First Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to me and all my readers!!! :)

I have finally completed one year as a blogger. Finally managed to pursue one of my hobbies seriously and actually managed to keep it going for an year! Whoa!

Some of you have appreciated my posts and some of you have criticized them. I thank all of you for actually sparing some time to read my blog!.  I really appreciate it.


As of now I have Midsems on my head. I really think they should do away with exams in the 8th semester! After getting a job who wants to read all this crap!

 Keep reading my experiences and thoughts on life.

Cheers Readers!

For now it's M@verick signing off!!! :)

SENSEX and the Opposite Sex!

For the past few weeks there are two things I have been doing with dedication. One of them is to follow the SENSEX and invest my virtual money in it. The other is to follow the ‘Birds’ (Cute Chicks), as my friend calls it, on the campus, on FB, on the phone or on any other medium of interaction possible.

This Sunday morning, as I woke up alone in my room and picked up the copy of Economic Times lying on the floor, I had some weird similarities between these two distinct subjects cropping up in my mind. Let me share them with you.

'Bird Hunting' by applying Stock Fundas!

One of the basic investment strategies is to invest early and long in fundamentally strong stocks. People who would have invested in Reliance, Infosys etc. say 4-5 years back surely would have made a lot of money by now. The same strategy applies to these ‘Birds’. You have to identify the fundamentally strong ‘Birds’ (Those who have the right mix of Beauty and Brains!) early and invest long in them. I say early because if you don’t have a fundamentally strong ‘Bird’ in your cage by the time you are in class 11 or 12 then the chances of you finding one are diminishing by the day!

Investors are advised to ‘Cherry Pick’ their stocks according to their budget and risk profile. Likewise you too need to ‘Cherry Pick’ your ‘Birds’, according to your personality and taste. Just like you don't put your money on every stock listed on the SENSEX, don't try and hit on every 'Bird' on the Radar. If you pick someone way out of your league, it is more likely that the 'Bird' would use you, burn a hole in your pocket and then finally dump you!

Before investing in any stock you are advised to take a good look at the P/E ratio (Price/Equity ratio), Balance sheet and Dividends of the stock. Similarly, before you hit on any ‘Bird’ do analyse her ‘S/A ratio’ (Sex Appeal/Attitude ratio). Scrutinise her ‘Balance sheets’ i.e.  Family background (Make sure that she doesn’t have any rowdy brother or a mafia don father!), Past relationships (If any) etc. Most importantly, estimate and calculate your ‘Dividends’ (you all know what I mean by this ryt?).

Just like the prices of stocks fluctuate on the SENSEX, the ratings of these ‘Birds’ also fluctuate on the Opposite Sex’s Radar. The minute we see a cute girl, wearing a sexy outfit, swaggering in the canteen we have a ‘BUY’ call on her. We have scores of Boys taking the ‘Buy’ call and investing their time and money trying to hit on the girl. Soon she is “The THING” in the campus. The next week/month when we hear the news that she is now committed with an ‘X’ guy, we have a ‘SELL’ call on her.

Right now we have a recession of these ‘Birds’ on the campus. May be like the government influxes liquidity in the market by tweaking interest rates, the admin needs to influx liquidity in the campus by tweaking reservation policies!

For now its M@verick signing off!!! :)


P.S. All you girls who read this post... Don't misunderstand that i think of you as 'Birds'... Its just one of my fantasy posts! If I like anyone of you... it's b'coz I like you from my heart... My heart doesn't know any fundas of investment, trading, profits... It knows only the funda of Love!

Unplanned Plans!

One of my friends has already blogged about the topic I had in mind. 

So…What should I do?  

Cry and complain that he telepathically stole my ideas (Even though I myself told him the topic)??
 

Common… I say what the heck! Let me pick a random topic and just blog… Let me test my capabilities (I doubt if I have any :P).
 

Life is a sweet bitch that makes your plans go haywire 8 out of 10 times. Listing out the instances when I planned and they worked out would turn out to be in the ISM lingo… P*t*e de raha hai saala!
 

Here are some instances when my Unplanned Plans worked out…

• Each time there was a quiz competition in ISM I would plan to participate and prepare for it, only to be disappointed that I didn’t even qualify the prelims. Three days ago, I won the quiz competition @ Srijan ’11. How?
B’coz, I was not actually present when the prelims were being held. Instead a junior wrote my name in the team and called me when he had qualified!
Mind you I did answer some questions in the final round… especially the last question to clinch victory. I swear there was no politics involved in this and we won the final round fair and square.

