Way2Top

I have transformed into one of the laziest bloggers around. This was least expected considering the fact that I bought my own domain name and web-space in the hopes of contributing regularly! Anyway, new year is the ‘logical point’ to turn such bad things around! I hope I can do justice to my investment, to my hobby…So let me use the opportunity to summarize things to break the ice. [BTW, this happens to be the 50th post in my new space :)]

Year 2006:

Highs:
* Successful completion of PGP from Indian School of Business.
* Beginning my Post-MBA career with Convergys.
* Getting my hands on Nokia N-91 phone! Thanks to my brother.
* Buying my own domain name [www.way2top.org]
* Getting an offer for Senior product manager position from a south african internet subsidiary in India @ Gurgaon. The greatest encouragement I received during the job hunt was the brand value of ISB. If one is very career-oriented and focussed, growth is going to be fast…as well as steady!
* Got back in touch with few school-time friends. Thanks to Orkut.
* Visit to Akshardham. Yes, that visit was special to me.

Lows:
* Falling ill for 10-days due to ChikunGunya.
* Rejection from Microsoft for Program management (It’s a good thing in the hindsight). It’s still in my memory because I placed high stakes for the job and prepared a lot.
* Death of few good people that I know very well.

Wish-list 2007:
* Exploring North India.
* Learning and developing Investment skills.
* Contribute 150+ posts in the blog.
* Learning Product management in depth.
* Participate in a Social venture.
* Exercise regularly.
* Wear a Smile in the face for atleast 25% of time in the year, uniformly spread:) Yeah, uniformly spread both on the face and through out the year!
* Support Indian team throughout the ICC world-cup. No matter how bad they perform….:)
* Nurture compassion and politeness in self.

I wish everyone a fantastic year ahead…..I would like to share a quote that I read recently to take forward to year 2007…

“…
We ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for good; so find we profit
By losing our prayers.
…”
- William Shakespeare tells us that we fail to realize that whatever happens is for our benefit.

Last week has been very hectic, but very satisfying week in many aspects. 3 Flight trips in a span of 4 days turned out to be tougher than I expected!

The weekend was well spent. I attended the marriage of Abhinav @ delhi. It was interesting to witness different marriage tradition, staying at groom’s house. The marriage was very well planned out and organized. Food was awesome ;). Met few ISB colleagues and made some new friends. I wish Abhinav a very happy married life…After all he has been waiting for this event for more than 3 years

Something surprising happened that was not in my initial plan. A visit to “Akshardham”. I came to know about this temple when I was at ISB. I wanted to visit this place very badly, as it looked amazingly beautiful in photographs. Since Abhinav’s house was just 2-3 kms from Akshardham, I set aside half-a-day to visit the place. I didn’t have company, but that did not deter me from the trip. The place is just BEAUTIFUL..and DIVINE. Such a wonderful monument constructed just in 5 years is unbelievable. The grand scale and the intricate details is mind-blowing. Each and every structure in this place has the grace of god. A MUST VISIT! Please visit the website for more details.

No Entry fee to this place. But there are certain exhibition halls which are charged @ Rs.125/- for the entry. I would say the charge is justified for the animatronics, professionally-made documentary and a enriching boat-ride. Just make sure that you stay in the place during the day and while the night falls out. The place supposedly looks much more beautiful in the night. I could not stay back till evening. Also, leave all your electronic equipments at home (including mobile phones). They are strictly not allowed. In case you took them with you, the cloak room could be used to safely deposit it.

Akshardham definitely has invoked the lost spirituality in me…and I found peace of mind.

I found it strange that some of my Delhi friends haven’t visited this place yet…Proximity tones down the significance, I guess

Akshardham Photogallery

Somehow the trend of popularizing the Indian cricketers after just one or two top performances should stop…Even if it is a good product, if it is endorsed by ANY of the indian cricketers..I am going to think twice about the product…

I am not expressing my anger against Indian cricketers..I am not expressing my anger against Indian team’s performance…Because that is not going cause anything beneficial…But I am going to shut my senses against the products endorsed by cricketers. Call it consumerGiri!!!

