My Pug Marks

I won't deny that it felt a bit weird when I deleted this blog. Anyway, like most good things, this had to come to an end...so here is the last image of the blog before I pressed that 'delete blog' tab. Adieu...

OK...the title would definitely be misleading [can't help the cheekiness, if u know what I mean...] The point is - My Pug Marks is under major revamp. So all you kind visitors out there, keep visiting and excusing the bricks falling here and there [yet again...]. UNDER REVAMP!!!

That's about it I guess. I will be writing once in a while about my MBA life - but here strictly. Things change in a manner as you go about the course here that..ummm..well, you feel like not maintaining a separate blog for it at least ! Add to that certain other means of expressing myself which I have have been thinking for quite some time now. Finally, it comes to implementation to a small extent. Things are working the way they should. It is time time I start to work in consonance with them. I started that blog writing about being inducted into the system. Now, I can safely say - I am one of the 'system'.

MBA - This 3 lettered monster hexes thousands of people across the country every year. Most of them assiduously preparing for their dreams to be made or broken every Sunday at this time of the year. I did too, though not all that hard core prep. Year almost comes to an end, I haven't written much in this blog-diary of mine as I had initially planned. May be, like everything, excitement at times wanes even in an MBA. High hopes and expectations are a few of the vices that yours sincerely indulges in - with the same ungratifying results [whoof! few things never change!] It has been a pretty decent ride - giving you a nice perspective to build upon and move your way ahead as you may deem fit. No one ever shows you a Red light here - though you may feel like creating your own at times. But there is one thing that you definitely realize - it is no mean task to deal with people. People form a B-School. You steer through them and you are a winner. You get muddled up and all you have is a ...

It has been quite some time now that I am here. And as they say - thoroughly inducted into the system. The picture on the left, at times, seems to be true - me being the little red human being and stuff around here being those dreaded aliens, ready to gobble me up. But then, you learn to evade them. Evasive action to events which could turn disastrous otherwise comes to you so naturally that its almost like you were born to do it. Yes - you learn all this in an MBA. You learn how to prepare presentations, you learn how not to prepare presentations and yet be prepared for them. You learn how not to prepare presentations and not be prepared for them and still seem prepared for anything that comes your way! You solve case studies so deftly that it would surprise even the ones who were actually involved in the case - were they anywhere near you. And if somehow - you turn out to be like me - you learn how to be perceived as a good student without opening a single book of a single subject wh...

Yesterday was terrific. Well, nothing much changed. I am still here, managed not to run away from all those things that are supposed to be done, but still. It was an ultimate paradox. I managed to get into Interim Team of IT. For the guy who has been trying to run away from IT ever since he was born in his previous life, it is no mean thing. Ah well, the different thing is that I won't even bother to be in 1 mile radius of a thing called coding. After the I-Team was declared, the selected guys were taken into a room for a cake cutting ceremony. It was fun to say the least. Amidst all the shouting and introductions, senior team members managed to fill our mouths to the brim with black forest cake (it had been ages...we could almost smell the cakes like hungry dogs while entering). Anyway, the legacy continues. Transfer of gyaan from seniors to juniors, about how to go about it. All in all, am looking forward to it. :)

It is the last day of June today. Though, it wasn't that hectic but I guess the week's accumulation is making me feel tired and lazy. I have interview at 2200 hours for IT Team Interim council formation. It has been raining incessantly since yesterday morning,and how so ever I love rains, murkiness of the clouded greys gets to you at times. Especially when you have lots to do. It is all about springing back from this and fighting the whole next week again. Before my post falls in the category of poor-MBA-guy-pissed-with-work category, I will state some learning of the week : One has to learn to wash clothes fast, faster and fastest. Else, use laundry for everything, and I mean everything. Learn to sleep while sitting, develop finer sleeping positions and aspects so that your closed eyes are not visible to the professor. (I have personally slept on the first bench.) Learn to accept that your room mate will not not change his waking up alarm song Mauja hi Mauja and neither would ...

With Bryan Adams playing for you and cool breeze blowing, what else could you ask for? These are the moments one tends to fall in love with. Moments, without which, living a hostel life would lose its spiciness. There are so many things that a residential MBA gives you that you already feel a sense of accomplishment. You make a new record of wearing a pair of trousers for 7 days (Monday to Sunday) before sending it for laundry. No one even knows. You learn to live with the untidiness of your room mate and still kind of like it because he is indeed a nice fellow. You learn to sleep despite the banging doors at night, silly music that is played loud just to show off and some species of wild insects literally sharing bed with you. You learn to not feel guilty of not exercising despite watching all the soccer enthusiasts scattered all over the hostel parks, playing like pros. Your faith in Murphy's laws is strengthened day in and day out because when you carry your umbrella to campus, ...