• Three weeks ago, I had booked return tickets in the Howrah-Yeshvantpur Duronto to go home just in case I got tickets for the India-England match at Bengaluru. I didn’t get the tickets before the date of journey and also forgot to cancel the ticket before chart preparation. Cancelling tickets now meant a loss of 1000 bugs. Hence, I took the train and went home.
What a journey it was! Met some fantastic people on the train, finally got the tickets on the day before the match, saw Sachin Tendulkar (A.K.A. GOD!!!) score a century and the match got tied!!! Whoa!!!

• Five months ago, I enacted the best example in my life that sometimes your Unplanned Plans do work and when they do you get rewarded big time! I got my first job when I didn’t prepare an iota for the interview and told all sorts of things which came to my head in the interview.

• Two years ago, I and a group of my friends went on a trip to Puri. We decided to go at 10 in the morning and had a train at 5 in the evening. From travelling in 3 tier A.C. with general tickets in hand to wandering in Puri in search of accommodation to spending those awesome nights on the beach, the trip had every ingredient in it to make it -as they say- Simply Awesome!!!
 

It is already 1.30 in the night and I am feeling sleepy. I was in the mood to write and just had to write something because today is her B’Day. She is the reason this blog exists and she is the reason I discovered this passion of mine. I hope I have come up with something bearable.

For now its M@verick Signing off! :)

P.S. Many Many Happy Returns Of the Day!

       May God Bless You and May You have an awesome year ahead!

       Wishing you a Happy Birthday!!!

P.S. ............. you are too Lovely!!!

Revived… Times have changed!

It had rained then from my eyes and it has rained today from the heavens. I wonder what it is with these rains but they always bring a smile on my face. More importantly, they put me in a mood to blog.

Two months ago, I was a psychotic person, supposedly in love with this girl. I was a workaholic, burning my ass off to crack the CAT. I had almost no hopes of getting a job, let alone it being a decent and respectable one. I was hopeless, jobless and fed up with almost everything that was there. In short, I was all that I was not meant to be.

Today, two months later… Times have changed… Indeed they have changed dramatically.

I am no longer the psycho I used to be. I am no longer a workaholic, but have got back the ISM instilled attitude of ‘Matiyaopan’. I am now happily employed yet jobless (b’coz I have nothing worthwhile to do). I am hopeful of my life and in love with almost everything that is there. In short, I am all that I ever wanted to be. Common! Live life as it comes, but live it in style!

I getting placed… is either a horrendous mistake by the company or I am exorbitantly talented and lucky. Whatever it is… I don’t give a damn! I am in and it’s all that matters!

Just before I left home after the durga puja vacations, I told to my grand mom that with your blessings and if everything goes well your grandson will have a job in his hands within a few days. She blessed me and assured me that I was very lucky and shall get what I wanted. How true her words were!

But seriously, even in my wildest dreams I did not know that I would do the things I did on the day before the placements.

A written aptitude test was to be held at 6:00 PM on 26th October. On the morning of 26th October, I and two of my friends went to Big Bazaar at 9.30 AM to buy formal shirts for ourselves. On coming to know that it would open at 11.00 AM we went to the Café Coffee Day shop to while away our time. But just then, my crazy friends (Jhabru and Waffy) came up with the idea of going to the Movie ‘Jhoota hi Sahi’ being screened at Fame, Dhanbad. Despite my earnest attempts to resist them they convinced me and dragged me to the movie. Predicatably, the movie was a complete waste of time and money.

Post the movie, we went into Big Bazaar and bought shirts for ourselves. It was already 2:00 PM by then. Knowing that we would miss lunch at the mess we decided to fill ourselves with Pizzaa’s and other junk food available. On coming back to the hostel at 3:00 PM, I came to know that the test had been preponed to 4:00 PM and we had to submit a CV on the spot. Damn it!

CV???  From where would that come from??? I hadn’t prepared one b’coz I didn’t think I would need one… that too so quickly. Cut, Copy, Paste and Edit...all in just fifteen minutes... that’s how the CV was done. I went for the test and surprisingly topped it. Next day, I got through the interview and the rest as they say is history. 27th October shall be remembered as one of the most memorable days in my life.

But the question remains…Would my actions be justified if I hadn’t got through the aptitude test and the interview?

For the past three semesters, I have been going to a movie on Friday night just before the week of the exams. The preparation leave has progressively become redundant in its purpose of preparing me for the exams. Exams are reduced to one night stands which reaffirm my capacity to complete the semester’s syllabus in just a matter of few hours. They hone your skills to read, understand and memorize huge chunks of information in the least possible time. It’s a challenge to read that little bit less every semester and still score that little bit extra each semester. Bring it on! I love these challenges!

