1 deg above zero

It doesn't seem as cold at first as it does after a few minutes. Was a good experience to feel it at Harlow.

Moonlight Skies

It is amazing to see the moon outside my window while at office by 5 p.m. It is pitch dark by then. I am sure this can have a psychological effect on the mind. But exactly, that is just in the mind. It is up to you to not succumb to it. So far so good :-)

Home Early

Was shaken up by an error in judgement and got home early today. The earliest ever since I've started work. Was home by 5:45 p.m.

Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Survey for Non Doctors (A public health initiative by ICON Trust)

http://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?key=rJK8zJymkXJEFgJTNkM06zA

use the link rather than the post below.

Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Survey for Non Doctors (A public health initiative by ICON Trust)

The questionnaire is brief and should not require more than 5 minutes of your time. Please ensure you answer each question. Unanswered questions will be highlighted with a Red box and will return an error message when you click  the Submit button.

Madhya Pradesh Trip 2009

Madhya Pradesh 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gcy7osbqdY

welcome back

and i'm back

will make a fresh start to blogging yet again

Sands of Time

As the last grains of sand drop through, another phase of life of two years is drawing to a close. Writing memoirs would be a task in itself, made all the more difficult by my fast fading memory powers. 

Nonetheless, memories of working overnight at the insti, hanging out with friends, working, studying, arguing will always remain.

How can I forget...

1. Hiding Suppu's helmet

2. Putting Suppu's helmet in places like the tubelight in the room or in corridors where he can't reach it easily. 

3. A gazillion reasons for the existence of the exalted tub

4. Designing brochures time and again

5. Proof reading till eyes have seemed squint - eyed permanently

6. People asleep in a standing pose while cleaning the corridors

7. The 3rd Floor couch always occupied by various sleeyheads

8. G2 sleeping just about anywhere and everywhere

9. The canteen

10. Vihar and Suppu getting out of 1976 and yelling out into the night sky 'Vihar' for all he's worth

11. The stinky loos

12. Arranging stuff in the stinky loos and trying to get some improvements in them

13. Running around chipkaoing posters at 6:50 a.m. 

14. A specimen trying to project regular paper using an overhead projector and being confident that it would work without using transparencies

15. Room No 36

16. Chota 17

17. Bada 17

18. The arguments in 36

19. The arguments in Chota 17

20. The joys and the sorrows of 36 and Chota 17 each

21. Seniors breathing down our necks

More to follow

Honeymoon?? Abhi??

As we sat just chit-chatting yesterday, during the conversation it came up that one of our friends (who got married about a month back) was going for her honeymoon). 

Teekay's reaction was most amusing and had us in splits. Teekay very innocently said "Abhi tak kya kiya" with an incredulous look on his face. It was an extremely spontaneous reaction and it was absolutely hilarious. 

The fact that Teekay is in a relationship made us rib him even more about his statement. We will be very proud of him when he eventually does go for his honeymoon (paid by himself of course).

Teekay you will leave same day as wedding right?

That's my Staircase

Most hislariously, while I was chit chatting with some of my mum and dad's college friends last night, one of them brought up a quirk of Sathaye College (forgive me if i've gotten the spelling wrong...its immaterial)...

As the story goes, the aforementioned college has a particular staircase that is only for "Staff and girls"...regular guys (male students) are not allowed to use that staircase.

It struck me as singularly funny. What followed was more laughter as my dad's friend K uncle maintained (because his younger son did his 12th from there last year) that guys and gals are segregated at aforementioned college (AC) while R aunty equally vehemently maintained that no such thing exists (her son being a current student there). When it was discovered that K uncle was talking about the staircase, R aunty readily agreed, meanwhile I just had a good laugh. Though I was left wondering how come K uncle knows about the staircase so well? ;-)

Cheerio. Enjoy your Sunday folks.

Swallow the cake

No longer content with JUST having one's cake and eating it too.. People now want to swallow their cake.

We have got to practice some self restraint when it comes to such matters. Extravagance is only going to take us closer to the bring of extinction. Of all us evolved monkeys. Imagine waking up to a world where you have to pay tax on the air that you breath, eating food pellets instead of regular food because no land willl be left for regular agricultural lamnd, back to using cycles and the like for transport, maybe we will have to use inicycles due to the exploding population and if the bivyvles take up too much space per person,beds in upright position, no seats anywhere, wayer will be the new liquid gold.

Personally I prefer ice-cream.

Sordid

Some news that you read about can be quite depressing. A lot of such incidents have occured recently. Two seperate shooting incidents - one in Germany and one in USA. Closer to home, a Dalit child being put on a bonfire in Ambedkarnagar on Holi, two seperate cases of ragging incidents - one in which the boy died and another in which the girl consumed poison, another girl being pushed out a train, etc.

What is the world coming to these days. 

-- Kairav Parikh

Rainmen

Well some sporadic showers have hit the city. Evoking childhood memories of running out in the rain as a child to get soaked in the first showers of the year. Also bringing along the inevitable memories of 26th July.

