Why work doesn’t happen at work place ?

Ever since i joined the corporate world, i was amazed to see the increased happiness level on Fridays and depression everywhere on Mondays. I wonder if Amitabh Bacchan starts his Mondays in a similar unenthusiastic way or Sachin Tendulkar starts a new series with a spoiled mood. The question is- Do our professionals have that caliber to match those great standards in their respective fields? May be they have. But more than talent and caliber and knowledge, the more important factor which determines the output is the zeal and passion with which people perform their work. And as mentioned before, that passion is definitely missing in our offices.

Jason Fried- an entrepreneur and author, has talked a lot about the productivity of well furnished corporate offices going down. In general, we expect people to respond to pecuniary incentives in a positive manner; but the reality is different. To understand the reality, let’s focus on the two wrong assumptions that we always make.

Our first assumption is that if we increase the salary of employees, they should feel better and hence productivity should go up. However, the research suggests something else. It says that given the increased monetary incentives, people work with more enthusiasm and energy if the work is something on which they are already skilled at. As long as the task doesn’t require creativity or out of the box approach, people perform better. But as and when the task requires new approach, the performance of people with increased monetary benefits, goes down. On a first look this fact might look weird but if you observe carefully it’s simple. When we see money as the end result, we are externally driven and our focus gets narrower. If we know what exactly we need to do we try our best to do it. In case we need to do planning or be creative, we get worse as money limits the different dimensions we can think. Unfortunately there are many jobs in this world which require good amount of thought. If you don’t have it until now, this is the time to move on.

Our second assumption is that an individual doesn’t add any value to a task except the fact that he/she finishes it. Therefore we expect the employees to do an assigned task in a defined way and rarely encourage them to do it entirely in a different manner. Today’s world is all about ideas and it is obvious that good ideas cannot come in to our minds if we are sitting in a confined space. Also, every person thinks differently. Some of us get the good ideas when we wake up, some while listening music, some while walking. It varies from person to person. Not everyone can come up with brilliant ideas in the meeting rooms. Now one might argue what if people collect their ideas wherever they get and discuss them in the meetings. The point is when people work for 8-10 hours in office, they have no energy left to think about the work when they are outside office. They have their personal lives.I think that’s the key point here. If people keep thinking their work as a responsibility, they can no longer enjoy their work and hence produce outstanding results. Therefore finding the right people for a job is very important. It doesn’t matter how much knowledge one has, it is about whether he/she enjoys the job or not. That’s the only thing that matters in producing great results.

As we have gone wrong with our assumption, the actions that we have taken to nurture the employees are imprecise. Although we say that employees are assets to an organization but we don’t treat them as assets and give them enough freedom. This is the main reason why the attrition rate of most companies is high and many people are starting their own businesses. Do the companies pay less? Definitely not. What people want is- work satisfaction, do what they really like and freedom of work. Once they start their own business, they work harder than before and hence become more productive. This simple concept if companies start to understand they will perform well beyond their current potential. Google is a nice example where the employees are given 20% of the time to do whatever they like to do. Many interesting projects of the company have come from this twenty percent spare time. Just gives an impression how simple things can make a big difference at any level.

With time, the corporate world will change its strides. But in India, that time is quite far away. It will be interesting to see how the organizations prepare themselves to face these challenges and provide the high levels of employee satisfaction to match the international benchmarks.

India: the desi tadka

This is a simple post; i am writing this from the observations that i made here and there. I am listing down the ten funny things about India or the Indians:

  • The Americans feel insecure about their education when they compare it with India. They have one MIT in Massachusetts; We have MIT in every city whose name starts with “M”.
  • We shout on streets with slogans and posters- “a woman of Italian origin has no right to serve this nation” and when Bobby Jindal rules a state of USA, we say- “Wow! we are so proud.” Shouldn’t we be proud of those Americans who gave him the opportunity.
  • We hate Australians for being racists. In our own country, we call few people “Chinky” and we have quota based on castes, races and religions. 
  • In a country where Sports = Cricket, with more than a billion people and almost same number of cricket experts we have won the world cup only twice in the history of the game. That too when World = 8-10 countries.    
  • Talking about cricket, we disapprove our cricketers during their play. If they lose a game, we throw stones at their houses but when they are going to retire, we cry.
  • Vatsyayana wrote Kamasutra before the people in the western world got a calendar but we don’t like western people for their openness about sex. Apparently, harassment and molestation is better than open sex.
  • We all start staring at a girl if there is even 1mm gap between her top and the jeans but if there’s 6 inches gap in case of sarees we call that traditional. 
  • Right from the childhood we are told not to talk to strangers and one day we are asked to sleep with them (arrange marriages).
  • In some rural parts, Burqa/Pardah tradition is there for women. Same women attend the nature’s call in open as they cannot afford toilets. What’s the point of Burqa then?
  • People study so hard in school to get good grades. Then it appears that studying for grades is a hurdle in entrance exams preparation. Then they struggle to get in to good engineering college. Then it appears that the college education was a waste as most of them end up in similar industry. Soon, they start preparing for IIMs and they realize that even the JEE/AIEEE preparation was a waste as they have disadvantage being engineer as per the IIMs selection criteria. After doing MBA (which takes everything out of them), they realize that even the management degree was entirely overrated. That’s when they realize they have made so many wrong decisions at important stages. But it’s too late. That’s the story of successful middle class people. What a tragedy!

