Avatar (Ek Adbhud Duniya)

In case you are wondering whats that in the brackets in the title, its the name of the hindi dubbed version of the new 3D release, Avatar. James Cameron is no newbie when it comes to special effects. Titanic and Terminator 2: Judgement Day being his previous claims to CGI fame. With Avatar he seeks to repeat the performance and infact take it to a new dimension (literally! since the movie is 3D). There's a problem though....there aint no story. It is heard that the story germinated some 13 years back and the movie completed only now as the advances in animation technology would not support a movie of this stature that long ago. Well now onto the movie.

I went to the movie with a whole bunch of close friends. The disclaimer here is that i was never big on these kinda movies that i call the 'Jaadu-Tona' genre :P. LOTR and Harry Potter being exceptions. So it was with a pinch of salt that i decided to go along. Knowing that it is rather the company i would enjoy than the movie itself. The movie has the standard story line...Spy, girl, girl's father, love, allegiances, fight, victory of good over bad. Now that took well into 3 hours to depict. Seriously, if i wanted to just watch the awesome graphics and the breathtaking display of lights...i would watch the scenes on youtube. The 3D glasses were more of a nuisance than anything. I mean try balancing heavy plastic sharp objects on your nose for 3 hours and then tell me about it. It gave me a headache frankly. However, credit where its due, when i did wake up from my slumber and watched the ending fight sequence, a few scenes actually made me strafe to avoid oncoming bullets and arrows. Other than that there is nothing to really write home about in the movie. Although the end result was a superb visual treat, it was like watching a firework display for 3 hours. You get bored somewhere down the line and you neck starts to stiffen. So you take off those silly glasses that have been giving you a headache, thank god that you are in the corner seat, and dose off wondering whether you could have put the 3 hours to better use. The best part of the movie was when it got over. Atleast the movie gave us enough conversational topics like poking fun at the alien kissing scene (which was seriously not required) and tall friends being likened to the Pandorans. A couple of my pals even did some research to fathom the meaning of the whole thing. Me? I havent thought of the movie since, i have exams coming up.

kabhi na beete chamkeele din

I wrote the below passage when still working at amdocs, i had just appeared for CAT 2008, and didnt know what was in store :-P...... 

"Dil chahta hain....kabhi na beete chamkeele din

Hum na rahein kabhi yaaron ke bin...."


Its a sunday evening...and here i am, trying to fathom why on earth the customers of my client arent able to get their minutes of usage this month....and i put on my headphones...sometimes music helps you in getting your thoughts in order...and shankar mahadevan started crooning the above words into my ears...An alarm went off in my head...i couldnt help but stop and stare blindly into my screen...I gave up with the problem...it didnt matter anyway...it was an extremely low priority issue and i could solve it with some help later on...I thought of doing something i enjoy....blogging...Its been months since my last post...and i was beginning to wonder wether i have lost the creativity, the imagination to go ahead and write another article. But here i am....on a Sunday evening...trying to give it another shot...


I have been reading quite a bit these days...I got hold of '3 Mistakes of my Life' chetan bhagats 3rd book...he he he...i thought "Mate, you've done 2 mistakes and we know about it...why make a third one!"...naah kidding...Bhagat's an awesome read...not so crazy about One Night at the Call Center but of course "5 Point..." is unbelievable. But you know what!?...ive got a friend who never stayed in a hostel and works in a call centre feels exactly the opposite. Relative scales of measurement at work...we like the books that we can relate to. By the way, I also read 'Joker in the Pack' its a story about a guy and his days in IIM Bangalore...Now, that is something i would like to relate to! ...maybe i will someday! who knows...it aint over until its over eh?!...The moot point is, when will that day come when we say "kabhi na beete chamkeele din"...well those chamkeele din seem to be past us all...but why?!!..why do i brood over the past and reminisce in the lost glory of years gone by!?...why cant the 'shaams jhoom' and the 'raats gaa' once more? :-)..can they?...Ofcourse they can, one has gotta make 'em. I have a dream...i pursue it with all my might...if i fail what the heck!...i gave it a shot!...i will enjoy the pursuit...i will make it the purpose of my life...life is too short to stop at signals...i need to keep moving on...Its a Sunday evening...and here i am...ready to move on...start a new week.


hoping that this will inspire me to give it a go...and you all...

hoping we'll take charge of our lives and give our best shot at acheiving our forgotten goals...

