A Day Worth Remembering for the Lifetime !!!

Post the end semester exams, the whole batch started preparing for the most important battle of probably their lifetime, they all started preparing to find the perfect answer to the reason which made them quit their well paying jobs, posh life and probably the warmth of the embrace of their better halves’ . The placement season was about to start. With lots of PPOs pouring in, the scene looked shiny.
During the exams itself we got the good news that one of the best FMCGs in the world is interested in visiting our campus. We all risked the most important exam hours (the period we mug almost everything to puke during the paper) to fill the form for the company. That was not just it. The form was followed by a super long psychometric test. To be very frank I was very skeptic. I was a guy with three years of IT work experience and by those standards I never thought that my profile would be fit for an FMCG who hire freshers. But then I never had an option to not fill the form. I would have been a fool had I not filled it.
On 2nd December, 2 in the afternoon, shortlist was announced and guess what, my name was there. That was pleasant surprise. Though the names of two deserving and near ones were missing from that list. In a hurry, bags were packed and went to Kolkata on the same evening. Stayed at Vineet’s place. Meeting him after a long time was a great pleasure. We relived the moments of his sector 3 flat where he, ashok, bhange,swappy and I did all the crazy and stupid things together. The worst part of that night is worth mentioning. At 3 in the night a cock started his duty, pretty early by Kolkata standards and kept on doing that till the time I left the house. No complaints though, he woke me us pretty early.
Reached the Swissotel, the interview center on time. Met everyone else there. After a quick written analytical test we were called in for Interviews. That was one long wait and one hell of a 50 minute interview. The interviewer was an associate director and is responsible for one third of companies business in India. The whole interview process was pretty much a discussion about my life. Got shortlisted in first round. If the wait for the 1st round was long then the same for the 2nd round was even longer. I was the 2nd last candidate to be interviewed.
It was 6:30 in the evening when finally the HR came to the hall where all of us were waiting and announced the results. My name was called at 3rd position. I was ecstatic. Happiness knew no bound. But the moment I called up my mom and informed the news, tears were the only things flowing. I thought I should stop myself but could not do so. Probably one of the most emotional moments of my life. Informed about the same to dad, bro and friends…
That was followed by a long journey back to the campus. Mixed feeling during the journey because few of us were not selected too. The best part was that my best pal at the campus got placed the same day (and then later the pal got hell number of offers). She was the first one on the campus whom I met. I could sense that how happy she was on the selection (even when that was her dream company), that was best hug that she has ever given me..
3rd December 2010 is surely one of the most important days of my life. Those memories are going to stay for long, very long !!!!
PS: Got placed at P&G as Associate Manager, Product Supply

The Defining Semester

If highly enriching Chennai stay, I was back to the place where I belonged and would belong for 4 more months. I would define the third semester as a defining semester. Defining in almost all aspects of life, defining in terms of friends and friendship, defining in terms of career path and even defining in terms of my behavior and attitude in future.
The first happening moment was out visit to Vizag. Extended group of 19 made this plan to go on a trip to Vizag. Thanks to bunny for leading. This trip was fun filled, no doubt about that. It had everything to offer: valley, hills, waterfalls, amazing resort to stay, beach but the most important part was trip’s effect on relationships. Relationships, read friendships, changed their course. If few became stronger then few turned weaker too, and the ones those turned weaker became so weak that I believe now we are just faking it.
Regular events like Mid-Sem, DP holidays etc happened but this sem saw one more defining moment. I care for people in general and for the special ones, I tend to go several extra miles to keep them happy. But like a common man, I expect similar response. Or if not similar, atleast I expect that they don’t hurt me. I started jogging (lasted for some 7 to 10 days) in October. Most of the times I was alone running at gyan ghosh. On that day, I got a company. Infact I requested for the company. I never realized that I would regret the company for the most part of the jogging that day. I have no idea where it was all coming from but the company had so many harsh things to say about me that It lead to a near Go-To-Hell state. I am an emotional personal and each and every statement of the company hurt me, hurt me till core of my heart. I even thought that, “how can you act so normal with me if you have so much of negativity about me in your mind”. But then things sorted out during the same jog. No one apologized but we understood that this is how things are like whether you like it or not. For me it was that moment that I learnt that I have to be strong. I have to be that person who can say, “ Look I damn care”. I still care for the company but surely won’t be able to take that much of shit. I take shit at times, but then I and leaning fast.
Third defining moment was again related to friendship. I realized one thing that you will never be remembered for what all right you have done in past but you will always b remembered for the one mistake ( still not a mistake in your view) that you have done. Things certainly changed for me not signing. It was a matter of choice for me. By signing, I would have supported a friends view blindly and by not signing I supported my view as well as boosted the support that I was extending to another very close friend. I chose the latter.
And the last one…probably the most important event of my life ( if I do not give that much of an importance to marriage), I got placed. My MBA dream initiated in 2007 with a hope to become a banker someday. Infact the primary reason to leave hrd and join som was to make sure that I study Finance and join a bank. Towards later half of 3rd sem I realized that Consulting is the best suited field. But eventually, it turned out that fate had some other story to write. I became an operations guy.
Too much of writing for that day….

The South Masala Dosai

Finally the stay at Chennai comes to an end. It’s been just 2 months but appeared pretty long. Landed up here on 5th May. As expected it was hot but not much. New city, new type of people and people who were talking in a language that I could not understand a bit of. In such situation you start believing that everyone is there to cheat you, to make a fool out of you. You become extra cautious. So did I. First 7 days in the city were pretty difficult for primary reasons that I was the only one from my college in the city for some 7 days, almost everyone at the workplace was either very senior or very serious, so I could not connect to them well initially. Plus no one, NOONE talked in Hindi. Airtel took some 4 days to complete the activation-deactivation cycle.
But eventually this went well after the first week. Rohit Singh joined me at IIT Madras campus and office. Nitish also came to Chennai. I got a good friend in Pratibha from AIM Manila at office. And the best part, I started handing out with my old scmhrd friends. Nikita, Sameer and Purav. Though I meet Purav and Sameer in Chennai only but we hit the chord well.
I spent most of the weekends at Bangalore. Infact I booked tickets in advance for all the weekends to Bangalore and back. Several trips happened during my stay there.
Few things I learnt during my stay at Chennai
1. There is always your family to support you, all the time
2. There are few special people (friends) in your life, whom you miss all the time
3. Be it any place, you can always best the heat.
4. You talk well to people, they will always help you.
5. Give everyone a second chance, preconceived notions are not always correct
6. I was still excel at work and I haven’t lost the touch

What we never got to hear !

