Yaaron Dosti...

Its Saturday night and I, unlike some friends of mine who are either watching movies or loafing at orchard, am completing some office work :( I hate to do this but then you have to do what you have to do. As always, i was listening to music and i had left it to the intelligence of winamp to select the best songs for me (btw, it does a pretty good job at this). Churning out random numbers one after the other, the song which came up instantly took me back to my college days. This song was "Yaaron Dosti - KK"



My friend in college, Mithilesh (aka Choubey 'ji'), used to sing this song without any music and believe me i sometimes used to feel that he was better than KK. I do not mean to undermine KK (who is a truly good singer) but then, i feel that Choubey was really good at this song.

I really love this song. It has a nostalgic feeling to it, refreshing all the good times spent in college. Right from the the first year when about 30 of us had jumped past the college fences to go and have dinner at a 'dhaba' to the final year when we had organized a rock show in college. I believe it is those four years in college which taught me about the world. I had stepped out of home for the first time and had placed all faith and trust on my friends around me. Be it exam time or just some extra cash needed for the that dinner, I could always rely on someone around me. It is really fascinating how each of us stood by each other at all times, happy and sad. I remember my senior once telling me that when i leave college, i am going to miss the people more than anything else and this is actually so true.

Well, after working for two years i am back at college. And i can again boast of being in the company of some very good friends. This is an experience which has no parallel at all. I still have an year to go before i take the plunge in the 'big bad world' and i hope to make the most of it. If only all could always be in college :)

So much for macro-economics

I just got over with the final exam of Macro-Economics module which I had taken over the summer term. Though i am relieved that i am over with one more module, i am not too happy with the way in which i completed a module like macro-economics. The reason for this is time. From monday to friday i am at office (internship) and then on saturday i am in class from 930 to 530. The only time to actually get to study is on a sunday (which is not too easy after a heavy week).

But then, why am i unhappy about this module? Its not that i am thinking about my grades here. What i really feel sad is about the fact that this module had so much to learn. I personally think that macro economics is more important that micro economics. This is one module which can be applied to real life situations instantaneously. Concepts like short run, medium run, open/closed economy readily appeals to our senses. We were able to appreciate the changes in government spending and taxes, changing interest rates and more importantly fluctuating oil prices and its effects. How small policy decisions can have a major impact on employment, price levels and inflation. What exactly is an exchange rate and why does this change every moment of the day.

Considering the fact that these issues are being discussed in the papers every day, i really feel that i should have given more time to reading the book. Although i do know the basic concepts now, i would have loved to reach to stage where i can read economic reports like plain simple english and also comprehend what it means. A good and sound knowledge in this subject is so very important in understanding the business dynamics of the world.

Well...whats done is done. But all is not lost. Even though i am not extremely satisfied with my effort in this module, i still am a lot more aware about economics now. I feel that i am able to make a lot more sense out of the daily news clippings :). I just hope that i get some time now to continue reading on the book....

Dance @ Bollywood

Last evening after the eco class me and gera went to anshuman's house for a cup of tea. What started as a normal cup of tea slowly transformed to a session of going down the memory lane of bollywood. And what better than discussing the 'great' dancers of bollywood. The video which started this saga was "Ek Chalis ki Local Train". Check this out (please concentrate only on the choreography) and tell me if you have seen something worse than this ever before. This actually reminds me of my school/college days when a bunch of us just thought of putting up a dance show in the the upcoming annual function. We would need about 6-8 people for the dance whereas only 2-3 knew how to shake a leg. So, for the benefit of the novices the choreography was such that it would end up looking like a PT drill with some jazzy music. This is exactly what i felt like on seeing Deol Jr. Jr.



Well, after watching this video we went on to watch our very own Hrithik "rubber body" Roshan in the 2007 filmfare awards. He has effortlessly copied abhiskek bacchan and srk making sure that he does all "their" steps in exactly the same way without making it look better.




This continued to prabhu deva, abhishek bacchan, madhuri dixit, govida (who got vetoed) and some more. All these just reminded us of the good old days when we used to wait for the chitrahaar and bet on which song is number 1 for the week.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to abhay deol for his fantabulous performance without which i am not too sure what would we have done last evening over tea :)

Five people you meet in heaven

The End

"This the story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.”

This is the “start” of the book The five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom. I completed this sometime last week and it was a fast read. A couple of hundred pages with a really large font. The central theme of this book is that we all, during our lifetime, come across 5 people who have had a deep impact in our life. The best part is that we do not know the essence and the importance of these people while we are ‘busy’ being alive and hence the need to go to heaven for the ultimate moment of truth.

These five people might have done something which totally changed the way we behave, act and feel. These five people might have said something which totally changed the way we think and maybe these five people also have lost their own lives to make sure that we live on. This book delves into the psychology of what we get to learn after we die. It is about making us realize that no matter what we sow in this life, we will always have to reap its fruits in the next life. It tells us that there were people who actually loved us a lot even though we hated them. It tells us that life is maze and we do not understand most of it while we are a part of it. The irony is that it takes death to understand what life was all about.

Although a work of absolute fiction, this book still makes me think about the entire concept of life after death. We will either enjoy the bliss of heaven or burn in the fire of hell depending on our deeds. So, I still wonder if the end of one life is really the beginning of the next life. We just don’t know it right now. But are we ready to lead our entire present life being an extremely pious and righteous person to ensure that we get to lead a comfortable life after this one? Are we ready to sacrifice a lot, and a lot more in anticipation of a life which we do not know about? Are we ready to give up our present, which exists, for a future which may not exist? Are we ready to give up our body, which we can see touch and feel for a soul which is only an abstract?

I am not too sure if I have an answer to these questions. I am also not too sure if I believe in the life after death. But what I am sure is that I am not totally wasting today for a tomorrow which might not be. I am not wasting something which I need today to get something which I might not need or I might not have tomorrow. The returns may be high tomorrow but the risk today is also very high and according to my appetite, I would rather play safe today.

Given an opportunity I will be more than glad to meet my set of 5 people in heaven but be rest assured I will be not be regretting anything (like Eddie) because I know that I have made a conscious decision to do what I feel is the best for me right now.

How it all began !!!

Well, I must say that this has been something which I have been trying to do from a long time now. Almost about an year and the reason I am doing it now is that I have some free time now. Not that I did not have time earlier but then I always had excuses then, which I do not have now. I just started with my internship today and with the way it went off I believe that I should be home by about 7 pm everyday. That sounds interesting...right? So, I think that I should be able to give a fair bit of time to this blog now.

What really inspired me to start blogging is the fact that I really wanted to start writing. Just about anything. Also, in the past one year I have come to realize that there can be some very serious exchange of thoughts via blogs and I would like to be a part of this new way of information exchange.

This just reminds me of a module called Managing Process Technology which I had taken last semester. We had discussed about the technology adoption profile and how different types of people adopt technologies at different times. I think it will be fair for me to call myself a "late majority" as far as blogging is concerned. However, I strongly believe in the saying "better late than never".

So, I would like to say right now that I sincerely hope that I am able to continue with what I have started and going forward when I look back to this day I can say that I did make a brave effort to start writing.
Happy reading !!!