Ashish Gourav:Exploring The Hedonism of Life

Yes, I have read the book!

2010-01-02T05:42:00.018+05:30

When this controversy started though I was able to empathize Chetan Bhagat but I decided not to write any post related to this on my blog but after this...(see the video below)

I made up my mind that my favourite author and my college senior deserves a mention of this in my blog. The question is not whether the movie is 30%, 50% or 100% copied from the book but it is about moral responsibility of the eulogizer of Gandhigiri. I agree that an artist can't epitomise his creation but this is an extreme case.

What is the point Chetan Bhagat is trying to make?(see the video below)

The bottomline is that this is a typical example in which the writer is not being given appropriate credits. However, the first battle is won by the writer concerned here due to his cult following and media contacts. It could have happened to a less known author and very likely his voice would have been suppressed.

The controversial part of the contract:[view image below]

Courtesy: http://www.vinodchopra.com/agreement.pdf

Read what one of the Aamir khan fans has to say on this, which he posted as a comment in his blog:

"2104. vinayb79
Posted on Jan,02,2010 at 11:48 AM

My simple point is why did the makers get into the contract with
Mr. Bhagat if they 'loosely' wanted to base the movie on the
book or if they only wanted to use '3 to 5 % ' from the book...Do
script writers need 3 to 5 % ? what about the rest 95 0r 97 %?
For that 3 to 5 % the movie makers needed to get into a contract
with the novelist , for what? probably for PUBLICTY because the
book was already FAMOUS?

Could that 3 to 5 % similarities not be avoided and a Original
movie then would have come to the fore...then there would nt have
been a need to making a contract then in the first place...and
once you base movie from a novel, the originality is lost in the
sense of the story whether it is 3 or 5 or 7 or 70 or 50
%...secondly it surely is much more than 3 to 5 %....."

What is my take on this?
I don't want to speak politically correct; the team "3 Idiots" has failed to acknowledge the fact that no matter how successful his film becomes he has to give credit to the person who originally created the characters much before Abhijat Joshi or Rajkumar Hirani thought about Phansuk Wangdu, Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad and Virus.

Rashmi bansal has a valid point here

"Ultimately, Simon Beaufoy won an Oscar for 'best adapted screenplay. And he did not forget to thank Vikas, even in his acceptance speech... "

(Slumdog Millionaire is an adaptation of the novel "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup.)

I think this matter will die within few weeks but the man who will gain maximum out of this is ironically Chetan Bhagat.

If you chronologically follow the proceedings you might think this to be some PR stunt. The film gets publicity, chetan bhagat gets his name mentioned in newspaper and news Channels, the looser is no one!

I do not know the truth and don't want to talk more about this but if you are interested watch this Star News coverage and if you strongly feel that Chetan has moral as well as legal advantage if the controversy goes to court, know what IP practitioners have to say on this

All is well!

PS: Happy new year 2010 to you, may this year bring loads of pleasant surprises for you :)

Singrauli: Mining-IIT KGP Field Trip' 09

2009-12-28T06:03:00.013+05:30

You know you are a student of mining engineering at IIT Kharagpur, when you go places like Singrauli and get warm reception from senior officials and stalwarts of mining and related fields. Apart from that the field trip had an overwhelming impact on our lives and we all will remember this trip for years to come.

Singrauli, the energy capital of India doesn’t have a metropolitan environment and is pretty sleepy but as far as the mining projects and power plants are concerned it would leave you awestruck. According to Singrauli’s website its total installed capacity of all power plants is around ten percent of total installed capacity of India and aptly it is known as “urjanchal”.

We stayed at Nigahi Project Township. The quality of food needs a special mention as it was a pleasant experience to have feast for 5 days and never did we have to make faces and unusual expressions because of it. In fact, we all ate well above our normal intake and calorie count was irrelevant.

One of the other things was that we realized that you cannot take KGP out of a KGPian after meeting the alumnus over there. They arranged everything for us and it was all very smooth and at times adventurous too. The Draglines, shovels, dumpers and the ubiquitous use of Hindi are the things which perfectly describe Singrauli. The Hindi phrases which was used everywhere must have been for educating people who come from places where Hindi is not the mother tongue. This reminds me of another brief meeting with two management-trainees from which I’m tempted to conclude that whenever you meet 2 engineers from pan-India 1 would be a Gult; for the uninitiated “Gult” are people from Andhra Pradesh and yes it includes Telengana too. I’m sorry for being racist.

In short, we had a helluva time there with the whole batch. We climbed on to shovels, draglines, posed for too many photographs, actually too many. The photographers [read as guys with camera] clicked photos of anything and everything under the sun and the sun too. This might support the exaggerations of Thomas L. Friedman that the surge of technology “has empowered individuals to become authors of their own content” in his book, “The World is Flat”. If you need proof, combining the photos of only two such guys it crosses 4 GB, and that is hell lot of information clicked.

The fun part was that the whole department for the first time got together and enjoyed like never before. We previously had made many plans for department picnics and treats which failed but this really brought us together, and for the first time we enjoyed college life at least I did. There was a time when I struggled to remember the names of all the 32 people. And very recently, one of our batch-mate didn’t know “who is who” but not anymore, am I right?

This field trip will go down our memory lanes and we all will remember this for a long time. This trip likely marked the end of the field trips for one of our grand old professors of mining. We are nostalgic sir!
It’s all words and words I can type maybe some photos here and there but I cannot do full justice to the amount of fun we had and what impact it had in all our lives.

Yo Singrauli!

Yo Mining!

“KGP ka tempo hiiiiiiiiiigh hai!!!”

"Jab We Met" Century

2009-12-07T18:49:00.006+05:30

I've seen this movie for more than 100 times and still I watch it whenever I feel like a Despo,or I'm Frustrated or just not in a good mood. You'll know why after watching this short video.

The above video has all the funny scenes compiled together but it is much more than just this it has emotions of all kind. No, I'm not going to give any review about this movie.

Jab We Met is a type of movie which falls in the category of "Kal Ho Naa Ho", "Dil Chahta Hai", "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" and "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" to name a few. These movies though not the best works of writers and directors are loved by the common audience like me.

The common link in all these movies is that they are realistic and with a tinge of fantasy together wrapped like "hide n seek biscuits". Talking about realistic movies, "Jab We Met" doesn't happen often quite often in real life but it has some really good fundae(I know it's not a word) about life.

Yeah, I too agree that if we do everything as our whims and fancies it may lead to disastrous consequences but we would be aware it was us who did this and we won't blame anybody for it.

The Climax is just superb and it always gives me the hope that stories do have a happy ending. The "train-chutt-rahi-hai" wala feeling is like it happens to most of us, does this makes sense?

The Kiss doesn't look obscene. This is where the chemistry of "Kareena & Shahid" comes into the romantic kiss. One of the few kisses which have a non-perverted beauty.

I'm still waiting for the Geet of my Life. Actually, for me Geet of my life is SHEEEE who changed the course of my life, I'm indebted to her for this precious gift.

The Nostalgic Indian Wedding

2009-12-04T17:57:00.009+05:30

There are only two kinds of people, one who have got the chance to enjoy Indian wedding and the other kind who wish to enjoy, dance and sing in an Indian wedding.

Switch off your mobile for a week (not quite literally), get away from internet and be offline for 6-7 days (literally), and attend an Indian wedding. This will truly give you more entertainment, knowledge and warmth of friends and relatives than reading this blog or twittering/Facebooking.
Last week my youngest uncle got married and I enjoyed the wedding as described in the above lines. As soon as exams got over, packed my baggage, rushed to my maternal place and guess what? It was a walk down the memory lane, as I experienced many things once again after 5-6 yrs.
Maternal uncles and aunties made my trip worth remembering and nostalgic.
One thing which I love is the craze of an IIT student outside IIT. It is as if you are a local celebrity radiating orgasmic IIT waves all around yourself. I was introduced to every notable person in the wedding with much delight.
A typical introduction would follow like this:
Uncle/Aunt: Hey Ashish! Come here… he is my eldest sister’s eldest son, studies at IIT Kharagpur.
Third person: Wow! Gives an “Aww! You are from IIT” Look and asks if I know his friend’s cousin sister’s daughter’s friend there.

The kids! I don’t know whether to love them, adore them or hate them!
I was with 12 first cousins who were all under 10 and I had to look after them. At times, it was hell but there were moments you simply want to remember for a long time. It feels nice when a kid comes and asks for a hug when scolded by his/her parents. I love them. I was the only matured of all the cousins as other cousins of my age-group had exams and didn’t turn up.

Yeah, the wedding was fantabulous. I was made the photographer by the groom (my uncle) and I messed it all, crap!

I was pampered and given unprecedented importance and even teased that,”I’m next in the queue of eligible bachelors *blushes*”
The thing which you look forward to in such functions is the food and what better than a week of full-relief from stinking hostel mess food. I was fed by my masi (aunty) not once but twice and I ate thrice my tummy ordered for.Her hands added special masalas which were tasted when I was a kid.

"Masi jab apne haathon se khana khilaye toh mazaa hi aaa jata hai!"