JANUARY 30th, 1949 - The Mahatma was assassinated by a man called Naturam Godse.
After he shot him, instead of running away, he stood his ground and surrounded. He said, "No one should think that Gandhi was killed by a madman"

One of the best speeches of All time, which is compared to Socrates's speech in his trial.
The Judge was astonished by his speech and commented that if India had followed the Jury system of giving judgments, Godse would have been adjudicated as "Not Guilty" by the Jury, cause after the speech, the whole audience was in tears.

This is the speech given by Nathuram Godse in the court in his last trial for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi

Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history and Hindu culture. I had, therefore, been intensely proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up I developed a tendency to free thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance to any isms, political or religious. That is why I worked actively for the eradication of untouchability and the caste system based on birth alone. I openly joined anti-caste movements and maintained that all Hindus were of equal status as to rights, social and religious and should be considered high or low on merit alone and not through the accident of birth in a particular caste or profession. I used publicly to take part in organized anti-caste dinners in which thousands of Hindus, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Chamars and Bhangis participated. We broke the caste rules and dined in the company of each other.



I have read the speeches and writings of Dadabhai Nairoji, Vivekanand, Gokhale, Tilak, along with the books of ancient and modern history of India and some prominent countries like England, France, America and' Russia. Moreover I studied the tenets of Socialism and Marxism. But above all I studied very closely whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji had written and spoken, as to my mind these two ideologies have contributed more to the moulding of the thought and action of the Indian people during the last thirty years or so, than any other single factor has done.



All this reading and thinking led me to believe it was my first duty to serve Hindudom and Hindus both as a patriot and as a world citizen. To secure the freedom and to safeguard the just interests of some thirty crores (300 million) of Hindus would automatically constitute the freedom and the well being of all India, one fifth of human race. This conviction led me naturally to devote myself to the Hindu Sanghtanist ideology and programme, which alone, I came to believe, could win and preserve the national independence of Hindustan, my Motherland, and enable her to render true service to humanity as well.



Since the year 1920, that is, after the demise of Lokamanya Tilak, Gandhiji's influence in the Congress first increased and then became supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their intensity and were reinforced by the slogan of truth and non-violence, which he paraded ostentatiously before the country. No sensible or enlightened person could object to those slogans. In fact there is nothing new or original in them. They are implicit in every constitutional public movement. But it is nothing but a mere dream if you imagine that the bulk of mankind is, or can ever become, capable of scrupulous adherence to these lofty principles in its normal life from day to day. In fact, honour, duty and love of one's own kith and kin and country might often compel us to disregard non-violence and to use force. I could never conceive that an armed resistance to an aggression is unjust. I would consider it a religious and moral duty to resist and, if possible, to overpower such an enemy by use of force. [In the Ramayana] Rama killed Ravana in a tumultuous fight and relieved Sita. [In the Mahabharata], Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness; and Arjuna had to fight and slay quite a number of his friends and relations including the revered Bhishma because the latter was on the side of the aggressor. It is my firm belief that in dubbing Rama, Krishna and Arjuna as guilty of violence, the Mahatma betrayed a total ignorance of the springs of human action.



In more recent history, it was the heroic fight put up by Chhatrapati Shivaji that first checked and eventually destroyed the Muslim tyranny in India. It was absolutely essentially for Shivaji to overpower and kill an aggressive Afzal Khan, failing which he would have lost his own life. In condemning history's towering warriors like Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh as misguided patriots, Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit. He was, paradoxical, as it may appear, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and non-violence, while Rana Pratap, Shivaji and the Guru will remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen forever for the freedom they brought to them.



The accumulating provocation of thirty-two years, culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately. Gandhi had done very well in South Africa to uphold the rights and well being of the Indian community there. But when he finally returned to India he developed a subjective mentality under which he alone was to be the final judge of what was right or wrong. If the country wanted his leadership, it had to accept his infallibility; if it did not, he would stand aloof from the Congress and carry on his own way. Against such an attitude there can be no halfway house. Either Congress had to surrender its will to his and had to be content with playing second fiddle to all his eccentricity, whimsicality, metaphysics and primitive vision, or it had to carry on without him. He alone was the Judge of everyone and everything; he was the master brain guiding the civil disobedience movement; no other could know the technique of that movement. He alone knew when to begin and when to withdraw it. The movement might succeed or fail, it might bring untold disaster and political reverses but that could make no difference to the Mahatma's infallibility. 'A Satyagrahi can never fail' was his formula for declaring his own infallibility and nobody except himself knew what a Satyagrahi is.



Thus, the Mahatma became the judge and jury in his own cause. These childish insanities and obstinacies, coupled with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty character made Gandhi formidable and irresistible. Many people thought that his politics were irrational but they had either to withdraw from the Congress or place their intelligence at his feet to do with, as he liked. In a position of such absolute irresponsibility Gandhi was guilty of blunder after blunder, failure after failure, disaster after disaster.



Gandhi's pro-Muslim policy is blatantly in his perverse attitude on the question of the national language of India. It is quite obvious that Hindi has the most prior claim to be accepted as the premier language. In the beginning of his career in India, Gandhi gave a great impetus to Hindi but as he found that the Muslims did not like it, he became a champion of what is called Hindustani. Everybody in India knows that there is no language called Hindustani; it has no grammar; it has no vocabulary. It is a mere dialect; it is spoken, but not written. It is a bastard tongue and crossbreed between Hindi and Urdu, and not even the Mahatma's sophistry could make it popular. But in his desire to please the Muslims he insisted that Hindustani alone should be the national language of India. His blind followers, of course, supported him and the so-called hybrid language began to be used. The charm and purity of the Hindi language was to be prostituted to please the Muslims. All his experiments were at the expense of the Hindus.



From August 1946 onwards the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the Hindus. The then Viceroy, Lord Wavell, though distressed at what was happening, would not use his powers under the Government of India Act of 1935 to prevent the rape, murder and arson. The Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with some retaliation by the Hindus. The Interim Government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League members right from its inception, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which they were a part, the greater was Gandhi's infatuation for them. Lord Wavell had to resign as he could not bring about a settlement and he was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten. King Log was followed by King Stork.



