little little happIness

Bring me to home life

2011-11-26T08:36:00.000-08:00

Chatters from home distant,
fill up my heart-
And light up my smile
Winds blowing south
Bring a scent of delight-
And chime bells of festival times
Bring me to home life, Bring me to home life !

(High pitch, fast pace)
Fete fills my way
And takes my weight away.
As the noise fades -
on employed roads,
Homecoming songs, I must say
Bring me to home life, Bring me to home life !

The touch of my room's floor
And the photo in my drawer-
Create those full smiles
Dial in the golden friends
Stories munch up the times.
Bring me to home life, Bring me to home life !

Birds fly to the woods
Ports get to the boats
Rains come down to the earth
Bring me to my paradise
Bring me to home life, Bring me to home life!
Connect me to my, Bring me to home life !

(This was written while i was packing for diwali and some good homecoming tunes were playing in the background. Enjoy!)

Adios,
Anuj Lakhotia

An eulogy

2011-09-03T08:20:00.001-07:00

तुम चाय की इलाइची हो,
तुम स्कोत्च एक विलायती हो ,
तुम ग़ज़ल एक दुमदार हो
तुम साथी एक यादगार हो !

संग तुम्हारे पीना सीखे ,
पैमाने से गहरा उतरना सीखे,
खूबसूरती से जीना सीखे,
दरिया में बहना सीखे !
और क्या,
यह कविता भी तुम ही से लिखना सीखे !

हम साथ तुम्हारे चले
तो ज़िन्दगी में मुकाम आये
तुम साथ हमारे रहे ,
तो मुकामों में ज़िन्दगी आई !

गुरु, तुम एक कमाल हो ,
गुरु, तुम एक मिसाल हो ,
गुरु, तुम एक धमाल हो ,
अभी तो,
मेरी ज़िन्दगी का गुलाल हो !

राहें तुम्हारी आबाद रहे,
उन राहों में हम रहे,
साथ हमारा हर दम रहे,
साल ऐसे न कम रहे !

Adios
Anuj Lakhotia

Asking for more

2010-07-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

koi hulchul jo thehre thoda aur
kuch arrzoo jo tarsaaye thoda aur

ek mazaak jo hansaye thoda aur
ek dost jo saath chootne par rahe thoda aur

aankh jo sapne sajaye har raat
bin mausam ke ho jaaye jo barsaat

ek kahani jo le mod thode aur
ek lahu jo khaule thoda aur

ek jaam jo nasha rakhe barkarar
bade roj thoda aur; aisa ek pyaar

ek dil jo dhadke ek dhadkan tej
ek zindagi jo zinda rahe har roj

Prince of Persia

2010-05-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Rating : Go for it 7 -8 out of 10 . Light and Fun

Likes: Gemma Arteron screen presence, Jake Gyllenhaal character and persona, setting of various scenes, few side characters esp. the guy taking care of ostrich race, few fight scenes

Average : Storyline

Dialogue: What is right needs to be done w/o fear of consequences.
The bond of brothers is the sword that is defense of the kingdom

Particular element : The sands of time that when released reverses time hold in a dagger. The naming of the protagonist Dastan meaning Champion in Persian and the character hassasin.

It is good to have a bigger role for her than seen in The Clash of Titans where her beauty was equally majestic.

Cheers,

Talking to a loved one after a long time

2010-05-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

तेरे इंतज़ार में जल जाता हूँ
तुझसे मिलकर पिघल जाता हूँ, बह जाता हूँ
दीवाना हूँ , परवाना हूँ
शमा तेरी दीवानगी में ज़िन्दगी जी जाता हूँ !

तू प्यास हैं , बादल हैं , बरसात हैं ,
तू पवन हैं , खुशबु हैं , सांस हैं
तू धड़कन हैं , जुबान हैं , जज्बात हैं
इस मुसाफिर और तेरी जो यह मुलाक़ात हैं
ज़िन्दगी भर की एक सौगात हैं !

आज दिल को निचोड़ना चाहा हैं
किश्ती को साहिल पार ले जाना चाहा हैं
खुद को तुझमे भूलना चाहा हैं
जैसे धरती को सावन से मिलाना चाहा हैं |

बेपनाह प्यार का एक मज़ा हैं
फनाह होने का एक मज़ा हैं
रब की यही रजा हैं
की मोहब्बत ज़िन्दगी का मज़ा हैं |

Euphoria is bad, Depression is good :)- As leading indicators

2010-04-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

Figure: Sentiment cycle of an Investor

One of my humble opinions (OMHO) is that "Pursuit is life"- which can be seen as a timeline to seek answers to the questions that interests us. These answers or insights originate from first hand or borrowed experiences. The questions and experiences remain interesting as long as what we do and whom we are with remain interesting.

Wearing another hat (WAH) -Pursuit may be driven by fear which is driven by the need to survive instead of being driven by interests. It is also limited by capability of the person and systems of the world.

In the Big Picture (ITBP), which of the sentiment from the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is driving is (less important) < than the awareness about the sentiment and the ability to drive the driver.

Moving to the central point (MCP), the image intrigues me - specifically the denial, panic, despondency and the relief sentiments- people may not clearly identify these transitory sentiments.

Money drives the world except for a penny population. The same or a modified sentiment cycle can also manifest in pursuit of other goals/answers/experiences.

Go drive the drivers.

Cheerio,
Anuj Lakhotia

Twenty Five and Something

2010-04-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

ला ला ला ला , ला ला
पलकों पे
सपने ले
घर से जो चले हम
हुई एक
कहानी शुरू !

हँसते खिलते
बड़ते हम
बनते सजते
महफिलों के रंग
दोस्तों से मिलें ऐसे हम
बूंदों से बूँदें मिलकर
जैसे बारिश बनती बढती रहे !

मेहनत में हो कर गुम
पाते खुद को हम
मंजिल जाने बगैर
पानी से बहें हम
राहे यूँ ही बनती बदलती रहे !

हारें भी
जीतें भी
गिरते संभलते हम
रोयें भी
नाचें भी
खुल कर जीयें हम
सूरज की किरणों से
हर सवेरो को हम
यूँही चमकते रहे !

प्यार भी करते हम
जचें भी कुछ को हम
सितम भी सहे हम
पर साथी बने ही कम
बच्चे की तरह दिल को
बुद्धू बना कर हम
यूँही मुहब्बत लुटाते रहे !

गीतों में
यादें भर
सरगम जो गाये हम
कहानी यूँही बनती बढती रहे !

हमारी अधूरी कहानी , हा हा हा हा, हा हा

Wanted to hum something. Conscious Inspiration from Lucky Ali and Silkroute. Will be happy for suggestions to make it more hummable. Happy with this though :)

Cheerio,
Anuj Lakhotia

World GDP per capita and Life Expectancy over last 200 years

2010-04-10T03:14:00.000-07:00

I landed on www.gapminder.org and happened to compare the world countries progression over the last 200 years.

This one presentation from Hans Roling on TED is pretty funny and summarises some of the things i saw with the tools on the website.

The world average life span is expected to rise in the coming years. But, I do not see world focusing on creating 'stuff' to give meaning and fun to those extended years. The average income is increasing, the average consumption is increasing, the average wasteful consumption is increasing and the average disillusionment with the world activities has also increased.

For, India it would take 30-40 years to have the income levels matching the developed countries The progress of countries over the years indicate that it would continue being difficult for India and China with their large populations to provide higher standards of living for their diaspora.

Chasing those income levels is possible by competing continuously or outsmarting peer population if we have decided to live in India. Sounds like a ' keep running' way to live life . This is a disillusionment with India of people who have experienced better quality of life and work life abroad for few years.

Carefully Directing consumption from the increased income levels to satisfy and grow on path of your interests, chase your passions, test your capabilities, fulfil your desires and leave a better world for your next generations can be the way to live life. Desiring international standards across the breadth of country is futile.

Thoughts

2010-04-02T22:08:00.000-07:00

सावन हमें अकेले भिगो गया कल रात में ,
बादल एक रंग का हो गया बिछड कर बरसात से !
हँसे, खेले, नाचे हम पुरे गुजरात में ,
दूर तुझसे, तेरी निगाहों से, तेरे साथ से
हसीं लम्हे जहन में बसें बिना ही गुजर गए ऐसे हालात में !

It was raining and I was drenched wet after an hour of badminton. Continued my playful mode in the rains. Wrote a stanza after sipping the Nescafe 3 in 1 instant coffee looking at the clear skies

Marmalade, Mont Kiara

2010-04-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

It makes my day every time I go to this place Marmalade for lunch which supposedly offers me very little for very high prices. I see these beautiful people, specifically beautiful , adorable women in their middle years lost in their worlds, their own beauty, their kids, thier food, their gossip but lost to something interesting and their worries lost in their smiles lost in the lost things they are lost in. I often pick a local newspaper, a car magazine or at times a woman magazine all of which transfers me to a different world as I relish my honey dipped chicken salad with avocados and raisins. I like the red sofas, the painting on the wall, at times the soothing music and the smile which I remember used to work over there during my initial visits.Thanks Marmalade you exist and in my perspective you offer me so much by taking something of little value.

Adios
Anuj Lakhotia

17 Jan 2010

2010-01-17T10:26:00.000-08:00

Apocalypse it happened
he had been waiting for it
for so so long
with his arms outstretched

Life raised its ugly pangs today
it had been good
for days, for weeks, for months and
for more than a year now

In its tsunami, it swept
Much of what he felt was good
Peace of mind was first to fall
Then blowed away his progress
his work he prided in
his money he saved
his meaningful way to work in the world

Standing naked after the tide
what was left was
a few friends who stuck by
his goodwill he had created for years
And a smiling grin which he always wears

More and Less

2010-01-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

I laugh less
I work more
I play less
I gym more
I am angry less
Am calm more

I express less
I think more
I feel less
I reason more
I appreciate less
I want more

I am a man less
A machine more
Have Brothers less
Enemies more
I create less
I consume more
I distribute less
I accumulate more

I sleep less
Have dreams more
I fly less
I walk more
I spend less
I save more

I call less
I tweet more
I know myself less
Google world more
Am myself less
Am the world more

I love less
I hate more
I live less
I die more

Adios
-Anuj Lakhotia

Pool Side

2010-01-06T19:41:00.001-08:00

Woke up early this morning and wrote this sitting on the pool side bench..few thoughts.

मोर पंख को लहू में डुबाता हैं,
पाटी पर निशाँ क्यों नहीं आता हैं !
कोई समझा दो उसे,
उस दिल का खून सफ़ेद हो जाता हैं,
दर्द और प्यार जहां लुप्त हो जाता हैं !

पानी को लगा चाँद उसके अन्दर हैं,
पत्थर ने प्रतिबिम्ब बेध कर सच प्रदर्शाया
चाँद को सितारों के साथ चलना हैं !
पानी को पत्थर के साथ बहना हैं !
प्रतिबिम्ब = reflection

आगे बढ़ने के ख्यालों में,
सपने पीछे छूट गयें !
ऊँचे उठने की दौड़ में ,
दोस्त नीचें छूट गयें !