Being jobless after getting a job is one of the most heavenly feelings one could ever experience. All that is left is to find that elusive ‘Miss Right’ of mine. I have zeroed in on one of the many available ones and hope to get it right this time. She is so sweet and cute that every action and word of her makes me go crazy. In these chilly winter nights the warmth of her thoughts radiate and keep me warm. I am falling for her…

As I was conversing on the phone on my hostel’s terrace during the preparation leave for the end-semester exams, a friend of mine walked by me and said… ‘Final year mein agar kisine masti ki hai to vo Supreet Srinivas hai’. I brushed aside his comment saying… ‘Saale funde mat de’. Today I wonder if there is any truth in his comment.

For now it's M@verick signing off... :)

'My Memories Of Ganesh Chaturthi'

'Gowri Ganapathi Habba' (as in Kannada) is one of the many festivals that is celebrated in India. In the cluster of festivals that are celebrated in India, if I had to pick one, to which I look forward the most, it would undoubtedly be this festival.

The reasons:-

•    It’s a festival, of which, I have fond memories as a child and relate to, far more deeply than any other festival.

•    All through my stay in this college, the photo of ‘Lord Ganesh’ is the only photo of any God that I have in my room. So, he is the only one who has listened to all my little wishes and fulfilled them almost every time.

Today, on this auspicious occasion of ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’, for the fourth time in a row, I have missed being at home. Even after having darshan of ‘Lord Ganesh’s’ idol in front of the Penman auditorium I don’t feel satiated. I sense a degree of hollowness around me today.

Despite being powerless to do anything, but eager to fill up the hollowness, all I could do was to look at some old pictures of our family celebrating the festival. I lay on my bed recollecting old memories of this festival.

A pic of  'Ganesh Puja' at my home in 2006...brings back memories.

Here is brief account of them:-

•    When I was 4 or 5, I remember my family celebrating the festival in our ancestral home in Mysore. I used to hate the puja for running so late, because until the puja got over I was not allowed to have my favorite delicacies.

•    When I was 6 or 7, I liked the festival because on the next day of the festival we were allowed to go to school in civil dress. Thus, I could wear my new clothes to school!

•    When I was 10, I remember how I used to compete with my Dad while doing puja, because I was not given priority…LOL!  That year, we had a very grand celebration at our quarters (if I remember correctly, G-201 was the Quarter No) in ONGC colony Sibsagar, Assam. My Dad had invited almost the entire colony for the puja and there was such a rush in the house! I think my mom was furious at him after that!

•    When I was 13, I remember that my Dad couldn’t make it home for the festival, as he was on duty, and I had done the puja instead of him. I recollect my grand mom sitting beside me and teaching me how to do it.

•    When I was 17(in my JEE year), I loved the festival, B’coz it gave me a day off from the rigorous and boring routine of solving tricky problems. Being the complete foodie I was at that time, I remember how I had overloaded myself with the wonderful delicacies on offer and had a stomach ache in the night. (Even today, my mom doesn’t know that I had gone out in the night to get Pudinhara tablets!). Also, this was the last time I had been at home for the festival.

•    First year in college…I was feeling sad that I was not at home and would not be able to have darshan of even a single ‘Ganesha’. I was relieved and elated when I came to know that there was puja in ‘Diamond Hostel’. At least something is better than nothing.

•    Second year in college…Everything was same as in first year, except that I knew what was in store. To add salt to injury, as if missing home was not enough, there was a gas cylinder strike that day and all the messes were off for the day. Had to contend myself with maggi in the canteen.

•    Third year in college… Had become so used to it, that it didn’t matter anymore

Final year in college… Now everything seems redundant, but the desire is endless. It seems I have forgotten how my family ceremonially celebrated the festival. Even though the mess is running I have fasted voluntarily.

I am looking at the photo of ‘Lord Ganesh’ in my room and making another one of my little wishes…

You know what it is…

P.S. :- Happy 'Ganesh Chaturthi' to All!

P.S. :- I missed you in the 'Shining white', but my imagination takes me places as to how simple and elegant you must have been.

If I’d only known…

If I’d only known…

That you would come to know like this,
I would have risked telling you,
After all,’twas meant for you and only you…
 

If I’d only known…

That you would react this way,
I would have told you straight away
Without any further delay…

If I’d only known…
That it would make you smile,
I would have gone many a mile
To make it worthwhile…

If I’d only known…
That it would make you happy,
I would have removed everything crappy
Even if it meant, making me sappy...

