be encouraged to read at a young age. Rather than giving playstations,computers as gifts,books should be given to them. Most of the parents do that but there are many children in our nation who are oblivious when it comes to books.

Our education system makes children hate books,that is something which should stop.

I have given my cousins books as gifts so that they take up the hobby. I feel it is my responsibility to give them something which i got very late "Books"

"A blessed companion is a book, - a book that, fitly chosen, is a lifelong friend,... a book that, at a touch, pours its heart into our own" ~Douglas Jerrold

"Movie reviews"

Someone had said to me once that "Movie reviewing" was a good hobby to have. When i was told this i thought i could review movies because i watched so many of them! But i had one problem which my friends told(teased) me, i always appreciated movies! I never said that a particular movie was bad and that was because i always used to ignore the bad part and accept the good part of the movie.

But as my knowledge of movies increased( at least i think so) i started noticing the bad or low quality cinema. Bollywood also helped me a lot since a good movie was so rare!

One of the main reasons i started this blog was to write about movies and i have reviewed some of them but in a unorganized way. I din't know what to write in a review,I mean on what parameters will i judge a movie? Thats the reason why you can see that i have abruptly ended the previous review posts. So now i have decided that there has to be certain parameters on which i shall review a movie.

According to me " A Movie is not only a medium for entertainment but also a way of expressing the society" You can learn a lot from movies( I mean good quality movies) Hence for me it is of utmost importance that the Director has a clear purpose of making a movie and if he is successful in portraying his vision on the screen then thats the best award for a film.

Now i shall try to review a movie based on following factors

1. Story or Script which is the soul of the movie.
2. Cast. Is the cast assembled the best?
3. Direction.
4. Is the movie Logical and if it is illogical then does it have a proper reason to be so?( ai wonder can it still be justified?
5. Is it a film for masses or a particular sect of society?

Also technicalities of the movie which includes Cinematography,Art direction,Camera work etc

I do not have much expertise on these but if i find something interesting worth to note then i shall mention it. There are many other factors which can be considered but above 5 are the main parameters around which the review will be centered.

There can be movies which might not satisfy even one parameter mentioned above,i will try my best to ignore such movies. There are many Bollywood movies which are like that!

I would like to end this post with some beautiful quotes on movies

"The movies we love and admire are to some extent a function of who we are when we see them"- Mary schmich

"You know what your problem is,it's that you haven't seen enough movies-all of life's riddles are answered in the movies"-Steve Martin

"Movies are something people see all over the world because there is a certain need for it"-Wim Wenders

"My true inspiration for movies comes from my Grandfather who absolutely loved them"-Me!

"Reservation Road"{2007}

Firstly thanks to Shyam Govind for his tips which helped me to change the look of my blog. Must say Blogger has done some remarkable changes. You can check out his blog here

Now coming to the movie "Reservation Road" by Terry george who also directed the wonderful film "Hotel Rwanda". This movie is a drama which is high on emotional quotient. First thing which came to my mind after watching the movie was the brilliant acting by two fathers and very good direction. If you consider the plot it looks like any other 90's bollywood revenge theme movie but it is more than that! It is a very powerful film.

Ethan learner and Grace lose their child Josh in a fatal car accident which is caused by Dwight anro's (Attorney)SUV. Not knowing what to do,Dwight speeds away from the accident site but Ethan got a glimpse of the vehicle and heard Dwight shouting his son's name "Lucas". Both Ethan and Grace cannot accept the fact that their son has been killed and are in extreme trauma. Ethan tries all options to nab the culprit by going to Police,attorney and personal investigation but success is hard to come by.

Grace decides that she has to move on with her life but is perturbed because of her husband Ethan who is still traumatised. Here both the actors have acted brilliantly especially Ethan played by jaoquin phoenix. There is a beautiful scene here when Josh's sister Emma asks her mother whether music can be heard in heaven,since she wants to play the piano only if his dead brother can listen to it.

On the other hand Dwight is very nervous and does not know what to do hence he hides his car in the shed and tries to concentrate on his work but he is unable to. He tries to spend more time with his son Lucas so as to forget the incident but it keeps on haunting him. He is unable to sleep and tries to confront Ethan and the police for confessing but is unable to gather the courage.