The Congress, which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism, secretly accepted Pakistan literally at the point of the bayonet and abjectly surrendered to Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of the Indian territory became foreign land to us from August 15, 1947. Lord Mountbatten came to be described in Congress circles as the greatest Viceroy and Governor-General this country ever had. The official date for handing over power was fixed for June 30, 1948, but Mountbatten with his ruthless surgery gave us a gift of vivisected India ten months in advance. This is what Gandhi had achieved after thirty years of undisputed dictatorship and this is what Congress party calls 'freedom' and 'peaceful transfer of power'. The Hindu-Muslim unity bubble was finally burst and a theocratic state was established with the consent of Nehru and his crowd and they have called 'freedom won by them with sacrifice' - whose sacrifice? When top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore the country - which we consider a deity of worship - my mind was filled with direful anger.



One of the conditions imposed by Gandhi for his breaking of the fast unto death related to the mosques in Delhi occupied by the Hindu refugees. But when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and censure the Pakistan Government or the Muslims concerned. Gandhi was shrewd enough to know that while undertaking a fast unto death, had he imposed for its break some condition on the Muslims in Pakistan, there would have been found hardly any Muslims who could have shown some grief if the fast had ended in his death. It was for this reason that he purposely avoided imposing any condition on the Muslims. He was fully aware of from the experience that Jinnah was not at all perturbed or influenced by his fast and the Muslim League hardly attached any value to the inner voice of Gandhi.



Gandhi is being referred to as the Father of the Nation. But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty inasmuch as he has acted very treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the partitioning of it. I stoutly maintain that Gandhi has failed in his duty. He has proved to be the Father of Pakistan. His inner-voice, his spiritual power and his doctrine of non-violence of which so much is made of, all crumbled before Jinnah's iron will and proved to be powerless.



Briefly speaking, I thought to myself and foresaw I shall be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people would be nothing but hatred and that I shall have lost all my honour, even more valuable than my life, if I were to kill Gandhiji. But at the same time I felt that the Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and would be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan. People may even call me and dub me as devoid of any sense or foolish, but the nation would be free to follow the course founded on the reason which I consider to be necessary for sound nation-building. After having fully considered the question, I took the final decision in the matter, but I did not speak about it to anyone whatsoever. I took courage in both my hands and I did fire the shots at Gandhiji on 30th January 1948, on the prayer-grounds of Birla House.



I do say that my shots were fired at the person whose policy and action had brought rack and ruin and destruction to millions of Hindus. There was no legal machinery by which such an offender could be brought to book and for this reason I fired those fatal shots.



I bear no ill will towards anyone individually but I do say that I had no respect for the present government owing to their policy, which was unfairly favourable towards the Muslims. But at the same time I could clearly see that the policy was entirely due to the presence of Gandhi. I have to say with great regret that Prime Minister Nehru quite forgets that his preachings and deeds are at times at variances with each other when he talks about India as a secular state in season and out of season, because it is significant to note that Nehru has played a leading role in the establishment of the theocratic state of Pakistan, and his job was made easier by Gandhi's persistent policy of appeasement towards the Muslims.



I now stand before the court to accept the full share of my responsibility for what I have done and the judge would, of course, pass against me such orders of sentence as may be considered proper. But I would like to add that I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me, nor do I wish that anyone else should beg for mercy on my behalf. My confidence about the moral side of my action has not been shaken even by the criticism levelled against it on all sides. I have no doubt that honest writers of history will weigh my act and find the true value thereof some day in future.


-NATHURAM GODSE

The Chennai Story Begins !!!

2:15... Arrival waiting seat, Netaji International Airport, Kolkata
So here I am at Netaji International Airport, Kolkata to board the flight to Chennai at 6 in the morning. Its 2:15 am and I am sitting all alone at the airport waiting for some kind of miracle to happen so that the remaining 4 hours pass in a flash. But sure that won’t happen. The journey started this evening with mom and dad coming to the station to drop me so that I could board the Kolkata train. There is something special with mom coming to the station. She generally cries when the train starts crawling. No this is not special. What I have realized she cried only when I am going to some unknown territories. For example she cried when I was going to SCMHRD, she cried when I was going to Trivandrum for ILP etc. So this time too she cried. Dad as always pulled up the strongest face of his. He too got emotional this time which mom informed me later. The Reason for his changed feelings this time was because he knew that Chennai is not an awesome place to live. But fact remains a fact and I have to go.
This was the longest taxi trip from station to airport that I ever had. I guess all the cars, buses and trucks were there on road today as they were aware that I was coming. As a matter of fact I am travelling alone. Travelling alone has got both positives and negatives associated with it. The first negative that I could figure out was that peeing is a pain. You cannot leave your luggage unattended and you have to take it to loo along with you. Getting bore is one of the other negatives. But this can be turned into your advantage if you open yourself up a bit to talk to strangers. I did that. I talked to a lot of random people today. I stared my night by a chat with one of the taxi drivers. The guy was not getting passengers so started the chat. He started his stories as to how firangis don’t pay them what they ask for or how women bargain more than men etc. Once I moved into the airport I, I asked a security personnel as to where the luggage counter was. He informed me that construction is under progress and inconvenience is regretted. This was just the beginning. Since then we chatted for some two hours about airport security, the system in place, the morale of a common security guy, politics and off course women. We were joined by four other security wallahs which made it more of a GD than just a chat. Few supported the women’s 33% bill while few were orthodox enough to not support women wearing miniskirts. But one thing which all them agreed to was that public display of affection is not good and our generation is too much into it.
I am writing this piece just to make sure that I am awake for the next three hours. Once I board the flight, I am in for a long sleep because I am very sure that I am not lucky enough to have a gorgeous talkative open chick sitting beside me and talking her heart out to me.
4:48....Boarding terminal, Netaji International Airport, Kolkata
I was watching a movie but could not resist my anxiety to write this. Today I saw what I always heard of. I saw what I had an idea about but could not picture. There I was sitting at one of the corner chairs subtly staring at one of the cute girls around and suddenly with a flash of light passed four ladies. All clad in wonderful chiffon colourful saarees. But what was striking about all of them was that they were all painted with loads of revelon makeups and all of them were way past their fourties. Yes you guessed it right, they were all Air India hostesses. My god what an experience that was. Frankly speaking, no offences, but I would rather prefer travelling in the sleeper class coach of a slow passenger trainif Air India has to offer this to their passengers. Anyways, just one more point to mention at this point of time. In the whole boarding area there were two pretty girls and none of them are travelling in my flight (smart I am, saw their boarding passes). So happy journey, happy sleeping.

