The Big Bong Theory

                Ever since my First Encounter with the fiery Bengali race in early 2010, I am a changed man. I am in love with everything about Bengalis - their rapidly spoken Language, their slangs : boka ***** ,   ^^^^^^  chhele ( in all variants! ), their Anglo-Bangla accent where the English alphabets lose all their sense of  Phonetics  Ond bhecome bheri bheri fhonny sounding :)


               The plethora of food right from chats like Golgappa and  Jhaal muri to sweets like  Paish and Chitrakut , and traditional meals like Luchis with the  choto aam misthi jhol (small-mango-sweet curry), their fearless socio-political ideas, their soulful Music like  Mohiner  Ghoraguli ( Plagiarised by Pritam in Gangster ) and Art movies like  Paathe'r Paanchali, Antaheen and  The Japanese Wife  have endeared me to them. This endearment is so overwhelming that when I even meet a stranger who happens to be a Bengali, I tend to strike a conversation and crack a joke with him in Bangla..( much to his shock! )
The good ol' Bullee is now,  BONGOBONDHU  BULLEE  MOSHAI !


               It happened in Hyderabad during the months of Jan and Feb 2010 during the Initial Learning Program of the IT company I had joined. I was away from my family for the First time, in an alien land with no one to call my own. I had been brought up in a very protective environment, where I was dependent on my family for everything, with limited sense of responsibilty and freedom. For this reason I was apprehensive when I left Bengaluru. And what waited for me in Hyderabad was a culture shock - A batch full of Bengali and Oriya people who all belonged to the same college and knew each other and also had their own friends' circles.
But I am no underdog !


              I found that Bangla and Oriya were linguistically similar, and that Konkani and Bangla sounded similar. Putting together all the similarities, I picked up Bangla rapidly and in 2 weeks, I was in a position to engage in a mild conversation normally, and embarass even a tough-guy Bengali in a competition of swear words ! ( Special thanks to Sudip Chandra Mitra aka Robot ) This , and my Life Skills class exploits ( Hats off to our zesty coordinator Sreedevi Nagnur ! ) of Oratory and Comic timing coupled with my Entertainment Quotient, social concerns and down to earth demeanour won me a whole lot of Friends and Fans ! Sometimes, people who did not even know me personally but who had heard about me from their Friends, would come and talk to me, share a joke or two. Then they would invite me to their flat for a gathering and walk away with a glow of satisfaction on their face when I said Yes !


                My guitar sessions with Avik and Chasu in the spacious Hall of our flat where we sang songs like Bheegi Bheegi, Lukka Chhupi, Nirvana, Give me some Sunshine, Tu hi re and Bangla songs like Prithibita Naki.. etc were an instant hit with the female population of our co-ed Hostel and we always had clandestine visitors who secretly listened to our jamming sessions, by crowding the Staircase near our flat window :D
An EVERYBODY LOVES ANISH situation prevailed, making me thank the Almighty for giving me the Best Time of my life !


                Before long, I had learnt to understand and speak Bangla, in a slow, broken manner. I also couldn't help but notice the likeliness in Konkani and Bengali culture, clothing, jewellery, Worship, festivals, Wedding customs, bridal wear to name a few. There had to be a link. All this compelled me to research my Forefathers' history and geneology to find out the missing link between Bangla and me. I found that we Gauda Saraswat Brahmans were a community whose existence was chronicled in the Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharata. We were settlers along the Mystical River Saraswati in North India, which is how we were called Saraswat. All was well until thousands of years ago, the grand river dried up and changed its course due Glacial changes in the Himaalayas. The once fertile Rajasthan, Kutch and Sindh became deserts and this event forced the mass migration of the Saraswat community to the banks of Ganga, which led them to the Blessed Land - Gauda Desha - which was the ancient name . . .
for modern day  B E N G A L .


                 The Saraswats prospered here and absorbed the traditions and cultures and the language of the land and had a good life. In 1000 AD, the king of Gauda desha sent 96 families of Saraswats to settle down in Gomantaka Desha - - G O A  and flourish, as he had a marital alliance with the King of Gomantaka. Those 96 families who came down to Goa were called Gauda Saraswat Brahmans by the local people, refering to their place of origin.
The Saraswats who remained in Bengal mingled with the local population and lost their unique identity, while these 96 - shutnavi ( Origin of the name Shenoy )  families - "shut" meaning 6 and "navi" meaning 90, most of them being educated and experienced in Trade, Administrative Services and Mathematics recieved the patronage of the Kadamba kings and flourished in Goa.


                 Again.. All was well for another 500 years, until in 1500s the Portuguese landed in Goa and replaced the Local Kings. The religious intolerance of Alphonso de Albuquerque and the policy of INQUISITION under which all the Hindu temples were destroyed, and the forcible conversion of the local population forced the Mass Exodus of the Konkani people further South, along the west coast, to places like Mangalore, Udupi and Kerala. I found that My family, was among the ones settled in Udupi. I was filled with a sense of pride and admiration when I knew this :)  Atlast, I had found my Bong Connection !


