“WE” the people !!

An ode to the best batch of SCSVMV 2K4 to 2k8 (guys alone)

As the legend goes “THEY” were a bunch of young men,who descended from the skies above, like the blistering rays of the Sun, to haunt the hallowed corridors of SCSVMV. They were strong untamed lions, feared none and always spelt fun. They stood tall in times of distress, unfazed by troubles and fought the challenges like men possessed. They were self-made, redefined the parameters of success, belittled the concept of time, scaled heights that were considered intangible. They were as mighty as the Everest; Had the wisdom of Athena, the power of Zeus, the charm of Apollo and the fame of Achilles.
Left many-a-souls reeling under their abominable hypnotic influence. They were embodiment of success and victory. Some say they charmed women and engaged in courtships, while others opine that they exercised strict discipline and ostracized close association with women.
THEY CAME, THEY CONQUERED, THEY LEFT !!!
“THEY” were called “SPARATANS” !!!!!!!!

——– A SCSVMV Folklore

“DASAVATHARAM” — Movie review

Disclaimer : Following is a perception of a free-lance and doesn’t have any far reaching implications to be viewed seriously.

With due respect to KAMALHASAN - THE artiste, THE actor, THE Universal Hero !!

Hello people, those who have grown up watching Kamal as the perfectionist, you need some reorientation. At a time when we are at peace with the belief that he would only back films with a credible storyline, Kamal resorts to sacrilege of sorts. For those who still have the robes of Hey Ram or the regimentals of Kurudhi Punal on, a word of caution DASAVATHARAM is int the place to be.

The film begins on an imposing note, as the flourish of Ravi verman’s camera and Thotta Tharanis art ‘mesmerizing-ly’ brings the 12 th century alive and captures one’s imagination. The music is an added plus as it leaves you enchanted to believe that you have got your moneys worth, The first hour or so is probably the best part of the movie. Before you recover from the impact of the first shot, the movie scurries into the 21 st century of advanced bio-weaponry. But it is here where the storyline miserably faulters before it mitigates to comedy of errors.

The Achilles Heel(s)

The single largest let down of the film is plausibly the feckless handling of scientific concepts. With just 10 minutes to interval it wouldn’t take much for a grade 7 to tell that it’s bull-shitting of the highest order. Probably the director has comfortably assumed that with a lightening paced screen play the blunders would go unnoticed; Unfortunately it doesn’t. You expect something much better from the Kamalahasan stables. you can do nothing but pity the story teller for his ignorance,when the world’s most deadliest Bio weapon is nonchalantly fidgeted around. Even bigger profanation is the way in which, an international terrorist is being tracked down. At this point you wonder whether the director is demented.

Even the the most insane of Governments wouldn’t let a jester of an officer, (who closely resembles your Shikari Shambhu and looks more like a tinsel cousin of Chacha Chowdry(remember your days of TINKLE !!), in the way he handles the situation.) to handle the crisis. Is the CBI, the special task force, the RAW, the army jolly well holidaying in Hawaii ? The chagrin part awaits you, as an utterly lackadaisical Bush (Mr.President of US) resorts to dumb witted slap stick, when an international terrorist with a weapon of mass destruction is on the run !! The director also makes a fool out of ‘THE’ FBI agents..?? He badly needs to be taught about the functioning of the agency..!! It is apparent that he is not clear whether to handle the subject on the lines of humor or to treat it solemnly.

Coincidences are one too many, much to the dislike of the viewers. From now on when ever Kamal slips, falls or Jumps, don’t get excited there is invariably a dump truck or a pile of sand to save his ass, and our hero would happily walk off unscratched every time; whether he falls from a moving train or a two story building, its immaterial!! (Hey Woolverine and Spidy ! watch out !!)

Special note : The censor bureau has been careful enough to silence the lines about PERIYAR (an atheist, reformer) but the comparison of toilet to the temple, quite carelessly is left untouched !! ok lets not dwell deep into politics !!!???!!

