1. Talk less and do more. After all actions speak louder than words.

So putting my first resolution to immediate practice, have decided to share the rest of the resolutions only after I am on the verge of completing them. The resolutions will surely demand a lot of self control and determination to complete, lets see if I am game for it.

1. You Love It But You Are Not Great At It: I strongly believe that, If You Love Something, You Will Be Great At It and vice versa. But what is important to note here is that you need to love the skills associated with your job and not just the perks and benefits associated with it.  If you suck at Finance and love the perks associated with Investment Banking, then surely you are surely not going to be great at the job. But if you love the skills associated with the job, then in a matter of your time you will surely master those skills and will stand out from the crowd. This is where Dorie goes wrong when she takes the example of Scott who likes the glamor associated with the media job but did not have writing skills which were the core skills needed for doing the job.
2. You Are Skilled At Your Passion But Hate The Work That Surrounds It – I believe that if you are good at your core tasks then doing the secondary and tertiary tasks will not bother you much and with times as you grow up the organization chain, you can very well delegate the secondary and tertiary tasks that you do not enjoy, to your team members. The core emphasis hence should be loving the core skill of a job. As a HR you will have to do a lot of documentation, follow up with managers, etc. You may very well not like these secondary tasks. But dealing with people, working on organizational structures, balance scorecards, compensation and talent development – these would form your core tasks. If you love these core tasks of your job, then you would surely have found the perfect dream job for yourself. 
3. You Are too Emotionally Attached - You spend half your life  at your work place. In today’s work life, your office is like your first home and your actual home becomes secondary. So irrespective of whether you love or hate your job, eventually you will end up being attached to it. It’s like a forceful arranged marriage, initially you might detest the sight of your partner, but 10 years down the line, you are sure to get attached to your partner. So if at the end of the day you are going to be attached to the job, what harm is it to love it from the very beginning?
4. No one will pay for it- If you do something you love, you will be good at it and if you continue to pursue the skill, nurture, develop and strengthen your skill, there will surely be good value for it (monetary as well as satisfaction) at the end of the day. Examples are too many about how people have pursued their hobbies and made careers out of it. Rashmi Bansal (who started a youth magazine JAM Mag cultivating a hobby for writing and now having two best seller books to her name), John Chow (founder of johnchow.com, who makes millions just by following is hobby for blogging),  Kalyan Verma ( who left a dream job at Yahoo to become a successful wildlife photographer). If you do something well and with passion, the results will show. What you need is just some patience.

On a side note : What do you guys think, should one do what one loves or one that gives him the love of his social circle. Another interesting point of discussion, considering the number of careers being taken not out of one’s love/passion for it but just to make one’s  family happy, boast in front of friends, and increase one’s self esteem.

With 10′s of online book stores, can one seriously start comparing books across all book stores just to save a few bucks. I believe after spending 30 minutes in selecting a book, you will end up losing all the interest in buying a book. But when you buy a book and then realise you were getting the same book at a lower price someplace else, your post buyer cognitive dissonance is going to be pretty much high. So how do you save time and also get the best book deals online, that would help you save enough to buy a sea facing Marine Drive apartment. Here’s the solution : India Book Store . This website helps you compare prices across all major online book stores in India and helps you choose the best deal. So happy reading and happy saving to all my readers

Thanks to Aseem for the information.

CAT  2010 results are out. It just seems like yesterday when I was grumbling about CAT 2009 results, saying how unfair they had been and discussing with friends, that instead of having an online exam like this, they would be better off distributing lottery tickets. Hundreds of dreams crashed. Efforts gone into the drain.

One year has passed and the situation seems to be the same. Random percentiles doled out. People who used to previously ace their mock tickets, have landed up with nightmarish percentiles. Dreams crashed. Efforts gone into the drain.

While last year, one could rely on XAT, which has been having a pattern as consistent as a Yash Raj Film storyline, this year XAT also proved that it too can surprise. Through friends ( some are still in shock) who have had the one in a lifetime opportunity of answering the horrifying paper of XAT 2011, it seems that CAT aur XAT dono ne band baaja daala is saal.

Students getting all angry and filing PILs, planning to take the IIMs to the court, RTIs are being filed, and face book communities like these are being created. While my heart would want me to believe that this would lead to some tangible results and justice to hundreds of students be provided. But from past experience I know what is going to happen. Students will fight, IIMs will start with their GDs and PIs, Students will fight, IIMs will give their admission letters, Students will fight, IIMs will start with their academic season, Students will start preparing for CAT 2011 (preparations this time will also include praying to be in the right slot during the CAT exam).

Being at the other side of the fence, this year it might be easy for me to comment but this is what I have learned over the last year through experiences of my own and my friends. At the end of the day, an exam is an exam, its not something that can change or destroy your life. Well, yes an IIM or a XLRI may definitely make life easier for you. But it is finally within you to decide what course you want your life to take. And believe me an IIM or for that matter a MBA degree can not decide your future. Its your attitude towards life which will  frame, mould and sculpt your future. Check out some of the top businessmen, find out how many are MBAs and you will get to know for yourself, that at the end of the day MBA is just another degree, what is important is your attitude towards life and the ability to crack the  challenges that life throws at you.

