Xpressions...

Old habits, Die Hard

2011-12-08T19:57:00.001+05:30

After a long long time I got to see a major chunk of India’sinnings against the West Indies. What was more exciting was that the match wasin Indore and India had won the toss and batted. How well Sehwag batted andmilked the bowling would go in the pages of History but what made me to writethis article in something very different.

After a wide ball bowled, before the umpire could give thedecision, I shouted “WYYYEED”. The same happened for every “wide” spontaneouslyas soon as it was bowled even before the wicketkeeper could catch it.

Then I realized the days when I used to play cricket. Theone who gives the decision first generally has the upper hand. Say, for e.g Iam batting and there is a wide ball bowled, its me who has to shout loudly thatit’s a wide before the bowler shouts that its not a wide otherwise the bowlerwill have the upper hand. The dispute goes on for few minutes before the nextdelivery.

I just said to myself, “Old habits, die hard”

PS: For those who have played gully and smalllocality cricket, they would easily understand what I mean. For those who haven’t,I am sorry I am not articulate”

Coaching classes to advertise: 100% placements

2011-04-18T13:08:00.002+05:30

The young talented Indian with million aspirations, billion hopes, zillion desires and with all the enthusiasm, zeal and vigor in this world to reach the moon comes face to face with reality hearing one of these names- The XYZ classes, the doctors/engineers point, the IIT circles/spheres, The Bansals, the resonance, the FIITJEE’s, the BT’s, the TIME/IMS/CL/PT/CF and you abbreviate anything; there would be a coaching class by that name.

These temples of learning are the stepping stones to Success. Success, defined in the following terms, varies from student to student

• Securing admission into the IIT’s
• Securing admission into the IIM’s
• Clearing IAS/IES/GMAT/GRE/SAT entrance(good score)
• Getting 99.xx percent in X, XII, any other standard
• Clearing aptitude tests/interviews of TCS/Infosys/Wipro/Accenture and xyzees’
• Securing admission in state level colleges
• Getting a well developed personality.
• Learning to pass in engineering exams( ED/M-1,2,,3,4, BEE, ADC, etc etc)
• Spending time/flirting/luring/charming(pataving) a girl/boy who also goes to same coaching

And may be many more. But all of these have one common factor between them.
Money, Bucks, Package, Paisa!!!
Having achieved Success, spending years of fun in the institution these classes landed them in, they believe by default, it would ensure them hefty pay packages and in turn a secure future.

But what if, the classes itself secured you placements!!!

Yes you heard it right.
The latest buzzword would be…

Hey! ABC classes have 100% placements. I am planning to join that.
Their recruiters include the likes of TCS, Accenture, Tata Steel, and E&Y and so on.

The line between tutorials and the formal education sector has been blurring with both trespassing each other’s territory. Coaching academies have tried to earn respect by starting their own schools and colleges, and institutions have set up private tutorials with an eye on the huge profits. And now, the Maharashtra Coaching Classes Owners Association (MCCOA) has gone one step ahead by inviting companies to hire their graduating class this year. Coaching classes across Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur will hold placements for their graduates.

Seems like a game-changer for the coaching classes industry in India.

And this sector touches every Indian life in one way or the other. Be it the student or his family.
For stats, have a look.

• It is already an $8 bn industry with expected CAGR of 15% till 2012.
• 11,15,410 students registered for the 2011 AIEEE exam
• 4.85 lakhs aspirants for IIT JEE
• 3 lakhs CAT aspirants
• A hell lot of engineering colleges in India ( didn’t make enough effort to Google the number)

So be it a father, a mother, an elder brother/sister, chacha, mama, bua, dadi, bhabhi, saala, whoever be it in your relation; their lives have been touched at some point by the coaching classes industry.

And in India education is still the most priced asset.

Dude, thinking of becoming an IPL player, a radio jockey, a VJ, a TV actor, singer, a guitarist, a choreographer, go and search for a coaching class for it & you will find one in your city as well.

And for those who are thinking about setting up their own venture. Go Ahead.
It’s BOOM BOOM for years to come!!!

Facebook & Twitter – The biggest takeaways from the last decade.

2011-01-01T19:50:00.006+05:30

Just landed in Mumbai
Stopped to think and forget to start again?
Lazy Sunday Afternoon
Njoying the chilling cold
"Give me ambiguity or give me something else."
Happiness is a failure to understand how bad things really are

Just took some random status updates posted above. I am sure either you or one of your friends/network had one of them as their status sometime. Man has transformed himself from being just a social animal to a social networking animal. Facebook topples Google to be the most visited site in the US. As of July 2010, it had 500 mn active users. We have entered a new era.

Social Networking sites serve two basic purposes

A. It fulfills the basic human need to express, share, communicate, appreciate and get-appreciated & to feel a sense of belongingness.
B. It serves as one real good Business tool to connect & get connected directly.
Ventures that just fulfill emotional needs may also succeed, but those that fulfill emotional needs profitably have a better chance, and Facebook and twitter cashed on it. I would like to call Mark Zuckerburg a revolutionist of the last decade.

“His idea changed the way we expressed ourselves.”(No Pun intended for either Airtel (with its vodafonic logo) or Idea cellular.Nothing more to say.

