My past few months...

The past 2-3 months have been busy months for me. Applying to management colleges, preparing for group discussion (gd) and interview (pi), ‘trying’ to read papers and whatever current affairs I can…hmm even thou I say all this with so much enthusiasm, I didn’t even put half of it into action ;-)

Life is one hell of surprises. And now I know why. How do you think I got 92 percentile in CAT?? :)Well not that I wrote the exam that badly, in fact I knew I did pretty ok in two sections and was confident after checking the answer keys that I may hit somewhere in 70 to 85 percentile, but 92 was not even there in my dreams. J No, I am not being modest. Well maybe this is the effect of the ‘Percentile’ system. You see, 92 percentile just means that my score was better than the 92 percentage of people who wrote the exam. So if you actually think, I owe more to those 92 percent category people..:D

Anyways after I realized it was actually my score, I started my maha search for b schools. I searched about the b schools that fall in the top 20-40 list in India. Since I was not expecting this, I had not applied anywhere before the results were announced and some b schools needed you to apply before the results. Hmm just another way of making money I tell you. Each application costs on an average 1000 (actually most of them were 1500), so even if they get like 2000 applications, think about the money they make. Yeah so I was in search of good b schools that would still accept applications. After some 2-3 days of browsing and talking, I decided on 5 colleges to apply. After some days it struck me that if I get a call for gd/pi I have to say something there. So I started going for Career Launcher’s(CL) gd/pi classes.

After my first introductory class in CL, they arranged me a mock interview which turned out to be more of a shock than a mock to me. After my last interview in May 2007 I had not attended any till date. Yeah I did enjoy grilling some juniors while taking mock interviews for them in college, but didn’t know it was payback time. J So I went for this mock one rather coolly. But the moment I saw the interviewer, I knew I will spoil it. He was a well built and very fair guy (was actually a lil pinkish too). Anyways he looked little scary to me. I knew he would grill me into pieces and he did. Even when I was talking in my interview I was thinking like what the hell am I saying and that too for simple questions like Why MBA and all(which I realized later on is not as simple as I thought J). Anyways after the interview, he gave me a piece of his mind and I accepted it. :D (as if I had a choice;)). Yeah one thing I tell you, it made me think a lot. For the next few days, I was pondering on Why Management? and things like that. You know the answer, but just that you need to get it out and frame it in the proper way. Then came my first gd experience in CL classes. I got into the class pretty late, but thankfully everyone was late even our instructor. Finally the instructor came and apologized for being late and introduced himself as an IIM Bangalore second year student. Then asked to introduce ourselves and say what calls (calls for gd/pi) we have got. Only when everyone started introducing I realized I was in a completely wrong place. They were all guys who got IIM and IIFT calls. Even I introduced myself and said ‘No calls till now’. :D (Well I had just applied to colleges and was expecting calls only after some weeks). Then IIM-B guy wrote our topic of discussion on the board: “Sub-prime crisis will affect India”. I was like “Shit”. I didn’t know what was sub-prime! Guess he read my mind, he said “I hope everyone is aware of the topic.” I wanted to say no but I didn’t. He added “Even if you don’t know, just listen in the beginning and then join the discussion.” So when the discussion began I listened and then I got little bit of what sub-prime should be, but thanks to my other gd mates, I didn’t open my mouth. During feedback at the end, the IIM-B guy asked me what happened. I said I didn’t know the topic and he said “It’s ok but do join next time”. Phew! So one of the first things I did after that was read about sub-prime that week. After some weeks, after I attended few more gds in CL, I got used to such gds and started to contribute more to the gd and also met some non-iim call getters ;)