What is interesting is Ethan goes to the same law firm where Dwight works and dwight has to handle the case which makes it more difficult for him. Here both the fathers have given captivating performances which make the movie very engrossing. Finally Ethan recognizes Dwight's voice and tries to shoot him but is unable to do it since Dwight had realized his mistake and is dying every day because of it.

Watch the movie for amazing performances and good direction. If you do not like too much emotional stuff then this might not be your type but the movie is worth a watch.

If you are wondering why the movie has been named "Reservation road" the accident takes place at Reservation road.

"Random thoughts"

The time i spend in thinking useless topics, if used properly could have actually got me a job!

I was thinking on so many topics that i could not write this post on one single subject hence now have to make it a melody of thoughts!

"first random thought"

Today Naxalites(Moaoists) again targeted civilians by blasting the railway track near kharagpur which resulted in derailing of train and killing 65 "INNOCENT" people who i am sure had no connection with ignoring the ''Genuine'' demands of naxalites. On the other side of the planet in Africa,Indian cricket team lost its first match against Zimbawe.( I am not a news reader!)

Now what does the Powerful Media of our country show in prime time news?? Its a very important question they ask " Should BCCI have rested 10 indian players for the tournament" Some of them go to the extent in asking whether Suresh raina is misfit for Captaincy?

As the media always says that they show what the people want to see! I am sure people are more interested in knowing what happened in Zimbawe to our second string side rather than knowing who was responsible for the killing of only 65 civilians. I use 'only' because life of a individual does not hold any value nowadays. If it had then Government of india would have taken a stern action against the Maoists. Only few channels were flashing the helpline numbers which are of extreme importance in the time of crisis.

I am not a idealist who wants a overnight change in media but at least they should understand their responsibility and take a step in having some ethics.

Next random thought

After watching a thought provoking serial in Television( I know its surprising) I had to think about our education system which has been the focus for past few months,thanks to the HRD minister Kapil sibal's "Landmark" Policy decisions. The serial was highlighting the age old fight between English and Hindi. I do not want to write about the debate,but whats interesting to note is, Our education system does teach both languages in weird kind of hierarchies like Ist,2nd,3rd language but do we really learn the language??

As everyone knows Languages in schools are the least important subjects since we need to score more in subjects like Science,Mathematics. But still we need to learn them since they give is all important "marks". I had the opportunity in studying a CBSE school which was decent and had some good quality teachers, most of the children do not get a chance like this. For now lets leave alone the matter of Poor children like our government usually does.

Now i read Hindi as my second language and as any other common child i by hearted my poems since i had to recite them in front of the whole class because i had to earn 5 marks! Did i understand the poem? Who cares? I couldn't understand the great poem "Madushalla" by Hari vansh rai bachan at the age of 21 and you expect me to understand them at the age of 15, that too on my own! That's too much isn't it?

So after learning Hindi for so many years all i can do is talk in Hindi which is far far from the pure language. Now what about English? The pheonix laguage! In order to know about the rise of english read "Imagining india" by Nandan Nilekani. Coming to the point, After reading my post so far you might have find out numerous grammatical mistakes which clearly suggest that i don't even know English properly! Bottom line is we are not perfect in either languages so why should i care what's my national language??

"Third random thought"

The place where the train accident took place today was near Kharagpur in Bengal. I travelled on that route just 3 days before, so i thank god for not killing me and mourn 2 minutes for 65 souls and then continue to use Facebook,watch TV. What should i do?? Din't i elect the Government to do the worrying? what more can i do? Join IAS and change country? Well there are many people doing that, all i can do is blog! Isn't it?

Armageddon(1998)

Category:Science fiction

I have watched this movie 3 times on Star movies. First time in 2005 during my mid term examinations of 12th! I had a Mathematics exam next day but i was more interested in the movie rather than practicing integration problems, because of which my mother was furious. I don't get bored of watching it again and again,Just now watched it again and felt i should write a review.