the tale of Delotgarh Consulting

Once upon a time there was a jungle. It was called Delotgarh. All kind of species lived there, except human beings. The jungle was famous for business and the services that it used to provide to other jungles. The consulting business which the Delotgarh had recently started was growing well and the animals which were taking care of it, were quite satisfied with the way things were going.

The jungle was huge;  the lions which were managing all the other species decided to make the consulting practice a bit more organized. Lions were quite smart, good strategy maker but at the same time very lazy. They called all the foxes and  jackals and put them in Hell Resource team, or the HR team which would make other animals realize that they were being taken care of. These two animals were chosen because they were the most clever and at the same time they talked politely which was an important skill. They presented a nice smile at the end of every sentence and therefore, were able to please the lions most of the time.

The monkeys were confined to a dungeon, which they called bunker. They were supposed to build the tools which other animals used for hunting. The lions had kept the monkeys under a false impression that their work was very crucial and was really changing other animals lives. Because of this, the monkeys worked all day and night to keep delivering the hunting tools on time. The snakes were appointed as managers. They did not appear powerful but were poisonous enough to eradicate even the most powerful animals. The elephants and the tigers were there in the security team as they often underestimated their power. They thought that only lions could rule the jungle. The fish used to clean the pond where the animals used to attend nature’s call. Similarly the other animals were also put in particular function according to their qualities. Those who were left were put randomly in different functions. Those animals which were hated most by the community were sent to the client’s site. It was just a tactic to keep them away, which they never understood.

 Every year Delotgarh imported hundreds of donkeys from the top engineering wildlife parks. They were supposed to do the data analysis work. Donkeys were good at mathematics and therefore initially they were excited about the work. However, it did not take much time for them to realize that the job was not meant for them. They were frustrated by the way lions used to treat them. They felt as if they were slaves there. They were questioned at each point and were scolded on every single mistake they made. Therefore most of them ran away within one year. Those which didn’t left, died after some time. The lions thought it to be a good idea to keep importing donkeys every year and letting them go thereafter.

One day a meeting was called to discuss the goals and activities of the consulting function. All the lions were there, accompanied by the senior members of HR community. The senior most lion started first- “First of all i appreciate all the fake work that you showed. In consulting  business it is said that- if you can’t make it, then fake it. That’s why we are really good at this business and growing so fast.”

“Is that all he going to do in a meeting?”, one fox whispered in to the ears of other.

“Who cares. Why do you even bother about it? I just came here for the meat that the lions distribute after the meeting” the other fox replied.

The two foxes gazed at each other and smiled.

“Well the best part about our business is…” the senior lion paused and continued, “that we are in a service industry and we are not required to make any investment. Therefore we can face only two consequences- good profit or less/no profit. There is no loss at all. We are shining like the stars.”

Everyone clapped. The senior lion went further- “We do not have to worry about the donkeys increased death rate. We will get a number of them next year as well.”

“Excuse me Sir”- there was a loud voice from the crowd. It was an old jackal which was trying to make its way to reach the senior lion. It approached the lion and said- “Sir, I don’t think our business is even going to survive, looking at the way things are going.” There was a sudden silence.

“That is absurd. Has your age taken away your sanity” said the senior lion.

“Sir if you are going to fake it every time, one day or the other you will get caught. It’s important how we take care of other animals. They are not in a very good condition. Some are burdened with work while the others remain idle. You should look more closely how things are going inside. Some are dying from hunger in Delotgarh. The reason is that once you get some food, you do not share enough of it with the animals who work day and night to earn it. The major portion of it goes to you. That will kill the business in the long run. If you are not bothered about donkeys deaths, then you are in a deep trouble. Donkeys come from a different society and even though they are not as skilled as most of the other animals here, they can present some really good ideas if you let them do so. If they get angry and deny to do your work, who will carry the loads for you and …”

“This is business.” the lion interrupted.  “I do not need any saint’s advice in this. I have been doing the business for years.”

The jackal did not reply and left the place shortly. The lions, the other jackals and the foxes had party that evening. No one remembered what old jackal had said.

Few months passed and this time there was a drought in the country. The lions called a meeting. This time only lions were called for the meeting. There were four of them.