                I was growing up, mentored by Sabiha. I was just beginning to discover new facets of Life, shown to me by Avik and Uttam. The fearlessness of Chasu and Hula, and the Light hearted-seriousness of Sudipto and Sapto were beginning to permeate inside me.
But the 45 days passed away sooner than I thought.


                One by one, all my friends departed to different cities, different from my destination - Bengaluru. I was all alone. Sometimes I wonder, if I should have chosen Mumbai over Bengaluru, and given Life a chance. The days that followed were very depressing for me. Every moment, I was reminded of my Glorious Bengali friends, their advice, laughter, care, love and all the good things they had inside them, which they showered on me.
Life became monotonous again.


                I always wondered when things would be like Normal again; like in Hyderabad my beloved city. And Lo. A miracle.
God heard me in August. I consider my new Bong team mates to be a God-sent gift; ..

..

..


An answer...

To my long standing ... Guzaarish !

Mother.. India

        

               We all watch so many movies these days, thanks to uTorrent and the Internet ! Even those movies that are not available in most Indian Video rental stores, are now available free of cost to the niche audiences who desire them. Some movies are so touching, and leave so big an impact that the viewer's Life is turned around; He is Awakened from the core; He sees a new meaning for his Existence, a new direction for his rudderless Life.
One such movie is Mother India.

              Mother India is a realistic story of a typical Indian farmer, the hardships he has to face, his exploitation at the hands of the lecherous local Money Lender, and the ultimate betrayal by the Indian Monsoon. It was released in 1957. The story revolves around the Life of the newly married farmer Shamu ( Raaj Kumar ) who takes a loan of Rs.500 from the Money Lender , to cover the expenses of his wedding with Radha ( Nargis ). They have a happy married life and are blessed with a Son. Shamu, feeling very joyous about his son as well as the freshly cut Harvest, begins to distribute parts of the grain to the poor and needy. All is well.

      


                At this juncture, the Money Lender walks in and claims that the Harvest belongs to him, and that Shamu doesn't have any right to distribute it to Anyone. Shamu thinks that the Money Lender is playing a joke on him. But then, the Money Lender brings forth the loan Contract bearing the Thumb impression of Shamu. It turns out that Shamu is illiterate, and the Money Lender took advantage of this and formed an unfair contract which said that until Shamu paid back the Rs.500 loan, he had to Give away three-fourths of his harvest to the Money Lender as "interest". Shamu is enraged by this as three-fourths of the Harvest was any day more valued than the Rs.500 he owed, and presents his case to the village Elders, who rule in favour of the Money Lender,  so as to appease him and save the rest of the village from credit related problems.

              But Shamu is not bogged down by this. He thinks that he can pay back the principle amount before the Next harvest, thereby not losing any more of his hard earned Produce. He and his wife work hard with the sowing and are sure that the contract conditions will be met much before the Harvest. But the Indian Monsoon plays spoil sport and Drought sets in. Shamu's crops wither away due to lack of water, and Shamu is compelled to sell his wife's jewellery and his farm Bullocks to pay the Money Lender the equivalent of his "interest". Meanwhile, one more member is added to the family . Shamu and Radha, raise their family bravely facing all hardships.


            Inorder to pay off their mounting debt, Radha and Shamu decide to cultivate the rocky patch of land that they hitherto had not cultivated, due to the rugged terrain. While using his hands to clear the huge boulders, fate plays a cruel joke and BOTH of Shamu's hands are crushed under the boulder. Now Shamu is totally devastated. To even perform basic activities, he has to take his wife's help. There is a very touching scene where his 2nd son Birju ( Sunil Dutt ) holds the Beedi to his mouth while he smokes it. Birju is mischievous, and takes a few puffs himself ! Nargis serves her husband with utmost devotion, but Shamu thinks he is a burden on his family, as he is not a working member anymore, and leaves his family. He is shown to have gone to a holy place to beg for alms.

   
       Again, Radha and the kids work hard on the land and manage to raise a healthy harvest. Radha has a baby daughter. BUT, A storm sweeps through the village destroying the harvest and leveling all the homes. Radha's youngest child dies in the midst of this. The villagers start to migrate but decide to stay and rebuild on the urging of Radha.

15 years later -
       The movie is all about the Strength of Radha , who singlehandedly raises her family and pays off her debt. Birju, embittered by the wickedness of the Money Lender since his childhood takes out his frustrations by pestering the village girls, especially the Money Lender's daughter. Ramu, by contrast, has a calmer temper and is married soon after.  Birju becomes a Bandit and harasses the Money Lender and acts like Robin Hood by helping the villagers. The film ends after a while when Birju is shot dead by his mother.