The dad side of story

My existence in this world can be attributed to two individuals, my mom and my dad. Not that you are any different because the same applies to your existence also. But then I specially wanted to emphasize the importance of the dad side of it. In the subsequent text I will try to talk more about it.
To start with, we all are FCBs (Female Chauvinist Bitches) when it comes to talking and admiring about our moms. No discounts there. Even I am one of them who are the biggest fans of their moms but then that should not be the reason to completely ignore the dad side of it. Be it movies, songs, stories, poems or for that matter even news paper articles, moms always get the well deserved mention for giving birth and bringing up the child. But in the process of doing that we tend to forget the importance of dad side of the story. The very reason of writing this text is that I wanted to tell you as to how difficult being a dad is and how his role changes during the life time of a kid.

My dad was always a sweet charming personality but then he was a bit strict too when I was a kid. Being the younger kid, I was very close to my mom and all my demands, misdeeds, requests went to dad through mom. And most of them were fulfilled by dad. But still dad was strict when it came to studies, playing for long hours etc. And the reason behind that was he wanted me to utilize my time in a rather better way so that I could achieve something in life. As I grew up, he modified his role a bit. From being a protector he transformed more into a guide. By the time I was in my teen age he started supporting me in all my decisions. He rarely pushed his wishes on me. Rather he guided me as to what could be the possible implications of my steps. In fact in my case, he is the reason what I am today. He went extra mile to drop me to school, tuitions etc so that I don’t waste my energy in mundane affairs like driving etc. Once I was in engineering, he turned into a friend. Most of the times he used to be ears to all my crap and usually came up with supporting logics. The same continues when I joined the job and then subsequently MBA. He always supported what I wanted to do. A lot of times my decisions were extravagant and vague but then he taught me to believe in myself and do what I wanted to do. I have travelled a lot and he is one primary reason for that. Not just financially, but he used to be the one who always took the lead when I came with some idea to travel somewhere.

Enough of my dad. He is just awesome. I will rather try to answer one thought that we all always have in our minds. If our dads are so friendly, so supportive, why do they tend to be harsh sometimes or why do they push their thinking on us sometimes. To answer this, let us go back to the beginning of human race. Man’s role in the society was defined to be a hunter. He usually went out to the jungles to hunt in groups and returned back home with his share of the pie. Now when he went out, he used to interact with fellow men, he used to talk about family affairs of other hunters. His thought process developed based on the discussions that he mostly had with his fellow men. And when others talked about their good lives, their strong sons, their beautiful charming daughter, he wished that his own sons and daughters become like them as that was socially accepted form. Thought the social structure changed with time the basic thought process remained the same. We were born and brought up in the times when our dads used to be the sole money earners and moms used to be the home makers. Now dad’s interaction with fellow men, this time in office, about fellow men’s sons and daughters’ achievements started becoming the building block of his expectations from us. May be we can also name this to be the peer pressure. But then this very expectation became the primary reason of him being harsh on us at times or him becoming the decision makers for us at times. Most of the dads are like that only. But then they do ease of this pressure with time. They understand what their kids can do and what they can not.

I guess the most important thing is timing of actions in this case. A dad should be decision maker for a child, a guide for a teenager and a friend for the grown up. The important this is the time and the ease with which he changes his roles. The swiftly and timely he does that, the more you start loving and admiring him.

Dedicated to sports and love!!!

This is one awesome semester that is happening to me. The semester started with a late christmas party with friends at kolkata. four full days of fun. Then the new yr nite with friends at campus and bonfire. Then a dance party at Shibani with Alex Gupta as a guest and friends as sponsors.Then came cricket. Me and almost all my friends got selected into the hostel cricket team and we are playing the intra IIT cricket tournament for the last 1 month almost. and for the first time in the history of my hall since its inseption in 1962, my hall reached the quarterfinal of the tournament. Then Spring fest. The same fest that i attended 4 years ago and had good memories of which. This one also was amazing. Met kailash kher and suchitra pillai. Then came kshitiz. I am not sure if i would be in campus to witness complete kshitiz but one this is for sure, last 1 month was rocking. Ohh...i did not talk about love...i have started watching romantic love stories again. apart from that there is not much love.. barring the one sided love that i always do....and yeah i am spending a lot of time in my room these days...may be socializing less..and few significant people are not calling these days..out of sight is definitely out of mind..just hoping for better tomorrows....

System Architecture

Having worked for an ERP project on Oracle applications, I already had some basic idea of the System Architecture of the system. But to improve my existing knowledge and discuss the core concepts I called my friend Ankit who happens to be a DBA and works for the same client for whom I worked.
Me: hi Ankit.. How are you?

Ankit;: I am fine. How are things going at your end?

Me: I am doing great. Studies and assignments are keeping me busy these days.

Me: Hey, I called you because we had a class today on Systems Architecture and I wanted to discuss few things with you.

Ankit: Yeah, Sure. Tell me.

Me: I will start with my understanding of the topic. System architecture consists of Data and Applications. Data is a collection of information related to an organization or person. While an application is something which is used to represent this data. Applications acts like a window using which one can look into the data and modify or update it.

Ankit: Yes, you are correct. But then there is a lot to add to what you just said. I mean when you say data and application are they segregated?

Me: That’s right. Logically they are two different entities. But they might be present on the same physical location. For example, we store data in document format .doc in our computer and MS word application helps us read and process this data which is stored on the same computer. And to add to all this we have this different tiered System Architecture to implement complex systems.

Ankit: Yes correct. Single tier architecture in which data and application are on the same system, For example, our laptop or desktop. Second is a two tier architecture in which data and application are on two different system and they are connected by TCP/IP protocols. The machine having application is called client and the machine that contains data is called server.

Me: Correct. Now, along with these two we have a three tier architecture where in we have a business application layer between the data and the user interface. The forth variant is Multitier structure where in Internet is used. This is the most used and highly robust structure used these days because of the business going global.

Ankit: Hmmm. In fact if you might remember, even we use this multi tiered structure for the ERP that we use at GE.
Me: Yeah, I remember. Oracle applications is implemented with multi tier structure at GE. Users access the application through internet from different geographies which in turn connects to the database and provides information to the user.
Ankit: Yes, you are correct. In fact we also have implemented a structure where in the data is stored in the same database while the access rights are different for different users.