The old lion started the meeting, – “Well, you must be aware that the weather has not been kind to us. It is a crisis situation. The crisis occurred couple of years back as well and we faced some serious trouble. That time the reason was that most of the animals could not afford shelter. This time things have changed and shelter is no more a problem. It is the drought which caused the problem but it should not bother us much. We have huge inventory of food and i am very optimistic that the crisis won’t last for long. We have already seen a serious crisis two years back. It just cannot come back in two years.”

“As if the crisis is an olympic game which will come only after four years”, a lion muttered.

“What did you just say?” old lion roared. “Say it clearly.”

“Nothing” the other lion replied. He knew there was no point in giving the advice. The old lion would not listen anyway.

The old lion continued again in a firm voice, “We will use the food which is there in inventory. Our donkeys will bring that for us. At the same time we will try to find new clients. I know that most of our clients are shifting to other jungles because our cost is too high, but i do not care about that. We will not lower our costs and will move on to the next clients.”

“Wait” one lion interrupted. “You mean we should lose our clients. We can’t afford that and we shouldn’t depend on our donkeys. What if they decide not to come here this year?”

“That won’t happen.” the old lion replied “We pay them enough to keep them here for at least one year. We show them a lot of dreams. It’s not a big deal to convince them”

There was a silence now. The meeting got over without any further discussion.

With each passing day, crisis became more and more serious. There was a clear indication that soon there would be a famine if no measures were taken. Already there were very few plants and trees left in the jungle. Some animals were forced to eat meat as they did not have much choice. But even the meat was also not easily available. In the end, lions had to throw some of the animals out of the jungle which they thought were consuming more food resources. Thus the productivity of the Delotgarh Consulting went down further.

The other animals also started leaving the jungle in search of a new place. The ones which decided to stay there, died soon. The situation got worse and worse every day. Only the four lions were left in the jungle.

At this point of time, the senior lions decided to bring donkeys to the jungle. They planned that they would kill the donkeys one by one. In this way they could survive for years as there were enough donkeys in the country.

The four lions left for the engineering wildlife park. They put the fake smiles and pretended as if nothing had happened in the jungle but it did not work. As soon as they entered the park they were surrounded by the young donkeys.

“Where are our senior donkeys?” one of them asked.

“What did you do to them? My friend went last year and he had not come back.” the other one shouted.

Before the lions could say anything, the crowd turned aggressive and started pushing the lions. The lions which had not had any food for the last couple of days were terrified. The donkeys were huge in number. There were at least 200 of them. Soon the crowd became violent and attacked the lions. The lions rushed backwards. They did not want to fight. The donkeys attack was fierce and the tired lions could not handle it. They all were killed.

That day, all the donkeys had a meeting and it was decided that in the future none of them would join the consulting business. They would be self dependent and would work for themselves. That day, they invented a term for this, which they thought would solve their problems. It was – Entrepreneurship.

Happy Rose Day

If the rose is white,
reflects the purity and innocence
like the moonlight.

If the rose is pink,
indicates admiration and liking
without any ink.

If the rose is yellow,
promises the friendship
to your best fellow.

If the rose is orange,
tells you have the desire
and feelings so strange.

and if the rose is red,
defines the true love
that you have always had.

But the best one is thorn-less rose,
Meant for a lifetime feeling of anxiety
all day and all night, it is for the
Love ——–at First Sight !

Is My Life Like a Kite. . .

Is my life like a kite,
when i observe it, nothing seems right.


It flies like a free bird and
doesn’t know where it has to go,
Then realizes, freedom would end,
Loyalty to the commander
it has to show. . .


Wind of troubles, shakes it furiously
And to save itself from them, nothing
it takes seriously. . .
Rain of sorrows, wet it often
With the burden of small things, it
does soften.

It has no idea, how much time is
left there,
Still to the wish of the destiny,
it does adhere. . .

With the desire of the commander,it does grow,
But who the commander is, perhaps
it doesn’t know. . .

Is my life like a kite,
when i observe it, nothing seems right. . .

Few things Indians really need to know . . .

We live in the information age and the one who has more information has a definite advantage in this world. However it becomes a challenge to filter out the rumors and hoaxes from the true information, specially when you receive so many emails, sms, or you browse though internet and read all the stuff in the social networking sites, blogs, etc. The point is- in today’s world it is really easy to spread the information but it is difficult to check its authenticity. So it becomes utmost important that not only we share the correct information but also make sure that false information doesn’t easily get transmitted over the communication media. It’s a small effort from my side as a first step towards this. Here are the few things that i came across in the last few months:


1) 49-O Rule: This is what I saw in one of the mails sent to me : Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, in section ” 49-O” that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn’t want to vote anyone!


Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these leaders have never
disclosed it.
This is called “49-O”.

Why should you go and say ” I VOTE NOBODY”… because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received “49-O” votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them.


