india critique rant part 1

the comic tragedy that is india...the media pumps the headlines with the hypnotic "India is shining"...on the basis of the cumulative wealth of the top 100, the market cap of a few biggies and the ever present 5-10 percent 'growth'...this not only makes us feel better but lets the literate masses anticipate the impending days of india's superpower status in the league of the us, eu and china...all this while we cannot settle border issues with a small nation that shared a common history and obsessed with it to the point of being blind to everything else and our diplomats are busy giving unpaid blowjobs to all the high and mighty the world over...bullshit...it is not impending days of superpower status that await us but the impending days of doom ...not yet in view but just around the corner...the pathetic (but i agree huge) state of affairs in india make it no super power and never can with the way things are going...eunuchs dont get to be movie heros, they are killed by a sidekick a little before the end...well what about diseased lumbering and grossly fat eunuchs then...india looks like it needs a revolution to set things right...but therein comes in the catch 22...can india have a revolution...lol...even you must find it funny...indians having a revolution...a nation of middle class that is blind to the system they serve...the will to grub for better morsels through any humiliating way has been ingrained into us along with the 'sacred' but misguided dose of turning the other cheek...all the gandhi maniacs out there...before you sing praises of the 'saint' and decry any comment on gandhi unless it includes the word mahatma...gandhi was not a saint...he was the greatest mass political leader of india...dont just keep babbling about candy coating of the 'mahatma' without considering the substance...and the whole turn the other cheek is highly misrepresented...even gandhi would never tell anyone to get slapped once let alone twice if there was a way to ensure you needn't be slapped...it was for the sake keeping peace during non co-operation movements and not to be adopted as the indian motto...times change and so should methods...arrgh i digress...those who want to change the system are laughed at, discouraged or beaten to death...depending on their potential/change attempted...the already high disparity in the economic condition of the populace is growing at an alarming rate...6 percent growth for the gdp...60 percent growth in net wealth for the top 100 richest...and their wealth is 25% of the gdp...i am a believer in the capitalist model...but like the communist model breeds tyranny...the capitalist model breeds corruption...and this i consider the greatest threat and the reason why india will remain (hopefully not worse than this) a mediocre nation whose only major achievement is its population...we are going to be the most populous country in the world in a 2-3 decades...yipeee...lets drink to that...

ps. before you starting thinking of all the wonderful things the indians have done in 1)the ancient past 2)the contemporary world
for 1)its been ages since all that, so get over it
for 2)we are more than a billion people goddammit, getting in a achievement now and then is a statistical compulsion

i am not yet done, so reserve judgement but feel free to comment

Sweaty Feet

The man uncomfortable in his shoes
You not know his woes
A world unfamiliar
One too many doors ajar
The shadows behind him
Stretch on toward him
The chalice he seeks
But his doubt sneaks
Of a world so vast
And it’s shadowy past
Makes one feel brittle
Even as one is so little

Read Reading Will Read

Read
Gods and Godmen of India by Kushwant Singh
My name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Reading
Vernon God Little
Sea of Poppies
The Story of Philosophy
Will Read
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
India's Ancient Past by Sharma
Sun Signs by Linda Goodman

Pic upload is a pain – Part 1 (the room tour)

Its been more than a month.

Here's the abode

Let's start with the corridor

The balcony view

The serious looking occupant (trumpets)

Last but not the least…

Bonus expansion pack

And finally opposite my door…

Will update more pics depending on the rain god * my memory * inherent laziness factor + c

messages from the misguided me

Standing in my balcony, looking at the green hills stretching into the horizon, obfuscated by the rain, a lit cigarette in my mouth, i stand contemplating about my MBA. I'm ten days into it and my low opinion of it is more or less confirmed. That its a replacement rather a partial implant for common sense. Where ever i go, whatever the "eliteness" of the place, whatever the bar for entering, the ratio of the people with and without common sense seems to remain more or less the same.