The cuisines were hand-licking awesome.
However, I missed out on starting any kind of conversation with few hot girls. The kids kept me busy and the rest of the time was spend helping out my newlywed uncle and aunty as they were to be escorted to various places. I must say my new aunty is a fun-loving girl, I don’t wish to use lady or woman she looks a girl only 4-5 years elder to me.

I have a huge family with 5 maternal uncles and 3 aunties and their kids; more about first cousins in other posts.
I really loved the visit as many old memories got refreshed and I was trapped by nostalgia.

0 to Zero

2009-11-26T15:12:00.004+05:30

You are strolling down the path along with your crush and there’s a cone of cornetto in your hand. You and her are sharing all the platonic thoughts and she leans on your shoulders and says , “I love you”. Suddenly there is a background instrumental of , “Tum se Hi” at full volume.

Hey Wait! Does this happen in real life?
NO
So, that was a dream but it had its share of reality, the background score of “Tum Se Hi” was my alarm-tone which woke me up for preparation of my last exam.
Oh Shit! I had woken up exactly 3 hours before the exam and had to complete the whole syllabus and I got the feeling it could very well be the first exam in which I might fail. There is the thing with this alarm, it was continuously being snoozed but I was in my dreams and the moment she proposed me, it had to wake me! Why?
Okay, I prepared for the exam, not so cool subject, “Underground Metal Mining” but what were you expecting to read when you chose mining engineering 2 and half years ago but actually I didn’t choose it, it chose me!
So with the almost no preparations and sweet images of the last dream I walked to my bicycle and coursed my way to the examination hall.
5 minutes into exam and I knew I only know 5 marks out of 100. I had no other option than to answer that in 20 marks format. Questions came and science fiction was written not once, not twice but 5 times, as there were 5 questions. One of those exams, in which I knew nothing but wrote everything.
By the way, if you are wondering about the title of this post let me explain you, 0 and zero have the same value in mathematics but they take different values of bits of memory in the computer hard-disk and similarly, I knew nothing but attempted everything which was just of no worth and out of context. Got it?
I know, I know… but you have to be mature enough to read my blog: P

The bottom line is my end semester exams are over... Yippee!

Oye...hooyeee Lappy thik ho gaya...shayad!

2009-11-11T01:40:00.004+05:30

It has been like time when the last "Halley's Comet" was seen with its extra-trail when I posted last, so first let me apologize for my absence.

But, I really can understand the "pain in the NECK (I'd have used the three letter word but I leave it to my professor to use such words... yes he did say *all iit profs are some "beeped words"* in front of the whole class and he also read the latest Chetan bhagat's book.)"... of people who are disgusted to see their facebook, orkut, twitter,
g-talk and all the n number of social networking sites page cluttered with my updates... like

1. Read my blog

2. Blog updated

3. Blog updated after 10 years

4. I'm committed... read more at my blog... and their disgust they find I was lying, yes I'm single and ready to mingle(for a girl, of course)

"Aaacha, main baat pe aaate hain"

"My laptop, my lappy... arrey wahin jo mera friend hai... was not well , kharab ho gaya tha"

I don't know what went wrong with it but I was getting nightmares of my separation with it and thoughts about its funeral and reporters asking me

"kaisa lag reha hai ab aapko, aaapke lappy ke death ke baad"

I'd have screamed in the camera... "kaisa lagega? I'm frusst... ulti frusst... don't have a girlfriend, no lappy, what will I do in KGP? and would show the middle wala finger and push the cameraman to buy another laptop".

Ok, no more exaggerations, my laptop's graphic card had/has some problems. The service center guy took it for 20 days was unable to find any fault and was going to change the "motherboard" and though it costs like bomb I gave green signal but that guy was really some *beeped word*.

Eventually, I fought with him and brought my laptop and thought of screwing(experimenting with) my laptop.

1. switched on the laptop

2. Plugged the charger

3. Had dinner

4. Had a 2 hour long bhaat-session with a guy *Chaos* and talked about relationships, zodiac signs,theists and atheists (yes we do talk these things)... conclusion: Chaos is completely having a chaotic mind, he believes lovers are stupid, romantic movies are absurd and is an atheist.

5. Came back in my room

6. Emptied the water bottle (arrey wahi mirinda wala jo last time piya tha) into my stomach.

7. switched off my laptop

8. switched on my laptop

EUREKA! YAY! It's finally done

"Lappy theek ho gaya"

And, now I need to catch up on movies, TV series : BIG BANG THEORY, HIMYM ... movies promos of three idiots and yes some good videos(pure bhakti videos :P)

Ahh, I also have a test tomorrow but ..........you get the drift?..... I'm not going to read and still pass (yes by cheating of course)

DISCLAIMER: The first unedited, uncensored, typed on blogger and not ms-word, blog post.

Nuptial Crisis and Modern Indian Marriages

2009-10-06T18:48:00.017+05:30

When a film like “What's Your Raashee?” releases, Chetan Bhagat’s new (4th) book’s release date is just a few hours away which draws inspiration from his inter-state love marriage, your youngest uncle finally (yes finally!) is ready to “tie the knot” next month and you have recently turned 21, i.e., now a legally eligible bachelor (*wink*), the most pertinent question which is likely to haunt you could be necessarily related to your marriage. Hence, the result is a fictional account on marriage!

Rajesh, a typical NRI who left India at the age of 21 in pursuit of financial stability and exotic lifestyle after doing his engineering from “BITS Pilani” was worried while returning back to Lucknow after 5 long years. His disturbed mood was due to the pressure from parents’ side to get married soon. Firstly, he was not at all ready for marriage and secondly, he didn’t have much faith in the institution of arranged marriage in India which was his only route to get married so soon as he haven’t dated a single girl in his life including his 5 year of stay at United States.

Scene of “Modern Arranged Marriage” in India:
A girl/boy is found through some so-called reliable sources like matchmaker, matrimonial sites, or even relatives and friends. Till this point, it’s completely comprehensible but the real problem starts now. The girl/boy in consideration should be of same caste, different clan (Gotra) and preferably of same state too. After these two screening stages, an astrologist is consulted to match the horoscopes of the prospective bride and groom and after a green signal from the expert the parents fix an almost blind date in which the boy and girl have to give a final agreement or reject the proposal. The matching of horoscopes could also be done after the approval of both the sides.
This weird looking algorithm to arranged marriage really skewed Rajesh’s belief about the traditional marriage in India. However, he also wanted to have a partner to fulfil his physical and emotional cravings so he agreed.

Why against “Arranged Marriage”?
Educated youth like Rajesh not necessarily NRI’s do find arranged marriage strange but lack the guts and conviction to revolt against the wishes of parents and succumb to the emotional pressure. They simply don’t like the whole complex procedure of marriage, in which clan, caste, state and some imaginary concept like horoscope is prioritised much higher than the compatibility of boy and girl.

Why “Love marriage” is not an option?
There is a concept called maturity and lack of experience. Supporters of “Arranged Marriage” argue that people in their 20s are not matured enough to use their inadequate experience to choose the right bride/groom. There is one more concept of “surprises and new experiences”. They say when people don’t know each other before marriage, everything is new in marriage and each day brings surprises which strengthens the nuptial bond compared to “Love Marriage” in which there is no such surprise as they say!

However, I say “are maturity and experience that important”? Haven’t they heard that “Experience is a comb which life gives us when we are bald”?... In metropolitan India, teenagers are generally well aware about their career-plans, so are able to convince their parents in contrast to sub-urban and rural folks. This is where the actual problem lies!

That “surprises and new experiences” concept could also turn a nightmare to deal with as all surprises and new experiences are not pleasant.

BTW, how could I forget to mention the witty sugarcane analogy?
Sometimes, parents are equally wise enough to convince their sons/daughters to take the path of “Arranged Marriage”. The sugarcane analogy goes like this. The sugarcane is meatiest and sweetest at the bottom and loses its thickness and sweetness as we go up, and in love marriages it’s like eating the sugarcane from the bottom. So, it feels very romantic and perfect at the beginning but gradually differences start coming and it is similar to chewing the tasteless thin sugarcane which is only water at the top. In arranged marriage, it is the reverse and surprisingly it works for most of the Indian couples!

So, Rajesh was confused and was going through what we call “Pre marital blues”.

Rajesh tweeted: I don’t want to marry :(

Shriya replied: @Rajesh what happened?

Rajesh: @Shriya “Arranged Marriage sucks” and I don’t have a girlfriend :(

Shriya: @Rajesh heeheee!

Rajesh: @Shriya don’t laugh, help me with some ideas to escape this mess

(Phone Rings!)

Rajesh picked up the call. “Hey! How are you?” Shriya asked. Rajesh shared the
problem with her and Shriya said “Don’t worry! I’m coming to Lucknow in 3 days; we’ll sort out the problem. Bye! Take Care!” Shriya comforted Rajesh as he went back to his laptop.

Shriya tweeted: uploaded new photos @orkut (link).

Rajesh as every other internet user clicked the link but left the tab open and went to attend the call of nature.

Rajesh’s mother entered the room and looked at Shriya and found nobody in the room. She left the room shouting “Rajesh! Rajesh!”...

Rajesh sees her pictures and immediately memories of childhood started coming to him in flashes.

After 3 Days...