Just need to update my Facebook status to sleep deprived (don’t ask y) before I sleep, as if people actually care.
And the twitter status to-wrote a new post, chk it out http://bhubapat.blogspot.com/

Wish you a very happy, healthy, prosperous, and fulfilling new year.
…

Oxymoron

2010-06-24T20:28:00.001+05:30

I write because thoughts come spontaneously in my head and the quantity is way too much to remember and keep them there. The other way to look at it is that my thoughts storehouse is small and non-upgradable (talking in terms of GB’s n TB’s and not IQ).
A few days back, I had this plentitude of thoughts coming to my mind. I wanted to write them but some small work stopped me for sometime. Again I picked up to write it and somebody called me. The call lasted 5-7 minutes and then when I took to writing the stuff again, I could only write the last line that I remembered, the rest was there in bits n parts and could not write anything substantial.
I tried hard to again think of it because I really thought it was something beautiful that I could have created. I tried to create the same environment, sitting in the gallery, trying to think in the same direction or lines. I tried all I could to create the same atmosphere as it was 10 minutes ago. But it did not work. The harder I tried, the worse it got. Then I tried doing nothing as the idea originally came to me spontaneously. But doing nothing is also doing something and I gave up the idea of writing.
Today I was thinking of it and realized that I was trying hard to create spontaneity.
The last line that I wrote gives a practical example of Oxymoron (Conjoining contradictory terms) and my spontaneity and Microsoft word, today helped me write this article.

My IIFT interview experience

2010-04-04T09:13:00.003+05:30

Took the train ticket at 6.12am and ran with the heavy bag (Two days stay bag; had to leave for Indore directly after the interview) in my hand to catch the Panvel-CST (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) local from Panvel at 6.14 in the morning and got a comfortable seat for my 1 hr 10 min journey. Analyzing the life of people getting on board and leaving and seeing the poverty and prosperity juxtaposed alongside from the small window, I was calm and excited for my first MBA entrance interview.
.....
.....
On reaching CST, I came out and looked back again at the famous Victoria Terminus and said to myself this is Mumbai.Took that days Economic Times, read the Headlines and moved on. Since I wanted to reach well before time, so took the taxi to World Trade Center, Cuffe Parade. Sitting alone in the taxi driven across one of the more posh areas of India I asked could I ever have imagined myself like this?
.....
.....
Reaching there, I met 4 more people, one with two and a half years experience in ISRO, one with 6 months in DRDO, one from BITS Pilani and other employed recently in TCS from Medicaps Indore (Thought of my future in TCS). We all searched a tea stall as it was pleasantly cold and finally got one. In India only, u can find a tea stall near a 31 storied building. The tea was real good.
.....
.....
The view from 30th floor was amazing. Didn’t have much to talk about the essay and GD (was the sole Listener; nobody else was a good listener in the group).So directly coming to the interview.
....
The interview
....
I entered and greeted Good Morning Sirs. They asked me to sit.
There were 3 people C, B, A.
..
..
A: Which college are you from?
Me: I am from Shri Govindram…., Indore,
....
A: You belong to Indore only.
Me: yes sir I do.
....
A: What is special about Indore?
Me:
• It’s an education hub of M.P.
• City with an IIT and IIM both.
• Commercial capital of M.P.
• CAT: Centre for advanced technology
• MHOW
• Famous for food; good people.---stopped me
...
...
A: What’s the one thing that drives Bhushan Bapat when he gets up in the morning?
Me: After a pause (didn’t know what to say). I look forward to each day as a learning experience. So when I get up in the morning I feel there is lot to learn in life.
...
...
A: What’s your stream of Engineering?
Me: Telecommunications(didn’t say electronics, even p-n junction is beyond me)
...
A: What is the future of Telecom 5 years from now?
Me: The 3G auctions are yet to happen. I see it as a reality 5 years down the line and India will be prepared for a possible 4G. Rural tele-density is still low and there is huge potential in that market.
....
....
A: What’s the use of high tech 3G for rural people?
Me: It will enable high speed video conferencing, video on demand, high speed internet access and other such facilities which can prove to be a great source of information for agriculture, small scale industries etc.
...
...
A: What about the cost involved. Won’t they be huge?
Me: Yes sir, they will be to a certain extent. But if government intervenes, they can prove to be really helpful. But there will always be a trade-off between the cost and the benefits.
...
...
B: You have used the word trade-off? Can u explain what exactly a trade-off is?
Me: A trade-off is a balance that you accept between the positives and negatives…stopped
...
...
B: Give an example of trade-off with respect to Indian Economy?
Me: The foreign investments. The speed with which they come in; they can go out with the same speed. So there is always a risk involved. But they have their advantages too, so there is a trade-off between the risks involved and the benefits you get.
...
...