Be it the questions in class or the fact that 85% of them use the food stall closer to the door in the mess standing in a queue when the other one is almost empty, shows the lack of co-relation between education and common sense. However, i am sure to pick up (hopefully atleast this) enough jargon to put people in awe. Well this accounts for the mediocre success of the IIM junta when compared with all the hype about them. (Ya ya, even a 1 crore salary in dollars is still a salary and its in dollars and is not a great achievement). Its not that the IIM's are bad MBA schools, i suspect they are among the best in the world and follow similar pedagogy as say HBS. My judgement is upon the very conception of MBA and that it will transform you into a super human.

At the very max, a MBA can (other than being a partial common sense implant for those who lack it) hone a few of your basic skills , give you an exposure and probably help you pitch your case better to other MBA executives in the dialect of jargon. It might seem like a misguided, harsh and too-soon-a-jump conclusion. But what i'm trying to get at is that to be successful in a business or a venture, you do not need an MBA. It cannot match someone's common sense, rationality and instinct.

I can infact imagine some of these going on to be the suited up MBA execs parodied in n number of toons and shows. Some will probably go on to be the top execs in their field. Others will probably give up and go be sadhus or be the truly successful ones with an industry in their name or an achievement unique.

However IIM's are important as ever as they provide opportunities which the people here more than deserve but would not even get a whiff of otherwise, due to the economic structure of India and the world.

mario no. 5

sifting thorough the innards of youtube blessed me with these droppings...

please watch only if you have been a geek for more than 18 years...

Luigi Finally Snaps

Mario rescues the princess: the true story

Mario: Epilogue

Bowser overthrown

Mario and Co venture out

if using youtube directly...

you may need to sign in, set your regional preferences to worldwide and confirm your birthday before it starts flowing...

while you are at it, i recommend "Seth McFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy"

heeya!

short bites

Quitting a job is one of the highs in life few other things can match.
(i hope this high isn't addictive, well even if it is i need to be like running into jobs left, right and center to be a regular)

I read The Life of Pi and then The White Tiger, both have surprising similarities. Both are from a first person viewpoint of the lead characters and capture the random and eccentric ravings everyone (i suppose) has behind that mask of normalcy that we all maintain. The stories are told in serialised flashbacks and i need not mention the animal to human mappings that exist in both books. Also, both the lead characters are Indian and the authors won the Man Bookers.

I also saw The Avatar, a (non jap) anime series aimed at 'young adults' (snotty teenagers) and screened on Nickelodeon.
(i have no other excuse other than that i like to explore the rainbow)

The wikipedia says IIMK believes that the student should be given a choice with regards to what they want to learn so there is, as such, no minimum attendance. Well wikipedia also said NITK has an scenic and picturesque campus with a beach. So its currently wait and watch.
(Anyway i doubt it can get worse than IIMA (we'll throw you out if you bunk two classes) and IIMB (1500 fine for missing out on some random senior interaction thing at 10 in the night))

Finally got my desktop back from repair with some cheap ass motherboard instead of the ASUS one i had. Also the 200gb HDD has been replaced with a 160gb one.
(all in all a sterling example of tecnological downgrade, can probably be blamed on the recession like everything else)

Also finished the first season of the Dilbert TV series, good fun if you like random humor.
(most of us do, atleast in private)

random-timepass-bashing-proof

Sample Text 1:

investors place their money on a company because they believe in the potential of the company to do well
investors who place their money on the companies which do well get multiples of their money
investors who place their money in companies that go belly up loose their money
investors base their decisions on the competitors, size and condition of the company, person guiding the company, the company's past track record, etc






please scroll down






Text Operation @
Now we find and replace the the following word pairs from Sample Text 1 to generate Sample Text 2

investors : gamblers
company : horse


Sample Text 2:
gamblers place their money on a horse because they believe in the potential of the horse to do well
gamblers who place their money on the horses which do well get multiples of their money
gamblers who place their money in horses that go belly up loose their money
gamblers base their decisions on the competitors, size and condition of the horse, person guiding the horse, the horse's past track record, etc


Conclusion:
Stock trading is gambling.