Adios
-Anuj Lakhotia

Searching for the Reason Obama got Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

The deadline for nomination of the Nobel Peace Prize was February 1 when President Obama had been in office for only two weeks.Obama was chosen among 205 nominees in 2009. The other names will be known only after 50 years.

There are no real achievements to showcase currently but there is a strong intention, strong anti-Bush thinking in key areas, a world vision and several efforts to solve current problems the United States.

The prize is a symbol of motivation for his leadership, what he wants to achieve and his thoughts for a new global order. I could not find any strong reasons but happend to land on this speech of his in Cairo

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/politics/04obama.text.html

I wish Obama makes proud the Nobel Peace prize

aaj dil udaas hain

2009-10-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

आज दिल उदास हैं,
न जाने किस की आस हैं
jack daniels तुम्हारी class हैं
पीकर उसे भी ज़िंदा यह प्यास हैं !

सोचा था तुमने,
दोस्तों का साथ होगा,
यह सफ़र खुश-गवार होगा
मुहब्बत में इकरार होगा,
तुम्हारा भी एक मुकाम होगा !

पर आज,
दर्द में सीना हैं,
सोचना हैं क्यों जीना हैं
आँखों में अँधेरा हैं,
इस रात का क्या कोई सवेरा हैं ?

क्यों सोचता हैं दिमाग
की पतंग की डोर कट गयी (emphasis)
एक बेवफा के इनकार से
तुम्हारी मुहब्बत की शमा बुझ गयी !

इस महफिल को अपनी हंसी से सजाओं,
दिल में एक तरंग बजाओं,
अपनी आसमान सी सूनी ज़िन्दगी में
तुम 'चाँद' और 'सितारे' लाओ!

जब दिल होता हैं उदास,
होती है उसे
इक तमन्ना की तलाश,
jack daniels हैं तुम्हारी क्लास,
दो peg के बाद
रहता नहीं कोई निराश,
मंजिल है तुम्हारी बहुत पास,
पूछ लो किसी हसीं साकी से
क्या बुझायेगी तुम्हारे मन की प्यास ?

These lines have been written for a friend from IIM Lucknow Navneet Arora, dedicated to his Google talk status message on 7th October 2009

Adios,
Anuj Lakhotia

Cheers

2009-09-26T00:28:00.000-07:00

(Chorus)
La la la
la la la
La la la la (a lil faster than other three lines)
la la la

Cheers mate
Cheers mate
The table goes
Cheers mate

La la la
la la la
La la la la
la la la

This gives life
Takes the pain
Drinking never
goes in vain

La la la
la la la
La la la la
la la la

Friendships blossom
People droll
Soul sings with
Rock n Roll

(louder)
La la la
la la la
La la la la
la la la

Love the beats
Love the bar
Love your beer
In the jar

La la la
la la la
La la la la
la la la

Rock the dance
Enjoy the talk
Do not drive back
U'l Luv da walk

La la la
la la la
La la la la
la la la

Friendships blossom
People droll
Soul sings with
Rock n Roll

(stretched)
La la la
la la la
La la la la
la la la

Adios
-Anuj Lakhotia

Few words from Last Pages of Am-Be-Yeah !

2009-02-26T02:43:00.000-08:00

They and the grey car were crossing the Lucknow 16km milepost. It was an exhilarating night for both of them. They had decided to check out the end of the road after the ' only non veg starters, dessert and Red Label' dinner at Barbeque Nation,Lucknow. The road had taken them through villages,unknown nooks and corners, uninhabited patches towards Kanpur. 90 km was the writing on the first overhead blue panel across the width of the road.

The fleeting grey Maruti resuscitated the spirit of the biker Bharat Satija to make the digital speedometer display the three digit mark again. The car raced ahead , the red lights changing intensity for the pillion as they played a catch-me -if-you -can game. The bike swerved sharply behind the car across the turn with an Abhishek Bachchan hoarding. 'An IDEA can change your life' ,it read . Very true for the two of them. 2 years back they had taken the plunge to do their MBA. Today was the culmination of it all - they had written their last examination in the noon. "It is a great day." he had said to Bharat in the morning and had added "Need to be celebrated in a special way". A big acknowledging smile is what he had received back.

The bike had left many a vehicles behind to conquer the road and then felt a no-one-to-chase void. This car driver was different, skilled,maneuvring through the trucks fast. The night sky looked brilliant. The stars shone brightly above the 'stars' tonight. The ever indolent Bharat was dreaming about 'a scrambled egg and beer' holiday in Goa. And then the digital display went from 108 to 26 in split-seconds.The car raced far away as the bike slowed behind a disobliging trailer truck. 'Stil there, stil alive . Can't be dead before I see Malaysia' shouted the pillion,as they laughed.

It had been a bit of chase now. The hands rolled over the race and the wind started enjoying its touch with the jacket again.A blue overhead panel read "Lucknow Zila Panchayat welcomes you".The biker raised his right fist to the imaginary chequered flag and the sexy babes in red as the pillion waved a bye to the grey car.

The Boondock Saints- Every city needs them ?

2008-11-30T09:12:00.000-08:00

Ok. This is a movie which would be loved for multiple reasons. It can be the two Irish Brothers who look so good in their roles, the sound theme , the throughout entertaining , hilarious yet meaningful plot, the use of expletives , the non linear story telling, the dialogues and infact the overall message the art-piece tries to convey.

I saw it again recently after the Mumbai terror attacks. My personal favorites from the movie

Favorite Scene (s)
1. Joke Scene - When the Funny Man tells the joke about a Mexican , African and American.
So the genie says to the white guy, uh, um, "What's you're one wish?" And the white guy goes, "You mean to tell me all the niggers and spics are out of America?" Genie goes, "Yeah." He says, "Well, um, I'll have a Coke, then."

2. The prayer in the church reminds me of my school days
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.

3. The shooting of Russian Mafia, the whole of the scene..the brothers hanging from the rope , the funny man coming to kill 9 people with 6 bullets, the reference to bad television ...everything

Favorite Dialogue (s)
1. We're sorta like 7-Eleven. We're not always doing business, but we're always open.

This one appealed to me instantly ..
2. D'you know what I think is psycho, Roc? It's decent men with loving families. They go home every day after work and they turn on the news. You know what they see? They see rapists, and murderers and child molesters. They're all getting out of prison. Mafiosos. Gettin' caught with twenty kilos. Gettin' out on bail the same fuckin' day.
Everywhere, everyone thinks the same thing: that someone should just go kill those motherfuckers.

Favorite Expletive(s) [ Category specially created for the film]
1. Fuck -Ass

2. I'd like to thank whichever one of you donut-munching, barrel-assed, pud-pulling sissies leaked this to the press.

To each of these I can add many more which are equally good or even better. Insert on a DVD and have fun !!

Cheers
Anuj Lakhotia

शिकायत

2008-11-26T12:01:00.000-08:00

रूठ कर तुझसे मैं रहा नहीं पाता
यादें वो में मिटा नहीं पाता
लम्हे वो में भूला नहीं पाता
शिकायत हैं मुझे खुदा से
मिले तुझसे बगैर क्या मैं जी नहीं पाता !

देखकर तुझे लगा तुम चाहने के लिए हो
चाहकर तुम्हे लगा आजमाने के लिए हो
आजमां कर लगा अपना बनाने के लिए हो
शिकायत हैं हमें इस दिल से
हर आरजू पूरी होने पर नयी आरजू क्यूँ बन जाती !

एक हंसी से तुम्हारी, मुश्किलें चली हैं जाती
खुशबु से तुम्हारी बागों में बहार हैं आती
देख तुझे तो सागर में हलचल मच जाती
शिकायत करता हैं चाँद तुम्हारी हमसे
चांदनी भी तुम्हारे आगे यूँ ही फीकी पड़ जाती !

तुझे चाहने वाले हज़ार बनाएं
हंसी पर मर मिटने वाले तमाम बनाएं
हमारे जैसे भी बहुत कदरदान बनाएं
शिकायत हैं हमें इस जहां से
हसीन तेर जैसे ही सिर्फ क्यूँ दो चार बनाए !

शिकायत हैं धडकनों से अभी भी धड़क हैं जाती
शिकायत हैं साँसों से अभी भी चली हैं जाती
शिकायत हैं जिंदगी से, थम क्यूँ नहीं जाती
शिकायत हैं इस शिकायत से
शिकयत करके भी, तेरी याद नहीं जाती !

अनुज लखोटिया

This is the second time I wrote few lines in Hindi...absolutely enjoyed it !!

You and I

2008-11-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

You are the cherry on the cake,
The sunlight shining on the lake.
You are the innocence of the daisies;
The freshness of the babies.
You are the smile that vanishes all pain,
The air after a rain.
You are the nectar which gets the butterfly,
The blue of the summer sky.
Daa Da Da Da Da Daa, Daa Da Da Da Da Daa

I wanna be the cake,
Wanna be the lake.
I wanna be the scarf to protect you from cold,
Wanna be the child to care when you are old.
I wanna be the rouge in your kiss;
Wanna be the laugh that gives you a bliss.
I wanna be the dream you have in the night;
Wanna be the light to make your day bright.
I wanna be your friend; I wanna be whom you love.
Daa Da Da Da Da Daa, Daa Da Da Da Da Daa

You are the reason I survive
Wanna be the why of your life.
You are the world to me,
Wanna be the eyes from which you see.
You are a god to me,
Wanna be a flower in your heels.
You are the blood that runs in me,
Wanna be the air you breathe.
You are a rainbow in the Beskids,
Wanna be the colors it needs.
You are the nectar which gets the butterfly,the blue of the summer sky.
I wanna be your friend;I wanna be whom you love.

I know I am having a laugh, Hope you are getting the bliss.
Daa Da Da Da Da Daa ,Daa Da Da Da Da Daa

Adios
-Anuj Lakhotia

Werfen

2008-10-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

No arrows for direction, No measures for distance
The roads I can ask; the skies I can talk.
Rays of sun to tell me the time
And winds to sing story of older times.
The little girl speaks words so polite
Alas, for the language I am naive.

Mountains to give me a high
And castles, if only one, I could buy;
Sit on swings of leaves when the legs get tired;
Drink from the river when the throat gets dry.
Take company with edelweiss and hyacinths
Holstein and Simmental to bid me good bye

Oh tram, take me to my ElDorado
Terra firma where i am Incognito

Adios
-Anuj Lakhotia

This is written after visiting Salzburg, Innsbruck and Werfen in Austria.

The Beach at Cannes

2008-09-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

The beautiful boy playing with the ball
Behind the dog, occasionaly taking a stroll
Jumping and splashing up water
Building castles and making merry
Running behind the pigeons to make them fly

Grows up and swims far in the water
And picks up a friendly fight
Jogs across the beach to see the chics

When he finds his honeymoon mate
Sits, Loves and makes imprints
Enjoys a ride in the yatch
While the Chinese walk with a guide
His psyche thinks of the boy and the dog

And grows his hair white
He then spends hours playing the poker
And see the child do a somersault.
Drinking his favorite brand of wine,
He comes there to see the October sky
and sit with the pigeons he once used to fly...