B: Good. Asked C to ask anything.
...
C: As filled in the CV form, he asked about the book “India Unbound” and said it is also his favorite book, in the whole book Gurcharan has criticized Nehru like anything? What is your perspective?
Me: I think it is always easy to criticize someone in hindsight. Nehru was a very able leader and he must have thought of and taken the best possible path that he thought would have been best for India’s future which eventually didn’t turn out to be so.
...
...
C: Was Nehru immoral or say practical
Me: He was moral.
...
C: So should he have been practical or remained moral?
Me: Remained moral.
...
C: But in Geeta, Krishna says be practical.
Me: According to me, what Krishna says is “Be practical in the domain of being moral” which I think is a very difficult thing to do. So if that is not possible be moral.
...
...
C: Do you know India’s position in economic terms?
Me: India stands 4th in the world in GDP in terms of PPP. In per capita it is way beyond.
...
...
C: What were the exports for last quarter?
Me: Don’t know for the last quarter but I know for the last economic year.
...
C: What were they?
Me: 168 bn $(finally some prep worked)
...
...
C: Imports?
Me: Don’t know the imports but can be calculated; I know the trade deficit.
...
C: What was it?
Me: 119 bn $
...
C: Shabash…
Me: Thank you sir…
....
Everybody nodded and gave the signal to leave.
...
...
Got up and said it was nice meeting you all…and went out.
....
....
Final Verdict: Convert :-)
....

Realization...

2010-04-03T21:25:00.003+05:30

The best part of going to different places and getting interviewed was to meet different people from diverse backgrounds.

Sitting with a few people in a group, i was asking everyone turn by turn, that "where do they belong to?" and trying to imagine that place.
1st said, pune, (i was mentally saying jst another home)
me, indore,
3rd, trivandrum (thinking dwn south),
haryana,
kochi,
ahmedabad,
pilani.
kolkata... immediately these words came out from my mouth...

"India is a BIG country."

Less Sania’s in Future

2010-04-03T21:14:00.001+05:30

Thanks to Shoaib Malik’s heroics, fewer parents in India would want to name their newborn girl as Sania. So, in a way, Shoaib Malik decided the fate of the names of lots of young girls who could have been the future Sania’s. They still can be, but with a different name.

It’s a personal opinion and if you infer that I used to like Sania a lot, I don’t mind. No hard feelings for Shoaib, if she is happy...

The Business of all Business is Business.

2010-02-27T11:25:00.002+05:30

I am someone who people say has dual or multiple personality. I am an ambivert, can sit for hours and do non-sensible revelry and moments later I would be sitting and thinking how shallow happiness is? And then again read something to get back to the so-called “Real world”.
One of my favorite sections in the Times of India is the Speaking Tree. I always have had an inclination towards philosophy (life, karma, purpose and so on…) Speaking tree gives some fantastic articles related to it. For example,
“Whichever way you have become, you have only created and cultivated a small part of it consciously. A large part of you is unconscious because most of what you perceive is not in your awareness.Sense perception is like everything that goes in through your sense organs gets established in your system to be remembered forever.This is karma.”
I generally brood over such articles and tend to reach an elevated state which is sublime and where I see a certain type of life moving towards me, and I also tend to move in that direction. I contemplate about the energies associated with every action and the feedbacks associated with them and whether the feedbacks are open loop or a closed one.
As I read further I get a sense which makes me feel that even though what I can know and understand is relative and intrinsic, yet it is enjoyable. Then finally comes the part which makes me again the young, carefree, lively, non-philosophical, practical guy who feels life is fun. Simple!
The part is,
“A Ten day enlightenment programme at so and so….”
Discount for early registration.
For details, visit www. xyzee.zom.

Probably

2009-12-11T17:50:00.000+05:30

I don’t know exactly why this thought came to me, probably because for the past few days I am doing what one calls introspection, a lot of self-analyzing on how I speak, write and talk. It made me realize that almost all my sentences contain probably. I use probably in every situation probably because nothing is certain and using probably one never goes wrong.
It’s actually quite funny sometimes as in when preparing for exam if 1 of my friends ask, “yaar world bank ka president Robert zoellick hi hai na?? and I say “haan, shayad”. The friend replies, “what the heck”. It’s useless to use probably where only true or false may occur. By the by, my telecommunication engineering has nothing to do with world bank and zoellick. But who knows probably it may have something to do in future.
Using probably shows dual nature, vacillation between two thoughts and uncertainty. But at least it shows that I have 2 thoughts on my mind at the same time. I don’t want to sound pompous but some people call it intelligence. But probably it’s not always good because there are times when you need to be absolutely sure and certain of what and why of your deeds.
So I thought lets write something down on probably and then try and see if I can get over with my obsession of using probably.
Who knows, probably I may succeed.

Elated Bliss…

2008-11-20T19:23:00.000+05:30

There are few times in my life when I am extremely positive, the time when I don’t want to question what is positivism? When I don’t want to know why I am doing something. When I just simply go and flow with the moments and the experiences. My mind takes rest and I feel purity and beauty in almost everything around myself. When I don’t justify my deeds which, my subconscious feels, are wrong in some way. When I accept who I am. When I don’t even think what people will feel if they read this? When I don’t analyze why, how and who of (things and people) and whether (things and people) have some difference at all. When I laugh on my defeats and smile on my victories. When I accept that everything around has a connection with me and I am equally indispensable with my outer world. When I accept that we are all but one and one but none, even though I don’t understand what that means. When I eat I realize that I am eating food and it’s such a wonderful pleasure to eat. When I can appreciate the rich color of the juice in the transparent glass with a lemon over it. When I feel the fresh air of dawn infusing a pristine freshness in me. When I can see the bright moon and experience its shadow spreading serenity. When I can feel the breeze flowing and caressing someone’s lovely hair. When my logic and intelligence meditate. Its then that I feel happy and full .