Additional Fundae:
Gambling is not evil.

Final Result: Ajey 1 - 0 ND

Final Comment: Muahhaahhahahhaha!

PS: This post is dedicated to Shashank ND, 24x7 CEO, Naabo Solutions (whose horse was recently featured, as all of you know by now, in DARE (its an entrepreneurial magazine)) with whom i had an argument in 3rd year whether stock trading was akin to gambling or not.

random musings on the election results

the indian voter turns out to be smarter than the media and the regional satraps combined

after being shown the carrot and cheated for ages, it was voter's turn to play the same trick on the maya, lalu and co (buggers thought 10 seats and the media barking could make them PM's)

the red team needs to realise they can't be in test mode and will have to play t20 like the rest

(also karat should realise only a very small section of the populace is a fan of the fantasy genre)

rahul gandhi has finally realised that he has to work, not to become PM and but to ensure he can be one for a few decades ("i want to democratise the congress")

he has to either follow maa (give up post and be the smart one) or paa (grab it and fail)

low attendance can flunk you out of the parliament (vinod khanna ilk)

Bihar minus goonda babus set to improve, AP to take its place soon...

land mafia will kabja the cabinet soon...

PC is not as popular or naive as one thinks

clean face turns the tide, singh is king

nda supporters find solace in the consolation prize - the increase in the vote share by national parties (cong + bjp) 

the bull turbo-charges as the red flag is waved down and how many MP's know what's in their manifesto (am i the only one bothered)

when will bjp realise it needs 2nd tier young leaders that it can use to capture the youth sentiment that till now used to side with it

how long before the hand's subsidy raj and populist schemes that don't actually benefit the aam aadmi in the long run ruin our economy?

was this a result yet another relative sinusoidal peak in the plummet?

out of syllabus: karunanidhi's problem solved, karuna's begins

(Kalaignar will outlive the colonel!) 

ps. quite a few journos are going to get beaten up soon :)

Boredom Busters

For all those bored with the usual digg, youtube, stumble upon, chatting, social networking as you try and while the summer away...

Omegle
A site where you are connected to a random stranger for chat. No identity or registration. Good for hours of arbit discussions, wierd questions you wanted to ask people but didn't have the balls, taking out your frustration, speaking to random junta from across the globe (mostly jobless students like you...). Although be warned quite a few of these strangers say "asl?" and disconnect if the letter m is part of your answer. Definite boredom buster for hours at end. 

Webcomics

If you like humor in short doses, webcomics are manna from heaven. There are loads of good ones (and even more loads that don't qualify as good but are still timepass). You can try Cyanide and Happiness, Perry Bible Fellowship, xkcd, PhD comics, etc. Most web-comics are updated daily and have large archives to eat away days at a time. 

(Don't you forget to visit Savita Bhabhi once in a while.)

Bunny Movies

Thirty second flash reproductions that parody many famous movies with bunnies as the cast. Fun for those who have watched the actual movies. (Trust me you would have watched quite a few of them)

Hundred Ways To Be A Better Evil Overlord

Everything need not have a descriptive paragraph!

F*** my life!

Interesting everyday anecdotes of life's perceived unfairness!

Fail blog

Pictures (and videos - i dont wait for them to load) of the ridiculous sights of everyday signs gone awry. The size of the collection is "infinity and beyond".

RandomWikipedia

Random pages from wikipedia. Only for the more geeky and extremely bored of the lot. 4 out of 5 are useless articles which even the most inquisitive of the lot would not want to read.

Other fixes include japanese manga, facebook quizzes (they are retarded and addictive), arcade games like space invaders, zuma, pacman, goldminer and the universe of flash games at zapak.com, miniclip.com and even cartoon network (for those who want to stoop really low).

Remember however that this post is for those stuck on the middle path in life on most days - not enough resources/freedom to go get a real life outside (you can actually do that; when i figure it out fully, i'll let you in on the secret) and not enough net speed to go play Second Life or other MMORPG's and atleast have a virtual one.

Meanwhile, lets wait for doomsday...