Murder in the Town

This is not what this post was meant to be. The early morning call from my bro in Punjab was totally expected. My neighbourhood was all over in news. Reason, MURDER. The distraction I never wanted to have a week before exams. All I knew about the victim was the fact that she lived a floor below the charming air hostesses who weren’t destined to stay long once the ire of the conservative aunties fell on them. The place never has been the same. These aunties have troubled me enough to have a very special post dedicated to them and their ever increasing waist sizes.

Last evening as soon as the news spread, people with nothing to do congregated here as if some procession was going on. The kind of rumours that were going around won’t be mentioned here as it would inflict more shame on the deceased. People all around were calling others to inform them about this, as if it was a moment of pride. Everybody was laughing around and found this a good time to gossip. I was feeling ashamed, for what reason I don’t know.

The media people were lamenting the fact that they couldn’t get a byte (statement in front of camera) from any of the neighbours. No one cared about the family members of the deceased. The media people were shamelessly panning their cameras on them, not giving a damn to the solitude they expect at such moments. 4 of them even requested for access to our balcony for a last shot of the house. The fun doesn’t stop here. After a good 2 hours after everybody had gone at around 12 midnight, more media persons came for their moment of glory in complete darkness. There was this hot reporter from TV 18 who took 5 retakes before getting it right, 1 from India TV who for a change gave accurate information and a very frightening looking person from P7 news who didn’t even know that this was West Delhi and ended up with a funny statement, “Cameraman Mandeep Khan ke saath Jeetinder Stephen”.Cheers to religious diversity. (video attached). Next stop for all of them was the other murder location at Tagore Garden, the address of which was passed on by the beat constable.

We always question whether this world is good enough for us to live in! But it would be more appropriate to rephrase it in such a way, are we good enough to have a world for us to live in?

Innovation

I know the whole world is using Innovation to describe something which they presently they cannot do right now but I think it stands for ‘Jugaad’. Here are some examples.

Cricket
The transition form Test cricket to T20 was a necessary transition as people now no longer have the patience to situp for a game for 5 long days and want a complete package i.e. game, food, celebrities, music and not to forget, the cheer girls.

Religion
From the time I gained senses, there used to be something called Mata Ka Jagrata. A night long function composing of songs in praise of the mother deity. Slowly they made way for ‘Mata ki Chowki’ which too was on the same lines but ended up by 12 AM. But now ‘Sai Sandhyas’ are on the rise. They start in the evening and end up by 9. Good enough for every one to get back home in time for their dose of reality shows. Was this transition directed from heavens? No. It was initiated by the comforts of the public which got impatient and demanded convenience, literally snatching it away from the Almighty.

Business
Chawri Bazar for Copper/wedding cards. Nai Sarak for books, chandni chowk for merchandise/food, Nehru place for computer items, Jwalahedi for electronic items (not sure about this one).
All these were specific markets for specific products. These still exist on a big enough scale but now all of these are under one window called a MALL. Nice idea of providing air conditioned comfort to the consumer who can roam around there for free and might just accidently like something and empty his pockets on it cause now its not just that product but a wholesome package.

Strategising
Recession has ensured that people have lost their arrogance. Now client is the only god. One of the strategies I loved is the one being adopted by consulting majors being that of doing a part of the intended deal for free to gain the trust of the client as something is surely better than nothing.

Whatever you do, the element of surprise will always be there, accompanied with a change in trends. All branches like Civil/Mech/EC have had their time in the Sun. Hope the time for COE stays on for a bit longer.

I really might not be surprised if there comes a time when Biotech engineering might be people’s first choice, inspite of an awful placement scene for them before post graduation. So don’t worry, if its in your destiny, you will get it, not every successful person in this world needs a degree to prove his mettle though having one surely helps.