And then someone else takes over, and it is all being typed down for you to read.I again start to think that this passage had a purpose, probably making a subtle difference sometime somewhere which we are all unaware of.

Feel, cherish, enjoy, nurture and beautify all you have and all you can.Cheers !!!

Makkhan…

2008-10-03T19:27:00.003+05:30

It always feels great cherishing your childhood memories. I because of my dada have had the best childhood one can have, from fighting over who will sleep in the corner of the bed, to making tea to anything one can have banter on. And almost each small little fights were fought on various intellectual, emotional and strategic levels.

One thing that I will always remember is the time when mom used to prepare ghee and in the process making a lot of makkhan (sweet butter). Both of us were used to be given our equal share of one bowl each.

After the almost exact distribution by mom, dada used to tease me that makkhan in his bowl is more. Mom has given me more (with his irritating faces and those comments like “A ray, A ray” )…and so on. And it just doesn’t stop there, there was logical reasoning involved, as he explained me that the size of his bowl is larger and therefore more makkhan.

I being the stupid innocent child I was, used to fell almost invariably to his trap. Then there was a deal on offer. I am ready to exchange my bowl with yours, was my big-hearted dada. At that exact moment it was like the nuke deal, nothing demanded from the opposition, all gains. I readily accepted and we exchanged our bowls. Like India, it was a historic moment for me, clinching the bowl with more makkhan.

Then the slow lazy process of eating that makkhan started. The idea was let the other finish first, so that u will have some makkhan left to tease after he has finished his.
It was like “ having the cake and eat it too”. I was unaware that here also dada will have his game planned strategically better. He tried his best and showed that he resisted, and tried eating as slowly as he could but somehow couldn’t match my patience and gulped down his last spoon.

Now was the time for dada to prove his worth, to show that he was not just the dada by age or strength but by mind too. And what followed was the emotional part. He simply said these words…

” dekh Sonya, Maine tujhe mera bada bowl diya tha naa, ab kya tere isme se ek chhammach bhi nahi khane dega.”

The game was on and I was vacillating whether to give or not to give, my heart being stuck in that lil makkhan of ours. The only thing needed was a little expression on dada’s face to get him the game, set and match.

Dada celebrated the victory by hugging me and saying that, “actually it was your bowl that had the more makkhan that i initially exchanged with .”

The poor me…

PS: my dada is not like what he is depicted and it was all in great fun and humor. But the lines of his thinking presented are true to the best of my knowledge.

Cheating the cheater.

2008-09-07T19:10:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I went to a CAT camp organized by a leading coaching institute of the city.
That was to be management info session that turned out to be a publicity session of that institute. It was to be followed by range of management, aptitude and general knowledge quizzes.

Around 80-100 students came. The info session was only perfunctory, so I waited for the quiz session to get worth for my money, for there were prizes to be won.

We were all made to stand together and a young chocolaty guy trying to look smart was asking questions with mike in his hand.

I was standing beside a beautiful & sweet girl (worth for money). The questions started.
One of the questions was- what’s the day on 15th august 2010? The sweet girl was smart too. Within seconds, she took out her mobile and swiftly changed the date to 15th august 2010.
I was watching all this, appreciating her intelligence & speed.
As it always happens, that girl was completely unaware of my existence.
Before she could proceed further I read the answer in her mobile & shouted aloud in my strong voice…

“The answer is Sunday…”

She immediately followed me and said Sunday in her soft voice and was so
Irritated with me because I cheated her. Her expression said it all. In fact she started murmuring that this guy has seen in my mobile but stopped to realize that she was the first culprit.

Eventually, the prize for that question was given to both of us (we both cheated).
Unfortunately, that was the last question and she gave me a wry smile and went away, at least this is what I would like you to believe.

I went to the refreshment section to have profit (had already reached the break-even point) over my invested sum of 20/- rs.

Use ur head to play chess

2008-09-07T06:40:00.004+05:30

Back in school days, I was not as naughty or childish or as humorous as I am today. But there is a one incident that I cherish in this regard.

I went to play chess in the inter-school chess tournament. Only two players were to represent the team. One was a state champion and for the second spot no deserving player was available, so I got in. Frankly speaking a sort of ‘Jugad’.

There I won my first match comfortably. But for the second match there was a guy with a huge figure and was told by my champion mate that he was good in head too, so play well. His started the game with e2-e4 moving his white pawn forward.

Only after first 3-4 moves I found myself trapped. What was more was he was intimidating and irritating me. What he was doing was---

Moving his head up and down in a jerk, just like sachin tendulkar does before taking his guard. He was doing this before, after and in between his every move. Even when I was strategically thinking and planning my future moves, so to say. Probably, it was his genuine habit. That upset me.

With his next move, he got my knight, again a jerk of head. I continued to defend. The game went on for a while with me exchanging his bishop and knight for my queen.
I knew that was it, but those continued jerks were just unacceptable.

