Ashish Gourav:Exploring The Hedonism of Life

Summer Internship Experience - Taking it to the Next Level : Part 1

2012-05-08T00:31:00.000+05:30

Rohan was pretty excited while stepping onto his new office. It was a necessary rite of passage for most of his batch-mates aka summer internship. To the contrary, Rohan had concocted many stories in his mind about the forthcoming two month experience.

Rohit’s precarious mannerisms were not a new thing for the bunch of his colleagues at his office. Pleasantries exchanged and formal introduction made way for some work. He was allotted to prepare a comparison table for various types of solar energy capturing technologies. He jumped into the sea with minimal assistance.

If you put in 35 minutes of work, 2 minutes of water-cooler break, 20 minutes of work and then 3 minutes of washroom break and repeat each of them in the very same order, it would be exactly the same as what Rohan was doing at the office for the first week. After the end of the first week, he had also spent one weekend which he thoroughly enjoyed but something was missing!

Getting past the Monday morning blues as he started to frantically search the internet for various solar technologies he heard a voice. Yes, a shrilling female voice. “Hi, this is my workstation” said an exquisitely dressed lady. “What? I have been working here for the last 1 week” stated Rohan. As it began so it must have an end. To their rescue came the Head of the office. “Jhanvi meet Rohan our new intern, and Rohan this is Jhanvi our Legal & Compliance Officer” introduced Mr. Sharma.

Rohan and Jhanvi sat beside each other. Two days passed and nothing happened except once Rohan politely declined an offer made by Jhanvi to have orbit chewing gum. He immediately regretted his move as a reflex.

---------

“Jhanvi, do you know of any good place for lunch?” enquired Rohan. He gathered all his skills and charm to appear nonchalant with not much success. “Umm… have you tried 10 Downing Street?” asked Jhanvi. Rohan replied in negative. “Rohan, you must go there, it’s awesome” suggested Jhanvi. “Would you come with me” he uttered as if someone put those words on his tongue.

After thinking for a while Jhanvi accepts, “Yes, of course let’s have lunch”.

…

They have conversation on almost everything under the sun. Changing the world, working for helping the starving African children, following a set of principles and literary preferences were discussed to name a few. Everything seemed normal and just as a good lunch should go.

Jhanvi leans sideways, rest her elbow on the table and starts playing with her hair. “Now, that we know each other and are friends let’s take our friendship to the next level” suggests Jhanvi.

Rohan gives a puzzled face and waits for her to tell more about the “next level”. “Are you on Facebook?” asks Jhanvi.

To be continued…

Image Courtesy: http://www.bignbest.com/gift_ideas_on_date/

Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!

2011-02-21T04:59:00.007+05:30

Every phenomenon is contiguous and hence it has to end. The very idea of contiguity leading to continuity keeps this world sane, full of hope. I’m reminded of the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” in which the lead protagonist says “hope is a good thing...maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.”

When you come to a residential college campus, you don’t realise how experiences will transform your life by shaping it bit by bit and changing it nibble by nibble. More so, in case of a campus that boasts itself as the biggest and oldest of the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs).

You do not need to worry, as I’m not going to pass on my nostalgia so soon. I have almost 2 months of stay at IIT KGP, left with me and I would try to make you all cry when I publish my last blog-post as an IIT student. Be prepared!

The agenda of discussion in this post is fear. What is fear? How do you define it? What is the psychology of fear? What is the physiology of fear? How to cross the barrier of fear?
Fear comes from unawareness and ignorance. In most cases, fear is the first form of self-defense mechanism a person exhibits. We generally don’t understand this, but if we stop the fear emotions from coming to the fore, it gives us phenomenal strength to handle apparently extraordinary tasks with much ease and poise.

The realization I gained in the past month is that we can win against any kind of fear, we just need to keep on pushing us to do the task which we fear doing. In my case it is primarily darkness. Hence, I started lonely early morning-late night walks around the institute (can be read as 2.2). Remarkably, I was able to take lonely walks without a sense of fear, I started enjoying the friendly but mysterious sights of Owls; I started stalking them.
I decided to give the final test, as I’d won over the fear of darkness. According to Vatty Da, there is a lane which leads us to National Service Scheme (NSS) office, from the National Cadets Corps (NCC) office. He asked me to go there, as he considered the place as one of the few inside institute which can frighten a person like me, even if I have decided to be strong and brave.

The very next day, I took the call and ventured out on the presumably scariest lonely walk of my life. I was quite normal and nonchalant just 1 foot away from the passage. As I stepped in the purview of the lane, I started shivering. However, there were many more things to worry about that day. I was pre-occupied with lots of ideas and mental conflicts; this fuelled my will power and neglected all the pats on my back, apparent whispers, weird voices and eeriness of that place. This was not the end of it.
As I was returning back, I would have been hardly 10 meters from the lane when there was a distinct screeching voice which tried too hard to divert my attention towards itself. My will power and presence of mind was at its peak and I didn’t pay much attention to that voice which was trying to convey the message “I’m at severe pain, help me!” even if I was not able to hear it properly and the source wasn’t generating any understandable language. Needless to say, it wasn’t a sane idea to go that place for validation of my interpretation. I just went ahead, while the voice kept on following me as if I’m not moving. When I reached near Vikramshila building complex, all the dogs inside the complex immediately started barking at something behind me and after that the voice was no more heard of. I showed tremendous guts and presence of mind to accomplish this achievement of successfully completing the lonely walk to NSS office gate and return back normal.

In the hindsight, there was something very eerie, spooky and scary about that lane which I cannot explain neither you can describe even if you do muster up courage to go there alone. Whenever, I talk about it or think about it I start shivering the same way as I was shivering while walking along that old, almost abandoned lane. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!

Disclaimer : Try this adventurous lonely walk to NSS office, at your own risk and will power. My advice is that you must not go there between 1 AM to 6 AM

#Original Quotes : #1...1

2011-01-23T03:34:00.002+05:30

"You have nothing to lose, nothing to gain...the journey has no end nor any beginning...it's a perpetual circle"

PS: Self-explanatory; I'll share whatever comes to my mind, and which I consider as worth sharing, and is original (not copied from anywhere), obviously!

Entrepreneurship Gyaan : #101

2011-01-21T08:05:00.003+05:30

# Be "Confident"

# Be "Intellectually Arrogant"

# Be "Unapologetic"

# Be the "Next Big Thing!"

PS: This starts the "Entrepreneurship Gyaan" series which will cover the lessons I've learnt by pursuing entrepreneurship.

Is South Africa a choker team in Cricket?- A statistical & historical perspective

2011-01-16T06:32:00.013+05:30

Mac: "SA had the game in the bag and they....choked. There, I have said it." [1]

Here is a thing about South Africa. They are the so-called “archetypal [2] choker team in the sport of Cricket” [3].

In simpler terms, they tend to lose their matches from a stage where even Bangladesh can’t lose against Australia. If there is one cricket team in this world which shows you the value of completing the formalities (including redundant paperwork) it is South Africa. You never know, you might just choke!

The semifinal match between Australia and South Africa of 1999 Cricket World Cup is still vivid in the memories of every cricket follower. Everyone, came up their explanations and own versions of “holding on to the nerves”.

One person was singled out; Herschelle Gibbs, who dropped Steve Waugh and “dropped the World Cup”. As it is with history, it keeps on repeating itself; it followed that after 3 years Herschelle Gibbs took a decision which helped India qualifying to the final of 2002 ICC Champions Trophy.

After scoring a brilliant century, he retired hurt with his side still needing 70 runs for victory; SA-192/1 and required rate well under control. Eventually, it was few out of the skin deliveries by
Sehwag (Man of the Match) coupled with immature performance by South Africa which led to the famous 10 run victory. Yes, it did cost them the Cup; India eventually was declared joint winner along with Sri Lanka because of the incessant rain.

This is just one side of the story. If we consider statistics, South Africa is not the only team which has lost dinner from its claws. When you count the no. of times a side has lost by less than (or equal to) 3 runs [4], South Africa equals Australia with 6 such instances. Ironically, England Cricket Team touted as the best team after defeating “Australia in their own turf” in the recently concluded 2010-11 Ashes series has lost on 11 occasions by less than or equal to 3 runs. In addition to that, India’s count is no better. In fact it is 9, higher than South Africa, statistics can be misleading!

At this point of time, cricket gurus and self-proclaimed “experts on everything under the sun” would jump to point me that I haven’t considered smallest margin of victory “by wickets”. Ok, I did that also [5] without any change in inference. England, South Africa and India have lost 3 matches each by 1 wicket. However, Australia has lost on 5 such occasions. So, do we conclude that Australia is the choker in cricket? NO, Statistics is just a tool. It is only the means it cannot be the ends.

Speaking more about statistics, “Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital” - Aaron Levenstein. Hmm! Coming back to cricket, Team India have given the weekend- partying- crowd another reason to splurge, dine and wine out. Cricket truly has a secular fervor.