-Anuj Lakhotia

NAINITAL

2007-12-04T15:31:00.000-08:00

Flowing waters, moving Boats; Thumping yatches against the winds,
Sunshine shining as pearls on the algae-colored water;
The red-colored trees
And the yellow foliage trotten pathways,
The honeymoon couple holding hands
Sharing Moments of Laughter;Moments of love;
School kids playing cricket on the skating ground
Places on hill, where life comes to stand still
She stands there in her black overcoat and white winter cap
Eating the pink sugar candy
As I pen this eating the pancake
Heaven, I feel, is where I am
Ironically, hel(L), I know is where I come from

Welcome retreat from hel(L) after summers .Penned this down while eating at a restaurant facing the Naini Lake.

Adios
-anuj lakhotia

Harmony Cup at IIM-Lucknow

2007-10-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

The Bhavishya comittee of IIM-Lucknow organised a cricket tournament 'Harmony Cup' in a yet another effort towards its vision to help the underprivileged.

The day chosen was none other than Gandhi Jayanti and the tournament was sponsored by Mint-one of the most favored hangouts of helLites.
The event witnessed huge participation , support and brought a lively environment at campus.
All committees were required to send a team of 5 members (with at least one female player)
and individual teams also competed along with. The setting was in the lush-green football grounds of the campus with special floodlights installed making the moment almost unforgettable , cricket under flood-lights with slight night dew.
Quite a few number of matches went down to the wire which were enjoyed by the students listening to the peppered commentary from the Student Council.

The finals were played at midnight between the committees Manfest and IIC.
The proceeds from the participation fees will go to Bhavishya social-welfare projects .

The Gandhi Jayanti at the campus started with a thematic contest on non-violence followed by prayers and Shramdan ( Effort-Donation) by the helLites.
The day definitely could not have been put to better use !!

-Anuj Lakhotia

Barclays Capital at IIM Lucnow

2007-09-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

There cannot be a cooler way to start off the summers process then to get Barclays on campus for the first time. It was an excellent session with the company by Mr. Roopesh, an alumnus of the insti setting expectations about the company really looking forward to grow in India.

The personal experiences of the team that has come along with him also gave deep insights to the students looking for careers in I-banking There were Mayank , Aditi and Siddharth from IIM-Ahmedabad batch of 2006 and Bala from the batch of 2007 coming from different profiles like trading ,foreign exchange,sales and structuring.

HelL(IIM-Lucknow) is really looking forward when they visit the campus again shortly.

Intel - Racism Inside

2007-08-18T21:50:00.001-07:00

Intel’s intent of ad titled “Multiply Computing Performance and Maximize the Power of Your Employees” was to convey the performance capabilities of our processors through the visual metaphor of a sprinter.

Lousy advertisement. 6 black guys bowing to a white .Kind of a mistake which can make or break careers. Just cant understand how this ad went past Intel executives.

Am looking for the agency that created this.

-anuj lakhotia

Welcome to 'helL'

2007-06-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

Landed in helL. This was what was lying outside my room. Perfect welcome....

-anuj lakhotia

Aaap the to zindagi thi....

2007-04-17T00:29:00.000-07:00

Aap the to zindagi thi,
ab to sirf ji rahein hai
Aapki Judaai mein pi rahein hain
Maloom hain mujhe phir apka saath milega
par pata nahi zindagi ka vo mod kahaan milega
Aapko bhi humaari yaad satati hogi
Der raat mein karvate badalvaati hogi
Kuch palo ka saath phir se mil jaaye
To zindagi kuch din aur sakoon se kat jaaye !

Was thinking about someone- fictious or real (not very sure), when I wrote this.
Though very ordinary in its expressions, some lines do have a deeper meaning concealed.

Adios
-anuj lakhotia

City Of Angels

2007-04-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

Favorite Scene

Meg Ryan riding the bicycle.

Favorite Dialogues

Seth- Nicolas Cage ; Maggi -Meg Ryan

Seth : What's that like? What's it taste like? Describe it like Hemingway.
Maggie: Well, it tastes like a pear. You don't know what a pear tastes like?
Seth: I don't know what a pear tastes like to you.
Maggie: Sweet, juicy, soft on your tongue, grainy like a sugary sand that dissolves in your mouth. How's that?
Seth: It's perfect.

Concept I liked

Free will, brother. Free will.

Overall - Ok love Story made good by the cast

-anuj lakhotia

The Mckinsey Way

2007-04-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

Title - Nice and only hype
Writing Style - Easy to Read
Useful- 5 on a scale of 10
Will help- People who are about to start their careers in highly demanding companies with an unwavering focus for the clients
Not for - People already having a good experience in the corporate
Overall -Worth Read .

Adios
-anuj lakhotia

Smart Question

2007-02-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

Read this on the dilbert Blog recently . Give it a try !!

Here’s a question that I like to ask: What is more important to the function of a car – having an engine or having wheels?

Read Answer

Channel V -I am watching

2007-02-03T08:40:00.000-08:00

Recently I went to attend this Lucky Ali & Kailash Kher concert at "Unmaad "the all-controls-lose festival of IIM Bangalore.
Luckily for me , some of my folks (read Mohit)are the pride of the campus and I got the opportunity to be at the exclusive area between the security and the stage , inches from where the stars performed.And Ya, Lucky Ali did manage to get a handshake with yours truly.Think, It was a decent nite with some good music oozing out in front of i-will-rock-even-if-you-fart on stage crowd of Bangalore.

Kailash kher was average with only his "Allah-ke -Bande" track getting the crowd on their feet.However, Lucky Ali did manage to enthrall the crowd with his performance. Even though he has a song collection with numbers so similar you will wonder if it is the same song playing all over again.

It was while enjoying this part of nite I met this hot chic.(all ears up) One of those one sided meetings where the other party doesnt notice whether a meeting is happening. Dressed in a shimmering black short cut sleeve kurta she had captured the eye balls of ppl young and old in the area around her. With a white band around her night -like black hairs , a white pearl set glistening on her sartorial perfect kurta, matching flat heeled ,front covered sandals and height equal to mine everything seemed so right about her.

The moment I saw her started the "O Sanam" by Lucky Ali .The lyrics just adding the effect to the occasion

Ankhon mein bassee ho
Par door ho kaheen
Dil ke kareeb ho
Yeh mujhko hai yakeen.

I found my face glued towards my left shoulder as I hummed along and dedicated every number from "Dekha hai Aise bhi" to "Kitni Haseen Zindagi Hai Yeah"
and "Aa Abhi Jaa" to her. Dedicated from me to my angel for nite.
She did catch a few glances of me when I and Lucky were singing

Tere Mere Sath Jo Hota Hai,
Baat Samajh Mein Aati Nahin,
Tere Mere Sath Jo Hota Hai
Sabke Saath Who Hota Nahin,
Jub Sara Jag Hi Sota Hai,
Phir Neend Hamein Kyo Aati Nahin,

The sleep was not to come this nite for sure. But suddenly I saw her waiving a good bye towards me. I have never been in a state of flux like this before. Before my reflexes embarassed me , I caught a voice behind my back coming over my shoulders responding "Love,Cya at the show tomorrow". Ah! my two split-seconds of fame.

I shifted some step towards with a heavy heart towards my friend Mohit who yelled "Did you saw the hot..........Channel V VJ".
A faint smile came on my ignorant-till-now face, I drooled a bit , moved my left hand over my hairs and hummed with the crowd...
Khaali haath aaye the hum
Khaali haath jaayenge
Ek pal ka jeena, phir to hai jaana
Tofa kya leke jaaye, dil yeh bataana

The song once again was cut for the time.
All the songs sung during the nite have been absolutely fabulous.
Thanks Mohit for the nite and Channel V its u that , now I am watching!!!

-Anuj lakhotia

Guru

2007-01-25T11:02:00.000-08:00

A few words I liked

jaage Hain Deer Tak
Hamen Kuch Deer Sone Do
Thodi Se Raat Aur Hai
Subah To Hone Do
Aadhe Adhure Khwaab Jo
Pure Na Ho Sake
Ek Baar Phir Se Neend Mein
Woh Khwaab Bone Do

Applies to me every morning!!

Go watch. No need to wait for the reviews

Winter Thoughts

2006-12-22T09:57:00.000-08:00

Frosty Nights,Chilly Winds
Cut through my skin
Stil, I feel so snug
In the warmth of her presence;
Her vivacious smiles,her bubbling talks;
Her joyful spirits and life-giving touch;
Shields me from the snow that is cast
With her she takes me the world round
Alas, one day I know, I wont find her around
Fear makes me shut my eyes tight
I open them again to find
Frosty nights;chilly winds
Cut through my skin
I do not feel any snug
As under the bed has fallen my Quilt

Wrote this while waiting for the Qualis . Christmas will be celebrated in Kerela & may be in a houseboat :)

Merry Christmas to All!!!

-Anuj lakhotia

Laughing All the Way.....

2006-12-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

In the last post, I criticised Blogger for its generation-old software. And voila, this Christmas
Google has done what I wanted. I see some cool features around.
I know wiith Google in the hot seat they will be always coming!!!
Just waiting for my blog to be moved to the new Blogger :)

-anuj lakhotia

I need...

2006-12-09T11:34:00.000-08:00

Two two things that go hand-in-glove with the title are "Allahdins genie" or else the "ZANDU" ka kesari-jeevan. Well , my need is thoda hatkar. Often i have found myself wanting to say a little 'hello' to my blog by way of say, some photo I liked ,some article I came across, some of my humour wise-cracks, some video I came across, wishlists of places I want to go, books i want to read, things being added to my dream home, my present crush,the last movie i watched ....the list is endless.

I have always looked upon it as to be the centre-place of my online presence, to be linked to my other identities on the web say the Orkut, flickr,my wiki, my You-tube videos collections, ...be a medium to flash out the last coolest thing I saw evolving on the web.

But i realise that the blogging s/w has a long way to go. By the time I log in & start typing in this template page ,part of my writing-crazy grey cells are already asleep. I think i deserve the right to rightclick on a cool pic and say publish to my blog , Select a piece of text & publish it with ease or add a cool -blog to my list in split-seconds. But alas , the current solution forces my thoughts to remain as thoughts.

I tried the "Send the Blogger" button in the Google toolbar..and it was a big disappointment for things i wanted to do. I think Blooging is stil to evolve a lot further.

It dawns on me ,though a bit late, that I should hold blogger the reason for my hyper-low -blogging frequency. May be if I were in US i could have sued them for a million dollars...eh.

