TERROR STRIKES

Its one of the coldest mornings most of us have woken up to. It is the coldness due by the numbness caused to the senses on what is seen and heard on the news channels. This is what Terror really causes. shock and awe. Why is this not run of the mill is to be noted.

It is not new to strike Mumbai but this is a brave attack on the people of the country by probably people from within. This is not a cowardly act of timing off loaded cycles or tiffen carriers, This is real war. Ak-47 wielding gross shooting at people all round. This is more like the parliament attack though one which is much more than symbolic. Target is not only general people but people who would impact the country. The posh hotels where the foriegn tourists , government officials and dignitaries of the state stay, aiming to spread not terror among indians watching and being affected but sending a message to the world.

How do we respond? This is most definitely Indias version of 9/11 if not more daring and tactfully because there are 25-26 people armed with mere guns waging a war but not prepared to commit suicide in doing so. They want to escape and strike again at a later time. How will an average mumbaikar roam the roads from today if many of these men escape. When will they replenish their ammunation and strike again? and where?

The problem with a response to the crisis is this. We are mostly under attack not from a different country , not from a community that is alien to the make up of the country, this time we are facing misguided individuals without a face from our own land and who make up the very fabric of the country. Its easy to remain a stain from the fabric but not a wrong thread thats woven into it.

What is the intelligence doing? Surely these people didnt get AK-47s made from the bylanes of bhendi bazaar. This is funded by the most corrupt of minds within and outside and a lot of material is provided from somewhere which is definitely trackable. I hope that there isnt the usual blame on Pak intelligence, then develop , release a few sketches. capture a few whoevers and blame them for not this but also a hundred previous blasts across the country and forget all about it. TV channels will hold discussions for ten more days about it all and later move on to more important issues like rakhi sawants kiss and big boss winner ashutoshs dog's fever.

It is easy to blame a community but the long term solution to this maynot be to shift blame but to clear the alienation, definitely not in the way "secular parties" are doing it, but by providing oppurtunities in education and making them a general part of the mainstream. But first weed out the fundamentalists and find out how they got armed and developed the hide to kill civilians. These people dont deserve to live.

Part 2

Kirtan stepped into Mysore with the same golden dreams in his mind as did every one of us. He though had unfulfilled potential that he had to live up to as well. Though from the same college as us, Kirtan prefers to stay aloof and never was one of us. Actually a good dancer and a below average singer, Kirtan considers himself a rocking dancer and a splendid singer, No wonder he idolizes Himesh and Govinda.

There is some charm about Kirtan and he knows bloody well how to use it. The secret of Kirtan’s life is this- He has proposed to every girl that he has befriended, but none of them has responded in the affirmative. That is one truth he intends to change. He is the wannabe. Even fails tests to take time out to supposedly learn salsa in his attempt to befriend as many of the female population as he possibly can. The Salsa lessons are so exciting that it has the concept of revolving partners. The girls move in a clockwise direction moving in a circle. Its a bloody exciting concept and trust Kirtan to make maximum mistakes and learn about it from the girls. Kirtan manages to start flirting with at least 4-5 girls and lavishly takes them out for treats. It is doubly exciting for us to have Kirtan and Vikram in our group.

Well yes Vikram is the happiest person around. He has even managed to get a smile out of the "dream". But he realises he is running out of time. There have been enough near misses, enough times spent finding out about her, even gymming hasn’t helped too much, now all he needs now is to befriend her, know her and tell her how he feels. All he needs is an opportunity. While this is going on, we witness the madness in Vikram.

He lives on milkshakes that too after waiting all the time for Richa to leave her class, following her all the way. But it so happens that Richa is in her group all the time and Vikram just follows and admires from a distance. And gets to caught up in the mind and timeclocks don’t allow for more time than for a quick juice center dash.

His grades also drop alarmingly. He manages only a B+ in his final two exams including the Main Compre Exam; the entire batch manages A. Squash isn’t too much of a spectator friendly sport. But trust Vikram to make it entertaining. He plays Sid, loses 10-0. Nothing about the result, that was expected, But the value came when he managed to trip all over himself thrice and still emerged out entertaining us. The high point of it all was in the ILI sessions (Personality Development Skills) where we all sing "Mere Saamne wale kidki mein, ek chaand ka tukda rehta hai" for Vikram. He was blushing all over.