PS: I have 3-4 important tasks, but I had to prioritize this post way above them ;)

PS: I am happy for Indian Cricket Team; they have finally gained the traction of winning matches away from home. Screw, you Critics!

PS: Finally, updated the blog after such a long time.

1. http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-india-2010/engine/match/463151.html?innings=2;page=1;view=commentary

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetype

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choke_(sports)

4. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283920.html

5. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283253.html

Photo Source 1 : http://cricket.ndtv.com/indinsa10/gallerydetails.aspx?id=8969&category=SPORTS

Photo Source 2 : http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/cricket/greatest-threat-to-south-africas-finest-may-lie-within/2008/12/12/1228585117473.html

Not Nostalgia, Ante-Nostalgia

2010-11-25T21:26:00.004+05:30

7/8 Formalities over
Now it boils down to the crucial one month or few more;
Of Day 0s, Day 1s, ...Day 22s...---> Day ∞,
Of Shocks and of underdogs becoming heroes.
Talks about "C.G & C.V" instead of Bandi, Sitcoms and Animes.
Of few treats and numerous heartbreaks,
Of GPLs and Hugs.
Which all put together,
Will trigger nostalgia.

PS: This is for Final Year students

#TwitterFBwish- Jugaad for a wish

2010-11-05T00:00:00.005+05:30

Atheist Alert: You are advised not to read this any further and simply close the tab. Thanks!

In India and abroad, chiefly eastern countries we have a unique custom. We have an innovative and creative Jugaad to bribe and/or please our numerous Gods and Goddesses.
In this age of disruptive innovation, viral marketing, etc. etc. we have something called “mannat” in India (not to be confused with Shahrukh's home). We make a wish and tie something like coconut inside red cloth to an old tree or similar holy object in the temple area. Sometimes just tying a knot of red cloth does no less good. The wish is kept confidential. Finally, when it does get fulfilled you have to come back and undo the tying process and thank God/Goddess.

In this auspicious occasion of Diwali, I also want at least one wish to get granted. I cannot travel to such mannat-place, though. I have come up with another Jugaad. I’ve wished for something and planned to keep it confidential. I have posted something in a discreet way like tying a coconut wrapped inside a red piece of cloth.

I would again post about my wish if it is fulfilled and let the world know what my wish was. In this way I would thank Facebook and God. Even you can fulfill your wish like this. Just post on Facebook or tweet something related to your mannat and you can use the hashtag: #TwitterFBwish. When your wish is fulfilled just let the world know about it. Simple, ain’t it?
Happy Diwali and Prosperous New Year (Vikrami Samvat 2067). May Goddess Laxmi shower immense wealth on you.

(image : http://www.flickr.com/photos/anuj1191/3520965493/in/photostream/)

Indian farmers won’t retweet but foreign economists will RT their visions

2010-10-03T12:09:00.009+05:30

Suman doesn’t go to bed, literally. He is rather forced to sleep along with all the other members of his family on the floor of his thatched hut. He wakes up at 5 am, not because he has to go office but doesn’t like the sight of defecating people around him while he is attending nature’s call. Suman is 21, has had a chance of visiting Bangalore once. He hasn’t heard about twitter but does know that people can send/receive letters without the help of a postman/post office. Suman’s story is not unique but a typical example of a rural youth in 21st century India. Suman can be anyone. Suman can also be a village girl, a unisex Indian name.

Peeps like Suman are clueless and sympathetically oblivious about everything. He is like the Natha of Peepli Live [India's official entry for the 83rd Academy Awards] who decides to commit suicide to save his land and to save his family from becoming homeless, after which his family will receive heavy compensation for his death. Farmers keep on becoming Natha(s), and they die unlike the character of the flick, but who cares?

As long as India’s GDP is growing at well above 8% and you can also make that figure 9%(thanks to the statistical manipulation we’re experts at), nobody really cares, do you?

What everybody really cares about is the BSE Sensex and NSE index. Till they are growing at around 1.8% weekly, nobody wants to be bothered. We have time to fight over whether someone was born at a particular place for more than 50 years. We have time to engage in rhetoric about Kashmir solution. If this still is not enough, we painstakingly move our ass to twitter and utilize our intellect, time and internet to the most powerful effect, we can come up with.

In a country, which shamelessly boasts of the ever exploding number of obscenely high net worth individuals, there is little hope for Suman or Natha. In a country which is blind to the fact that twitter won’t support their rebellion (if any), there is no hope for anybody for that matter.

“Social networks are effective at increasing participation—by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires” writes Malcolm Gladwell in this article. True!

Hope is a bad thing, it always lead to despair. More so, in the case of Indians, we are born enthusiastic with dreams of conquering the world, but this smoothly fades out and a cynical outlook is what we are left with. Life is unfair, true.

In a country which is more concerned about altering things which are functioning well to transforming them to laggard government institutions, you don’t have to be smart to guess where your future lies if all this continues without any interruption. I’m referring to the IIT-JEE, the entrance exam which is the primary reason for the stellar respect people have for Indian techies in foreign-land. The HRD ministry always gets itself into such territories which are controversial and detrimental. Be it the issue of lowering the fees of IIM, introduction of OBC reservation, creation of umpteen no. of IIT and IIM campuses which does no good than diluting the standards which are already facing tremendous resource crunch, in terms of hostel, lecture-rooms and more importantly quality faculty. Why don’t you look into primary education, HRD ministry?

However, if you believe in some kind of magic, miracle or whatever you call it, you should sense change. India is going to transform itself from an agrarian economy in which farmers struggle to an economy which thrives on its prospering farmers. Yes, this is near not too far. Twitter and Facebook won’t help them. Ubiquitous cell phones, satellite Television, primary education, dissemination of modern agricultural practices, etc. would certainly help. We don’t need to retweet (copy) anybody to be a progressive nation. India at present is far behind China by any standards. India’s export figure ($176.5 billion) is just a fraction of China’s ($1.2 trillion). Unemployment in China (4.2%) is less than half of what prevails in India (10.7%). But, what should make you happy is the promising future, which lies ahead. It’s always the youth that drive any kind of revolution, protest movement, a much needed change. It’s the demographics of India which puts India at a better place than most countries. India outshines China in terms of the youth percentage. India is going to add 136 million working-age people, much higher than China’s 23 million. This is the only cookie India has, and if it judiciously uses this gift to survive the winter maybe we could benefit of the spring, summer and monsoon ahead.

The secret to India’s growth lies in the villages of India, the rustic face of India which is always overlooked and we talk of the swank T3 terminal at New Delhi, instead. Even the corporates have got this, and are doing their homework well. Coca-Cola brainstorms and comes up with a new marketing strategy to sell in smaller sized bottles and which is apparently very similar to the introduction of sachet-business model. The policy makers will have to follow soon, and come up with plans and strategies specifically designed for Indian villages and not inspired(and bluntly copied) from international white papers on policy, case-studies, etc. They need to address the problem which is Indian, so the solution by all sorts of imagination should be Indian too. We can’t retweet (copy) someone else’s model and impose on our different rural challenges. We need to come up with a plan. Focus should be on primary education and not in secondary education which is already driven by demand-supply law. Much of our attention should be to make our villages a better place to live, so that the reckless migration to cities stops. We need to foster an environment that transforms our villages and equip them with all basic amenities. No one should feel cheated and less empowered in Indian villages. The village economy needs to grow at 8% too
We can’t progress till we are indulged in age-old useless debates about Babri-masjid demolition and anyways the recent Allahabad high court judgement to me is a no surprise. It was always meant to be that. The judgement also termed as “village panchayat judgement” is the classic example of a matured political conclusion. We need to move forward and we are doing that too. As M.J. Akbar writes,

“The impoverished have understood a simple, important, over-riding reality: poverty is not communal. There is no shortage of places for prayer in our country. There is, however, a shortage of self-respect, since every hungry stomach in our country is a sharp slap on the face of the idea of India. 2010 is a hundred years away from 1992.”

We have matured from the experiences of early 1990s. Now we no longer dread or are provoked by speeches like, “SaugandhRam Ki Khaatein Hain Mandir Wohi Banayenge”. Period

Despite all these, we don’t need to change our values and customs. We just need to come up with an Indian solution to an Indian problem. We don’t need to retweet. Everybody else should retweet us.
Indian farmers won’t retweet but foreign economists will RT their visions. Jai Jawan Jai Kisan!
This post is dedicated to Lal Bahadur Shrivastav Shastri, India’s 2nd Prime Minister, whom we tend to forget on 2nd October, his birth date.

What's on your mind?

