It's Over.

You know your time in IIT is running out when you are just back from your Last Inter IIT sports meet!

4 years ,2 Silvers ,1 Gold ,2 broken Bones ......Not bad at all!

This year the experience of being coach/manager/mentor/ non -playing captain all at once and yet not being able to play was a new challenge!

This team has been really special, despite not being able to pull it off in the finals. The manner in which they handled themselves and learned as they encountered various hurdles, under the guidance of their new leader, who lead from the front with his performances, was very pleasing to see.

I toast to you guys!Cheers!

"Ka-Ching"

This is the lyrics of one of my favourite songs by Shania Twain:

We live in a greedy little world--
that teaches every little boy and girl
To earn as much as they can possibly--
then turn around and
Spend it foolishly
We've created us a credit card mess
We spend the money that we don't possess
Our religion is to go and blow it all
So it's shoppin' every Sunday at the mall

All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store


Can you hear it ring
It makes you wanna sing
It's such a beautiful thing--Ka-ching!
Lots of diamond rings
The happiness it brings
You'll live like a king
With lots of money and things

When you're broke go and get a loan
Take out another mortgage on your home
Consolidate so you can afford
To go and spend some more when
you get bored

All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest stor

Let's swing
Dig deeper in your pocket
Oh, yeah, ha
Come on I know you've got it
Dig deeper in your wallet
Oh

All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store



Can you hear it ring
It makes you wanna sing
You'll live like a king
With lots of money and things
Ka-ching!

Well said!

Believe it or not!

In the latest worldwide statistics and trends released by Google, the word "sex" is searched the most by netizens of Chennai ,with Delhi taking second spot.

Something to Ponder over.

Kinaare ki Chai shop..

What is the most common site in all major Indian towns these days? Apart from the maddening traffic , it is the scene of small time tea shops, where hoards of youngsters crowd around, sipping tiny glasses of tea while they enjoy the “pleasure” of their cigarettes.

So what is it with tea and Cigarettes??

It is as though the nicotine or the caffeine was not potent enough individually, that people combine them. Going beyond the superficial, People apparently seem to take ages when they are enjoying the “combo”. I have sat through many such sessions but haven’t really understood the uniqueness of it all. One thing I can tell you is that conversations encompass a whole host of topics and such times are usually very retrospective, where people are deep in thought about some act that they committed or they are going to commit. It’s apparently all part of enjoying the Sutta! Strange…

Personally I don’t advocate the cigarette at all. Ironical it is that while all through the west Smoking has gained a taboo status, in India atleast, things are just the opposite, smoking is looked at the cool dude’s USP. It is just a shame that the majority 700 million Indians who are below the age of 35 advocate to this kind of a thought. Such wrong attitude towards smoking is having subtle impact on the young and healthy of this country. I think there should be intensive campaigns that should dissuade people from taking the drag. There is no point just typing out in font size 8 on the cigarette covers that smoking is injurious health. Celebrities are primarily responsible for this wrong image to be formed and it is their social responsibility to come forward and stop the carnage. There are many celebrities who themselves have given it up (SRK for instance) and it they who should come forward and send the message out to the public in no uncertain terms;

Something on the lines of:

“ I used to smoke. I was a big time loser. I quit now. I have saved my life and the life of many others. Quit smoking. Its not cool.”

Are you listening???

Yeh hai Mumbai Nagariya!

Well like with all my recent other entries, this one is after a while too. While that’s me.
I was in Bombay (Mumbai) for the past one month and half working for a company.No I am not going to say a word about the work I did. What I really enjoyed, (even more than my work) was exploring the variety and flavours of the city and I have to say … yeh Dil maange more!

The city is defined by its people, and the spirit with which they carry out their day to day activities. The city just hits you like a storm; whether it’s the auto guy or the big CEOs, you can always sense the buzz in their actions and words. And the most amazing part of it all is the nights, because the city never sleeps!
The disparity in the city is as clear as to be clearly demarcated by a road. The western express highway, the lifeline of the city, separates the east from the west. While the east is resided by the bourgeoisies, the west is where the high and mighty flaunt their wealth and health with lavish boutiques and entertainment hang out joint.The pinnacle of this might is the Hiranandani Complex, a region of tall superstructures, with magnificent architecture , taking us back to the roman ages. Go karting, bowling joints, coffee shops, you name it and this place has it. Young Indians (myself included!),with newfound wealth, come to here to splurge and take delight while others do the same.

The most amazing part of that place is the Go Karting which we guys did!It was an exhilarating experience, the closest I will ever I get to Formula 1 .The car is so easy to handle and its literally like a playing a video game, the only difference being that when you make a wrong turn , you go crashing into the tires and it hurts!

For the past one month I had the company of a couple of guys and gals from other IITs. And to be honest, I gotta say to it was really nice getting acquainted with their respective lingo’s and attitudes towards life. Of the few common threads that I found amongst all of us, the most evident was the fact that all of us work exactly one night prior to the deadline! Barring a couple of them, I am not sure if I will ever get to spend such quality time ever with all of them, and therefore I sign off this post raising a toast to all the good times we had:)

Cheers mate!