I had applied to 5 colleges and I got a call for gd/pi from BIMTECH (Birla institute of management, Noida) first. All along, one website that I frequently visited was ‘pagalguy.com’. It’s an MBA forum for pagals like me. ;) But trust me, it’s really helpful. You have discussions for everything about MBA and about all the top colleges and you get a pretty much idea about how things should be done and also senior guys of the colleges will respond to your queries. So, naturally I checked in pagalguy for the gd/pi experiences of BIMTECH posted by people who has already completed it. I found that it was rather general topics for gd and also there was a write-up. Interview also sounded a bit relaxed. So, on the D day I dressed up formally and my bro drove me to the venue. After an initial introduction, our batch of students was taken into a conference room for the write-up round. The topic given was “Sky is blue, grass is green”. :D Well it was fine. I first wrote how normally people distinguish between things and that it’s actually each person’s perspective of seeing things and all. I think I ended it well n al and guess my writing was decent. Then we were made into 4 groups. Our group was called after some time and topic was “Are Indians safe in india?” Well after reading about gd/pi sessions of bimtech in pagal guy I was expecting a typical fish market and was getting ready to shout. But surprisingly in my group some guys were rather silent in beginning which came as an advantage to me. One guy started and I followed with some good points I think but yeah maybe in between I was searching for words while talking but anyways it went kinda ok. After some time, I got in for interview by 12pm. And there were three interviewers. They were pretty nice and laid back so I was at ease too. When I entered the room, one older guy was like “So Deepthi is it good morning or good afternoon?”. And I said good afternoon. And they were like “aha so it’s good afternoon for you” and I should have just smiled and kept my big mouth shut, but I had to add in a low voice “Well it depends on each person”. And they were like “Oh is it? It depends on each person and not on time huh. How is that?” And for a sec I was like “oh shit”, but I quickly said something like “ For someone who rises up early in the morning, its already afternoon..” (JI don’t remember the exact sentence). And the three of them started laughing and one of them was like “yeah good one” and told me to sit down. Phew: D …So this is how it started. It went ok. It was all questions related to job and interests and management. I could manage somehow. Finally when they said it’s over, I was relieved and I guess it reflected on my face too much and they were like “so a big sigh huh!” I gave a smileJ. I attended one more gd/pi recently for another college which went not that great and guess I got two more gd/pi coming up in the other 1-2 months.

Then what…I saw Delhi 6 last weekJ. It’s shot well. The events in the movie are symbolic which I think, is a really nice and simple way to bring up certain issues but the only problem being the audience understanding the true essence of it. Then, of course the A.R Rahman music to add to it. One thing the director could have avoided was the Abhishek’s fake US accent in the beginning, which went really weird at some point and yeah maybe a better ending. Hmm…whatever…I liked it. In fact it felt sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than our last one: Chandini chowk to china. :D

So that’s how it’s been the last few days for me..phew! I never thought I will write this post. Things have been changing so fast around me that I really didn’t know what to write. Hmm and at times there is nothing much you can do when things change around you or your loved ones, other than sit and think that it’s all for the best. I believe that when something bad happens it is to complement something better that is going to happen. But yeah like all others, in between even I forget to remember that during my bad times. :)

I am matured ! ah ! :(

Today in office, suddenly a team mate, sitting beside me asked when did i complete my graduation. I said this year (may) and said i joined for work in june. He said i have changed. I gave him a questioning look. Actually, he was going through my photo album in orkut and then showed me a pic of me and my best friend(which was kinda recent pic, taken in may). I asked him jokingly "You mean good or bad?"(Hoping he will say good..hehe;) He said "Not about good or bad. You look happier in the pics. Now, in office, you look matured." I was like "Oh":(. Then he said he too have changed in the last one year. Before he used to live with his friends and it was a tension free life and now he is married (he he).
So basically if you want to stay looking young , stay around your friends or dont start to work or dont get married.:-D

PS: While i was typing this post from office, a voice suddenly asked from behind "Whats that..impressions?". And as a reflex reaction i quickly did ALT + TAB (like during the computer lab sessions in college when the lab instructor will suddenly pop up from no where :0) and i turned and smiled at my colleague and was like "Eh..well..thats my blog." (Hmm..hehe... matured huh!)

Hmm....

This photo was taken by me from the famous commercial street in bangalore. This huge lump of waste clothes were dumped in a corner on one of the roads there which was filled with tailor shops. I simply clicked with my mobile and while i was taking the pic, a muslim tailor from behind told me "Are bahut se log aate hai aur photo leke chale jaate hai, par koi faida nahin. Kahin pe bhi photo nahin dalthe aur kuch nahin hota hai.". I turned and smiled at him. Hmm...

Sleeping beauty..:-)

Passion in life!

I was having one of my usual client calls at office. Discussions and clarifications..And then after the call I, PM (project manager) and the technical architect (Manjunath) were having the usual small chat. And Manjunath started his usual tech talk and I was just listening (ahem I am not very techie person, so i am better off listening hehe…;). He is one of the major tech guys in our company. He was talking about some new project that the company got. He was saying it’s different from the usual web based application projects that the company gets and of which he was bored. The project was something to do with gprs in mobile phones and some location detector and blah blah (hehe sorry I got lost in between the conversation). But something that I noticed was the way he was talking. You could see the passion in his eyes when he was saying “Oh if we get this project na, it would be awesome! I would leave all other projects and it will be great for Nous (our company)!”