P.S.: –    You are as beautiful from the inside,
              As you are from the outside.
              And I would do everything to keep that smile,
              Even if it meant turning the tide…!!

Changing ISM...Will it ever be the same again?

It has been three years, since I joined this college and I am now in the final year of my college life. During this time I.S.M. has changed from the outside as well as from the inside.

Constructions galore in ISM! Be it the New L.H.C. Complex near R.D., or the Amber Hostel between Topaz and Emerald, or the Jasper Hostel in front of R.D. If any of our old alumni were to visit the campus they wouldn’t recognize anything else other than the Heritage Building, Central Library and the Diamond Hostel.

External change in ISM may be necessary, because it urgently needs to gear up its infrastructure to meet the increase in intake of students. But what concerns me the most is the internal change at ISM, The change in culture at ISM. Take for instance the following example…

The other day I was at the library entrance filling up the details on the entry register. As I filled up the details, I saw a boy walk into the library, that too audaciously, in lowers and slippers. Being the final year, I called the boy over and asked him which year he was and why was he at the library in lowers and slippers? The guard too pinched in and firmly questioned the boy.

To my astonishment, the boy in turn asked me who was I to ask him what he was wearing. Take that for arrogance! That too from a first year! Anger swelled up in me and I was about to slap him. But somehow I restrained myself and walked off in frustration keeping in mind the anti ragging affidavit we all  had given earlier.

Hahah!!!... Imagine this in I.S.M.!!! :D

If the same incident had happened 3 years ago the boy would have been probably ragged badly and all his arrogance would have been put to dust. But, times have changed. Today, seniors are afraid of the first years and not vice-versa, courtesy the strict anti-ragging regulations in the campus.

A single complaint is all it takes to get an FIR registered against your name in the nearest police station and ruin your potential career. Which idiot would risk his lucrative, potential career to rag a first year for five minutes of fun?

The current batch of first years have been vested with so much power and they are using it so blatantly that it has even prompted the Dean of Student's Welfare to give them a stern warning to be in their limits. This seems to have had no effect on our beloved juniors as they have turned the L.H.C. canteen, which was a place for numerous meetings of various societies in the campus, into a place for playing Truth and Dare in the evenings.  

I agree that unrestricted ragging is a nuisance, but restricting it totally is also a nuisance. Lack of ragging leads to lack of discipline and a lack of personality development among the first years. Even some of our open-minded faculty might have felt this while taking classes.


Ragging is a form of interaction of seniors and juniors. It creates that special bond between them. I.S.M. has its legacy on the senior-junior relationship. I have felt this personally, as in all the three years of my vocational training at various mines, I have always been taken care of by my seniors as if I was their own brother.

I guess the new regulations shall cause more harm than good. The legacy of I.S.M. is dying a slow but sure death. I.S.M. may never be the same again and the change may well be permanent.



P.S. - Ufff... I love the way you jiggle your semi-dried hair...if only, I could see you do it everyday.

'The Eyes'

One advice which I have been advocating to my friends, rather frequently these days is that…‘BhaiLog…Ladki ke Peeche Mat Bhago…Barbaad Ho Jaooge’. 

Having said that… what I advocate to them is what I follow academically. Special Thanks to one of my best friends (read as the lone student of the lonely tutor), who inspired me by his words, actions and motivated me to join the spicy world of ‘Laundiyabazi’.

God has been kind to me, for he has given me a special pair of eyes. Not only do they make me ineligible for a certain profession in India, but have also made my choice of profession much easier. In addition to being the source of my vision, they perform the added duty of communicating with my princess so often, when words have failed me.

So, equipped with my special pair of eyes, I craned my neck to scan the crowd for those bespectacled, almond eyes of her. Within seconds, I found them and it was just a matter of time before our eyes met.

I don’t know why, but I somehow felt that her eyes looked different that day. Apart from the fact that her moist eyes were unresistingly beautiful, I felt that they had volumes to speak to me.

I was ready to listen…she had volumes to speak…but as fate would have it…we were not talking.

If not the master, at least I have become the jack of reading from her eyes. I know that there is something that’s bothering her. From her actions and from her body language I sense that there is something amiss. I am concerned and I am worried.

But that was until yesterday…because today, I saw her smiling!

All that matters to me is to see her happy, to see her smile each and every day of my life.

If only, we had been talking.

P.S. – Be better than the best, faster than the rest and only then will you win all the races in your life.   

‘A Driver or a Kirana Store Owner?’

The screen flickered and the page began to refresh… I whispered my silent prayers to God… Please let this one be good. 
 