Sadly, this is not true. May be partially but not completely. First of all it’s not in our constitution. Rule 49-O is a rule in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 of India which says : 

“If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.”

That’s all. It doesn’t say that the poll will be cancelled or contestants will be removed.

2) ATM Pin Number in Reverse Order : This one I received as a text message, sent to me by a well wisher.It said:

WHEN A THIEF FORCES YOU TO TAKE MONEY FROM THE ATM, DO NOT ARGUE OR RESIST, YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW WHAT HE OR SHE MIGHT DO TO YOU.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO IS TO PUNCH YOUR PIN IN THE REVERSE, I.E IF YOUR PIN IS 1254, YOU PUNCH 4521.

THE MOMENT YOU PUNCH IN THE REVERSE, THE MONEY WILL COME OUT BUT WILL BE STUCK INTO THE MACHINE HALF WAY OUT AND IT WILL ALERT POLICE WITHOUT THE NOTICE OF THE THIEF.EVERY ATM HAS IT, IT IS SPECIALLY MADE TO SIGNIFY DANGER AND HELP.

I wish it was true but then who would bear the cost of such technology. Banks? Not possible, specially in a country where you have ATMs at every doorstep. That would make police’s job-insurmountable. Secondly, what about those who have symmetric four digit pin numbers. Something like 9889. Would they call the police everytime they inserted their ATM card. So basically it’s just another hoax and has no truth in it. It was an idea developed in USA long back but could not be implemented because of the above mentioned hindrances. In India it never happened. 

3)Hindi- Our National Language: It’s not a common thread like the above two, but it is something that few of us(or many of us) are unaware of. Sadly again, I heard it in an MLA’s speech who said:

…Hindi is our national language and we need to respect it …

The truth is different. India is a country which doesn’t have a national language. Neither the Constitution of India nor Indian law specifies a National language. India specifies Hindi and English as official languages of the India de jure. Article 343 of the constitution specifies that the official language of the India is Hindi in Devanagari script. Article 354 states that a state of India may officially adopt one or more languages in use in the state or Hindi/English as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that state. God bless our politicians.

That’s all for now. I will keep posting on it, if i come across such nuisance again and I expect the same little effort from my readers too. Otherwise, India might soon become a country of ignorants!

Is BackBenchers Society = Brilliant&Beautiful Society

Given an average or below average education system, the back benchers have a definite advantage over those who sit on the front benches.  When i make such a statement i should be able to justify it and i suppose i have enough reasons to justify. Before we directly jump to any conclusion or you start wondering “what’s wrong with this guy”, let me tell you few things upon which we all shall agree. In an average classroom, the two types of societies exist:One with the front benchers and other with those who sit at the back. Now where are the middle benchers? Some of them either fit in to the front benchers society or back benchers depending upon individual while the majority of them  observe all this happening in the classroom. I have been among those observers therefore i can tell how good they are at observing things and making judgments (mostly people related). But for the sake of simplicity i’d be restricted to two societies the front and the back benchers. 


The other thing that we shall agree is the fact that front benchers are generally sincere, follow what the teachers say and are good in academics. Back benchers?  Pretty much opposite. They lack sincerity, rarely follow the teacher and most of the times are bad in academics or at least with their scorecard. But again  these are very general observations and i can’t guarantee this will be true in each and every case but when we observe the trend it’s likely to be the same. Having facts or observations with us we can now do our analysis. Education itself includes so many things other than academics which help an individual to groom and contribute to society in the long run. 



So we shall discuss three important aspects which affect individual’s education and therefore his/her life:


1) The Education System: As i mentioned in the beginning i shall be talking about the average/below average education systems because that’s where the  majority of the people get their education from. When i talk about such an education system i suggest that teaching methodologies, the course content, the classroom learning environment and other activities are not practiced at a very good level. Sadly, most of the indian schools/colleges come under this category. For example the way history is being taught in most of our schools results in almost zero value addition. If you are just going to remember the facts, what will you learn at the end of the day? All those facts are already there in Wikipedia. What we need is the correct interpretation and understanding of those facts. Same applies to the law studies. In such an environment if you are sincere and blindly follow the teaching practices, you get in to different direction.  Therefore the sincere students get affected by the poor methodologies which they carry with themselves lifetime and they pass this way of teaching to the  next generation. On the other hand students who are little careless and rarely follow these practices are least affected.