Suddenly I felt as if Tom Sawyer, getting bored in the books of mark twain got into me.
What I started doing was to move my head from right to left in a jerk. I thought he would laugh the first time and then both we would laugh and I will accept my loss. But to my surprise, he got very angry the first time I perpendicularly imitated him. He warned me not to do it again. I simply smiled and said ok, you go on, and again as soon as he did his jerk, I even more animatedly followed.

He immediately stood up and called the moderator of the event. I was delighted. The moderator came to know about the whole situation and initially laughed at the silly things schoolboys do. But as my strong opponent was furious, the moderator sat down there and declared --anybody who does the jerk first loses. What I then needed to do was to intimidate him by killing time. I waited on the idea that when it itches, one cannot stop to scratch. Probably, he needed two more moves to get over and done with. But my persistence prevailed. He did his full jerk and looked at me and then the moderator. I got up, quietly said to the moderator I object. He called off the match. I signed the winning position. We did our hand-shake and for him it was a, ‘pimple upon ulcer’, when I said you are good in your moves.

When my partner came, having won his game too, I told him the whole story---

“Use your head to play Chess”, was my remark on which we kept laughing on.

Lost in my own world...

2008-08-30T21:03:00.000+05:30

Sun sat in the horizon,
And I woke from my imagination;
Only to get,
Lost in my own world.

I always think,
Why do I think so much?
Is thinking living or
Living thinking or
Is Living simply living.

My thoughts invariably get me curled
And unraveling this curl,
My soul gets lost in my own world.

Money, wealth and luxury on one hand
And happiness, tranquility and satisfaction on the other.
Can both fire & water co-exist?
And if it can, is it stable?

My mind wanders like a vagrant,
And chasing my thoughts,
My soul gets lost in my own world.

We are ought to be social,
Ought to be moral,
Ought to be cultural.
Are rules n restrictions a freedom or bondage?
What exactly is morality?
And who decides what is ought and what is not?

My impulses drive me crazy,
& following my impulses,
My soul gets lost in my own world.

“Healthy” Competition, contention, comparison
Jealousy, prejudices are all the parts in the big rat race;
Companions in the road to success.
But what exactly is success?
I run, run and run to find my goal farther and farther.

My body runs to achieve success,
& catching my body,
My soul gets lost in my own world

I do pray,
I do believe in ‘Him’,
For either I am a coward or
My mother wants me to do so.
Is god impersonal?
Or is he just energy,
Or a manifestation of our deeds.
I shout,
“What the hell is God yarr”

My voices echoes, god yarr, god yarr…god yarr.
Hearing this echo,
My soul gets lost in my own world.

I laugh when I look back,
I passionately wanted to be a software engineer,
Not knowing what exactly is software.
Are passions temporary?
Is there anything called true ambition?
Why do I always search the purpose of my life?
When I don’t even know what exactly life itself is.

Searching the purpose of life,
My soul gets lost in my own world.

How many times can one love,
Is there a term as the love intensity,
Is love only togetherness?
For a son given birth by someone & brought up by someone else,
If he finds after 25 years that woman X is someone who gave him birth.
Would he feel the same love for X as her caring mother?

Is love eternal?
Or does it die with non-togetherness.
Biologically, a chemical reaction,
Or something higher than that.
Are emotions and feelings justified?
Or being non-emotional to your loved ones OK.

My being gets whirled in the pool of love,
& my soul gets lost in my own world.

the infinity paradox

2008-08-24T13:26:00.003+05:30

consider the situation
B is ahead of A by 10 metres.
A's speed is 10m/s and B's speed is 5m/s.
Both start simulataneously.
Can A overtake B and in what time?

Now normal calculation proceeds as follows...

distance=10 m
realtive speed=5 m/s
time to overtake = 10/5 = 2 sec
Thus A will overtake B in 2 secs.
Thus mathematically we are over and done with.

But

If u consider the situation in steps of parts of a second as..

after the 1st second, as their realtive speed is 5 m/s, the distance left betweeen them would be - 5mts
after another 1/2 sec - 2.5 mts
after another 1/4 sec - 1.25 mts
after another 1/8 sec - .625 m
after another 1/16 sec- .3125 m

going on and on and on, the distance between them will always be something, albeit infinitely small. Thus there always will be some infinitely small distance between them and A can never overtake B.

Ofcourse the sum of GP of 1+1/2+1/4+1/8...infinity gives 2 secs as our answer.

But if u divide something to half and again half and so on it will never become zero, so distance btw them will never be zero.

Can somebody explain that to me??

Would u choose ur origin??

2008-08-24T13:26:00.000+05:30

Are we justified being born???

If anyone feels one should not read something that is unethical, then please do no read it further. I do not wish to offend any one.

Amitabh Bachchan, at a time when he was desperately struggling with his life asked his father harivansh rai bachchan, Dad, why did you give me birth?? His father stood silent, and then went back to his room.

Next morning, he called amitabh, and said, I thought over the whole night, but

My grandfather never asked my father before giving him birth,
My father never asked me before giving me birth,
And neither did I ask you.

But, if possible, you should follow a different path.

