Corridor of success!

Millions aspire to walk through these corridors, only a few succeed

To learn the facets of management, they sometimes fail to manage their own deeds,

The things learnt here will not be carried to the grave, the the memories shall be, 

for sure, they shall be!

For IIM Bangalore

Char Minar, a structure of National Importance, really?!

Its funny how such an idea tickles onto my mind. On my Bharat Bhraman mode, a City Meet with my IIM B pals, seniors and alumni brought me to the city with a flavour of Shahi as well as Mughal dynasty!

The journey from Vizag to Hyderabad was as unplanned as the trip, all thanks to the last minute goof up by my friend to book the tickets online. But then as they say, good thoughts always land up in the right lane, I managed a sound sleep in the multi-axle Volvo throughout the journey. Worth to mention the awesome leather upholstery and the BOSE surround sound system in the new SVR Volvo! (y)

Travel sector in India is developing fast thanks to the Volvo manufacturing unit in Chennai!

I knew luck was with me as my presence brought rains to Hyderabad! The day was free for me since the meet was scheduled for the next evening and with all my friends busy for the afternoon I was left all by myself to explore this beautiful city of Hyderabad. Actually thats what I always intended, with all my previous attempts to explore the old city had been fouled by my showstopper friends!

After exploring the the iconic Mumbai Local and Delhi Metro's 'Jahangir' it was time for Hyderabad Deccan's MMTC. A complete let down though. Travel between any two destination doesn't cost more than 5 bucks but then its very necessary to carry change if travelling single, or else be ready to hear some good words from the TC! A brisk 40 mins journey from Hi-Tech City to Nampally and I here I was, about to enter Old Hyderabad. A bumpy ride in an Auto Rickshaw with aroma full of armpit odour and 7 fellow travellers landed me near Char Minar. I was in awe of the structure the moment I saw it, soon to realize that it was crowded more by police than the touristes. A 5 Rs. entry fee ticket issued by Archaeological Survey of India showed that they did the same at 22 other places in India only to fill in their pockets.

I climbed one of the arches to reach to the top of the majestic structure and could easily locate the Golconda Fort and the new City from there. The most beautiful view was still to be seen, for when I moved to the backside of the structure I could spot the serene atmosphere and a huge courtyard in front of the Iconic Makkah Masjid. I had seen it till date in News, got an opportunity of visit it today. Later went and worshipped as well!

Whilst observing the minute carvings and architectural elements I realized the pathetic condition of the structure. With multitude of visitors thronging the place day and out, I fear soon the structure could be history.  Proper maintenance is need of the hour.

Behind the Char Minar, the road alongside Makkah Masjid also known as the Laad Market is always full of roadside vendors selling everything from bermudas to the in-season beganpally mangoes.

A view of the market from Char Minar:

I 

I even visited the shops in and around Char Minar area to spot all kinds of desi/hyderabadi/genuine pearls. A visit to Bilal Ice Cream Parlor nearby is highly recommended. I had 5 scoops of Mango ice-cream followed by 2 scoops of kharbuja to top it up with a 3 star Milk-Shake. Incidentally Bilal Ice Cream shop is one of the oldest shops in Hyderabad started some 90 years ago.

Overall it was an awesome day out in the heat, because I did what I always loved to, Explore!!

P.S.: Beware of pickpockets and beggars around the old market area. 

Also 100 bucks in the pocket and you can safely visit the place and be back to any corner of Hyderabad!

Nomadic Wanders

Feels good to be back, writing stuffs after long. Won't say last few months have been the most exciting months of my life but they sure have been entertaining. Actually 'exhaustive' has to be  the proper word. Transformation from a randomly thought-processed passionate guy to the one with an equally tweaked yet absolutely revere personality! :D

It all changed on 9th January 2013, when my pc screen flashed a very unforeseen score giving me a prodigious feel. Following that day, I can't even recapitulate the umpteen number of goosebumps I had when the coveted B School calls kept on coming my way, starting with WIMWI and ending with I!

Be rest assured it has been an entirely different lifestyle for me since then. Everything changed suddenly, the stories read, articles pondered upon, world-history revisited and what not, what remained same was my approach to analyse them. 

During these last few months whilst travelling all over India for my B school Interviews I met hoards of intellectual prophets trumpeting their attributes all throughout. All I did was 'learn' from them. I profoundly remember my Air India flight to Delhi where my fellow traveller turned out to be a MBBS trying to get into Civil Services. At the first instance I was bemused by his decision, but a couple of minutes of some fruitful discussion with him and I was convinced India still holds its Intellectual prophecy. 