                   I was totally shaken after watching this movie. For a long time, i kept thinking this - " Why did the poor, hard working farmer have to undergo ALL this in the first place? "
If he had got a proper loan from a bank with a well defined and reasonable Rate of Interest, he need not have gone to the wicked Money Lender. But alas; I found that our System is so uptight that our Banks dont give out loans to small time farmers whose land-holdings are not big enough to grant a loan. When approached, banks outrightly deny them the loan, while favouring BIG farmers, so that they can be sure that their investment is returned on time. Most farmers are too confused to know about the devious procedures our banks have. We, well educated youngsters face so many hardships every year when we pay our college fees or any other financial transaction, standing in the long lines near the bank counters, where the bank clerks do everything possible to increase our hardship.

                  In 2008 , the Central Govt. announced a Rs. 60,000 crore farm-loan waiver for Indian farmers. The farmers were initially very happy to hear this. But the fine-print said that only those loans would be waived off, that were taken from any of the NATIONALISED banks. The small time farmers were doomed. The big farmers who had large lands and got loans from Big Banks, were given the waivers, while the poor and needy farmers, who actually needed the money and who took the loan from local Money Lenders under exorbitant Interest Rates were NOT given the waiver. In India, the welfare measures taken up by the govt. somehow do not reach the needy. They get lost somewhere along the way in the mouths of greedy and avaricious govt. servants.
Thats when I heard about Mohammad Younis.



                 An economics professor at Chittagong University in Bangladesh in 1970s, he was devastated by the poverty around him, worsened by crop failure and famine that was going on at the time. He started out by giving small loans to the poorest of the poor people who had no papers or credit worthiness. He told them that it was a loan, not a gift, and that they should pay it back when they could afford to do so. He relied purely on the goodwill of the people to return the loans.

                The people were touched by his gesture. No one had ever extended to them a helping hand in their lives. They were so happy on getting the much needed money that  they put their heart and soul into their work. They got the maximum output out of it , and had so much gratitude that they returned the principle amount with a small interest as well.

This was the birth of  Micro Finance.



               Slowly, Md. Younis extended his operations all over Bangladesh and alleviated millions of lives out of poverty. He won a Nobel Prize for this in the year 2006. Now his Foundation works worldwide to help people. Few such organization exist in India though.


             One thought kept coming over and over in my mind. . .

What if. . .


What if . . an educated, liberated and empowered Indian, could take up an MBA in Finance at some IIM, Give up the lucrative placements, and then, start a Micro Finance organization to uplift crores of poor Indian people and give them a decent life . . .

How awesome would that be? !


( to end this post on a happy note, let me say that, on the sets of MOTHER INDIA, Sunil Dutt fell in love wit Nargis, who played his mother, and married her in 1956, and our Munnabhai SANJAY DUTT was born out of this adventure in 1957 ! ) Lagey Raho !

Head over Heels . . .

6th June, 2009

         It was a bright Saturday evening, and I was attending BYJU's CAT workshop at JNC Koramangala. This workshop was so much more informative and useful than the useless I.M.E.T classes I had attended last year.. All    I.M.E.T.  did was make false claims of having sent more number of students to IIMs than any other institute. Falling for their advertising, I had joined them last year.
It didn't take me long to realise that my 20K had gone down the drain.

         After CAT 08, I was all set to start my prep for this time- the Final attempt. A do-or-die one. It was then that I heard about BYJU's classes. BYJU Raveendran was a mechanical engineer from IIT and a serial CAT topper, getting 100pctile and rejecting calls from all 6 IIMs every year! He was a math genius, an expert in mentally solving math problems. 1 out of 8 students in his class made it THERE ! He was a keralite bloke, with a straight serious face, well built physique and of good height. His classes were so well structured that after the culmination of every class, he along with his knowledgable aides, would wait outside the hall and clarify all the doubts we had. Needless to say, his support staff knew as much about the subjects as him, and were fully qualified.
This was why My confidence level went up after each class !

         June 6th was a Numbers-1 reschedule, dealing with the Remainder theorem, divisibility rules, Euler's number, Chinese remainder theorem and so on. It was a heavy-on-concepts session and incidentally I had a few doubts to clarify. I directed my doubts to one of his support staff who was a young super hot female, who resembled Perizaad Zorabian ! :-) she was an IIM-A topper, who gave up her lucrative placement to work here! That made me wonder how much  MORE  Byju had offered her to bring her here.

         She borrowed a pen from a guy standing nearby, and effortlessly solved the remainder of (11/77)^97 on my book. Then, she had one look at me, and just like the SET-WET-STYLE ad( the hot female teacher starts behaving wierdly, scribling angiograms on the blackboard and starts smiling after the cool dude enters her class), this gal went head over heals, and handed over the MaxWriter pen to ME, profusely thanking ME; while I tried to say that the pen actually belonged to the Other guy standing nearby :-) She couldnt comprehend, stood there thanking me again, [ WHY ? ] and handed over the pen !!! Only when I said it the second time did she understand what she was doing !
She looked down, gave me a sheepish smile and handed over the pen to the other guy, whose mouth was gaping wide open !