2) Creativity or Innovation: Creativity is the biggest strength of backbenchers whereas all the good graders (again in a poor education system) certainly lack it. Creativity as they say requires out of the box thinking. It’s about imagination; it’s an art. Developing creativity in children/students remains a big challenge for any teacher and sadly again, in most of our schools/colleges nothing is being done to work on it. What we need to understand is  that the creativity and innovation are closely related. One has to be creative enough to come up with new ideas and innovations. This is an important reason why a country with a billion brains hasn’t come up with much of the innovation. The truth lies in the fact that our young minds do not aspire to create something new rather they are contended with work they are doing that is given to them. We might be having more number of software engineers but we don’t have google,  microsoft, yahoo, amazon, apple, ebay, youtube, facebook, netflix, wikipedia. Nothing!! And then they ask how did britishers rule us for years when the  ratio of british soldiers to indians was around 1:300. The truth is we are still the same. We love to follow, but we hardly take initiative to lead the world and that’s what our children are being taught. Coming back to the point, being a  backbencher and careless student you are never worried to follow everything what your teacher says or everything what book suggests. You have to be skeptic enough in order to come up with new ideas. We all are familiar with the way grades are being distributed in our education institutions. One has to please their teachers in order to get there. Those who are not concerned about the grades do what fascinates them most whether it’s gaming or internet surfing or anything else. This is the most important factor why they have advantage in the long run, because they are not confined to the paths showed to them by someone else. In real life problems, such people are most effective.


3) Hardwork: If someone asks me what is it that matters most to get success, i would say hardwork. Put brilliance, intelligence and all the intellect  on one side and hardwork on the other, hardwork will win over anything and  everything. But let me put it this way, What is more important- Hardwork or smart work. I am sure it needs no answer, it’s very obvious. Hardwork is very important but it helps only if you are in a right direction. For example  if you love to sing and then you practice for hours everyday continuously, it’s understandable. But if you love singing and you are studying 12 hours a  days for IIT-JEE preparation, it doesn’t make sense. Following your dreams and passions is very important and coming back to the point of innovation, it comes when you follow your passions and work accordingly. Working more is not important but the quality of work is important. Again if you see it in the context  of the two socities we have (i’m sure you’ve forgot them, i was so much deviated from the topic) front benchers are generally hardworking, whereas those at the back are reluctant to work more. That means backbenchers are generally lazy, but does it mean those who aren’t lazy are better? Certainly not. As Bill Gates said, if  there is difficult task, i choose a lazy fellow to do it, because the lazy people have the tendency to come up with easy solutions/ways to do a difficult job. This is absolutely true. I can say from my experience that backbenchers have this ability to come up with entirely different approach unlike the front row geniuses who are generally confined to planned way in order to solve a problem.



Having said all this, I would like to emphasize the fact that we all are different and we have different abilities or skills. It’s very important to understand  those abilities and work upon them. Instead of striving for grades, one should realize their dreams and work upon them. I would have been very happy if our teachers and other people had recognised the brilliance and talent of those who don’t score well in exams. There’s so much talent in the backbenches but no one hardly  cares about it. This is the sad part. If you are or you ever were a member of BackBencher Society, trust me you have that in you to do anything. As George W. Bush  once said, if you are an A grade student i would say well done, but if you are a C grader i would say-well, one day you could be the president of USA.


PS: I have a dream, the way people of this country think about the education and the way they practice it, will change one day.

Am i good enough for you ?? (Lyrics)

You look so pretty,
i stand nowhere
You talk so lovely,
i only stare
Time can tell us what’s right or wrong
Till then o sweetheart, let me sing this song…
Am i good enough for you, for you
for you, for you…for you


You’ve got everything,
i’ve got nothing
You’re a princess,
there’s nothing i possess
There’s a possibility
you wouldn’t like me
You must have seen 
many guys like me….

Am i good enough for you, for you
for you, for you…for you


I too have a little heart inside,
there’s something about it that i hide…
Not the fact that it’s not very fine,
But every beat of it says… you are mine
yes…you are mine
Whatever it beats, it beats for you, for you
for you……..

Am i good enough for you, for you
for you, for you…for you

Am i good enough for you, for you
for you, for you…for you

Don’t go away (Lyrics)

Na main hu tanha, na akela…
na tum bewafa ho, na main bewafa
ye shayad main na jaanu
ye tumko kya hua
ab tumse o jaana bas itna hai kehna…
Don’t go away,… don’t go away
‘Cause if you go away 
that’d be my last day


Na tum ye samjhe, na maine ye jaana,
ke itna tha mushkil yun mujhko samjhana,
Tune mujhko na bataya huye kyun tum khafa…
Ik baar ab milein to na hona fir juda…
Don’t go away….. Don’t go away
‘Cause if you go away
That’d be my last day

‘Cause if you go away
That’d be my last day

Have You Come From Another World (lyrics)

O my love, have i told you that
You’re the best gift i’ve ever had…
The way you talk, the way you smile
I really love those pretty eyes,
just wanna know from you…
Have you come from another world,,,
have you come from another world,,,
Those eyes are not from earth
Have you come from another world…
Have you come from, have you come from
Have you come from, have you come from
Have you come from another world


Aisi dost milegi…
maine socha nahi tha…
jo faisla kia wo…
shayad sahi tha…
Ab darr lagta hai ye pal chhoott na jayein
Kuch aisa na kar dun wo rooth na jaaye
just wanna know from you…
Have you come from another world…
Have you come from another world…
Those eyes are not from earth
Have you come from another world…


I hate to say good byes…
I really really love those eyes…

just wanna know from you…
Have you come from another world…
Have you come from another world…
Those eyes are not from earth
Have you come from another world…
Have you come from another world…




She walked away

As she silently walked away
Couldn’t discern anymore, 
I was lost, couldn’t find my way

I was going to lose her, 
she silently confessed
but she never realized,
how much i was obsessed.


