Emotional Atyachar

Swathi tagged me to enlist 10 things that emotionally drain me out. Here I go…

1. I dislike negative, pessimistic people around me. Life is too short to complain!

2. Gossiping /backstabbing/office politics puts me off. Before treating a person in some way think what if you were treated the same way

3. I hate people who are late. It usually upsets me, because when I say 8:00 pm I usually expect the last person to be there exactly at 8:00 pm. I will be steaming inside & look at them as if they know I am expecting an answer to where they have been

4. I hate people who honk in traffic signals or in traffic jam

5. I dislike people who are unprofessional at work. When someone is given a job, I expect them deliver quality work in the given time

6. I hate people who give into peer pressure. I strongly believe that each of us is a unique individual and we do not have to emulate our peers to feel accepted

7. I hate people who are judgmental and closed minded. Why is it so difficult to just accept people as they are? This is something that drives me crazy

8. I hate male chauvinist as well as female chauvinist. Both are equally dangerous!

9. I am a cleanliness freak. If I go to some hotel & find out that the place or the waiter or waitress is not clean I completely loose my appetite!

10. I hate writing this post again. Why spend so much energy on something that you hate? :) Channel that energy for things that make you feel better. Did the sun just come out & smile at me?

My current playlist in repeat mode

1. Koya Koya Chand (Film: Koya Koya Chand )
2. O re piya (Film: Aaja Nachle)
3. Masha Allah (Film: Saawariya)
4. Ajab si (Film: Om Shanti Om)
5. Johnny Gaddar (Film: Johnny Gaddar)

Feeling nostalgic.... (Part -2 )

Working in Rome was a whole new experience. Facing the customer for the first time, language barrier, handling technical issues, staying alone, cooking (me being a pure vegetarian) and staying away from the home for the first time.... for me each of them was a big challenge in itself. I kept myself busy over weekends visiting as many places I could around Rome. I had to return back to India within 4 weeks since my visa could not be extended, thanks to my office travel desk which messed up my medical insurance cutting short my trip. That was really a blessing in disguise. You ask me why? Read on...

Once I arrived in India I was back to my usual routine. Around the same time SPJIMR was out with its short listed candidates and to my surprise I was one of them. Thankfully this is the only institute which provides equal weightage to CAT score, Work experience, extra curricular activities and past academic records. I think it was only because of my academics I was short listed for the interview. I had roughly around 15 days to prepare for my interview and was sent a questionnaire form which I had to complete before appearing for the interview. I thoroughly enjoyed the phase of preparing for the interview and completing the questionnaire form because I had to spend a lot of time introspecting about my past life, recalling the incidents in my life which shaped up my personality and also think of what I wanted out of my MBA degree. Believe me these are very tough questions to answer and even more difficult to defend during the interview.

I attended my first round of interview in Bangalore and panel had 3 members and 2 seniors. Interview went on well, I was lucky not be asked the traditional questions like why do you want to do MBA? Where do you want to see yourself 5 years from now? Etc. Instead discussion was around what shapes up one's personality, what is attitude, what is culture and what is the difference between them. Once the interview was over I had the gut feeling that I would clear my first round. As I had expected I was short listed to appear for 2nd round of interview in Mumbai.

Second round turned out to be a spoiler. I travelled all the way to Mumbai and the duration of my interview turned out to be just 10 mins. I was very disappointed with the numbers of questions that were asked and also the duration of the interview. I was really clueless what the panel was looking for and how they could decide up on a candidate after asking only two simple questions. Somewhere deep down my heart I felt that I had stumbled at this last hurdle. Again result turned out as I had expected and I was not part of final shortlist for the SPJIMR's 2 year program. I felt really really bad, rejected and also it did inspire me to take up CAT 2007 with lot more vengeance. As few days passed by I came out of this little depression that I had entered.

10 days later when I opened my inbox there was another twist to my story. I was offered an admission for SPJIMR's 1 year program. Apparently they thought that I was far more experienced to be put in their 2 year program and instead they had short listed me for their 1 year program. Then started my dilemma whether to join this 1 year program or to write CAT once again and join a 2 year MBA course. As I started to do research about 1 yr program, I felt it was not bad and in fact I realized that 1year program would work out better for me both personally and professionally and hence decided to accept the offer . CAT 2006 was a nice journey with lots of twists and turns which started with my aspiration to do a part time program, then my focus shifted to 2 year program and I finally ended up in a 1 year program.

My course will be starting from Jan-2008 and people please do wish me good luck!!!

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

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.

SLB's next...

I have always been a great fan of Sanjay Leela Bansali and I watched his last movie Black thrice at PVR and this should sum up how impressed I was with his last directorial venture. Now he is back with his new baby Saawariya. Expectations are huge this time and lets see how he lives up to it. Promos are out and looks like he is inspired by his own movies. From whatever little we see, I think he is trying to converge the romance of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, grandeur of Devdas and dark, depressing sensitivity of Black into one movie.

Music is out and all I can say is it has lived up to the expectations . For me the standout tracks are 'Saawariya' , 'Daras bina Nahi Chain' , 'Yoon Shabnami' and 'Masha Alla'.

Lets see if the movie stands up to the hype it has created.

8 days a week

Seriously I need 8 days in a week!!!!! You are asking me why an extra day? Recently my office shifted near whitefield and this is how it has affected my life :(

Morning	Leave home 7 AM	Reach office 8.30 AM	Unproductive time 90min
Breakfast	@home 10min	@office 35min	Unproductive time 25min
Lunch	Lunch box from home 25min	@office cafeteria 60min	Unproductive time 35min
Evening	Leave office 5.15PM	Reach home 7.15PM	Unproductive time 120min

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Total unproductive minutes per day : 90 + 25+ 35 + 120 = 270min
Total unproductive minutes per week 270 * 5 = 1350 min
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1350 min = 22.5 hrs per week !!!!!!!!!!!!
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To add to this, I can't read in am moving bus, I can't sleep and I get a severe headache after I travel by bus.