           She was short, petite and delicate, with a sharp featured face not unlike Perizaad's with beautiful kohl laced eyes, wearing some designer Kurti, with a flowing hairdo just like Perizaad's, only better :-)
The break ended and I went back to the class.


          Later at the end of the session, I was standing at the entrance waiting for Byju when SHE herself came to me and asked me what I wanted !! I hadn't expected this. I blabbered something about some topic that Byju had forgotten to cover that day, which was what I wanted to remind him. She told me it was covered in some other class and was about to give me more details when, out of nowhere, BYJU swooped in, with a mean and impatient look on his otherwise calm face !!!! A bit rudely, if I may say. Instead of debating, he quickly summarized THAT topic for me then and there, with a look on his face that said, " Are you done ?? "
My eyes were wide open, witnessing this bizarre spectacle. . . I answered in affirmative, and asked Her some concluding questions and left the place, shocked.


As i walked back outside, Only ONE thought came to my head over and over - - - - - - - - -



I JUST MESSED WITH BYJU'S GIRL !!!!

Fond Remembrance...

Today is the last day of Diwali, of 2008. On this special day, I wish to write a post about someone I really care for, who means a lot to me.


26th of January, 2008


Saturday being Republic Day, was India's 59th one.. It was the commemoration of the day our country chose to get rid of all Kings and Rulers of the Land, and brought together all the provinces and princely states in the subcontinent to form Unified India. I watched the India-Gate parade on TV.. Each of the regiments of the army had its elite troops marching in tune with their respective bands, saluting our President, Pratibha Patil and the foreign dignitary Vladmir Putin, the Russian president.

This year's parade was a hogwash where Lots of dummies and cardboard cutouts were used in the place of the actual Aircrafts and Helicopters and Missiles. It was funny to see a gas balloon model of our Dhruv Advanced light helicopter, to see GI Joe like models of our aircrafts propped on trucks using thin poles. Even the BRAHMOS cruise missiles, AGNIs and other ICBMs were just props. They did not seem real. Not even from distance ! Only the tanks and artillery seemed real.


At noon, me and Dad set out to bring home my late grandfather's brother, Govindraya Bhandarkar from Dadar, Mumbai, who was staying at my other grandpa Vasudev Bhandarkar's place in Nandini Layout.

After lunch, I showed him to my room and offered my bed for his nap. I was longing to ask him so many things about his life, which I doubt anyone knew. Because I felt this could be our last chance...

He sat on my bed and I sat on my chair, face to face. " I'l turn 87 this July " he said, when I asked him his age. I could not believe it. He was of medium height with a lean frame, with sharp eyes and a round shining head with grey hair neatly growing at the sides. He had round cheekbones that gave his clean shaven, moustache-less face a benevolent look when he smiled, baring his sparkling white teeth. He wore double pocketed full sleeved shirts( tucked out ) and trademark cotton trousers with horizontal slits as front pockets that went out of fashion in the 80's. ( revived by Shah Rukh Khan in Om Shanti Om !)  Looking at him, I had always thought he could be 70+. Maybe 75. But he was 86 ! He was so fit and so away from the usual afflictions of old age.


He said they were 8 siblings, and that my great grandpa was a Goldsmith, his shop situated in the narrow lane leading to Rath Beedhi in Udupi, where the multitude of silk saree showrooms are now located. When my grandpa Srinivas, the eldest sibling was in 8th grade, his Jeweller dad had an untimely death. He dropped out of school and did petty jobs to immediately support his huge family. The other siblings were very young, some of them toddlers. " Those days were very hard ", he often said during our conversation.

My grandpa Srinivas commandeered two buses and ran a transport service with some partners. He toiled day in and day out. Soon, he expanded his service by adding 60 buses to his fleet, adding more routes, and one day took over the whole company. This prosperous company was christened GAJANANA MOTORS, and I feel proud to say that it is operational even today. Its also listed in BSE. He also ran a Vehicle dealership and Service centre at Sagar and Rubber factories in Bangalore.


Govindray-ajja matriculated in 1942 in Udupi and left for Bombay, the city of dreams. WW II was raging in full force and Bombay bore the brunt of the frequent German reconnaissance airplanes. Germans never bombed the city, but nevertheless, air-raid warnings would be issued and the people would run out of buildings and head to open grounds, he said. This is a little known fact even today, where people believe Indian soil was unaffected by WW II. Bombay being a British stronghold, and the imminent threat of an attack on the city made the citizens of Bombay head for safer places in the countryside. As such, the rents of buildings and apartments went down drastically, as they had no takers. This was the ideal time for immigrants to settle in the city they would call Home. Ajja found a good apartment in Dadar-Matunga for cheap rent. He stayed there with his friends who had a Holy Calling. They later went on to become heads of great spiritual institutions like the Ramakrishna Mission at Belur Math in Bengal.
Their ideas rubbed off on Ajja, and he too decided not to marry, though he dint becoma a Monk.