The 10 Avtars

Kamal as an actor, as usual, romps home in style. He effortlessly dons the roles with panache. But three roles need special mention. The Special Officer Balram Naidu steals the show; with his body language and slang , has the audience in splits of laughter ( he doesn’t help to the cause of the story, is a different issue!!). Kamal scores a centum in portraying the social activist Poovaragam, he (Kamal) has mastered the lingo and succeeds in producing the desired effect. Kamal as the protoganist scientist Govindarajan, holds the story from falling into a disarray. The other characters fail to impress largely because they have been fitted in for the sake of conjuring up the magical 10 !! and these characters don’t offer the veteran to showcase much of his acting skills.The villain, Khallif khan and old granny look too fabricated and contrived. Of course old granny is the biggest of the make-up malfunctions. She looks appallingly offensive and more like the Oracles of 300 (the movie)!! If people claim it to be a masala movie then, the melodrama quotient is brought in by Avtar singh (one more of kamal’s incarnation in the movie), it is hardly intriguing and is more of a passé.

Others

Asin is charming but irritates you most of the time with her rhetorics and cacophony. i would have felt happier if the character had some more sensibility attached to it. Asin is a better actor and could have been entrusted with a better responsibility, and a bit more room for acting. Mallika (sherawath) is look able only when she is in clothes ‘that-reveal-more-than-what-it covers’ and is better off with her mouth shut !! gifted with humongous assets, one just hopes that after these many years in filmdom she would by now at least try to act for god’s sake (God is not always magnanimous!!) , but the director has used her quite prudently.

Himesh has been a revelation, his rejuvenating numbers are already chart-busters. For the first time you can realize that Himesh is maturing and is turning into a more accomplished music director. Kudos to men responsible for the Special effects, camera and Stunts they are some of the positives of the film. Screenplay is breath taking, but after some time turns into a head ache.

The Bottom line

All said and done, hats off to Kamal for his audacity in embarking on such a herculean project, none other than Kamal himself could have imagined about such a venture. But THE UNIVERSAL HERO doesn’t have to don 10 roles from round the globe to ascertain and testify his title!! he is an actor par excellence, no doubt. From a promising start the film detours into jeopardy and with too many loose ends to tie up, struggles towards the end to recover. Fails to deliver what it promises. But it provides 3 hrs of wholesome entertainment (without logic tho’).

DASAVATHARAM is all about style than substance !!

Am Back……!!

At times boredom can manifest itself as one of the most creative incarnations. Driven to the extent of ‘I-can’t-be-bored-anymore’!! you often tend to indulge yourself in things, that you wouldn’t be doing even in the best of your sanity. Ahem Ahem… so its now my compelling covetous desire to bring out the writer in me!! No chuckles pls…….(am trying to sound serious..!!). It was after this peregrination to the vertiginous heights of the Gharwal Himalayas that i decided to break out of my faineance to pen down something,an innocous desire,to write.

…….How would it feel …………… to be in the midst of snow clad mountains,with pristine whiteness surrounding you…………………temperatures nearing sub-zero…oxygen levels barely supporting normal respiration………. and hmmm…and…to ‘ride’ your lady love..”Rani Mukerji” ……………………………..

your heart beats faster……Pants..Moans…and finally grins….

I was on cloud seven,not merely metaphorical even otherwise !!..it happens when you are 3500 meters above sea level. ! Phewwww…… Am not good at building up the excitement, you need to be a Tony Greig to do it??(making a single sound as exciting as the winning runs of a world cup final..!!). It’s my petullant intent to reveal that Rani is a mule !! that muddles up the Climax that i carefully tried to build up.

It was epitome of adventure, riding on the back of a mule at those dizzying heights in a road that was as slippery as it could get, just broad enough for barely two men to walk hand in hand and a deep ( i really mean deep) valley beneath waiting for your fall!! I have often wondered how it would be if you are a cliff hanger ? i was literally hanging on to the cliff,through the noose tied to my Rani Mukerji ! throughout the 14 km trek!! It seemed surreal, chivalrous and what not ? I was more than happy to get off from my mule which had made a toast of my butt!!