You get filled with experiences when you live in a hostel. You see life, naked and shameless in front of you. And life itself teaches you how to live it - that is perhaps the thrill of it. Days are passing here at the speed of light. And tomorrow, after the induction test are perhaps are few hours of our lives when we can still treat MBA as the extension of our graduation. Monday onwards, it is a pre-ponement of our managerial lives. Well, that is what we have been told by all. 19 June 2008 is perhaps one of those days (nights I should say...) that would shape things to come. It is these small things that vary your thinking to such an extent that it becomes a milestone in the course of your life. We had a students council meeting at 1600 hours. Most of the MBA-I guys reached anywhere between 1600-1615 hours. And we paid for it. With individual interviews that lasted night long, we sat on the cold stairs in front of canteen for hours. By 0415 hours, when we were let off, most of us had ...

Oh yea, settled into a sort of routine. It is hardly a routine, coz routine is a dangerous word if used anywhere near MBA. Here it goes: 7:15 am - 7:30 am -- wake up and wake ankush up. we go for a jog. cover a majestic 100-200 metres and then walk a bit; straight to mess. 8:30 am -- we can be seen casually going back to the hostel for bath. most of the people are already going for the 9 am class. ankush dismisses them as 'naya naya josh hai abhi'. 8:45 am -- ankush somehow manages to dress up and manage to knock the doors of my room. kshitij (my roomie) is all set to leave. I just have shoes and socks to put and I am good to go. 9:03 am -- We manage to enter the big hall where our induction courses (the basics) are going on. If lucky, we get to sit on the last benches that are still vacant. 11:00 am -- All sort of groans and grunts start coming from students as a ritual, while the teacher (I won't name her, she teaches well indeed.) continues to throw more definitions at t...

I reached Pune a few days before I had to reach my hostel at Lavale. It is my first time away from home, so my mom was even more concerned than usual. We went to Shirdi, which was quite hectic. On the way, Western Ghats, the most worn out ranges of India looked magnificent as they flirted with dying sun's last rays. Ah, well, finally the day came. As I decked on the bus which would take us from S.B.Road to Lavale, it was a different feeling. I wasn't ecstatic, nor was I low. But, it was something different. Indescribable. Soon, I was travelling to Western Ghats. The city was left far below. Cool breeze and drizzle greeted as we entered the Symbiosis Knowledge Village. This amazing place carved out of a Ghat on 800 Acres of Land is breath taking. A campus life which I always wanted. I had it now, finally. Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), my B-School. I was waiting to be proud of something. Now, I was - and it has just been a week's journey...

I have another blog where I write about my life in a B-School. I guess it is done for what it was useful for. I post all of it here at My Pug Marks...and close that one. Just in case you are curious about that blog - click here [while it exists!]

From Vatican to Venice Discovering every crevice Gusts of wind hit my face Sloping down the Danube Trudging the Alps few An unknown force pulls me through Crossing virgin hills Talking to little known streams Everyone has a story to scream Must I walk? Must I sweat? To reach where my heart feels wet? Striving without focus Moving my limbs When pain is pleasure And everything else ceases to matter Depravation hits Bring with it satisfaction A fulfilled cause Formed from all fractions Should I exist? In this baneful truth Where no difference lies In couth uncouth Strings act in matrix symphonies Words hit from time chiselled phonies Fractured dreams Long breathed heaves I can't but exist... Coz life runs that watch on its tight held wrist.

Goes without saying, you need to read The Inspiration before you start on this. You may find it here . I was feeling very cranky here as it was about time to go home. It always happens this way. Nothing then is visible to me. It is just Home sweet home! So, I ended up going home a week before I actually had to. Meeting friends and family was but obvious which was apart from the main reason for going home. That meant quite a few trips to my old office where I can safely say-I have made friends for life. They are true friends and not just ex-colleagues. As it happens always, I eventually become the reason for a get together since all of them are busy with their typical IT jobs - different projects, different bays, different buildings. Anyways, a grand plan was made by about seven of us to go to Delhi [my ex-office and residence are in Gurgaon] and have some fun after their office. I was game, as always. As it turned out, recession can make ever-ready good-for-nothing ready-to-party off...