Finally realising enough water has flown under the bridge, Vikram decides its time. He hasn’t managed to even speak to Richa after that ravishing smile. Its early in the morning and Vikram is ready and has decided to try to walk to the class today with Richa and is waiting for her. He eggs all of us to leave early so that he can have his time alone under the sun. Here it goes, The Gods are smiling, Richa is down from her room and she starts walking towards the GEC. He quickly sorts himself up and walks up beside her. He says ‘Hi’, Richa replies back with a smile and a ‘Good Morning’. Wow. That’s the start.

But hey who is that behind? Someone prods and hangs on to Vikram from behind, Says ‘Hello’ to Richa. Richa smiles back and says hello. Vikram is stunned. He doesn’t know how to react. Thats Kirtan and Minish in tow. Vikram just stops and Richa continues walking. It is heartbreaking. Vikram slowly picks himself up and starts walking. Kirtan and Minish start walking with him, just two steps behind Richa. Kirtan starts giving catcalls and teasing Vikram all the way to the GEC. Vikram lands up to our class almost in tears. This is not what he had hoped for. He doesn’t know how Richa would have felt walking just two steps ahead of all banter going on, seemingly about her. He is crestfallen.

The first session goes off very slowly for Vikram. Finally the break arrives. He needs to see how Richa has taken it. Richa emerges out of her class with her group. She sees Vikram over the corner and says something to her friends, everyone in her group glare at Vikram. The look says it all, Vikram knows , Its OVER. From now on, she is now always surrounded by people of her group, wherever she goes. Its not the same anymore. Vikram has lost it. He knew that this was his biggest challenge in life, But it was over before it started looking achievable. Vikram then somehow manages to explain it all to me and Vaibhav.

Its time for revenge, We were planning it, But didn’t know destiny had an opportunity just to do that.

A Short Story- Mickey Out of the Bag

Life is full of Happiness. It just takes a person to look around and find smiles all around him. A hectic year allows me to turn back and recollect a wonderful time filled with a million smiles and a thousand tears. The tears too; most of them borne due to happiness.

The man who has given a whole movie of experiences is Vikram. His story has drama, comedy, emotion, action, suspense and romance. Well how do I begin, Vikram comes to Mysore with a clear mind. He has to find a girl for himself or else he would be packed off with a girl chosen by his village elders.  So mission- FIND a girl. And there is divine intervention. Lighting strikes, The skies open, Vikram spots the one. She is dressed in a fairy white salwar and talks like she chirps. Its love before first sight. He claims to have seen her before, in his dreams, But we guys lay claim to have seen her before too, we nickname her Yana because of the striking resemblance she bears to Yana Gupta, the bolly siren.

Vikram is a man possessed. He knows this is it. He has to pull it off here and how? Vaibhav lands up a plan-“ Body bana aur impress kar daal” in true bollywood style.  Here we go. The entire team that includes me, Narendra, Divgikar, Siddharth , Tushar are all now bent on helping Vikram on whatever it takes. The feeling is two prone. A romance always lights up the hectic schedule and it adds a lot of excitement to the goings around. Meanwhile Vikram hits the gym in return for the perfect body. For all you know, Vikram is a lukha, and guess what Vikrams favourite hero Shahrukh had hit the gym in good earnest and had come up with what Vikram wanted - a six pack. But we guys sadly miss a ball boy for our cricket as training sets in and classes begin in earnest.

While Yana becomes a sideshow compared to the real agony of tests of modules. Vikram breezes through tests with great grades because as he says, mind happy, toh results happy. Vikram over time becomes great buddies with all in the group. He also gets a nickname- Mand, because quite evidently he is the tubelight of the group that too, a very low light one at that.

Cut to the emotion and part. I never knew that Vikram had it in him to be a roaring tiger.  But he so showed to one and all, when he took the phone in a fit of bravado and mouthed expletives at our project manager. Well we have a model project to do during training when all of us are expected to perform various roles. What do you do when the supposedly most important person in a project acts irresponsible? Like a true Hero, Vikram sways the swagger, He Gives it back in words to Samidha who doesn’t know how to react. Well thats for the time being, When Samidha returns to class, she is a mess. She walks slowly, puts her arm on her head, lies down in the table and and starts weeping, if crying buckets of tears/water had a better term, I would like to know, but Sammy is now cured, miraculously, She takes over the reins over the project, slogs the hours and as a team we finish the project very ahead of time. Hail the hero, bravo- Vikram.