Me: Yes. I remember. As a purchasing super user I had the access to all the sourcing related data while my counterpart in the finance department could access only finance data and not sourcing one. This method not only saves the cost for the organization but also improved the data management and system administration.

Ankit: Hmmm I guess you have covered most of the general aspects of the System Architecture..

Me: Yes. Even I think so. But then if you get some news or some latest changes happening in the industry, so keep me updated.

Ankit: Yeah sure my friend.

Me: See you. Ciao Ciao

Ankit: Bye

My life at present..

I can define this period as the golden period of my life where in I am living the multiple lives. I am living life of a young teen ager whose mornings start in a rush with thoughts running as to what he is going to wear to the class, what he will do to have fun and what he will do to make the someone special more happier. I am living the life of a 25 year old mature man who plans and aspires to be a successful manager and will do whatever it takes to achieve his dream. I am living the life of philosopher who writes his own stories, stories which are connected to his life, stories which describe what he wants to do and make him happy. I am in that stage of life where every moment throws a new challenge, is as fresh as it can be and is worth living. I always thought that my undergraduate college life was the best I had but I must say that last six months have been awesome. These six months came with a lot of sad and happy moments and most importantly I had friends with me all the time to take care of both. Lots of pre-notions were shunned, the most important being that you cannot make a close friend at the age of 25. You can actually and they might turn out to the best ones. This duration showed me times when I felt lost; when I felt that I was lonely. But then there were ample number of activities to compensate all the loneliness. I just hope that the coming two years remain the same or turn out to be even better.

Human beings are social animals and they have achieved many heights not just because of their intelligence but because they had this unique attribute of living together, helping each other and sharing joys and sorrows.I believe that it is the society in general and family, friends and elders in particular who can help me the most in achieving my dreams. My postgraduate education from one of the most reputed colleges of the country will be the first step in the direction. The IIT education system and the amazing faculty of VGSOM will help me acquire the much needed and deserved knowledge and wisdom that will help me excel in all the future endeavors of mine. But above all this I think that most important thing that will help me in future is my experience of life; my experience of meeting and recognizing good and bad people, of joys and sorrows, of caring and sharing, of helping and getting helped, of pampering and being pampered, and of life and death.

Love at First Site

Love at first sight..we biharis master it!!!
The concept of love at first sight is quite unique in itself. Though I am not a PhD in love or for that matter love making, but with the limited knowledge that I have about the topics, I understand that love is a mutual understanding between two people of opposite sex (now it can be same sex also, and Europeans lead us in this arena too) that they care for each other, they trust each other (on most of the things) and they will do whatever it takes to keep the other partner happy (though the meaning of ‘anything’ varies from time to time, place to place and person to person and offcourse gender to gender). The whole concept of love lies on the basic premise that it has to be ‘mutual’, and two people (or more if u want more fun ;) ) must be involved. So like a plain love, I mean love that happens after sometime when almost all the considerations about future financial, emotional and other such sick al securities are tested to its truest degree, love at first sight also requires two parties, and they should fall in love at the same time.
So considering that love at first sight requires two people to fall in love at the same time, that’s when they see each other for the first time, I thought of calculating the probability of such an event. No dude don’t get me wrong, I am neither a statistics genius nor a desperate research scholar. I talked about probability only in its subjective sense. Let us look into the process of love and see how difficult it is for common people to fall into love at first sight and how easy it is for a bihari.
The Common Man Situation:
A boy sits in the train. Lucky enough, he saw a girl sitting right next to her. This was the first time he got lucky enough to have a girl sitting next to him. And to quadruple the joy, the girl was beautiful, well dressed and very open (she started talking to him as soon as he offered her help in placing her luggage). For Dhruv Arora , a delhi born and brought up upper middle class no nonsense studious kid, this was more than a dream come true. Looking into his past record of having no girlfriends (the cuchy coo ones), two girlfriends (the normal lady friends) and IIT Btech background, he had to fall in love. He did all what it takes to pretend that he was the best available bachelor for the coming one and a half days of journey to pune and somehow managed to get her number also. Smart kid, he managed to meet her once at HRC, spent a lot of money to make an impression. Later that night they saw a movie also and then had their dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It all went fine till the next weekend when the girl sensed that Mr Arora was expecting something else out of her and she informed him politely that she was already into a relationship. Her boyfriend was an IIMC grad and a Investment banker with deutsche in Singapore. Poor Mr Arora, he lost a lot in these two days. He lost few thousands that he spent on her, he lost an opportunity to visit daman and diu with his friends on that same weekend and the biggest one was that he lost the love that he desperately wanted to have. And all this because he wanted it to be ‘mutual’.
The Bihari Guy Situation:
The first thing that a bihari will do is, remove the concept of ‘mutual’ from love. For them it does not matter if the other party is interested or not. Love happens as soon as you want it to happen. So the chances of love at the first sight increases many folds. Let us see the same story when it happened to Kumar Priyardarshi, a middle class patna born kid famous as PD among his friends. PD has killer looks, killer brains and killer instincts.
A boy sits in the train. Lucky enough, he saw a girl sitting right next to her. This was the not the first that he had a girl sitting next to him. And like it happened every other time the girl was beautiful, well dressed and very open (she started talking to him as soon as he offered her help in placing her luggage). For PD this was a cake walk. Looking into his past record of having N girlfriends (the cuchy coo ones), N girlfriends (the normal lady friends) and NITJ Btech background, he had to fall in love. He did not waste any time and fell in love immediately. Love at the very first sight. It never mattered to him if she was interested or not, she became his love interest the very moment. He did all what a BF should do for his GF (only help and support, no nonsense acts) in coming one and a half days of journey to pune and somehow managed to get her number also. Smart kid, he managed to meet her once at HRC, spent a lot of money to make an impression on his LAFS GF*. Later that night they saw a movie also and then had their dinner at a Mexican restaurant which the LAFS GF* liked a lot. It all went fine till the next weekend when the girl sensed that Mr PD was expecting something else out of her and she informed him politely that she was already into a relationship. Her boyfriend was an IIMC grad and an Investment banker with deutsche in Singapore. Mr PD, the smart chap immediately dumped her as his LAFS GF* and clarified that it’s ok with him. They became best buddies in the coming months. PD fell in love with a lot of her other friends also. He never lost anything. To him all this was more of an opportunity cost. For example in this case also he just spent a few thousand on his LAFS GF* and then kinda dumped her. Come on GF dumps BFs and vice versa, that is common and don’t calculate all what u spent on her as loss. Though he missed the trip to Daman, his weekend was great. They had an awesome time at poolside bar at a 5 star hotel in the city itself. And the best part is, he was in love for fuc***g 15 days man.
I just lost what I wanted to prove and don’t have the patience to read or write any more, so guys take a break. Put in your comments. It motivates and discourages me, based on whether the comment is positive or negative. So write whatever u want to write, I damn care....if I get time, I will write again!!!!!