First thing which you will notice in the movie is the wonderful assemble of cast. Casting director has done a excellent job.Bruce willis is wonderful in his usual macho-hero role,Ben affleck in a romantic role,Billy bob thornton as head of NASA and steve buscemi as comic relief. Rest of the cast has done a equally good job.

Plot: An asteroid named dottie the size of texas is going to crush earth in 18 days and after consulting with world's top space agencies NASA decides that the asteroid has to be Nuked. But the problem is that the bomb must be put 800 feet deep into the asteroid so that it completely blows out and misses earth. For this NASA finds Harry(Bruce willis) and his team which is the best in oil drilling.The movie follows how Harry and his boys team up with NASA and finish the job.

For complete plot check out this Wiki

The movie is good on emotional quotient but when it comes to scientific facts it is dissapointing.

NASA could identify 168 impossible things shown in the movie! But if you can forgive those mistakes and watch it( As you do in the case of Bollywood movies!) then it is a good watch.

Some comedy scenes are really good and Steve buscemi has done a remarkable job.

The dialouges are amazing and one which is worth mentioning is at the end part of the movie, the Russian astronout says

"American components,Russion components all made in Taiwan"

Harry(Bruce willis) Sacrifices his life when he has to volunteer to stay back on the asteroid to detonate the bomb. The movie could have been lot better than what it turned out to be.

Even the critiques din't give a favorable response and the movie was nominated for Raspberry(Awards for worst movies) awards in various categories,eventually winning in one. On the other side the movie also received some nominations in oscars but the categories were technical.

If you are a person who tries finding logic in the movie then you should stay away from it but if you are a Pure Hindi movie fan then i am sure you will love the movie. I am surprised that no one tried to remake the movie in Hindi.Its not possible to do it, Bollywood still has a long way to go to be able to make science fiction.

"Housefull"

I am not sure whether review of this movie deserves the amount of online space it is going to eat up! After Sajid khan's "Hey baby" which was quite entertaining, lot was expected from Housefull but like many dud films which bollywood makes every year even this is going to bite the dust.

Though it is estimated that it has grossed 10crores in the first day itself but i wouldn't be surprised if its business goes down drastically in following weeks.

Like many comedy films of recent past even this movie does not have a story as such,but uses situations and confusion to make us laugh. Hence you can easily compare it with a movie like No entry. Akshay Kumar( Read pannauti!) is the lead who has no luck in his life and marries a rich girl only to get divorced later. Then he falls in love with Deepika who shares the same feeling,everyone is happy but Arjun rampal(Deepika's brother) a Police officer is hell bent on checking the genuinness of Akshay. Then story unfolds with lots of confusion where some scenes which make you laugh and others which are the same old "Dostana" type jokes.

Sajid khan couldn't think of a suitable ending hence came up with a stupid climax which brings home the point that "your money has been wasted". Akshay kumar has eased through the role with no difficulties,Riteish is good and about Arjun Rampal less said the better.Actresses have done what they are expected too! I wonder if anyone expects them to act nowadays!! Music of the movie is average with a few good numbers and a Emotional atyachar type song which is repeated throughout the movie.

Speaking of Arjun Rampal his controversial National award comes to mind which he won for "Rock on". His performance was good in the movie,he deserves accolades for that but National award?? Thats too much! Isn't it??

Before the Housefull movie started there was a interesting note by sajid khan which indicated names of Manmohan desai and Prakash mehra who are the great directors of bollywood. The note said that they taught that cinema is all about entertainment. True cannot agree more but Housefull does not entertain me. I wonder who the target audience is?

"Catogorisation of cities"

After weeks of no activity on this blog,I have decided to write something. Its been a Non-eventful last 2 weeks in my life where i was away from the virtual world. It was kind of nice to be away from internet. I realised that i am not a addict to the virtual world but that doesn't mean that i din't miss any of the social networking sites,mails,Forums,blogs etc

I was in my village for a week and it was strange that i was thinking on different topics on which i can write on my blog,rather than enjoying the peace and silence which you feel in a rural place compared to noisy fast paced life of a city. Thinking of city i do not like the way our cities are divided into clusters and named Tier1,Tier2 etc

This divides our cities and it is as harmful as caste division, the only difference is that the affects of this divide are not there for everyone to see.