Time for the love story to move forward, Vikram is now well connected among Yana’s friends. He knows most of her friends. Knows that her favourite hero is Ajay Devgan and she loves the song ‘Arre re arre yeh kya hua’. Vikram spends hours and hours at the park bench outside her building trying to find out more. Thats where the drama starts. Havent I told you yet? Vikram hasn’t spoken yet to Yana. Ably supported by Vaibhav, He decides to finally take the plunge now that all the body that can be made is done. He stutters, he stammers, finally breaks the silence, and introduces himself as Vikram. You are Richa right? I am in FT batch. You are in TL2 right, blah blah all upto Your mobile number is this, all in one bated breath. And finally, Can we be friends with an extended arm for a hand shake. What follows is a million dollar smile and a question mark thats longer than a face can take.

(More in next- to be continued)

How are We

I write this blog just after witnessing the proud occassion of India launching Chandrayaan to the moon. It feels great to see that India is among the top scientific powers of the world. ISRO is one organisation that has given us such proud moments year in and year out. It just shows that Once we resolve to do something, if we have the will to achieve it,  and if we do it to the best of our abilities, We are the best in the world. I have been part of conversations questioning the need for a moon mission which the US and Soviet Union competed for long back in the 1970s and have long withdrawn and moved now to Mars and other echelons. The fact still remains, India is doing what it is just very GOOD at, India has a proven track record in Remote sensing sattelites and the chandrayaan is just that. It would do a complete remote sensing analysis of the moon, its characterisitics and only at a later stage would attempt a landing and search for water in the polar caps etc. Proud of ISRO again.

The same newspaper that would carry this news would also carry the Rotten saga of a man who holds Indias financial capital to his mercy. Raj Thackarey and his team of rabid men do whatever it takes to be in the public eye. I havent seen a more brash and more nuisence filled politician than him.  I also have a lot of respect for his uncle who actually i thought actually fought for the rights of the Marathis while his nephew is just faking it for reasons known to every person in the world apart from the brainless crowd who listen to him. I have a curiosity to know how these politicians think. Do they think that the people at large are big fools who simply get swayed by emotions of hatred against fellow indians let alone fellow humanity. I think they do and they are partially right that there are a few of his followers. But what they do is beyond doubt unjust in the minds of the 98 percent of the remaining population.

Now that starts a debate in my mind. Is it that only people like Raj Thackarey alone to blame for the ruckus that is happening? The answer is not a debate its a resounding NO, only the factors are debatable.  I am putting forward a few conclusions of the same here. India is divided into two blocks of politicians- THE EXTREME POWER HUNGRY and THE EXTREMELY CORRUPT. Though there is a interlinking of the two, i am yet to find a third category of politician in the country though there maybe exceptions. Tamil Nadu for example is a prime example of the above two categories, one contender is probably the most corrupt family(Karunanidhis) with some power hungry thespians in the midst while the second contender is the most headstrong power hungry type(Jayalalitha) with a proven corrpution record. So as Voters what choice do we have? Whenever a third alternative tries to emerge, he immediately jumps into the bandwagon of one of the two kinds and the option itself becomes impotent. The problem is TINA ( There is No Alternative).

Why is this such a huge problem for the county of the Mahatma, the problem is two fold. The GREAT INDIAN MINDSET. We as a society are scared of change. Scared of the unknown and  always scared of the future. I dont know of a country where everything is talked about has a religion undertone attached to it,  yet we call ourselves a secular country. Show me an Indian ( that includes me) who would like to stand in the line for a passport form for an entire day when a passport form is available for 50 bucks for a 10 minute wait. (As u see, the two options are so badly matched that the choice is obvious). I can narrate this recent experience of mine, A pair of shoes was stolen off one of my neighbour's house,they didnt inform my parents(building secretary), in turn parents didnt care about enquiring , even the people whose shoe was stolen didnt care about it, the only person concerned was the watchman whose job was under the gun. The saddest part is we all know who might have carried it away as hardly anyone new comes to the building. Just a bit of investigation and we could have nabbed the culprit.  I have heard that we have a resilient mindset, who are used to deep sorrow and deep sadness that we TOLERATE everything. I beg to differ, WE have an INDIFFERENT mindset and a careless attitude which we by all chance have to change. 

The second gaping hole is lack of MONITORING by the two watchdogs of the democracy- the Police and the Media. The police is known in India to be a arm of the politico rather than the watchdog- an extremely inept, spoilt(by corruption ofcourse) and sloppy force. But what about the Media. It is the media of the day that has cropped up the Raj Thackareys. Trust me if the media avoids the Raj Thackarey story for one of his episodes and just blacks it out, the next time at his command there would be exactly 20 people ready to carry out his orders for the next episode. Media coverage today symbolises power, one in which the Amar Singhs and the Rajs revel at. But Media is more swayed by sensationalism rather than a social responsibility that it never knew in the first place. 