The British govt. made Bombay the hub of manufacturing War materials. The American made GM brand engines would arrive from England and they would be fitted into armoured vehicles here, and then sent away to the Front. Millions of hectares of forests were destroyed to supply timber for the rifles and battle ships. Foodgrains, Meat, fodder-grass and any available item was shipped to England and India was plundered to the core. Inflation touched the roof  people died of starvation. Ajja worked as a Shorthand specialist in the war supplies depot, he said.

" London was completely destroyed by the Luftwaffe bombing " , he said. Only the great leadership of Churchill saved Britain, and the American nuking of Japan's cities effectively ended the war, which otherwise would have dragged on for a much longer time. The British were so fed up with Gandhi's Satyagraha that they promised to give freedom to India a few yrs after the war ended. Ajja said he had actually seen Gandhi and other leaders in speeches and rallies held at Shivaji park. Satyagraha was so popular that, all the Indians were ready to even give up even their lives on his cue. But the British couldn't see us rejoice and partitioned the country before they left. Widespread revolts broke out all over the country where once upon a time, people of all communities lived peacefully. "No one was safe..", he said.


According to the Bombay Buildings Act, structures constructed prior to 1940 would see no significant increase in rent, ie compared to the current market prices. So even now, he only pays the same rent which he paid in 1942 ! I have seen the heritage building and its amazingly well maintained and spacious, with wooden windows, Black colored electrical switches, and trees flanking the compound walls. They dont make such buildings in Mumbai anymore !


He also told me a secret. One of my uncles was confused in his youth, yet to learn a profession and settle down. My grandpa worried a lot about this uncle, he said. Then, sometime in the late 60's, that uncle was sent to Bombay to live with Ajja, for career guidance. He said that he had a hard time controlling him. Ajja made him go to gym and involved him in sports, and also taught him a few tricks of trade. Later, that uncle came back home and became interested in Government tenders and contracts. He formed a group of people who went to the Govt. auctions and as a group, agreed not to bid for a tender for more than HALF its actual price. Then they all equally split the profits.
He is now a multi-millionaire with a flourishing business.


Sometime in between our conversation, my bro Sachin entered the room and was a keen audience. After this, I left Ajja alone to resume his nap. CAT classes were cancelled on account of Republic Day.

The next day, Ajja woke me up and handed me a roll of currency. I accepted it after a small protest and touched his feet. I later found out there were 5 notes of 500 each. Later, I accompanied him back to my cousin's house in Nandini layout.


Now why did he give me that? I do not understand. Being in college, with just a couple of 100s in my pocket at any point of time, 2500 was BIG money for me. Was it because he felt happy for the kind attention I paid? People usually do not talk to old people and I dont think anyone had asked him so many things about his life in such depth. That must have immensely warmed his heart.


All I can say is that, whatever I did, I did it because I genuinely enjoyed doing it... It gave me utmost satisfaction, during and afterwards. And what happened to the 2500?
I bought myself a Guitar with that money, when I wasn't getting any support from Dad!!  : D



( my Grandpa's brother, the Nandini layout Grandpa, Vasudev passed away on 24th August this year. I dedicate this post to his memory. My Entrepreneur Grandpa Srinivas passed away in 1990 and the bachelor  Govindraya Ajja lives in Mumbai alone, to this day. )

The Green Mile

Its been a long break from blogging, a very long one indeed ! Prodded by my followers to post new things, I have come back, with a handful of posts in my kitty.. here goes..


7th of July, 2008

I love greenery. It never fails to charm me.. I identify various tree species, some commonly seen in Bangalore, and a few not-so-common ones. All around me, I usually observe which trees are present, their size, their conditions and other stuff. And commit this to memory.

When most Bangaloreans construct a concrete structure, they destroy any greenery around it. From a long time, I had seen a Rain tree near a newly constructed building in our locality. The builders had spared the tree. All these days, it gladdened my heart to know that there were people who still cared for trees.

But today, as we set out to watch Jaane tu.. Ya jaane na @ Abhinay, I saw that tree cut down.

All its branches had been chopped down and only the stout trunk stood. Surely they would chop off even that, soon. Although it was the tree that had got cut, I felt the pain.

What right did they have to do this dastardly act? It was neither blocking their 'view' nor their entrance, quietly growing on the side. I was filled with grief.

We couldn't get the tickets, we did some shopping and returned. I was morose throughout. I decided I wouldn't take things lying down. I dashed an email to the Editor of TOI.. I recounted how trees were cut down, for no reason at all, and that whether it was a new house, or a shopping mall that was coming up, the 1st thing that was done was to mercilessly cut down any nearby tree, eventhough it posed no harm.