The human life is so short…but the human brain is capable of conceiving unimaginable levels of dreams and imagery in that short span of time. Few of those dreams transform into ambitions…in other words ‘long-term goals’. It is natural for people to set short-term goals, which will eventually lead them to successful realization of their long-term goals. It is even more natural among B-school grads…

When I wrote an essay to answer the post-mba career goals related question in the ISB application form, I clearly set aside short-term goals and long-term goals. I look at it now and I realize that I am more or less on track, except for few specifics. But, I must admit that I have gone through a lot of plan-changes during the last 1.5 years. The main reason for that is the new information that reaches the brain every new day, testing my rationale and challenging my aspirations.

Of late, I am facing a BIG question. When is the time to take the BIG STEP? and of course freebie questions like: If I have to set up my own venture, are there different ways to achieve the end-goal? If so what are they?

I have absolutely, 100 percent, realized that nothing less than entrepreneurship is going to test the MBA skills. Nothing less than my own-venture will deserve the hard-work that I am willing to put. But, there is a problem. The problem that is prevalent among many Indian youth. Courage to take that first RISKY step. Lack of momentum to go off-tangent.

I have decided that I should keep working on my ideas during my personal off-time. May be I am ambitious…May be it’s just a rush-of-blood. Giving the ideas a definite shape is the only to way to ascertain if it is just a case of “May-be” or really a “Must-be”. And to my satisifaction, I am slowly regaining the lost discipline back. Now that, 3 to 4 of my friends have started their own ventures, I should observe their progress and learn from them. For the time being, I will build up and nurture the entrepreneurial mind-set.

I just have a feeling that the world around me is conspiring towards me. I am going to believe the golden words of Alchemist now.

“When you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true” - Alchemist.

“…The only element that keeps people from being terrified from each other is trust - the moment it is lost, people became nightmares to each other…” [RK Narayanan in one of his novels]

A Powerful statement that echoes the day-to-day human interactions in organizations, businesses and any community. For the past 4 months, I have learnt and observed a lot about organizational dynamics around me and involving me. For quite some time, I have been pondering to jot down the key points in a abstract way. I have not blogged for past few days, but each day I missed my blog very much.

Atleast I have set the tone for the upcoming posts.

I can’t excuse myself for not blogging in the past 8 days! Life has been quite demanding…seasoning me out…

Got my laptop hard-drive changed. Haggled for it though and ended up saving almost 4000 rupees…Got myself a membership with Cinemaparadiso with part of the saving! Idea is to watch movies in high-quality DVD in my own laptop…Blame it on my mindset and perception that I get a closer-to-theatre feeling whenever I watch in laptop with headphones on …I just hope I don’t end up not utilizing the service! Checked out X-box at a dealer’s location…Core version priced at 22,000 rupees and premium version priced at 26,500 rupees. With Halo 1 and Halo 2 not available in India, it is going to be even tougher convincing myself to pay that kind of price for the X-box…Now X-box is pushed towards the bottom of my priority list (not from my wish list though)!

Enough of useless updates…I am more thoughtful these days…I always think that I am mature, I am able to handle stress, I am smart, I am a diplomat…Every now and then life proves me wrong…I end up learning lessons…I end up self-tuning…Life is a sinusoidal curve! I am just trying hard to decrease the frequency of the curve, so that the span of upward phase outlasts my lifespan! Well, I guess the previous para was a better update

I am just trying to break the inactivity….

Series of incidents over the last 40 days have created an unrest in my mind. There is a huge anger built-up…nothing against anyone, nothing against anything….I am not sure myself against what…But I want to vent out the anger….Squash used to be my outlet before…Pedalling was another….Blogging was during sometimes…but now, none of these seems to happen or allow me the freedom as before….I am off to chennai for 3 days…and I am looking forward towards the trip eaaagerlyyyyyy……No work, No laptop, No missed-breakfasts…!!!