(I deliberately mentioned Air India, all thanks to the awesome low fares and all that edible free food unlike other airlines!! Alas. they gonna stop it soon)

The visit to the national Capital only bestowed my faith that India will soon be a developed country. A special mention to the Reliance Metro from T3 to NDLS. Not even for a spur of a moment I felt I was in India, true feeling of travelling in an european xpress! RajPath was majestic and the Rashtrapati Bhavan serene! The pic says it all... ;)

Visit to the commercial capital in the month of February and March was also equally entertaining. From partying hard late night a day before my SPJ interview to a fun filled discussion and some insane bird-watching at the Marine Drive to reaching late for a B school interview and yet acing it, the saga is never ending... Be rest assured, its Aamchi Mumbai afterall!!

Everything was uncertain until 10th of April 2013, when the news came. Finally as they all say, its time to live life the B way! But then a question that still ponders over my mind, Am  I ready for it!?

This time I can confidently say, Hell Yeah! Bring it on..

Dunno know about anything else, but the journey so far has been beautiful and in future I ought to make it a memorable one..
Till then adios amigos...

Sathe

PGP 2013-15

IIM Bangalore

P.S.: Yes! Thats my new signature. :-B

Topic trending at this hour: Girlfriend!

By the time I publish this, a normal creature of my age must have kissed two or three Sunny Leones in his dreams. But then what am I doing at this hour... May be sleep has lost its way just like my mind. I meet a friend (Male obviously, considering the scarcity of girls in Vizag) and God knows how after five minutes of discussions the topic trends back to " Dude! It's high time to have a 'girlfriend'." And then starts the countless list of chicks upon whom our eyes have tharkofied or who once upon a time was Katrina Kaif of our life.

The term 'Relationship' has become more of a joke these days more due to the lambent lifestyle we live. People often fail to realize that its about us and not me. And then starts the countless smashing of ego's, phyche and what not without appreciating that the whole purpose of being in a relationship is lost. Its like  having a girlfriend has become more of a fashion statement than anything else. Your dudeness quotient is calculated by the quantum of opposite sex you have sloshed upon with..

Ultimately what we want is peace of mind and not a piece of it! But then is it necessarily important to have one(girlfriend) at this age? 

What I feel is that being single obviously has its own advantages. Live life as you wish, as you seek and as you enjoy. Actually being committed as well you can do all this but then this is where people falter. All those adjectives like possessive, dominating, rude, etc etc and all that blah blah start playing their part in the story. 

And then all of us should accept that there's an inner thrust to hover upon that kinda lifestyle, that 'committed one' atleast once in lifetime. We always analyse things from the options we have. Just as an oasis is a blessing in disguise for a camel a good looking gurl besides you here is like hitting a bingo with a blind eye!! Its like fishing for a fish in the dead sea. Still from all this emerge some fortunate ones who ride their noses high having hooked up with the jellybeans in store... 

Ask anyone in Kolkata and he has this thing always on back of his mind "Hoow to get a virgin Bengoli gurl!" The point of highlighting this is that even though we might hook-up with someone its very difficult to get her as we wished. The fast paced glimmering lifestyle is responsible for this kinda thoughts. Bottomline being 

"Live life as it comes to you, 

being smart pays you more than being an ass 

and most importantly 

let the problems have a share of your mind when they actually knock the door!"

Reminiscence

How people treat you is their karma, how you react is yours.

May be this is what might be my proclivity. But then I have always believed to be one of my greatest strengths. A year ago when I found myself in the deep sea of incog creatures, the familiar Starfishes were all I wanted to be with. Still then, I dunno why I was ready to mingles with even the filthiest muggles out there... 

It was this funda I had been following for years and the reactions rolling out here weren't that hard to decipher either. But then as always some good ones would always save the day for me.

The point being, this one year here away from from your home was just enough to make me find an alternate one! It was a year maybe, when I realized what actually having something of your own means, might it be money for that matter. I relish all the crazy stuff I did here,l searching my home @3:30 hrs on a rainy deserted street or just flying to Bangalore for feeling some insane metal trash, though I admit I hardly knew any Metallica song till then! ;) 

It was a year which gave me my long sought after dream, my dream bike.... and now riding it seriously FEELS LIKE HEAVEN! Developing interest in photography was just like pie in the sky until my bank balance turned green. Seriously money does bring in power! 

The best part of it though was that I was never deprived of good friends. A few left but a lot of them joined in as well. I a merry point was that I was at a very beautiful place amidst hills and the gorgeous sea. Really made my day. But then still the feeling was like an alien landing on earth and saying 'JADOO JADOO' until even I  managed to utter some kuncham kuncham telugu. 

I even saw this past year how people earning €2000 a day look like! World is full of people ready to shower their knowledge, we just need to pinch at the right moment. Working in a consortium here with people of all sorts from 'Macaronis' to 'Bongs' its been a decent professional affair till date. Knowledge gain was something like I had never achieved till date in my lifetime, may it be Academics or Managerial, but above all what I feel it was that enthusiastic sting within me which helped me excel my way. 