2010-08-25T00:17:00.003+05:30

I’m swamped by thoughts. My mind is inundated with thoughts. This is “anti-writer’s block”. I don’t know where I’ll be after a 9-10 months. I don’t know what I’d really love to do when I graduate from college. I know when I was in class 11/12 the one thing I aspired was to become an “electronics and communication engineer” or “Aeronautical engineer”. The reasons for fascination with these two branches were quite fuzzy. I knew quite a few successful “electronics and communication engineer” and my love for fluid dynamics which still remains unrequited led me to consider Aeronautical engineering as a career option. Nevertheless, I had to take mining engineering as my undergraduate course at IIT Kharagpur. Man proposes God disposes!

“Ends are ape-chosen; only the means are man's.”

Just 6 years before, the one thing I desperately longed for was a seat in IIT, now I have it. After spending more than 3 years at IIT, I think I was eccentric. However, I did devote around 3 years to get into IIT. The silver lining is that I stand a better chance of being absorbed in a high-paying company than most of the students in India. Ultimately, an average middle-class youth’s dream is to get a good job after getting the very important degree, necessary evil. Ends justify the means, perhaps.

At present, I’m confused. I don’t know what I really want to do with my life. It’s like you have choices and choices and you don’t even have a slight preference for any of them. In such situation, it’s better to let others decide, not you. Exactly! When I was in class 10 it was all easy for me I was good at mathematics, science including biology. I knew I’d choose science stream but my parents chose engineering for me, as it’s easier to be an engineer (according to my parents, though!). Nobody’s complaining they knew more than me, at least then. My current problem I’ve N no. of choices and I know much more than my parents or any other close person in my life whom I can speak out my heart. So, it’s all me who has to decide.

1. Sit for CAT—Go to IIM.

2. Forget CAT—Sit for Campus Placements—Take a job which pays you the most.

3. Sit for CAT, Sit for Campus Placements— decide afterwards, what you want to do.

4. Higher studies—Figure out in which Field.

5. Go to Himalayas— forget the materialistic world; become a spiritual, motivational speaker.

6. Consider all the possible permutations and combinations of the above 5 options—Choose one.

My recent trip to Mumbai isn’t helping either. It has made me realize that I don’t know a lot of things which the “Kewl-people” talk about. I’m a bad conversation starter. I can’t talk about my favourite writers and poets, I haven’t read much. I can’t differentiate Rock, Pop, Jazz and whatever forms of music exist. In short, I’m a boring person, I cannot entertain you.

I have tried few things just for the heck of it, like swimming, tennis and jogging. I didn't like any of them. I don’t know what I love; I don’t know what I want to do with my life. I can stop thinking and follow the herd, but I don’t want to do it either. It is that phase of my life when I probably need to wait, have patience and leave it to the future. Perhaps!

However, I’d love to choose one thing and take a leap of faith.

Primer to Cleantech Internship

2010-07-20T17:54:00.013+05:30

I always knew that I would do my compulsory summer internship with a dynamic organization and not necessarily in an MNC. After a lot of research, applications, e-mails and telephonic conversations I decided to devote my summer with Greenway Ecodevelopment in Navi Mumbai.

The internship experience had everything that one expects. Challenging projects, flexible work environment and, perks and incentives. Greenway Ecodevelopment Pvt. Ltd. is a startup with primary focus on CDM advisory, carbon footprint, training services and, eco-friendly and sustainable project development. The founders of the company validate their pedigree. Ankit Mathur is an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, while Neha Juneja has done her MBA from FMS Delhi. Ankit and Neha also have engineering degrees from Delhi Technological University (Formerly Delhi College of Engineering).

The above company description does no justice to the kind of projects Greenway handles, apparently. In other words, after explaining what greenway does by paraphrasing the above company details people at the other side of conversation would ask, “Oh! I see, but what exactly Greenway does? ” . In reply, I used to say, “Carbon trading, carbon finance, environment-friendly technologies and services”. This would usually be followed by another query, “What the hell is carbon-trading?” . Carbon trading covers a wide range of mechanisms which help in curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which would have taken place in a business-as-usual scenario. Business-as-Usual is a term used for commercial ventures and projects which don’t consider emissions and focus on maximizing earnings. Business-as-Usual in most cases leads to degradation of environment with harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions leading to global warming and ultimately fueling climate change.

The debate about climate change is another agenda but carbon trading mechanisms are like insurance policies in which you invest for the untoward incidents that might take place in future.

Carbon emissions is a term collectively used for all types of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There are two types of carbon markets, voluntary and mandatory. The voluntary carbon markets are still in their infant stages, although the carbon market driven by Kyoto protocol has become a boon for emerging economies like China, India and Latin America through a mechanism known as clean development mechanism (CDM).

The clean development mechanism, one of the mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol allows emission-reduction projects in developing countries (non-Annex I Parties). Emission reduction of one ton of carbon dioxide equivalent earns 1 certified emission reduction (CER) credit. CERs can be traded and sold, and used by industrialized countries (Annex I Parties) or companies with emission targets to meet a part of their targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

CDM provides developing countries opportunity to implement projects which are less carbon intensive and also avail monetary support from developed countries. Annex I parties are developed countries. Annex I countries which have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, have to reduce their emission levels of greenhouse gasses to targets that are mainly set below their 1990 levels.

However, it is very difficult for the developed nations to achieve such a herculean target at the cost of meeting its current demands. To facilitate their economic and industrial sustainability, they can emit GHGs by buying equivalent emission credits from various carbon trading mechanisms. Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the mechanisms, and is hugely popular because of its scalability, applicability and the benefits which can be shared mutually between non-Annex and Annex parties.

Emission reduction = Baseline emissions - Project emissions – Leakage

Emission reduction achieved by the project depends primarily on the baseline emissions offset, project emission and the leakage emissions outside the project boundary.

Baseline emission is the emission level that would take place in absence of the project activity. The project activity also emits some amount of GHGs, which is referred to as Project emissions which must be subtracted from the baseline emissions. Emission changes outside the project boundary, due to the project, not under control of the project participants is known as the Leakage. The tons of carbon dioxide equivalents which are calculated after subtracting “Project emissions” and “Leakage” from “Baseline emissions” is equal to the number of CERs (carbon credits) earned.

The basic steps include choosing a suitable methodology or suggesting a new methodology, determining the baseline emission and proving additionality. A CDM project activity is additional if anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gasses are reduced below those that would have occurred in the absence of the registered CDM project activity. Additionality may be financial, technical, institutional, etc.
The above details are incorporated in the Project Design Document (PDD). It is submitted to “Designated operational entity” (DOE) for validation, and “Designated National Authority” (DNA) for host country approval. After host country approval and validation, the PDD is forwarded to CDM Executive Board (EB) for project registration.

The EB after registering the project issues CERs (carbon credits) which can be traded in carbon markets. The value of 1 CER varies from € 8-12.
CDM Projects depend on future carbon credits for availing loan; it can also use the revenue from selling the credits for operation and maintenance, etc.

This is just about carbon trading, and also explains only CDM-project cycle. Greenway Ecodevelopment deals with much more than this. Greenway is a cleantech company. It is a startup, run by vibrant professionals. Greenway is also a consultancy firm which is going to have immense social impact. Speaking about social impact, Greenway would transform the lives of people by implementation and financing of 14,000 household biogas units in Yavatmal district under the CDM route. This is one of the first projects of its kind.

The think-tank of Greenway lives in a typical startup environment which is enviable. I will always relish the chance given to me by them for experiencing it firsthand. Everyone contributes invaluably, even their cute pet dog named Primer. Yes, the dog’s name is the title reference of the post.

More to follow about cleantech, internship, Primer, Mumbai and a lot more in subsequent posts.

Dalda, Xerox, … IIT, MIT, Stanford… and Twitter…

2010-05-01T05:00:00.009+05:30

The amazing success stories behind brands and their products are very interesting. Vanaspati Ghee became Dalda, Photocopying became synonymous with Xerox, and these two brands are such pervasive that most of the consumers don’t even know the product’s actual name. So, what is more important for a manufacturer/ entrepreneur? Is it Product or Brand? Building a brand demands innovation of a different kind. Whenever you think about “Brands”, you can’t afford to miss out IIT (Indian Institutes of Technology). Though the product here is quite different and each one can cash in the brand reputation of IIT to build another brand which in fact makes IIT (Indian Institutes of Technology) the most powerful Indian brand ever created or is it the IPL (Indian Premier League)? India’s fetish with 3-lettered powerful brands also includes IIM (Indian Institutes of Management).

The equivalent of IIT in the USA is MIT or in more politically and historically correct form it’s the other way round. IIT, IIM, MIT, Harvard, Stanford and other top universities across the world attract the crème de la crème of the student populace and are known for their immensely successful alumni. Not long ago, people studying at these places eyed for their dream job and career path which leads to a stable (at least economically) career in the long run. However, in these last two decades there has been a paradigm shift in the psyche of the average MIT/Harvard/Stanford/IIT/IIM/… grad. Entrepreneurship has become socially accepted and a respected career path. These universities have started nurturing the entrepreneurial instincts of their students and venturing out in entrepreneurship has never been so serious activity.