Went along with friends to be the audience of the ‘Big Fight’ on NDTV. The topic was ‘Naxal menace’ and as usual Prashant had done his research well and had come up with pretty relevant questions. I had no intention of asking any but still it was good fun teasing him about stealing his questions. The in studio panel composed of Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP), Ved Marwah (Ex Delhi police commissioner), someone from CPI(M) and a political magazine editor. The stance of Bara Bara Rao and Madhu Goud (who were a part of the debate through teleconferencing) supporting the naxals was so funny that Saurabh had to pitch in with a warning that they will surely get the TV (on which their feed was coming) damaged due to someone amongst the crowd getting mad at them. With peppy comments coming from him, it was very hard not to laugh. My cable walah doesn’t show NDTV inspite of it being free to air so I missed it but the rest were disappointed as most of the audience section was edited off. Anyways a good learning experience it was, also came the realization that we have miles to go before we could match up with these politicians in shrewdness as its so hard to notice how quickly they switch on to offensive from defending their positions when some attack on their stance is made. Next up is Parliament Visitor’s Gallery.

What's your rashee is a 3 hour 45 minute torture. So go for it only if you have good company around to talk to while Harman proves that he belongs to Deshdrohi hero kind off category.

Deloitte

Some good news at last for me. Got selected for internship at Deloitte. It was the first company coming for internship this year and indeed a big one with the 20k per month stipend on offer. Couldn't have given a better anniversary gift to mom-dad. The eligible branches were COE and IT, 180 in total. The percentage criteria was repeatedly decreased to allow nearly everyone to sit for it, so only those aiming for Microsoft intern/ IAS did not sit for it. The written exam was a tough nut to crack but without Luck none can get forward in life. 16 got selected, (announced at 11:30 PM) for the case study round which was to be held the next morning.

Our case study went well enough, but the biggest factor in favour for us was the 30 minute time which we got after it to refine our thoughts before the presentation as the other 2 groups were up first for their presentation. The presentation started on a dull note from my side but the real fun began when we took questions from the panel. We stood by our view and indeed the moment of the day was the look on the otherwise expressionless faces of the panel when at the last moment, I mentioned about the issue of layoffs related to relocation of the industries, which was the POINT they were looking for. One of our group members wasn’t selected for the interview stage.

It did seem that the list announced for the interviews was based on ranking as my group members were in the top names, with me at number 1 J. The interview went of decently, though my answers needed more refining. Had there been any tech stuff in the process, it would have been curtains down for me as right now I don’t even remember the syntax of printf/scanf. The final selected list had 5 people, 4 from my case study group made it to the list. So next summers, most probably I will be in Hyderabad and am praying for friends of mine to make it to Microsoft (they too send their interns to Hyderabad) so that we can all have some fun there. Throughout the process I was confident at every stage, because creating a mindset for such days is what I have been doing all these years instead of roting books to enhance my DR. Others might be browsing the net for case studies during the night, but I was watching govinda’s ‘Meri Marzi’ song repeatedly to feel jovial.

It will be fun now, to see everybody around slog around for internships or get certificates from their parent’s office. I really hope that now people around mature a little and relinquish that blanket of insecurity that sharing knowledge will hurt their chances cause no one will get more/less than what they deserve. Actions speak larger than words, so all those of you basking in glory after giving those spoof IQ tests on net, grow up and proof yourself.

This blogger shares his bday with akshay Kumar. this time my bday date will be 09/09/09. Its kind of disappointing to let this unique date get out of my life so soon. Will have to live till 120 to celebrate my bday on such a cool date.

Apologies for my previous post as it was prepared in deep slumber, so had a lot of grammatical errors and no flow in it.

Edit: Prayer has worked again as a friend of mine, 2 acquaintences too made it to Deloitte from DCE.

A Change of Heart

Love at first site it is for me. HONDA STUNNER CBF bike. Mean machine.

Time to mention about my association with the NSIT Rotaract Club. Initially, people around didn’t take it seriously; the other social service club didn’t want to be any way close to us but things changed. After the gloom of uncertainty, we are up at the top. Membership has crossed 100 members easily. My early involvement with it got me the ‘organizer’ post and because of my influence, Prateek and Saurabh got the same posts. So its us who is responsible for implementing whatever we are supposed to do.