Rajesh and Shriya are talking at Rajesh’s room. Shriya tries to put some “desi-gyaan” into Rajesh’s thought process. Shriya sensed it all was going in vain.
“Do you love anyone? Crushes?” Shriya finally asked the most important question.
“No” Rajesh replied in a plaintive voice.
“I think you are in the wrong place then” Shriya tried to make some good logic
“Are you ready for marriage?” Shriya asked annoyingly
“Don’t know” Rajesh was getting more confused.

The whole conversation was being heard by Rajesh’s mother...

What followed next...?

Any guesses?

.....

To cut the long story short, Rajesh’s mother and father met Shriya’s parents, discussed all the matters. As a matter of coincidence, Shriya and Rajesh are of different clans and of same castes with matching horoscopes. Initially, Rajesh hesitated but soon his feelings for his first crush came to fore and he fell in love with Shriya.
Rajesh and Shriya lived happily ever after...

Lesson learnt:
It is either love or arranged, marriages are made in heaven. So, both have equal odds of succeeding. Ideally, one should leave everything to his/her fate and use his heart and a little bit of wisdom.
As with Rajesh and Shriya, your love could very well be arranged...

If interested in reading further, click on these links for articles:
1.A modern guide to arranged marriages

2. Pre Marital Blues

3.First Comes Marriage, Then Comes Love

PS: I don't know what will be the reaction of my family members after reading this post.

PS: God Save Me!

The Red Swimming Pool with Succubus/Incubus

2009-09-19T03:38:00.012+05:30

“Isn’t the water a bit reddish?” I tried to break the awkward silence between Mahesh and me. However, the next moment surprised me when I turned my head and wasn’t able to locate Mahesh who was sitting alongside me near that swimming pool.
I rushed to look for him and...

“Where did you vanish?” I swivelled him through his shoulder to discover that the person was not Mahesh but an old man who looked young from his back.
“What do you want son?” the old man asked me.
“Mahesh” I mumbled.
“What?”
“No, nothing” I tried to avoid his eagerness to poke into my matters. He looked like an ordinary grandfather-like figure but his voice and eyes were full of energy which was hard to not notice.
“Today you’ll meet SHEEEE, Miss. X and meet a severe accident” the man left me stunned. He knew about SHEEEE and Miss. X! But... How?
“Don’t think too much, I read your blogs” the old man amused me with his reply; I was pleased to discover that my blogs have become so popular.

I was framing a line in my mind to start a conversation with my blog reader, and Mahesh disturbed me and as I turn towards the old man he was nowhere.

“Mahesh! You good for nothing clown where did you go?” I tried to sound very angry over his non-sense act.

...

We were walking through the corridor of our coaching institute when I convinced Mahesh to go to CCD. When we were sitting there the old man’s line started haunting me, how did that person know that I’d meet SHEEEE and Miss. X? And most importantly accident?
When I was trying to decipher the line a boy rushed towards me madly and spills over his coke on my shirt. I went to the bathroom to wash it off.
There I met that old man again.
“Hey! How do you know about my meeting with SHEEEE, Miss. X and accident? Are you God?” I fired these questions at him
He answered casually in a low tone, “maybe!” and started walking, I followed him but the crowd didn’t allow me to chase him. I tried to look for him after manoeuvring my way out of the CCD.

...

I again reached the “swimming-pool” and this time the red colour was too obvious and I couldn’t take my eyes off the pool.

After few minutes I found myself in the swimming pool, and I discovered that the red colour was because of something highly suspicious. I immediately came out of it and ran towards the CCD...

In CCD, I met a girl sitting just opposite to me and smiling at me. I almost jumped with joy to see SHEEEE; I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to propose her today. We chatted for around 30 minutes and I felt that as the world has been paused and we are the only people living in this illusionary world with a proper time-frame. So, just as when I thought of proposing SHEEEE, I remembered how I was rejected by Miss. X when I proposed her in an awful manner.

I started thinking about that day; somebody invaded my thoughts, I saw myself in a street with a beggar asking for alms in “English” in India! Then a man well groomed asks me “what do you want moth##$$^^&^?”
...
Then, I was again back at the table with SHEEEE opposite to me, smiling with her braces. I bent in my knees, held her hand and she started blushing. Just as when I was supposed to say that “Romeo-Juliet-line”, I was interrupted by guess whom?
Yes, Miss. X!
She was standing behind SHEEEE at a distance of few meters from us. I decided to meet her first, I coursed my way towards her but she started looking anguished. When I reached before her eyes, she was staring me with a “you-desperate-looser” look.
...
After few minutes of staring each other, I was in front of SHEEEE and Miss. X, trying to make myself believe the impossible. They came forward, and pushed me in unison from the CCD-at the 8th floor.
To my good luck, I fell in a swimming pool, and yes that was the red swimming pool.
Wait!

That was not a swimming pool, which was something else, two monstrous-looking persons came towards me with some sword-like thing, I tried to swim out of the pool, but the water didn’t help my cause. I forgot swimming; there was a flow of water towards the direction of those guys. I began shouting.
Help, Help, Help!

And, my wing-mate woke me up!

Yeah that was a dream, what did you think?
Those incoherent creepy things only happens in dreams, and that too when you sleep when the world around you is all awake. I can’t call it a nightmare; I might call it “daymare” or a futile attack of Succubus or incubus, whatever you like to name it.

PS: This is 55% true.
PS: I saw "Omkara" today, an awesome movie, loved the use of expletives.
PS: I'm really peace-marofying during my mid-semester exams by watching movies, blogging and sleeping like never before, God Help me!
PS: Peace... LOL

Rashmi bansal: Hungry and Foolish Experience

2009-08-29T23:57:00.017+05:30

“Sunil Handa can convince you to jump from the top of a 3-storeyed building” says Rashmi Bansal at a guest lecture organised by the Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur. Yes, she was here!

It felt as if Rashmi bansal took it from where Sunil handa ended when he paid a visit to IIT Kharagpur earlier this month.
Rashmi bansal’s book “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” has crossed the 100,000 copies mark in just 9 months of its release.

She gathered the attention of the full-capacity audience by disapproving the concept of an MBA-degree for being an entrepreneur.
“What we learn in MBA is all common-sense and any graduate from a reputed college/university really doesn’t need to spend two more years with formal college system. As a matter of fact, most of the successful entrepreneurs don’t have MBA-degree rather many of them are college-dropouts. The scene is that most of the MBA degree holders work for big MNC’s in posh parts of the world. The very concept of “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” was to cover 25 IIM-A graduates who chose to tread the path of their own dreams and in process became successful entrepreneurs. The book just tries to defy the myth that an MBA can’t be an entrepreneur.”

She talked about the “Naukri.com” founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani. Bikhchandani’s idea saw the daylight when once he visited an expo and it immediately striked to him that the “Internet” can be used to commercially exploit the “job-seeker market”. However, this idea didn’t materialize in just few days or months. It took him 3-4 years to get funding; he had this idea of a “Job-advertisement business model” from the days he used to discuss the various openings of “Business India’s Job Ads” with his colleagues.

Rashmi gradually moved to the important aspect of patience and perseverance with entrepreneurship; it may take more than 2-3 years to taste the fruits of success but the hard work should never be ceased. The point is “your idea might be best for you” but you also need to convince the consumer to whom you would be selling that your product is unique and can make their lives better. Something related to alternative energy might not be a hot-selling product but gradually it is bound to get acceptance and approval so have patience and have a “10 year target”; project your growth strategy for 10 years and work efficiently towards it.

After your “start-up” gets across the initial barrier of “doing good business” it can either become a big venture or a small enterprise but we all need to compromise with few things and as it goes “Small is beautiful”. Happiness and money are not always interrelated. If you are lucky you might end up being the other “Narendra Madhusudhan Murkumbi (Shree Renuka Sugars)”. Rashmi Bansal also threw some light on the “Murkumbi-billionaire story”, which is not about any new IT innovation but a result of smart business strategy. Her words echoed my thoughts “Innovation is not about doing something new but doing the same thing in a new and efficient manner.” Every Idea is a good idea till you give your commitment and have smart ways to tackle and manoeuvre your way out of troubles in your entrepreneurial path.

The “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” author also discussed about an IIT-Guwahati guy[VIDEO] who convinced private car owners to carry advertisements on their valuable asset for anything between 25 Paise to 1 Rupee. He used an orkut community for his initial research while he was studying at IIT. This example of this entrepreneur gives us a strong message that online presence though necessary should be used primarily for advertisement, marketing and market research rather than creating a web-portal and following the cliché-path.

Even after all this valuable experiences and “entrepreneurship-gyan”, you may fail to achieve what you aspired for but you shouldn’t lose your enthusiasm and stop your entrepreneurial pursuit just because of fear; fear of failing. And as the famous saying goes, “The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself”.
Most business failures are a result of interpersonal problems between partners. This leads us to a very important aspect of entrepreneurship, the “choice of partner”. Ideally partners should complement each other and drive the venture forward.

She talked about the importance of career counselling by citing her experience. Later, she started shifting her focus towards personality development and “listening to our inner call”.

“Many people have no idea whatsoever about what and why they are doing. We should fall in love with our business-idea and try to be an expert in that.” Now, she plunges into her personal experiences and says how she used to write a lot about various careers and eventually joined TOI for 2 years. Daughter of a scientist, Rashmi bansal completed her graduation in economics from Sophia College, Mumbai and further studied at IIM- Ahmedabad.