Was just discussing with a friend yesterday where both of us were and the experiences of that day. RB had gotten stuck somewhere near college and had gone off to a relative's place where eventually apparently it was almost a picnic atmosphere.

On the other hand a colleague and I were on the way (thankfully to South Mumbai where the rainfall recorded was much lower) to approach an organisation for sponsorship for our event. 

Better sense prevailed and my colleague stayed over at my place. Another friend wasn't so fortunate. SyD was stuck at Malad and her bro was stuck in school. Meanwhile SyD's mom was at home and electricity wasn't present all the time, making cordless phones and cell phones that needed to be charged a nuisance. Somehow it landed up that SyD's dad became unconscious in the car and was taken to some hospital in Bandra (E). The news that he was put on oxygen somehow filtered through despite the telephone networks being what they were and that only made everyone all the more hyper. It would have been suicide to go out that night in an attempt to reach the hospital. Even when someone tried the next morning to reach the hospital they were greeted with head high water and the attempt was given up. I remember setting off with my colleague that afternoon. Got dropped off at the end of Mahim causeway and started my trudge across to the hospital. The vehicles and the people I passed en route told the real story. The brunt of the rain lashing that the city had to bear. Chest high water and the like had to be dealt with and finally I reached the hospital. It was a relief for SyD and family when they were finally able to talk to SyD's dad themselves. My job there was done and I began my trudge back to Bandra and them home in fast falling darkness. 

Thankfully SyD's dad emerged out of the situation alive and well. It wasn't the same for all others. The people of Mumbai did come out to help those who were stranded but not everyone was lucky. It just went to show 1) how drastically the climate has been affected and is changing because of our callousness and 2) how unprepared our city is for such situations.

-- Kairav Parikh

Unholy Holi

I was talking to my friend PDA the other day. She's more or less done with her course of MS in the land of dreams US of A.But the jobs seems to have dried up and the poor thing is missing home. But when I reminded her of Holi she said she distinctly disliked it. The fear that women have of this festival of colours is such that private parties are the only way to have clean wholesome fun. Usually hooliganism takes over the entire week with water ballloons aimed at unsuspecting passers-by, pawing, etcc. It is truly a shame that a festival of this Has come to such a pass. Hope all of you can enjoy a fear free Holi.

Notebook

You know those inevitable notebooks that students usually purchase (the term usually being loosely used as plenty of my colleagues feel them unnecessary). Well and you know how those books have something written on them. 

Well mine had a line written which struck me as very very profound.

it was 

"Life is full of challenges. Being happy should not be one of them."

and it is so true. Come on. We. Yes, you and me are all very privileged if I have written this and you are reading this. There are so many people who don't have access to the facilities that we do.

It's about time we quit whining about stuff we don't have. If we don't have it, do something about it. Lets not whine.

unreal

all these reality shows on TV. its crazy. MTV is running Roadies and Splitsvilla. Roadies i can still understand, but Splitsvilla?

what on earth do we need reality shows when you have stuff happening like women not being allowed to wear western clothes in Bangalore and things of the like.

most people wouldn't even be bothered to find out who the MLA is for their constituency with the elections around the corner but they will watch this crap and not give a damn about things wherein they have responsibility. sigh. kyon "chalta hai"? kyon ki aap chalne dete ho.

Summer of 69

It is just amazing how this song at a party especially with colleagues, classmates, teammates, etc can bring about unparalleled level of energy amongst the crowd.

It happened yet again at Nostalgia '09 - JBIMS' annual alumni meet. It was replete with a lot of people getting spiritual, Moradian Sir taking to the stage (Several times on demand), Batch of 84 and 99 getting felicitated and lots more.

We didn't play guitars till our fingers bled but we certainly danced till we were ready to drop. Even the compeering was fun - AK-47 was inaudible even with the mike (shocking enough) and PK (without being pee ke tun) was barely audible.

More in a while.

JBIMS does it again...

Not once but for the second year running JBIMS were national winners of the CFA Global Investment Research Challenge. Legacy.

Time to win the Singapore - Asia Pac round. All the best KT, shetty, doc and ravi.

Delhi 6 - Pink Panther 2

Sometimes after coming out of a movie you are left so speechless...

Happened after both these movies...

Made me wonder why I sat through the entire movie...

It was a close fight but Delhi 6 was marginally better than Pinky.

- Kairav Parikh

no peace

There's so much i want to write...but the words just don't come...

Society...

A couple of brushes today...with the workings of society...

I was going through a friend's essay on Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. The essay dealt with how mass culture is affected by movies. And the essay clearly brought out certain trends depicted in the movie that Indian society follows - like the male need to be macho, the male character asserting himself physically, etc.

Another incident moved me even more. I really feel for girls and guys who are pushed into marriage unwillingly by their parents. Its sad that in such cases the people being pressurised have to use further studies as a tool to get out of it. It is highly regressive that such a situation arises. I hope Hema gets through her situation. And KJ get well soon.