The birth of a human being that is to be born is not in his hands, at least in today’s world.
Even though genetics and micro-biology are the fastest growing fields of today’s time with cloning possible yet the concept that the sperm be asked whether it would like itself to be born given the conditions of what it would be like in future with a plausible picture of how it would emerge as a human some years later seems to me now the height of being metaphysical.

To derive an analogy, consider the case that a mixture in certain proportion of red and green gives yellow but that yellow does not have the right to choose whether it liked itself. In case of colour, the yellow does not have an identity and a mind but a human does have both and can therefore question his own existence.

I am personally very happy with where I have been born and always thank the supernatural force, if any, had a role in my being me.

I know my thinking is completely absurd and ridiculous and eccentric and preposterous when I think that some day that metaphysical concept would be realized. Whether such a technology would be useful, what will its effect be are beyond my minds comprehension and imagination.

This was just a fleeting thought that came to me and I did not think about it further than just questioning

Do we have any right on our life being born???
Are we justified being born???
Can we choose being us???

These are some of the many absurd things my eccentric mind wanders about. If possible I will also try and write all of them down.

The Innocent Gaurav

2008-08-13T12:17:00.000+05:30

Gaurav, let me describe him for u...

a simple innocent sincere creature studying hard to get good marks in his SSc. exam.
My mother used to teach him.

He had solved the simple M.P. Boards math book thrice or more times and knew every chapter of science by heart, for he was the topper of the class.

what he didn't knew was that his future was gloomy despite his hard work and not for his own fault.

The exams went well and result came as late as expected. His school expected around ninty % marks. He didnt surprise, he got an aggregate of more that 85 in all but science. In that he got 17/75, with 25/25 in practical to get his total to 42/100, a supplementary exam now awaited him.

he filled the re-evaluation form and started studying for his supplementary exam.

he came to me to study science, my mother was out of station. i didnt knew what to tell him. He knew everything that could be asked in his exam, so we studied something that is rarely asked. solved numericals on vernier callipers and screw gauge and thoroughly discussed backlash error and its correction.

Finally, before the supplementary exam his result came, he got 71/75 in science and the misprint was only a small mistake on part of the examinees.

he once again became the topper of his class, went to 11th standard. The poor Gaurav survived.

what if his re-evaluation had not been done properly???

What IF???

Book Review: 3 Mistakes of my life-Chetan Bhagat

2008-07-22T21:52:00.001+05:30

bhagat knows exactly how to strike the chords with young Indians was the first impression I got turning over the first few pages but also felt apprehensive that same genre as his earlier 2 books may make this one boring. Being grown up in India and studying here helps but after being an NRI for some years now, illustrating the vivid Indian detail was appreciable.

the story, written in the first person, govind describes journeys of 3 youngsters, 2 unemployed and the 3rd himself being the highly aspiring businessmen trying to find way out in this unpredictable world, trying and doing mistakes.

Born in a middle-class family with his father deserting the home had strong implications making him practical, stoical person & realize the worth of money. Brilliant in math & logic, business is what he thought could make him rich.

with his two friends, Ishaan(ex-NDA and a cricket fanatic) and stupid omi," both dependent citizens", he thought of setting up a creative cricket shop, giving math tuitions as wells cricket, something that can do wonders in India. Having a district cricket champion in ishaan only helped.
They grow steadily but then business defines itself having its ups and downs, and a down that literally broke him down, an earthquake causing a building collapse in which he rented a room on loan of over a lakh. Betting such high money, his 1st mistake.
In between all this, to make it a complete young Indian story that could be made into a bollywood flick, thing required was romance. Vidya, ish's sister provided it. Govind tried teaching her math gradually developing some chemistry and eventually leading to biological consequences. That was, his second mistake.
Ish while training kids for cricket discovered India’s next sachin, Ali, extremely talented young Muslim boy. .but the Gujarat riots made the Hindu fanatic kill Ali’s parents. Ali was being searched but the three of them tried their best to save him with omi ending up losing his life. Vacillating between his logical and emotional thinking, he gets seconds late to prevent Ali from getting hurt. His 3rd mistake. But the child survived with a wrist injury.
His 4th mistake taking umpteen sleeping pills to end his life and writing an email about it resolves the story to a happy ending.
A perfect melodrama for an emotional bollywood flick.

Politics

2008-07-22T21:52:00.000+05:30

Politics

I shud feel ashamed while writing this, but unfortunately, m not.

I don’t love my country. I m not patriotic. I admire bhagat singh and Gandhi for what they did, watched Legend of bhagat singh thrice, but m not going to do anything that wud make their souls feel proud. I know rannvijay was the 1st MTV roadie but wud take a while to even rem’ (I googled it), Mr. Hamid ansari.For people like me, I would like to tell, he is our vice-president.
I m a young, officially Indian, non-patriotic, selfish, partly educated part of the million Indians, on whose shoulders, the future of this country and the humanity as a whole resides.
Till this moment, I never seriously thought about my country, India. But reading newspapers regularly to get my political n economical awareness up-to-date for academic reasons introduced me into a thoughtful process of realizing myself as a part of India n to visualize where is it heading???
The bribe offered to win votes for confidence being shown in lok sabha really stirred me on. I kept laughing on Indian politics for a long long time stopping only when I realized that I was laughing on my very own country, my own leaders and therefore on none other than myself.