After meeting one of the Special kids, Aniket (suffering from down’s syndrome) it took me a year to gather the courage to enter the premises of the NGO masoom duniya. I instantly knew I wanted to be a part of it from the word go and we started off with reconfiguring the PC there but it ended up in Saurabh machaoing beyond point and no result in the end. We have been trying to make a new website for them since ages (You know who is supposed to work on it amongst me and Saurabh).

We helped them in organizing the annual day which was a cultural program presented by their students. We really couldn’t end up being the most resourceful people when it came down to this event but surely made up for it on the big day. Good publicity by the 2^nd year publicity team and fine management by yours truly got us around 45 volunteers to help out carrying the task that day. Things were late but turned out well with the banner painted in time, membership cards in stock which helped the volunteers feel united and also for others to recognize us. Being the guy with the camera, not many pics of mine are there. Prateek got his archaic handy cam to record the event but has ended up parodying me in the video ( impressively titled ‘not so masoom duniya’) for raising objection to his using MBA type English for the ending speech by us to a predominantly hindi speaking audience.

I was really impressed to see every one work with zeal and conviction. No one shied away from lifting someone to the stage, helping them change clothes, taking them to the washroom (I went the extra mile of handing over my paper soap to my visually impaired friend). There were smiles all around. I have to repeat, ‘There is still some goodness left in the world, you just need to put up some posters around’.The chief guest Mr. Mahabal Mishra (MP form west delhi) made a quick entry and exit but am indebted to the 3 faculty members who stayed on till the show got over.

Thanks to the friend of mine and the friend of hers too for taking out time from their busy lives to make it to the event (there have been many more who aren’t generous enough) and boy o boy; there was the instant reward for her. Topping her class with half thoughts diverted to her medical treatment revolving around tumours. Turned out to be acidity J. Kudos to her strength and roting power.

Saurabh too got his 300 per class payment that very day. His probability of being a home tutor are nearing 1 with his family uncomfortable in sending him out of sight even for a night even if it leads to MICROSOFT. You see, good acts will fetch you good rewards only if your name is not Sahil Kalra. Off late I have been this Alchemist who has been wishing good to all and good is indeed happening to them and me, I am sinking by the day. But still there is the confidence that things will end up well inspite of there being new troughs being created in how bad things can go.

My dream of that 3.5 crore Aradhana apartment is still intact but I still want to something for some good causes. There also is a problem. With this ‘conscience’ thing weighing heavily on me. I haven’t been having fun. What ever my mischievous mind thinks is supposed to do to get somebody in trouble hence the plan gets shelved.

Unlike one of the toppers of my class, I can’t study something which is of no use to me so I do need to keep myself busy with the thoughts of any ‘entity’, be it a girl of some ambitious event.

Question: What is your fault if you were born with a rowing eye and a perverted mind? If certain things get to you in a speck of time whereas others take a whole lifetime to figure it out, then you are not to be blamed for it.

Don’t know about you all but a friend of mine Pratik Gaur just got his head shaved off because his sister jokingly told him to do so. Nothing better a time pass for us, than to run our hand on his shining skull.

NSIT is indeed a sea of sharks. Everyone around is willing to eat others around although some do hunt in groups. People are willing to do anything from stealthily taking underpreparation research papers to modify and get them published under their own names, read up word power books, join MBA prep classes. I can visualize what will happen at placement time which due to this recession thing is already a sacrosanct issue for the college. Who stops you all but get rid of this insecurity that the person in front of you could use this knowledge against you.

Anyways, any one in need of suitable advice join the MBA classes in December. Too early has more disadvantages.

I also swear my allegiance to a specific brand of cinema called Z grade films which are so bad that they are considered good. Gunda is indeed at the top, with Deshdrohi at number 2. Hope ‘Shadow’ movie provides a tough competition to these.

Moral Preaching: If some one around you is falling, then let him. Cause your plans to save them from is impending doom will lead to bitterness amongst you and him. Sometimes it is essential for you to let go of people no matter how important they are to you.