Suddenly the world looked mournful,
and to the world i appeared woebegone
I tried to hide what i’ve been through
but inside me, the heart froze like a stone.

The Sky was dark,
i had my own fears,
There was something that made me wet
Was it rain or the tears.

And as i walked along, 
i saw a shadow coming towards me
I recognized it was her, i sang a song
“We can’t be together, you are right
 but let’s not think about the morrow 
 and hold each other tonight”

She held my hand and 
took me along with her,
On the way she kissed me
and said “it’s not fair…
To be together tonight and separate,
For the love that you do,
There’s always a tomorrow for you”

No one is working ; is it Social Networking ?

As i sat and put my pen to the paper, I just closed my facebook page; musing on a status which says “A” is in a relationship and it’s complicated with some twenty odd likes and even more comments from B, C, …Z (even A)

They say facebook is the most popular website; i prefer calling it the most rampant addiction. Let me start with a story. It’s about Naman who is an engineering student. He gets up little late in the morning and the first thing that comes to his mind is…”How many comments would i have got on last night’s status message”. He rushes to the  breakfast table and finishes quickly. Then he goes back to his room, turns on his PC and checks the updates.  If there are interesting comments, he feels quite happy and satisfied. Next in the college he observes everything, asks his friends about the latest gossips and search for funny things around the campus; all this is just for the sake of new status. In the mean time, he doesn’t miss any chance to capture some photos. Every time he takes a photo he and his friends talk about the comments they might be getting when they will upload these photos on facebook. If he still doesn’t get a new status, he decides to go by the usual …had a terrible lunch,,,or ,,the classes really suck…or even,,,nice sunshine outside (yes nice sunshine, everyone knows that). This is still not over. Late in the night when he’s tired of stalking others profiles, he puts a controversial status, seeking attention which ofcourse he gets within minutes.

If you are reading this, you are most likely to be a student. Just think about your lifestyle and check how closely it resembles with that of Naman. Now one might argue that everyone have got their personal lives and it’s their choice to do whatever they want. Second thing, social networking is not a bad thing at all. So, I would like to mention that i’m not against anyone’s wishes. All I’m trying to say is that this is the time to think and realize what you might be missing in your life by sticking to your homepage. Secondly, the social networking is a wonderful thing. In fact nothing else in this world gives more pleasure than finding and knowing new people, listening to your loved ones and sharing your thoughts with others but then if you really want to do all this then go and talk to people instead of stalking them online,  chatting indirectly through comments.


Most of us have few hundred friends(obviously facebook friends) and many of them are strangers to us offline. They send us the friend requests, yet they are hesitant to say hello. They like our status, photos but they hardly like us. They comment on our profile but they never utter  a word from mouth. They ping us on facebook chat, but they never call. They send LOLs/Smileys but they don’t even look at our face while passing by. Is this the todays social networking all about? Is it fair when your lover is happier when you write “miss u” on her wall, instead of telling her in person? Is it?


On one side, social networking sites enable us to widen our circle, on the other they weaken it. They help us to connect to our friends, but then all we do is “stay connected”, nothing else. I should thank facebook because it’s only because of it that you’re reading this. At the same time I should curse it because it’s because of facebook that you’re otherwise not available to understand my views. In the beginning I talked about addiction. Yes it is and in case you find any solution, do reply because the writer too is addicted.


And I Turned Blue…

There was a time,

when birds sang a song,

“get up, get up,

the day is not so long”.

In the air,

there was a fragrance,

a fragrance of love,

and of allegiance.

The blush was magical,

when the sun used to set;

And when the rains poured,

turned me perky, made me wet.

Today when I look back,

I realize, it was a past.

I sit alone, think of morrow,

may be I’m aghast.

I see the birds and wonder,

why do I have to spare?

I hear their songs, then,

suddenly I don’t care.

Now sun is just

an orb of fire.

And about the beauty,

I have no desire.

Today, if the rains pour,

Will wet myself I swear.

Not to dance in it,

but to hide…that falling tear.

