The "Summers' Journey" : An Autobiography in One Page

I had always believed that I have enough credentials and accomplishments, for a lot many people to envy. Never I had fallen harder flat on my face. The shortcomings got evident when I could fill my multi page master bio-data by hardly two and a half pages. I was shocked to say the least the amount of work almost everyone else had done in the form of organizing events, publishing papers, watching live Black Panthers - No Offense Meant, Just a Summary of all the other points that lit up a CV - I had done practically nothing in my life, apart from being way too technical, and playing a few games at the institute level. In the meantime I came to know that my manager at Fluent (My previous workplace) had just left the company putting me into further trouble. He was the only person who knew the exact nature of work that I had done in the company and now I knew a certificate of that would be hard to get.
Never the less I got to extract some solidity through some of the work that I had done in my teens as my mentor could find some light in them and used that to lit up my lackluster autobiography.
While writing the final one page CV I did not face the kind of dilemma others felt. I had a few points in my master version and did not have any doubt on which one should get into the exclusive list and which one should not. Again thanx to my mentor the initial drafts were prepared and they looked good to me. However this satisfaction was short lived. I made the mistake of taking multiple opinions regarding my CV. Some people were of the opinion that my CV lacked SPIKE, some would ask me to remove certain items which I felt were my strongest points and instead add some crap. With each passing day I felt more and more depressed as I did not get a single positive opinion regarding the quality of my CV. In the meantime I was constantly trying to bring out that SPIKE which I practically could not.
Finally I decided to get back to those people who would understand me and they were the IIT KGPians. One of them is an I-Banker himself. Got some tips from him and the much elusive solace that my CV is good from one of seniors from KGP and IIM-C. By this time I had reverted back to the CV that my mentor helped me prepare. I was sure that I will get at least one or two short lists from the SLOT 0 companies and if luck favors I could get 3.
One thing was clear at that point and that was I would need to fight it out. So the preparations began !!!!

The "Summers' Journey"

When does one stop worrying about himself, about everyone else, about everything else. Instead enjoys every bit of the stage called life. Let me put some milestones which everybody believes would end a man's woes.
"Get through IIT and life would be smooth"......"What is SMOOTH????"
"Get a good job, and voila!!!!"......"No way this bloody job is for the thick heads"
"Crack CAT (Go through my previous blogs and you can understand how much it meant to me)...and MONEY --> HONEY"......"Cracked it to find 280 people spanking their own a****, having group meetings, presenting cases, and "AND WHAT"..no one knows the answer to these WHYs, WHATs, etc"

Comes Summer Placements (Or was it always there???)

And here comes my post on the Summer Placements in the IIMs through my eyes. A process which finally is supposed to open the gates to stardom (martyrdom??) for some of the people. The answer to the question "Who wants to be a millionaire". For the last four months the advice that I am constantly getting is "crack a good Summer and you would have nothing to worry about" DejaVu..So the story begins.
Since this is going to be a relatively long story, I thought of breaking it down into a few episodes. The episodes are coming next.

Un-getting Fluent

Back to good old college mode. Back to good old 'westernized' form of living. Yes I am speaking about the body clock. There has been a complete reversal of whatever changes that took place in my daily schedule in Pune. I have not slept before 3 for the last two and a half weeks. Life has become hectic to say the least and people say it is only going to get worse.
Oh My God!!! And I am writing a blog.
Oh My God!!! And I actually played three games today : Volley, Footer and then Cricket...somehow resisted the temptation of TT. And to make matter worse I have loads of catching up to do in the form of CASES, and everything else that is expected from a B.School student.
The starting lap of my run in IIM C has not been good, I have not done well in the first quiz that took place. I have been sort of depressed for the last few days. And the worst thing is, those are the kind of feelings which I cannot share with anyone.
I only hope that there are better days ahead.

Graded "A C L K " . I have the world at my feet.