But as it has always been obstracles weren't a step behind here as well, every-time getting bigger and bigger, such that even life and death seemed to be on the verge of kissing each other. But it was thrilling and that's why I know I survived the scare.

Uncertainty is the fuse of success in life, coz it brings upon new options everytime, so powerfull that even Heisenberg wasn't sure! ;)

Solely its like "I am the way I am".

Destiny

What I was, was all that I wasn't

What I would be is all that I wont want to be

What I should be, well do I have an idea... :|

Frankly, exactly an year ago when my Facebook status read 'A happy end for a new start', neither was I sure as to was it a new start or was it an happy end and now after a 365 when i contemplate as to what I lost and what I gained I feel there are just a couple of changes - College replaced by VSP and friends replaced by money. But then does this make me happy?!

Hell NO.

For most of those who knew me, for them I doubt now I'm just another # in the cyber world and the ones whom I thought I knew are still a lost thread in my wrenched coat. And time passes by suturing all that is unstitched. Having patience doesn't buy you girlfriends nor does enthusiasm gift you promotions. But then are these the ones for which I actually long for....!?

NAAH!

A year back neither did I realize that photography would be my hobby making me spend 40 grands for something which I couldn't even hold properly first few weeks nor that I would end up developing love for something I hated my 4 years of undergrad life, read METALLURGY!! But then this is life, Simple yet so complicated. This last one year has taught me a lot and today when I write this blog I realize how much I miss being myself, the one which the world knows and the one which I tried to be. All those laughs, all those pranks, all those ram-sham jokes, all those pehchaan kaun series are now just a parched leaf in my life-tree. But then we do have a blossom every spring!!

Forgetting a friends birthday without whom you  didn't even visit the loo, talking to mom dad like its been ages around and working like donkeys all day round may have become a daily routine but then the important point is to grab the positive even out of this blatantly sad life. Achievements are a part and parcel of our life and even though my contribution in them might be minimal but then it does add a tag to the credentials. Commissioning of Blast Furnace 3 in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited is an apt example of what I just quoted. 6 months of efforts in it and I to now get a name as a commissioning member with people putting in efforts for it since last 5 years. But then it has taught me a lot, has given me new friends, has given a new direction to my life. But then still the question remains Is this what all I would be...?!

Whatever might be the outcome of all this one thing I know now for sure, its not important what you do to please others, its all about keeping yourself happy and I still know the only thing that makes me happy is the bunch of idiots I made friendship with during my college days. Missing them makes me move to office every other day, missing them makes me work more on every other task so that when I spare time with them I live the best moments of my life. Hoping to see you all soon. Love you loads.

- A true LUKKHA

Nuclear City

In my dream the other night two neutrons wandering had a small chat...

Neutron1: Lets kick some real arse buddy!

Neutron2: Yeah! Probably it's time to hit upon uranium...

Neutron1: wait wait wait... Looks like the dark lords coming.

Neutron: Boron huh!?

Neutron2: Nopes.. we can easily ditch a boron. This seems to be something else :S

a SHADOW appears from the dark...

Shadow: so where do you wanna settle? India, Russia, France, USA...

Both Neutron1 and Neutron2: Lolz... we heard India. Not possible dude!

Lights on....

Nuclear energy still remains only the forth energy source for electricity generation in India after thermal, hydroelectric and renewable energy resources. I think India today aiming at worlds third largest nuclear power plant expansion plan, has certainly taken an ambitious leap. But will this surely happen!?

these days in the newspaper on one page we read news regarding 14 new nuclear power plant approval by Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) in different parts of the country, including one at Kovvada in the backward Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, Jaitapur in Maharashtra or Kundakulam in Tamil Nadu, where one of the two VVER-type reactors (2000 MWe) is ready for operation and on the very next page the politics played by bureaucrats and MP's to cash upon it.

Taking the case of Kovvada plant which is receiving opposition from families to be displaced and civil society groups on grounds of improper compensation offered by NPCIL, I think the government has taken a very wise decision by offering four time the existing land rates as settlement. But due to this, what we can say mean minded attitude of the mango man, its India which has to suffer in the longer run. And then the opposition gets mulling over the government blaming it for a complete failure to handle the situation.

In the nutshell, the civil society groups instead of ragging the government should explain the benefits of these nuclear power plants. Our lands today can be put to use in a much better way than the existing methodologies and that a few bucks lost today will turn out into gold tomorrow. Its time we Indians think out of our domain so that may be a few years later we will again become the same 'Sone ki Chidiya!!'

Fingers Crossed!
A Concerned Indian.