After working for TOI, she started JAM- youth magazine attributed to her childhood interests of reading a book daily and sending articles for the editorial section of newspapers when she was a college student. JAM was started with a modest "50,000 Rupees" capital investment in the servant room with the purchase of a computer. She along with few other people designed a dummy 16 page magazine and tried to strike deals with companies for advertisement spaces in JAM-magazine. Pepe was the first sponsor. The lesson learnt by Rashmi was that you do not need to have a venture capitalist funding your innovation but constraint of resources takes out the best from a person. She has learnt everything from “0”. Success should have a personal definition.

She knew that writing is her passion and after “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” she realizes that her purpose in life was writing this book.

FYI, Rashmi Bansal's next book is coming in next 2 months.

She bid adieu to us by saying that we must and are capable of doing few crazy things in our life so why not be an entrepreneur and “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”?

Sunil Handa : "Are You Just a Bloody Employee?"

2009-08-08T18:25:00.008+05:30

Now, you are in an engineering college or some professional course or you might end up with one pretty soon. What next?
“A decent satisfying lucrative job in an MNC.”
“An MBA degree just after graduation”
“Some more professional courses which could get you a job”

The question I need to ask you is, “are you born just to be a bloody employee?”
By the time you have read till here, you would be cursing me as “just another IIT undergraduate student giving a sermon on entrepreneurship”.
However, these words are not mine. I’m just paraphrasing “Prof. Sunil Handa” from IIM Ahmedabad.

Sunil Handa came to IIT Kharagpur today and took the renowned Laboratory for Entrepreneurial Motivation (LEM) class with much fervour and filled us with motivation to become successful entrepreneurs.
I also don’t want to be a mere employee for the rest of my life and it got resonated with Sunil Handa’s words. He reaffirmed my belief that multi-national companies just exploit our talent and most important phase of our life (20-35 years); and are detrimental to the personality of a gifted person.
The question you need to ask yourself is “will you be happy with a boring, glorified, clerical job throughout your life?”

“Keep questioning, keep improving”

After reading this far, I hope you must have either got a feeling of “stop-reading-this-shit” or if not then proceed.

He threw light on various aspects of entrepreneurship. He told his own story as how he managed to persuade his father for his business aspirations. He laid a lot of stress in the choice of partner and the number of co-founders. Ideally 2-3 is the best. Though, partnership comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Partnership helps you to achieve 100 times more than what you are capable of; the synergic effect.
However, partnerships are bound to break some day or the other. You should be ready to face this reality. The choice of business partner still remains as important and pivotal as choice of a compatible spouse.
The most hindering stone in the path of entrepreneurship is “acceptance”. Acceptance by society; acceptance by family, acceptance by friends and the list never ends.
However, acceptance comes with time and success, as parents in most of the cases are not very specific about your choice of career; they only want your happiness.

He talked about how he saved millions of rupees by just having a proper outlook of the world.
He also validated the need of an MBA degree from a top college; it improves one’s personality by leaps and bounds.
To sum it up, “I don’t want to be a bloody employee!”
Do you?

If you are an IIT-KGP student, just don’t miss the tomorrow’s part. Sunil Handa is going to talk about “Consultancy” as a viable and lucrative career option to start with.
Are you attending it?

BTW, did I tell you about bindeshwar pathak (founder of Sulabh International), do check out about him from here.

Read my satirical take on entrepreneurship from here

PS: Going home tomorrow for two days. Yipeee!

Barack Obama shares his Birthday with me!

2009-08-05T22:41:00.009+05:30

I’m not 21 years old but...
...................................
........... (You better complete it!).

These are few screenshots of Google search suggestions. I know it’s lame but it is successful in tickling my dormant sense of humour.
So I turned 21 on 4th August, 2009. It’s not a milestone, I know it!

Few things noteworthy about my birthday:

1. I share my birthday with Barack Obama, Kishore kumar, Arbaaz Khan ... follow this Wikipedia page to learn more.

2. I realised that I’m really lucky. I escaped the birthday bumps rather the “GPL” as they say it in KGP for the 3rd consecutive time; I must be among the very few KGPians who has never been “GPL”ed. If you happen to be my friend here at IIT, please don’t give me GPL for the rest of my stay here at IIT.

3. A very special person became the first one to wish me on my birthday, she set an alarm so as to wake up at 12:00 AM and wish me. How sweet!!! Know about her from here

Birthday anecdote:

It was my birthday; 21st to be exact. I went to the temple for praying that at least I get a girlfriend this year. Just look at my condition, I’ve wasted my 21 most important years without any girlfriend.
"God! Are you listening to me?
Are you there?
I’ll assume that you are listening to me. Why this place called “KGP” devoid of “hot girls”? Don’t you think that we also have controlled our hormonal urges to bury ourselves under books for more than 2-3 years as to get into this place? I really need some pretty faces to be motivated for the rest of my IIT life. I need a hot chick now. Yes, I’m pretty much angry with you."

Just as I opened my eyes after saying these lines, I saw a beautiful girl standing beside me. Her eyes were closed; I thanked God for fulfilling my wish so soon. I began to wonder whether she is from IIT or not. I tried to fake her by closing my eyes again and after 30 seconds when I opened my eyes again, there was nobody beside me. I turned around and saw her going out of the temple. I followed her. Finally, I came in front of her and...

Me: I’m Ashish.

(Suddenly a guy appears from nowhere, and kisses the girl on her head and shatters my heart.)

Hot chick: hmm...What?

Me: No nothing... sorry I thought you were someone else.

I hate you God, you fooled me again.

Lesson learnt: All hot girls have boyfriends... how unfortunate....

My Only letter: Confession...

2009-07-29T18:20:00.004+05:30

Hello readers,
I’m Nilesh. I was born to a self-sufficient middle class family. I’m the only offspring of my parents. I want to confess something, I know this is a blog but I don’t have any other medium to express my emotions and feelings. Please forgive me and the blog-owner if I don’t give you any literary pleasure of sorts or if ... you’ll get to know it after reading.
From Childhood days, I was pampered a lot and I still remember that I never would ask for any toys, gifts or chocolates. It’s not that I didn’t like to ask for it or I was a saint but I’d so many relatives who loved me that I was happy and satisfied with them.
During my summer and winter holidays, I used to visit my maternal Grandfather’s place and there I’d meet my other two cousins. We used to have a great time during those 2-3 months and our uncles and aunties would be really annoyed by our irritating behaviour. I can go on describing about my cousins but I’ve shared a special bond with them which they don’t comprehend so better leave it to them.
My mother is the best person I’ve ever met in my life. I truly think that there is no other relationship in this world which I’ve experienced is as self-less as this one. I know this would be rephrased by many sons and daughters for their mothers but that also can’t fulfil the debts of her on us.
After 10 years of continuous pampering, I can easily describe myself as a spoiled brat. My mother used to do assist me in each and every thing. I couldn’t even eat with my own hands, she used to feed me. My School bag was arranged by her and all...
My mother had a severe accident and she became almost incapable to do even her basic things; just around the same time my father had a great loss in his small business and we were forced to discontinue our studies for two months. Nobody came forward to help us. When after much hard work my father’s economic condition got stabilised, my uncle advised my father to take my mother to abroad. My father had lost all his hope so he followed his advice but he forgot that my mom had an incurable ailment. All his money got drained in USA and he had to come India alone with news that we have lost our mother. He broke down; his business was slyly taken over by my uncle and he had no money in his account to do anything. Our uncle disowned us and we were forced to move into a slum. Our father took a job of labourer at one of his friends shop. I had to wash cars and with the little savings we could only afford a government school that too till class 10. After my matriculation I’d to become a driver because my father was diagnosed with blood cancer and we didn’t have much savings to continue his treatment. After few months I lost my father too.
I continued my driving but the big void created in my life was a continuous cause of worry. I began to contemplate the purpose of my insignificant life. Then, I met urvashi. I always used to wonder why god suddenly brought her to my life when I had lost every meaning to live. She was educated and was rich but didn’t mind dating an uneducated driver.
After a lot of drama, urvashi was engaged to me. I was the happiest person in my slum locality. One day from nowhere my uncle appeared in front of me and told to forget urvashi. I was shocked. The most disturbing thing was that urvashi accompanied him and opened my eyes.
Urvashi and Uncle had tricked me. I still don’t know the reason why these many things happened to my life. Why Urvashi did that to me? Why my uncle did that to my father and me? Perhaps the world never liked the happiness we had and was jealous with my father and mother.
So, today I took a knife and slit my wrist. This is my last and the only letter I’ve written.

Mom, I’m sorry but I couldn’t fulfil your dreams and I also couldn’t save my father.
I’m coming mummy and papa, I’m coming!

Disclaimer:This story is a work of fiction with some real life inspirations.

This story is inspired from the rise in the number of Suicide cases in my college campus.