Honeymoon Is Over

People around me seem to be repeating that all good times come to an end. I ask, why does it have to be so. For me, the best phase of my life got over yesterday. I was doing an internship with Mathematical Sciences Foundation [www.mathscifound.org] over the past 1 month which was held at DPS, RKP. It all started with a ‘special friend’ of mine suggesting me to apply for it, which I did right at the deadline. The recommendations also reached 1 day late. But still I got selected for it. There was more trouble as the first and the third day clashed with my pracs which were postponed due to the general elections, so had to ask for partial leave on those days.

Number of girls in the initial list was enough to send a rush of adrenalin through me. Then when I got to know that in the group of 6, I was the only boy it was balle balle time. But as it happens with me all the time, sab shareef nikli.

With eyes on the ISRO trip, I thought taking the ‘Chandrayaan Orbit Simulation’ project would be a masterstroke but what a big mistake it was. How can 6 college going students of diverse backgrounds do anything in comparison to something which took hundreds of scientists to achieve.

Now let me introduce you to my group members (alphabetical order) who truly represented India’s diversity.

1. Lubna Wali Shah (Kashmir ki kali): Hailing from Srinagar she had a great time in Delhi. Made friends take pledges that they would go to Sarojini Nagar with her and what a day they chose, 21 june, the hottest day of the year. Her shopping spree ended with a suitcase which she had to buy to fit in all that she had bought.
2. Neha Gupta: One of the two baniyas. Very much introvert. Initially was shying away from responsibility of work citing lack of confidence and in the end complained that she didn’t have enough of it.
3. Rangoli Goyal: The other baniya girl. Iske kya kehne. Never ragged my junior at college so badnly but she inspite of being a first year from a far flung college in Rajasthan had to face the brunt of my ire. This weird name of her is because of her birthdate coinciding with Holi that year. I have 1 question for her, Why wasn’t she named Gubara Or Pichkari then? Have recorded videos of her singing ‘Tum to thehre Pardesi’ in the mess due to my oppression. Can blackmail her throughout her life with threats of uploading it on the web. All you can find around her are people with more weird names. Still don't remember whether her friend's name is Kopla orKolpa.
   

My decription of her is that of a girl whose husband has gone off and she is waiting for him to come back.

4. Soraisam Monika Devi: She was from Manipur. Reserved kind off, maintained proximity to a boy who doesn’t seem to be straight. Can’t pardon her for life for telling me that the crap I speak is indeed crap.
5. Sweety Thomas: True to her name. She hails from Kerala. Her name’s google translation comes out to be ‘Mashooka’ and ‘Chota Kalakand’. Shared a great rapport with her too. Even made her cry once for being too ‘dedicated’. Best of luck for civils. Troubled her a lot by linking her with the worst kind of people I could find there and sending anon messages by their names.

My decription of her is that of a girl who is getting married and her husband is on his way but caught up in a traffic jam.

Also there is me, who created hell on earth for these five, especially Rangoli and Sweety as they were the closest friends I had in the group. At last I found people who could laugh at my jokes. Rangoli being the youngest was made the group leader by MSF, but sadly she never was in control and had the tendency to freak out with deadlines approaching. But those were the perfect times for me to take charge as all my work gets completed just in the nick of time.

Hence we were a group composing of some one from North, East, South, 2 baniyas and me, Punjabi munda who knows only expletives in that language.

Sunaina: She belonged to the other ‘Chandrayaan’ college group which apart from her was composed of a bunch of losers. She had to face the brunt of my cunning maneuvers as her group members used to leave all work on her shoulders to match up with our group for which she had to endure many sleepless nights. She is the only person till now who I have met and have certified her to be ‘weirder’ than me. Composes poem at the drop of the hat and goes off to teachers showing her composition which was done during his lecture. We would have created a supernova had she been part of our group. She must have written around 15 poems within this 1 month. Once I asked her to write a poem for me, as in for my group’s project and she ended up writing a poem on Me. My description of her is a girl in ghagra-choli who is worrying how to arrange for the next meal for her kids.