I cited the TOP 5  reasons why people did this, from my own survey and findings,, I listed them :-


5. " I hate clearing away the fallen dry leaves from time-to-time.."

4. " that big tree blocks the sunlight to my plants.. "

3. " it blocks the 'view' of our house ..."

2. " a tree in front of a shop means bad business..."

and now, the best one... silliest ;

1. " u mean tat wild thing there tat grew there? I had a dream that it was going to fall on me one day.. it could cause my Death.. "


From what I reckon of the situation, in Bangalore especially, there is NO REASON at all... its a deep rooted mentality..

and there are no permission letters or "cut-1-tree-plant-2-trees-" involved..

My blood boils when I mutely witness this , with no power in my hands...

I asked the Editor what could be done in this matter.. I wanted to know if WE, as Bangaloreans could petition the CM to grant powers to the general public, wherein any person who witnessed such crimes could punish the wrong doers in whatever way he thought best. If this measure was implemented toughly, it would act as a Deterrent and more trees could be saved.
Or else, the future looks bleak :-(


But, realistically speaking, we cant prevent every such case.. What we CAN do is plant more trees and nurture them till they are independent. No one can take away this right from you, nor do you need anyone's permission to do so..

Ending on a positive note, lets hope the stout trunk grows again, and the persons involved wont cut that down too !

come,, Join Hands !

Double Whammy !

March has been good to me... Giving me those things that other men mostly dream about during daytime, but never get close enough! ;-)  But wait, dont think otherwise; by double whammy , I only mean favourable VTU results and a mind blowing job interview where I am taking charge !!


1st of March, 2008

It was a pleasant Saturday, and the day of our Reckoning, the day the 5th sem VTU results were out. It was evening when I accessed my results page. This time I got marks close to what I had predicted. A distinction, close to 72%. BUT, the scores predicted for each of the subjects, were not as predicted. There was the Operating Systems paper for which I was expecting 70, but got 36 and there was the Advanced Microprocessor paper which I was only hoping to clear decently, and I got a 63 in that !! Amazing VTU evaluation! My projected score was 665, and my actual score was 645. The disparity was only 20 this time despite getting an unexpected 36 in OS.
I felt good and I felt relieved. I have good faith in the VTU re-val system. I got 20m last time.. those bastards cant correct papers sanely the first time, they do so only when students like me pay 400 bucks per subject for re-val.

Right from the beginning of this semester, we were always told that the placements would be after 6th sem exams. This kept me off my guard for all these days till the 4th of March, when it was announced that Tukali Consultancy Services( lets call this TuCS now on! ) would be coming on 17th March!! But I was still in a jolly mood, brimming with confidence, knowing I could depend on my wits in any situation... Me and my classmates decided not to attend classes till 19th.. internals were kept on 10,11,12th. As I had not touched my textbooks till now I decided to make the most of this situation by turning it into a 'mini vacation'...
... By bunking the 1st set of internals : ) [ really evil plan, eh? ]


And wow, what a great time I had... I had something like 14 days all for myself, without having to go to that same old college, see the same old faces of those dumb people paid to engage us for 6 long hours and ruin our days; I revisited all the things I couldn't do enough in the 'regular' vacations. I watched 1 movie per day, doing nothing else except playing IGI-2 Covert strike.. I also read True Believer by Nicholas Sparks, and Quite Honestly by Sir John Mortimer. And these were the movies I caught up with - Mithya , Awarapan, Halla bol, the patriot, Braveheart, Crouching tiger hidden dragon, Donnie brasco, Scary movie-4, Mystic river, American gangster, V for vendetta.........

As they say, good times fly... and soon, days flew by and it was 14th march. 3days left for the TuCS placements. I literally jumped out of my dream. I had a remote feeling of remorse, for not having prepared, but I still had not given up. I knew I could come out of anything... I had a plan. and I was going to do just that.


I first started building my resume.. After 3hrs, I had a power-packed resume in my hand... It was a format widely adapted in the United States, unlike the average local student resume which began with a huge underlined heading, RESUME, having things like carrier( career ) objectives, dairy ( diary ) writing hobbies, pubic relations [ public, actually ! ], a huge box filled up with their percentages, and finally, a declaration of the veracity of their CV! Really funny resumes.. I could write a whole post on them...


Then, I Visualized the interview scenario, and how I would answer the likely questions. I mentally prepared myself for any likely case by 'play'ing each one in my mind.. As for the Quant questions in aptitude, I knew what their standard was, and was wondering why others were fretting so much over nothing.. the verbal part, I felt needed no special preparation as my vocab was good and I could figure out things by my own.. the critical reasoning was one area I needed to learn. It was serious CAT standard. You needed fundaas for that, without which, you couldnt go ahead by even an inch.


It was late afternoon on 16th when I actually started a sample TuCS paper.. that was the only paper I solved.. then, I quickly revised whatever C++ I had learnt 2yrs ago. That took time. We would be asked what our favourite subject was, and questions would be concentrated on that..