As an individual with a responsibility, it writhes me on my part. Does one vote every five years suffice any complete cause? No absolutely not. It is essential to be part of the local society, be part of NGOs that aid social welfare. It is easy to say that Politics is passe and social activism is different from politics, but thats the only thing thats believable in the present times. We ( that certainly includes me) need to look at what we can do to take more part of this great indian System

Bollywood has evolved with Me

I am bought up in a generation that is changing. I had this perception during my school days that i would get out of india as soon as i do a Engineering, get my parents to stay with me and build my own cocoon somewhere in the US. Eveything about the US was fascinating. Clean roads, swanky cars, come once a while to india and spend big when here. In my mind, India just seemed to be this place which is destined to be the same, it cannot change, just get out of here.

But something has changed in me, in india, and in BOllywood. First of all the word Bollywood itself looks a mundane reflection of what India is... We aspire to be like the West. We have no identity of our own. Life in School in Chennai was all about having a good time, just getting ready to do Engineering and get out. Part executed, I am now in College in Mumbai though. That is a real change from being in suburban-Iyer-Chennai.

Life here is totally different. People are different than they were in school. College Life is more dikhawa than anything i know. Hey i have changed. Dressing styles are different, I even talk differently in just 3 months of college. What is the net result. Mumbai has changed me in 3 months. I look at it how. Mumbai has taught me to be more independant. I am this person completely dependant on friends for fun and time. Its changed, Here i am with no friends as if a frog out of his well. I realise that this is preparation for the US. Life there is expected to be like this. Yes its going fine.

Then as time moves, i start making friends. Its now pyaara Mumbai. Life is totally different. Filled with movies every other day, bunking classes for them, booing teachers, and running for the trains. It is really the best. Then Bollywood turns it around for me..... a bang called Rang De Basanti is released. I wouldnt know if this movie impacted people any which way that it did to me, But it seriously changed the whole perception of me. I think more so that Rakesh OmPrakash Mehra intended to do this to us. Maybe i was impacted most. I identify with the movie so much. Bhagat singh and Azad made me respect myself, as an Indian. I really gave up this craze for even going to the US right in the few days after the movie (though i didnt plan to kill the defence minister for anything). The movie showed NDTV as a messenger for journalism, and i compeltely am of the belief that Media in India has to evolve as well to play the role of the watch dog. A R Rahman became an obsession. Though i was a fan even till before RDB, in the few days later, i have all his compositions( even he may not have it all). i always believe we need a jhatka to wake up. and RDP was just that.

In the next few months, another masterpiece made me fall for all that is India. Lage Raho Munnabhai. This made me fall for Bollywood, i really started seeing every thing out of bollywood after this masterpiece.. Gandhiji became fashionable. It had individual brilliance written all over it. How could a movie impact national conscience. It certainly tried to. Even Sanjay Dutt became akin to a gandhian and even his past misadventures were pardoned by the public at large.

Cut to the present, Bollywood still has its escapades from reality like a Bachna ae Haseeno, i drooled over the movie and even became a Ranbir Kapoor Fan. Movies like Aamir and A Wednesday have made me think about the terrorists and the problems plagued by it in india. Like in A Wednesday, i believe that as an individual, its our responsibility to be aware of our surroundings and react to it rather than not react at all and have a chalta hai attitude. I have pledged to do my bit as far as i can.

Watching Aamir, i had this strange feeling. I didnt quite completely agree to the movie. In the movie when Rajeev Khandelwal is sashaying through the muslim bylanes of Mumbai, all on lookers seemed to be staring at the protagonist. I was wondering if they all knew that he was beeing used to plant the bomb. If it was the case, was the director showing an entire community being party to the bomb plans. If it is true, then we need to seriously have a look at ourselves and they at themselves. I believe that the muslim community as a whole isnt party to this all and its just misguided individuals who press a button and decide the fate of millions as Nasseruddin Shah put it.

What has bollywood done? It has changed itself in the world opinion.. HOW? It relooked at itself, said I am proud of the song and dance routine. I am proud of its length of 3 hour movies. I am proud of cricket... I am proud of portraying us just as we are.. "happy".