So what if, you missed the elevator, you could still take up the stairs. It would be tough, it would be testing, but when you reach the top you would enjoy your hard earned success even more than if you had taken the comfortable ride through an elevator.

So do not get worried about XAT or CAT, keep preparing for PAT (an acronymn I invented for Personal Attitude Test). As the britannia ad goes, Zindagi Roz Class Let Hain… so be prepared. Show the right attitude, keep your spirits high and a few years down the line, you would laugh over this saying, “It was the IIMs loss after all“.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

P.S. : To all those protesting against CAT, I wish you luck. While the protesting at the end of the day may not lead to any tangible results. If followed in a proper manner, it will surely make you tougher and stronger and help keep the fire burning in your belly, to not take any nonsense from the system.

Last week was a nice one for me. Done with Xpressions, XIM B’s annual festival, decided its time to take part in competitions and luckily made it to the finals of two ( IMT Ghaziabad’s Nu Kriger and Praxis B School’s Spardha) competitions and got waitlisted in another (SP Jain’s Second Innings). This should definitely keep me motivated to participate in more B School competitions in the future.

Unfortunately the finals of both these competitions coincided with a a village trip that was was organised by XIM B. Hence could not participate in the finals. The village trip  A three days visit to Bhadrak a village in Orissa, was a good experience nonetheless. The trip sensitized us to a section of the society we hardly ever look to observe. It also made us ponder on how we as management students can make a difference to the rural India of today and make it look ahead at a better tomorrow. Was also overwhelmed by the hospitality extended by the villagers. Being the only non Oriya in the group of 7 students, I also experted the act of dumb charades as interpreting through actions was what I had to rely on to understand what my fellow mates and the villagers were speaking.

Overall was a wonderful week. With exams coming up in a few weeks time. Things look to be getting hectic, time to brace up!

This year things are different, now after two and a half years of an amazing journey in TCS, am back to college life :  MBA at one of the top B schools in India, Xavier Institute Of Management, Bhubaneswar.

So here is my long drawn list for this year…not according to priority

1. Read business newspapers daily. This is really difficult to do.

2. Blog on a consistent basis.

3. Lose atleast 10 kgs in 6 months. Have a tennis court and a wonderful gym in our campus. But need time to get into my sport shoes.

4. Read a lot of books. Target is 1 every month.

5. Target for CFA in June.  Do not want to do this any more have got more inclined to marketing in MBA. Finance too is interesting but marketing is cool.

6. Do decently in academics, plan to learn more than get marks. The journey is more important than the destination.

7. Get involved in college activities, clubs and events and enjoy every moment of my experience here.

8. Participate in a lot of inter B school events. Have great opportunities here.

9. Get placed in  good company in a job that I would be passionate about.

10 . This one is a secret… keeping it to my self .

Writing down the list of resolutions seems great….it feels like half the battle is over. Now remains the other half of the battle, sticking to those resolutions and improving as a person.

Victory will be mine

While I am exceeding expectations of my supervisors at work, certainly I have not lived upto the expectations I have set for myself. And this year I have decided come what may, I am not going to disappoint myself. Have drawn out  a list of things that I want to do this year. So hopefully when I look upon this year, I  would have a nice big smile on my face.

1. Get into a good B-school.Very very important. Top priority. Need to work real hard here.

2. Lose 12 kgs. It has to happen this year. But with no time to join a gym, things look difficult.

3.  Do things you love not necessarily things that get you money.

4. Always keep smiling. Never grumble about how life is going. This is a must for everyone, the more you grumble the more worse your life would becomes, and you would end up grumbling more. And the cycle just continues.

5. Learn, Learn, Learn.

6.  Share, Share, Share.

7. Reduce movies to a bare minimum. This one’s really tough. It’s like asking myself to stop breathing .

8. Lead from the front in all situations. If something seems right, then follow it passionately.

9. Take my public speaking and communication skills up to a whole new level. I am doing fine here, but there is always scope for improvement.

10. Treasure my loved ones. Never let down my parents or friends ever in life.

That’s it for now.Time to get working. After all I have quite a few goals to be met eh

Finally, off with that bush between my nose and lips, commonly referred to as a MOUSTACHE.

Now time to change a quite a few things (and not just physically), time to set and achieve my goals, time to continuously keep learning and adding new skills(and not just programming skills), time to blog more often, time to  make and break resolutions,  and most importantly of all…… ‘Time To Keep Enjoying‘.

There goes my alarm, and it’s put off even before a line of the beautiful song is completed.With one eye open , I check out the time its 6.30 am. I roll on my bed for a few minutes before deciding that half an hour of more sleep ain’t going to hurt anybody. The half hour somehow ends up into a 3 hour long slumber.

