Thursday, August 28, 2008

The Olympic Dream

I have always been a sports freak and liked watching all sports, even those other than cricket. The problem has always been that the other sports don't have the media coverage one would like. Some years back, there was at least hockey, but even that has disappeared out of sight. So, it was kind of refreshing to watch the Olympics and I particularly liked the media coverage it got.
India - expectedly for me and unexpectedly for many of my friends improved its tally significantly over the previous editions. But is that enough, 3 medals for a country of a billion people. I don't think its enough, but its certainly an improvement and India should build on the success of these Olympics to become a nation with a decent haul of medals over the next couple of decades.
The best part about the current haul of three medals was that all the three medals came in different disciplines. So, now at least there can be three different disciplines in the government's radar for development. There have always been about 5-6 disciplines in which India had a realistic chance. Apart from Shooting,Wrestling and Boxing where we won medals, we came close in Badminton and Tennis too. Though the Archers failed to impress, they have the potential.
The role of the government is very important now. It should not forget the achievements of the medal winners. IT can use this opportunity to push for better popularity of non-cricket sports in the country. The country's sportspeople need to be treated well. India can do a lot better if the government provides better facilities and just support the talent India has.
I am in IIM-Bangalore and I had in my batch Kutraleeshwaran, who at the age of 13 swam across 6 channels and is a Guinness record holder. But he left swimming as there wasn't proper infrastructure in the country and the government didn't support him when he required it. He had offers from other counties to use their training facilities provided he represented them in the Olympics. If the other countries can see such talent why can't India? He refused and concentrated on his academics and India lost a potential sporting Icon.
I myself have seen small 4-5 year old children performing acrobatics at traffic signals in Delhi and Bangalore. Such children should be groomed from a young age as they can be future gymnasts. This is what China does best and look at their medals tally. If I could spot such children just in a couple of cities, I can't even begin to imagine the kind of talent that can be hidden across the Indian landscape. Its just a matter of spotting it and nurturing it.
A couple of private companies have come ahead to support non-traditional sports. I hope this trend continues. Its just that sports has to be made a viable profession in India. For that everyone's role is very important, from the government and private companies who need to build infrastructure and support the talent to the people who genuinely need to respect its sportspeople and not just start to memorize their names once every four years.
I have great hope in the current scenario and sincerely hope that this time we definitely don't miss out and see a bag of medals by 2020 or 2024 when I hope that India would be hosting an Olympics of its own.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Phoonk - The disaster

SPOILER WARNING!!! But I Think you would be better off reading this rahter than watching the movie

Today I went to meet my friends and we decided to watch Phoonk - Directed by the great RGV. The expectations were high as the promos seemed to be nice and the last horror movie he made was decent enough (Bhoot). We got into the hall 10 minutes late - thanks to a delay on my part.

As we entered the movie hall, we came to know that the main protagonist in the film (apart from the child actor) is a big-time contractor and has a couple who works with him. The wife's only job was to act in a spastic manner and give out a shrieking and loud laugh once every few seconds. It irritated me so much that I felt someone should go into the frame and shut her mouth up.

The hero's family had all kinds of people - the atheist hero, the god-fearing wife, the superstitious mother and a couple of kids. The whole problem began when the hero finds about the fraud that the couple are doing.So he humiliates them in a party and fires them. So, the couple decides to take revenge through black magic. They choose the daughter of the hero as the one to do the black magic on. The girl then gradually starts acting weird and the acting by the girl child is probably the only thing to watch for in the entire film.

The entire first half was filled with scenes where the camera focuses on small household items and then there are sudden sounds just to startle the audience. Someone tell RGV that horror movies are more than just startling people. I'll give the example of a couple of scenes -
1. The hero hears a sound when asleep, gets out of his room and is stratled looking at his own reflection in the mirror. Supposedly complementing the scene is a very loud background score. And the best part is that all of that turns out to be a dream.
2. (this is the most hillarious part) The house maid wakes up and sees the old lady of the house sitting in the hallway. She then blames the maid for all that was happening. She then picks up a lemon and takes it towards the maid. In this scene her hand starts to extend like the elastic man of fantastic four. Even the Ramsays used better ideas in their horror scenes. RGV, spare us please. And most predictably this too turns out to be a dream.

The second half sees the entry of the psychiatrist. Then a couple of scenes that follow remind you of scenes that may be called a mix of Bhoot and the Exorcist. Even when the girl starts levitating, the father refuses to believe the supernatural and the doctor is still giving rave jargons that start from Dissociated Personality Disorder, goes on to Psychological Dissociated Personality Disorder and ends as a case where the girl child has undergone some trauma and would take time to recover.