The world is best viewed from the top. When you look up a mountain, nothing but the fear of failure comes into the mind. But at the top, everything seems beautiful and accomplished. Recently to me life has become something of being at the top of Mt Everest. And looking back to the course that I followed in scaling this great height, It looks nothing but amazing. I am not sure how much far fetched it might seem, but the kind of satisfaction that I had after getting final offers from both IIM A & C, can only be understood by a mountaineer. Formal MBA course at the IIMs would start at the last week of June, but I feel management education started the day I started taking the MOCK tests back in August. The pressure associated with taking tests every weekend, the fine balance that one needs to make in the CAT, the rigors of GD PIs, and finally the mental torture of waiting for the results indefinitely, makes one better prepared for a career in management.
And finally when the results are so sweet that you have the luxury in choosing between the bests, the success seems sweeter. It is for the first time in my life I am having a sweet dilemma ,the dilemma of choosing between A and C. To say the truth I am enjoying it. I am enjoying it because It is a win win situation and the difference hardly matters. And this is the reason why in spite of having enough accomplishments in my life this is being at top of the world.
People often ask me Why MBA?? Is it money or is it a natural career choice?? Only I know the actual answer, and after giving many twisted mugged answers to the interview panels I thought about the world of blogs to be the real confession box. The reason is simple: I Want to Shine, I Want to Shine Bright. Weird?? Yes weird but that is the truth. I believe I am an under achiever, be it the WBHS , WBJEE, IITJEE, or even for that matter my performances in B.TECH & M.TECH I have never performed to my true potential. This is pay back time. I want to shine being an MBA which I somehow feel I would not be able to, with a B.TECH/M.TECH.
These are the last days in Pune, trying to enjoy as much as I can and recharging my batteries to run my heart out on the last lap of my career building. All the MICHAEL JOHNSONs out there (Leading Me??) BEWARE and RUN.

Reawakening

It has been a long time since I made my last post. In between the urge to write something was felt twice, but somehow both of them resulted in drafts. It would be hard to say whether I am going to complete this one. Giving it the best shot. However I have decided to a real long post. So much so that it gets utterly boring.

CAT
It is history now. Tasted success at last. Though I must say I have been luckier this time.

Apni ASHA (Puns are intentional....Warning: Might not be suitable for all ages or tastes)

This is the episode which would be part of my dreams for a long time to come. I should get into the details over here.
19th December was the date when we started the GOA trip. It was organised by our company. This was my second trip to this majestic place, however my first visit was at an age when it would have been precocious on my part to appreciate the real beauty of this part of our country. Great expectations were associated with this trip. Expectations to be lucky enough to find the babe of our dreams, etc, etc. And the expectations got fuelled when we reached the resort. It was inter continental Grand Resort, which had a private beach and thus many "VIEWS" to get ourselves charged. Digital Cameras got handy, though I was always a bit against disturbing these sleeping beauties. -- Let them enjoy the sun , and they will let us enjoy the beauty of creation. --- The result was within no time "curtains" were drawn.

It was during this time I got to see Shannon Elizabeth shooting for her next film. It was a sort of underwater kiss scene, and the hotel pool was supposedly the deep sea. We enjoyed the shooting specially the expressions of Shannon after taking each shot. :-D.

It was finally the last afternoon of our stay. And all our hopes of meeting someone special were just fading away. People were busy going for site seeing, while myself with a few more "frustu" public decided to spend the evening on the beach. The reason was far too simple. There are enough places in this country where you can enjoy the beauty of mother earth. And we did not want to waste this precious time of ours.-- Perhaps mother earth understood our prayers. ---
"ASHA"...That is what we had, and that is what we returned with. It is on this afternoon that I ( I don't want to share) met that girl of our dreams. She was beautiful to say the least. And fortunately she was resting on the "wooden rest bed" just beside me. I initiated a conversation. She was nice to talk to. She was an Australian with some indian connection. And her name "ASHA"...Though there were three other Kabab me Haddi-s during this conversation, they were more of listeners, and were initially more interested in going back to hotel rooms or to the pool. Before imaginations start running away. Let me tell you this girl was on her honeymoon. It was the simple fact of meeting such a beautiful girl ( I do not want to mention over here that she was in a two piece bikini ) and talking to her gave me a satisfaction of a lifetime. One thing I have understood is Beautiful Indian Girls somehow has got an air about themselves, Non Indians don't have that and that is what I liked about this girl more. Our conversations ended when one of our senior employees asked me to join for a game of volleyball. I wanted her to join. Though initially she agreed, but may be the sight of large number of hungry eyes turned her off. This caused our separation.
It was just longing after that. Thought of a hell lot of ways of meeting her again. I should mention over here that Hemant was always by my side during this longing time. Though he had his own interests as well. ;-). The only though that she was on her honeymoon turned me off.
Hey the story does not end over here. It was a temporary period of fame for me when the next day we were on the lounge for checking out, when the Goddess quietly came up and was standing just behind me. Every eyes were on me, and it took me some time in understanding the situation. I turned back and found her smiling. --Oh my God she has recognised me!!!!--. We talked for some time, Sorry she talked for some time ..And the suddenness of the situation got be dumbfound. Once she wished the final goodbye, the only thing that I remembered her telling me was that she was heading for the beach. Since we still had some time, I straightaway headed for the beach, could not find her. Could not find her though. I was later told that she was actually sitting on the lounge at that time.