My trip to Kedar, would go down as one of the most exciting and alluring journeys that i’ve ever embarked upon. It’s a fact that we are made to concede to— the reality that we ‘re at the mercy of this omnipotent nature. Even if you are a non-believer the sheer intimidation by the environment around viz. the hissing noise of the massive river flowing between the clefts of the mountains, the spooky eeriness enveloping you, the totally unpredictable climate, the humungus mountains themselves ; leave you dumb folded in awe & respect and makes you believe that there is some eternal force that is par-human, super mundane that governs you.

“Did JESUS Ever Say That he was GOD”???

  

……

with due respect

to

JESUS

Is Jesus God? Investigate these interesting claims…

The earliest followers of Jesus all seemed pretty convinced that Jesus was fully God in human form. Paul said, “He is the image of the invisible God…in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell.” John said that Jesus created the world. Peter said, “every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

But what did Jesus say about himself? Did he ever identify himself as God? According to the Bible…absolutely! Below are some of his statements made while on earth, in their context.

---

Is Jesus God? How he implied he was God:

The Jews therefore said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple. (John 8:57-59)

“I and the Father are one.” The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” (John 10:30-33)

And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me. And he who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me. I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.” (John 12:44-46)

And so when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” (John 13:12-14)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:6-9)

---

Is Jesus God? How he described himself:

Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” They said therefore to Him, “Lord, evermore give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:32-35)

Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The Pharisees therefore said to Him, “You are bearing witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.” Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true; for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from, or where I am going.” (John 8:12-14)

Jesus therefore said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” (John 10:7-11)

Martha therefore said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother shall rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.” (John 11:21-27)

---

Is Jesus God? What he said he was sent here to do:

But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-2

For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him. (Mark 9:31-32)

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-1

“All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:37-40)

..What to write !!!

You may be trying to improve or add more content to your site. But as most writers will tell you, coming up with what to write about is often the most difficult part.

Common Themes to Write About
Some common themes for Web site content are:

Personal Introspection
Sites that are personal, but have things like weblogs and other personal insights will change often enough to bring readers back and are easy to write
Consumer Commentary
These sites are usually built by someone who is upset with a company. However, they allow for community building and shared experiences as people tell what happened to them in relation to the company discussed.
Ecommerce
If you have something to sell, the Web is a great place to sell it.
Topic related articles
If you are good at something, you can write articles about it, and as long as you are consistent about posting new material, you will keep your readers coming back.
There are as many different types of Web page as there are Web pages out there.

Brainstorming Content Ideas
But say you have your subject matter decided upon, how do you come up with the idea for this week’s article? A great way to come up with new ideas is to do a storyboard brainstorming session. When you are finished with the following brainstorming session, you should have ideas for many different Web pages.

How to storyboard
Equipment

A large piece of cardboard or other large expanse of free space that can be left cluttered for a while (I tend to use a door, as there is usually nothing on it, and it’s flat
Sticky note paper like Post-It® Notes (if you’re using your wall or a door, make sure that the note paper won’t stain the surface)
A dark pen
Instructions

