What's your take?

This post was triggered by a mock interview and the question :"Quick comments on love, specially when we have Valentine's Day coming,10 days from now. "
I think it was rather disappointing when I told him " I don't believe in romantic love anymore. It is just a matter of convenience"

Let me elaborate.
The one is an over hyped concept. Nothing like that exists. That's my take. We are all trying to invent reasons to make our lives more meaningful... more purposeful..
In the end.. it's just a delusion. Or as one of my wise friends puts it " Just a decision". Yeah..maybe...a decision triggered by the thought processes in a particular time frame. At another place, another time your decision could be different. Parallel universe, multiple histories- call it whatever you may.. but think of it- what if "the one" for you never met you!!
There are so many billion people out there..what's the probability that you met the right one?
"And yet we decide on one"
Because we assign the importance to a person or an event. Itself it means nothing. And our view of "importance" is so absurdly myopic, born out of our need to make choices for survival.

Think of your existence compared to the vastness of the ever-expanding universe.
Try to imagine how scant , how important you are. And how ridiculous it is to find meaning in the modern desk jobs, material achievements, accolades etcetera etcetera.
Don't you see the inanity of your over indulgence in the accumulation of a few molecules which you call yourself- Aparna, Bryan or Zhang ?

And yet, we try to find meaning to our existence, which spans only across a blink of the universe. And we "believe" we will leave behind us a legacy - a pool of genes that will fight for its survival till Doomsday. By then they might have evolved or mutated to becomes chimps or some creature hitherto unknown to human history. But who cares? We know our days are numbered. And maybe that is why we try to give some meaning to it, feel alive, feel content.

The Variegated Sky

Photo Courtesy: John Baker

Those pics are the nearest I could get to my mental image of the variegated sky. Note the dawn breaking at the quiet lake with the mast of a catamaran resting at the bottom left of the pic. Let's call this mysterious lake :Lake Reed. It's in Canada that's all I'll say. John wants it to be a place associated with mystery :)

Photo Courtesy: Abir Mukherjee

On the other hand, Abir's pic shows restlessness and energy. The surfer is moving towards the waves , ready to ride the swell. This, I was told, was taken in San Diego, around 5:52 pm PST

What's your secret?

When I was going through a tough time, I had a friend I could talk to..or rather a stranger. Whether it was compassion or indifference - I do not know, but I found a patient listener. And I think it helped me overcome the situation. Today I can look back in gratitude and sometimes I think I still need that stranger to talk to.. except that he has become my friend now and I really can't talk about anything and everything coz I fear being judged.
Have a secret? Or a confession to make..here's a very convenient way to let it out.
All you have to do is post a secret as a comment under the name anonymous.


For more secrets, visit Post a Secret

It's a beautiful world

It was one of my favorite ads while I was at school, and till date it has remained one of the best I had ever watched.
For those who don't know yet, I have a secret fancy for advertisement.

From billboards to bumper stickers, from pages of a magazine to shopping bags and slogans on T-shirts, I absolutely drool over anything that convinces me that I'd have given my right arm to dream up something like that.

One of the most endearing commercials in Indian advertising is certainly the Hutch ad where the pug ( Chika) follows the boy (Jairam ) faithfully around...

Danny Pope ( the cinematographer) feels blessed to have been able to take natural shots. I believe it takes more than just "luck" to be able to make something like that ( I can confess I shifted my loyalty from Airtel to Hutch after that and it has been my service provider ever since)

I was recruited for an advertising agency last year -oh make a year before that now now :P( see 13th Sept,2005 entry, I had the interview at Gurgaon) but I couldn't join it immediately owing to some personal reasons. I regretted it.
The interviewer had told me one thing I'll always remember -
".. whether you are writing taglines to convince people to donate something as important as body organs like eyes or selling something as mundane as toothpicks- you have to have conviction, if you believe yourself what you are telling others, others will believe you."

There was a test I had taken and the taglines I had come up with were some of my best creative efforts. It was worth it, they wanted to take me...but as I said, joining immediately was out of question, and in the meantime I was offered a more comfortable (read:better pay), less challenging job within just a stone's throw from the place I reside in.. so it practically slipped out of my mind.

What with this new vigour of applying for the B-schools, or a disease that manifests in me and has an occasional outburst, I still stare at the Oglivy office in Okhla Industrial Estate :)

Thank God I have something to look forward to in life.

As I always say..

"It's the possibilty of a dream come true that makes life so interesting"

10 ways to lose a gal

I couldn't have written this post without inputs from one of the most eligible bachelors I know, who has successfully preserved his "single" status for years now.

1. Demean her folks. No girl can tolerate her guy constantly trying to degrade her family.

2. Talk about your past GFs as if they were all demi-goddesses. Even if she discovers later that one was a psychotic bitch, another a case of overdose of steroids, and yet another just got back from a rehabilitation center for stabbing her neighbor's cat some 29 times.

3. Try playing musical instruments you really suck at.
The cacophony in the guise of serenade will give her nightmares.

4. Wear socks that stink. Don't change them even if you have itching erythema and edema of feet. Don't brush your teeth when you kiss her. Make sure she faints once or twice (at least)

5. Tell her " You can never be like my Mom"
Never cook like her.. never be caring like her etc.
Stress on never

6. Flirt with her friends. Take particular unhealthy interest in her best friend.

7. Talk about your female colleagues at office with special reference to the size of the assets of each one as if you had a measuring tape with you.