I am sure people living in so called "Tier2/3" cities know what i am talking about. I did my engineering in a region which was considered as "Backward region" and hence you hardly had any companies coming for the Prestigious campus placements!

This is the reason why you see many people going to cities and overcrowding them.

But can we blame the herd?? People go where opportunities exist.

I don't need to provide facts indicating the rising population in metropolitan cities. It is for everyone to see.( If you are numbers conscious then just google and find out!)

Be it Mumbai-Financial capital of India,Benguluru-IT capital,Hyderabad-IT hub etc

These cities are overcrowded and hence are also a easy target for Terrorists!!

I come from a place called Gulbarga in northern karnataka region which is considered "Backward". There are many Engineering graduates and highly successful people which my city has produced but not even one wants to work for the development of their city!!

All of them just complete their education and get settled in the famous cities.

What does Government do? Karnataka government invites investment from companies across the world. These companies are set up in the same cities which are polluted with all kinds of companies. What does gulbarga have? Only a Mill which has stopped working! There are thousands of cities like "gulbarga" in our country but no one wants to work for the development of them.

It is sad that you can have a Multiplex in Gulbarga but not companies,factories etc

What needs to be done to develop these cities?

1] Create Job opportunities so that people do not migrate to other cities.

2] Encourage Entrepreuners to invest in these cities.

3] Improve the level of education in these cities.

When the ex chief minister of karnataka Dharam singh( now a MP) was asked what would he do for Hyderabad karnataka region under which Gulbarga comes.

He said i would make "Jewargi" (a town near Gulbarga) singapore of india!

Another false promise by a Indian politician.

These cities need not be made singapore, these should be made self reliant.

We should focus on Inclusive growth not Exclusive.

Book Review: Fountainhead

Well this is my first attempt to review a book and see my guts! I have decided to write about one of the greatest books of all time. "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand.

I remember the time when i had first heard about Ayn rand,It was my friend who was reading Atlas shrugged( Do not remember exactly) and he had said that it is difficult to comprehend the Philosophy in her books. I thought it would be interesting to read a mix of Fiction and philosophy.

Few weeks ago i came across the book Fountainhead in my friend's place and borrowed from him.

I check out the number of pages of book before starting any book,when i checked this one it was 680!! I knew it would take long time to finish considering my phenomenal speed in reading!!

First few pages done,I did not know what was happening! I got confused but then i tried to comprehend and then started understanding the difficult style of writing of Rand. Difficult because it is different from the contemporary writers we read nowadays. I had heard from different sources that Fountainhead is about some kind of philosophy called "Objectivism"

In the middle of the book i was in inspired by some characters and the kind of philosophy which was being explained was Timeless! The book was published in 1943 and its been 67 years since and the philosophy seems so relevant to present! The book was so ahead of it times.

It is difficult to comprehend everything at one read,it surely requires careful re reads so as to grasp each and every concept which is so beautifully explained. The book comes alive because of its amazing characters. So i shall try to give a short description of each character.

1] Peter Keating: Very similar to every common individual you see in daily life. Has great interest in painting but his mother forces him to utilize the talent in Architecture.He attends the best institute for architecture and is the best student there but he doesn't have any originality. Because the college itself doesn't encourage originality. Goes to the best Firm for work,makes his way to top by some clever plans which also involves causing a death of a person! He becomes famous but it is short lived. He loves a Girl Catherine but they never marry.

2] Dominique Francon: Very difficult to comprehend her nature. She does not believe in the World'y concepts. She writes a column for a Newspaper "Banner" on Architecture and makes no effort to appreciate her father's work. She criticizes most of the work until she meets Roark and falls in love but their love is the most weird i have ever seen. But the understanding and passion is amazing.

3] Ellsworth toohey: A man who preaches Altruism. He is the representative of good in the society. Encourages Unions to fight for their rights. An architecture critique who's views are very important. A man to whom everyone looks up to. In the starting i was so inspired by this character but then he was too good to believe. He actually is actually after power and wants to rule the world! His explaination of how he goes about this work is very interesting and made me think a lot. How he encourages self sacrifice,selling of your soul. Amazing insight into some real concepts of Altruism.