High times

Ah, the its been a while had a sound night's sleep. First it was the exams and then yesterday it was the fact the they were over, that i decided to stay up all night. I had to catch a flight for home today morning and little did i know that once i got here, all my drowsiness would vanish away! its been 12 hours since i am home and i am yet to hit the sack.
Well this post is not about those 12 hours, but the hours preceding to my departure from chennai.
We were at this pub called "high time",in the City's most lavish hotels, the GRT. All the "wingers" were there and as time went by people started oupouring their heartfelt thoughts. Quite a few dark, deep desires of people came out and so did their strong opinions on various issues(as is normal when you take a drink too many!).All that was said shall not be revealed, but for the following opinion of a certain "middler" , He said ,"Macha, G3W (Ganga 3rd wing ) rocks da."
Stay tuned to know why.....

The Inside stuff

The following article has made some observations, which I hope will be seen in the right context and I request nobody to take it personally.

The long and possibly most exhausting semester of my time here is drawing to a close. (It’s still not over!) I have had a pretty eventful semester. Well for one I just did not manage to find the time to RELAX! Suprising isn’t it? Well I am sure you would get a similar response from quite a few people around. After the blowing of the Saarang Bubble (Ya I found it boring!) and the drab period of February, one gets sucked to the plethora of activities that happen in campus. It also doesn’t help if one decides to contest in the institute elections. Yours truly thought he could do it all. However, elections, I realised were not meant for people like me. You got to be willing to do things which might not be morally right or seen as the right thing to do. I decided to go all alone on this one and not surprisingly I ended coming out of it empty handed. What I realised is this: Elections is never about the deserved candidate winning.( Okay I am not whining here!) I can now safely say that I was NOT the “right candidate”, I just thought I was.

A “right candidate” should in my opinion be:

- One guy who can converse in various languages (and consequently befriend the various networks)

- Should not worry about bunking classes (big factor, It cost me!)

- Should have a very good information gathering system (because nobody will tell you on your face that they are not with you!)

- Should be willing to play “dirty” ( I cannot elaborate on this, because I did nothing!)

-And finally should be never believe that he is winning until, the actual results are out.

I might have lost the elections, but it did give me a whole new perspective of the “other side” of campus life. I got to meet a lot of new people (M.Tech students in particular) and just realised how apathetic they are to the cause. You have people who don’t give a horse shit about who is going to win. In fact most people in campus fall under this category. It is only a handful of people, who having something at stake, that think about picking the “deserved” candidate.

I had heard from people that if you had a practical and well thought out manifesto and if you were able to put it across in a convincing manner, you would win. However, things are not that straightforward in this place.

At some level I feel the whole process of elections is screwed up. Over a period of five days, one is expected to meet and convince 5000 odd people, and at the same time carry on with the other activities of campus, like Schroeter and coursework.However that is not the most infuriating part of the whole thing. Here is the WORST part of it all: The “Soapbox”, an official public forum where contestants are given an opportunity to present their manifesto and hopefully woo people towards their side, is held in one of the most remote locations in campus: At the corner most hall in the fourth floor of the library! The whole point of the holding such a gathering is lost, when in fact there is no gathering!

I thought I would be able to manage my academics during that period. However I found very difficult even to make it to classes, leave alone completing assignments. During the whole period of the election I got the feeling that this was not meant for me and the thought that the whole system was tilted in favour of those who, cared just a little less about other stuff happening in campus, kept running through my head. The victors were those who put their mind, body, heart and soul (and god knows what else!) in seeing it to the finish line first.

Recently I was reading a piece written by the Middler on the extent of the extra curriculars in campus and I could not agree with him more when says there is just too much to do and too little people doing it. His point that there is just too much happening in campus for one to handle is well made. I mean, at the end of the day, we must all ask ourselves this question, why are we here? Is it to go and win Schroeter(which btw, Ganga under my leadership managed this year) and then LitSoc and if that’s not enough try and win TechSoc (and if you are still hungry for more… try the elections, followed by a coordships and ah.. the coreships!)? How do you expect people to have the time , energy and motivation left to do some academic work done when they are constantly being pushed from one extra curricular to the other. I think the whole calendar of campus life needs to be reviewed. The cynics would say that one has to cater for every taste in terms of activities and it is an individual choice to take part in whichever activity one feels like. But more often that not, one sees the same set of people doing most of things, while the rest are happy doing nothing. THAT is the root of the issue which needs to be addressed. Enough has been said on this and it is time something is done about it.

2 007
Well, 2007 has arrived. Its amazing what a big deal is made out of a mere turn of the clock. Phone calls, SMSs, emails, scraps, (I don’t know of any other form of communication) are full of happy New Year wishes. I just totally hate those custom happy New Year messages which I receive from people, whom I can barely recognize
All you come to know from those messages is the exact number of people who have your number stored in their phonebook.
Oh btw, Happy new year.