"Let pedigree trickle out, don't spill it out"

Few days back, strategist and management consultant, Semil Shah (@semilshah) tweeted:
(http://twitter.com/semilshah/status/12996210164)

This is not the case only with MIT or Stanford, it is obviously a common practice adopted by young entrepreneurs who are naïve about their brand management and try to leverage their elusive and elite degree for touting their business plans and catapulting the popularity of their product portfolio. You can’t blame them too as they are not brand managers but entrepreneurs who don’t have much experience about the capitalistic economy and its dynamics. The degree though helps in building the brand image but can’t be made the only parameter to test the value and need for your innovation.

Shrey Goyal(@shreygoyal) says rather tweets:
(http://twitter.com/shreygoyal/status/12996763962)

Semil Shah further elaborates, “It’s much more effective to quickly introduce biz concept, impact. Let pedigree trickle out, don't spill it out” (http://twitter.com/semilshah/status/12996574589). At this point of time, the coherence in his thoughts seemed to be in sync with me. Great businesses have always solved problems or given us an alternative to do certain tasks.

Another subtle thing which you might have noticed is how I have used twitter. I got the opportunity to interact with an expert like Semil Shah, just because of twitter. This is not the only use of twitter I have come across. Recently, one of my friends got his summer internship by following his current internship employer on twitter, replying to tweets, and having “@” conversations. This prompted the hirer to have a look at my friend’s LinkedIn profile and discuss his internship application and he got the confirmation call.
(BTW, I've changed my twitter handle take a note of this: my earlier was @ashishiitkgp4 which is changed to this (@ashishgourav) do follow me!)

In a nutshell, entrepreneurship should be nurtured from a very early stage of maturity, work on your business plan focusing on the product, its applications, revenue earning model, proper branding and use twitter effectively. Social networking sites have been blamed for privacy intrusions but we need to embrace this medium of communication as this is the need of the hour.

I’d like to leave you with an invigorating video of Cameron Herold, Successful business leader. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCar_sFfEf4)

(Image Source: http://www.leadingedgealliance.com/issues_old/2002/fall/branding/i/branding.jpg)

Joys of Bribery, Blogging and Racist outlook

2010-04-08T21:51:00.007+05:30

“You cannot enter this room with this ticket” says the lady attendant outside an Indian Railways’ “Upper Class” AC waiting room.
“I know that madam…how much should I pay for 2 hours” I replied squeezing my eyes and widening my mouth.

"I want either less corruption or more opportunity to participate in it"

This was how I bribed a woman for the first time in my life and after doing that I actually felt quite good and this was the first time I initiated the bribery. Bribery doesn’t mean splurging money on every paan-spitting lousy sarkari babu (clerk/official/peon) but efficiently tipping off poorly paid government employees so that your work is not hampered. Bribing can be embarrassing but it’s a win-win situation for both the parties. I would like to mention that I'm not in favour of corruption, it's detrimental to the smooth and democratic function of the society...you can read my take on this from here (Cynicism of an Average Indian and the "Vicious Circle of Corruption")

This all happened during my recent visit to the southern city of Chennai during Good Friday and Easter Sunday Holidays. It was my maiden trip to South India.

I have been born and brought-up in eastern India and am likely to be prejudiced about other parts of India but I did notice something about the south Indians in particular. Indians in general are corrupt and unhygienic but south Indians are hygienic and north Indians corrupt.
I’ve earlier announced my voluntary retirement from blogging but I revoked my decision (after public gatherings, suicides and hunger strikes to resume blogging). There is a thing about blogging which gives you an alter ego. People like to call you by your blog name, they mock your blog, it’s always you and your blog, these things always motivate a blogger like me to keep on writing.

Recently, our college had its Gymkhana Elections for the highest student post, the Vice-President. I decided to sideline myself from all the hullaballoo of these elections but ignoring someone is not easier than being indifferent. Candidly speaking, I do not know what powers the VP of our institute possess and I don’t even intend to acquire the knowledge, I simply don’t care.

To quote one of my comments
“I know people who campaigned for one, supported the other and voted in the favour of the third; to top it all, they shook their hands with Celestine(VP, IIT KGP Students Gymkhana) after he won...true spirit of KGP :P”

Share your grief, excitement, disgust and whatever emotions you have about my return to blogosphere…

Channelise the Libido, Save the Youth!

2010-02-05T02:16:00.020+05:30

I’m not talking about the obese, burger in hand, iPod earphones plugged-in to ears and low waist jeans clad teenager; they are not going to change the world anyway. History is evident that all the great revolutions have been a cause of merciless suppression, discrimination and exploitation. If you don’t allow the release of steam from the pressure cooker, the pressure inside will go on increasing and it will explode.

Women have been discriminated mentally, physically and sexually for more than centuries and now we are feeling the gradual rise in women power though occasional cases of victims like Ruchika Girhotra attract a lot of mainstream media attention and spark national debates on molestation, human-trafficking, prostitution, domestic violence on women and workplace harassment.

If we do not start introspection and start doing something for the next generation such that they don’t face similar debates, we should be ready for explosions literally as well as figuratively.
Take a case of girl who is physically and sexually assaulted by a group of insurgents or terrorists for a week, without giving proper rest or food. Most of the girls don’t ever remain alive to experience any more cruelties of the world but the few who do survive are brainwashed and made anti-establishment. They go on to become more dangerous terrorists or insurgents than their male counterpart.

This is just an extreme case; most of the teenagers learn what they are asked to follow by parents and taught by teachers. Parenting is a very sensitive science and usually considered easier than conceiving a child but we all know it is not true. This doesn’t have immediate reflections on the society.
However, when people who have mass following and are responsible citizens misuse their power and faith common people have in them, they can only ruin a child’s career which becomes detrimental for the society.

Below is a video of a 13 year old Hindu girl addressing a VHP's rally, Spitting out venom against Muslims while targeting Pakistan.

Obviously, this can’t be the words of a 13 year old but is portraying as an ideal example of a mislead youth. Once a person attains puberty, the forces known as libido influences our mental state and we act accordingly. If the libido doesn’t find a useful means to flow from the body it engages itself, it short-circuits and the person mindlessly involves himself or herself in destructive fantasies.
Similarly, if the teenager grows in an environment of compassion, motivation and empathy he/she becomes the next Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa or Sergey Brin. The girl in the video just below is a live example.

As Sunitha Krishnan, who fights against human trafficking says

“…And thereon every child I met, who has been violated and abused I made sure the child understood that he/she is the one who is wronged and being a victim is not something one should be ashamed of. As the anger, pain, outrage and unbearable sense of betrayal poured out, the child was cleared of a burden of a lifetime. Through unconditional love, empathy and acceptance the child was able to see the beautiful person within. As we took the journey together the child was able to slowly regain dignity and a spirit to conquer all odds.”

Sunitha Krishnan didn’t succumb to the seclusion by society, she kept on stewing her anger and when she was brimming with confidence and motivation, wanted to do something meaningful for the girls like her and she did channelise all her energy towards Prajwala.

We need more girls like Sunitha who could fight for their innocent sisters like Ruchika Girhotra.

The world we live in is not hell, good people do exist and they do understand their responsibility and the faith we have in them. Our culture, upbringing and environment we grow all reflect in our personality throughout our life. The perception of your right eye is different than your left eye.

I wish the youth of today who would be responsible citizens of tomorrow realise this very soon and save this world from mass destruction, if the world is going to end in December, 2012 it might me due to improper channelisation and insensible perception of the leaders of the world, but I do not believe in this theory at all.

"Individuals make the families; families constitute the societies; and societies together form the nations, an ensemble of which is seen as the world." [Source]

Humans are known to adapt to every adversity and I know the youth will eradicate all the evils including the "vicious circle of corruption" and bring the changes in the social scenario envisioned by our forefathers and world would remain continuous.

Facebook Flirting

2010-01-22T14:16:00.015+05:30

As Orkut Büyükkökten cries over the gradually decreasing popularity of Orkut, the smart users betraying Orkut and desperate attempts by Orkut of emulating facebook, online flirting moves on to facebook.

“Orkut is History…here is the link to my new facebook profile”.

I still remember the day when I started using Orkut and as I created my profile the first thing which I did was search all my crushes on Orkut, but I guess they were enjoying their life. (The more interesting your life becomes, the less time you spend on internet... and vice versa).
It just took two weeks of online activity to realize that beautiful, cute, sweet and hot girls do exist outside TV and Movies and they are real too! And may be accessible ;)

The hunt began…2007 2008 2009 and it is 2010 and the result, I’m still single, next step I have created facebook profile. I have a crush on Google but I’m betraying her as she didn’t get me a single girlfriend.
So far even facebook seems to have no solutions to my problems. I guess the problem is within me. Just have a look at the conversation below:

The girl uses a facebook application to find her next kisser. After getting the result she exclaims that the guy doesn’t even know how to kiss!
The guy having mini-orgasms starts flirting; the friends are having fun over this. The girl asks the boy to learn kissing!