Step away from the computer This may seem silly when everything on the Web is done with a computer, but if you move away from it for a while, you can get your creative juices flowing and not be worried about your idea as a Web page.
Get out the sticky paper and start writing Web page ideas, themes, notes on them. Write anything you think of - the wackier the better! Write only one idea or note per piece of paper.
As you write them, stick them to your cardboard or wall. Don’t worry about placement for now, just get as many ideas as you can onto the board.
Once you have run out of paper, start organizing the notes on the board. There is no secret to how to organize them. You can choose to divide them by theme, by relevance, by hierarchy, whatever. When I’m designing a Web site I like to divide the ideas into a quasi-structure for the site e.g. ideas for the first page go at the top, and pages that link from there are in the second level, and so on down.
Once you have the slips of paper in an order that pleases you, walk away for at least an hour, and if you can, a whole day. Give your brain a rest from the work of idea generation and organization. Think about something else, take a walk, watch your favorite TV show, get away from the site. When you come back, chances are you’ll have some new ideas for more notes, and the organizational structure might change.
After getting your new ideas down, spend some time getting the structure and ideas written in a more permanent fashion. I like to get one idea written down and then try to rearrange the notes into a new format and write that down too. Once I have three possible structures (or more), I’m content to start working on my site.
Important Notes for Brainstorming Content Ideas

Let yourself go.
Don’t be afraid to write anything down. If it’s still stupid after you’ve taken a break, you can crumple the paper, but for the moment, just get it down.
Don’t give up too quickly.
Often, if the ideas just don’t seem to be coming, you’re probably trying too hard. When you’re ready to stop, ask yourself if there aren’t 5 more things that you can think of that would enhance or clarify what you’ve already written. e.g. If you wrote down “Colored backgrounds” on one note, try to find 5 improvements on that: “all green”, “only Web palette”, “background image”, “themed colors for different pages”, and “colors match my

$$ MONEY MONEY MONEY !!!$$

It s been quite some time i posted!! am a bit too lazy in doin such stuff!! any ways for the time being!! ave this !!!??!!

• The word millionaire was first used by Benjamin Disraeli in his 1826 novel Vivian Grey.

• If you stack one million US$1 bills, it would be 110m (361 ft) high and weight exactly 1 ton.

• A million dollars’ worth of $100 bills weighs only 10 kg (22 lb).

• One million dollars’ worth of once-cent coins (100 million coins) weigh 246 tons.

• TIP is the acronym for “To Insure Promptness.”

• The term “Blue Chip” comes from the colour of the poker chip with the highest value, blue.

• Nessie, the Loch Ness monster is protected by the 1912 Protection of Animals Acts of Scotland. With good reason - Nessie is worth $40 million annually to Scottish tourism.

• Of the more than $50 billion worth of diet products sold every year, almost $20 billion are spent on imitation fats and sugar substitutes.

• Annual global spending on education is $80 billion.

• US and European expenditure on pet food is $17 billion per year.

• The global expenditure on healthcare and nutrition is $13 billion.

• Money notes are not made from paper, it is made mostly from a special blend of cotton and linen.

• In 1932, when a shortage of cash occurred in Tenino, Washington, USA, notes were made out of wood for a brief period. The wood notes came in $1, $5 and $10 values.

• The world’s largest coins, in size and standard value, were copper plates used in Alaska around 1850. They were about a metre (3 ft) long, half-a-metre (about 2 ft) wide, weighed 40 kg (90 lb), and were worth $2,500.

• The first credit card was issued by American Express in 1951.

• About 30% of consumers use their credit card as their main means of buying Christmas goodies, 70% do not save to buy Christmas gifts and 86% of consumers do their Christmas shopping during December.

• Excessive use of credit is cited as a major cause of non-business b@nkruptcy, second only to unemployment.

• Statistics show that people with high, medium and low income groups spend about the same amount on Christmas gifts.

• In the 1400s, global income rose only 0,1% per year; today it often tops 5%.

• The average age of Forbes’s 400 wealthiest individuals is 63.

• In 1955 the richest woman in the world was Mrs Hetty Green Wilks, who left an estate of $95 million in a will that was found in a tin box with four pieces of soap.

• In 2001 the richest woman was Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of L’Oreal’s founder. She has a net worth of $14 billion (depending on how the stock market did today).

• In 2000, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands is the second wealthiest woman, with $5,2 billion.

• Queen Elizabeth II is one of the 10th wealthiest women in the world.

• The $ sign was designed in 1788 by Oliver Pollock.