I think that I should try out a couple of other places like the Yahoo 360,MSN Spaces or the wordpress. I tried Multiply sometime back. I found it pretty nifty and good.
But my love for Google products has kept me here. Is someone listening out there??
or ppl are too busy with minting money & buying around companies :)

Some cells that have woken up remind me that I initially planned to write about the beautiful outing I had at my manger's place today. From the top of his home at seventh floor, it looked like as if i was looking into my future 5 years ahead :)

Alas!!....SOD-SOT

-Adios
anuj lakhotia

Waiting For The 'Morning'

2006-11-19T09:51:00.000-08:00

Darkness surrounds, Obstruct my thoughts
I can see the past; the future is though dark;
I stand by the Window
With me stands still the time
I want it to fly, run, race away
To show me the next day
It ticks; ticks slowly,
As if it also awaits something
My mind looks forward for the day
When I could see the fruits of my actions
When this Darkness would be cleared
If lil’ I will do, lil’ the clock will move
I have to look beyond; to illuminate the dark
As I start; Time soon starts flying past
The Gloom has moved; The moods have changed
Thoughts are back; Future does not remain Bleak
I can feel light cutting through the dark,
The Night Making way for the dawn
The day I am waiting for though hasn’t come
But has been brought near!

Was in a sombre mood.Thought to write a similar poem.
But this ended livening me up.
-anuj

Unknown Faces

2006-09-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

Unknown faces, meet at some point in life
First imprints, thoughts originate
Views form ,break ,collapse, form again
Slowly a character is shaped
Lovable, Special in their own moulds
As they unfurl their folds
Some pass away as snakes slough skin
Others become a part of your souls
Time machine takes them farther
But now boundaries are mere perceptions
Spaces unfathomed are just thoughts away
They take away a part of yours
A part of them now runs in your blood
Memories would gush of the together times
Of Times of laughter, times of pain
Moments of anguish, moments of fun
Unknown faces, who touched you at some point in life
Till you again meet the now known faces

One of my friends/flatmates Anubhav Kushwaha joined Microsoft as a Program Manager
This was wishing him farewell.

Adios
-anuj

Trip to Wayanad

2006-05-06T04:21:00.000-07:00

Group( Interesting ppl coming together ,to make these moments eternal......

Prashant Maskara, Trilogy guy & flat-mate

Sudhanshu from TI

Ashish Nijhara from Infosys(claims to fame with his Infy chics)

Gaurav Punia from Magma,( He was wearing a football star LAMPARD tee, and was referred to as lamba-fart throughout the journey)

Anant from IIM-L(engineering+IIM has snowballed his desperation levels)

The Plan( The beauty of an unplanned plan,great moments of a bachelors life.....

Miffed by the monotonous life of a S/W Engg, myself & Prashant were on the look for an
refreshing break away from the cyber-city. A three day weekend & stories of plentiful interesting places in & around Wayanad made Kerela the destination-to-be. Warnings of hot-weather & absence of likeminded people in Trilogy for trekking did not provide much resistance to stop our plans.

The Shaky Start( why it has to happen like this always......

It started with both of us reaching out to our contacts to form an interesting group .Onset of Friday morning, three guys were sure including two of us and some other six guys

in their state of indecision. Then Anant called me up around 11 in the morning when I was in bed still that he was in & reminded me that it was Friday & I should be booking the Cab.
A scheduled maintenance in TI helped Sudhanshu to come .Punia managed to come despite his TL asking him to work on the weekend.

Nijhara being from Infy had all the time in the world & jumped in.

Each one reached to my place from their respective offices at the scheduled time of 10:00p.m Friday except for Prashant who was battling the bugs and got free only by 11:30

The Journey(Hitting the road,music,drinks,small breaks, pissing in open-air.......

The journey is always almost the USP of any trip. Partially because it is peppered with humorous anecdotes from every ones life ,latest music at high decibel being played & if it is all guys trip then one of the lesser mortals being made the scape-goat to entertain the party

Ashish was made the DJ, the front-seat guy in the qualis who was responsible for catering to the diverse public demand, fine-tuning the decibel levels for each song & getting down to ask the directions in case required. He was given the more frequent boos for Anu Malik songs & occasional good job for songs like“Kajrare,Kajrare”

Pooniah was made the treasurer & made to reach-out to his ass everytime someone needed even a penny. He was also responsible for getting the snacks & drinks from the on-the-way restaurantsHe had a tough time buying things and bargaining while he talked in English & responses came inMalyalamHe also talked about the latest chics he befriended on ORKUT

Sudhanshu talked about his no-time-to-spend-money life in Texas Instruments.And that he called a female DODO( dumb) coz she did not understood Circuit Theory. The same girl got 20 marks more than him in a viva where he answered all the questions on a project for which he has worked off his asswhile the female was unable to differentiate a resistor & a capacitor by looking at them.

Prashant meanwhile fantasised about the body-2-body massage he was expecting in Kerela.
He captivated everyone with the beautiful themes on his Nokia which made him to spend more time on phonecalls.

Anant constantly dwelled a lot in chics at TI ,the company has been ranking high in Employee Satisfaction & females whom Sudhanshu have admitted looked awesome while playing table-tennis

The First Day

We luckily got a dirt-cheap accomodation in Kalpetta. From previous trip experiences we already knew that the rooms were mainly used to get off the travelling fatigue on the first day & then to be used as a luggage dumping grounds for the rest of the stay.

There could not have been a better way to start the trip than the visit to the Eddakal caves.
We found the gates locked because it was the election day in Wayanad.. As we were discussing
the poor fate & next plan of action we saw some localites climb the gate,go past & come back.
It was good enough to motivate Sudhanshu who lead the pack to climb the 10 ft gate & go across.

Prashant had problems to carry over his weight on the gate but manged to use his height to his advantage.

Pooniah faced the same problem& later admitted that he started sweating from places he had never before which was visible in the wet marks on his cargoes. Possibly the female hormones in his body took over & he vowed to go back & get a detailed checkup. The caves led to a beautiful view of the valley & opened up to a mountain peak which had to be climbed using some ropes alreeady hanging alongside the mountain rocks. Reaching to that point using them brought us a sense of victory an intangible feeling of pride & having conquered something. We knew that coming to Wayanad has already paid off.

Later on the day we went to the Soochipura waterfalls which disappointed us because it came at the end of a pretty long trek & the waterflow did not meet the documented expectations. Partially becausewe were there before monsoon. Anyways,part of the group found it good enough to have a bath even thougheveryone realised that they havent got their clothes.

Anant & Sudhanshu had a long discussionwheteher to go on in a jockey or their full attire , keeping in mind the sanctity of the place & having an eye on the fellow tourists from the fairer sex. Both of them took the plunge with their respective perspectives finding a commonality in hiding behind the rocks during bathing While the rest of the group made some videos which they are sure would sell like hotcakes. Also a perfect present to give on their respective marriages I t was a good time at the not-so-good falls.

Dinner at night was pathetic because everything was cooked in Coconut oil. Ashish & myself could not bear the idea of something which is applied on head going in our mouths & had to leave the dinner halfway. The other gourmets though not liking the coconut oil taste in their mouths decided to go ahead motivating themselves by appreciating its divergence from the normal cuisine.
The history though recorded that even they could not finish off their meals.

The night was marked with the cant-do-without drinks party , the continuation of anecdotes from the jouney,the stories becoming more livelier & interesting than before, and ended around 3 with a decision to wake up at 6 in the morning

The Second Day

Wake up time: 10 a.m

This day was planned for the notorious Chembra Peak Trek. Though in the end we found out thatit was much more notorious than said. It is a tough trek,extreme at some places enough to break the motivation of the trekking parties ,pretty steep and a series of unending peaks to climb.
The climbing was accompanied by some1 getting breathless, another one dizzy finding out his vertigo limits,scarcity of drink n food we brought with us, some Indian parties leaving mid-way,while some foreigners coming back saying aixcellent trek , people taking off clothes to keep off the sweat.
We scaled till two peaks which ended in a heart-shaped lake. Though right now it looked preety dirty & having only mugfuls of water.

Meanwhile Gauravs TL has called up & we had to abort our plans of night on Kozhikode beach
so that we can reach back Bangalore before Monday.

The trip back home , we stopped at Mysore for dinner where Ashish relived his halcyon training days at Infosys. The Infy Campus from a top-view spells as INFOSYS & there isanother campus which is coming out and is in the form of Narayan Murty's signature NRN.

Overall the trip was good & a pleasant break from the Bangalore heat.Though Prashant admits that he has done away with his trekking-quota for one year.Pooniah decides to take up more chancs on females he make friends with. Some of us decide to pursue the more professional rock-climbing with equipments et al.

Huh, managed to write a trip memoir. Though I have missed out the police escapade while we visited the Archaelogical site Eddakal caves which were closed, the breakfast stories, the Punia talent show and some other threads which ran during the trip. The essence of them I expect to be covered by the other fellow trekkers in their comments /respective blogs or the pics & the videos will fill in those voids

-Anuj

Trekking in Kerela

2006-05-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

Coming Soon......

She , I And Rain

2006-05-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

She was standing there,dancing
Looking beautiful as a fairy
Wet & drenched she shimmered
Like lightening in the night rain
Rain dripping from her eyebrows
like pearls falling from the sky
Sweet ,serene her vivacious smile
Redness of the rain-frozen lips
Tender touch & sweet talk
Cajoling me to forget worries of past
She & I met,we were together
when it rained last night

She stood there,hands outstretched
Waiting for me to fill her arms
She was calling ; it was time to go
As water dropped between us like heavy blood
Moments of laughter were soon few
As I died a hundred lives
The clouds were clear; my eyes were wet
When it rained again last night

- Anuj

Unstructured flow of thoughts which if lent an editing hand can become much more aesthetic.
But I find them beautiful in the same shape as they came to my mind.

Reservation in IITs & IIMs & other Professional Courses for OBC

2006-04-09T13:43:00.000-07:00

The heat is on. Once more the so-called politicians,bureaucrats or the self proclaimed self reformers have taken the plunge to uplift the backward classes in India, the reality is that anyone who is even deaf,blind & mute can feel that they are here again to rot the system furthermore

Latest Update
The Ministry of HRD says that they plan to implement 27% quota for OBC in premium colleges like IITs n IIMs. This will take the total reservations to 49.5 % from the current 22.5% for SC/ST.

More Background
The announcement comes just before the Assembly Elections of 5 states. Clearly the move is a populism move .The Election Commision has asked Arjun Singh for violating the. model code of conduct. The Knowledge Commision which gives recommendations for excellence in education
has criticised the proposed amendment. Ratan Tata has gone ahead to say that it is "bad".
The reality still is that : No political party has the political will to oppose such a move.
Also not many famous stars of todays shining India would like to bring out anydispleasure to the
government by openly ,vehemently criticising such an abhorrent move.
The IITs n IIMs may have to tow the government line ,after being able to say that this will only
dip standards in these institutes.
Also the amendment is based on the Mandal Commision report which was brought out in 1980s
and first implemented in 1990s by V.P Singh only to gain political mileage & now it is again used
after 20 years when the country has dramatically progressed to new frontiers though the
classes for which the recommendations were applied in 1990s still continue to be a laggard pulling back the rising Tiger

Arguments in Support & Opposition

[+] The OBC are the ppl who have lagged behind & havent enjoyed the current socio-economic upliftment of the nation. Education is one mean to empower these so called backward classes
Also they form around 75% of the population(SC/ST +OBC), so it is legitimate to have reservations for them as they have remained underpriviledged as the other 25% has rose to power in every sphere of life
[-]The reservations have been there for some decades now. But there have been not any significant increase in the status of so called underpriviledged classes.Only the well-offs in these classes have taken the advantage to get the handsome jobs by reservation.
What use is providing reservation to a child whose father is an IAS or a police commissioner
on the basis of the class.
[-] Reservation are meant to provide some assistance to those capable people who due to
their penurial background cannot compete with the affluent in this hyper-competetive world.
But somehow the disadvantaged cannot take the advantage of the reservations as there are great costs involved in the preparation & reaching till the post graduation .