Damn it, it’s 9.30 am. Had promised I would sweat it out at the gym today. Have been skipping the gym religiously for sometime now, and my ever increasing waistline would soon be the inspiration for setting up a few jogging tracks in my area. But there’s no time now, have to reach office by 11 am.That too seems an impossibility. Dadar to SEEPZ in an hour, that too on a rainy day, would be the height of optimism.

I curse my self for being lazy, curse office for starting at 11am and not 2pm, curse my servant for not coming on time, curse my clothes for not being ironed, curse my mobile for not having being charged. It’s 10 am by the time I manage to leave home. It has started pouring cats and dogs, monkeys and elephants, and I send a last curse to the skies for starting my day in such a miserable manner.

If you haven’t understood by now, I hate rains. Speeding cars splashing water all over you and turning your formal wear into designer stuff, buses being jam packed, auto-rickshaw drivers doing nakhras to take you in, and the Mumbai traffic and pathetic drainage do not help either.

Finally manage to get a taxi, and that’s a pretty difficult task, specially if its a rainy day and if you wish to visit a traffic prone area like SEEPZ. I flung my office bag at the side and decide to catch some sleep in the taxi until the rather long journey to office is completed. Hardly have I slept for a few minutes, that I am woken up by persistent thumping on the windows of the taxi. A little girl in tattered clothes is knocking on my window begging for some money.

I’m a total disapprover of giving money to beggars as I believe you are aiding some one to be reliant on others mercy rather than one’s own hard work. So as usual, I tell the girl to move ahead, without even looking at her. But she stills pleads, saying that she is in real hunger.

I look up at her, determined to tell her sternly to move on. But the determination vanishes as soon as I look into her face. It’s pouring heavily, the girl has tattered clothes, she seems to be hungry for a long time, and is nothing older than six years. Despite, having faced such adversity at such a small age, she still manages a smile on her face. A smile that crumbles me, her innocence makes me draw my wallet out. I see a sparkle in the girl’s eyes, realising perhaps that she can finally relish on some food now. I search my wallet for some coins, nothing’s there. No ten rupee or twenty rupee notes too, all I have are a few hundred rupee notes. Without looking at her ( this time out of shame) I tell her to move ahead. But she pleads, “Bhaiya kuch paise toh de do, khana khana hain“. I really want to help her out, but am feeling painful to part away with my hundred rupee note. I am feeling the pinch within me. Without giving me more time to ponder on my decision , the traffic signal changes from red to green, and my taxi moves away. Away from the girl and away from her problems.

That whole day passed by miserably. Every moment went by, having me in thought about my totally selfish behaviour. I can well spend money (without thinking twice) on some rather stupid coffee in CCD or on a rather unhealthy pizza from Dominos, but when it comes to giving that same money for providing someone witha days food, I start feeling the pinch. What kind of selfish person have I grown up to be?

I call my self unlucky when I do badly in a test or grumble about a bad day in office or the traffic of Mumbai daily. Don’t my problems with life totally pale down, when compared to that little girl? Am, I not the luckiest person from that little girl’s point of view?

That girl’s thumping on my window that day was a wakeup call from God. A call to make me feel how lucky I am, compared to the many unfortunate one’s around . And how I must inturn do something for being fortunate enough to be in a position I am. How I should wakeup everyday with a smile and thank God for giving me a life with comforts rather than grumbling about my miniscule problems.

Henceforth instead of spending unnecessarily on watching some stupid movies, eating in some fancy restaurant, purchasing excess of branded clothes, will be saving money to do something concrete for the less fortunate people amongst us . Do not know what it is going to be as of now. But every year, would surely return something back to the society I belong to. Because it is only our small actions that will collectively make this world a better place. That’s all for now, time to light some candles rather than curse the darkness around.

Panaji’s Most Busiest SideWalk At Peaktime

Miramar Highway

The Camera Just Went Click

After Hogging At Hotel Orion With Friends

Trying To Be Innovative

Check out some more of my pathetic photography skills inside

Bambolim Church At 1 am

In Search Of a Petrol Pump At 2 am

Ghost Hunting At 3 am

Baga Beach at 5 am

Breakfast at Goa Marriots 7 am

The Goggles Are for hiding those sleepy eyes

Aseem, Niraj And South’s Upcoming Superstar

Aseem And Ashish Striking A Pose With The Superstar

A much needed fantastic weekend that definitely had me rejuvenated. A weekend that flew as fast  as that Shoaib Akthar delivery. A weekend that flew as fast as college days. A weekend that flew as fast as life itself. A weekend that flew as fast as the plane that departed from Goa airport with me seated in it.

Now it’s back to the rat race…….back to congestion….back to a claustrophobic life …… back to canteen food ……back to fighting with rickshaw wallas …. back to water clogged streets….. back to filling sad looking excel sheets…..back to creating meaningless reports……back to using coffee as a sleep deprivation drug………back to loneliness……back to a sleepless city…..back to Mumbai…..