Cynicism of an Average Indian and the "Vicious Circle of Corruption"

2009-07-24T21:39:00.003+05:30

“A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future.”
- Sidney J. Harris
Poverty, corruption, illiteracy, malpractices have found an irreplaceable place in the high-school social textbooks. These words have an everlasting effect on the immature minds and mould them into cynic about Indian bureaucracy and political system.
Ask any young educated Indian about politics, legal system, government officials or college professors, he will have only one word to describe and that is “hopeless” that too with a disinterested look on his face.
The problem lies in our system which resists “change”. Indian people should start believing that change is the law of nature. Due to this mentality, the vicious circle of corruption goes on and it has an aggravated trickledown effect on other government machineries. A young undergraduate student goes to bank for a loan and he is asked for various documents, names of which he has never heard of before. After a span of few years when he is in his twenties he wants to get a driving license; for that he has to bribe. Same thing happens when he gets whims about “foreign-soil” and its glamour and luxurious lifestyle, he has to fill the pockets of policemen and give few 100 rupee notes under the table to the passport agent. After spending 3-4 years in abroad, comes back and gives civil services examination, qualifies in it and immediately gets into power; and now the vicious circle takes a half revolution. The coming few months are spent in saying no to “corruption” but as we all know it hardly happens that a public servant escapes the pressure of the boss or the greed of quick and easy money. He also supports his actions on the grounds that he has given it, so it’s the time to take it back with 200% interest. His hunger never ends and soon the vicious cycle of corruption is completed and it always goes on.

Even if few people do succeed to remain honest in their profession their self-respect and dignity is hurt. There is a funny incidence about a newly-appointed IRS officer who is being offered “posting in a good place” by a peon of his office. I mean there is no way a self-respecting person can handle this insult. (No pun intended)
While vicious cycle of corruption follows its periodic motion it irritates the common man and his beliefs are reinforced and he turns a poor cynic Indian soul. He gradually forms a belief system that Indian system is hostile towards change. In addition, the overly obsessed Indian mindset of “extrapolation without proper analytical reasoning” even worsens the situation prevalent in our country.
This has to change very soon in India. However, I doubt that to completely bring corruption, poverty and illiteracy to a tolerable level it’ll take at least 20 more years even if we start working from right now.
Let’s uproot the cynicism within us and plant a seed of hope and vision in ourselves.

I'm back... What the F!

2009-07-19T13:52:00.006+05:30

Huh...so finally I end my break with this post. I know you must be thinking:
“What is the use of such formality; “What the F, Dude!”?”
NO, you got it wrong this is not the only reason for this title of this post but there are more “What the F!”s...

I was not in the blogosphere, that doesn’t mean I was in Pluto-yes, the excluded member of the planets of solar system. I was very much watching the events going on around me and in this world. This only aggravated my cynicism.
However, the first question would be, “what I did in these 2½ months”?
As you all know that I am an engineering student, so I should have done some internship, training or project but I didn’t chose any of them or the other way around...whatever it doesn’t make any difference to me.
As expected of a procrastinator like me I spent my summer holidays watching TV, reading novels, novellas, self-help books and finally I also spent a lot of time chatting with friends, grandmother and few “Knowledge- for-free” experts.
I have also developed a “goatee” for looking similar to MTV VJ-Jose Covaco and getting a more masculine face in respect as I’m straight and my blog too. However, some people are happy being the other way around...yes I’m talking about that bunch of people who celebrated after Delhi High Court finally decriminalized homosexual relations; court struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. I am not against gays and lesbians and I neither deny the arguments laid by religious gurus.
“Section-377 issue” is not the only big news which made my eyes and ears wide open. The recent Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Mayawati developments are like writing on the wall to the future of politics in India; it’s getting dirtier and dirtier. Talking about politics and how can I forget the resurrection of Congress Party in India. I don’t like to mention here that I’m a BJP supporter or in favour of congress-led government but I really like the present scenario of Lok sabha as the ruling party is self-reliant for majority and the opposition is also strong unlike previous assemblies.
I’m a diehard cricket freak but every Indian has his/her personal opinion so I won’t like to use another jugglery of cliché things.
So was this piece of my work something worth an expression of “What the F!”
Anyways, have you forgotten my other novel blog, "The 3 Nerds"?

I have finally... yes finally updated it after almost 2 months. Read it from here
Now, this is seriously , “What the F!” or something else?

A Short Much Needed Break

2009-04-30T08:47:00.004+05:30

Dear citizens of "Blogosphere"

Blogging has become an inevitable part of my life. People might say that the first thing they do is "brush their teeth" or "go to attend the first nature call" but I open my blog. I'm really addicted to blogging. I'm addicted to your love. I love all my blog friends, it has been a wonderful experience meeting you all since September 2008.

However, after all this eventful period of my blogging I'm forced to take a break from regular posting. There is a reason for this, I can't just leave this blogosphere for no reason. I'm going my home for 3 months as holidays have started at my college and I don't get internet connection at my home.

Don't worry, I'll make sporadic appearances with less witty posts to piss you off.

However, I'll keep on updating my "story-blog": "The 3 Nerds". So, don't forget to visit it once in a while. If you still haven't read it, visit it from here.
In the mean time I'd like to leave you with my best and popular posts.

1. "Love at Last sight": My first love-story which ended much before it started.It is more special as it was first read by "SHEEEE (let her name be this)". Read it from here. So far it has received more than 60 comments.

2.My First Date: Do check it out from here.

3.My Childhood Kiss...oops!!!: Read how smart "Trisha" fooled me from here.

4.Are you Bored?---What to do when you are bored??: No spoilers. Read it from here.

5.This Girl is not Happy : My first train journey with a hot chick. Read from chapter 1, then chapter 2and finally chapter 3.

6.Love is not a Lost and Found Commodity : A post in which there is a special appearance of a Goddess to guide me. Read itfrom here

I'll back in the blogosphere with proper frequency of posting from August,2009.
Adieu friends!

Entrepreneurship- The Latest Fashion Trend

2009-04-23T22:04:00.005+05:30

Recently, I was talking with one of my cousins, who is planning his marriage. We were having that casual phone conversation...

Cousin: Hey, I’ve mailed you some photos of girls. Did you get them?

Me: Yeah! Do you expect me to hook up with them... no I won’t, I’m single and not ready to mingle.

Cousin: Dumb @#$@# %%.....( all the foul words)... they are photos which I’ve received for marriage proposal.

Me: (Ooopss...shit) Sorry.

Cousin: Just say which one of them is the best and the rest are all yours....haa haaa. BTW I forgot you have a girlfriend. How is she?

Me: First of all, I don’t have a girlfriend and second point is that I’m going to do arrange marriage that too after 4-5 years as I’m under-age and under-qualified.

Cousin: Why? Why this sudden change? I know, you have realised the fact that no girl would be your girlfriend.

Me: Actually, I’ll take Dowry.

(I know it’s illegal but still the police won’t be able to catch me, as my blog is not so popular and when I’ll marry this post will be deleted.)

Cousin: Oh My God... Do you guys talk these stuffs at your college?

Me: Entrepreneurship, Bro!

Cousin: Pursuing entrepreneurship is tougher than pronouncing and spelling it, dude!

(How true!!!)

Me: Ummm...yup.

Cousin: Let me give some entrepreneurship-Gyan.
Nowadays, entrepreneurship has become a fashion statement. In late 1980s and early 1990s, people did engineering and went to USA. After some economic reforms there was a shift in trend from this to IT-sector and management. Now, all the young people want to have their own venture and become an entrepreneur.
Becoming an entrepreneur is certainly not rocket science but much more than that. I have many friends who took this path and only 1 of them had some appreciable success in his venture.

Things you should have before pondering about any entrepreneurial thoughts...
1. Idea: Ideas don’t rain like cats and dogs. Yeah! It doesn’t rain at all.

2. Capital: You need lot of money dude and unless you are having a great idea related to computers you won’t get any venture capitalist to fund you. However, if in any case they do agree to fund you, it is not a new fact that they would have a major chunk of power in your venture.

3. Co-founder/s: Finding a co-founder is important and also very difficult. As the famous saying goes, “Fast bowlers hunt in pairs” so does founders. (Read a very interesting article on co-founders by Shrey from here)

4. Self-motivation: It is apparently needed for anything you do in life but still I can’t miss this point as you will face many challenges if you pursue entrepreneurship and you must be highly motivated to face them.

5. Time: You should be prepared to give your major part of youth to become a worthy entrepreneur and it also demands patience.

Enough for today!!!

Me: Okay! I won’t take dowry...

Cousin: hee hee...

Me: Cya...Take care

Cousin: Bye

IIT Despos, Orkut, SP-Election Manifesto...

2009-04-12T01:05:00.012+05:30

What is the use of Orkut?