After returning to Pune, I only had loads of memory. Not a single photo, not a single way to contact her again. She was BEAUTIFUL. Soon the image of her beauty will completely fade away from my mind. But the memories of this meeting never would. The next few days I searched her in Orkut -- in vain. One thing that came to my mind later on was We never spotted the honeymoon couple together, I mean we never saw her husband. Was she telling the truth??? How does it matter anyway...

Time to Bell

Another November has finally arrived. It has been quite a wait since the last version of November 18th. The wait becomes doubly hard when you are bogged with frustration. It's time to shake off all, that has gripped me for the last one year. It's time to make amends.
Compared to last year, the arrival this year has ben more phonic. I could hear the purrs and the mews for the last one month, which has subsequently increased and I am waiting for the crescendo. Butterflies are flapping their wings inside the captain organ of my digestive system. And I only hope that I am able to keep myself cool till the 'd/c' day.

I have always ben much perplexed by the irony of the two sayings: "Morning shows the day" & "All is well that ends well". Although the former makes me more more euphoric , with performances like Pune City Ranks 1, 4 and 5 to back that, it does not seem all that healthy as the day progresses. And I am more than convinced that the latter is much more realistic , especially for an exam like the CAT. November 19th is certainly going to be the day, and I know it is a do or die situation for me. This time the Cat has to be under my control ;-).

Previously I had thought of writing about a few more things in this blog, but seriously this 'C' factor is all over me, and I can't think of anything else. even I don't want to loose focus. So all the gals of Pune can wait, my bike which by the way is the most happening thing in my life right now can wait.
So here are a few last words for all the people taking CAT ( you take CAT and not give CAT...this is the first piece of advice)

Keep yourself cool
Have faith in yourself
Rectify your mistakes
And know your limitations, which might mean attempting less (if needed) and correcting more

The advice is certainly directed to a particular guy who always forgets these rules/advices

Narcissist???

Am I one?? This is the question that has been lingering in my mind for the first few days. Is it wrong to be a narcist. How does one find out a person to be narcist, Isn't it a fact that some amount narcissism comes into the picture while judging another person as narcist. This finally led me to conclude that every single person in this world is a narcissist.
I am a narcist. The simple proof of it can be obtained through my blogs. I am obsessed about writing on myself. Putting my views on this world in my perspective. I like writing on myself and my views and love reading the same again and again and deriving pleasure out of it, isn't that an act of narcissism. So the recent episode of narcissism continues :

It has been some time since I wrote my last blog; the reason being loss of password. Meanwhile things have changed quite fast. Three months into "Fluent" and thus a three month old "CORPORATE".
Life has been stressful though. Since my job has been specified. Thanx to the same person who recruited me, I am into a challenging project. And the crux of the matter is that I am the only person responsible in developing it. It does make me happy, and take some pride in the fact that such an important project should have been given to someone more experienced, who knows the nooks and corners of the architecture quite well. For a tyro like me its proving heavy. I have written the main code but the supplementary solver part is what is troubling me, and with high level meetings taking place quite frequently things have started to bother me. I hope I am able to come out of this condition with flying colours as I have always done. Its a strange feeling that I am experiencing for the first time. Being into a situation where you get to sit on a meeting with the best heads on the bussiness and at the same time feel you are still a kid in comparison to them and finding hard keeping pace.

It has been one month I have my apache with me. It has a cool all black look, though I am yet to take it to main city roads. "The Girls out there must be getting restless" ....;-).....