• The term “smart money” refers to g@mblers who have inside information or have arranged a fix, the g@mbling term for insuring the outcome of an event by illegal methods.

• Small-time g@mblers who place small bet in order to prolong the excitement of a game are called “dead fish” by game operators because the longer the playing time, the greater the chances of losing.

• In g@mbling language, for a g@mbling house a “sure-thing” is a wager that a player has little chance of winning; “easy money” is their profit from an inexperienced bettor, an unlucky player is called a “stiff.”

• Australians are the heaviest g@mblers in the world; an estimated 82% of Australians bet. That is twice as much per capita as Europeans or Americans. Yet, Australia, with less than 1% of the world population, has 20% of the world’s poker machines.

• There are more than 7 million millionaires in the world.

• 80% of millionaires drive second-hand cars.

• In 1900, the price of gold was less than $40 per ounce. It reached $600 in 1930, now struggling to reach $400 per ounce.

• If Los Angeles County was a country, it would be the 19th largest economy in the world.

• If California was a country, it would be the 5th largest economy in the world.

• Tobacc0 is a $200 billion industry, producing six trillion cig@rettes a year - about 1,000 cig@rettes for each person on earth.

• In 1965, CEOs earned on average 44 times more than factory workers. In 1998, CEOs earned on average 326 times more than factory workers and in 1999, they earned 419 times more than factory workers.

• The income gap between the richest fifth of the world’s people and the poorest measured by average national income per head increased from 30 to one in 1960, to 74 to one in 1998.

• A third of the world’s people live on less than $2 a day, with 1,2 billion people living on less than $1 a day.

• In the 17th century, wool fabrics accounted for about two-thirds of England’s foreign trade. Today, the leading wool producers are Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and China.

• The NASDAQ stock exchange was totally disabled in on day in December 1987 when a squirrel burrowed through a telephone line.

• In 1990, the word “recession” appeared in 1,583 articles in The Wall Street Journal.

• Global sales of pre-recorded music total more than $40 billion.

• Tourism is the world’s biggest industry, affecting 240 million jobs.

• In 1865, Frederik Idestam founded a wood-pulp mill in southern Finland, naming it Nokia. It rapidly gained worldwide recognition, attracting a large number of workforce and the town Nokia was born. In 1898, the Finnish Rubber Works company opened in Nokia, taking on the town name in the 1920s. After WWII, the rubber company took a majority shareholding in the Finnish Cable Work. In 1967, the companies consolidated to become the Nokia Group. The recession of the 1990s led the group to focus on the mobile phone market.

CAT ‘07 paper leaks!!!

    Think how it would be if the question paper of CAT ‘07 leaks and you are one among those lucky few recipients of the  paper. Perhaps there would be many like me who are hoping against hope, that they would get hold of it!! This could possibly be the outcome of sheer pressure and a very strong indication of  the degree of
“under preparation”. A desperation of sorts has creeped into me these days, the desperation to ”bell  the cat”!! . My preperation as such is dwindling, and far too ow by the standards that cat demands and these desperation and perverted thoughts do not help my cause any further.

……….. But a word of caution to all those day dreamers and who fancy the thought of getting thier hands to the CAT question paper; there two serious repercurssions, one that for most of us it’s beyond our reach to shangai the question paper out of its safe abode and it’s high time you bow down to the fact that there is no short cut to success and go ahead and start your preperation (quite seriously,atleast now that hardly 90 days are left!!) the second thing if at all you get hold of it, you are going to land yourself into lot of trouble,the police and the CBI are gonna be right behind your ass and you would be landing others in a a lot of predicament too, for the revised new question paper after the leak could possibliy  be tougher!!

So folks happy preperation!!

A date with destiny!!!

