Taare Zameen Par - My take on it

Never had a film had such a deep impact on me in the recent past. It is an amazing film and everyone must watch it. The gist and the meaning of the film is not just appilcable to dyslexic children, but it is applicable at every point of life. Everybody is special in his or her own way. Why don't we accept it and respect the person? Why do we try to make everyone into a rat and put him into the ratrace?

The movie traces Ishant and his true potential is dicovered by his art teacher Nikumbh. When we are children we are pushed into doing a lot of things, whether we like it or not. In the film, Youhan was the best in everything. But was he happy? Did he really want to do it all? In the tennis finals he lost and his father is ashamed of his child, the person who excels and does his best everywhere so that father's ego is satisfied. Isn't this all what we faced and is it not true that we will do the same to our children? Push, push and push them to excel and not enjoy, to win and not celebrate.

At the premier B-Schools, all are pushed into getting the best job, highest paying jobs by their peers, seniors, relatives and nearest family members. Maybe even the student wants it, but is he/she capable to get it? Is it worth all their worth? Won't they be more satisfied in doing something they like? Thankfully now people are realising it and have started the placement holiday window.

And it is not just about doing things for yourself. The film also encourages to help others as much as possible. Take out some time for others' happiness as well. Try to understand their problems and offer a supporting shoulder if not anything.

A great film. Must watch for everybody.

The Walk

Today I had gone to Core House, which is Professor Sunil Handa's office. it is a seven storey building in gray with dark glasses. we had gone there for our last session of LEM over there. While returning back I thought why not take a walk back to college. I had walked back half the distance two-three times before so thought I would do this as well. Ofcourse i had no idea how much time it would take but I was in no hurry to get back to campus! I guessed it would take half an hour or so.

On leaving the compund, I turned to left and walked down the road. A nice small clean road. At its perpendicular road I turned to right. There I observed one strucure which was constructed very differently. I guess it must be a Vimal Patel structure, as it was in concrete with the curves. It was done very beautifully. Cars were parked infornt of the structure. I could not find out what it was used for, just by observing! Another lane another building. This too had very different structure and was colourful as well. this was when i started comparing buldings in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. In Ahmedabad the buildings are very colorful and also the shapes of the structures are very different, which is not the case in Mumbai. Then I realised that even in Surat, the buildings were very colourful and and of different shapes. So what is that which makes the architecture of a region fundamentally different from that in another state? Is it due to the culture of the people? Is Mumbai more business-minded than Ahmedabad or Surat? Do people in Surat enjoy having pleasure with business? I will have to study the cultures more closely to be able to comment on it. Perhaps it is the state culture.

On the way there were earthern ware vendors with beautiful diyas and pots. Had they come only for Diwali or are they here always? I think I have seen them before as well, so they are here permanantly. So many buyers were flocking there to check out the diyas and buy them. Then there were so many common place shops, like kirana stores with notices like 'Goods once sold will not be taken back'. The store owner looked unfazed whether his store would survive or not, while we at our B-school spend hours discussing and preparing reports on modern retail gobbling up kirana stores. Do we really understand the ground reality? Are we relying too much on theories rather than checking the reality?

Well I started writing this post a long ago, but finished it in bits and pieces. I dont remember much of the rest of the walk, however it was few of the pleasantest moments I had. I was alone to reflect on things and observe things. I could enjoy the common life which people live outside our hallowed campus walls. Well such is the human nature, one loves and wants what one does not have and once we have it, we want some other thing. And life goes on!

Dear Sir

The contents are penned by a batchmate of mine, a fellow LEMmer, Vikash. It is very good, hence sharing with all.

sadaiv swayam pe vishwaas rakho
kabhi lakshya se peechhe na hato

sir, this aint the end nor is this gurudakshina
this is just a token of love and appreciation for giving us prerna

u made us realize, and definitely, we will do great
please accept this from LEM class of Two Thoudsand and Eight

Jinxed post

I was trying to write a post on the Ganesh Festival we celebrated at our campus. I wrote it almost entirely yesterday night, did the 'save as draft' and went off to sleep.In morning to my surprise and shock I found that there was no draft saved. I again wrote the whole thing.. half way through I was wondering how to add photos, one click on the 'back' button and the whole post disappeared again. Can somebody help me? The help function does not help. Guess the post is jinxed and am not to post it!!

The SunTemple at Motera

On 16th September, we went to the Sun Temple at Motera, which is 102 kms away from Ahmedabad. Divya,Sonam,Rashi,Shruti,Shubha,Katyayini and myself : seven of us were out to see some beauty carved out a thousand years ago.

The night before, all of us slept late or did not sleep at all. I slept at 1.30am, Rashi and Divya too slept around the same time, Shruti and Sonam did not sleep at all. Shruti was just coming from her placecomm treat when we all woke at 3.30am and found that Shruti was not in the room!! We all had to bahte really quickly as the car (a Travera) was to come by 4am at the main gate. Divya got loads of chips and water from CT. By and large Rashi, Divya, Shruti and Sonam planned the whole trip and executed it well.

We all trooped to main gate but the car was nowhere to be found. Rashi called up and the driver had just woken!! He came in 15-20 mins, and we hit the road. I sat at the back(my favourite place) alongwith Katy(Katyayini) and Shruti. We had a great time discussing gossip. Nano(Sonam) was sitting in the front and doing a good job conversing very sweetly with the driver and keping him awake.