Ask this question to a ~~IIT~~despo and he will treat you as if you have asked him the use of Chlormint.
As commonly used in Hindi, “Hum chlormint kyon khate hain?”
Let me list some of the benefits of eating chlormint:
1. After drinking liquor, or smoking cigarette (sutta). FYI, I don’t smoke or drink liquor. (if it concerns you!!!)
2. When you are on a date and it’s pretty obvious that you’ll have to.... I hope you get it.
3. And of course, you happen to like chlormint because of minty taste...which is least probable. However, I cannot rule it out completely as I even loved “Mahalacto”, when I was a kid. Did you also like it?
So, moral of this is never ever dare to ask a despo about the use of Orkut. Orkut and despos are heavily dependent on each other.
Hello, mate!!! Who is a despo?
Duh!!! Don’t ask this. You could be kicked for such negligence. Remember ignorance is never bliss. However, if you already have surrendered to my blog I must oblige you with the meaning of Despo.
Despo is such a guy~~or IITian~~ who is in search of a girlfriend and desperately is hunting for the fairer sex but despise all his effort is still single and ready to mingle.
An average despo spends his most of the time loitering around girls’ hostel when he is offline and uses Orkut to hook up with some orkut-girl with foolish pickup lines. These pickup lines are often learnt similar to subscribing some feeds of Daily quotes' websites/blogs.
What does a Despo do at orkut?
He logs in to his orkut account, checks his scrapbook which never increases unless some old-friend scraps him “Abe Scrap kyun nahi karte?”, “Hi, Wassup” and all these useless scraps to which he replies within nanoseconds... after this he goes to few communities, hunts for female profiles, sends them friend requests using some pickup lines, then comes the most important part, he also has to go to his crush’s profile to read her scraps and check her album. These guys strive in a countably infinite no. of loop in such activities until they become a non-despo (highly probable) or committed by the gift of Orkut (very rare).
The desponess can be checked by asking some decent looking female orkut user about the type and number of friend requests she gets.
Some common pick up lines are:
1. If I could rearrange the alphabets then I would put u and I together.
2. You must be the reason for global warming because you are hot.
3. Did it hurt when u fell from heaven?
4. Is your dad a terrorist? Because you are a big bomb.

You can also check this screenshot by Ramya

This guy says "I'm a male....LOL"
I’ve a bad news for all these despos.
Samajwadi Party has recently released its election-2009 manifesto. They want to stop the use of computers in offices, and English because these two things are leading to reduction in jobs of less skilled people.
These despos should at least do something to save our country from these idiots who want to stop all our blogs, orkut profiles, use of English, and then they might say to use bullock-carts. How does an experienced but not necessarily literate group of politicians can come out with such a foolish, ill-researched election manifesto?
These less known politicians have just one mantra. Let the poor, uneducated common mass remain the same so that they can continually misguide them to secure a vote bank.
I appeal you despos, please do something not for country’s well-being but for yourself too.

PS: I have updated my other story blog "The Three Nerds"...read it from here.
PS: My Exams are starting from 20th April.
PS: I'll become 50% Engineer, if everything goes all right.
PS: Bye

IIT-JEE 2006/2007 to 2009: Flashback,Nostalgia and etc...

2009-04-03T17:48:00.008+05:30

Let me share my story with people who are unaware and IIT-JEE aspirants.
I wanted to be a doctor till I was in class 9.
Once I saw something about IITians in a news channel to follow it I read about IIM, also and the very fact that these two type of institutes used one of the world's toughest exams to eliminate( not select!!) the candidates inspired me to think of IIT and IIM.
I was always an average student and never thought that my life is so purposeful and all but some incidents happened with me made me feel that there should be a reason to live life.
I searched everything but only 1 thing caught my attention, IIT. I fell in love with IIT.
I still remember that I was never ever a strong contender for an IIT seat for my teachers and people who knew me less but for me the only aim in life was IIT and I couldn't think of anything except IIT.
And I got a percentage in class 11 far below what an average IITian gets in his/her class 11.
I took some serious resolutions to face this situation. It's always easier said than done. My life totally got changed, though I still felt quite depressed but I had a purpose in life, a deep desire to be quenched. If you have ever been in love or seen somebody or just take an example of a bollywood actor in love; I was in a similar situation. My eyes searched news related to IIT in the morning newspaper (as I left watching television). My life was fully dedicated towards IIT. I reduced my sleep hours. I started to feel that I'm going in correct path. Summer vacation started and this was the period which made me feel that IIT is just a year away from me. I was more confident than ever. Soon the school re-opened and due to a twist of fate my bench-partner changed and he was the school topper of DPS (class 10). These developments made me feel that IIT is not far from me as he really gave me a lot of confidence and impetus to excel in my career. I started to feel like a Dipsite though I bunked many classes but still the feeling of being in DPS is pleasant, the spectacular pentagonal old primary section, ever increasing and happening senior building and good friends. Life was going pretty fine and I sensed victory. I felt that mission is soon going to be accomplished. Exams (board 12) arrived. I was well prepared and so it went smoothly. Then it was the real test of character the IIT-JEE.
Though my results weren't that good but there was a fire which kept burning inside me and I was left with sleepless nights preparing for the IIT-JEE.
In my first attempt I failed to clear the IIT-JEE and I was broken. I cried and cried very hard. It was like a girl rejecting you. I'd never felt so bad before, that was the only moment I which shook my belief in myself but it takes something to be an IITian and so I soon thought that I was not meant to be an IITian but from somewhere the love for IIT stopped me from thinking in such lines and I rose from the ashes as a phoenix with a new rigor and energy to sustain the pressure of my friends, relatives and teachers. I was criticized by friends, relatives and close family members about my decision to not take admission in an engineering college that year but sometimes you need to rebel. The same critics of mine are now my admirers, it happens with everyone; even people like Amitabh Bachchan might tell you a similar story. I would like to say that IIT-JEE was never a burden for me. I love IIT. I didn't want to talk with a girl at my school or tuitions because I didn't want to give any girl the position I had given to IIT. I love IIT
I wish you," BEST OF LUCK".
In life have your goal fixed and never lose hope.
“Destiny is one thing and honest attempt is another, you can create your destiny with your honest hard work and determination but vice-versa is not true.”
- Ashish Gourav (Me)

PS: I have updated my other story blog "The Three Nerds"...read it from here
PS: If you are a JEE aspirant, check this out:10 Things to Do Before 10 days to IIT-JEE
PS: If you are not a JEE aspirant, I'm sorry for this post.

Counter Strike and Time pass at Basic E.C.E LAB

2009-03-27T07:27:00.007+05:30

Before coming to IIT Kharagpur, I had a perception that IITians will be surrounded by laboratory equipments and busy with research work 24x7.

Now being an IITian, I've realised that it was a myth. No doubt IITians are creative but in their own way. They do a lot of things which others can just dream of. Here are two videos you must watch.

For IIT KGP folks, watch these videos to get a relief from recent sad developments. This will also give a nice feeling to other guys who have their practical exams in coming days.

1.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN8Njb2VUrc

2.1.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kzuwTaraCk&feature=channel

These videos are brought to you by "Palkush Rai Chawla" and "Samar Rehman Patel" of IIT Kharagpur.

These videos make you realize that you can savour and enjoy each and every moment of your life be it irritating or boring.

You guys Rock!!!

PS: I also have my Basic E.C.E Lab test on 31st March.
PS: How were these videos?
PS: Finally, I've posted something funny, that too which is not mine.

Tribute to "Rohit Kumar, IIT KGP" : The Power of Youth

2009-03-23T00:35:00.022+05:30

In this time of "Lok Sabha General Elections", every political party is trying to sue the youth. Apparently, if you don't see the power of youth, you can't realize it.

Rohit Kumar, an undergraduate student of Electrical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur died due to lack of basic medical facilities and negligence at B.C. Roy Hospital, which is responsible for providing healthcare facilities to IIT-Kharagpur campus residents, but it’s more known about its improper treatment and inadequate qualified doctors.

After this what happened was really dramatic and the authorities need to learn a lesson or two from this.

Around 2000 students rushed in after the LAN/ internet was shut down. People gathered outside the Director's bungalow. The media was not allowed as IIT still remains a very secluded and restricted place for media activities.

Director at last announced his resignation on moral grounds and followed it was an "openhouse meeting" at "Toat-the open theatre". The meeting was very inconclusive due to anger of students and "unsatisfactory" opinion of the authorities."Dean of student affairs" announced his resignation after the "Deputy Director" followed the "Director's" path and announced his resignation from his post at B.C. Roy Hospital.

The anger of students was further flamed due to irresponsible comments by "Dean of student affairs", "Deputy Director" and other authorities.

This is utter shameful. I urge the readers not to think that IITians were reckless when they did all the above inevitable acts, they were helpless!!!

Visit Rohit's orkut profile

Another case of Negligence by "BC Roy Hospital, IIT Kharagpur"

Gaurav Tomar, a 5th Year Student of Civil Engineering at IIT Kharagpur who is already placed in the Indian Registrar of Shipping with a handsome salary is in ICU, on dialysis, as the malarial parasite has already affected his kidneys. His case is an addition to the carelessness of this hospital in recent years. BC Roy Hospital was not able to detect a very common disease "Malaria" in 6 days. After this the parents of Gaurav arrived kharagpur and took their son to Meerut. Gaurav was in ICU of Apollo Hospital, Delhi for few days but now he is out of danger. He will be released from the hospital within 10 days.

Read the detailed news from here

Is this the way IITians are treated in their own homeland?

Despite all these shameful events, "Scholars' Avenue"-the IIT Kharagpur students' newspaper is doing a commendable and honest work by reporting each and every detail at their web portal/internet-edition. Read "Scholars' Avenue-Blog" for more details and updates about this news.
http://scholarsavenue.blogspot.com/

Updates
1. A peaceful candlelight condolence march was organized by the students in the evening.