Thou Don’t Know


Had I been any infinite power, I would
Have acquainted thou with it, or ere
That thou art my heart, and for thee,
I often fall,
Heaven hadst decided to make thee,
My soul.
Thou hadst feelings for me since forever,
Thou refused to be shy,
Hath been before, how are our hearts allied,
Thou came along, and I flew
High in the sky.
Didst thou say that we two are
Like Night and Day,
In my remembrance opposites attract, together
They always stay.
Seeing thou sad with myself I fought,
When I saw thou cry
The world appearst desolate,
Like thy moisten’d eye.
O’my dear this world is full of malice,
I promise I love thee,
Thou art my love, thou art my alice

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD IT WAS !!

July 22, 2007… I still remember that day when i first entered NIT Kurukshetra. It was sunday afternoon and temperature was up around 42 degree; No wonder i was sweating like a pig. As i entered in my room in Hostel-3, i saw three gentlemen(first yearites) sitting on the floor and enjoying the puff of cigarette. I was disquieted and based on my observation i inferred that “Journey ahead won’t be easy”. But the days went by and somehow i started liking the place. The more i got to know the college the more i liked it. Today it’s March 10, 2011 and i still wonder how i started admiring the sanctity of Kurukshetra and loving the tranquility of NIT.

May be it was because of frost January which made it possible to enjoy the laxity, or the facile end semester exams which helped me to develop certain interests (obviously other than studies). They say “don’t be serious in life”; a college where 90% courses are ineffectual in the long terms and remaining 10% are dysfunctional, you never have to be serious. The freedom that one enjoys at NITKKR is hilarious. I remember a scenario when the first and second yearites showed up for a strike just because the last night there was a power cut.

We understand that variety is the spice of life and i had never seen such diversified culture before(nor i’ll see again) as i saw in NIT. As our batch is the last one of its type(with state quota), i’m sure our juniors will miss a great time that we saw. The time when karnataka prodigies used to rule trivia, the time when Bengali geniuses surprised everyone, the time when Orrisa GT proved that they are twice better than NRIs(atleast when it comes to CGPA), the time when we saw beautiful smiles from all the seven states of north east, and the time when Bihar and UP GTs celebrated every occasion with 90s love songs. That time, i’m pretty sure won’t come back again. The story at NIT goes on from Andhra GT(i use the term “queer” whenever i talk about Andhra boys) to Faridabad GT(the real FRAUDIES who consider themselves ROADIES). The girls were few but the aura of romanticism was immense. Though most of the boys quit finding a girl after first year but Rajasthan GT didn’t give up till final year(hunt still going on).

There was almost no palatableness in the mess food, but khokha chai never let me feel that. Although the bathrooms used to stink but now i’m getting used to them. It’s time to move on but i don’t feel like. I want to come back and breathe the same air i had once breathed, enjoy the same freedom that i once enjoyed, meet the same people that i found here. Till then Good Bye NIT Kurukshetra.

It happened one evening


It was the one of the beautiful winter evenings with slight drizzles (which is rare in a place like kurukshetra) and i was having coffee in the market. Sipping the coffee and looking at the shadowy sky, i saw a plane(not the real one but the paper plane) travelling through the wind. It was one of those moments when you feel good about something but you really don’t know what’s there to feel good about. May be it reminded me of my good old days when i used to control such innovative stuff forgetting everything else and my heart dancing with every single moment of anxiety. Or may be it tried to tell me that -life is so beautiful, explore it. Enjoy the freedom. Sometimes small things can make a big change in your life and that’s what happened at that particular moment. I felt little bad, I didn’t understand why. In life we all have an unspeakable secret, an irreversible regret, an unreachable dream, and unforgettable memories. That moment i thought of all of these and i felt somewhere inside me that i have missed something in life. While i was looking to reach the destination, i forgot to treasure the journey. I tried to measure my life with coffee spoons. The tragedy with me i guessed was not that i suffered but rather what i missed. I felt little tired. But as they say – In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back. One has to get up and start it over and over again to realize how precious it is. That day there was a strange reluctance in my mind to admit that i enjoyed life; But i decided not to give up. It was getting dark. I could see the moon. And i thought- “i’ll wait for tomorrow, it might just bring new sunshine in my life”

The Google Mania


It’s hard to imagine the world before Google. Perhaps tech historians will divide history into two categories: B.G. (Before Google) and A.G. (After Google). So we live in the year 12 A.G. These things are wonderful, to be sure, but there may be a dark side as well. That dark side my dear friends has made its even darker impact on my roomie MANISH. It was the winters of 2007 when the poignant guy’s life got the symbol of buoyant smiles with the hostel delivery of del LAPTOP. At that time i had no idea that this was going to be one of the most dramatic change in my friend’s life that will be remembered by the ages to come. I won’t tell the each and every day’s scenario, but i’ll mention two memorable instances which appear to be a fluffy comedy at times.