We reached the Sun Temple well in time. There was a dhaba outside. Some of us had tea there. It was the best tea I had in Gujarat. (It reminded me very much of the Amarkantak trip and tea!). We went walkiing a small distance to SunTemple. There was a local old man, very keen on showing us around ofcourse for a fee. But we did not mind it as we had come to know and enjoy the place. He said that there was some time before sunrise. So he showed us the temple.

There are three parts of the Sun Temple, the Surya Kund, Sabha Mandap and Guda Mandap. Surya Kund is stepped tank that was named after Sun God It has beautiful carvings and 108 temples at various spots all inside the tank. Sabha mandap is the hall in front of the actual temple. It has 52 pillars. Each pillar has exquisite carvings which tell stories from our mythology. Guda Mandap is the actual temple. The story goes that there was an idol inside which had a diamond on its head. When the sun used to rise,its rays used to fall on the diamond and the whole Guda Mandap would be lighted by the reflected light of this diamond. The King of Gazni took away all the treasures including the idol and diamond from the temple. There is a secret passageway at the side of the temple, which leads to an underground tunnel, which then opens at some distant location. Kings in the earlier period would escape in such a manner from its enemy.

There is a small Shiva temple besides the Guda Mandap. The whole area has a lot of greenery. We went right to the bottom of the tank of Surya Kund. We took brillant snaps at all possible places.

However the sunrise was a dampener. We went there so early to see the majestic sunrise. But then the day was cloudy and that area has a lot of trees on horizon and also is not much on a height. So I guess it is not a very good spot for Sunrise view. After spending an hour or so, we decided to get back. On the way we would see the stepped-well, which is a famed stone well. The stepped well was a great place. although it had a very different kind of stink, the carvings there were amazing. It looked more or less like the ones at Sun Temple. Me and Rashi did some precarious ledge-walking, but it was fun. There were small arches with a little space inside, probably used by the watchman. We used them as photoframes, all of got our photos clicked there.

On the way back we stopped at an eating joint, to have some parathas and Amul Cool milk. Shubha (who is US born and brought up) had a great learning time the whole trip as we told her all we could about India,Ahmedabad, IIMA and many more things. Most of us fell asleep while coming back.

I saw a power plant on the way and my heart skipped a beat. There it was so close, my fisrt job,my first love!! I craned out my neck to see as much as I could.

We reached the campus back by 10am. We all were sleepy and exhausted but were thrilled by the trip. It was great fun in the car and also the places we went to were amazing. All in all a wonderful trip to remember.

Thanks to all, D3Basement and Katy!!

Ganesh Chaturthi

Tomorrow is Ganesh Chaturthi and I am feeling so good about it. Although I am not a very religious person, Ganesh Chaturthi brings out all the excitement in me. It has more to do with the festivity of it than the religious content.

Actually when I was at home, Ganesh Chaturthi was not that exciting. Modaks were the highlight of Ganesh Chaturthi!!Making them is tedious but then its worth all the effort. And then Bombay used to have so many Ganapatis. We used to go to Aatya's and Kaka's place for Ganapti. It was one more occassion for a family get-together and it felt better. I always wanted to have Ganapati at home, but then it was not possible at home. I liked the decorations part of it. It would have been a fascinating outlet for my creativity. But then it was not done.

When I was at Kawas, the first time I was out of home at time of Ganesh Chaturthi, I was wondering whether to go home or not, but then I had just returned from a long FTA trip. So I decided to stay back at Kawas. And it was a very good decision.

Date Sir told me about the celebrations that would take place. Barlewar Sir was also very enthusiastic. When we reached the pandal, there were so many people. Deshpande Sir,Kale Sir, Vaidya Sir, Kurpe Sir, Sirasao Sir,Maneji and all with their families. Seeing all the people working together, the women and children in bright festive dresses was such a nice-home like feeling. All welcomed me. I was initially very uncomfortable. I knes only the menfolk with whom I had worked in plant, but here all women were sitting differently. I also was with them but didnt know what to talk about. But then slowly and surely they all made me feel at ease and I was very happy to be chattering away in Marathi.

We had a great time all five days with aartis in morning before going to plant and in evenings. All made many different typical Maharashtrian dishes for the prasad. I had modaks as well!. And then on the Visarjan day we had unlimited fun. We went around the township singing songs and calling people to join us. Finally in a truck and a bus we went to river Tapi. There we had the final pooja. And we said our adieus to Lord Ganapati. After the 'visarjan' we had some snacks, spent some more time on the beach. While returnig we played antakshari and finally we had coffee in the same pandal where we all together had spent the past five wonderful days.

I found another family at Kawas. The first was my batch people, Field Hostel II people, next was my department, Electrical Maintenance and now this Kawas Marathi Mandal.

Ganapati Bappa Morya!!!

Back at the campus

After two months of summer internship, am back at the campus..to my old dorm, room, friends, mess, campus and everything.
Time flys by so very fast. As I was setting up my room I realised I had covered two calender pages!!!two months just gone by!!
Some ten more odd months to go, and then am back to the real world..
No this is a point of debate, how does one define the real world?Some feel this is the real world, some feel the other way.
But for me the real world is outside the campus!

My first post!

Many questions and many ideas.What to write?How do I write it well?Should I first put in this or should I first put in that?

This is like a new noteboook back in school days, neatly labelled and covered and wondering for which subject should I use this notebook.

In four more days I will embark on another phase of life, the second year at IIMA. A year down the line, I will be one of those chosen 300-odd MBAs from the premier B-school in India.

So presently am just looking at starting with the second year.Fourth term begins.