4] Gail Wynand: Rags to riches story. Started his life as a Hooligan but later becomes a billionaire by building Wnand enterprises which has newspapers,tabloids,newsreels etc Even he is after power and iys termed as a Capitalist who runs the most vulgar Newspaper "Banner". He is inspired by Howard roark and they both become friends. He at the end goes all out to support Roark but ultimately loses out to the pressure. But he does not allow Toohey to take over his paper because he shuts the newspaper itself!!

5] Howard Roark: He is the soul of the book. His ideologies rule the book. His Egotism which is showcased in such a wonderful manner that you can't hate him. You will end up being inspired by this man. He is a brilliant Architect who believes Bulidings have their own life and is a Modernist which the world does not like. Very few individuals like his work and give him commissions. But all his commissions make huge furore in the Architecture world. Toohey keeps on ridiculing his work.Roark and Keating are classmates but not necessarily friends! Roark helps keating in designing his work and keating gets away with all accolades which Roark does not even care for. At the end roark blows up the building he designed because it not being erected as it was designed!! He faces trial in which he defends himself by giving a long speech which is thought provoking. Actually it is difficult to write about Roark!

This might be a amateur's review since i couldn't grasp the entire concept but it is one book which you cannot afford to miss!!

Just to tell you the significance of the book, read the comments on this blog by different people who have read it.

http://www.bennadel.com/blog/359-The-Fountainhead-An-Amazing-Book.htm

My Story!

Few days back i was reading this blog in which someone wrote a kind of autobiography of sorts. Well in a way it was confession of committing a series of mistakes. It is hard to write up something of that sort especially when you know everyone is going to read it.

So Inspired from that post i am writing about how i have screwed up my life. This is surely going to be a long post considering the attention to details i give!

What is it in for you to read my messed up life??

You can know what not to do in life! On the other hand can't you just read for the heck of it,why do we always have to find a reason for doing something?

I remember that day very well,the day i had flunked in Mathematics pre final year exam in 10th class. My Dad had come to the school to talk with the teacher and the shocking fact is my Dad is a Mathematics professor! Not bad right! I was humiliated and on that day when i came back to home i saw something written on a White board which my dad used for telling tutions.

some 10 points were written saying that i had never passed in the school! Yes i got promoted all the time. How much of a disgrace i was and all that stuff. I felt awful that day. I somehow managed to get a meagre 67% in CBSE( Which is my only saving face!) Especially without failing in Maths!

Then came the Intermediate. Interesting thing is i hardly remember anything of those 2 years since all i did was donkey's work! The college made me study like hell. No wonder i got 77% in 1st year and 86.5 in 2nd year! But frankly speaking any idiot who is made to study like that will score such percentages which everyone considers to be good!

Now after my 12th like hundreds if not thousands of parent's in our country give out the ultimate choice to their children,even my parents did the same.Something like to chose between Good and evil. The choice which has moved our nation to the present progress.

Engineering or Doctor?

I being such a fool like any other Non-interested engineer considered doing MBBS a waste of time and neither was biology my cup of tea.So i enthusiastically chose "Engineering" not knowing that there were people in this world who did something other than these two courses. Doing BA,BSC,BCOM was a never a option to me. Well I don't blame my parent's for that,since the problem was with me. I had no passion for anything! Feel ashamed to say this but i still do not

know what my True calling is.

Did my Engineering in my Hometown "Gulbarga". My stream Electronics and communication and my expertise in the field is almost Nil except a few subjects! My aggregate is 62.19! I never worked hard in those 4 years. All i did was enjoying with friends. My take away from the course was some beautiful friends i have made. Apart from that nothing! No exposure to anything be it further education,interpersonal skills or anything else. But here again there is only one person to be blamed and that is me. I never thought of the "Future"

Then came the dreadful day of July 14 2009 when i had to leave Gulbarga to come back to my home in Hyderabad. It was difficult for me. I just couldn't think of living without my friends.

