Sunday, November 18, 2007

Feeling nostalgic.... (Part -1 )


If you observe my blog archive properly, I had taken a long hiatus from blogging for almost 6 months during this time of last year. To be precise from November-2006 to May 2007. Ah!! those were very hectic days of my life and more importantly reason for why I am going to be Jobless starting Jan 2008.

I think it is no brainer for guessing why some people (say with work ex < 4 ) take a 2 week break from work during November time frame and yes you guessed it right ..it is to prepare for CAT . I was one of those aspirants appearing for test in the year 2006 and it was really a memorable one for many reasons.

After working for 3 years, I felt that I was very comfortable with the work I was doing and it didn't motivate/challenge me much. Switching job was an option, but again scope for gaining new knowledge is very limited. Then I started to think of what I wanted to do ..say some 10yrs from now? I didn't have an answer then and I don't have an answer even now. But I was sure that I didn't want to continue in technical line and wanted to do something different than what I would be doing if I did continue in this technical line for some more years.

I decided to take up CAT and joined weekend classes. I actually intended to do a part time course offered by IIMB initially, but once I started attending the classes and interacting with the people over there, my priorities changed and I wanted to do a complete 2 year course instead of a part time course.

Having a liking to do a course is different and the amount of effort one puts in to realize it is different. There was a huge gap between these two in my case and that was my biggest problem. 2 weeks prior to CAT is when I realized that I had not put in much effort and was taking the exam very lightly. I did slog for those 2 weeks and there was considerable improvement in my scores in Mock CATS. But it was too late and when the D-day arrived , I felt that I had just missed the bus. But my performance on the D-Day was my best compared to 20 other mock cats that I had taken during my preparation.

I knew that I was not going to get any interview calls and decided it was time to concentrate on my work at office once again. I was offered to go on an assignment to Rome immediately after my exams and I thought it was welcome break. I decided not to take up XAT and FMS entrance exams and went on ahead with Rome assignment. Results were declared when I was in Rome and my 89 percentile scored ensured that my tiniest of hopes of getting into a B-school was completely sealed off.

PS: Will continue rest of the story in Part 2

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Saawariya Movie review


Cut all the crap that is going on in the media 24 x 7 as OSO Vs Saawariya. Clearly one should be sensible enough to identify the target audience for these movies looking at the promos. OSO is full masala bollywood movie made for the masses and Saawariya is for niche audience who love SLB's intensity and madness.

With most critics busy bashing Saawariya, I could not have entered the cinema hall with more negativity . Honestly I thought it was such a trash looking at the reviews. But hold on, yours truly really enjoyed the movie and its was 2 hrs of visual spectacle + soul stirring emotions.

Let me list down some of the good points about the movie.

1. Sonam Kapoor- Ah!! she really looks gorgeous and elegant in the movie and also she can act.. thats a bonus :)
2. Ranbir Kapoor- Superb performance in his debut. He had more meaty role compared to Sonam and he does full justice to his role.
3. Climax - It just shows how one person ...not in a stable state of mind can make certain decisions in that moment and retract from that the very next moment.
4. Rani + Zohra sehgal is a added bonus in the movie.
5. Ranbir and Sonam's sequence when they meet for the first time is excellent.
6. Sets in the movie is a visual spectacle. Ligthing is very apt depending on the mood of the film.

That's it..go without much expectations and you won't be disappointed.

And one more thing...I was thinking that I was the only one who liked the movie, but as soon as the movie ended half the people starting clapping and I think that speaks for itself.