Whats your take, Da ??

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Its all cos of the Inflation da...
2008-04-07 10:48:00
I was the acting beast of burden for my mom the other day near kapaleeshwar kovil, where exists a large vegetable market (mandi). My mom was complaining about the rising prices of tomatoes, beans, and rice among others, while the shopkeepers were shouting their prices at the top of their voices.I wasnt the only mule around - almost every mom was accompanied by a highly disinterested son or husband whose sole purpose was to carry the bags. (earlier : "no ma, i cant come with you, ive got work to do". mom - "im getting old! i do so much! no one helps out!! ... blah!!". me - "okokokokokok... il come". mom - "great!") Anyways, we were talking about all the chaos 'the inflation' has caused in its wake, and stopped at a seller's cart. He was quoting a price per kilo which was Rs 5 more than what my mom bought stuff for the previous week. She started arguing, and the seller returned fire.seller - Adhellam yinfayshin ma (All that is because of the yinfayshin, lady)mom - no dude, no way. ...
More About: Inflation

Au revoir, IIM Indore..We come to it at last, Da ...
2008-02-24 19:47:00
2 years. Thats how long they say it is. It certainly didn't feel as long; yet, i cant ignore the degree of change in everything that defines me - Ideology, beliefs, knowledge, character and personality.Ive never stayed out of home, having been a day-scholar(day sci) all my life. So the first few weeks here at Planet I was something radically different for me. Be it the classes, the CP (class participation), the food, the language - everything.I spent the first day running around the hostel premises in circles not knowing where my room was - it was a confusing maze, comprising of 5 blocks, A through E. I was initially put up at C 318, top floor, C block. I couldn't sleep at all for the first 2 days that i spent here; the excitement just did not die down. On the third day, my parents saw me off and returned home to Madras. It felt very strange, as though it would be the last time they would see me as the man they knew. It was. In my time away from home, Ive changed a lot.The first f...

Jodhaa Akbar - Machan, this makes no sense Da ..!!
2008-02-24 12:57:00
Yeah, saw the movie. 3.5 hours. Summary Reaction - Gowariker's focus on detail with elaborate sets and great script doesnt make up for the fact that the whole movie is a tad too long, too boring; guessing the denouement is a no-brainer. The only thing carrying the movie forward is the fine acting performances of an ensemble cast, Sonu Sood in particular.Sometimes I think Gowariker wanted to create a spectacle of the war scenes, with elephants and horses and swords and the likes.. somehow that doesnt materialise. Theres too little gore to call it bloody, too many elephants to call it lame. The props look like they've been borrowed from 'The Mahabharat', which some people seem to believe.Next, comes the plot. Its preceded by a very decent disclaimer which tells us not to blame the movie in case we dont agree with the chronology or the events themselves. Forced marriage - Things start looking up - U turn, hits rock bottom - Patched up again - One good guy who turned bad becomes goo...
More About: Sense , Jodhaa Akbar

We'll be extinct in no time, Da ...
2008-02-24 08:02:00
I read an interesting article on business week today. It detailed the double standards adopted by top US firms as far as the environment goes. Apparently, 3 major US firms (GE, Caterpillar and Alcoa) sit both on the USCAP(US Climate Action Partnership), a body actively seeking to reduce CO2 emissions and save the environment, and on the board of CEED (Centre for Energy and Economic Development), which opposes major climate-oriented policies, such as the 65% reduction in emissions by 2050.Manic Hypocrisy. One wouldnt expect the top of the fortune 500 to 'engage in activities leading to a greener future'. Logical Deduction - we'll be extinct in no time. Face it - even the companies who want to give up their polluting ways cant, cos the competition will beat the crap out of them if they do. Most eco-friendly practices cost money. Unless they become the industry standard, no one will conform to such ideals. Soon, mankind will develop weapons and machinery capable to sucking the plane...
More About: Time , Extinct

Chennai SuperKings, Da ??
2008-02-22 21:12:00
The book review was up next, but couldnt let this slip past my list of posts.Fact : Im dont watch sports. May be because i didnt play too much as a kid, may be because the sheer commercialisation of the holy arenas of competition - I dont watch sports.The buzz around college recently was the next big thing in Cricket - the IPL. City based teams were set to emulate the premier league-esque county style cricket in India. Apparently, a 20-20 tourney has been scheduled for the april of this year. Whats worse, all the newspapers are now raving about the amount of money each team is willing to pay for securing theur choice of players.The guy called Dhoni now costs about 1.5 million dollars. Thats 600 Lacs in INR. Thats how much he gets each year for 3 years until his contract ends. Plus, he'll be playing for 'Chennai SuperKings'.2 questions - Why spend so much on something which is, after all, a sport? and, WTF are SuperKings ??Second question first - SuperKings - like saying, "Machan,...

Whats with the tubelights, Da ??
2008-02-11 17:35:00
The minority always suffers. Opinions and standards are for the exclusive use of the majority. Only a set of very influential, small number of people can disprove this conjecture. Unfortunately, Fans of star trek and star wars hardly qualify as influential. We've seen and heard jokes about 'trekkies', as the fans of Star Trek are called in the US. This is a first hand account of the crap a ardent star wars aficionado gets from imbecile peers.I dont call myself 'Jedi' or call my religion that, but have some admiration for the series as a whole and have followed both the movies and spin offs in other media diligently. There are a species of boring morons(BM) only found on Planet I (IIM Indore).This species has the following peculiar behavioural characteristics; their responses to certain stimuli presented within quotes.("") (note : thoughts to self made within brackets)1. (When im watching the movie/episode in my room) "Hey!! Tubelight Fight!!! go back, i wanna see it from the b...