God! Why it doesn’t happen to me? Why? Why?

If this was not enough, now facebook walls are flooded with photos of pretty girls and constant wooing by despos like me who “like” their photo and give inane comments like “sweet pic”, “nice pic”, “looking awesome”…

This time of the year it is more difficult for us-the IIT KGP fellas with Spring fest and Kshitij giving us various types of complexes. It is very difficult to even come out of your room as the campus is full of hot and pretty chicks who are of course not approachable.
This situation is nicely summed up by

“…Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink…”

Taken from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and also pointed out by Shrey Goyal.

The lesson which I learnt from last two spring seasons is that the best thing to do in fest season is to sleep in your room and be away from that urge to approach a girl and fail in the process. Gosh! We hate failures…the IITians!
Perhaps, this is the only field we are losers.

The level of frustration can be gauged by a simple example; this is the institute which was involved with DPS R K Puram in that infamous MMS Scandal.

Now that Café Coffee Day has finally started its outlet at KGP, the jealousy will decrease as the pairs will get some space which would be avoided by poor singles who are neither blessed with fortune nor girls.

However, this adds to the things which I would miss in my college days, the list is:

1. No Girlfriend.
2. Not went for any date, I’m talking about a real date and not this.
3. Never went to café Coffee day with any girl.

"To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing" ; we live in a constant hope with full enthusiasm waiting for that single girl who will stop us from watching 300 movies a year, 10 seasons of friends 10 times and even more, looking “for girls” in facebook and writing blog posts like these!

Yearnings of Yore- Life Goes on!

2010-01-12T17:32:00.006+05:30

This article was originally published in
"Yearnings of Yore"(Volume-VII) given as a souvenir to the alumni present on the occasion of "Seventh Annual Alumni Meet", January 8-10, 2010.

Life Goes on!

It was a day that changed your life once and forever, from just a mere mortal oblivious about this world to a community for which people used to spend half a decade to be in. It was the day your forefathers would attain salvation after getting the big news.

However, you were calm and sleeping in your not-so-cozy but homely bed when your mother wakes you up. You brushed your teeth as you were a mother’s child and had to abide by her morning rules. Wow! You are selected at IIT KGP.

Congrats now you are a KGPian!

The news of your selection spread like wildfire, soon phone calls started coming in if you happen to be selected after the telecom-revolution.

This is the celebrity phase of life every IITian never forgets throughout his/her life.

Life gives you choices and sometimes plays with your fate and gives you surprises. IIT welcomes you with surprises, few bad ones and pleasant ones too. You transform from a teenager to a young adult. It is “Goosebumps-giving” to say that the change IIT did to you still reflects in your personality and you have never changed that much over a span of 4 years other than in KGP. When you put your footsteps here you might be with your dad or mom but in the subsequent 4 years you start doing things on your own. Your first all-alone journey back to home, your first visit to the stationary shop for purchasing stuffs that was previously bought by your parents or elder brothers and sisters, gradual loss of interest in studies, involvement in hall activities and orientation program, etc. all carve out a change in you successively, obviously not in the above order . Here I’m tempted to quote a cliché
“Your hall is your identity. Your hall is bigger than your year, bigger than your department, bigger than your CG, bigger than YOU.”

This is learnt by you and you are made to learn things which leave transcendental changes in you. Hall seniors and the stationary shop owner of your hall are the people you have to be subservient to for obvious benefits!

Within 6 months, you have loads of activities to do and you get a hang of the less happening life outside KGP campus. Cheddis, Tikka and other eateries give you relief from the mess food and excuse to do “Bhaat”!

“Bhaat” is really an activity which forms an indispensible part of every KGPian throughout his stay here, be it the personal problem, IIT issue or national and international issues, a KGPian has a point of view on every topic under the sun what he refers to as his “funda” or “fundae”.

Every KGPian subconsciously believes that he/she gets paid not for his/her technical expertise rather the “fundae” giving capability he/she inherits from his/her seniors. The explicit mention of photocopying centers deserves a mention as it is the prime reason for making you an IIT graduate. People say getting in to IIT is tough, try getting out! (another cliché). Academics take a backseat in most of the KGPians’ priority list. Life goes on, you graduate and after 5 years or 10 years or whatever may in your case, you feel like returning once again to this mother of all the IITs. The students of KGP also wish to welcome their seniors again and relive the moments again. Being an alumnus of IIT KGP you might get nostalgic but the feeling of nostalgia is also quite serene and surreal.

PS: This was the first time I got bylines for any article and I was very happy to see my name in print for any article for the first time!

Yes, I have read the book!

2010-01-02T05:42:00.019+05:30

When this controversy started though I was able to empathize Chetan Bhagat but I decided not to write any post related to this on my blog but after this...(see the video below)

I made up my mind that my favourite author and my college senior deserves a mention of this in my blog. The question is not whether the movie is 30%, 50% or 100% copied from the book but it is about moral responsibility of the eulogizer of Gandhigiri. I agree that an artist can't epitomise his creation but this is an extreme case.

What is the point Chetan Bhagat is trying to make?(see the video below)

The bottomline is that this is a typical example in which the writer is not being given appropriate credits. However, the first battle is won by the writer concerned here due to his cult following and media contacts. It could have happened to a less known author and very likely his voice would have been suppressed.

The controversial part of the contract:[view image below]

Courtesy: http://www.vinodchopra.com/agreement.pdf

Read what one of the Aamir khan fans has to say on this, which he posted as a comment in his blog:

"2104. vinayb79
Posted on Jan,02,2010 at 11:48 AM

My simple point is why did the makers get into the contract with
Mr. Bhagat if they 'loosely' wanted to base the movie on the
book or if they only wanted to use '3 to 5 % ' from the book...Do
script writers need 3 to 5 % ? what about the rest 95 0r 97 %?
For that 3 to 5 % the movie makers needed to get into a contract
with the novelist , for what? probably for PUBLICTY because the
book was already FAMOUS?

Could that 3 to 5 % similarities not be avoided and a Original
movie then would have come to the fore...then there would nt have
been a need to making a contract then in the first place...and
once you base movie from a novel, the originality is lost in the
sense of the story whether it is 3 or 5 or 7 or 70 or 50
%...secondly it surely is much more than 3 to 5 %....."

What is my take on this?
I don't want to speak politically correct; the team "3 Idiots" has failed to acknowledge the fact that no matter how successful his film becomes he has to give credit to the person who originally created the characters much before Abhijat Joshi or Rajkumar Hirani thought about Phansuk Wangdu, Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad and Virus.

Rashmi bansal has a valid point here

"Ultimately, Simon Beaufoy won an Oscar for 'best adapted screenplay. And he did not forget to thank Vikas, even in his acceptance speech... "

(Slumdog Millionaire is an adaptation of the novel "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup.)

I think this matter will die within few weeks but the man who will gain maximum out of this is ironically Chetan Bhagat.

If you chronologically follow the proceedings you might think this to be some PR stunt. The film gets publicity, chetan bhagat gets his name mentioned in newspaper and news Channels, the looser is no one!

I do not know the truth and don't want to talk more about this but if you are interested watch this Star News coverage and if you strongly feel that Chetan has moral as well as legal advantage if the controversy goes to court, know what IP practitioners have to say on this

All is well!

PS: Happy new year 2010 to you, may this year bring loads of pleasant surprises for you :)

Singrauli: Mining-IIT KGP Field Trip' 09

2009-12-28T06:03:00.015+05:30

You know you are a student of mining engineering at IIT Kharagpur, when you go places like Singrauli and get warm reception from senior officials and stalwarts of mining and related fields. Apart from that the field trip had an overwhelming impact on our lives and we all will remember this trip for years to come.

Singrauli, the energy capital of India doesn’t have a metropolitan environment and is pretty sleepy but as far as the mining projects and power plants are concerned it would leave you awestruck. According to Singrauli’s website its total installed capacity of all power plants is around ten percent of total installed capacity of India and aptly it is known as “urjanchal”.

We stayed at Nigahi Project Township. The quality of food needs a special mention as it was a pleasant experience to have feast for 5 days and never did we have to make faces and unusual expressions because of it. In fact, we all ate well above our normal intake and calorie count was irrelevant.

One of the other things was that we realized that you cannot take KGP out of a KGPian after meeting the alumnus over there. They arranged everything for us and it was all very smooth and at times adventurous too. The Draglines, shovels, dumpers and the ubiquitous use of Hindi are the things which perfectly describe Singrauli. The Hindi phrases which were used everywhere must have been for educating people who come from places where Hindi is not the mother tongue. This reminds me of another brief meeting with two management-trainees from which I’m tempted to conclude that whenever you meet 2 engineers from pan-India 1 would be a Gult; for the uninitiated “Gult” are people from Andhra Pradesh and yes it includes Telengana too. I’m sorry for being racist.