When my family moved to Manali New Town (even before I was born), there were only a handful of houses, out of 200+ houses, that were inhabited. The place use to look like a deserted forest. During the same time we moved in, there was another family that moved in. Later, we (the then kids of the locality) use to call the head of the family, fondly as “Scooter mama (uncle)”. Because, he was the only person who had a scooter in that locality. A very jolly person. He also repairs and makes watches during his spare time and he was very good at that. 29 years has passed by since he and his family have occupied that house. All his sons are married now. He became more subdued over the years, but he was very healthy for his age…His 3 sons celebrated his 70th birthday just a week ago….Everything was well…

4 days ago, he slipped out of the bus while boarding. The rear wheel of the bus went over both his thighs. Listening to the noise of crowd and thinking that he was caught under the wheels, Driver stopped the bus…and came back in reverse…and the wheels damaged his legs to unimaginable extent…Heavy bleeding…The real tragedy was the 30 minutes of helplessness on the road. He pleaded for someone to save him…The actual reason why no body came forward, I am not aware of…After the hopeless and futile attempts of doctors, he passed away today morning…

Why do such things happen? I don’t know. But these are the incidents, which makes me really think about life…Some people are made to undergo severe trauma during their last days/moments…That I cannot digest at all…

Scooter mama…may your soul rest in peace…I will remember you…

Prepared a presentation after 1 day of effort. Just 5 minutes before the client presentation realize that some crucial information is missing. Cool-headedness and some damage control tactics saved the day…Presentation went on very well…professionally..

Almost intimidated by a person who is taller than 2 metres. Almost intimidated by the size of the huge hands that shook my hands. Kept the focus away from size-comparison by engaging in conversations…After all, the other head had to look down so that I can proudly look up!

However, what made my day was the incident with Autowalla…Normally it costs me Rs.55 for a ride in autorickshaw from my home to office. Today, when I reached the office the meter displayed a figure of Rs.25.20!

I asked…”Aapka meter ko kya ho gaya?”.

He looked at the meter and was disappointed…”Psssch….Pssch…Arre sirr…phir yehi problem…Aap jo doge de do saab!”.

“Teek hai..Mein roz 55 deta hoon…Aapke liye saat rupya deta hoon!”…

The guy had a very innocent look in his face…He was all smiles…

“Aap meter ko teek kar leejiye..!”.

“Kar doonga sir…zaroor!”

“Aapka naam kya hain…?”

“Saleem naam hein sir mera..”

“Aapko Boolonga nahi…”!

He came out of his seat and stood…”Thanks sir..Thanks sir..” I walked away with a satisfied feeling…

It’s quite funny because only yesterday I exchanged the same line with another autowalla (”Aapka meter ko kya ho gaya?”)…Only difference was that the meter showed Rs.75..!! Nah…I didn’t give a rupee more than Rs.55…

Related Links:
1. Lessons learnt about life from auto-rickshaws…!
2. Indian Auto Rickshaw Challenge! First of it’s kind…Has a link for “News about Autorickshaws”…

After a hectic week I decided to unwind on Sunday. The original plan of spending sometime in “Snow World” collapsed as we reached the venue late. Fortunately, Go-karting spot nearby kept my hopes of fun alive! I also wanted to check out the “Mirror Maze” that opened up in Prasadz multiplex recently, so did that too. I was impressed with what they have put up there. Vistors are even requested to wear plastic gloves to avoid fingerprint impressions on the mirrors. Then I tried the “Spintrix” thing that has been put up. Spintrix invoked the kid in me…I have never tried that illusion stuff before…but it is just fantastic….!

On one of the rooms in Spintrix, I was gazing at a 3-D image. Suddenly my friend called me from behind. I turned back to listen. When I reverted back to see the 3-D image, there was an alien standing right in front of my eyes, with its claw-like hands just inches away from my face…! It scared the shit out of me and I lifted my hands as if somebody commanded me “Hands up!” and made some arbit noise!…It turned out to be one of those human decoys to scare the visitors. My friend had a hearty laugh…! Well, so did I …:)