...ah! Thank God I had saved this :-D...Hopefully readers (and especially this years' CAT aspirants) can relate :-D

Who's life do you want to live?

Recently I was lucky enough to see a video of a lecture by Kiran Bedi on leadership, and how we can, from a young age, inculcate in ourselves the qualities and the visionary abilities of a leader. She begins by talking about Destiny, and how it is a factor in deciding the course of our lives. She does actually put forth a very compelling argument, and one that I have believed in even before letting my thoughts be anchored by her views. Our birth into the families we were born into is definitely destiny at work. I am too, glad I was born to my parents, who made several sacrifices and indeed dedicated their whole lives to their children. So yeah, to some extent fortune does favour the brave and our deeds do decide our rewards, but no one can deny that the initial boost that one gets (or does not), is down to pure luck...or destiny. The real heroes are those who despite all the misgivings still triumph in life. Hats off to those who didnt have the kind of parents and family that I have been lucky to have, and hats off to those parents and families such as mine. As for me, I continue to thank my lucky stars.

On why the song in you heart should be on your lips too

May to November...helluva long time considering i have blogging as one of my interests mentioned on my CV. Speaking of CV's, thats what has been the talk of the town (or rather the campus) out here with the summer placements in full flow. But the thoughts i am about to pen down aren't about summer placements and about IIMA, they address a much larger frame of reference. The thoughts were inspired while listening to my favorite song... "Phir dekhiye..." from rock on. The lyrics say something about..."hoton pe jiske...koi toh geet hain...woh haare bhi toh uski hi jeet hain..." Oh i would so love to live life like that!! With a song on my lips and the feeling of not caring about consequences...and people who know me before IIMA will probably think that i sold my soul to be the studious busybody i am out here. On the other hand my dorm mates are of the opinion that i always sleep, watch movies, play FIFA and in general loaf around. Well all i can say is that the difference is merely the frame of reference. Ofcourse i am not the same lazy, careless person i was before...but by the standards here i am. Is this post sounding too narcissist? pardon me if it does. My point is, why do we find it so hard always to find our true calling? Why do we feel the need to "prepare" ourselves so that we "perform" well on a given occasion? I mean when does one feel satisfied? The personal expectations never cease do they?...The only way to be happy, content and satisfied is to follow the oft repeated but seldom followed adage of  "Goddamit just Be Yourself"

For those who followed the ramblings above...good for you!!
For those who didnt and want to enter into an argument with the author...go watch October Sky(again and again)...listen to "Phir Dekhiye" from Rock On (again and again)...and dont bother the author before doing those things

10 Things ....

(I came across this article on the net, that said, we should list 10 likes, 10 dislikes, and 10 things that don't bother him/her, as the best form of soul searching. So lemme just give it a shot.)

That i love :
1. Having nothing to do or think about.
2. Meeting long lost friends.
3. Spending time with parents.
4. Watching Manchester United win.
5. Winning.
6. Pfaffing. (Talking about things that you know very little about, but still making a damn good job of it : P )
7. Music, Movies, Books.
8. Toddler talk.(In fact, anything to do with toddlers, infants and the like : P)
9. Going to sleep.
10. Fish.

That i hate :
1. Waking up.
2. Doing work. (Any kind of work, and i go ugh!)
3. Changing clothes.
4. Rain.
5. Questions.
6. Advice, both giving and taking.
7. Bills.
8. Verbose people.
9. Insects.
10. Telephonic conversation.