2. The exact status on the resignation of the Director yet to be known.

3. Justice Umesh C. Banerjee, Former Chief Justice, Andhra Pradesh High Court and Former Judge, Supreme Court of India has been appointed as one man enquiry committee by the Board of Governors “to enquire into the unfortunate incident that took place at IIT Kharagpur on 22nd March 2009 and to examine whether there was any lapse on the part of B.C. Roy Technology Hospital or not”. He will have to submit the report within 30 days.

4. Prof. Souvik Bhattacharya of the Department of Mechanical Engineering has been made the Dean of Student Affairs, while Prof. Gautam Sinha is our new Chairman of B C Roy Technology Hospital.

5. Prof. Damodar Acharya has reportedly been reinstated by the Central Government as the Director of the institute .

This is the power of youth.

Rohit has become immortal in our hearts and may his soul rest in peace forever...

Free Rapidshare accounts contest and "Advantages of short height "

2009-03-19T20:44:00.003+05:30

I know this is not an ideal way to rant about my height. I was just wondering about my Short heightedness and tweeted it through my twitter profile.
“There are many benefits of short height :P”
One of my tall friend tweets rather changes his facebook status
“There are many benefits of being tall :P”
This inspired me to think of some benefits of short height and I’m here.
Googled Information
1. Shorter people have faster reaction times, greater ability to accelerate body movements, stronger muscles in proportion to body weight, greater endurance, and the ability to rotate the body faster. They are also less likely to break bones in falling.
2. Shorter people are also less likely to require surgery for herniated spinal disks. In addition, shorter people are less likely to break a hip from falling.
3. Another advantage of smaller people is that they are less likely to die in auto crashes. One study found that people weighing less than 132 pounds had the lowest risk of dying or suffering serious injuries compared to bigger people.
My Experiences
I’ve a lot of them related to short height. I’ll list only benefits as promised.
1. Once, I was travelling all alone for the first time in my life. I know everything happens for the first time in life but still that was a big occasion for me. I was nervous. Things were done for me. I didn’t have to pack my stuffs, my mum did it. I didn’t have to book tickets, my father did it. I thought this would be fun exploring everything while enjoying the scenic beauty outside the window of train alone. I’d a test to give, so I opened my course books and acted to be quite busy as my fellow travel-buddies were quite older than me. The train stopped in a station, some strange people entered the coach. Those were the species I feared a lot on train journeys and this time I’d to handle them. Any guesses, who were they?
No, they were not goons, robbers or vendors. They were frightening “eunuchs”.
I was quite aware of their menace since my childhood days. One of them came towards our seat and...
Eunuch: Aye mere salman khan kuch dena.....arrey handsome!!!....(in hindi)
These were words used for few people around me and though these are compliments but it seemed very different under such circumstances and one of them came towards me and started staring me. I was awfully frightened....
Me: Papa bahar gaye hain (in hindi).....which means My father has gone outside and I don’t have money.
And I’m happy that I’ve used this trick of using my short height and innocence to trick these eunuchs quite a lot.

2.I don’t need lots of space in the car/bus/Train or in general anywhere in this world.
3.I don’t have to worry about 'mind your head' signs.
4.I can squeeze through crowds easily :p

Being small rocks, you can act all little and helpless so people do things for you
***********************************************
Free Rapidshare accounts contest; Win 100$

As on 24th March the domain www.comptalks.com will complete its first year. So, my friend who is the owner of this domain is organising a Free Rapidshare Premium Account contest in which he will give away “Free Rapidshare accounts” to the contestants and they will be all new and only for you. The First Prize is open for all the subscribers of that blog and the last three prizes are only for the bloggers who have written about this competition. Bloggers will have extra advantage as they will have more chances to win the prizes.

The prizes are:

1st Prize: 1 year Rapidshare premium account worth 71$.
2nd Prize: 1 month Rapidshare account worth 9$.
3rd Prize: 1 month Rapidshare account worth 9$.
4th Prize: 1 month Rapidshare account worth 9$.
So the total prize money equals = 98$.

Now the criteria to win these prizes are:

You need to subscribe to that blog via email and verify the subscription; this is the primary condition for winning the prizes.
You need to write about this competition in your blog and give 2 links to this site, one to the homepage of Computer Talks and other to this post. This will give you chance to win the rest three prizes as well because they will be given to three bloggers.
Winners will be chosen by Random.org and last date to enter into the competition is 30th march

Yo Computer Talks(www.comptalks.com)

PS: Share your thoughts
PS: I should start doing something fruitful rather than watching a lot of movies.

7 Days

2009-03-15T22:31:00.004+05:30

It has been 7 days full of idleness for me, though I’ve loads of stuff to share with you. After my exams got over I spent my meaningful week doing things which I always wanted to do. Let me write about them
Film Festival at my Room
I watched lots of movies and almost err all bollywood flicks. I particularly preferred those movies which usually trigger a sacrilege almost similar to “PSPO nahi jaante”, during some gossip sessions which made me feel awfully ignorant about bollywood.
Those movies included old films like “Angoor”, “Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak”, “Naram Garam” and new films like “Water-(Deepa Mehta)”, “13B” and many more...
BTW... I’ve recently became a fan and admirer of “Anurag Kashyap”. I know this is cheap publicity of my orkut community but do join my orkut community of “Anurag Kashyap”.
Now I’ll tell you about some movies which were successful in creating an impression over my artistically retarded brain.
No Smoking:
As the title suggests, the movie is all about “no smoking”. It is a perfect answer to Hollywood’s science-fictions. I hate science fictions not just because they present a lot of violence and unnecessary action but they are illogically unrealistic. “No Smoking” is also unrealistic and as termed by critic Taran Adarsh it leaves you exasperated and disgusted. However, I felt their was some logic in this “Anurag Kashyap’s” movie which could serve as a better substitute to bull-crap movies like “Hostel”, “Saw series” and all science-fictions including blockbusters. It is all what I think.
Water:
Anurag sir’s dialogues in the movie were more than enough to appreciate the excellence of the movie. It’s all about widow remarriage. It is a movie not for everyone. There are only few people who can like this movie because actually at times it is unrealistic and sensitive for Indian audience. Lisa Ray looks extremely pretty in her white attire and is perfect for a role opposite John Abraham.
Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak:
Aamir Khan debuts in this film with Juhi Chawla and I don’t know why I missed this movie for 20 years after its release as they both are one of my favourite male and female actors. Though this movie was nothing at all great to describe about. The story is not new. Despite wonderful performances from both Aamir and Juhi, it couldn’t catch my interest at any point of time. Once again this bollywood movie defies the meaning of serendipity with a lot of unusual coincidences.
Angoor:
This movie proves why situational comedy is far better than stand-up comedy. It is based on Shakespeare's play 'The Comedy of Errors'. Sanjeev Kumar and Deepti Naval are simply the best in this movie. Do watch it when in need of some laugh-alone moment.
Mr. and Mrs. Iyer:
I liked the movie for two reasons. First, the movie flows very smoothly and second, Konkona Sen Sharma, one of my admired actresses is superb in her artificial Tamil accent. I did feel the movie could’ve been more meaningful if the relationship between the lead protagonists was of a different nature. The ending was apt and bollywood type. No spoilers!
Sirf Tum:
Remake of block buster national award winning Tamil film Kadhal Kottai, is an average romantic movie. The story is highly based upon imagination and strange coincidences but due to perfect acting by all the actors in the movie it deserves some applause. Priya Gill is the only thing for which you would see the movie more than once.
Naram Garam:

The “Amol Palekar” and “Utpal Dutt” duo shines again in this movie with Swaroop Sampat, the popular face of the hugely popular TV comedy show “Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi”. Everything is just perfect in this movie and I wouldn’t have been surprised if someone goes to court for adapting his/her true life story in this movie. It is too realistic to be considered as a bollywood movie.
Holiday at Home
I really needed this break after a lot of things over these past few hectic months. I really loved this holiday. I chatted with my grandmother over non-trivial subjects at which she is just an expert with her friendly behaviour. I wonder (Generation gap)2 = (NO generation gap).
Other thing which caught my attention was the fact that most of the billionaires and entrepreneurs are young and are computer geeks who are also college dropouts. Let me name a few for you. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg (Founder of Facebook), Steve Jobs and quite a few.
I read a lot of books on paraphysics too but I won’t bore you with “Karma” and all such “Re-birth” stuff.

PS: Feeling a lot better after writing this post.
PS: I really loved the past 7 days.
PS: Do comment on the movies I wrote about.

