The Road not taken .....

I am fine :)

2009-11-21T17:49:00.003-06:00

Its midnight !!!
MBA gives me many such midnights in my room/forum to be alone and read something. I have started to enjoy this life style, some times there is pressure but I think it boosts my performance. We had a marketing report due last week and believe me... it was one of those most boring experiences, though I like to research and compile data but somehow this time it was different. I am looking forward to the presentation we have to prepare next week, that should be fun. I am enjoying the team I am working with though we are only four (others have six or seven) but a little pressure is always good for my work.
It has become very cold and windy here and I ended up buying a good warm jacket for myself. I am waiting for the snow fall now, I am sure this beautiful place will become more serene with those white particles everywhere.
There is a month left for exam and I will get a chance to be in London with Shekhar during X-mas and New Year, It is amazing ....I used to plan for new year vacations for friends every year back home in India , I hated to be in Hyderabad for new year celebrations. Here I am again, fleeing Cranfield at year end, somehow the tradition hasn't been broken.
There is a nice little market in Milton Keynes, a city nearby and I had some Indian snacks there... and felt good about it. I have been a gourmet always but I am sure the food will taste better when I am back in India.

2009-11-02T14:29:00.002-06:00

This is the first evening in cranfield when I do not have anything to read (formally) since the course started. Workload is heavy but managable and I have started liking the place along with playing Badminton. I never knew resume building can be so tough that I spent about 10 hours breaking my head about it and I was still unsatisfied with the outcome however, it is time to move on now , you really do not have time to reflect or think about the things in a years' (10 months to be precise ) MBA. It is also the time when boundries of the subjects have started to merge and everything seems co-related when I look at the so called "Big Picture" (Do not ask me what is that).
I invariable miss home, family and friends when the work load is high but I have been talking to them for atleast half an hour per day which makes me happy and keeps me going. I specially miss not being in India during winters when everything feels so good , no power cuts, food is tastier and the weather makes you sleep longer.
It has started getting cold over here and I suspect it will snow before the monthend, it will be nice experience. Sometimes it amazes me how much progress UK or US have made inspite of extreme climatic conditions and I am sad that India has not done well inspite of bearable weather all year long (I am not India-bashing , its just a comparision).

I think rest in the next post ......

Banvra Mann !! Dekhne chala ek sapna ( Mad Psyche... Dreams)

2009-09-22T08:41:00.003-05:00

Here it goes ..........., done with the office now. Iam in UK this 26th to start a new chapter of life. New people to meet, A lot to look forward to and many people to miss. I may be in awe of the opportunities/threat stare at me but there is no looking backward now.
Let us see where the "Road Taken" takes me this time. I have got a few friends now , its welcome feeling afterfew days of solitude , I am not a person to make who makes friends instantly and I am sure that this characterstic is not going to make my mba life easier. We had a nice party tonight. It was called an "international night" , we were suppose to wear our national dress. I do not know what my national dress is but I just wore a T shirt and Jeans since most of the people in India prefer to wear that. Its been only two days but the days have been busier than the ones I spent in office and people say that we will get more work in coming days :))) .. hmmm , I do not want to think about that right now ......................

Begining of the End.........

2009-09-15T07:19:00.002-05:00

Time flies. Its been five years. I felt a lump in my throat when I was leaving my college and here I am again .. ready to be back at school. CSC has given me opportunity to serve overseas before and I think I should take the coming year as a tour, but a tour like never before. A tour where I have decided to study consciously unlike my previous studies where the path was already suggested and I was happy to walk down the road which was more travelled. I am currently digesting the fact that I will be away from India for a long time and for longer times in future probably. The decisions will have to measured now. If everything goes per plan, coming Monday will be my last day in office for this year and a new journey to unknown planes will start on next Monday. I think the "unknowns" are also "measured" this time. Lets see how the END plays itself.

Poet.

2007-06-23T23:37:00.000-05:00

Again i want to know the meaning of poet and i searched in Online oxford dictionary. it says "a person possessing special powers of imagination or expression"
Makes me think that its a very wide definatinon and takes almost every human to account, Dont you think everyone of us posses special power of imagination or expression ???
I am no good at english ... so i will accept what they say ! they are the experts.

What good a poet is ? Someone who writes something not because they want the world to be a better place but because they can not resist writing when the moment comes.
Look around and you will find many poets ( My defination of poet is someone who is writing poetry here ) and ask them who you are ??? most of the repiles which have come to me are : I am a software engineer. :) .... well this is what they do for a living .... i am not sure if that is what they are ! i belong to the same catagory.

anyway it is mid night and i should sleep now.

Hectic Days

2007-06-23T16:24:00.000-05:00

Last few days have been very hectic here ! Lots of work and pressure to cop up with Professional as well as personal front. I think its good, Good to have a training beforehand or early in life rather than late.

But then so little time to stop and think about the things going on in life makes me question the worth of all the work i am putting up. Though the humor is .. Your boss will always think " You could have done better " , hmmm.... sorry sir i dont share the same point of view with you and dont argue with me about this.

Work will never end .. someone will do it and at this time it just happens to be me. I have realized i call India more when i have a lot to do. Hope my family does not find out this , They would wish me happy long working hours then !

Badlaav

2007-02-26T11:20:00.000-06:00

Jeevan ki raah na badli humne ,
Baton ke sandhan humne badal liye,
Mann ke bhav na badle humne ,
Bahar ke paridhan humne badal liye .....

Neenv na badli apni humne,
Bachchon ke nirmaan humne badal liye ...
Manavata ki paribhasha na badli humne ,
Arajakta ke kirtimaan sare badal diye...

Prem ka varnan ( Krishna ??? ) na badla humne ,
Jeevan ke anusandhan sare badal diye...
Na mein badla , na tum badle .....
Jeevan ke sangram humne sare badal diye...