During this time the old lady of the house brings in a 'Tantric' who when being kicked out of the house shouts dialogues like 'Your daughter will die' and 'Dont be an Idiot' in the most uncomfortable English. This scene was particulary interesting to me. (that maybe because I was looking for reasons to laugh as this movie was certainly not scaring me)

By this time, the hero, having a change of heart starts believing in the supernatural and brings in a tantric of his own called 'Manja' (in Hindi that what we call the string used to fly kites). And 'Manja' ends the our agony by finishing off the black magic couple (he kills off the tantric witch by making a fan fall on her that cuts off her head). The hero then reaches back to his daughter and the credit for curing the child is taken by the psychiatrist. (maybe she was an MBA, giving the most weirdest of fundaes and gets away with it :P)

The only thing that benefited me was that now my bottom Five movie list has been updated. Now, Phoonk is a jewel in the crown of that list. And I think my friends need to thank me for making them miss the first 10 minutes as it saved them 10 extra minutes of pure torture.

What I would suggest is to see this movie on your system whenever it becomes available and watch it with the same fervour as you watched Gunda and the movies of that genre. You'll seriously enjoy it then.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Lingo - Part II

After my last post, many people reminded me of a lot I had left out. So here comes part II of the lingo

Globe - Anything and everything under the sun. It is never pertaining to anything specific and the same answer may be applicable to more than one question. Its the thing you never need to prepare for, i.e. it is just 'phattebaazi'

Geela - It is the term given to people who go ga-ga over any and every girl (really sorry if I offend anyone :P). These people go that extra mile to be in the good books of girls and never refuse any request that may come their way from that side.

Hoosh - It is the way IIMB people celebrate the success or share the happiness of others. It is a ceremony that is common across campuses all over the country and may be known as GPL or Bumps elsewhere.

L^2 - An IIMB specific term. Its the place where all the 'future managers and leaders'(its what we are told to everywhere) like to celebrate. It is the spot where everything from the famous L^2 parties to the hooshing sessions take place. In short - IT ROCKS

RG - Its the phenomenon that that plagues the entire student section. This is the thing that leads to the crab effect - i.e. if you cant go up, pull the others down. RG is Relative Grading. But honestly speaking, I havn't seen too much its effect yet and hope I dont see it anytime soon.

Macha - This is what people call each other around here. A typical south Indian way of calling people. Its like we call people 'yaar' in the north.

I guess I am not missing out on anything now. I think now that I've started writing again, you can hear from me more often. Cheers!!!!!!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Lingo

I am finally writing after a break of a couple of months. Life has been a bit hectic here at IIMB, hectic but fun. There is so much happening around here that you rarely get time. No, its not all about the academics.

Now there are a few commonly used words here which have become a part of our day to day lives. So, here comes the IIM-Lingo:

CP - Short for class participation, noting too great

ACP - Arbit CP, i.e when a person is asked to speak or has the urge to speak in class without any valid points, so, it ends up being a conglomerate of 6-7 sentences stitched together which ultimately has little or no meaning in the context of what is taking place in the class.

DCP - Desperate CP, takes place when a person desperately wants to speak in class and takes even the slightest of opportunities or a break in the prof sentence to start speaking. The typical characteristic of people having this unique quality is the consistency of the number of times they speak in class.

Footage - It is the term given for the people who want to be visible in the eyes of the prof as well as the class. CP,ACP and DCP may be tools for the same. It may also consist of doing weird stuff in class like wise-cracks, or being caught sleeping (although almost no one is caught sleeping, that is an art most people have mastered or the profs simply dont care)

Placecom - A group of sadistic people who take pleasure in the fact that they can make people work hard, harder than any subject makes any student work. Characterized by their in-born dislike of white spaces on paper (not due to environmental reason though).

NC - Night Canteen, the lifeline of the institute along with Athicas. Serves nocturnal creatures like us and helps s to survive the late nights.

DML - The official full form is Director's merit list, and it is a kind of taunt that people have to suffer if they get even above average marks in any single subject. To get rid of this stigma, people have to perform considerable badly the next time.


This is all I can think of currently. I will definitely come up with my analysis of the 1st trimester courses pretty soon. So, wait for it.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The last week in office

Last week was a hectic one for me. Returning from Mumbai from my cousin's marriage, I had to complete all the formalities of exiting from the company in a span of five days - right from giving my resignation to getting my relieving letter. It wasn't too much of trouble because I had the support of my manager and my lead who were nice enough to help me complete the formalities smoothly.

I was able to complete all the formalities in time by Friday and the best part was the exit interview I had in which I again spoke out all the things which I had been saying all year round. It just feels nice to have things off your chest once in a while.

I really liked the part where my team officially gifted mt a watch and my project team (i.e only Raju and Abhinand) gifted me a parker pen set. It was really nice and I really felt very good. Apart from the time I was busy completing the formalities, most of my time in the week was spent chatting with office friends. Even on the final day, we had a sort of photo session for memories sake. I have really made some very good friends in my one year in office.