These are friends I would love to take to hell along with me, but I am sure they are not that good that they would accompany me there as my ticket is confirmed. Hats off to them for tolerating me for so long. We had our moments, some embarrassing ones, when I said ‘dum lagaun kya’ when I wanted to say ‘dum laga’ song lagaun kya (hope you know what dum lagana means in that song). When with a finger pointing to her neck, I told to Sweety to remove her ‘this’ (referring to her I card) as a red ant had crawled up on it but others around took this in a totally different tone.

MSF is an association of big people who are noble minded to create a better India. Prof Dinesh Singh, Dr. Sanjeev Aggarwal, Dr. Amber Habib (his father/grandparents were big time historians associated with Gandhi and have their wiki entries too. His wife is a cosmologist and brother Salman habib has done infinite number of researches); all brilliant minds and names worth googling.

Also there was the staff and mentors who were genuinely nice people. Zia sir (getting married on 1 july) helped us join our slides for the flash presentation. Nitish sir propped up occasionally shooting people while eating and showing them on the projector. He was there with his camera when we were infuriated on being wrongfully accused of tampering with DPS’s monitor screens and managed to bring a smile on our faces, forgetting all that anger. The twin bros Ayaz/ Riyaz too were very helpful.

Also tried my hand at tennis there and after the initial hiccups, ended up pretty well, serving a couple of aces. Also bowled a rib high beamer to Jitin sir who soon had to go off due to a headache. Snapped up a member of the mess staff there, Mr. Ram Prasad for his Nathu Lal style moustache. Basically there, I did everything apart from entering the girl’s hostel rooms. On the day of the final presentation, me, Sweety and Rangoli skipped other’s presentations and breakfast, lunch, rasna time too prepare for it and ended up with a decent job. A timely edit by me at the very end enabled Sweety showcase her work on Gauss method of orbit determination which unlike the other group was done by her and was also a bone of contention between us as I too wanted her to copy it to save her from those sleepless nights in someone else’s rooms on borrowed lappys as her dabba Celeron couldn’t even install Matlab.

The worst part of the program was the traffic jams I had to endure. Everyday something new used to happen to get me late, though the conductor with his baritone and acts of giving ‘vidya kasam’ to commuters to tell their true destinations, asking for the non existent fans to be switched on in his dilapidated bus made up for it.

Our schedule there until the last week was 1 hour lecture, then breakfast, then again lecture, then lunch, a little longer lecture then Rasna time and after that 2 lectures. In the last week it was only work and deadly deadlines. Would never forget this experience, though I might not get into tech field inspite of this (appreciation of Mathematics and some respect for Bsc/ Hons. walas has surely been an effect) but would surely like to sponsor such a noble cause of touching lives if I do become rich enough. Not uploading any pics ( In my orkut album) here cause people around already have been victims of morphing and I don’t want to add to their troubles.

Have to say it once again,

THESE WERE THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE.

Sahil ban gaya TV Star

Now comes the other thing which kept me busy. I Was there on a show called ‘STUMPED’ by Endemol India on Star Cricket during the T-20 WC.

1^st episode: Beat kunal who had beaten another hotshot Kunal Malhotra the previous day and who had won 25k the previous day. I got a googly question first up in the last round, Madhav rao Scindia stadium is in which city? The whole world would say Gwalior, I too did the same but it is Rajkot.

2^nd episode: Beat the opponent convincingly inspite the video shown for me not corresponding to the questions being asked. In final round, riding my luck went for the question for 25k but was timed out milliseconds before giving the right answer which was considered invalid.(can’t tell what all went behind the scenes which led to this incident) The winner going to the next episode rule was supposed to be scrapped after this, but was continued on compassionate grounds.

3^rd episode: My opponent ended up on -25 and me on +50. I went uptil 15 k and quit after that.

