Forced hiatus!

So here I am blogging after five long months!! Always felt like writing about college buzz but never got the time! Life in a B-School is pretty demanding to say the least. With so many lectures, tests, assignments, presentations you hardly get time for yourself. Result? Well, we practise disaster management almost everyday! With 14 subjects and their corresponding tests, assignments et al what do you expect?! To top it all, there's no such thing as a weekend which really gets on your nerves...but 4 months into the MBA journey, I'm not entirely uncomfortable with the idea of attending classes on Sundays..it sucks though!!

Speaking of our schedules, well they are more like those amusement park rides you can think of! Pure adrenaline rush!! Imagine waking up at 6:ooam for a yoga/gym/aerobics session? Totally *dislike*! But there's hardly anything you can do if it's more of a Hobson's choice! Then you got those never-ending lectures....however; it doesn't look that bad now that the first semester is drawing to a close :) It's amazing how everything looks good in retrospect!! On that note, I must say goodbye....got a presentation to work on....damn these ppts just don't leave me alone!! I'll be back soon! :)

The Mumbai Affair!

I wanted to write Thane instead of Mumbai but that wouldn't have made for a good title (Mumbai is a brand na) plus don't you think Thane and Mumbai are pretty similar (well maybe not!!). Anyway, so after my training programme in Bhubaneshwar, I came to Thane and boy! What a roller coaster ride this has been! This blog post is dedicated to Thane and all the wonderful people that I got acquainted with while in Thane!

It was Bhubaneshwar which gave me a chance to know Rohini & Shikha better......never really thought at that point of time that they would end up being my best friends! :) Moving on to the Mumbai experience, we rented an apartment close to office. Let me tell you the whole apartment hunt was not entirely easy...dealing with brokers, landlords etc. But every little experience teaches you something so it's best to take it all in your stride isn't it?! Staying away from home and being on your own was by all means, a challenge but it came with a silver lining (=getting to visit Pune on weekends!). The frequent Pune trips mad life easy and as time passed by, Thane became fun too with Rohini and Shikha around. We did have some unpleasant experiences thanks to the locality where we stayed but constant blogging brought back the lost energy in me :) I admit that all these annoying incidents irritated me like crazy but Rohini on the other hand, used to be really cool about it! Don't know how she does that! Oh by the way, I have been taking a cue from that and things are different now! What I truly admire about Rohini is her carefree attitude and this whole prinicple of staying happy no matter what! For someone like me who kept worrying all the time, having someone like her made a lot of difference :) Later on, she got a transfer to TCS Pune owing to her marriage and that left Shikha and me here.

Now there were a few changes that took place. a) We changed our apartment which was much closer to office (Ashar Residency...it rocks!) b) I got my bro's Activa to Thane which meant a lot of cool rides in the city :) New apartment came with new roomies (except Shikha) and all those FB posts are a testimony to the fact that I have had a tough time putting up with my roomies so no additional description needed I believe :D On the work front, things were fairly decent....I got a great team to work with...everyone used to get super-excited on discovering that somebody had a reason to treat the entire team! So we went to a lot of places for team lunches and trust me, every single lunch has been a laugh-till-you-cry affair :D Then IPL happened....yes we witnessed MI vs DC at the DY Patil Stadium when IPL made its first appearance back in 2008! And Team Moto was there cheering all the way! :) That was sheer fun!! It didn't stop at that...we took a trip to Lonavala, then Murud Janjira after a few months....Kelva Beach later on! We partied on New Year's eve...ushering in 2009 and having a blast! :) Oh it's been soooooo much fun all this while :) Now that I'm moving to a different phase of life, in retrospect, everything looks absolutely brilliant! I'm glad I got to stay here in Thane to let all this happen to me!! :)

Before I end this blog post, I want to mention some of the names associated with my Mumbai experience; these are the people who I would say, taught me a thing or two....
Rohini, Shikha, Sumit, Sneha, KJ, Mona, Vivek, Shrishail, Suraj, Anurag, Ashutosh, Shivendra, Bhushan, Bijayita, Kiran, Amit, Mohit, Rajat, Asma, Sunil (thanks to you I converted my MBA call!!) and Pragya, Deepkaran, Anirudh, Rahul, Sarvesh - you guys have been excellent colleagues (friends too) to work with!!

All you guys ROCK!! Will miss you!

Welcome 2010!

Well I'm more than a month late in welcoming 2010 but unfortunately other things kept me busy. Now if you ask me to define "other things", I don't think I would have an answer to that...hence let's just leave it at that! Considering this is my first post of 2010, I don't want to begin on a gloomy note...so let me recollect all good things that happened in Jan....recalling...recalling....recalling...."No results found"! Awesome! See what I mean....I don't know when this not-so-good phase is going to end...

There are days when I feel as though everything's perfect and then there are days when each and every thing appears totally messed up (actually effed up)! Suddenly, things stop making sense and I feel so lost wondering what to do (??????)...surrounded by hundreds of question marks....I wish I could kill these! Do you sometimes get this really bizarre feeling where you think "Oh God, why...why is suddenly everything meaningless?" It's a wave that hits me sometimes and then all I can do is wait for it to retreat! I guess these are all symptoms of life not unfolding as per your plan...bingo! Perhaps it's time I revised my plan! Ah! That's something I never thought of....you don't have to stick with the draft version after all! Right so while I figure out my revised plan, you...I dunno...do whatever you want!! :D

Hope to blog back soon! :)

Uncertainty rules our lives!