PS: LAFS GF means love at first sight girl friend.

December 2009...Life of a Prince

B schools at IITs are awesome. Apart from the world class infrastructure, faculty, studies, placements and blah blah, the best thing that they offer is a one month winter vacation. Mine started on 28th Nov. During the 1st week of December I visited Ranchi to meet a newly married friend couple and later attended a friend’s marriage. And both these events created confusion in my mind. Confusion that either I am growing old or they were in hurry. Anyways. The best part of the vacation was my visit to my relatives in UP. I visited Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Deoria, Bhatni, Sajaon and few other places which will sound alien to you( I know that even the last 3 were more on that alien side of the spectrum but they are for my memory aid). I met almost the whole family on my maternal and paternal side and there had been a lot of positive changes and facts that I came up with. I’ll try to enumerate a few of them:
1. I am loved by a lot of people; in fact by people whom I don’t even know or remember. I should take more care in knowing them in future.
2. Now I understand that why my dad insisted on my not staying for long at my maternal home. Coz that the best place to spoil yourself. This time around also I got a Princely treatment. I almost spoiled myself.
3. I got a huge demand out there dude.
4. Suddenly I realized that I should be calling and talking to a lot of people with whom I never talked in past.
5. You should not chase things, things will come to you. Just be patient.
6. Time and place control your behaviour.
7. You are being constantly being watched so try living up to the expectations.
8. Laptop is your best companion.
9. Bhojpuri is an awesome language.
10. One can live even without internet but mobile phone is a must.
I don’t remember much now as this all happened around 10 to 15 days back. Buy anyways, this trip was amazing. I realized that there are lot of people who like and love me and I should love them in response. I should immediately stop taking care of people who don’t take care of me coz that the only way of channelizing the energy in correct direction.

Months before the 1st sem end

I have not been blogging for quite some time now, to be precise, after mid sems. MBA takes a lot of time off your life. This might sound a myth but this actually is a reality. MBA, not the studies though, takes a lot of time off. Anyways. I’ll try to recollect all what happened to me in the last two months.
This past two months came will a lot of changes. Changes both on the professional front and personal front. Lets talk about the professional changes first, personal ones always take a lot of time. Professional changes were started with my selection as summer intern at VentureEast, a venture capital fund LLC co located in chennai. My post midsem summer internship journey started with interview at deloitte IT and continued with interviews at Heinz operations and KPMG IT and before the KPMG results my VentureEast interviews happened. A place comm. member informed that I got my VentureEast interview at 2. I came to hostel and helped Srikanth prepare his CV till 1.55 and then rushed to the interview room. As this was a telephonic interview, so no worries about dressing. The co was offering an amazing profile, sort of analyst and fund manager for one of its startup fund called BYST but I did not want to go to this company and the reason being that I wanted a big brand to join and was very hopeful of the KPMG entry. But destiny wanted me to be in Chennai in hot summers and thus VentureEast selected me even when the interview was the worst that I ever had in my life (you don’t always pause for 5 minutes on a ‘tell me about yourself’ question in an interview ). This selection led to a 3 days of pseudo depression. But then things improved when I looked back status of summer process at campus and compared my profile with others. I was more than happy. This selection brought about one more change also, I got more interested in finance in particular and studies in general (though the latter was just for few days). Two professional disasters also happened. Once where I won a VGSOM organized national level B quiz and other when I (or rather we) dropped the plan of participating in CFA challenge. Who cares anyway.
Personal changes were rather bigger in number and more satisfying and devastating at the same time. Friendships grew stronger so did the affection. My patience got tested on a number of occasions and but I guess I sailed through smoothly. Days before semester end saw some very rough patches, but somehow it all went well with time. At times you need to let things go and ignore at the same time to correct things. But ignore situations, not people. Ignoring people you love not only hurts then but hurts you also. Anyways it’s better that I do not go on writing a drama here.
All in all the last semester was a great learning experience, personally and professionally. I guess next sem will see a new me in all aspects of life. More lively, more active, more independent this time. But still I want to be loved by people whom I love.

Computers..as smart as you want them to be..

I should start with a warning. Computers are made to help human beings but they do so till you use your mind. Once you start behaving like a dog to it, it will do the same to you. A warning, never select all the files together for Shift Delete. Check once before you take this drastic step. Trust me shit happens.
I had numerous numbers of files saved on my desktop, mostly the ones on which I was working on currently. And 90% of them were important with only few of them having backup. I was just checking them one by one and was simultaneously transferring photos from my mobile to laptop and vice versa. Songs were on VLC player and was also copying the files on a pen drive. So technically, lots of things were happening simultaneously. When you are doing something like that, just forget to reorganize things because that what I thought and I am in deep shit now. I copied some files here and deleted some from there. The process continued till I accidently opened the ‘Recently changed’ folder and saw that most of the icons were shortcuts so better to delete them as they might be affecting the system performance. Selected all and SHIFT DELETE. Boom!!!!
Once I came back on the desktop I realized that few files were missing. As those files (which were not in a folder on desktop) were less important, I was ok. I then opened the ‘Draft Blog’ folder in ‘My documents’ and both the important blogs were missing. Came back on desktop and opened the important folders, Damn, all the latest files were missing. Suddenly I realized that I did some real stupid act. Ideally I should not have been writing about this on this blog, but then I want you to act little smart unlike me. Now looking for software to recover. Pray for me!!!

Miss someone and create this..