Something that lot of people lack is passion for things they do. A majority of people do most things in life because they are meant to do it and not because they like doing it.
From childhood, we kind have some facts written into our minds: Be good to all, study hard, earn a job, earn more money than others... :) In midst of the run to make all these things happen and to make parents and family and others happy, people mostly forget what actually they want (or rather pretend to forget)… And before they know, they are living a mechanical life where they work and work and do things and they are not even really happy about it. Yes maybe initially some may feel its fine, but it gets harder during the long run. Not in work alone…it holds true in most things in our life…in relationships, with friends…everywhere.

Try to love the things that you do or rather do things that you love.Not saying you can do that always, but u can in some ways. And it’s not about putting on an “I don’t care” attitude or not listening to others in life or being self centered. It’s just about keeping yourself happy both inside and outside. And unless you are happy, you can’t keep the people around you happy :-)

Indian women 'get wild' !!

** Indian women 'get wild' in US soap **Ashish Kumar Sen on a US web mini series which is creating ripples among Indianexpatriates.< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7465261.stm >
Well my first reaction after reading this article on BBC news website was”What’s the big deal!”
India has always been proud of its history of varying cultures and traditions that speaks about its people as god fearing and principled; with Indian women being portrayed as figures of purity and motherhood. But whom are we kidding!
I agree to the fact that Indian women have always been known for being more principled and determined than the rest of the female clan and have always stood by their culture and beliefs. But we should not be blind folded. India is changing fast and so are its people; with Indian women being no exception. They have become quite independent and have started living the much loved free life, on their own principles and their own rules. Yes, many still abide by our cultural and tradition (again there is a question of what’s right according to the culture and what’s not, which is a never ending topic!), but not all!
We have a good amount of women in India (mostly in the urban India) who are enjoying the western lifestyle that they have adopted comfortably to satisfy their needs and comforts. Again, saying something is wrong and something is right is all up to people’s perspectives.
But the point is, why all the fuss about some Hollywood soap where some Indian actresses are playing some ultra modern roles and are rather being pictured as vamps. And do we have voice? What about the Indian media? Does it always go by the so called rules!??

A right activist quotes about the Hollywood series “By presenting working Indian women as deceitful vamps, [the series] has reinforced the harmful stereotypes of empowered Indian women" Hmm so what?? Is it totally wrong?? Of course, it doesn’t represent the whole lot of Indian women. But then have to agree to the fact that they are much closer to reality than the Indian soaps were the Indian women are always projected as sathi savithris!!

BORN INTO BROTHELS: Calcutta's Red Light Kids

Admist the apparent growing prosperity of India, there is a dark underbelly of poverty of another side of the nation that is little known. This documentary film is a chronicle of filmmakers Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman's efforts to show that world of Calcutta's red light district. To do that, they inspired a special group of children of the prostitutes of the area to photograph the most reluctant subjects of it. As the kids excel in their new found art, the filmmakers struggle to help them have a chance for a better life away from the miserable poverty that threatens to crush their dreams.

Zana Briski (the director) studied documentary photography at International Center of Photography in New York. In 1995 she made her first trip to India, producing a story on female infanticide. In 1997 she returned to India and began her project on the prostitutes of Calcutta's red light district, which led to her work with the children of prostitutes. Zana has won numerous awards and fellowships including George Soros' Open Society Institute Fellowship, an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, the Howard Chapnick Grant for the Advancement of Photojournalism and first prize at the World Press Photo Foundation Competition.

Zana and co-director Ross Kauffman were awarded grants from the Sundance institute, the Jerome Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts for their film, "Born into Brothels", a feature documentary about the children of Calcutta's prostitutes. In 2002 Zana created Kids with Cameras, a non-profit organization to empower marginalized children through learning the art of photography.

I liked the film not only because it brought out one of the burning issues, which despite being evident has been neglected for long by our government and society, but also for the positiveness of the film. When you see the film your touched by the condition of the people in the red street but watching the kids optimistically moving ahead so as to make a better life for themselves, makes you believe that nothing is impossible. One more thing that captures your eyes is the excellent photography by Zara and the kids, that makes one wonder if pictures could speak.The struggle they began here is just a start and a lot needs to be done but...paths are made by walking not waiting !