In short, we had a helluva time there with the whole batch. We climbed on to shovels, draglines, posed for too many photographs, actually too many. The photographers [read as guys with camera] clicked photos of anything and everything under the sun and the sun too. This might support the exaggerations of Thomas L. Friedman that the surge of technology “has empowered individuals to become authors of their own content” in his book, “The World is Flat”. If you need proof, combining the photos of only two such guys it crosses 4 GB, and that is hell lot of information clicked.

The fun part was that the whole department for the first time got together and enjoyed like never before. We previously had made many plans for department picnics and treats which failed but this really brought us together, and for the first time we enjoyed college life at least I did. There was a time when I struggled to remember the names of all the 32 people. And very recently, one of our batch-mate didn’t know “who is who” but not anymore, am I right?

This field trip will go down our memory lanes and we all will remember this for a long time. This trip likely marked the end of the field trips for one of our grand old professors of mining. We are nostalgic sir!
It’s all words and words I can type maybe some photos here and there but I cannot do full justice to the amount of fun we had and what impact it had in all our lives.

Yo Singrauli!

Yo Mining!

“KGP ka tempo hiiiiiiiiiigh hai!!!”

"Jab We Met" Century

2009-12-07T18:49:00.010+05:30

I've seen this movie for more than 100 times and still I watch it whenever I feel like a Despo,or I'm Frustrated or just not in a good mood. You'll know why after watching this short video.

The above video has all the funny scenes compiled together but it is much more than just this it has emotions of all kind. No, I'm not going to give any review about this movie.

Jab We Met is a type of movie which falls in the category of "Kal Ho Naa Ho", "Dil Chahta Hai", "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" and "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" to name a few. These movies though not the best works of writers and directors are loved by the common audience like me.

The common link in all these movies is that they are realistic and with a tinge of fantasy together wrapped like "hide n seek biscuits". Talking about realistic movies, "Jab We Met" doesn't happen often quite often in real life but it has some really good fundae(I know it's not a word) about life.

Yeah, I too agree that if we do everything as our whims and fancies it may lead to disastrous consequences but we would be aware it was us who did this and we won't blame anybody for it.

The Climax is just superb and it always gives me the hope that stories do have a happy ending. The "train-chutt-rahi-hai" wala feeling is like it happens to most of us, does this makes sense?

The Kiss doesn't look obscene. This is where the chemistry of "Kareena & Shahid" comes into the romantic kiss. One of the few kisses which have a non-perverted beauty.

I'm still waiting for the Geet of my Life. Actually, for me Geet of my life is SHEEEE who changed the course of my life, I'm indebted to her for this precious gift.

The Nostalgic Indian Wedding

2009-12-04T17:57:00.009+05:30

There are only two kinds of people, one who have got the chance to enjoy Indian wedding and the other kind who wish to enjoy, dance and sing in an Indian wedding.

Switch off your mobile for a week (not quite literally), get away from internet and be offline for 6-7 days (literally), and attend an Indian wedding. This will truly give you more entertainment, knowledge and warmth of friends and relatives than reading this blog or twittering/Facebooking.
Last week my youngest uncle got married and I enjoyed the wedding as described in the above lines. As soon as exams got over, packed my baggage, rushed to my maternal place and guess what? It was a walk down the memory lane, as I experienced many things once again after 5-6 yrs.
Maternal uncles and aunties made my trip worth remembering and nostalgic.
One thing which I love is the craze of an IIT student outside IIT. It is as if you are a local celebrity radiating orgasmic IIT waves all around yourself. I was introduced to every notable person in the wedding with much delight.
A typical introduction would follow like this:
Uncle/Aunt: Hey Ashish! Come here… he is my eldest sister’s eldest son, studies at IIT Kharagpur.
Third person: Wow! Gives an “Aww! You are from IIT” Look and asks if I know his friend’s cousin sister’s daughter’s friend there.

The kids! I don’t know whether to love them, adore them or hate them!
I was with 12 first cousins who were all under 10 and I had to look after them. At times, it was hell but there were moments you simply want to remember for a long time. It feels nice when a kid comes and asks for a hug when scolded by his/her parents. I love them. I was the only matured of all the cousins as other cousins of my age-group had exams and didn’t turn up.

Yeah, the wedding was fantabulous. I was made the photographer by the groom (my uncle) and I messed it all, crap!

I was pampered and given unprecedented importance and even teased that,”I’m next in the queue of eligible bachelors *blushes*”
The thing which you look forward to in such functions is the food and what better than a week of full-relief from stinking hostel mess food. I was fed by my masi (aunty) not once but twice and I ate thrice my tummy ordered for.Her hands added special masalas which were tasted when I was a kid.

"Masi jab apne haathon se khana khilaye toh mazaa hi aaa jata hai!"

The cuisines were hand-licking awesome.
However, I missed out on starting any kind of conversation with few hot girls. The kids kept me busy and the rest of the time was spend helping out my newlywed uncle and aunty as they were to be escorted to various places. I must say my new aunty is a fun-loving girl, I don’t wish to use lady or woman she looks a girl only 4-5 years elder to me.

I have a huge family with 5 maternal uncles and 3 aunties and their kids; more about first cousins in other posts.
I really loved the visit as many old memories got refreshed and I was trapped by nostalgia.

0 to Zero

2009-11-26T15:12:00.004+05:30

You are strolling down the path along with your crush and there’s a cone of cornetto in your hand. You and her are sharing all the platonic thoughts and she leans on your shoulders and says , “I love you”. Suddenly there is a background instrumental of , “Tum se Hi” at full volume.

Hey Wait! Does this happen in real life?
NO
So, that was a dream but it had its share of reality, the background score of “Tum Se Hi” was my alarm-tone which woke me up for preparation of my last exam.
Oh Shit! I had woken up exactly 3 hours before the exam and had to complete the whole syllabus and I got the feeling it could very well be the first exam in which I might fail. There is the thing with this alarm, it was continuously being snoozed but I was in my dreams and the moment she proposed me, it had to wake me! Why?
Okay, I prepared for the exam, not so cool subject, “Underground Metal Mining” but what were you expecting to read when you chose mining engineering 2 and half years ago but actually I didn’t choose it, it chose me!
So with the almost no preparations and sweet images of the last dream I walked to my bicycle and coursed my way to the examination hall.
5 minutes into exam and I knew I only know 5 marks out of 100. I had no other option than to answer that in 20 marks format. Questions came and science fiction was written not once, not twice but 5 times, as there were 5 questions. One of those exams, in which I knew nothing but wrote everything.
By the way, if you are wondering about the title of this post let me explain you, 0 and zero have the same value in mathematics but they take different values of bits of memory in the computer hard-disk and similarly, I knew nothing but attempted everything which was just of no worth and out of context. Got it?
I know, I know… but you have to be mature enough to read my blog: P

The bottom line is my end semester exams are over... Yippee!

Oye...hooyeee Lappy thik ho gaya...shayad!

2009-11-11T01:40:00.004+05:30

It has been like time when the last "Halley's Comet" was seen with its extra-trail when I posted last, so first let me apologize for my absence.

But, I really can understand the "pain in the NECK (I'd have used the three letter word but I leave it to my professor to use such words... yes he did say *all iit profs are some "beeped words"* in front of the whole class and he also read the latest Chetan bhagat's book.)"... of people who are disgusted to see their facebook, orkut, twitter,
g-talk and all the n number of social networking sites page cluttered with my updates... like

1. Read my blog

2. Blog updated

3. Blog updated after 10 years

4. I'm committed... read more at my blog... and their disgust they find I was lying, yes I'm single and ready to mingle(for a girl, of course)

"Aaacha, main baat pe aaate hain"

"My laptop, my lappy... arrey wahin jo mera friend hai... was not well , kharab ho gaya tha"

I don't know what went wrong with it but I was getting nightmares of my separation with it and thoughts about its funeral and reporters asking me

"kaisa lag reha hai ab aapko, aaapke lappy ke death ke baad"

I'd have screamed in the camera... "kaisa lagega? I'm frusst... ulti frusst... don't have a girlfriend, no lappy, what will I do in KGP? and would show the middle wala finger and push the cameraman to buy another laptop".

Ok, no more exaggerations, my laptop's graphic card had/has some problems. The service center guy took it for 20 days was unable to find any fault and was going to change the "motherboard" and though it costs like bomb I gave green signal but that guy was really some *beeped word*.

Eventually, I fought with him and brought my laptop and thought of screwing(experimenting with) my laptop.

1. switched on the laptop

2. Plugged the charger

3. Had dinner

4. Had a 2 hour long bhaat-session with a guy *Chaos* and talked about relationships, zodiac signs,theists and atheists (yes we do talk these things)... conclusion: Chaos is completely having a chaotic mind, he believes lovers are stupid, romantic movies are absurd and is an atheist.