It was raining outside. I sat and tried calling few people. Two of them were in office so could not talk much and one, to whom I wanted to talk most desperately, didn’t pickup. I am not blaming anyone here, but this incident pushed me to think. Think as to why things change in life, why distance changes relationships and how it happens.
There are two complementary theories. I am defining them complementary to begin with but ultimately they will turn out to be supplementary.
The first one says, “Distance strengthens a relationship, love grows stronger”. When I say love, I am taking the most general sense of it not the typical boyfriend girlfriend type but general as in love between friends. And the second one goes like, “Out of sight, out of mind”.
To analyse these theories, we understand that distance is the key driver while there are two possible outcomes, one on either side of the spectrum. One leads to a happy ending where Raj and Simran would almost run into each other when the meet after six months while the other leads to a Ghazni type ending where Simran would even not remember who Raj was. Why and how does it happen?
Every relationship follows a cycle. Relationship initiates, grows stronger, stagnates, declines and then ends. Ends is not necessarily announced but happens when communication level goes to null. The initial two phases of this cycle are the most important nodes which defines as to how long or small the stagnation graph (period) can be and fast or slow the decline would be. Let’s take an example of two casual friends, a boy and girl, who work at office together and go out on few weekends together along with other friends to malls etc. If they do not have a lot of things in common or if they do not intentionally try to build a strong relationship, though there will be an initiation but the growth would be so weak that the stagnation phase would be very small and the decline would be extremely fast when they separate. This process gets a catalyst is either one of them gets a partner to fill the vacuum. So “Long time, no see” become “Long time, Don’t want to see”. On the other hand if they intentionally try to understand each other, develop a bond wherein they feel safe and happy in each other’s presence and their being together becomes a need for both of them, the outcome will be completely different. Their bond would grow stronger with distance and the reunion would be more passionate.
HUH!! I know it’s enough of HRish shit for the day. It was just that I was missing someone. Missing very badly so came up with this. Never mind...Chill is the word. You chill; even I will try doing that.
But before I finish for the day, one interesting line that I listened somewhere....
What ultimately defines a relationship is another relationship....agree??

Raashee

Why look for happiness outside when you can find it within. Funny huh!!! You will easily find such lines in Robin Sharma’s stupid motivational books or the Banyan Tree column of TOI. Most of the times, even I don’t care to either comprehend or even read such lines. But of late few things happened to me which kind of changed my perception.
Mid semester exams were on and I had already appeared for eight papers. One last was left. Six of us, the six most useless people assembled at institute building to discuss the contents of this last paper so that all of us pass. As even my condition in that paper was not very strong, I was fully ready to participate. And please don’t interpret that I was good at other papers, I was bad at almost all of them, it was just that this paper was just too haunting and I had already missed all the surprise tests. But before we could have started, my mom called me up and informed that my bhabhi was blessed with a baby girl. Now that was some news. For a moment the child in me woke up. I wanted to be at home and play with the baby. But the very next moment, the real I came into being. I enquired about arrangements, the hospital cleanliness, bhabhi’s health and a lot of other things. I went back to the assembly to discuss the paper, tried hard to concentrate but somehow could not for most of the times.
The very next day everyone was talking about summer placements. We were informed that some companies were lined up during the holidays and it is advised to stay back. For once, I thought of staying back. The thought was, cannot risk placements. If I go home, I might miss a chance. But then the baby girl was too strong a reason to go back home. And to be truthful here, someone else was also responsible here for my going home. And I am very thankful to that person for taking strong decisions and pushing me also to go back. I would have surely missed something had I not come home that day.
I, along with my brother, reached Bokaro at 12 in the night and the door of the nursing home where the baby was, was closed. So dad, bro and me went back home. The eagerness to meet the baby, see her, touch her grew even stronger. The next day, woke up at time and went to the nursing home to surprise people (My home coming was not known). I entered the room, and I suddenly realized I was in for a surprise, that now I was no longer the youngest member of my family. The first look of the child. It was not the first time that I was looking at a 1 day old baby, but then she was special. She was my brother’s daughter. My parents’ first grandchild. The first girl child of gen next of my family.
She came with a lot of changes. My bro became a father. Father, now that is some responsibility. Being a father meant that all the existing bonds from my bro to other family members grew a bit weak suddenly and she created the strongest bond with him at one go. I felt jealous. But she deserves that. My mom and dad became dada and dadi and suddenly started appearing a bit older to me. I became a chacha. Yet to figure out the responsibilities barring few known ones that I do daily like changing her dress when she pees or preparing milk for her or even singing for her to make hep sleep. But most importantly, my Bhabhi became mother. She is almost my age and we are more like friends. And I guess I am more mature than her but as soon as she became a mother, all the idea of I being more mature or sincere broke.i thought that as a mature individual, I can at max change a process, add profits or own a company but she just gave birth to a new life. A new life that can breathe, drink, cry, make noises and has a capability to grow. A new life which is so delicate that you are afraid to even touch her but still so attractive that you cannot stop yourself from doing that. Her eyes were closed when I first held her. Tongue was rolling and arms were folded tightly within. She was sleeping and there was no movement, but even then she was so attractive that I kept on staring at her. It was after some 30 minutes that she opened her eyes. I thought she was looking at me but it was the tube light that she was more interested in. She kept rolling her eyes for some time and then slept again. I was there with her for the next four hours and every small move of hers caused the same excitement as it did at the first sight. While coming out I realized that for the time I was with her, I did not think of anything other than her and happiness just paved in her path without me looking for it.

Two days...complete contrast

Two days...exactly opposite to each other.
As the exams are fast approaching, studies has soared up the ladder in the terms of priority of life at this point of time. I have been skipping a lot of things to create some extra time for studies but sadly mostly ended up sleeping and not studying.
Yesterday came with a similar choice. Pt Hariprasad Chourasi, The Padma Vibhusan Flute player was playing at Kalidas Auditorium in the campus. PD was very excited about it. I was not, as I wanted to study. But then something happened, may be I thought that I would be able to write a blog on this and listening to him would be a life time experience. So finally PD cope rope in three of us to join him to the concert. I appreciate his efforts because it was raining heavily outside and I would have not gone out in those conditions for anything. So finally four of us reached the auditorium, completely wet (wet as in drenched, don’t think otherwise). Sat there for 15 minutes and realized that though he was great but we still have not developed a taste for classical. We came out and it was raining even worse. But then riding was fun apart from the fact that I almost lost my mobile and wallet to the rain. Later in the night I realized that I did a right thing by going there. I realized that at least I will not spend my hard earned money in future to attend such concerts. But the day as a whole was happy.
Today being a holiday again, woke up late, ate, tried to study and slept again. It was evening when I realized that everyone else was studying and I was an exception. But who cares. One of our Rich and Awesome professors threw a dinner party for all the students and faculty members. It was raining again. Almost the whole batch made it to the party. I have been a public person all through my life. But frankly speaking, I am changing now. I did not like lots of things. I was feeling as if I am just acting laughing there. As if I should not have been there. And the strangest thing about all this is that one of my closest friends here felt the same way. I don’t know if this is because weather or something else but if two people are feeling the same negative vibes then there is something wrong, for sure. I am just hoping that it’s not too bad.
No net connection in hostel today. So will post in tomorrow. Watched two episodes of HIMYM and a episode of Sex and the City and I am feeling so fresh. Thanks Robin, thanks Barney, thanks HBO.