4^th episode: Had to face another person whom ended on 15 k to face the guy who I had beaten in my very first episode. Won this convincingly and ended up on 15 k in this. The last question I answered correct was pure luck as the anchor Shonali gave me another chance to answer and dunno how but I got the answer right. Had I gone further, 50k would have been in my lap as the end questions were the easiest ( a varying strategy used by the content setter).

5^th episode: Labelled as the finale. There was to be no elimination as in this episode, we both played the last round separately with each helping the other on only 1 question. The rounds before this (merely for academic interest) ended with both of us on equal points. In the last round, we both used up each other as the lifeline correctly on the first question itself. He ended up quitting on 12.5k. I went on strongly till 15k. Had I quit I would have been the winner. But I wanted to play further, to challenge destiny, reach where no one had reached because I did not want to remember this moment as the one when I QUIT. But the producer, inspite of being a gem of a person wasn’t willing to part with his company’s money even on the last episode inspite of raking in lakhs from the show through those Rs.7 per min calls which the people made to answer silly questions and which didn’t end before the third pulse began.

So, the question I was asked was, How many runs did Sri Lanka score against India in some test (don’t quite remember) in the series in 2008? How in hell would any one remember this answer. I bowed out at this.

Kunal’s grin was wide enough by now, though it wasn’t he who had won, I had lost. The story could have been different had I QUIT. Those exclusive snaps with Shonali and the crew could have been mine had I QUIT.

I Had to suffer big hardships for the show. The studio at Gurgaon was far enough to convince me to go back home each day I went there. Had to learn all those stats from Cricinfo including numerical values. Had to endure So many sleepless nights with me on lappy or vice versa. Was very close to quitting the internship for this when Wng Cmdr Sharad sir (project manager) refused leave but timely intervention by Dr. Aggarwal saved me. In total, I made 33k ( I deserved to have 83k). Will loose 33% of it to gift tax.

All I have to add is that I am no quitter, will fight on forever and challenge the limits of human endurance. That is what I aim to prove right now by simultaneously posting 2 big posts after a period of abstinence from doing so for approximately 2 months.

Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai?

Exams are starting most probably in a week but still the official date sheet is not out. Elections have screwed us up big time, affecting both IPL and exams. You really have to doubt the educational status of Bachchan family as after voting, all in unison gave a middle finger salute showing off their ink marks. Others were careful and showed more than the middle finger to make things look a little decent. It does happen a lot that the horse I bet on falls midway. Same has happened with Knight riders. Totally down to the mat. Pre independence times were screwed due to over belief on the britishers. Now it’s the chance of Australians to make merry at our expense. Earlier it was Greg Chappal (not Chapell) and now John Bhookhanaan (Buchchanan) who carries more support staff than players. SRK has proved that acting (films) is different from acting (taking actions). Remember the ‘Sirf 70 minute’ dialogue from Chak De India! Must have tried that before every match but has failed big time. Add to it the Fake ipl player saga. Indeed Pen or rather keyboard is more powerful than a gun. The stories there are indeed true. These cricketers are not noble souls, who would be, with whatever life has to over, in their feet. Maze kar rahe hain. All I can say to them , is LAGE RAHO.

Have Just come back from the place where our honorable PM Dr. Manmohan Singh is scheduled to address a rally. The address is still hours away but the security arrangements have been in place since long back, so went to review them. Never have i seen so many policemen with their eyes open. Media vans, quick reaction teams, bomb squads, dog squads, black cat commandos, metal detectors are all in place. The lady officers are carrying nothing less than an AK-47. Every possible corner is covered. How could they lift it! leave alone carrying it in this sweltering heat. The suspicious looking papad wala boy too was told to change his course. The way beautification of our area has taken place, we don't need an MP. Just send one V.V.I.P every alternate week. Everything will be taken care of.

** The last time Dr. Singh came to our area around 12 years ago, ( leaving aside the visit to my school), he was fighting the elections from here against V.K. Malhotra. Don't want to say this here, but he lost pretty badly and since then hasn't fought another election.