I always thought being a non-dependable citizen in poverty struck country, I would serve well. I wud contribute by being an educated person who is well-off. That’s it.
U don’t need to join politics to serve Ur country.
We always think of engineering industry, management industry, agriculture etc etc n so on. But v rarely think of politics as an industry.Y not?
India, is thought of as a brain hub, if nt education hub. The thousands of IIM and IIT grads that pass-out every year r considered as one of the brainiest people in the world. But there is always a shortage of such people in their respective industries. We need more of them.

But among those, there aren’t any in politics. If any, we can count on our fingers. Try imagining lok sabha full of such people? As for now, we can only imagine.

I read in shashi tharoor’s article that among the last 20 nominees in the past 12 years of America’s presidential election, 18 have been pass-outs of either Harvard or Yale. In India people who r being ruled r more educated and intelligent than the people who are ruling them, for Indian politics can’t be cracked thru a brainy entrance exam.

If ever I thought about politics, it started in stages, 1st thot- corruption, seconds later I think criminals and just after that I dismiss any idea of thinking abt it further saying it is irrelevant to me.

Politics is full of it, but am I a part of it. Till now, only corrupt thing i rem’ doing is selling movie tickets in black as one of my friends wasn’t coming to see. So, without hurting my conscience, I can say “politicians r corrupt, I m not”. But I only love to blamed and hate it wen am blamed.
T-shirts with slogans like “Who Cares” r the in-thing today, and I just don’t love the T-shirt but the idea too, who cares??F**K.

Criminals: it’s another reason y young people can’t join politics. Either u have to be a descendant of the Nehru/Gandhi family or a criminal, with strong power, money, relations, and guts to handle whatever comes Ur way. But m the biggest coward.
And a sophisticated Indian brain capable of solving x7-x6+x5-x4+x3-x2+1=0., wouldn’t be able to handle that too. M not telling u to co-relate the two.
And what has Indian politics to do with me??
Nothing it’s just that I live here.

I m doing BE, wud get placed sumwhere in the software industry, ample time to write such blogs, have a simple middle-class wife, 2 children and lead a happy and peaceful life.
Why bother, Man??

But, this moment, I seriously, seriously, feel that people with above traits (educational) who think and who can think well, going to have a serious impact to play in shaping the path we r heading towards both as a country and as a globalised world.

I love my dad, mom , brother and bhabhi dearly and I don’t want them to get into any sort of trouble by doing anything remotely political. I will definitely love my wife and kids too & never gonna join politics or interfere in the way India governs itself.
Y?coz I love em and nt joining politics gives peaceful life with occasional difference in opinion with my wife.
But thinking a little broad-minded n futuristic, I shud definitely join politics, reason I love them.

My kids would grow up in country that is mis-lead, full of terror and corruption, high inflation about 25%, no energy, power only on for 7-9 daily and so on.
Who would be responsible???Me. The cool dude inside me is shouting…
“ Cut the Crap, Man”. But m resisting.

Had I joined politics, I wudnt hav changed the scenario but better and more educated people dealing with things certainly wud have better results.

Everything , m writing, is in very theoretical sense and people like me till now wud hav stated 25 odd cons of joining politics few like…
“ I may be nt be alive to see my kids studying without power cuts ,if I genuinely try to serve the country and nt myself.”
“ if I serve myself, my kids wud be studying in America,”

So , Why bother, Man??

What I feel is young Indians should be inspired at a grass-root level to join politics; their frame of mind shud be changed altogether, bringing a +ve perspective of it and how they can be involved in how their country works.
Its nt that people don’t hav interest or skill, it’s just that who cares?

The thing cannot be brought at once but can be planned. We generally encourage students to think y an apple felt wen Newton was sitting under it but never anything about politics.

What we can have is a series of Indian institute of politics. Admission in it only after graduation following a written test and GD/PI. Through it gradually we will be able to develop a pool of national leaders nt only well-educated but brave, broad-minded and gutsy enuf to join the system. They will then wear T-shirts saying We Who Care.
And some years hence, we will be able to say the PM is an ex-alumnus of the IIP.
What we can also do is to encourage the process of student elections that prominently works only in DU and the JNU.

Today some of the policies in India r disgusting…
• Quota for teachers in IIT.
• Setting up of 8 iits under the tutelage of existing IITs who themselves lack teachers.
• People with several criminal charges voting in the confidence motion.
• Going ahead with N-deal.

And several others, majority of people who either oppose or support the N-deal don’t know what is it all about??.

If I think more, I can come up with various other suggestions to build up an infra-structure for an educated Indian politics of tomorrow.

But, I hav already wasted an hour writing this, and u forgot who I was, lemme remind u….
I m a young, non-patriotic Indian whose patriotism is just limited to cricket matches & that is also pseudo as I loved akhtar dismissing sachin in the IPL, being a knight-rider fan.