After I left office for the final time, I had a sort of a hollow feeling.I knew I was leaving for something that would take me to a better place in the future. It was not the 'I am officially berozgaar>' or 'Suck ya office guys' kinds of feeling. Maybe it was because I had really enjoyed my life in my company. Every place has some positives and some negatives. I feel that you should take the negatives in your stride constantly trying whatever you can to improve them but not become too whiny. You've always got to enjoy the positives you get and that I eel is the key to a happy life.

Now as I sit at my home doing literally nothing except meeting a couple of college friends one day, I feel that I need to have something to do because even a week of having nothing to do is very boring. I am sure the IIM-Bangalore people would never let me have that feeling for the next two years but I am really sure that its going to be one hell of a journey that I will enjoy to the fullest.

I would write a couple of things on some issues next as there is nothing else going on in my life. The next personal post would be after I get to IIM. Till then enjoy my views on IMPORTANT NATIONAL ISSUES NEXT.
Cheers!!!!!!!

Monday, June 9, 2008

The Fuel Price Hike - A different perspective

For the last week, the fuel price hike has been a keenly debated issue. There have been reports of the Oil Companies incurring daily losses to the tune of Rs.600 crores and that if they were not aided soon, they would become bankrupt in some months as they would have no cash to buy petroleum.

I agree that the duties and the taxes imposed on petroleum products are too high at about 52%(including excise and sales tax) but it is not that the rates in India are the highest in the world. Places like Turkey and Norway sell petrol at about Rs112/liter.

According to me a vehicle is a luxury and not a necessity. So, if a person is able to afford a vehicle, that person should be ready to bear the expenses to run his vehicle i.e. the fuel costs. So, I feel there should be no subsidy in fuel prices for the private vehicle owners.

But for that to take place, the government needs to strengthen the public transport system and provide the country with world class facilities. People who are willing to let go of their personal vehicles for public transport should feel the worth for it just like in the case of Delhi metro. The fuel subsidies should only lie for the public transport vehicles and the commercial goods carrying vehicles(because the goods transfer affects the prices of all the commodities and indirectly the inflation).

This would help the country on many levels. First, the traffic on the clogged roads of the cities in India would go down. The public transport system which is in shambles in most cities would be strengthened. Things like car-pooling and use of public transport which has been advised by the traffic police for generations would pick-up. The private vehicles operating as taxis would need to get an official taxi number plate to be able to run viably. The reduced number of vehicles on the road and the much improved public transport system would also help in curbing pollution and also help the global warming situation.

Another aspect is the subsidies on cooking gas. Most of the poor people do not use LPG cooking gas. They rely more on kerosene. So, here too I feel that there should be no subsidy in the LPG prices and the kerosene prices need to remain subsidized so that the economically backward sections of people are not affected.

I feel that the demanding in a cut in sales tax and excise duties would not be a very fruitful experience for a country like India where the government revenues depend a lot on the fuel sales. If India has to keep up the fast growth it has achieved over the past decade, it requires all the revenues for the various projects so that the growth can be sustained. Therefore, I am not in favor of such moves.

I know that most of the people especially those from the middle class to which I belong too would not agree with my view. They would again think that it is the middle class which has to suffer again. But I still stand by my views because I feel that it is the cream which is taking all the benefits of the subsidies and not the people who really require it.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Gosh!! Is it one year already

It was a nice evening. It had just stopped raining. There was a cool breeze blowing across and I could just see the sun about to set at the horizon. I was in a very contemplating mood as I was thinking about the question my friend Paras posted on our group's googlegroup about how the past one year in the jobs has been and my first reaction to that post was "Shit, is that already that long".

Most of the replies others posted could be summarised as 'Life Sucks' and 'I hate my job'. All the people wrote that they miss college and they miss friends but I guess that was college and everybody needs to realize that job is a completely different piece of cake. This is the harsh reality of this world. You have to suck it up and move on.

Actually, even for me, life has not been like I had imagined it to be. But again, I never had a clear vision of how it should have been. The only thing I had in mind was that I wanted to something I really enjoyed but is there any 'job' in this world I would enjoy doing. Is there such a job for me? Probably Not.

I've spent the majority of last year staring for long hours at the computer screen. There's not much to write about when you are in a software company. Working for long hours when there is a project deadline and having no work at all during the other times is a very common thing. When it becomes too frustrating, the only way to vent out your anger is criticizing the software industry and how its is turning humans into robots or the HR policies of the company over the multiple coffee sessions(I guess in a public sector firm that would convert to criticizing the government and the laid-back attitude of the public sector).

I speak for myself when I say that I am a very lazy person inherently and any kind of job would be a hardship for me. Whatever amount of time I would work would be for money to secure my present and future (any maybe my future family). I just don't believe in a work that I would enjoy. But I know that I would have to constantly give my best if I want to be really successful and that is what I would aim to do in my career.

What I believe is that job would always be a part of my life. So, if I want to enjoy my life, I would have to keep all me my near and dear ones close to me as they are really the people who make your lives worth living. So, friends, keep the bonds of your friendship strong as this is what you would really cherish in the long run.