8. Insist on having/not having sex. Always the contrary to what she wants.

9. Show attitude. Try to prove you are too good for her.

10. If nothing works, try "the unfeeling bastard" approach. If she says she is having a headache or stomach ache or something of that sort..tell her she has it 365 days a year- "So what's new?"

And she might just ask you to F#@^ off

( DISCLAIMER: To those sweethearts who got worried - this post has nothing to do with my personal life. Lol. I'll tell you when to take the post seriously)

Child's play

Have you ever watched an infant play by itself? Or simply being chased by its mother while it walks with unsure feet to explore the world by itself?
There's something mesmerising ... distinctly attractive about the spontaneity of the child that captivates our attention, so much so that , for a moment we are unaware of the world around us. It is like a prayer to watch something so pure, so unadulterated.

When we grow up, we often lose that spontaneity. When we cry or laugh aloud we wonder if there's someone else watching us. We become too conscious of our outer world; so much so that the expressions of our inner selves get suppressed. They struggle to come out.
Personally, I prefer crying in the restrooms where I am alone. It is the thought of someone else sympathizing with me or having pity on me that makes me do it. I hate to show my vulnerabilty. But then.. if I'm vulnerable, why is it difficult for me to accept myself as I am?
Tears are not always a mark of weakness. Sometimes excess of joy flows down as tears. Reading a good book or watching a wonderful movie makes me cry. Now, "good" and "wonderful" are very vague terms and it can vary from individual to individual. What I mean by those is something that touches my inner self - merely grazes it or sometimes causes a torrent by stirring the emotions.

So when I cry to express such a multitude of emotions, why do I feel ashamed when I cry when I am hurt? Do I want to show that nothing can hurt me? Why do I want to feign strength that is not mine? And most importantly- who are ones I am scared to be myself with? My outer world? Who are they? My colleagues? My friends? My loved ones? There can be basically two sets of people who constitute my outer world. Set A: people who matter to me
Set B: people who don't

Now if a person is an element from Set A, he/she should love me enough to accept me as I am. If that is not the case, then I shouldn't hesitate to transfer him/her to Set B , without the slightest delay.
And if someone is from Set B, why should I be bothered what opinion he/she holds about me? What end will I achieve my trying to imagine what reaction my behavior has triggered in him/her?

GMAT : Just do it

You might have heard these before, but let me tell you just once more.

#1. More than anything else, GMAT is an ENDURANCE test.
225 minutes=AWA 30 minutes (Analysis of an Issue)+ 30 minutes (Analysis of an Argument) + 10 mins (optional/scheduled break)+ 75 Mins QUANTITATIVE (Problem-solving + Data sufficiency) + 10 mins (optional/scheduled break)+ 75 Mins VERBAL( Critical Reasoning+ Reading Comprehension + Sentence Correction)

You have to get used to sitting continuously without moving your a#$ too much, without drinking water and without going to the loo.
Only the scheduled breaks between the sections allow you 10 minutes each.
Any unscheduled break in between results in deduction from the test time.
It is best to make best use of the optional breaks. Stretch yourself, keep breathing (silly it might sound, but don't stop breathing out of nervousness- your brain needs all the oxygen it can have)

2.For the test takers in and around Delhi who have
TESTING CENTER LOCATION
Pearson Professional Centers-New Delhi, India
18,Ramnath House
Yousuf Sarai Community Centre
Above Hyundai Show room
New Delhi-110016

They'll tell you: DIRECTIONS TO THE TESTING LOCATION
From AIIMS / SafdarJung Hospital crossing take any bus going towards IIT-Delhi. Get down at about 2 km at Indian Oil Building at Yusuf Sarai. Take a left turn. Ramnath House is in Yusuf Sarai Community Center, above Hyundai Showroom, opposite to Jet Airways office.

What they won't tell you is that the centre is on the 4th floor of the building and you better take the elevator even if you are claustrophobic.

3.Keep your cool.
>>>>>FOCUS<<<<<
Meditate prior to the test if necessary. But please don't think about your boyfriend(s)/ girlfriend(s) during the test. Think about nothing else.

4.Full -length-tests (FLTs) give you more than just confidence to face the test on the test day. It helps you build up your system to face reality.
At the beginning, I had difficulties in concentrating, and by the end of the 3rd section I used to feel.."Baas ab khatam ho"
Such thoughts are fatal. Get yourself conditioned. Get enough practice.

5. It's about attitude. The test takers are testing your LIMITATIONS. Don't lose your nerve if the questions become increasingly difficult. It only means you are doing well. You will need to be familiar with how the Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) works to understand this. (The computer assumes you have an average score in the beginning of the test and decides the next question depending on your response- hence, you can not get back to the previous question once you have confirmed your answer)

6. Treat each question as if it were scored. Smarties know there are "experimental" questions scattered all over the test. Only fools will try to guess which ones.

7.Answer every question. Leaving questions in a section will face more penalty than getting them wrong. If you are left with very less time at the end of a section, you have to make intelligent guess and move on. Don't struggle with a question. It's not worth it.

8. Pace yourself. Here again, the only saviour is PRACTICE.

9. If you are taking the Kaplan tests, don't let the scores disappoint you. You will have an increase of 60-100 in the total on test day. Trust Jai!

Now, with the easier part of applying to B-schools over, get ready for the next step.

*** Also, have a look here