Change in looks

Hi All,

I have changed the template, as few of us from Hyderabad felt the earlier was not so eye friendly. Let me know if this looks fine.

I have saved the earlier template, so that we can revert back the changes if necessary. Please leave your comments.

Hyderabad second meet

Now we are getting into a habit of meeting regularly. Though we missed some of the last time attendees, we had few fresh batchmates joining us. We had about 5 hours of unlimited discussions and fun.

Mr. Krishna from the current batch dropped in on a request fom Anita and we kind of grilled him about the placements :)

We all are looking forward for the D-day, April 14th to meet all others from different places.

Sravanthi, the unofficial meet co-ordinator, has clicked some pics and I am sure she will be posting them shortly.

Delhi ISBians meet up..at CP

The Bangalore Times

Event: Techies from Bangalore gather
Location: Cassa Picola, 5th Block, Koramangala
Date: February 18 (Sunday), 2007
Time: 2:00 pm - 4:00 PM
Number of people: 15
What they discussed: You all know what people discuss at these meets.
Photographs: Look below please...

(From left to right) Surbhit, Puneet, Sudhanshu, Manik (Nitin's wife), ..., Nidhi, Nitin

(From left to right) Nidhi, Nitin, Ruchira, Deba, Karthik, Vishnu, Vivek, Pradyot, Ravi

"Living" Life at ISB

Guyz n Gals...

This goes for all n sundry, I seem to b d only living :)) Fauji here...(by birth)...haven't even seen college life yaar!! [Pity me!!!] ....joined rt after 12th. I was running around, or maybe firing guns or what not at the NDA for those 3years when you people were havin' those good ol' days tht u cherish...I guess even IITians got a time-out right??

Imagine our plight,we were like locked up in a huge castle (like a deserted Island), 30kms away from Pune city... Oblivious to what's happenin in d country(leave d world), no T.V.,no cell, no Newspaper(even tht was a final term privillege)... just a swarm of "zero-cut" boys all over...(Not even one good-looking damsel, except for 1-2 odd instructors!!)

Of course, v had d privillege of being d "most" sought after guyz on whichever Sunday v got to go out on "Liberty" to Pune City...Still those 6 workin days (and nights) in d week used to drain out all d energy...most of d times jaded so much so, tht d bus conductor used to wake us up(after the one hour nap from NDA to Pune city)-"Get up n get down cadets"...Turning your head to look at d greenry on the streets of d city was actually "An effort" per se...Eh!!

The previous post actually got me thinking...enough of fightin wid d terrorists n blowing up bunkers, time to "Live Life d civil way!!"
Newayz, believe me, in addition to d studies n stuff...I plan to work on making up for those lost moments...

Need your cooperation @everybody.....


Rajat

Disclaimer: The above post was "Off the record", not to be quoted in any court of law :))

Ten Things I Learnt Living in a Hostel

Most members of the CO 2008 must have lived in a hostel at some point of time in their life. Here's what I remember from my days at BITS, Pilani

1. There is nothing in the world that can’t be shared (ok, not underwear!)
2. A clean room means an untidy cupboard.
3. Three meals a day implies: Sandwich for brunch, Sutta & Chai for evening snacks, and Maggi/Bread Omelette for dinner. (For the indulgent, I guess there will be Biryani at ISB)
4. A movie before a test is the perfect preparation.
5. Assignments aren’t copied – they are products of collective thinking.
6. No alarm clock is better than a ‘caring’ wingie (wingmate/neighbour/guy-next-door).
7. Nightouts (All night-no sleep) are for ‘recreational’ activities.
8. All attempts at nightouts for studying/completing assignments are doomed failures.
9. Whisky tastes better in disposable Pepsi Glasses.
10. Half a cigarette is better than none (so think before you stub out that last one in the pack!).
    

There’s my bit of remembrance. I guess life at ISB will be quite different from what we had at Pilani, but I hope all you guys are looking forward to reliving the ‘campus’ experience. So please add to the list through your comments and lets look forward to a great year!

I am India

The first time I saw this film it stirred something inside of me.. And it does more each time I see it..

For all those who haven't seen it yet or would love to see it again...

Here is India... The fastest growing democracy in the world..

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5446091014702365336&q=i+am+india&pr=goog-sl

Conceived and produced by Bharatbala Productions for India Brand Equity Foundation.

Hyderabad Nawadzadas and Nawabzadis meet

Find below the pics of Hyderabad Nawadzadas and Nawabzadis . We all met yesterday, 11th Feb, at Cafe coffee day, Begumpet. More about what happened in the next post.

Arjun, Arun, Saujanya, Sumithi, Sumithi's friend and Sravanthi

Jagan, Kiran, Gajanan, Ratnakar and Karthik

Chendil, Avi, Anand, Charanya (Anand's wife) and Gaurav

Nidhi, Gowri, Sirisha, Ashish and Jagan

Cheers

Mumbai Milan - II

Sorry for coming a little late on this one since lately and in an uncanny way, after resignation work has surprisingly doubledp. Anyway, this is Prakriti reporting for the Mumbai people who got together for cutting chai ki pyali last Sunday.

Moment: 1800 hours by the Indian railway time..

Setting: Mocha, by the dusk ,by the Juhu beach…and I don’t call it the best Mocha for no reason. It has got the talent to enthuse feelings of camaraderie into people who gather in its precincts for chai-coffee & sheesha.

So much for the setup. I will not make it more dramatic. We were eight people who turned up. The chitter chatter started and before we realized, the conversation had reached a full fledged chum talk. People who showed up were Kaustubh – our organizer, Abhinay- the only one to reach by the Japanese standard time, Yours truly- delighted to meet everyone, Aanchal- most chilled out and had the privilege of being in the first meet as well, Manisha – splendor with brains, Sriram – the finance whiz with an amazing sense of humor, Jayathi- the space wont be enough to write about her,basically as diverse as one could get,Sneha- my lovely IT comarade .So a great gang.

Got down to discussing personal to work related to general stuff. To put it as Kaustubh mentions in his write up about the meet on the forum thread the consesus is that:



“1. ISB meets dont have to revolve around placements , faculty and laptop configs. Infact they shouldnt.
2. All of us should really make the best outta this year ahead of us . I can vouch for the fact that the hostel life is awesome and gives you a hangover for life .
3. The profiles of the entire batch will be as diverse as one can imagine ; between the 8 of us we had IT profs , Bankers, Ppl from the financial sectors , ex models and doctors...not to mention Oil and Gas Engineers.
4. Lets all meet up on a more regular basis . “


-Kaustubh : Mon Feb 5, 2007, 14:21


I left the meet with a feeling of elation knowing that the next one year, its gonna be great with all these fantastic people.

Eight Pyalis of chai : 260/- and 2 hours;
Knowing the guys : Priceless.

Shall keep reporting.

P.S: the thoughts presented above purely belong to the innovative brains of yours truly and may or may not be representative of the entire set of people present on the occasion. This is jst a disclaimer can also be ignore because in her heart your truly knows that they all enjoyed it just as much.

An interesting reflection: Slow Down Culture

Somebody forwarded this e-mail to me today. I just thought of putting it here for discussion.

An interesting reflection: Slow Down Culture

It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalize processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

Said in another words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm, has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think? Imagine my face.

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being". French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the "do it now!".

This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalized world.

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. "

Steve Jobs, Apple

Math, anyone ..

Do you folks think we can compete with Ma & Pa Kettle at least after our ISB PGP ? ;)