Scene1:

Final practical exam-basic electrical engineering : It was scheduled to be at 8:30 am , but the night before it, was like a night of getting deeper and deeper in to the world of internet and exploring the shells of it which remain unknown to normal people like you and me. The result was- Manish woke up at 9:30 and quite obviously the first and only word he said that morning was “o shit”. He got bad grades in the practical exam. Feel pity?? Don’t worry, he didn’t change, otherwise my story would have ended here.

Scene2:

How to be Cool: When you’re 18, very often you feel like doing something to get some sort of attention from opposite sex. That’s acceptable, but if you start using google engine to drive you on the highway of coolness, that’s more of idiotic behavior. Just after one month from the practical exam tragedy, I saw him searching “how to be cool” on http://www.google.com . I didn’t say anything at that time but I was amused when he started implementing all those how to be cool tricks that the google search first page had told him. Infact he was so obsessed that not only he changed his hair style, dressing, etc but he also started displaying few weird techniques which at times really made me laugh. For instance, he started smiling like Tom Cruise, entering the room in a superhero style, wearing low butt(not low waist) jeans, hiding dairy products in inaccessible places, setting alarms for random times, repeating everything that someone says with a question, but the best one was when he learnt morse code he decided to have conversations with friends in public consisting entirely of “Beeeep, bip, bip, Beeep, bip…”

Does sound weird?? yes it is

Diversity…Celebrate it Everyday

I consider myself very lucky to join National Institute of Technology(Kurukshetra) before 2008. The reason is definitely not academics, but the culture that I saw at NIT. Before 2008, we had state quota in NITs, so I got a chance to meet the students from all corners of India with different backgrounds, speaking different languages and unique thought process. The culture of India is an amalgamation of these diverse sub-cultures spread all over the country and traditions that are several millennia old. That makes NIT such a beautiful place to study. But its not just that. What is interesting to see- is the behavior of people from different parts of the country; their dressing, food, music choices, etc. I’m going to tell you about certain traits of the students from different states. So, here we go:

1) Jammu & Kashmir– Coming from the mystic land of lofty hills(known for peace and Hindu-Muslim Unity), these students look sober and confident. That’s understandable as almost all of them are from Jammu region and the only comparison they have had in their lives is with Kashmir Or Ladakh people; either of them are miserable when it comes to education or awareness . They love to wear formal clothes (which hardly suit them), read a lot of stuff (there’s a lot of stuff on Kashmir issue but they don’t feel like studying it, they think they are masters in this). Some of them don’t speak at all while others talk blatantly obvious.


2) Punjab– They say Chandigarh is Manhattan and Ludhiana is Shanghai, yet Canada is where they want to go. They love two things- first one to keep talking and second keep talking. Very emotional, very entertaining( warning: the entertainment can irritate you at times), true from the heart, love singing and dancing (dance confined to Bhangra) …punjabis are the real fun loving people.

3) Haryana– Kurukshetra is the place where the battle of Mahabharata (supposedly) took place. Therefore this(haryana) is the only state where children develop their boxing skills before they learn counting. Dairy products are their favorite refreshment. Talking about decency, soberness they are worst at them. Then what are they good at??- Everything that includes physical component and ignores intellect. Girls from haryana are used to all kind of crap that boys do-eve teasing , comments and constant staring (if you’re a girl you’d feel like ripping boys eyes).

4) Rajasthan– “The desert is a place without expectation”, something that everyone who comes from Rajasthan keeps in mind all the time. The Rajasthanis are good at? – nothing. The boys spend their four years of college searching for a girlfriend and girls keep waiting for someone (outside rajasthan) who shows at least some interest in them.

5) Uttar Pradesh– The first thing that comes to mind when you see uttar pradesh boys(obviously girls don’t come here) is 90’s pathetic hindi love songs by kumar सानु. The good thing about UP guys is their unity(ragging side effect). They all love the same girl( truly) and they all smoke the same cigarette or drink the same beer.


6) Bihar– Everything that i have said about UP guys is also true about Biharis. Additionally, they love to wear sparkling red clothes, though they look pathetic. If you see their “birthday bumps” style, you’d feel lucky to be outside this group. Most of their college life, they spend in the hostels. Intelligent but not smart, curious but bad curiosity mostly limited to unethical things, and hardworking but again….don’t work for good cause.

7) Maharashtra– Those who come from this state think that they are some bollywood product (though very few are from mumbai sorry bombay itself 😛 ) . They think that they look good but they don’t, they think they are smart but they are not, they think they are cool …again not. Showing off is their idea of glory but to be honest, it’s always a fun watching these folks.

8) Andhra Pradesh– If You see Andhra boys then one word will come to your mind- Homoerotic. They will prefer to have a football match(or pillow fight with each other) than to go out with a girl. They are from south but are different from south indians, they watch hollywood/bollywood yet they want to look like Nagarjuna (grow moustache for the same reason), their weird accent is something that everyone enjoys at college (“iiinaadda has become so popular)

i think that’s all for now. TTYL