5. Came back in my room

6. Emptied the water bottle (arrey wahi mirinda wala jo last time piya tha) into my stomach.

7. switched off my laptop

8. switched on my laptop

EUREKA! YAY! It's finally done

"Lappy theek ho gaya"

And, now I need to catch up on movies, TV series : BIG BANG THEORY, HIMYM ... movies promos of three idiots and yes some good videos(pure bhakti videos :P)

Ahh, I also have a test tomorrow but ..........you get the drift?..... I'm not going to read and still pass (yes by cheating of course)

DISCLAIMER: The first unedited, uncensored, typed on blogger and not ms-word, blog post.

Nuptial Crisis and Modern Indian Marriages

2009-10-06T18:48:00.018+05:30

When a film like “What's Your Raashee?” releases, Chetan Bhagat’s new (4th) book’s release date is just a few hours away which draws inspiration from his inter-state love marriage, your youngest uncle finally (yes finally!) is ready to “tie the knot” next month and you have recently turned 21, i.e., now a legally eligible bachelor (*wink*), the most pertinent question which is likely to haunt you could be necessarily related to your marriage. Hence, the result is a fictional account on marriage!

Rajesh, a typical NRI who left India at the age of 21 in pursuit of financial stability and exotic lifestyle after doing his engineering from “BITS Pilani” was worried while returning back to Lucknow after 5 long years. His disturbed mood was due to the pressure from parents’ side to get married soon. Firstly, he was not at all ready for marriage and secondly, he didn’t have much faith in the institution of arranged marriage in India which was his only route to get married so soon as he haven’t dated a single girl in his life including his 5 year of stay at United States.

Scene of “Modern Arranged Marriage” in India:
A girl/boy is found through some so-called reliable sources like matchmaker, matrimonial sites, or even relatives and friends. Till this point, it’s completely comprehensible but the real problem starts now. The girl/boy in consideration should be of same caste, different clan (Gotra) and preferably of same state too. After these two screening stages, an astrologist is consulted to match the horoscopes of the prospective bride and groom and after a green signal from the expert the parents fix an almost blind date in which the boy and girl have to give a final agreement or reject the proposal. The matching of horoscopes could also be done after the approval of both the sides.
This weird looking algorithm to arranged marriage really skewed Rajesh’s belief about the traditional marriage in India. However, he also wanted to have a partner to fulfil his physical and emotional cravings so he agreed.

Why against “Arranged Marriage”?
Educated youth like Rajesh not necessarily NRI’s do find arranged marriage strange but lack the guts and conviction to revolt against the wishes of parents and succumb to the emotional pressure. They simply don’t like the whole complex procedure of marriage, in which clan, caste, state and some imaginary concept like horoscope is prioritised much higher than the compatibility of boy and girl.

Why “Love marriage” is not an option?
There is a concept called maturity and lack of experience. Supporters of “Arranged Marriage” argue that people in their 20s are not matured enough to use their inadequate experience to choose the right bride/groom. There is one more concept of “surprises and new experiences”. They say when people don’t know each other before marriage, everything is new in marriage and each day brings surprises which strengthens the nuptial bond compared to “Love Marriage” in which there is no such surprise as they say!

However, I say “are maturity and experience that important”? Haven’t they heard that “Experience is a comb which life gives us when we are bald”?... In metropolitan India, teenagers are generally well aware about their career-plans, so are able to convince their parents in contrast to sub-urban and rural folks. This is where the actual problem lies!

That “surprises and new experiences” concept could also turn a nightmare to deal with as all surprises and new experiences are not pleasant.

BTW, how could I forget to mention the witty sugarcane analogy?
Sometimes, parents are equally wise enough to convince their sons/daughters to take the path of “Arranged Marriage”. The sugarcane analogy goes like this. The sugarcane is meatiest and sweetest at the bottom and loses its thickness and sweetness as we go up, and in love marriages it’s like eating the sugarcane from the bottom. So, it feels very romantic and perfect at the beginning but gradually differences start coming and it is similar to chewing the tasteless thin sugarcane which is only water at the top. In arranged marriage, it is the reverse and surprisingly it works for most of the Indian couples!

So, Rajesh was confused and was going through what we call “Pre marital blues”.

Rajesh tweeted: I don’t want to marry :(

Shriya replied: @Rajesh what happened?

Rajesh: @Shriya “Arranged Marriage sucks” and I don’t have a girlfriend :(

Shriya: @Rajesh heeheee!

Rajesh: @Shriya don’t laugh, help me with some ideas to escape this mess

(Phone Rings!)

Rajesh picked up the call. “Hey! How are you?” Shriya asked. Rajesh shared the
problem with her and Shriya said “Don’t worry! I’m coming to Lucknow in 3 days; we’ll sort out the problem. Bye! Take Care!” Shriya comforted Rajesh as he went back to his laptop.

Shriya tweeted: uploaded new photos @orkut (link).

Rajesh as every other internet user clicked the link but left the tab open and went to attend the call of nature.

Rajesh’s mother entered the room and looked at Shriya and found nobody in the room. She left the room shouting “Rajesh! Rajesh!”...

Rajesh sees her pictures and immediately memories of childhood started coming to him in flashes.

After 3 Days...

Rajesh and Shriya are talking at Rajesh’s room. Shriya tries to put some “desi-gyaan” into Rajesh’s thought process. Shriya sensed it all was going in vain.
“Do you love anyone? Crushes?” Shriya finally asked the most important question.
“No” Rajesh replied in a plaintive voice.
“I think you are in the wrong place then” Shriya tried to make some good logic
“Are you ready for marriage?” Shriya asked annoyingly
“Don’t know” Rajesh was getting more confused.

The whole conversation was being heard by Rajesh’s mother...

What followed next...?

Any guesses?

.....

To cut the long story short, Rajesh’s mother and father met Shriya’s parents, discussed all the matters. As a matter of coincidence, Shriya and Rajesh are of different clans and of same castes with matching horoscopes. Initially, Rajesh hesitated but soon his feelings for his first crush came to fore and he fell in love with Shriya.
Rajesh and Shriya lived happily ever after...

Lesson learnt:
It is either love or arranged, marriages are made in heaven. So, both have equal odds of succeeding. Ideally, one should leave everything to his/her fate and use his heart and a little bit of wisdom.
As with Rajesh and Shriya, your love could very well be arranged...

If interested in reading further, click on these links for articles:
1.A modern guide to arranged marriages

2. Pre Marital Blues

3.First Comes Marriage, Then Comes Love

PS: I don't know what will be the reaction of my family members after reading this post.

PS: God Save Me!

The Red Swimming Pool with Succubus/Incubus

2009-09-19T03:38:00.012+05:30

“Isn’t the water a bit reddish?” I tried to break the awkward silence between Mahesh and me. However, the next moment surprised me when I turned my head and wasn’t able to locate Mahesh who was sitting alongside me near that swimming pool.
I rushed to look for him and...

“Where did you vanish?” I swivelled him through his shoulder to discover that the person was not Mahesh but an old man who looked young from his back.
“What do you want son?” the old man asked me.
“Mahesh” I mumbled.
“What?”
“No, nothing” I tried to avoid his eagerness to poke into my matters. He looked like an ordinary grandfather-like figure but his voice and eyes were full of energy which was hard to not notice.
“Today you’ll meet SHEEEE, Miss. X and meet a severe accident” the man left me stunned. He knew about SHEEEE and Miss. X! But... How?
“Don’t think too much, I read your blogs” the old man amused me with his reply; I was pleased to discover that my blogs have become so popular.

I was framing a line in my mind to start a conversation with my blog reader, and Mahesh disturbed me and as I turn towards the old man he was nowhere.

“Mahesh! You good for nothing clown where did you go?” I tried to sound very angry over his non-sense act.

...

We were walking through the corridor of our coaching institute when I convinced Mahesh to go to CCD. When we were sitting there the old man’s line started haunting me, how did that person know that I’d meet SHEEEE and Miss. X? And most importantly accident?
When I was trying to decipher the line a boy rushed towards me madly and spills over his coke on my shirt. I went to the bathroom to wash it off.
There I met that old man again.
“Hey! How do you know about my meeting with SHEEEE, Miss. X and accident? Are you God?” I fired these questions at him
He answered casually in a low tone, “maybe!” and started walking, I followed him but the crowd didn’t allow me to chase him. I tried to look for him after manoeuvring my way out of the CCD.

...

I again reached the “swimming-pool” and this time the red colour was too obvious and I couldn’t take my eyes off the pool.

After few minutes I found myself in the swimming pool, and I discovered that the red colour was because of something highly suspicious. I immediately came out of it and ran towards the CCD...

In CCD, I met a girl sitting just opposite to me and smiling at me. I almost jumped with joy to see SHEEEE; I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to propose her today. We chatted for around 30 minutes and I felt that as the world has been paused and we are the only people living in this illusionary world with a proper time-frame. So, just as when I thought of proposing SHEEEE, I remembered how I was rejected by Miss. X when I proposed her in an awful manner.