God did all that he could and I did all, but what I needed to… Hence the obvious result. Though my sixth sense had given me the signals as to what was about to emerge, I chose to consciously ignore it. Ignorance is not always bliss and so it turned out to be.

I packed my bags and began to leave. In my mind were questions, unanswered…

How did it happen? Why did it happen? And most importantly, what implications does it have???

All my efforts and pains had resulted in no gains. They say ‘No Gain without pain’ but ‘why is there No Gain even after so much Pain???’

I have foundered badly this time and it’s time to introspect. Fate has rapped me on the knuckles. My bones are broken and I am shattered, just like when you have been struck by a rude jolt of lightning.

Some would say that you require such ‘jolts’ at frequent intervals to keep you on your toes. But what’s the point of such 'jolts' if they derail you completely? What should you do? Continue mechanically despite these ‘jolts’ or…?

In fact, everything I do these days is mechanically motivated. I attend classes mechanically just to say ‘Present sir’ as my name is called out on the roll call. I eat food mechanically just to satisfy my hunger, despite the food's awful taste. Even my smile is mechanically motivated just to please others.

I have forgotten what it is to smile from the heart. When was the last time I did it? Frankly, I don’t even remember. Damn it! But I am mechanically happy, being mechanical.
 

So, post my mechanical dinner that night, I lay on my bed thinking of, what alternate career options I had, if I failed miserably in all the planned ones. I came up with two weird, but funny ones.

The first one is to become a driver of one of the ‘Vayu Vajra’ (Volvo buses in Bengaluru) busses in Bengaluru. Not only, would it satisfy my passion of driving those huge busses but it would also allow me to stay put in Bengaluru and drive endlessly on its arterial roads. In addition to it being a Govt. job, you get  to collect lots of money from the passengers. On top of it, you get to be in A.C. the whole day!

Imagine me as the driver of one of these!

The second one is to borrow some money and set up a ‘Kirana Store’ (a provision store) in her locality. All you need is some basic common sense and a bit of arithmetic to keep you going. Moreover, it’s a decent occupation (at least you can make out a living!) and would give me a chance to be close to her, despite being far.

I will have to set up a 'Kirana Store' like one of these...or else in this age she won't even look at my shop. Competition!

After laughing mechanically at my, rather foolish thoughts, I decided that I better go to sleep and not denigrate myself by acting upon these stupid ideas. The reasons being…

What if she came onto the bus I was driving and asked me… ‘Bhaiya M.G. road ke liye ek ticket dena’ or she came to my ‘Kirana store’ and asked me  ‘Bhaiya ek kilo cheeni aur ek kilo namak dena’.

Oh My god! I Can’t take that.

Aaaahhhh!!!! Bhaiya My Foot!!! 

P.S. - Have you become invisible or it's just that I have become blind?

Selfish Or Selfless???

The ‘Race’ is on and the ‘runners’ are running faster than they ever have. Some of the runners are professionalized-amateurs who can see nothing but the finish line. Some of them are running just because they have to and don’t care a damn about the result. They are just content with being a sportive participant.

Then, there are runners like me, who were in the race initially but lost course in the middle because they couldn’t understand why they were running after all, and now don’t know whether to continue running or take a break and change track.

I see that my legs are moving, yet I am going nowhere, because I am practically running at the same place.  When I see the runners, who put on their ‘roller skates’ and skated fast enough to beat us by almost  a mile, I ask myself weren’t you and they equals at one point of time?

The answer is an obvious one.

As I frantically try to find a scapegoat I could do no better than to look at my own feet.  Oh! This was easier than I thought… I didn’t have proper footwear!

My twice repaired and now torn Woodland sandals which I had bought in my first year and my now sole less Addidas shoes signify my dilapidated condition. I am so lazy and afraid of the worst that I could neither get them repaired nor replaced, but have been switching from one to the other so that neither of them gets completely redundant.

What’s with this new miserly attitude of mine ah? I refuse to spend even an iota of money, (I don’t have much of it either!) even for my basic amenities. Earlier, I had a crispy wallet but now it’s an empty one. Sign of things to come? Where has it all gone? I know it will comeback…but when?

It continues to rain here and despite knowing the repercussions I continue to get drenched in the it each and every time. The sails of my ship are torn and the ship will very soon be scuttled... but I still remember each and every comment on your facebook profile photo…why???

A place I once considered ‘Heaven’ and wanted to return to as soon as I left it is no longer as alluring as it was. The inmates are giving the hints one by one and to the best of my abilities I am correctly interpreting them.

On top of all this I have this silly question cropping up in my mind…

Have I become more selfish or selfless???

Or

Should I become more selfish or selfless???

Any answers?????