A Movie worth watching : Delhi 6

2009-02-22T16:09:00.006+05:30

Delhi's Chandni chowk rather the whole old Delhi in “Times Square”. This is what it takes to make someone like me to write my first movie review but of course in a not-so “thesaurus English”, just before 20 hours from my midsemester exams.
Rakesh Omprakash Mehra after the success of “Rang De Basanti” comes up with his new film Delhi- 6. A.R.Rahman is once again at his best by giving some exceptional tunes and creating a vibe in the film which makes even a “non-delhite” immediately associate him being in Old Delhi. Delhi-6 truly justifies its title by putting the essence of “delhi-6” in the film. The movie had each and every taste of contemporary India in which the director is an expert. Untouchability or silly superstitions or the media's role in creating controversies or communal disharmony or woman trade in the society or improper bringing up of children, he has filmed everything in this movie. It tries to say that “Swades” could have been made in a better way. It smartly passes the message to the audience. Though in incorporating everything in the movie the subtleness of the movie is lost but still the audience will truly enjoy this 2 ½ hour movie. Abhishek Bachchan finally comes outside the shadow of his father after movies like “Bluffmaster” and “Delhi-6”. His overworked American accent is not that bad to get that he plays the role an NRI in the movie. His chemistry with Bittu, played by sonam kapoor is not that perfect but still the “monkey clad Abhishek Bachchan and sonam kapoor” hug deserves applause.
The dialogues are honestly written which makes the movie worth watching . The movie is successful in disguising people with the whole Chandni Chowk shots which are actually shot on set.
Now for people who don’t want to spoil their exams.
In brief, the movie is about Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan), a typical NRI young man, who comes down from New York to “Delhi 6”, with his grandmother, nicely played by Waheeda Rehman. Roshan finds it difficult to get the atmosphere of Delhi 6 which is actually Chandi Chowk. This is what the movie tries to articulate. Roshan finally decides to stay back in India to fight with the overhyped menace of the “Monkey Man”. Bittu is dying to break free and be a free bird to participate in the next round of Indian Idol. Will Roshan be able to save the day? Or will he return back to his home and stay off these troubled streets of Chandni Chowk? Watch it yourself after exams are over.
Now, if you want to spoil your exams further do watch “Dev d” and quickly fast forward “Billu Barber” to the last 20 minutes for the modern “Krishna-sudama” speech in a self-praise SRK movie.

PS: I'm really having no time left for my exams after watching the movie and managing some time to write my maiden movie review.
PS: Please, pray for me!!!
PS: I'll be coming with more detailed movie reviews and meaningful posts after the exams are over.

"IIT Bhubaneswar's spelling mistake"?

2009-02-13T11:59:00.006+05:30

“An historical event took place in 2008 in the country. Six new IITs started functioning from the academic year 2008-09. IIT Bhubaneswar admitted 120 students through IIT JEE, distributed over three disciplines: Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.....” says the homepage or rather the “introduction” page of IIT Bhubaneswar’s website.
However, they failed in understanding that IIT has a standard which is world-renowned and should not be tarnished by the use of sub-standard techniques and technology to hurt the image of the other respected IITies.
I’m writing this because of a serious blunder by the website designers err the content writers of the IIT Bhubaneswar’s website.
What they did?
“Under mentorship of IIT Kharagpur, the Institute is going to acuire world class infrastructure, faculty and facilities.” says the last line of the “introduction” page.
Did you see the mistake?
I know you are not a dumb but still I’d like to mention that. I think the respected website content writers have not read their own text after clicking on the “publish” button...I hope it’s as simple as that.
I’ll not trouble you further. Don’t you think “acuire” is not a valid English word? I hope my English is not that obsolete. However, do let me know if I’m wrong. I think “acquire” is the word which me and my word editor says is a legitimate English word in this context.
Respected Website designers and content writers, I’m sorry if I hurt you guys or gals or uncles or aunties.
However, this is not a new thing about IIT websites. Our very own IIT kharagpur described as the “the best engineering institute of the country” by IIT Bhubaneswar’s website is also not flawless in its website’s content and design.
I’d like to hear from you if the opinions expressed in this post hurt you, or you disagree with me, or you have something better to share.

PS: Finally, the website is corrected.
PS: Visit IIT Bhubaneswar's website from here
PS: Sorry IIT BBSians
PS: There were some more mistakes in the website.

Love is not a Lost and Found Commodity

2009-02-03T01:05:00.015+05:30

“C U @ 10” This SMS wakes me up.

It was “Durga Puja” Holidays time. I’d been to my place. Did I tell you about that SMS?
No, I didn’t. It was sent by Trisha to remind me that we had fixed a get-together with almost every friend from High school. Guess, what? Everybody also includes “Miss.X”. I couldn’t afford to miss this rare opportunity. I jumped from my bed with a reflex action which reminds me of “Aamir Khan of Ghazini”. I brushed my teeth twice probably thrice. After attending nature’s call, I took a half hour long bath to improve my melanin-rich complexion. My mother was surprised to see me doing these things so early in the morning with full sincerity. She even asked,”Are you going back to your Hostel?”
At 9:30 AM I left my home for Trisha’s place. We’d planned to meet at a “Puja Pandal”. However, Trisha and I always went together in such get-togethers. I don’t know why but it’s our habit nowadays. After all, we know each other from the time we had only half a dozen numbers of teeth.
I reached Trisha’s home at 9:55 AM. As usual, Trisha was still not ready. I began changing the channels. They had purchased a new TV. It is very good. It’s flat. Trisha came and blocked me from watching that technological advancement in Television entertainment.
She said,” You haven’t said “Hi” to me idiot!”
Oh! Hi Trisha. So are you ready? Let’s go: They Must be waiting for us.

"They? Or “Miss.X!”....."
She knows everything about “Miss.X”.
Trisha finally left the living room and called me,” Come on! Mr.”
I threw the remote on the sofa next to mine and ran to catch her. Trisha and I had some normal conversation about our college lives. We shared every experience except “My Ragging!”
How could I?
Usually, Trisha never talks too much but she cannot stop overpowering me. She thinks that I’m the only person in the universe who can be fooled thrice in a day and still think that he is a genius!
We reached the puja pandal. Everybody was waiting for us including “Miss.X”
Everybody decided to have a lunch at “Ganga-the restaurant”.
We walked as slow as possible to reach that restaurant as late as possible.
“Ganga-the restaurant welcomes you...”
Read a banner outside that place. We took our seats. I was luckily placed just in front of “Miss.X” and as far as possible from Trisha. Thank God!
We were the only customers in the restaurant. It meant we could have a lot of unlimited fun. It started with a usual gossip session about our college-lives. Then came the most interesting part. We all had to confess something to everybody.
I won’t give you the details of everyone’s confession but I’ll just mention about “Miss.X”
She started
“I loved a guy.”
This shocked all of us. I’m not sure about all of us but it certainly rocked me and made my heart beat faster. I was not sure what’s going to come next.
“But...now we are not together.... for the first time in my life I thought of spending my whole life with a boy and he also turned to be a moron with another relationship to hurt my emotions. Now, I cannot trust anybody in my life. I cannot love anyone. I’m upset with these guys. This was my confession” Miss.X said these words.
It was enough to destabilize me. For the next part of that get-together I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Her smile, her face, her disappointment, her untied hairs and her "blinking of eyes" constituted a slideshow before my eyes.
Trisha noticed my pale face but she is a smart girl. She didn’t poke me at that instant at that place. She knew that would make the situation worse. We returned after our lunch. Trisha told me to accompany her to her home.
She asked, “So, are you upset?”
Me: Yes, I’m not happy. Isn’t that visible to your eyes?
Trisha held my hand and said, “Don’t lose hope mate!”
Me: I’ve tried everything to win her heart. I’ve done things which I couldn’t even dream of before. I think about her 24X7. I want her in my life. I think I’ve lost her love somewhere. I want to search that.
“Love is not a lost and found commodity” witty reply by Trisha
It was sufficient to bring a transient smile to my face. “Ok! Trisha I’m leaving” I uttered these words after reaching her place. She didn’t force me to come inside as she had sensed my mood.

I reached my home. I started to think of various possibilities of my life without “Miss.X” but I couldn’t stop thinking about her. A thought came to my mind. I was pondering over the pros and cons of committing a suicide. The first thing which came to my mind was “Can I tolerate that immense pain”. I’d a feeling that death is easy if it is not painful. I prayed to God. I prayed that I should die without pain. I even thought “I’m ready to face death even now, if it’s painless”
I went into a subtle state of sleep. I was sleeping.
A voice filled my ears. I recognized it to be of “Goddess”. Goddess Gayatri!
Goddess: Are you not content with your life?

Me: No, I’m seriously unsatisfied.
Goddess: Fine. You’ll die after 5 hours. You’ll not feel any pain.
Me: Thanks. I was happy that at least my prayer was heard.

After two hours of imagination, I started to feel that I’m going to end my life after a few hours. I suddenly felt cold. A sense of insecurity filled my heart. I certainly didn’t want to die anymore; even if it’s painless. I realized that I’ve many more things in my life than “Miss.X”.
I’ve parents, brothers, sisters, Trisha and friends......
I didn’t want to die!
I cried, “I don’t want to die”
Goddess Gayatri appeared in that dream. She said, “So, son are you ready to leave this materialistic world.”
Me: No....
Goddess: Why?
Me: I was foolish.
Goddess: Now?
Me: Self-realization......I understood life....I don’t want to die...please help me.
Goddess: I knew this my son......you are safe...and yes remember one thing
“Love is not a lost and found commodity”.
Her voice and her image vanished and I woke up after a self-enlightening dream.

PS: Know more about Trisha from here
PS: Know more about "Miss.X" from here
PS: It is inspired by two posts from two blogs.
PS: 1. Unlisten's this post.
PS: 2. Intuitius's this post.
PS: BTW, I've updated "The 3 Nerds" read it from here.