The year that was

Well, it’s been over a year since my last blog entry. Several thoughts came up in my mind during the last one year and several incidents happened, but none of them provoked me to write about them. However, when I look back at the year that went by, I feel that some events took place in the country as well as around the world which are kind of indicative that some of Nostradamus’s predictions may become true sooner or later. As far as I’m personally concerned, this was undoubtedly my busiest year academically.

This was a year in which almost all the cities of India which were considered terrorism free became victims of terror. The most shocking undoubtedly was the Mumbai terror attack which was a kind of slap in the face of the intelligence agencies of a nation which is more often than not seen as one of the next superpowers. It also was a sign of how bureaucracy comes in the way of everything that happens in India and how the key decisions are delayed because of the same. It was a year when the public rage towards the septuagenarian and octogenarian politicians was visible from all corners of the country. I hope that Indian people have finally come to understand that it is time for the younger breed of Indians to take of the political affairs of the country from our grandfathers’ generation as they are simply too old to adapt to the immense changes taking place globally. It will only be a matter of time before the political parties realize the same and hopefully we’ll have more prime ministers of Rajiv Gandhi’s age that those of Moraji Desai’s age.

This was a year when the concept of Hindu terrorist’s involvement in bomb blasts came to light. It was a good lesson for the police and intelligence agencies in the way that a terrorist is a terrorist. He has no religion other than terror. He wants to kill. He is a parasite that needs to be made extinct. Hence, steps should be taken to eliminate it and they should not single out any community to put the balme on. India as a nation should learn a lesson or two from Israel, a nation smaller than most of the states in India on how to handle terrorists and disturbing neighbours. Their zero tolerance policy towards any kind of hostage crises is something that India should learn. Had it not been for Kandahar, the terrorists would not have been got the guts and courage to strike as freely and frequently as they have been doing in this decade.

It was a year when the media overdose finally irritated the masses and all the 24/7 news channels were criticised for their inability to self-censor. It was a good lesson they learnt and we all hope that the learning acquired would be applied appropriately in the future.

There were a few positives to pick from this year too. Sports is one domain where India performed beyond expectations. Even though the inability of the Indian hockey team to qualify for Beijing 2008 was kind of a national shame; the shooters, boxers and wrestlers more than made up for it by making out country proud and winning 3 medals for the nation for the first time. Cricket was another sport where India performed really well considering that the team hardly got any rest. Two great cricketers, Anil (all 10) Kumble and Sourav (maharaj) Ganguly retired from the team. It was a year where the fall of cricketing superpower Australia might have finally begun, though it is a little early to conclude that.

This was a year when America elected its first Black president which was my all means historic. It is a sign of the world’s oldest democracy coming to age and hopefully, their next president will be a woman. This was a little cheering for the American people too as that nation has been affected by a recession not seen for long and their powerful organizations, which were once an envy of the whole world came down as pack of cards.

I sincerely hope that 2009 will be a lot better than what 2008 was and will bring in unity amongst the major powers around the world to take stock of the economic and security mess of 2008 and work proactively and collaboratively to turn things around for the betterment of the mankind.

Few great men

In my life so far, I have seen quite a few great men in the making. In order to hide their true identity, I'll use their initials while describe them. All those who can identify them, enjoy; all those who can't identify them, enjoy all the same.

Great Man 1:

It was the summer of 2001 when I met this great man for the first time. PR was a frail and extremely ordinary looking boy who was to be my coaching institute batchmate for the next two years. The first year went by without anybody thaking notice of this chap. I however noticed him getting the highest marks in Maths and Physics in the quizzes and phase tests on a few occasions. Our batch there was by far the best amongst all the batches in that insitute and getting the highest marks in that batch in any component was an achievement in itself. Coming back to PR, people hardly heard him talking in class when all the students used to solve the challenging questions given to them and the first one to solve them was the one who got a look of admiration from the instructor. So the whole batch, barring a few who knew how good he was, was taken by surprise when he topped in the phase test of phase 4. And not only did he have the higest total, he had the highest individual total in all the three subjects, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Suddenly the attitude of the instructors towards him also changed. Our Chemistry sir, who's the only Chemistry god I've ever seen, used to ask him the answers of the questions which no one else could solve and inevitably, PR would have the answer to his questions. It was no surpise from thereon that he got a minimum of 99.99 percentile in all the All-India Test series that were held thereafter! He went on to get an All-India rank 4 both in screening and mains in IIT JEE 2003. He, till date happens to be amongst the most intelligent yet the most humble person I've ever come across.

Great Man 2 :

I met this great man in the same place and around the same time as PR, great man 1. This guy, PA happens to be amongst the most lazy yet intelligent people I've ever come across. The first time I spoke to him was on a crowded bus on my way back home from the institute. He seemed to be bit different from the other people in the batch as he had shifted to Delhi from Lucknow a few months back. He was a Lucknowi to the core; a highly cultured person who used tum instead of the usual tu used by my other friends. He uttered on abusive word that was used freely by him whenever he was angry and that word was Jaahil which basically is a Hindi word for rustic. I got to know that he stays very close to my home and we used to go back home together from that day onwards. His policy was never to study on a sunday after coming back from the institute. He used Sunday evenings as leisue time even if there was an exam the next day. He was a physics god and was great at finding mistakes in the solutions provided to us after every test. It was not at all a surprise when he got AIR 131 in IIT JEE 2003. 3.5 years hence, he was a BLACKI (a term used for people with calls from all the IIMs) in CAT 2006 and needless to say converted all of them except L; reason being his inability to go for the GD/PI! This lazy yet intelligent guy, PA is as humble as PR. He's left a mark in my life as a person who knows how to balance his life impeccably.