Now was the decision time. What should i do now? Working in a IT company as a Software engineer was out of context. I just hate coding and all related stuff. Then the next best option was MBA. It is surely a opportunity generator course.( Career changer I mean!) Enrolled myself into TIME for CAT coaching on 21st july 2009.

Two months into the course i was doing good,was improving my Mock exam scores. Had gone from mid 60's to mid 80's. There was hope of improvement. Then all came crashing down. On september 21 2009 my maternal uncle died! My Mom was shocked and i being the only son had to take care of her. It was tough for me considering how emotional i am. Just when i thought everything was getting normal on october 15 2009 my Grandfather died! It was unexpected. I loved him a lot and i just couldn't come out of the trauma! By the time everything was getting back to normal it was Nov first week and CAT was on DEC 5. I just gave up in mid of Nov. Now i think i gave up soon. As expected got only 60.8% in CAT and did get 69 in SNAP but missed the cut off by 4 marks!!( SCIT) I never took XAT seriously so i flunked in that too.

In the midst of all this got 90.28% in MAT,which by the way is considered waste of time by many people. After doing a bit of research of all the colleges under MAT realised nothing was worth it! Still thought SCMS cochin was good. ( Source:Alumni) Attended the interview of it and got through it. Most probably will join the college.

I can't take another year off and write all the exams again. I just can't do it.There are various issues concerned. More ever i do not think i have the will power and patience required to get through.

Well that is the way i have screwed up my life so far. But I have something with me which my life so far has not been able to take away from me, My Optimism of a better tomorrow. My Belief that i can make it big.( Not in Materialistic terms!) My Little knowledge of the ultimate knowledge "Spirituality",My Altruistic nature. Okay I am boasting a lot here,am i not?? But its true!!

Let me end on a high. I would say, As Barack Obama saif

"Yes we can".

Review:Mr woodcock

What's the advantage of having lot's of free time?

You can watch movies like the one above on TV and also to add insult to injury you can review it on your blog!! Hail Laziness and insanity!!

While i was going through all the useless Television channels i came across HBO( Home Box office) and then checked out some movie was about to start. Using the technology advancement my Set top box provides( Tata sky:Jingalala!!) I read the gist of the movie, something like a Intro to your Project report or seminar report but the difference here is it is more interesting and original!( Consider the plagiarism involved in our creativity of coming up with new projects!)

The gist interested me and i utilised my precious time in watching the movie for 2 hrs! Was the movie worth watching? If you consider tha amount of money i earn on hourly basis( Nil!) it was more than worth! Story is about a Bestselling author John Farley who hates his school Gym teacher who is about to marry his mom! The book which he has written "Letting go of past" has changed many lifes,but incidently the author doesn't follow what he preaches. Sounds familiar right?? As we all do! We are perfect advisors but are we good Listeners to our own ideas??

John comes back to his hometown for receiving the prestigious Korn kobee award and in the process gets to know about the affair of his mom's and his monster teacher Mr.woodcock.

Not able to accept the fact he is traumatised and is hell bent on breaking the relationship.

Some real hillarious moments follow. The one with his friend Nedderman, then at the Treadmill and finally the award ceremony and the fair.

Our Hero realises that you do not just let go the past but you embrace it!!

Good lesson to be understood! If your time is as precious as mine then i advise you to watch it but if it isn't then you can afford to miss this one.

Who am I?

One of my favorite movies is Spiderman not because it is a Comic hero based but also because of some beautiful dialogues in the movie like "With great power comes great responsibility" and the last line of the movie "This is my curse this is my gift,Who am I? I am Spiderman"

Well you must be wondering why am i talking about Spiderman after having a photo of "Ohm" above. A very important question above is Who am I?? This is one question which we need to ask ourselves a lot and if we find the answer then i am sure life will become easier!!

I was watching a Debate on Tv today about the Identity of a Moderate muslim and after the show finished my mom said something which everyone generally knows "All terrorists are muslims but all muslims are not terrorists". Something which i can never support. Well every Indian has a opinion and so do I!!