I started thinking about that day; somebody invaded my thoughts, I saw myself in a street with a beggar asking for alms in “English” in India! Then a man well groomed asks me “what do you want moth##$$^^&^?”
...
Then, I was again back at the table with SHEEEE opposite to me, smiling with her braces. I bent in my knees, held her hand and she started blushing. Just as when I was supposed to say that “Romeo-Juliet-line”, I was interrupted by guess whom?
Yes, Miss. X!
She was standing behind SHEEEE at a distance of few meters from us. I decided to meet her first, I coursed my way towards her but she started looking anguished. When I reached before her eyes, she was staring me with a “you-desperate-looser” look.
...
After few minutes of staring each other, I was in front of SHEEEE and Miss. X, trying to make myself believe the impossible. They came forward, and pushed me in unison from the CCD-at the 8th floor.
To my good luck, I fell in a swimming pool, and yes that was the red swimming pool.
Wait!

That was not a swimming pool, which was something else, two monstrous-looking persons came towards me with some sword-like thing, I tried to swim out of the pool, but the water didn’t help my cause. I forgot swimming; there was a flow of water towards the direction of those guys. I began shouting.
Help, Help, Help!

And, my wing-mate woke me up!

Yeah that was a dream, what did you think?
Those incoherent creepy things only happens in dreams, and that too when you sleep when the world around you is all awake. I can’t call it a nightmare; I might call it “daymare” or a futile attack of Succubus or incubus, whatever you like to name it.

PS: This is 55% true.
PS: I saw "Omkara" today, an awesome movie, loved the use of expletives.
PS: I'm really peace-marofying during my mid-semester exams by watching movies, blogging and sleeping like never before, God Help me!
PS: Peace... LOL

Rashmi bansal: Hungry and Foolish Experience

2009-08-29T23:57:00.019+05:30

“Sunil Handa can convince you to jump from the top of a 3-storeyed building” says Rashmi Bansal at a guest lecture organised by the Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur. Yes, she was here!

It felt as if Rashmi bansal took it from where Sunil handa ended when he paid a visit to IIT Kharagpur earlier this month.
Rashmi bansal’s book “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” has crossed the 100,000 copies mark in just 9 months of its release.

She gathered the attention of the full-capacity audience by disapproving the concept of an MBA-degree for being an entrepreneur.
“What we learn in MBA is all common-sense and any graduate from a reputed college/university really doesn’t need to spend two more years with formal college system. As a matter of fact, most of the successful entrepreneurs don’t have MBA-degree rather many of them are college-dropouts. The scene is that most of the MBA degree holders work for big MNC’s in posh parts of the world. The very concept of “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” was to cover 25 IIM-A graduates who chose to tread the path of their own dreams and in process became successful entrepreneurs. The book just tries to defy the myth that an MBA can’t be an entrepreneur.”

She talked about the “Naukri.com” founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani. Bikhchandani’s idea saw the daylight when once he visited an expo and it immediately striked to him that the “Internet” can be used to commercially exploit the “job-seeker market”. However, this idea didn’t materialize in just few days or months. It took him 3-4 years to get funding; he had this idea of a “Job-advertisement business model” from the days he used to discuss the various openings of “Business India’s Job Ads” with his colleagues.

Rashmi gradually moved to the important aspect of patience and perseverance with entrepreneurship; it may take more than 2-3 years to taste the fruits of success but the hard work should never be ceased. The point is “your idea might be best for you” but you also need to convince the consumer to whom you would be selling that your product is unique and can make their lives better. Something related to alternative energy might not be a hot-selling product but gradually it is bound to get acceptance and approval so have patience and have a “10 year target”; project your growth strategy for 10 years and work efficiently towards it.

After your “start-up” gets across the initial barrier of “doing good business” it can either become a big venture or a small enterprise but we all need to compromise with few things and as it goes “Small is beautiful”. Happiness and money are not always interrelated. If you are lucky you might end up being the other “Narendra Madhusudhan Murkumbi (Shree Renuka Sugars)”. Rashmi Bansal also threw some light on the “Murkumbi-billionaire story”, which is not about any new IT innovation but a result of smart business strategy. Her words echoed my thoughts “Innovation is not about doing something new but doing the same thing in a new and efficient manner.” Every Idea is a good idea till you give your commitment and have smart ways to tackle and manoeuvre your way out of troubles in your entrepreneurial path.

The “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” author also discussed about an IIT-Guwahati guy who convinced private car owners to carry advertisements on their valuable asset for anything between 25 Paise to 1 Rupee. He used an orkut community for his initial research while he was studying at IIT. This example of this entrepreneur gives us a strong message that online presence though necessary should be used primarily for advertisement, marketing and market research rather than creating a web-portal and following the cliché-path.

Even after all this valuable experiences and “entrepreneurship-gyan”, you may fail to achieve what you aspired for but you shouldn’t lose your enthusiasm and stop your entrepreneurial pursuit just because of fear; fear of failing. And as the famous saying goes, “The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself”.
Most business failures are a result of interpersonal problems between partners. This leads us to a very important aspect of entrepreneurship, the “choice of partner”. Ideally partners should complement each other and drive the venture forward.

She talked about the importance of career counselling by citing her experience. Later, she started shifting her focus towards personality development and “listening to our inner call”.

“Many people have no idea whatsoever about what and why they are doing. We should fall in love with our business-idea and try to be an expert in that.” Now, she plunges into her personal experiences and says how she used to write a lot about various careers and eventually joined TOI for 2 years. Daughter of a scientist, Rashmi bansal completed her graduation in economics from Sophia College, Mumbai and further studied at IIM- Ahmedabad.

After working for TOI, she started JAM- youth magazine attributed to her childhood interests of reading a book daily and sending articles for the editorial section of newspapers when she was a college student. JAM was started with a modest "50,000 Rupees" capital investment in the servant room with the purchase of a computer. She along with few other people designed a dummy 16 page magazine and tried to strike deals with companies for advertisement spaces in JAM-magazine. Pepe was the first sponsor. The lesson learnt by Rashmi was that you do not need to have a venture capitalist funding your innovation but constraint of resources takes out the best from a person. She has learnt everything from “0”. Success should have a personal definition.

She knew that writing is her passion and after “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” she realizes that her purpose in life was writing this book.

FYI, Rashmi Bansal's next book is coming in next 2 months.

She bid adieu to us by saying that we must and are capable of doing few crazy things in our life so why not be an entrepreneur and “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”?

Sunil Handa : "Are You Just a Bloody Employee?"

2009-08-08T18:25:00.008+05:30

Now, you are in an engineering college or some professional course or you might end up with one pretty soon. What next?
“A decent satisfying lucrative job in an MNC.”
“An MBA degree just after graduation”
“Some more professional courses which could get you a job”

The question I need to ask you is, “are you born just to be a bloody employee?”
By the time you have read till here, you would be cursing me as “just another IIT undergraduate student giving a sermon on entrepreneurship”.
However, these words are not mine. I’m just paraphrasing “Prof. Sunil Handa” from IIM Ahmedabad.

Sunil Handa came to IIT Kharagpur today and took the renowned Laboratory for Entrepreneurial Motivation (LEM) class with much fervour and filled us with motivation to become successful entrepreneurs.
I also don’t want to be a mere employee for the rest of my life and it got resonated with Sunil Handa’s words. He reaffirmed my belief that multi-national companies just exploit our talent and most important phase of our life (20-35 years); and are detrimental to the personality of a gifted person.
The question you need to ask yourself is “will you be happy with a boring, glorified, clerical job throughout your life?”

“Keep questioning, keep improving”

After reading this far, I hope you must have either got a feeling of “stop-reading-this-shit” or if not then proceed.

He threw light on various aspects of entrepreneurship. He told his own story as how he managed to persuade his father for his business aspirations. He laid a lot of stress in the choice of partner and the number of co-founders. Ideally 2-3 is the best. Though, partnership comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Partnership helps you to achieve 100 times more than what you are capable of; the synergic effect.
However, partnerships are bound to break some day or the other. You should be ready to face this reality. The choice of business partner still remains as important and pivotal as choice of a compatible spouse.
The most hindering stone in the path of entrepreneurship is “acceptance”. Acceptance by society; acceptance by family, acceptance by friends and the list never ends.
However, acceptance comes with time and success, as parents in most of the cases are not very specific about your choice of career; they only want your happiness.

He talked about how he saved millions of rupees by just having a proper outlook of the world.
He also validated the need of an MBA degree from a top college; it improves one’s personality by leaps and bounds.
To sum it up, “I don’t want to be a bloody employee!”
Do you?

If you are an IIT-KGP student, just don’t miss the tomorrow’s part. Sunil Handa is going to talk about “Consultancy” as a viable and lucrative career option to start with.
Are you attending it?

BTW, did I tell you about bindeshwar pathak (founder of Sulabh International), do check out about him from here.

Read my satirical take on entrepreneurship from here

PS: Going home tomorrow for two days. Yipeee!