Walk the Talk...

Last two days has been awesome. It was by birth day on 18th and I was at hostel. This situation in itself explains all the pain that I must have gone through in the night. But then I have to explain because there is much more to add to it. 17th eve and a rumour spread that there will be a fee hike for our batch. Obviously everyone got furious. But god why on 17th? This rumour translated into more number of legs hitting my bums, more number of hands pouring sauce and cream on me and more number of people showing up for the celebrations. Even though I was hit very badly, thanks to my room partner for provoking people, but then I enjoyed it. Received calls from almost all the friends and family members from whom I expected the calls barring few, who are in B-Schools. And I forgive them. I understand the pain. I spent the night chatting with a friend. Slept for some three hours and then went to college. It was one happening day. Whole batch was discussing the fee hike and our proposed protest against it. Mr Vinod Gupta, the founder of the college was also expected to visit the campus the same day. Netagiri full on. I was actually enjoying it. Evening went to the hospital here. Was not feeling well. Had my dinner. And then talked to some more friends.
Now I must say that this day was also awesome. My blog on 17th was my first emotional blog and this day was a continuation to the story that made me write that blog. I talked to that special friend (SF) of mine as to what all I felt. It was then that I realized that SF felt the say way and on a much larger scale. If my feeling was lake tullu, SF’s was pacific. In fact SF went on saying that SF’s behaviour towards me changed a bit because few, or a number of, activities of mine made her feel less important. And I agree to her. I became too casual and I should have not behaved like that at moments. But then I seriously disagree with one of SF’s beliefs and I just hope that SF understands that now. It’s all cool between us now and I cannot say how happy I am.
Two days and two important lessons:
1. It’s not always you who drive your life. Circumstances and people around you have a lot of effect of what all happens to you.
2. Don’t take things for granted. Don’t hide things. If you feel that something is going wrong, say upfront on face. And try not to lose the loved ones for some stranger.

I am confused...I am losing...or I am just reacting too much

It was a strange today, one strange day. Yet again one of those days when my emotions fluctuated in a flip flop manner and worse, I was not able to hide those. This whole blog might appear very confusing but that is how the day was. The day started with a confusing decision, whether to attend the first lecture or not. And finally, after a lot of this and that I attended it. Things started off on a happy note with the first class getting finished at just an hour instead of two. We all went to our favourite food joint and that is where this all stated. I seriously hate poseurs. I hate people who behave in two different ways at two different places. I hate people who try to enter my space. And to add to all this, what if they have all the attributes and hobbies that I hate. I define that as an awesome hate effect. That’s what I was going through. In fact I have now started hating the mere presence of few people around me. Two of them for sure. I have been a people’s person or rather am a people’s person and have never felt like this before. But for these two, either I am overreacting or I have changed.
I am sure that this hate has not grown in a day or two. It took some time to build this. But the hate feeling soared up exponentially today because that very presence of the person was affecting my space. That was affecting my interaction with someone whom I treat to be very special. That presence caused me behave awkward with someone whom I wish to share all my emotions with. That presence caused the person to walk off even without asking me if I want to come along. That person is special to me and at some point of time I felt as if I am losing that person to someone with whom I don’t even want to share space. I was not sure about all this and felt that I was just thinking too much. I thought that I was the only one who did not like that presence of the person, but then suddenly two more joined me. We never bitched about it but understood very fast that we all were on the same boat creating the same sense of dislike.
For once I am not sure how to behave or what to do. Should I talk to the ‘special person’ because I want that person to know this, as we promised that we will not hide anything we don’t like? Or should I just let it go and see how things work out because I am not sure as to how that person feels about the ‘presence’? It’s a confusing day and given that tomorrow is my birthday I need a miracle to happen so that my mood gets better in some two hours. I will act, at least for today because I don’t want to hurt a numerous good friends for all that is happening to me.

Independence Day

I woke up at 1 in the afternoon today. Had a bath and late lunch. Freaked around here and there till 4 in the evening. Surfed net a bit and then played cricket in the evening. Late evening was dedicated to bath and doing nothing. Friends went out for a dinner but I did not join then because I was getting too lazy to walk or drive, drive cycle. At 11 in the night I am writing this blog. One more day passed, one more Independence Day passed.
This day happened to be a day on importance when I was a kid. I still remember the day when I would wake up early on this day, dress in white, go to school to attend the flag hosting and parade. In fact I was a part of the parade. Sweets were distributed to all the students. Back home the whole family used to sit together and have specially cooked lunch and dinner together discussing things like freedom fighters and their battle against British rulers. But then things have changed, certainly.
I was coming back from Tech market yesterday when I met Col. Gill on the road near hospital. He was on his regular evening walk. He asked me as to what my plans were for the coming weekend and I said that I am planning to go to Kolkata. He replied, “You should not go tomorrow”. I said, “Why”. And his reply was, “I hope remember that tomorrow is Independence Day and you will find a lot of crowd everywhere”. Frankly speaking I was ashamed. Ashamed because I forgot that the next day was Independence Day. The feeling in itself was sinking. Later in the night I read the notice regarding the Flag Hosting at Institute main building. Now that was my chance to get my acts right. I planned that I will surely attend this celebration. But then, what you plan and what you do, don’t always run on the same track.
This afternoon, about 1 hour after I woke up, Swati called me up and told me that she attended the function. And yet again ashamed was what I was. This time ashamed for not doing this much even as a token of respect and gratitude for all those who sacrificed their lives to give us this day.
I am not promising anything to anyone, but I am apologising for spending this day like the way I spent it today. Forgive me!!!