Its the dawn of the arbit GDs, Da ..
2008-02-04 14:03:00
Its that time of year, when the butterflies fly serenely across a field of flowers, when the stag eyes the doe, when the ice melts and gives way to new life.... and when 10 people scream their lungs out trying to be the 'moderator'.thats right, Group Discussions/Personal Interviews(GD/PI) for admission into the Indian Institutes of Management have begun. An old friend of mine gave me a call saying that he needed some tips for the process to come. I reminisced some of my experiences at the time...I had calls from Lucknow(L), Indore(I), and Kozhikode(K). My first GDPI was for K.I had been to the GDPI training module that T.I.M.E had organised, and felt pretty comfy. After all, its only a GD.(actually, thats what i told myself to calm down. i was a nervous git at the time). 8 people were called in, i was one of them. I socialised with a few, got to know their names and backgrounds (couldnt help noticing that the girl in the black suit looked awesome). We were seated in an oval, with ...
More About: Dawn

Dont correct me when im talking, Da !!
2008-02-03 15:27:00
Im bad at conversations. Especially when im explaining why im not to blame, when i am. sometimes, the angry other tends to make mistakes - grammatical or otherwise - and i always end up correcting them, only to worsen my already precarious diplomatic mission.When on the phone with mom :mom - "Did u look up that relative living in Indore??"me - "no, shud i have??"mom - "whaaaat did i tell u before leaving... blah blah .... old lady, have some consideration for others.... blah ... poor padma paati..." (tamil for grandmother, also used for old women when referenced)me - "isnt she shanta paati ??"mom - "* blank* yes, BUT U DONT GET MY POINT. STOP CORRECTING ME WHEN IM TALKING"Talking to a good friend, generally :Fr - "Ive got an admit from AIM manila !!(pronouncing it like an acronym)"me - "i think its just A I M, not aim .. "Fr "Dei baadu (u pimp) ... ur supposed to congratulate me, watha (id rather not translate) "Sometimes i do it just for the fun of it :D. Something tells karma has ...
More About: Rect

Whats in a Name, Da ??
2008-02-01 13:27:00
One of my friends is now a father!! (kudos Avi!!). We caught up after a long time and he shared his experience with selecting a suitable name for his child...Avi had always been fond of 'Lavanya'. (:D) (an old college crush, whose name he liked a lot). Anyways, his wife wanted that the name begin with the same letter as her name does. (Kavita)A small argument snowballed into a lot more, with no amicable solution in sight. He got thinking about names like 'river' and 'leaf' taking after Joaquin Phoenix, one of his favorite actors. Again, Kavi shrugged this idea off; indian names only.Avi changed lines, what if its a boy?? he wanted Avi jr. This wasnt very attractive to the counter party, who wanted a 'distinct yet subtle' name for her son. Putting his managerial skills to the task, he came with some data, akin to what we see in Freakonomics - custom made for Hindu names.He predicted that 5 hindu names would be most popular in India by 2011 :Boys:1. Anand2. Vikram3. Mohan4. Ad...

What’s Life without Risk, Da??
2008-01-31 21:35:00
The last term at IIM Indore, is as expected – loads of free time, mind numbing boredom.Sajeev has brainwaves sometimes. At one such instance, he decided to buy a board game called ‘Risk ’. It wasn’t like any game I had played before.The board is essentially the world map, split up into 42 nations. Players first roll the die to determine the highest number rolled, and choose territories to occupy in a clockwise fashion from the highest caster. To indicate occupation, they place a unit on that territory. Risk essentially has 3 army pieces.1. Infantry – Worth 1 unit2. Cavalry – Worth 5 units3. Artillery – Worth 10 unitsThe pieces themselves only serve to reduce the ‘traffic’ on the map as the game progresses. Once the countries are chosen, the players have a set number of units (20 in the case of a 4 player game) to distribute across their territory. They may choose to concentrate forces at key locations, or chose to spread out and converge at a later point in...
More About: Life

Machan, Whaaaat is thisss Da ???
2008-01-29 14:04:00
Note - Da : Tamil equivalent of 'yaar', with slightly different usageTeam Leads and other individuals with significant responsibilities need to discipline the ranks. Authoritarian bosses spare no one. Others favour more personal approaches, taking the 'im your friend' route to inspire the workforce.An interesting thing to study is how friends in a B school study group, where there is no formal authority endowed upon anyone, discipline each other/respond to 'im lagging behind'. It is logical to assume that the studious assign work and make sure that its done, and the ones with diversified interests (read: free riders) struggle to complete their portions.Heres a list of who and what they say when asked "dude, i havent done my part, when is the deadline??"Ajay - "Machan, Whaaaaaaat is thisss da??? whyyyy cant you finish on time da??"Arun - "Boss, this is not happening..."Maheswari - "cho$#@^$! saala, i wont do this work..."Alok - "We have a submission??"Asha - "(after a painfully...

Musings of the Idle Brain ..
2008-01-29 13:25:00
The moment of truth had finally come. The last of the exams were ended, and the long trip home began. With Indore being one of the few cities that had virtually no air access, save the monopolistic reign of jet airways and Indian, our trip was destined to be by the great Indian railway. The Grand Trunk express line was over a hundred years old. It was by this line that we departed Bhopal at 7 in the morning, after a delay of over2 hours. The wait was excruciating; dirty waiting halls, hangover from loss of sleep, and biting cold. We took occasional trips to get some coffee and fruit juice, which all meant facing the much colder outside. In one of these trips, srini came across a roadside poha stall. Amazingly, this little place sold steamed poha at 4 in the morning. Rajesh ordered himself a plate and the rest of us eagerly expected a positive reaction so we could dig in or order more. After a long 5 minutes, he gave the thumbs up and triggered srini to order another one. When rajesh...
More About: Musings , Brain