I try to learn from movies( Obviously good logical movies) and there was this movie named Krantiveer starring Nana Patekar. In the movie there is a wonderful scene where he mixes blood of both Hindu and muslim and asks a fundamentalist to differentiate between the bloods. Well what better way to bring home the point.

Now what do i feel regarding all this,I don't know who brought all this business of caste and caste division. But one thing is for sure that God does not differentiate. For him or her( I wonder if god has a gender!!) every soul on earth is the same. If you do good you are closer to him and if you do bad you tend to go far away from him. It is like a tuning of frequency with god,more good you do you have high chances to match to god's frequency!!

I don't understand why terrorists do so much voilence under the name of god!! I pity on their foolishness! Neither do i understand why Naxals on the name of benifit of people kill government workers. Who gave them the right to kill?? Even God forgives people who have committed sins then are these people bigger than gods?? Some people wonder if God exists then why isn't he punishing the culprits,well he does punish them but how he does it is oblivious to our knowledge.

But we can be god send angels by doing our part in spreading goodness in the world. As Gandhiji said "To see the change be the change".

God is both in form and formless and he is a super authority who resides in us. He does not understand religion nor does he knows such a thing even exists! I see god in me,people around me. So stop being a intellectual and debating on religion and enjoy life as it is the only thing worth! Try to observe more closer at the picture above and see there are symbols of other religions as well. It has crescent moon of Islam at the top and a cross of christianity in the middle. You might not see it but try to observe you will see it eventually!

Finally i would like to quote Abraham Lincoln " I do good i feel good,I do bad i feel thats my religion"

"Leader"

The feeling which you get after watching a Inspirational movie is wonderful. I feel like i can do anything which i dream of,though the feeling doesn't last long! There have been some movies in both Bollywood and hollywood that have inspired me a lot. A few examples would be

RDB,Swades,Front of the class,Pursuit of happyness. Today after watching "Leader" a Tollywood flick i can add that movie to the above list mentioned.

Directed by Shekhar Kamulla,Leader is a story of a "Idealistic" guy who is Chief minister's son and after untimely death of the his father(CM) has to become the CM since it was his father's last wish. The story revolves around how he gets into the politics with a Single point agenda to eradicate Corruption. Politics as we know it is,has been shown very well in the movie.

After getting a pulse of Politics and realising what he has to do,he sets out to become a leader who really wants the state to prosper.

All the actors have performed exceedingly well,and the main USP of the movie is a great Script.

Shekar kamulla's movies are very different from the normal movies,he gives it a very good feel which usually lacks in most of the movies especially the baseless telugu movies.There are some points in the movie which i loved a lot. Leader is shown smoking in most part of the first half. What i could interpret is the director wanted to show that he is a common youngster who has become a leader or just because it was looking cool on the screen.But knowing the attention to detail shekhar gives, i feel there is a valid reason for it.

Very good dialogues,story and performances make leader a must watch. At the end hero's mother which is played by Suhasini( Amazing actress) says "I din't want you to become a politician,i wanted you to become a Leader".

I have always believed that movies should make us learn and this is one movie which surely does.

Mind crap!!

For a few days now, I have been thinking how do you Evaluate Success or for that matter Failure?

Are these just a few words to which we have given too much importance or are they really significant in our Life?

For a Start let me try to write down a few interpretations of success according to various people.

Is Success earning Six figure salary and having a Mercedes Benz??

Is success gaining admission into IIM's,XLRI and more elite Institutions??

Is success having a Status in Society??

Is success Owning a billion dollar company??

Is success being able to marry your Loved one going against your family conditions??

Is Success having a NGO and helping needful people?

Is Success leaving a High paying job and doing what you like to do??

Is success being the best in whatever you do??

or

Is failure not being able to do any of the above??

I don't know,I am confused. It is like a situation where in I have to differentiate between Mazaa and Slice!! Thats Hieghts of confusion!!

I also ask this question to myself,Are these just labels which world has created and we being fools just follow them.

We always follow someone's Life path but never try to sketch our own!!

I don't understand anything, I guess i use lot of heart in interpreting everything rather than using the Brain.