[-]If an assesment be made then a good chunk of "quota" ppl drop out from the IITs and IIMs
unable to face the stress and pressure of the day-to-day life over there.Also if they manage to
cling back their performance is no where near the people who have gone through the pains of getting admission by clearing the competition exams in the "general" category

[-] A lot of ppl who are in villages dont even know to write English alphabets properly. Neither
they do know about the education options avaiable . For them, it is important that the primary
education be given to them either by reservation or compulsorily. Somehow ,reservations are only made in IITs n IIMs and other prestigious centres of Education because these names
can easily fetch votes during election time
[-]Reservation is not the solution if someone is capable but not good enough. The best way is to
give proper training to these capable people , help them at each step, subsidise resources from them and then give them the assistance while considering their admission to halls of excellence.
This will strongly boost the confidence in these classes & empower them
[+] The so called 'elite' class is protesting beacuse the reservations have come for IITs n IIMs
But no one would have protested if the reservation would have come forthe government jobs

Repercussions
Will anyone would like to go a doctor who has earned his degree not by merit but by reservation?? What kind of faith can one have in such a person abilities
Will a person who has been supported throughout his life by reservation alone face the challenges of the real world??
Arent we breeding hatred & angst amongst the so-called "general" class against the so called
"quota" classes?? The students from the general category tend to vent out their frustration by talking foul about these classes and the opposite might start happening soon.
Will a person now try to work hard to get their education or will start focussing on
"how to get a class certificate"??
Isnt this leading to create stereotypes about the behaviour of SC/ST people??
The leaders of these underpriviledged classes may try to cut a bargain b/w current 22.5% & proposed 49.5% which would again be a step in the wrong direction
Or, The government migt try to increase the seats in the prestigious colleges such that the
increased seats can accomodate the reservations thus claiming that no loss has happened to
the general classes. This however will hugely affect the quality of education as we will be putting undue pressure on the already crippled infrastructure(read faculty,books,resources) besides diluting the brand value of the institutes
In Mandal Commision part-1 , students self-immolated themselves...hunger strikes & college boycotts have already begin in Delhi.One needs to understand that these are not the right approaches to tackle the problem but one can clearly see that the situation can outbreak to a potential epidemic.

Need of the Day [ Immediate Action Plan]
Our future is at risk. So is the future of our country if we fall to these gimmicks of the politicians.
We need to create a realisation that 22.5% reservation is more than enough. It is already doing no good to the underpriviledged. But only dividing ppl by one more classification. More fragmentation of the already broken Indian society

The need of the day is that the SC/ST people understand what is required for their children growth. They have to be aware about the political motives behind these announcement.
At the same time the elite classes have to realise that the country & they themselves cannot
progress without uplifting the people at the bottom of the pyramid

Solution To The Problem

India has been facing this problem since its originThe solution to the problem is not a matter of a day or in the hands of couple of ppl. It would require collective effort to create awareness by
way of healthy discussions , to improve quality of thinking of thr ppl

Good Things In Life

2006-03-18T01:46:00.000-08:00

Asking for gifts on birthday night,
Running the race first time in school
Winning that younger brother fight,
Falling from the cycle from the first time
Good or bad, Bitter or pleasant
These are some of the sweet things in life

Teachers scolding , Principal warnings
Being kicked out of the class for the first time
That new girl in class; And falling in love at first sight
The roaming on bikes; the partying with friends
Another one is seen in colony; And Yet again you feel lonely

First Day in College and the Seniors ragging
The first smoke; getting sloshed for the first time
The bunking of classes; the flunking of exams
Calling her late in night & those endless talks
The street side walk in the moonlit winter nights
Cool breeze blowing and into you her hair blowing

Moving on to the charming first job; First piece u bought for mom
Keys of that new car; U and Dad going for a long ride;
Thinking of your boss chair ;Big Dreams of flying high

Making love for the first time;
How it feels on hearing your child first cries
Buying presents on Birthday nights
Scolding for that younger brother fight
Good or Bad; Bitter or pleasant
If you can enjoy life
These are some of the sweetest things in life

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Got ill these days. Cholera n Viral are in prowl in Bangy these days
And I am always among the first ones in the city to get to know without the newspapers telling
Surprisingly 7 ppl in my project team are also down due to viral

Wrote this one while I was taking bed-rest. Illness is one of the things I dread the most. And this would have been the first time I took to bed after I have come to Bangalore.
Though, this time around the 2-3 days went quite interestingly.
Took good care of myself. Boiled water,stem inhales, gargles etc......
Watched couple of good movies. Played some guitar, Did some cooking(home-made food is prescribed)...yes it was fun cooking for myself. And yes the thing which is the most difficult to do
..Take medicines on time. Till Now, i have never done that. A two day course would finish only in 5 days. But it happened automatically this time. Only God knows how..

I have started believing in thought that "It(Illness) is merely a state of mind". Yes it helps....

My temperatures did touch around 103. But above is the best I could get out of the remaining time

Adios
Anuj Lakhotia

When the Chips Are Down

2006-02-27T06:23:00.000-08:00

Everything seems dark, disillusioned;
One feels weak both in mind; and in heart;
Life looks encumbered, entangled;
Negativity takes helm, Vanishes the self-pride;
The world looks low on you, you feel like an unworthy clown
It all happens when the Chips are down.

It s a time to reason, not for excuse;
A moment of dark, before the light dawns;
To see the Invisible, to think the Unthinkable
To hear the Inaudible, to feel the Intangible;
Time to introspect and not circumspect oneself
To see the Reality clear of illusions
Time to change Direction; and again rise,
Time to go beyond and face the challenge;
Time to be a man when the Chips are down

Time to see things in the light of the dark;
Listen to your heart while the world speaks;
To see the low as the bottom of the next high
To gather courage from the weakness,
To feel the pleasure that will arise out of the pain
Time to feel free coz you have nothing more to loose;
It is sometimes good when the Chips are down

So Much To Say, So Less to Write

2006-02-19T23:21:00.000-08:00

Books Read Recently

The reviews of each of these books would need a separate post. The essence is though that the Indian writer Amartya Sen scores much higher than the other two renowned
authors of similar class,erudition & eminence.
Also the hype about the two books " thw Worls Is Flat" & "Freakonomics" does not sustain. Both are interesting , excitin & entertaining to begin with but somewhere
lose to grip the reader.

Movies Watched Recently

English :Forrest Gump, The Green Mile,The Life of David Gale,Harry Met Sally
Hindi :Andaz Apna Apna, FightClub
Tom Hanks literally sweeps you off your feet in the first two classics

Another series of posts will be essential to describe how Indian movies are coming with dry comedy, & the Indian audience desperately tries to entertain themselves
in the hopeless,senseless movies of today

Trip To Delhi was fabulous, highly-recharging n refreshing,and awesome fun

Delhi looks like an International capital once ya go there after spending some time in Bangalore.The highways & the metro seems to make a diffeence
Couple of my friends got married. Wishing them a Happy married life once again. The bachelor parties I attended , I will remeber for a while

The destruction of malls was a bit sad. Alas my School is also on the hit -list. But
fear not it is only the extraneous Art ?& Craft Hut which had been build behind
the school building which will be going away. I feel both good & bad at the same time as I remember that place where I was used to ask to stand out most of the times for not being able to complete my art& craft homeworks or where I would get a 'D' again n again for my drawings.

Meeting up with college juniors was fun, so was giving Dad an account of my extravagant habits over here in Bangalore.

Caught up with my school friends who are working in BPO theez days & who said I did greta good by doing Engineering. Well, my answer was " I dint knew why I did it in the first place & I am still figuring out why it was better than attending a DU college" except for the fact that u get to while ytour four years in hostel & then get a reputable degree which fetches you a good job somehow. As one of my friend says, A surely vacation where u sleep endlessly, talk endlessly, somehow clear ur exams,just manage ur attendance, make some amazing friends, forget what the world 'female' means, spend time in the college canteen & the baba ka dhaba, learn to live without bathing for couiple of days, nighouts where ya do everything except study....& at the end of it you are an...gues what " ENGINEER"....

Took my Parents to watch "Rang De Basanti" where they enjoyed the movie throughout
but at the end of it stll kept their point that they dont like going out for movies

At job, Life is gud except for the fact that the salary comes once in 30 days only.
It is bad when the neighbourhood ATM fails to doa transaction on 2-25 of the month
Jan-March you find yourself paying taxes...the proverbial earning from ur blood-sweat going into some corrupt peoples coffins.
You see amazing ways to save taxes and you get involved in the endless debate...the moral way or the prudential way??

Have somw writings in the pipeline,and some ideas brewing.....just wait till they get their final shape

Adios
Anuj

An Excerpt from A Chinese Blog

2006-02-18T00:50:00.000-08:00

I read the following excerpt on a popular Chines blog. Pretty Interesting..........

My conversation With an Indian

In Shenzhen, in a small coffee shop by the road, I was meeting an Indian from our client company, on a business trip to China. I started my first conversation with an Indian. Indian asked me: “Why don’t you ask for a receipt for your coffee?”

I, confused, said, “I can’t reimburse it, why receipt”?

Indian proudly said, “When our company sends us on business trips, all meals are reimbursed”

Before I can answer, Indian asked, “Do you know Tibet?”

I said I do. Indian started again, “This small country is between India and China.”

I replied immediately, “You have the Dalai of Tibet. We have the regime of Tibet.” I was about to kick him if he wasn’t an employee of our client company.

As we left the coffee shop, Indian mentioned Hong Kong and said randomly and stupidly, “Is Hong Kong right beside China?”. I was amusedly depressed. Must be very good propanganda in India for their citizens to receive this kind of knowledge!

So I replied, “100 years ago. China fought a war with Britain, and lost. So Hong Kong was taken away by Britain. 100 years later, China became stronger, and so took Hong Kong back.”

Indian thought a bit, and said “So Hong Kong belongs to China?”

I affirmatively said, “Just like New Delhi belongs to India.”

Indian changed the subject.

He’s from the TATA company in India, working as a software programmer for TATA. TATA is one the biggest company in India, leader in automobile and steel.

He started to proudly show me his employee ID. And said, “In my company in India, I can take this ID and face a scanner, and all doors would open for me.”

I said, “We can do the same here.”

India coughed a bit, and asked me, “Do you know TATA?” I said yes I do, it’s a big company.