And They Lived Happily Ever After

2007-01-19T07:10:00.000-06:00

Thoughts about marriage.......
They came to my mind because one of my dear friends Prasath is getting married soon.

People Marry , i think so that they can comfort and help each other over a long run.
But what exactly are these things ? Is there a defination of marriage ?
Oxford dictionary says :
to join for life as husband and wife according to the laws and customs of a nation
to wed .. which is a very private affair of one's life, one has to take vows not self referantially but to abide by law.
If it is by the law then to me it makes an agreement or surrender.
People marry , some of my friends say that they married for love however most of them married for companionship.
But what about the lack of love or companionship which comes for the long years after marriage ? Atlease in India its not common to break marriages for "Lack of Companionship".
Anyways its none of my business to worry about others ;-) .
As wise man has already said : Everyone should marry , Its not fair to be happy always.

In Refuge with Friends

2007-01-15T07:45:00.000-06:00

I am in refuge now a days , few of the dear friends have let me in their house.
Reason for this refuge is my flat mate Govind.
He got a job and went to his Native to celebrate for a week or so.
I know one magic day he will come back and call me "Ashish , Mein Hyderabad aa gaya hun " but till then i did not want to bore myself to death so i shifted to friend's place this weekend.
These people are nice , they give me shelter , food and drinks ;-) .
They know me , still they bear with me.
We are 5 people right now in a 2 bedroom flat and its fun , 4 boys and 1 girl .
Yesterday celebrated Beehu, Ate Good Food, Watched Movie, Danced, Played Cards, Drank and had some serious thoughts about not so necessary things in life which have recently become a good pastime for me and them.
They all are interesting characters One of them believes in "PEACEFUL COEXISTANCE WITH THE COCKROACHES"
Another prefers to play card rather than cricket because it takes less effort.
Well , we really meet interesting people in journey of life.
I met them.

This is how the days are going

2006-10-18T09:05:00.000-05:00

7:00 i get up ... everything is dark .. i open my eyes painfully and after much effort i come out of my bed.
Mooch through the home made Tea for myself, whoever is with me for the night in room plus and my Home-mate name Govind.

7:45 Surf through the TV Channels .. See all of them ( Its sometimes amazing how do we are able to surf 90 channels in half an hour ???? )

8:30 Get ready for the office , negotiate with the Paniwala , Kachrawala , Postman and Watchman occasionally.

9:00 : Rush hour begines :( , High Hyderabadi Traffic getting through it everyday is not consistently interesting ... Beggers , Policeman , Auto .. seems everyone is after me and my money .... somehow by miracle i reach office everyday.

9:30 : Reach office ... do the same old work , crib about the same old things ... it never seizes to amaze me how we , as human beings can crib about the same things for years ...
well i have been doing that for almost 30 months now, still i find the same zeal to curse the management , Administration and custmer everyday. They sometime allot me more work in recognition of my faithful service.

13:30 : We go for lunch , on our lucky days i get to go out of office and have food at Cyberabad , poor chaps there make excellent meals .. and the rich chaps here earning crores deliver some uneatables ... isnt it an irony ? Corporates are never concerened about the quality of food big vendors offer them ....

14:30 : Go back to work :( ..... see if some what if kind of scenario be debated
19:00 : Yuppie , back home , on my lucky days i get to watch sun set too but thats far too rare to mention

21:00 : Dinner .. if properly made ... and i am awake ... leave dinner if you are tired , it is always best to give your body a little rest it needds ;-) .. Food can be suplimented any time but not sleep .. well thats my funda of life ..
After dinner happy hours of watching TV if i can find something other than Politics,Rape and Crime by Indian Police thank god now a days they show a lot of sex during these hours, Browsing thru novels and internet , chatting friends ... i guess i live life for the hours after NINE PM.

23:30 : To Bed with some light music on ...

Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan

2006-10-06T10:47:00.000-05:00

Hain aur bhi Duniyan mein sukhanawar bahut achchhe
Kahte hain ki Ghalib ka hai Andaz-e-bayan aur ............

Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan known popularly as Ghalib.
He was born in the city of Agra and came to Delhi at an age of 13.
An early death of his father and paternal uncle perhaps accounts for the free spirit in his creations.

I have heard that Ghalib had completed his work in Urdu before he was 20 and yes it makes sense to me. Such a carelessness and faith in god is seldom seen in grown ups though its a different matter in first 20 years of his life Ghalib had beautifully decorated Urdu Shayari with the jewels many could not provide in their life time.
Along with Meer and Jafar, Ghalib stands as piller of Urdu shayari's even today almost after 180 years of his creations.

What he had written is not always easy to understand. But tha differents moments , faces and forms of life elobareted by Ghalib are unequaled. Though the followers of Meer may disagree with me at times but personally i find Ghalib dearer to my heart.

Though Ghalib had a mastery in dealing in the depth of individuality but the master did not stop here , he went on to find God and nature of universe as a teenager.

He was gem of a poet and will remain so forever.

Hui muddat ki Ghalib mar gaya par yaad aata hai ,
Woh har bat pe kahna ki ye hota to kya hota.

Toota Patthar .

2006-10-06T03:35:00.000-05:00

Yadon ki Syahi lee ,
Aur waqt ke kuchh panne ,
Jo kuchh bhi tha dil mein ,
Sab kuchh utar diya inmein ...

Ab kahne ko kuchh hai nahi ,
Bus ek veeran sannata ...
isi sannate mein ujda (ya basa ???? )
ek khandhar ...

jiske beech mein rakha hai
Ek toota patthar
Jise Sadiyon se kisi ne chhua nahi .....
Shayad isiliye vo toot gaya hai .....