It was not the usual kind of mornings, for quite a few reasons. It was just half past five and I was returning after a quick shower; the corridors filled with a frenzy of chaotic souls, some in bathing towels and the rest fully dressed; my roomie looked rather crossed, looking at his frazzled shoes, apparently after failed attempts to bring some shine back on it. The was breeze cool and  salubrious to good sleep, and trust me on any other day i would have been snorting away to glory. For any outsider it would have seemed phantasmogoric, with so much activity so early in the morning!! but for us, no, not at all. Oh!!! i haven’t told you guys yet,right? this was our first ever off-campus selection;and for those who still can’t comprehend why all this snafu was, for the recruiter was “INFOSYS”. No wonder the mood in the hostel was so upbeat,with unusually high energy levels.

Eventually everyone of us got ready and boarded the bus. There was an aoura of queasiness, tension seemed to be ubiquitious and the immense pressure was apparent on the faces of the students, most of them persumablly preoccupied with their silent prayers.  This was the “D-Day” and for most of us a chance to prove that we were capable of doing something worthwhile. It was rather more important to prove this point, than the intention of getting a job (there was no such compulsion!!). Most of us were either products of failed missions, to make it big at studies or guys who had taken life for granted and who had been ignorant about the importance of board examinations!!, guys who never gave a “damn” to thier parent’s repeated requests to take up studies seriously. Call us , obstinate, audacious, lethargic, it would fit us,perfectly!! But a thing notoriously common to us , most of my friends would agree on that, was, most of us had been reciepients of some bad shares of luck and God had not been all that magnanimous when it came to bestowing the element called hardwork within us! (yes,yes am trying to be euphemistic, trying to cover up my ass!!)

Anyways, with all that ephiphany and recent cogniscense, we were gearing up to face a challenge, that would change our lives, our priorities and outlook in our lives. We were now marching the corridors of  Tagore Engg. College, where our selection was to be held; like the warriors of  “300″, ‘for glory sake, for victory sake, we marched’.

After the ritualistic pre-placement talk, we entered the exam hall, for our first round, the “apttitude test”. We got ourselves ’strategic’ seats, hopefull that it would enable us to be as symbiotic as possible, to each other! (euphemistic,again!). Now that the test is over, I can assert with all the nonchalance, that it was easy. After an agonaising wait for over four hours, the result was declared amidst rapt audience and untill the anti-penultimate name was called out, my heart was in my mouth, skipping a beat or two!! After confirming several times that my name had featured in the list of selected candidates for the second round; my roomie(who was also selected) and me took some time off to celebrate, for we knew we had crossed the toughest of the hurdles and the next round i.e the H R interview was not going to be a daunting task. All we had to do was, to do the thing which we were good at, talk and talk fluently witout any inhibition or fear, atlast some amont of our audacity is gonna help us.

That night was as bad as it could have been, trying to rehearse the interview, we made a mockery out of it and finally telling ourselves that the word “practice” had never featured in our dictionary, we decided we would be better off taking the interview, extempore. The night was sleepless, with patches of nap (intermitted by drems!!), we were craving for the dawn.

The next day,we the selected candidates prepared ourselves for the final hurdle, oblivious to the fact that one of the most defining momoents in our lives was not far from ‘now’. I was the penultimate guy to have been called for the interview. Sitting all alone in the chilly corridor (though it was mid-summer then!!), I was flooded with whimiscal emotions, i had a strange feeling wheter i had heard my name being called out! Finally i was called and the conversation between my interviewer and me was the best of it’s kind i ever had and the own i would remember for ever. The  interview went on, as smoothly as it could and on this day (destined to be mine!!) i seemed to have anwers for all his puzzles and i felt at home conversing with him.

We were made to wait for the result and to the honour of the fact this was the most agonising waits ever in my life, I seemed to have lacked track of time, every second seemed to be like a century and for all eternity it appeared as though the seconds hand in my clock moved slower than ever. Hmmmmm…HUH!! at last the results came, i think it was only 45 minutes since my interviw was over but still it looked quite too long. Nevermind, now that the result was out and the names of the selected candidates were being called out one after the other. The sixth name out of the 14 selected, was the one which i would have died to hear. “charan Raj”, called out the H R personnel and it took quite a while for the words to sink in. Hail the gods!! i was through, i became an “infocian”, the name that you would love to associate yourself. Believe me, practically i did not hear the rest of the names that were being called out.