17th of march, Monday

After making us wait for 2hrs in the audi, the HR person of TuCS, a great fellow by name Chakravarti arrived on stage and gave an excellent presentation about his company, extolling all its successes and inadvertantly overshadowing all other IT and telecom companies, and creating an impression in our innocent minds that TuCS was the world leader! [ which is true! ] This guy actually used the phrase "blah blah blah" wherever a normal person would use the latin word "etc" !


The online aptitude tests followed shortly. An online test is different from a paper test, here there is a time-out set for each of the 3 sections of the paper unlike the paper tests, where we can answer any question we want and spend whatever duration in any individual section, not exceeding the total time...


The verbal section was challenging; serious GRE level questions. The quantitative section was a cakewalk for a CAT Aspirant like me. Critical reasoning was where I faltered. I had some 5min to spare before the test would time out. Suddenly after timeout, I got a pop-up saying, "You have not qualified in this test, Thank u for taking this Test."
I was shocked. All the colour drained out from my face.


I was perplexed as to how I could not get through the lower cutoff after doing so well. There were not many people who could have outdone me. And TuCS were going to take in lots of people... something was wrong. And only a handful of ppl had got that message. I seriously felt bad.. The list would be put up in the evening, but there was no point waiting in college till then. I went home, and just slept the whole afternoon away. Then I decided to go to the college and check out, late in the evening... and to my surprise my name was right at the TOP ! I had crossed the Upper cutoff, that was why the stupid machine had displayed that msg !! I'l explain, the companies usually keep two cutoff's. 1 lower- which you all know, and another called Upper cutoff. To filter away those students who maxed the test [ I cant understand why.. ! ] the others who had got that pop-up dint have their names in the list.

I was overjoyed ! My fame spread everywhere :) Cant explain how happy I felt !



Monday, the 18th

I wore a light blue cotton shirt, a dark bluish silk tie, and black corduroy trousers. These had cost me a bomb, 2800 bucks apart from the expensive Italian shoes! And I looked like a thoroughly professional executive, more impressive than the HR fellow interviewing me! I was among the first to get interviewed. The bloke who called me for the technical round was mild looking and good natured.

He asked me questions that ranged from virtual memory, page faults, heap memory, CDMA & GSM networks, to dangling pointers, circular linked list etc. Then he asked me to explain the logic to build a software for a casino owner who wants to know the odds of his customers' winning in a Roulette game having two dices. He also asked me the data structure needed to implement that. He was impressed by my answer and its approach.. He asked if I had any questions.. I asked him about the work culture in TCS, and how close they actually were in achieving their 2010 goal of global dominance in IT.. He smiled and said that they were much ahead and that they would reach that in 2009 itself !! My interview lasted for 15 min, and I questioned him for a good 10 min ! From what I heard, other students just left the room when they were asked if they had anything to ask ! !

I knew I had floored him :) and here comes the exciting part, my MR- management resource round... The transcript :-


him( ha ha ): So Ashok....
me: Sir, my name is Anish... [ :-) ] Ashok is my dad's name

him: then why have you written it in ur middle name?
me: Sir, wen you study in Bombay, they re-format your name as SURNAME / FATHER'S NAME / FIRST NAME
and thats how I got my new name !

him [amused] : Anish,, so u r a maharashtrian?
me: No sir, I only lived there 5yrs,, i'm a Konkani actually.

him: so tel me abt yourself
me: sir, I'm a smart worker. I like to work smart. than working long hrs and doing very less work.
I like to motivate myself and those around me.
apart from my success, I also like to see my friends succeed.

him: brief me as to what you did to motivate others
me: as I was waiting outside I saw many guys fretting and getting tensed for the interview..
I relieved them , gave a pep-up talk

him[ amused ] : wat did you do, dance in front of' 'em ?
me: No sir ! as I said, it was only vocal support :)

him[ a big amile on his face ]: so anish, u r good at quiz?
me[ grinning ] : yes sir!

him: who was india's 1st president?
me: Dr. rajendra prasad

him: who came next?
me: dr. s radhakrishnan

him: are you sure its not the other way round?
me: positive.

him: wat does "S" stand for?
me: Sarvepalli.

him: is he a Kannadiga?
me: no sir, Tamilian I believe

him: you are just guessing , aren't you?
me: sarvepalli is near tiruchirapalli. in TN

him: Are you sure?
me: sure...

him[ convinced ]: i'l check it out later !
and who came next after him?

me: neelam sanjiva reddy
zakir hussain
gyani zail singh.....

him: okay okay ! stop.. !
me: ... and I also went to IIT madras fest where I won a quiz held by GE...

him[ with his mouth wide open ]: oh.. so what where the questions there like?
me: some of the good questions were...