I loved rang-de-basanti, gave huge, emotionally moved, table thumping claps wen r madhavan said, “ System ko badlo”. I even cried, in my heart, wen the 5 youngsters were killed in the radio station. But who cares, the film was worth the money paid and that was it.
And after all, m not ashamed of who I am, unfortunately? Hey after all this crap, do u know Who did varun dump in splitsville??
Go n watch that rubbish …

2008-03-05T20:39:00.000+05:30

Bapat's Theory of destiny n probability... 5th march'08

Man is not the slave of his destiny,but infact is a product of it.He is destined to be so.It is said "Man becomes what he thinks" but who governs his thinking?? is the biggest question of my life for which nobody has an answer.In a particular situation how will somebody react is probably destined & on which nobody can hav any sort of control.some call it destiny, some call it god, i call it probabilty. if there exists something like god,if u believe ur prayers are listened, then that god has the power of manipulating that probabilty, he is someone who is playing with us having a biased unfair coin, or He is someone who, while tossing the coin ,knows the hardness of the ground,the atmospheric pressure and the impulse he shud give to the coin so that it may always come head/tail...

it is a universally accepted fact that gr8 successful pple dont believe in fate.they make their own destinies.Their future is in their hands.i wud like to narrate a small incident.in the recent historical CB series of cricket against the aussie, sachin didn't get many runs before the final 3 matches, but in the last of the league matches he made 63 & during an interview with harsha bhogle, he ws asked, "how did u managed to get back in form?";sachin said-" i dont knw, i just went there and started hitting the ball nicely & it just happened."

harsha said with his characteristic broad smile, " i love the way, u alwayz say, "it just happened"...it just doesn't happen sachin, u make it happen, come on, dont be so humble, otherwise every other guy would hav made 41 hundreds.

bhogle ws possibly right but still i feel evn the gr8 sachin after 18 yrs of cricketing lyf doesnt hav total control with his bat, m no one to judge him and m not taking any credit out of him, or of his hard work but what m saying is, probably he ws destined to hav done that hard work.

the bhagvad gita says, " do the karma", but dont desire for the results, Again probably bcz the results hav already been decided, a destiny already chosen for u & ultimately u will flow in to the river of that destined energy to reach where u had to be.

we call something as 'wisdom' as our quality to differentiate btw relative rite or wrong.i hav used relative cz the ultimate truth doesnt exist.

there are successful pple who say, they made their own destinies, they made their own life by doing what they wanted against all odds & struggles.they never left anything for chance or fate & 'earned' everything by their mind and hard work.they thot so, their wisdom told 'em that it ws rite & only hard work cud fetch 'em success & they followed it. but what people dnt think of is , Who gave them this wisdom?i can say they were destined to receive this wisdom.

a very rational person may say that the wisdom came to them bcoz of the their surroundings, the family they wer born in, the books they read,the songs they heard, the friends they had & possibly the elevation above sea level of the house they wer living in....it was again the destiny that they got such surroundings.

i m nt a believer in leaving thngs to fate but i do believe that even if "i dont believe in fate", it was my fate that led me believe so.

people feel successful either wen they get what they want or wen they become rich assuming they will become happier after that.

i beleive one shud do his/her own "karma" properly.ultimately what one wants is happiness. for me, doin my 'karma' gives me the innermost happiness n satisfaction.for me karma is the fulfillment of MY duties & enjoyment of MY rights.it seems a little constitutional & that y i hav used MY duties n MY rights.

i hav personally found out one thing in my whatever life i hav lived (let me tell u its nt inspired from alchemist; its truly genuine) that...

"one gets anything that he/she desperately wants."

wen i say desparately, i do mean a persons extremely intensified desparation and supermost desire to achieve that thing., rest of things like hard wrk etc automatically fall into place wen u hav that.

and probably that desparateness aroused in him bcoz that thing ws destined to be achieved by him.

after writing all these things , i m probably going to again think, all such things are crap.nothing can happen thinking this way. tomorrow, i hav to go bck to my usual work & flow in the flowing river of my already destined life.

if u hav read all this......

just do me one more favour....SMILE..

be happy, stay healthy and make others happier.

if luck is something, let me wish u loads of luck to be happy.

i got stupid,i got romantic.

2007-05-27T16:50:00.000+05:30

jan 01' 07
MY 1ST EVER POEM OF ANY KIND
10:25 pm

our gallery,moon just above me shining,day after purnima

as the twilight shines above,

i feel someone calling...

calling the deep core in my heart,

it may seem to be stupid or smart,

but yes,yes i m getting romantic...

U may laugh or u may smile

but its nothing,

for that precious smile,

i can walk a thousand mile

,sitting in the gallery in the cold

,i dont knw who she is or what she has told

,but yes,yes i m getting romantic...

my heart beats will become 150,

wen she 'll say " Hi! "

,wen she 'll open the window n the breeze all over her hairs..

wen she 'll go saying bye,

but still i would smile n stand by,

perhaps until i awake 4m her magic

,she's calling the deep core of my heart,

it may seem very stupid or smart,

but yes,yes i m getting romantic...

now even m calling her,come on... come on...m waiting to be sunk,

sunk in her magic,

u would be mine someday,

not today not tommorow,but surely someday,

i would stand on a bridge &shout aloud that...

" MAYA " I LOVE U..

i knw it was all stupid never smart but for those 20 minutes,i njoyed being stupid,i got stupid i got romantic becoz
someone has rightly said that.." being in love is being stupid together."

10:47 pm..gd nite n sweet dreams.