I just wanted to run amok, get home, hug my parents and see them  overwhelm with happiness and to tell them that at last their son had done something to make them happy. The happiest part was even my roomie had got through. We looked at each other, clealy short of words, a tight hug said it all (actions speak louder than words,aint it?).    I telephoned my dad, thanks to the advent of mobile phones! not knowing how to phrase to make the effect more pronounced on him, my initial words were gibberish, only grunts and pants!, finally i conjured up a sentence and conveyed the needfull. There was a momentary silence, probably  it took him some time for my words to sink and make some sense to him.  I had a feeling that a tear or two trickled down his cheecks, though not revealing much of it and struggling to live up to his ‘hermetic’ image. After all his son has something to hold on to in life.! my mobile kept buzzing with all well wishers calling and i had to empty my inbox twice which was full of messages from friends congratulating me.

Ah!! alas i had proved that i am not the dumbest of God’s creation. For once i had broken the ‘jinx’, for once i had denied the ‘lucifer’ his sardonic, cynical laughter. For once i had given my parents what they deserved, it had taken me all these ninenteen years to appease them, to reciprocate what they had done for me. In the book life this page will go down as the one written in golden words, as the day when i re-discovered myself. Incidently, sheer coincidence though, the caller tune which i had subscribed a month ago got activated,(the usual BSNL problem!!!) it sung “MAIN HOON DON!!!”…. and quite rightly so!!

….for the independence day!!!

……For long (like many other APJ “fans”) I’ve dreamt of a developed INDIA. The dream of a billion people,which would one day materialise into reality!!( am a believer!!)

One Saturday evening, consumed by my own thoughts, on the way back home from college, I stumbled on a thought that could quite possibly contribute in its own little way towards the emancipation of our great nation.

…For many of us Independence day is all about savouring a holiday in front of our televisions. Where, these days the TV channels come up with an array of flamboyant programmes that keep us engrossed right through the day. But is Independence day all about such frivolousness?
Yes! i call it frivolousness,’cos we have long forgotten that beneath the veneer of “India SHINING” lies a seething cauldron of jeopardised human emotions fuelled by uneven wealth distribution,the incurable malady of corruption,rampant despotism. The independence that we have earned at the expense of the lives of our forefathers and those great men who had envisioned an independent India for their future generations, have been confined only to those paeans and eulogies of text books!!! In a nation that is still bearing the tag of a “Developing nation”,is int it blasphemous to be holidaying on a day, when you need to be busy remembering what are the tasks yet to be accomplished, the impediments that need to be flushed out, to realize the dream of a “great nation”?

“Huh!! what can i do??” that is more of a taciturn way of washing yourself off the onus that lies on our shoulders. Just give it a thought!! India would SHINE only when we make it shine!
Instead of declaring Independence day as a holiday why cant the government employees work without a wage on that day. Millions of government employees’ one day salary would account to millions of rupees. The private sector employees should voluntarily contribute their one day salary to the “national development fund”. Now imagine the amount of money that would pool in!!! Is int the smallest of the gestures towards our nation, towards accomplishing the real developed nation?
But, you would ask me; in a nation where you have perpetrators who evade taxes, is this tangible? Yes of course,yes!! ‘cos this piece of musing is targeted towards the youth of India, that section of the population that is immune to corruption, to those who really crave for a better place to live, to the torchbearers of tomorrow, to those who believe that the dawn is going to be their own, who still believe that there is still a bit of humanity clinging to their soul’s,to all those who mean what they say as “FANS” of our visionary People’s PRESIDENT APJ KALAM!! ( am reluctant to use the word “ex-president”, ‘cos for many like me ,who still believe KALAM is their president!!!)

The world we have created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.