He looked very proud, and said, “Is your company a big one?”

I said, “It’s not so big. Only average in China. China has about 12 cell phone companies. Our is just an average-sized one”

He felt surprised for the first time, “China has 12 cell phone companies? I always thought there are only 1 to 2 companies in China capable of producing cell phones.”

I replied, “Our company is not so big. We only sold 10,000,000 phones last year.”

When Indian heard the figure 10,000,000, I noticed a big change in the color and texture of his face. His left eye twitched a little bit.

I then continued, “Hmm, yes. Last month, our company just sold half a million CDMA phones in India.”

Indian was shocked again, said, “half a million. That’s a big number. How many cell phone users in China?”

I replied, “China has China Mobile, and it has about 200,000,000 customers in China. Another one is called China Telecom, and it has about 100,000,000 customers.”

Indian looked he was about to faint, and said, “Oh my god.”, his voice a bit unstable.

I continued, “Usually for a Chinese, he buys a new cell phone every 1-2 years.”

Indian still could not believe his ears and thought I was lying. So he asked, “In China, can a software engineer make 150 dollars a month?”

I was about to cough blood. How can India fool its citizens like this? I said, 150 dollars? That’s about how much they can earn in 1 week.

Indian was visibly shaken and could not say a word for the next few hours. In his mind, Chinese are poor, Chinese could not effort cell phones. Chinese’ salaries are lower than Indians.

Then at the end of that day, he did something that made me laugh for days.

He took out a CD, and came to my laptop, and asked, “Can your laptop support CD Rom?”

I thought to myself, “This is the level of an employee of India’s biggest software company?”

I lent him my USB harddrive. But his old IBM laptop did not support USB ports…

Then we went to our hotel, and in our hotel, I connected online using wireless. I then opened a friend’s MSN Spaces site, and showed Indian a few pictures of the city of Wu Xi. I told him, this is my hometown.

Indian was psychologically wounded, looked at the pictures, and said, “This is the most developed city in China, right?”.

I told him mercilessly, “No. There are a few hundred cities like this in China. Wu Xi is a very average one.”

Indian said, “Oh.”

I said, “Can I see some pictures of Indian cities”?

Indian, stated shifting his eyes, and touched his face, and coughed, and said “Tonight is too late. I am kind of tired, let’s sleep first.”

Posted by HongXing at January 17, 2006 02:27 PM

Original Source

IN OFFICE AT 9:00

2006-01-18T21:51:00.000-08:00

Lately, I have been debating with myself the advantages of being a contrarian.
A contrarian is a person who would generally do things which will be directly opposite
of the common man perception.
It all started with me always getting up late in my bed. Compensating for that,I have been doing
all things in my life with a lag or as I say a headstart if you see it as the next day
Travelling at 9:00 in morning is such a pain. Everyone rushing to their offices, the traffic is huge
You will see Infosys buses here in bangalore one after another. It can sometimes take more than 5 minutes just to cross the road. Eh!
The story is same at night time if you plan to leave office at usual 7:00 p.m in the evening

On my usual time coming to office at 1:00 p.m , the traffic is generally smoother, execpt for occasional days.
And while leaving office at 12:00 or 1:00 in the nite, you have an awesome ride on the
bike. You get totally refreshed by the time you reach home.

As one of my friend says, we should look forward to have some offices & markets opened
during night times and ya will see it as an automatic remedy to the prevailing traffic problem

One can argue that to beat the traffic one can start even more earlier say 8:00

I suffered the consequences of trying that approach. I came out of my place looking for somewhere to have a good breakfast but alas, it was too early for the restaurants to open.
Never mind, i ate something in the Office pantry to satiate my appetite. But now i am sitting
in office at 11:00 extremely hungry waiting for lunch time like anything.
Man, why did i start so early??

Same thing happens when ya will go for lunch as soon as it begins. Huge crowds will throng the
cafetaria. Ppl can sit outside & have lunch but they wont like coming a bit later.

When i go to play lawn-tennis on weekends, if one goes early morning one will always find
ppl arguing over court-space & time to play. You spent more time arguing than playing.
But if you wake up at 12. Have a light breakfast and go around to play at 2:00 you will
find it a deserted place. Coz it is the official time to have lunch in India while morning is the official time to go for jogs n sports. Thanks to Bangy weather u can play comfortably at that time until u drop. Man, i am a contrarian.

On weekends, evry1 would like to go to the same restaurant n maals to have their dinner.
One does not have a problem of a 1 hr waiting time at PizzaHut rather than finding out a good restaurant somewhere nearby.

You will see junta standing in queues infront of PVR carrying their movie tickets. Thatz because
on the ticket that particular hall No. is mentioned. Why cant one look for a lesser-crowded
hall, make an entry and use the lobby to move to his desired hall.
Ah , is it the difference between the educated n the callous class...
Nope yaar, it z just observing the environment around yourself. Thats it!!!

Cmon yaar, right now right here i see ppl queued up in front of the printer.Today, is the day to submit your phone bills for reimbursement. Oh, still another queue outside the bill submission
room.The person will be here till evening but as the forest-fire spreads , this thing also spread
and it is the first thing evry1 wants to do. Thanks to this post, by the time i complete it
i wud submit my bills relatively hassle-free.

I sometimes travel in bus just to re-inforce in my life that life is not as rosy as it seems and just
to have a feel of life of a common lacalite. When i take bus from a major bus-stand, one will often
see ppl josting in thru that small gate to get in just for that lucky seat.Often i have seen that there are not enough ppl and so if you can wait for the initial crowd to subside you can
enter bus painlessly n still manage a seat.

Well, one can say that I came here at 9:00 , n hence i got the time to write this post but again man, that was a contrary thing. My team had a night-out yesterday & no-one was to be gonna
here early in the morning.
Just some observations n ur life will seem much more smooth,much easier n less painful
Are ya all looking around??

The Trip

2006-01-15T07:34:00.000-08:00

THE TRIP

It all started on a Friday night,
Undefined Paths,Defined Destinations
With a sense of joy,mind filled with pride,
Eight Punters took it in their stride

A trip to Pondicherry was it,
To welcome the year that was knocking
And bid farewell to the one that was going,
2005 had been memorable we all said...
But none knew what was still in store
In The left 25 hours of da annee
We all had lived a different life
The memories of which will eternally remain ripe.........

As Usual I want to write the " Travelogue" for this trip. And again as usual, am late to do so
Distractions,Diversions,Commitments.......will still find some time to update this.

Till then, the onus of penning down the memories lies on some more responsible mortals
Read what the protagonist of trip,the cowguy aka DJ has to say.
DJ's blog
Read Xp's literally rich travelogue
Trip's blog

Pics as usual : http://flickr.com/photos/anujlakhotia/

Happy Christmas

2005-12-25T07:15:00.000-08:00

E]---0-0-0--0-0-0--0-3-----0~~--1-1-1~-11-0-0~-000------0---3------
B]---------------------1-3--------------------------3-3---3--------
G]-----------------------------------------------------------------
D]-----------------------------------------------------------------
A]-----------------------------------------------------------------
E]-----------------------------------------------------------------

Well, You would be expecting me to write Jingle bells over here..
Above is the version which can be played on guitar by an amateur even.
So, go ahead ....if you have a guitar in hand.

Hope Santa fulfils all your wishes!!!!

ps: The above tablature is for the line
Jingle Bells,Jingle bells, Jingle all the way

The Two Birthday Theory (unleashed)

2005-12-04T00:59:00.000-08:00

"Today is Lakhotia's birthday.Guys, bumps....lets kick some ass....hard". This is how I remember memories of my last birthday. Those were the hostel days when someone bithday would mean all the hosteliers getting a free-chance to kick a guys back-bottom with things varying from bathroom slippers to leather boots , bisleri bottles and finally dragging him on the ground.

Things as weird as throwing water, beer or drowning the guy in mud would be some of the things the birthday boyhad to go through before treating a group of gourmands at the local dhaba.(Budget,everyone remembers the coll.. days)

Some of my older memories include me getting a full-blown round of bumps and then being thrown awy on the main road(yes, lookin bak it looks pretty cruel. But that was partially because this date generally collided with the end/or near-end of endsemester exams in my college.And one knows how desperately ppl want to vent out their frustration at the end of those gory enginering endsems.I have suffered quite a blows in atleast two years in my coll. And yes these guys demanded a treat after giving thier share on the day.

The memories from the childhood though are much pleasant .I would generally wait for a gift
promised by my parents (a gift better than my younger brother whose birthday would have
gone couple of months back!!!)and then an outing to the favourite ice-cream parlour.

Officially I turn 21 today.But I wont say thiat Iam celebrating my twenty-first birthday.It could be anything between 21 and 42.Well the reasons behind that are pretty funny.My birth certificate shows myDOB as 7th Dec 1984. but all my chacha-chachis,tauji n all sayi was born on Nov 7 and due to some reasons the birthdate on my certi got messed up. I do not blame anyone rather i used to enjoy this paradox. I used to celebrate on these dates alternatively. But as one grows up, things get forgotten and i start getting confused remembering the date .Morover, the ppl who got ot know this fact started taking multiple treats from me. This world is so mean!!!!!!!!

Nowdays, i celebrate 7th Nov with my family and 7th Dec with my school,coll,company friends.
Ppl say that as you grow old you lose the charm of celebrating birthdays. But now i feel
more happy for this paradox.I have two days officially where i feel happy , to look forward into my life,to party and cut through life's unnecessary frets & troubles and feel close to myself.
Another thing is that you can separatley give time to family and friends.And yes, when you have a demanding girlfriend then you dont need to give your family excuses either :)
I feel happy for all those officials who messed up the date in my certificate.Thank you guys!!

Cool Facts:
Here are things that are related to the same date
7the December 1941: Japanese attackedthe Pearl harbour, getting US into World War II
7th December 1972: Apollo17, last Apollo mission was launched
7th December 1984: Birth of Prince of WonderLand
7th Dcember 2006: Bill Gates is releasing Windows Vista

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

ps: As i write this i have already had my GPL session. Thanks to my DCX team, TU2k5 guys
and my flatmates.

Anuj

Night On the Beach

2005-11-09T04:13:00.000-08:00

Trip Down Memory Lane

2005-11-09T02:36:00.000-08:00

White sand beaches, exotic natural beauty, people revelling, lots of booze around, para-gliding, cruises, water-scooter, trance- music flowing through your veins,nothing but the sky line and the sea-side to be seen around......doesnt need to take the name, one can gues what place i am talking about in India
Three days in such a setting & you suddenly start feeling life is so good & why there are only 24 hours in a day.Life suddenly starts looking rosy...

Wanted to write more about this trip to GOA. Some other day... The pics are there to be seen @
www.flickr.com/photos/anujlakhotia
Caution: You wil droll around your bed if you watch those pics for long

In What Kind of Clothes Do You Like Amisha Patel

2005-11-09T00:38:00.000-08:00

"Aap Amisha Patel ko Kaise Kapdoon mein dekhna pasand karte hain ?"