1> NASA built a new space launch vehicle running on nuclear power.. but it was banned by the IAEA after its test launch.. Sir, can u guess how it worked, would you answer that?

him: i... ahem..... o.... lemme see... huh....
okay I give up
me: its not like it carries a nuclear plant, converts water to steam, etc
all it does is bust a Nuke under the rocket which has a channeling mechanism to direct the energy... this propels the rocket !!
As such it was banned . its like making a nuclear test every time you want to launch something !

him [ eyes wide open ]: oh.. never thought it that way !
me: 2nd Q
2> incandescent bulbs are filled with a rare gas- Argon. why ?
could u answer that Sir?

him: err.... is it for heat retention?
me: NO sir ! actually tungsten [ the filament ] has a low melting point.. it can emit light only below the melting point.. and 230V of electricity is enough to melt it down... so a rare gas is added inside to reduce the temperature inside, to avoid meltdown and actually make the bulb emit continuous light !!
him [ bowled over !! ] : oh.. those were pretty good Q's !
me [ grinning ]: IITians are a class apart.. it was a very challenging quiz...

him [ :-) ] : how would you rate your communication skills?
me: sir, i think it would be best if u throw some light on that !
him [ amazed ] : now come on, give it a shot.. is it 5 , or 6, or 7.....? ? ?
me : i would rate myself a conservative 8/10

him: that will be all anish, do u have anything to ask?
me : of course !
I liked Mr. chakravarti's PPT yest... it was wonderful.. i'm impressed by your company; he has succeeded in creating a favourable impression in our minds...
[ i asked him abt the work culture in TCS and abt their goal of global dominance, which he happily answered.. ]

[after 15min]
him[ tired, but still ] : anything else you wanna ask , anish?
me : that will be all Sir :) [ big smile on my face ! ]
have a good day...

Next came the HR round... It was same as the MR with similar questions asked, but by a different person.. from wat i understand, our way of speaking and confidence level is monitored. After the usual do u have anything to ask, I asked the Fat HR guy [ Naveen benedict ] the same questions I had asked others...
But I went 1 step further ......

I had noticed that the HR guy was very young, not more than 25-26. this surprised me. HR guys are the ones with loads of experience.. out of curiosity, I asked him just that.
He said what i had guessed was right ! He was just 2yrs out of college ! He said, in TCS our qualities and talents are noticed well and we are placed in those areas where we can excel on the account of our natural ability, and not just made to work as a programmer for eternity. There is unlimited potential for our growth ! And he was a living example !

He felt so happy , he promised me an introduction with the Chief HR of his company later in the evening ! !
the list was put up at 10pm in the audi, and needless to say, I made it there :) It was surreal... I couldn't have asked for more !!
 I felt I could scale to any heights I wished to. The future held unlimited bounties and opportunities.. I had seen others crib about how bad their interviews were.

I   R E A L I S E D     M Y   T R U E    W O R T H...

Instant Karma : Feel Good factors...

16th of February, 2008

It was a sunny saturday morning, so cheerful as to even coax the laziest among ppl to wake up early and go for a walk and indulge in a workout. Even I could'nt act otherwise. At noon, I decided to go to the college Society to buy record books as we had to submit records on monday...

As I paid for the record books and left that place, the young, dumb looking silent fellow who manages the place suddenly jumped to life ! He said, " ಫ್ರೆಂಡ್.. ಸಕ್ಕತಾಗ್ ಕಾಣ್ತಾ ಇದ್ದೀರಾ ! ನಿಮ್ ಸ್ಟೈಲ್ ಗೆ ನಿಮ್ ಗೆಟ್ ಅಪ್ಉ ಪರ್ಫೆಕ್ಟ್ ಆಗಿದೆ... ಡೈಲಿ ಹಿಂಗೆ ಬನ್ನಿ ಕಾಲೇಜ್ ಗೆ.. " (  "Friend, You are lookin' awesome ! Your get up complements your style so well ! ... Come to college like this only ! " ) 

I was wearing heavy cargo pants with a body hugging white sleeveless, with my biceps, triceps in good shape. I was instantly happy !

There was someone who openly and honestly complemented me for whatever I am and there are others who just cant wait to tear me down and claw at me !

Precisely for the same reasons... :-)

On some other day, in 5th semester, the day before AMP 3rd internals, when Chhakka said that the portions were the whole of BUS interface chapter, I asked a fellow who went to tutions how the chapter was. He was regarded by his guys as a topper or something to that effect. He asked if i go to tutions. I said no. He said its so tough ," Scene-e-illa" to read it in one day, and scoffed at me.

Without realising it, I took that up as a challenge and studied hard. And the next day, I did the test better than most. Even Paddy copied from me !! No one among guys knew everything [ PCI, USB, MFM-RLL ] . Only I did.

I maxed it.
I also got a 25 in every third internal i took.

I feel now, that the best thing that gives you a high in life is the well deserved praise for your accomplishments. It catalyses your efforts like nothing else. The ultimate Extacy, far more potent than Cocaine.