-- Kairav Parikh

Mumbai Marathon....

We had quite a blast at the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday. We were 56 of us taking part in the Dream Run for the NGO AmeriCares, which provides international disaster relief. I am glad that many of my colleagues from b-school could make it and were enthusiastic in their support. Of course though the run was to be 6 km, by the end of it we had easily covered 10 km or so. For quite a few of my friends it was their first time as a part of the marathon and I think they quite enjoyed it. Hope we can make it an annual event.

:-)

--Kairav Parikh

Happy 75th Ba!!

My grandmom's 75th birthday tomorrow. And we had this big party today so that relatives from out of town could make it down to celebrate the occasion. 

Wow!!! The stuff my dad did to make the occasion special was out of this world. I was shocked when I entered the venue. There were these huge flex banners with pics of the family and family friends and other people who were to be at the party. It must have taken a huge amount of effort to do all that.

Not to mention the quiz that was conducted for the audience to see who knows my grandmother well and the stage handled by my bro and cousin. 

I hope I can do the same and more for my parents when I am on the other side.

Love you guys.

--K1

how OPT is that...

My friend KT is a source of constant entertainment. We rib him so much about some of his habits but he in his good natured way manages to laugh at himself with the rest of us all times. Well actually almost all times, the rest of the times he's beating me up about it.

Just yesterday as we sat sipping our chair and coffees....'slrrrrrrrrp'....went our friend....and HD, GJ, makkadman and me burst out laughing while KT got all red-faced.

Later on during the same cuppa tea, KT very optly decided to refer to a mail that was sent only to the 'opt' people.

Oh man. And he didnt have a clue what he'd said. But he laughed along as well when I told him what he'd said.

It was also good to meet Maddy and Nikhil after a long time. I missed meeting Spinach and Popeye though. Maybe next time.

--Kairav Parikh

Outbound Adventures - this one's for you

It was a completely different feeling to be referred to as an instructor by a friend talking to a third person. I had completely forgotten about that.

It brought back fond memories of all those times spent on camp. Thank you Andre Morris for Outbound Adventures and all those wonderful times. Its been 6 long years since I was out on camp and I am aching to get back out there. I will definitely make it out there soon.

My friend A went to Rajmachi recently and that brought back fond memories as well. I met my old school buddy K who was there on that trip to Rajmachi. It was fun remembering all those times. Rock climbing and rappelling up and down those fort walls. Archery to go with it too. And how can I forget R got stung by a scorprion. How R howled! It was most amusing that the sting was on the middle finger and Pops kept asking the teacher from R's school why R kept waving her middle finger around.

My last trip out was to Igatpuri. That was fun too. The waterfall and everything. All in the rain too. We were soaked but it was great. I remember I went for Pat's leaving for USA farewell straight on the way back from there.

sacrifice

I am currently reading this book on entrepreneurs who graduated from IIMA and have gone on to make it big. The book is titled 'Stay Hungy, Stay Foolish'.

It's certainly making for a very interesting read so far. And it is definitely in the mould that would inspire someone who reads it with even the slightest of entrepreneurial streak, to seriously consider entrepreneurship as an option.

What remains as a common thread throughout most of the success stories highlighted in the book is the amount of sacrifice that each individual has had to go through along the way to success.

Inevitably, there are family break ups, not enough time for spouse and kids, etc. But there are those that have balanced it out as well. I wonder how these people can decide what amount of sacrifice that they are willing to go through to follow their dreams or passions about their venture.

Pretty much the same can be extended to every feature of your life that you are passionate about. How much are you willing to sacrifice along the way? For someone who deems family important, that is a sacrifice, similarly a regular corporate career v/s your own venture. There were even examples where the spouse has worked to earn for the family while the entrepreneurial venture was being started up. There were even cases where the spouse has dived into it head on. That is the kind of sacrifice and dedication needed to succeed.

But does there always have to be a payout of personal life against professional? Or can things be more balanced?

I will continue to read on, but what strikes me as slightly odd is that why are all the people feature in the book so far male? Is that because of the inherent nature of women to be considered as homemakers? Does society have anything to do with it? Or are women just more comfortable with lesser risk and higher stability?

Life is what you make of it

And yes i am back again after a break. 

I am a strong advocate of the belief that 'life is what you make of it'. Again none of this aims to disprove or prove the existence of God. But our reactions to situations and circumstances is within our control. And hence the ability to change the situation. 

Very debatable I am sure. But I believe that especially in times when one normally tends to mope or be sad, it is up you to lift yourself out of that feeling. 

While you feel that you deserve sympathy and empathy, it is up to you not to resort to things like going on binges or taking to smoking or drinking in the hope that it will help drown your sorrows. That would only compound the problem and make things worse. What is needed is a clear mind and not a mind with a judgement that would be clouded by such things. 

Lift yourself up from your misery and realise that life is but for you to make what you want of it. All the best to one and all.

-- Kairav Parikh