A. Indian Wear
B. Western Wear

What will be your choice
SMS your choice to Amishaji at 676366. Obviously when you see such a poll, the one thing which comes to your mind is ........okie, i am not talking about the choice "No wear" . We all think what kind of crap/rotten polls are making their way into our society. More so, with the polls you get to see pictures with Amisha wrapeed in sarees (God knows, from what angle do they look sarees) and alongside her bare-dare attire in Western clothing. If you havent had a chance & would like to see one before zeroing on a choice, or just want to have fun by watching one , call your cable operator to get ZOOM tv .
Also happened to saw one of the shows i liked Coffe With KARAN with Bipasha basu coming in those Mandira-Bedi like blouses( she could have taken a lesson , but als, females,....)So she had only one hand for her disposal, as her lefty hand was constantly being used to tie that noodle-strap on her left shoulder.It really needed a mans heart(klike Karan's ) to interviw a person in that posture
Television or better its moniker, boob-tube,is becoming boring day - by day. There ere the K,K2,K3 serials all emanating some diweali emotions. It was sick to get a glance of all that while surfing channels.
Meanwhile, did got a chance to watch India-SriLanka one dayer. It was pretty refreshing to see an exciting series with India being one of the sides. The exuberance of Dhoni, the return of the master-blaster, the humility of Dravid and the fielding of the current Indian side was a welcome break from all the monotonous things on the CRT.
I really missed watching television for the last three months, but coming bak it i nonly realised that it were the only Govinda movies or those sort of things which I had missed.
I just wish that the Television stream soon gets converged to my computer screen. Waiting for the days when it happens in India. I getting undiluted, uninterrupted,unscheduled feed of my favourite programs, videos at the click of mouse. The technology for that has arrived long before.... just waiting for some pioneers to take it to the next stage

All you channel-feeds, are you hearing??

DreamGirl

2005-10-17T05:59:00.000-07:00

Took a day off from the jo & wrote this, my first ever poem.....

DreamGirl

Ek pari hai jo sapno mein aati hai,
Aakar halke se dil ko loobhati hai,
pehle chup-chup rehti hai,
phir surkh hothon se kuch-kuch kehti hai

Haath thaamkar vo le chalti hai,mujhe kisi aur duniya mein,
jahan na din hai aur na raat hai,
Bas uski aur meri, yeh mulakat hai
Uske aanchal ki thandak,uske haathon ki narmi,
Ujle-ujle chehre par uski vo maasum muskaan
Thandi hawaaon ke jhonke deti uski vo lehrati julphen,
pyaar ke un chand palon mein vo,
Dil mein kuch karne ki chah jagaati hai
Ek pari hai jo sapno mein aati hai

Apni batoon se mujhe behlana,
Kabhi khamoshiyon se bahut kuch keh jaana,
Na gussa,Na krodh,Na kalesh, Na dvesh,
Manav ka yeh roop jab vo mujhe dikhlati hai,
Ek behter insaan banaa jaati hai
vo pyaar se uska mujhe samjhana,
meri kamiyon ka mujhe chupchaap ehsaas karana,
hazaroon haar ko meri bhoolkar,
meri ek jeet mein uska khush ho jaana
Har raat, vo phir se jeene ki iccha jagaati hai,
Ek pari hai jo sapno mein aati hai

Adios
Anuj

Disclaimer : DreamGirl ek khwaab nahi,ek ehsaas hai
kyonki khwab to hote hi hain tutne ki liye

So, my blog i fulfilled one of my wishes i told u last time. Just wish that there are many more
poems to come from my pen, or rather my keyboard :D

Movies watched this week
Mein,meri patni aur woh
Pirates of the Caribbean,Danny the Dog,MarksMan

Latest In Life

2005-10-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Lately , I have been reading lots of blogs & looks like most of them has been part of the madness: Seven Things I want to do or Seven Things I like or Seven things to do b4 i die & so on.....

Wonder why people are so obsessed with the number 7. May be it is something natural..
7 colours of the Rainbow
7 pheris before a wedding
7 days in a week
7 wonders of the world
7 oceans, 7 segment display
the first word which children write with ease
7 Samundar Par,7 musical notes
the number of days until you die, after watching the Cursed Video Tape in the Movie RING

Lots can be said about the significance of number 7, one thing which supersedes them all is
gues.....well 7 is my birth date :)

I would try to write 7 things that happened lately in my life

YourBillBuddy.com

My project at Trilogy went live today. It is a innovating service which plans to help
people to slash their mobile bills. As a baby , it has started showing RBV(real business value, for the unitiated) and people are already getting hooked to the service.
It is really amazing : how even a simple idea can excite users & bring some good business
At the company anyone who has heard the idea has become a fan .
Right from the CEO to Vice-President(Products) to other company big-wigs ,whoever has
heard the idea has appreciated,applauded & appraised it.
It is great & fun to work for an idea like this
If you havent checked out the site for yourself get going here: yourbillbuddy.com

Orkut Just started using this networking service few months before and the network count has
rocketed to a half-century.
This site helps me to remain in touch with my school/college and other friends whom i mite
lose contact over the years. And yes, the 50th friend who added me is a special one too.
GUBS or Gaurav Bansal- This guy was among my good friends when I was after a bird called
IIT-JEE . He went to IIT-D and we lost contact from then on. After 4 years of completing
our engg.. he finally caught up with me.
And it was even more lovely to know that he is having a rocking lifetime at University Of Michigan, U.S.A doing his P.H.d
If you havent added me yet here is your opportunity : Orkut id- anujlakhotia

Bank Account reaches 6 figures

Yes, I got my third salary at Trio. And yes it is heartening that within 3 months my total earnings have reached the magical 6 digits. Let us see how much it takes to cross the next
milestone 1,00,00,00..... :D

R.K's Blog
(Your financial Advisor) Inez -Finserve radhakrishna.karumanchi@gmail.com
I met this guy on a table-tennis table & was gasping with the talk i had with him then.
6 months later when i joined Trilogy, I found this guy leaving the company and starting
up his own innovation. This time i got to know more about him and was down on my knees
listening to his ideas.
This guy is gonna great places in life & i am lucky to know a person like him.
Have a look at his writings, musings ,insights & favourite posts and you too
will tag him for sure R.K@Blogger

TU graduation is week away

The end of TU is nearing. With it , it will be the end of terrifying/inhuman days i have experienced in
my life. But at the same time ,i also feel that it will be end of some halcyon days spent with some real great
ppl with an opportunity & responsibility never given before. It mite be end of those lovely bar nites
where u loved to get drowned. I think that these have been among the best days of my life till date .
I will write about the emotional outpour when it happens ...(wait for the next week)

Movies Watched

Hazaar Khwaisen Aisi, Sarkar,Viruddh,Mangal Pandey

GirlNextDoor,PhoneBooth,Notting Hills,EuroTrip ( Bold :Must Watch)

My Wishlist (in near future)

#I plan to visit the IIM-b festival Vista
So , that i could catch up with some college & some net-friends
#Buy a new cell-phone for myself
Need sth which have mp3 player & has functionality for getting songs from my desktop
Shit, there is not much variety available in the CDMA phones
#Watch some more movies(which has been left behind)
#I have also made a personal commitment to myself
Lemme see how far i go to honour that.
#Write more on my blog ( I know i am not doing enough justice to it)
#Complete a poem (my first) which i started when i was feeling very low
But I'l have to be down again for doing that, which doesnt happens that often :)

Adios
anuj

Bouncing Back

2005-08-06T03:49:00.000-07:00

----> A pic one can remember from childhood days when one used to study History.

This post is being written on a Saturday morning in the office.
@Trilogy, Track Assignments are going on. (for the uninitiated TRACK is the time ven a TUer is made to slog with the sole intent of......u got it, that he remembers it throughout his life)

I just got graded on my second Assignment. Amazingly , i have been slogging really hard but still havent been able to getpar with
my expectations. Starting with the first assignment , my score
was really meagre..it wud have been probably the lowest among all the 100 guys over here. Another new experience for me as i have generally always found me in da creme-de creme section at other places.

THis post is to record my trajectory. Yes i have had 400% growth in my score frm da last time.( This doesnt tell that how well i did in my second assgn...but instead how poor I did in the first). Sometimes numbers can be really delusive.

I believe after every low there is a high. But sometimes something bad is not as bad as it can be and something gud is not as good as it seems to be. So you never know how much down low you have to go still, or how much high further you can go.

Btw today also marks the day of bombing at Hiroshima. The city wud still be suffering from the travails of that bomb but Japan has definitely bounced back as a developed nation.

Need to go my blog , my first salary is still intact and a call is there to go on a bang, some shopping for the loved ones and ofcourse some for myself

A happy Friendship Day to all of those who get to read this

Yours truly

FROM anuj@nsit TO anuj@trilogy

2005-07-21T01:45:00.000-07:00

It is going to be a culmination of one week here @ TRilogy. The first week in the so called software city of INdia is filled with some really good experiences of my lifetime.

Firstly the city It has been gifted withan awesome weather....but that ends the good things abot the city. WE have an IIM here, companies which have written the Indian software story but ...the city as a whole does not reflects that it is a powerhouse of such intellectual peoples. The locals are aware just of their day to day business n nothin else. there are stray dogs everywhere n the saying goes tat...they bark at you for a week or so...n then they recognise you. JUs in case when they run after you , stop n stare in their eyes n they wont do nethin. I was wondering who sane person wud try that
In the buses you see the kannad script...i call them jalebis.. i havelearnt how to say a couple of sentences in Kannad.It is really cool

i've had a coulpe of ever-lasting memories....finding myself an appartment....I have a 3BHK
for rent with a coll balcony view...will upload the pics soon...n yes have some cool padosans..hope i will get lucky soon.....tried my hand at kitchen, n yes laundry also......n ya i know it was tough when i went on for a grocery shop...neways it has been really fun

At Trilogy it has been a phenomenol experience . THe intellectual crowd here will make you gasping. JEE 100 rankers, GRE full scorers, maths n physics olympiad toppers, toppers in rewoned programming contests, not to miss me and the NSITians.....the list goes on
THe first week NEO (New employee orientation ) is goin on...n we have had opportunities to meet
some of the top-notch guys at TRIO, listen to them, drink with them, dine with them n even dance alongwith....So the culture is really really cool , ver very open...n definitely the people are studs.
THere are a pack of chinese guys n it has been fantastic with them....i will pick up some chinese
also soon. hAve had a couple of pub nites already n lots more are there in store i will say THis job has beaten all my expectations.

Now to get on to the heading of this post...
NSIT was a great place n so looks TRilogy
It was one of those defining moments of my life n i guesTRilogy is gonna other
THere were no females at NSIT.....n by that standard we have a fa

Sorry IIM -Indore!!!!!!!