To be frank I just don't know what Success or failure is. I feel we should do what really interests us and if in the process you make some money then great. At the end of the day even if you have Millions still you will feel hungry and eat the same thing.( There are so many food types but the main purpose is to quench your hunger isnt it??)

I guess after reading this post you would say I am inspired from 3 idiots and have written all this crap!! Well you could say that but then these questions have always been in my mind.

At the end, Moral of the Post:- Have your own definations of success and failure or do not believe in these terms but never follow the someone else defination's.

My experience with Kerala-1

After writing few Management entrance exams and applying to Not so worth colleges it was time to do a bit of travelling for attending GD/PI( Process). For those who are not familiar with what is GD/PI( I wonder if anyone is!!).It is the process where the College authorities do a Final check up of students and after crucifying them in the process if found good enough( If parents of the Prospective student are rich!!) give them a Coveted "Admission letter" and ask to Submit hugely idiotic sums of money in order to reserve a Seat in the college. They demanding the money is nothing but asking for a Ransom amount before the Kidnapping process is complete!!

Nevertheless the less said the better regarding the average B-schools. I had applied to SCMS-Cochin after getting to know that it was consistently ranked high ( A high as 22 at top india level)

Now that i know the credentials of the college,i have learnt a very important lesson "Never believe Magazines Rankings they are rigged". I had to attend the GD/PI process at Cochin( Ernakulam) so it was fun considering that i had to go to kerala where i have never been before.

It is a 27 hr journey from Hyderabad and surprisingly there is only one train to choose for the journey. Its Sabari express. Booked my tickets under Tatkal scheme hence had to pay 105 rs more than the usual amount.The ticket price was 495rs.

Now coming to the journey part.

I have always loved Train journeys, there is something about it which you can never find in other means of transport be it by Road or Air. The people whom you meet in trains become your friends for short duration and then after the journey you forget them. But you do remember them in some special ways. It is more easier to communicate with strangers in Train since we don't have some pre-conceived notions about them. Where as it becomes difficult to speak with people whom you know but have some Concepts regarding them which force you to be skeptical in talking to them.

In my part of the Bogie there was this group of three people who were going to Calicut. They were keralites. There was this other guy who seemed to be a Hyderabadi and who was more busy with his phone and songs,so din't get to know him much. There was this couple in the group i mentioned who were very sweet.They were in their 50's and the way the husband was pressing the legs of wife,it was worth seeing it. It must be because of Love or it can also be because of wife dominance!! You never know.

I talked with them and the only language which we could communicate in it was "English".Finally me having some knowledge helped me!! Surprisingly the other person in the group who was also in 50's had completed his MBA from calicut university and was so happy to say me that his college was only 3 minutes from his home!!

Two guys got into the Train at coimbatore and were very acting very strange!!

One of them had such a huge grin on his face as if someone had hit him just before getting onto the train and the other guy was listening to songs on loudspeaker mode irritating fellow passengers.I don't know how "educated" people do such Silly mistakes. The guy was in his formals and was looking as a corporate employee but he was showing such stupidity. When uncle said him to turn him off the phone only then he stopped it. Even i had thought of telling him but then considering i was younger to him i din't expect a good response from him so i refrained.

The group i was talking about got down at Pagalgat junction( Somewhere in Kerala) and they wished me luck for the interview and one uncle was so sure that i will get the admission!! See in so less time people see my Talents!! ( Which i am not aware of!!)

Then one more uncle who was also in his 50's got into the train and we talked for next 3 hrs!!

He was a Marketing manager of a company named Kerala Electricals limited( A PSU).He has been working there for 34yrs!! It was good knowing what opinion he had about the Youngsters,IT industry,Films,Politics,MBA,Family,Religion. We talked on almost all the topics which came to our mind!! It was good knowing him.

There is this feeling that after talking so long with someone on a Journey we should take their Phone number and keep in touch with them. But I feel we shouldn't do that,reason being it is a beautiful temporary relationship which is created and the major essence is it being Temporary.

We never might meet them again but they are etched in your memory at some corner of your mind. It is always beautiful to meet people on journey.

Part 2 of the journey is to be continued......