Great Man 3 :

I met this great man, TVS in the year 1997 when I wnt to my sixth and final school. This guy is the best mathematical brain I've ever come across. He made it a norm not to return empty-handed from any Mathematics Talent test and if possible, get the first prize in almost all of them. He is extremely down-to-earth and is like a brother to me. He was one of the top 30 mathematical brains in India that appeared in National mathematical olympiad 2001. He went to Mumbai for the training and a chance to be a part of the Indian team going to represent India in the international Mathematical olympiad in 2002, but sadly could not be a part of the team because of the presence of a few better brains! It was not a surprise again that he got AIR-169 in IIT JEE 2003. He's a genius pesonified who remains oblivious of his surroundings. An example of this is "Aata, biscuit, cigerette ki company mein engineer jaakar kya karega?" in respose to my answer to his question "Dipu, tuney ITC ka naam suna hai?" He still is a very nice and shy guy but is definitely changing for the good and getting a bit more aware of his surroundings.

I'll carry on with this and my next edition would be on the greatest man I know of.

Great expectations

Every year, lakhs of students in our country toil hard to get into the two Meccas of education, the IITs and the IIMs. Many young people are left shattered if they are unable to emerge victorious in the battle. Many students give it a shot to fulfil the wishes of their parents. The mindset in our nation is such that you are considered worthless by many if you do not take up sciences as your stream in the +2 level. But why is it so? Was each and every nobel laureate economists and author a fool to have taken up humanities for their higher education? What is the harm if a child wants to be a creative artist, an author, a sportsperson or take up any unconventional field as a career? Haven’t the sportspersons, M.F. Husseins, Vikram Seths etc. made our country proud? As soon as a baby boy is named Sachin, his parents are unable to decide whether to make him Sachin Tendulkar, Sachin Dev Burman, Sachin Khedekar or Sachin Pilot. Why should he try and become like them? Can’t he simply be Sachin XYZ and create a niche for himself?
I myself have been one of those 2 lakh aspirants running the rat’s race to get into the Meccas as mentioned above. I was amongst the losers on the first occasion but somehow managed to be on the successful side on the second one. Ever since I was a ten year old child, it was ingrained in be that I had to become an engineer because my father happened to be an alumnus of the prestigious IIT. I tried hard but knew very well that I was not one of them who could emerge victorious at the IIT JEE. Luckily my parents also knew that. In fact they were happy that their son could somehow manage to get into a good engineering college. But that was the beginning of an arduous journey for me. For four years, I struggled hard to somehow pass in all my engineering exams. I always had the feeling that I’ll never be able to become an engineer but I somehow surprised myself when I officially became on 29 June 2007. That was indeed an achievement for me.
Thanks to my engineering experience, I realized that I had to run as far away from it as possible. My parents were pleasantly surprised when I got a final call from IIM Indore, but I was happy for another reason. I thanked god for saving many a lives which would have been lost had my mechanical designs been actually fabricated and implemented in the industry. I thanked god for not letting me become a mass killer!
Everyone wants to be successful in today’s world; everyone wants to be rich. People, especially young people feel that they’ll be successful if they make millions. But to what use will they put these millions if it all gets burnt in a freak fire? What difference will they make if they keep those millions with themselves? They might be remembered as the richest men the world has seen but they’ll also be seen as selfish men who lived a selfish life on this earth. Well my suggestion to all these future millionaires is that go ahead and make millions but try and bring smiles on the faces of underprivileged people on this earth using these millions. Remember, a fire can take away all the wealth away from you but no fire can take away your good deeds from the society. Try and introspect to find the deeper cause of your existence on the face of this earth. So my friends, let us all pledge to make a beginning in this regard and through our small contributions towards the society, let us raise the level of the ocean of humanity. So chase your dreams and become what you want to, but do fulfil the expectations that god has from you.

A poem

I had my money and my friend,

I lent my money to my friend,

I asked my money from by friend,

I lost my money and my friend.

Dedicated to all those friend who are enemies disguised as friends.
(I am deeply indebted to my ancestor who wrote this poem.)

My friends

I thank my parents for putting me in a different school each year. I had to make new friends with the beginning of a new session for the first five years of my schooling. Over the years, I've had many friends, far too many to count. Many of them have given a new direction to my life, and for good or for worse, they've helped me in shaping up my personality. I've had best of friends with completely contrasting characters. Some too lazy, some too intelligent, some too active, some too talkative, but overall, they've taught me how to deal with people having different persona.
Some of them are an extended family now. They are there by my side at difficult times, out there to chat with me when I'm bored, ready with solutions for my personal problems and a lot more. In the recent past, it has so happened that I've met my old friends after four long years but the bond was as strong as it was four years back. Our lives had changed to a great extent but the deja vu took us back to those happy old tension-free school days. These meetings actually act as stress buster. I thank all of them out here.
I've also had a few friends who actually were enemies disguised as friends. Even there are a handful of them, I would like to thank all of them much more than I thanked my true friends. They've taught me how to approach people without having any expectations from them. All of them were a class of dangerous people who sadly exist on the face of this earth. And I thank them again for showing their true colour as I've learnt to identify human chameleons just because of my interactions with them !
Life @ 2007 is a fast paced one, but these wonderful companions in the form of friends can actually help you relax and make you enjoy the subtle moments of life.

Go ahead

make friends

no jewel on this earth is more precious than them