2005-06-29T00:52:00.000-07:00

Situation:
June 28 ,Evening 7 p.m : I get a call from IIM-i admission office ,that they have offerd me provisional admission and asked for my confirmation b4 10: a.m next day. Joining date is told as 30 th june. How characteristic of anIIM

10 p.m : My parents may ostracize me for thinking to decline the offer n instead pursuing the job offer i have got from Trilogy. After some really harsh debate, they tell me they will wait for my decision in the morning and go to sleep

" this guy is damn overconfident, he has gone to nuts"...was my dad's good night wish

12 p.m---i write on the sheet which i put in my room telling my parents about my plan for next day n when to wake me up:
" MY decision is : I will go to TRILOGY"

2:30 p.m---Unable to sleep, n pondering over all the rhetoric i've heard on the IIMs debate
I get up n strike out TRILOGY. write IIM-i instead

2.35 p.m----- TRILOGY is bak there....though sad outside but i am happy inside
The next morning my parents dont wake me up.........

Life is full of twists n turns. What it is going to unfold the next second, no one knows.
Well all this happened, when i had shut down & put locks on my MBA dream and decided to opt for a techie career for a while, I got an admission offer from IIM-indore.
At this moment, I would say that i did feel cheated when i did not saw my name in the first lists they put out. Indore interview did went as one of the bettre interviews.
But then you can never say abt an interview which way it went..

Well in India, IIMs are such coveted institutes that an admission offer from them is seen as a blessing from heaven.
So, was i pushed up by my parents, relatives n f riends of relatives tat" beta, aankh band har ke iim chale jao". First you have a degree, u complete ur studies,by 22 you would be an MBA, think of the position.....and then competition is increasing dayby day.
True, the last of them was the only thing which i pondered upon during the night.....am i gud enough to beat the competition and will i remain so........at times the mind answered yes, of course...n at times it said ," dont fall in stupid comparisons n thoughts, a chance has been thrown up at you..grab it with both hands".
Vell my answer was....yes, i shud not go gor ne stupid competition but then i shud have the courage to test myself again the best in th country and if i dont have it in me then i wont have ne
advantage whatever degree i pursue from whatever institute of fame.

My reasons to leave IIM-i can be:
1. Alternatives i had: I think i'l be able to make a career with Trilogy. If everything goes well then i will have a solid skillset and personality under my belt a few years down the line not just a couple of degrees which the world recognises
2. A bold decision: I personally wanted to get some hands-on experience before doin my MBA. If i am able to achieve waht i have planned for myself such a decision is going to boost my confidence by zillion tonnes
3. IIM-indore is not any bad, but somewhere i believe i would like myself to be in a more competing environment of some more acclaimed IIMs

The drama is over, people would judge my success/failure by the things i achieve now, but i already feel succesful having done waht my mind said i would do best , having the confidence to do something different and the will to test my capabilities on the lathe machine called life.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anuj

The FountainHead

2005-06-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

raed this book lately. it has forced me to ask several questions to myself- the sole purpose of my life? who am i? why i m here on this planet earth? what i wud like to achieve?........why we crave for achievements?why we need recognition......are we really different individuals or just second-handers, just a collection of adjectives fading in & out, reflections of what ppl feel about us....& so on

shoud we as humans, behave just as different spokes of the same wheel or shoud we defy everyone else and just follow our instincts,aims, desires n talents. Shud we care to get a happy n peaceful life or fight it out to add something to the world as it is 'now'. What should be the purpose in our life- money,fame,friends,position,fulfilment of our desires or just be able to do what we feel is right, that one work which would add to the current world

the world has put a veil on our eyes about what is good or bad...n we follow tat. everyday we run blindly in the pursuit of waht wud make us a better person according to those definitions. we crave for a better image......we give up certain traits of our personality, we give up our interests , we give up our ideas n we call it growth....

we see ourselves as mere reflections....other people act as mirrors

The author protagonises a student expelled from a sought after university of arts for he followed things as they interested him n let go others. He needs no money, no friends , no support , no emotions, in his life ....just the ability to make buildings as he wants them to be. He is hated, despised,detested,punished....for his works but he insensately, emotionlessly bear out thes odds n emerges as winner against the powerful.

But reality is always bitter than fiction.
Wud such a person survive in our society?he will be belated, criticised, ostracized ......n made either to give up his beliefs, ideals,ideas ...or his life.

If i have to rate this book, i always hated this type of buk....( i had picked it a couple of times before n cud not go beyond pg 15)
....da font,da sheer size, da cumbersome sstoryline....... Ayn , u can write a buk in a better way.
But the queries which it manifests , the theme the author has chosen , the dichotomy which it depicts, the oprtrayal of characters it is certainly worth eulogies. And As the author himself says, every story should written for its purpose not for aesthtic details vich other seek from it.

The message is cryatal-clear, it hits you deep below ur heart,mind & soul.....the questions still remain unanswered though.

BTP is done!!!!

2005-05-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

well it was my BTP presentation 2day . vent off well n infact thoz ppl(my profs...) told me tat I (o.k , my team) have done a gr8 job.
for da unintiated, BTP stands for Big Time Pass,....i m kidding guys, it is a final year project, a seminal work need to be done by evry engg....b4 they pass outi can still recall the days ven i was looking for a topic to choose as my BTP. i was looking for some coooooooool techie work, sth which was cutting edge......sounds gud but realised after some time tat i was not made for that or shud i say modestly that it was not made for me.But it was very late till then. All my friends have settled along ( or clinged to) da ghissus who were very clairvoyant about their projects

so i settled for sth weird called nural networks. with a person whom people say gud & then try to stay as away from him . we call him Talli...( though his parents having dotly named him ashish tuli). vell he has been my partner in so many ventures, tat i 've lost count. i can write so much on this psn.....but this is my blog ......so fuck talli.....write abt you some day i decide towrite a buk( i know this wont come ever....hehehe)

so as da D-day approached, me not having made ne great progress called out for da CYBER GENIE ( Goooooogle , wat else ppl )to fulfil my three pharmaish. .....some link where i can download a project on nura networks, or nething even remotely connected to tat, ne platform , any language wud do.after some real hard googling, i finally stumbled upon sth vich i cud put to my own use.
But life does not go that way. on the .exe file i found the developer XYZ (someone from University of california) has engraved his name in golden word(font 48)...........glaringly at my face , u moron how can you use this without giving me the credits.

the challenge was there to take, i figured out some cool way ( again used my CYBER GENIE) to reverse-engineer the file and put my name on top of his........bye bye Mr. XYZi can still feel da joy inside n da grin smile on my face ven i did tat. ven ppl were busy coding on their originative projects this lazy soul was doing his BTP inhis own style.

now for da final rituals , needed to submit a report with copious amount of shit. I have around 30 hrs with me( 2 nights n a day) with this fact in my friend tat all those gr8 pppl in my batch have been working their asses off for the last 5 days...n were not thru still.Time 12 at nitesuddenly all sorts of strange thots,( u r always late, shud have done b4,life is hell,shud i give it up, next time i'l do it on time ) starts getting fuel in my mindi am dumbfounded but find solace in these motivting words on my wall " When the going gets tough, the tough gets going" with an arrow underneath the word tough pointing to my study.

finally we(me & talli) were able to make it thru. i havent slept for the last 42 hrs( o.k i admit i dozed off for 2 hrs but da weird dreams soon woke me off)this has been da longest ever i have generally remained woke upa record for me....sth i wud not like to better in my lifean achievement by itself.....in addition to having completed da work.......

da BTP is over now , never thot it wud go like this but still some sveet memories all the way thru.But yes it was A big time pass for me, though i was still able to impress upon the dumb profs. So does the means really mean , if you can achieve da ends......(.topic for a post some otr day)

Life goes on.As Buddha says,Learn to let go & live freefinally thanx Mr. XYZ( im not tat bad, giving the credits vich were due) n ofcouse google-devta, jus wonder how tough life wud have been if u were not thre

FM : " papa kehte hai.....beta bada naam karega"
.............dad some other day, some other venture, lets keep our fingers crossed

InGineering Is Over..........huh

2005-05-17T01:13:00.000-07:00

This is one of da momentous days in lives of thousands(or lacs,,or watever da units be, i shud hav picked it frm my engg.. but....)of engineers who pass out frm their engg. colleges(read hell on earth) evry year.yup ppl...my engg. is also over( oh, i forget, i have to wait for my " screwed up" last sem marks, but do i really care......)

i stil rmbr da day ven i stepped into the sanctified portals of NSIT(Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, for ppl not from this planet) .much of water has flown under(or over) since then.

theez 4 years have been really awesome(pun intended, watever way one can take ).somehow da engineering word is synonymous with (unfathomable indigestible theories, integrals, tortuous formules n of course da bombastic words for all simple things on earth.....in one word technical bullshit). but i m afraid i m taking out ne of theez things frm this place which over da last( or lost) 4 yrs tried its best to fil all this

luking bak engg. appears to me sth wich teaches u to be perseverant,to handle pressure(read stress)n develops an attitude to luk at things like:

da supples : life can at times be horrifyingly badu just need to let go & live peacefully
da niteouts: da best time of ur lif is ven u r with friends. u know it is eight hours to xams n u havent even finished half of da syllabus, still u manage to play a game of cricket n next morning hope to get some graceful marksthats wat teaches ya street-smartness, min input max output
da semester results: leave the rat -race yaar. the whole pursuit of engg. becomes self-defeating if ya start caring for these. the biggest irony is tat u realise this only when you have made you hands dirty by being a part of this no-ends race

no. of females in your class---well you can equate tat to hair on a bald person head. either there r none or if there r some u still dont feel thier existence.
da no. of courses u dont have clue about : this hapnd in one of my campus interviews, they asked abt my current ( that time 7th )sem subjects n i cudnt recall all of them. n then they asked abt 6th sem, da 5th sem.......poor guys they found "introduction to prog" being taught in evry sem :)

thussey or da hostel chats or da backbenchers timepass: how u can just ramble about ne dogshit topic endlessly for hours , enjoying throughout. The hours ironically seem to increase in the hostel as the xams apprach by
exam syllabus : one thing that does not have the other end. evening b4 da xam nite u wud hear that da ghissu has gone to the prof for some assgniment he never gave n da profs has added a few more chapters.this is waht teaches you to identify places where one should not try to go that last extra mile because here it never exists

da profs : u can just gawk up & wonder how on this earth this person cud reach here? As one gr8 Stnford dropout says " Be nice to nerds guys, chances are you might have to work for them one-day"

i m happy that this ordeal is finally over. just wish that god giveppl this capability to identify that whether they r game for it...........or for lesser mortals like me create some courses at the end of vich u can get a decent( does this word have a definition?) paying job

engineering is gud but the real import of this 11 lettered word has been obliterated theez days.i think tat i myself cud have done better but at the same time i m happy how engg. has chnged my life, my attitude towards it for evr, espescially some of my gr8 friends (all in terms of attitude, aptitude,skills,talent) whom i found out here.

These r the ppl i'll remember thruout my lif, have forged out some really good bonds n have leart some invaluable lessons frm them.Vill write abt ya on some otr post.........need to break free as for now!!!

Me a Bloggggggger Finally!!!!!!!!!

2005-05-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

Words

A nice message to start with.........also the reason to start on with this blogging mania.

Watch Ur words
Watch ur thoughts
Watch ur dreams