Why is life inundated with uncertainties? I understand that we all need some excitement, thrill, adventure in life but that doesn't mean one should always be surrounded by maybes and maybe nots, right?! If you look at all the decisions that you need to take, be it on the professional or for that matter even personal front; the uncertainty element is inherent and you gotta play your game keeping that in mind! Tough! Making things happen is not that easy after all. And for someone like me who thinks too much, it gets really difficult at times. It becomes all the more difficult when you mess something up. Hell yeah!! If you ask me what is the one word or bunch of words I would never ever like to use, it has to be "messing things up". More often than not, it is not the lack of knowledge/skill/tact that spoils your plans; it's the pressure that does...and then we end up saying maybe luck wasn't on your side! Yeah right! Luck is such a chancy phenomenon that you have to think twice in order to believe it exists. Okay, I'm not here to talk about luck right! So, there are these bloopers which keep surfacing once in a while reminding you that they exist and bring along with them various phases. To begin with, the goof up phase is followed by the dilemma phase which adds to the restlessness quotient and here's where your patience is tested and you are like why me????!!!!! I don't know how many of you have experienced this but this is precisely what I'm going through right now and is probably the reason why I thought of blogging.

Whoever said that I want to know what my life would be like, 2-3 years down the line? I'm totally fine with the surprise element :) however, I could certainly do without the uncertainty factor!! Getting rid of it completely is kinda hypothetical but I would definitely not mind if the UI (Uncertainty Index) dropped by a few points :) And for that to happen, maybe I need to pull up my socks ("socks" reminds me I have to go shopping :D)!! But seriously, I realize something needs to be done about this and now that I know what the "what" part is, the "how" portion of it, as Rhonda Byrne puts in The Secret, would be taken care of! (Thanks Universe!!) So, on that note and a positive one at that, I sign off!! But hey before I do that, I would like to honour uncertainties by saying just two words- BUZZ OFF!! :D

Wake Up Sid puts you off n how!

Okay so what was Ayan Mukherji thinking when he made this movie? I am pretty sure he was more occupied with the costumes, sets and all other aesthetic items rather than the story/script which happens to be the most basic part of any movie. Agreed that the movie is based on a conventional theme which leaves very little room for experimentation but that also means putting extra efforts in order to keep the audience's interest alive. Sadly, this doesn't happen.

So Sid, a downright wastrel with a devil-may-care attitude whose sole job is to squander his dad's money ends up flunking his exam, gets into a string of arguments with his dad and eventually leaves his home. Well, no surprsies there! Then, he moves in with Konkana Sen Sharma (I forgot her name in the film!), his good friend (who earns the "good" tag in a ridiculously short span of time!!) I know it's just a movie whatever! Anyway, to cut a long story short, Sid learns his lessons while he's staying with Konkana, ends up getting a job and eventually mends his broken family ties. But in the bargain, Konkana who is totally in love with Sid, is devastated as now he would no longer be staying with her...but Sid soon realizes he loves her too and Wake Up Sid finally ends! Phew!

Ranbir was uber cool in the movie...the styling, costumes everything was brilliant..there's not a shred of doubt about that! But the movie lacked content! Characters lacked strength and that's the reason why this movie fails or let's just say doesn't make a mark! You know when we checked the show timings, we learned that Cinemax was not even screening it (just in its 3rd week)! I was kinda surprised considering the movie got rave reviews and stuff....but after the movie I realized I shouldn't have been surprised at all!! Wake Up Sid just drags and by the time Sid wakes up, the audience ends up falling asleep! Too bad!

.......unleashing the power within

There are times when I wonder what if we led completely aimless lives? In fact, sometimes I do feel my life is absolutely aimless, filled with a void (oh cmon plz don't laugh!)..and then there are times when life offers so much that I'm overwhelmed by all the things around me....in short, life plays games with us and it is upto us to realize and at the same time distinguish between truth and illusion. Anything that is in abundance would never make you feel what it means to you till you experience a shortage of sorts (which by the way is a law so we shouldn't really blame ourselves :D)!

So in this royal mess called life, it is very important to know what you want, what is dear to you and then chase it accordingly. I have come to realize that once you know what you reallllly (note the Ls there!) want, all those dilemmas, apprehensions, fears vanish like they were never there at all! And a huge believer in God that I am, Mastercard's tagline works well for me although with a teeny weeny change - "for everything else, there's God!!" What a comforting line!

This one's a rather abstract post but just wanted to get my thoughts out of my mind and what better outlet than http://catchrucha.blogspot.com !!! :)

Even complete strangers can teach you a thing or two!

My Monday mornings (around 7:15) generally involve waiting at the Aundh bus stop to get back to Mumbai. Now, this has sort of become a routine unless I plan to stay in Mumbai on weekends...Anyway so this bus stop isn't any ordinary bus stop...it's a junction where all office goers, commuters (Pune-Mumbai travellers in particular) wait for their respective buses...The Neetas, Prasannas, Shivneris all halt here and in case you are a regular at this stop, you know you get to see a lot of familiar faces (as in people waiting for their Pune bound buses)...although the Pune Mumbai junta is not the same everytime....dunno why I see new faces all the time!

It was this morning that I discovered something after which my face simply lit up! I realized there's this uncle I keep seeing everytime, waiting for his office bus and always sporting a pleasant smile with such a refreshing look that would probably defy his age!! Seriously!! And that's when I was like if people his age can be so cheerful and lively, why can't we? Believe it or not, most of the youngsters at this bus stop have such expressions on their faces as if tragedy's struck or something!! I know that isn't my problem..it's entirely upto them to choose their expressions but it makes me wonder especially when I look at this ever smiling uncle (I don't even know him by the way!!) and I feel like yes, this is how life is meant to be lived! So what if I have to go to work, so what if I have to travel all the way to Mumbai, my smile is my asset and I should flaunt it no matter what! :)

Kudos to this stranger who taught me something today :)