That don't bother me :
1. Details, technicality.
2. Foul smells.
3. Bad food.
4. Travelling.
5. Rules.
6. Money.
7. My appearance.
8. Politics.
9. Relatives (well, some).
10. Studying.

Hmmm...there it is. Maybe i didn't do this the right way, but am still looking for my soul...Go on give it a shot.

Worst among equals

So much hue and cry over the upcoming elections has been made already! I mean...for god sakes it hasn't even started! Elections and politics and candidates is the only thing on the tube these days. And to think Cricket is the national obsession! Says Who!!??Well let me jump onto the bandwagon and add my two pence worth to this whole khichdi that is Indian politics. Looking at the whole thing objectively, three options for a future Indian PM stand up, and these need not be named.

Let us start with the current Chief Minister of UP who has been touted as a candidate to the highest political position in India. In 2007-08 assessment year, Mayawati paid more income tax than industrialist and Forbes-listed Mukesh Ambani. This is an indication of the personal wealth accumulated by this teacher born to a clerk in UP. You do the math.

The next candidate is of course the incumbent PM and a man with a clean image, something that his 'not-so-clean-image' party has exploited to the fullest. But he has been accused of being 'weak' and given his political background I do perceive some credence in the allegations. After all he hasn’t yet won a popular election (Lok Sabha) and doesn’t look like he will even bother contesting this time round. He cites the examples of Deve Gowda, Indira Gandhi, et al to justify his case, but these are just constitutional loop holes that were exploited before and are being exploited now as well. For all his heroics in the 90's, it is sad to see him as merely a puppet in the hands of you-know-who today. One would wish that he can just contest an election and win it and shut up all his critics...but I don’t see that happening unless the growth of a proverbial 'spine' takes place in his body.

That brings us to the last 'haloed' option, the Indian new age 'iron man' as he is called by his cronies. He was accused by the aforesaid person of having done nothing noteworthy save the demolition of a famous mosque. There is no conceivable defense in his favour on this accord but then again, he hasn't had much of an exposure to power, except when he was deputy PM in the India Shining government, which did do some good to the country in all fairness. He remains torn between the religious fundamentalists whose support he cannot do without and the forward minded junta that is apprehensive about his 'saffron' image. All in all, this guy is no better a candidate for India's PM than the others and actually no worse either.Yeah I know what you're thinking..."whom should I vote for then?". Honestly, as of now I don’t know whom I’ll vote for...but I do know that I will vote.

Aks

laakhon baar dekha hain aks ko apne, par kya kabhi socha hain ki kya ye aks hain apna?

The last post was way back in september. A couple of heinous terror attacks and a new US president later the last post does look in bad taste. Life has been very hectic in between these two posts no doubt but thoroughly enjoyable, especially given the end result :-P. I am gearing up for my interviews to be held the next couple of months and i have never been so anxious, excited, nervous and confident at the same time. Lady luck has been kind, hope thats how it stays for the next few weeks as well. (heck, it can remain like this for the rest of my life !). Jokes apart, i am amazed at the kind of questions that are asked in the interviews. From mundane stuff like "Why an MBA?" to really inventive questions like, "Name one thing that you would change/reverse in your life.", to the downright 'googlies'....like, "Map you career to a batsman coming at 85/1 (7 overs) in a 50 over match". How does one tackle these? Can one 'prepare' for this stuff? I guess not. One of my mentors suggested that i close my eyes and reflect on my life, preferebly with soothing music playing. It is amazing what such a simple exercise can teach you. I practicaly revisited every significant moment in my life, it is a rejuvinating experience, you can learn a lot of stuff that you forgot and un-learn a lot of stuff that you shouldnt have learned in the first place. What is sad though, is that we do this sort of a thing only when it becomes a critical necessity. We look at the mirror everyday, but do we really 'look' at ourselves? Do we ask ourselves, "Is that me?...Is that who i want me to be?". I guess not. Those who do, good on ya'll, those who dont...give it a shot, i did.