Thats my learning out of it all, Its all about you , how you percieve yourself and your surroundings. Working with infosys has given me an environment around me which i am proud of. World class workplaces, Enough money to survive here well and shop within limits. Why go our of the country... India is such a glorious place to stay. And I am proud of having taken the decision not to move out of here for now. Now with going out of the country to persue an MBA, i have promised myslef that i l return here to my nest as soon as i am done with my education

Most Adventurous Day of my life

21st May 2008

Most adventurous day of my life so far-- Day dawned normally. Reached Bus Stop normally at 11 25. But first signs of a great day. I call up Transport desk to find out that shuttle is cancelled. So fend for myself and get to office in Chennai with public transport comparable with hell. 3 Rickshaws and 2 MTC buses later, I land up at work 2 hours after I left home. Sweating like a hog, decided to go to gym and have a shower as I felt totally uncomfortable. Work was pleasantly fine. With Onsite Server down, not much work to do, hammed through office.

Decided to leave office early at 6 20, but decided at 6 18, Dashed through campus to reach gate to find buses leaving…. Fortunately mine is among the last buses, Managed to get in , or so I thought. Managed to get a cozy cool(fan wala) seat and settled in to sleep with iPod plugged in. Great. Dream sets in. Best days of life I thought, humming nice romantic tune of the song I was listening to.

Woken up mid dream, mid sleep to find that the bus is empty, Driver shouts at me and another person to get off at the last stop.

But hey, its half way home. It was a wrong bus supposedly ( I still argue that I go by the same bus, but the driver had gone crazy), run off and get down……. Bus chugs away… Hey wheres my iPod. Almost down to tears, I call up infy help desk, complain abt bus stopping midway, lost iPod. Transport desk finally assures me that things lost in the bus would be safely kept with the Security and I could collect it tomorrow. Feeling reassured, look around, Its mid way and I don’t know way back home.

Fortunately I have company, Later know her as my HR and she stays close to my home and both of us in the same situation, Stranded. Manage to get into a rickshaw. Two near accidents, three big impact hits to fellow vehicles, and the most drunk person I have seen in my life behind the rickshaw wheel(what do you call that!?). Still on the phone and tense abt the iPod, see that we are going to further hell. Egged on, We get down in the middle of nowhere. The driver chases us with expletives !!! But manage to get into another rickshaw and finally get on a sane travel home. Thanks to her for the sanity in the middle of all the confusion, I get a lift home and some reassurance….

Any further twists? Ya in middle responding to messages from dear friend planning for the weekend!!!, A final call confirms that Security find my iPod in the bus and I can collect it next day from the desk… A day to remember, near misses, near losses but down memory lane an adventure worth remembering. (though Sachin lost, Rahul won and that’s a good deal as long as Sachin manages the Semis )

22nd May, Man U won, what a game on penalties!!!!!… Manage to sleep at 3 and get up kicked out of bed… Getting up I get a fright looking at the clock and to avoid the previous day adventure at all costs, do things at break neck pace.. In the bus stop 10 minutes ahead of time, Bus on time, now iPod in hand…. Same song running…. Life’s Great.

THE SP JAIN EXPERIENCE

the day starts with me going over early. i meet a few people. the first person i meet is a smart young guy ( i mistook him to be of my age..) he incidently is in the merchant navy for 8 years. is 29 years old and married since a year.... i was taken aback...... then met a few others. i realise that all people here are average aged 25 or more. and i am going to be the baby of the interview process.
I need to assert myself.They take us to a conference hall and provide us papers for the essays.First topic is " what is recession and what is the impact of recession on todays economy"... i dont know exactly what it means, but i just said when market slows down , and demand is much lesser than supply, the price of goods/stocks/commodities drops and as a result individual/entire economy suffer very grave losses. A recession in todays economy could greatly impact the developing countries including india... Lots of beating around the bush i did for the above two lines...

second topic is " list out three major accomplishments" i made up all three... ha ha. thats the best part and i made it look decent, i guess. then there is a case study, the topic being ' what would you do as head of ur organisation to curb financial irregularities"i am like, a company is composed of individuals and i l make sure each employee of the organisation has ethics and high moral values. i would also personally set an example of good conduct and ensure each transaction that my company goes through would be clean and would adhere to best norms. also citing social responsibility, paying proper taxes as an individual, as employees and as a company, i would ensure that my company is as respected as say an infosys is today... the GD ;topic is :is corruption the price for indian democracy :i take part in the conversation. add a few points. but i am in the average speak list of the GD.off the six , 2 spoke well and valid points. 2 were average and 2 were bad. so not too bad.

the interview starts. i am first asked introduce yourself.then asked why retail. i am like, when i started out in infy, i was completely new to retail, but i had a bench period of about 2 months, in which i developed a lot of interest for the domain, gave a couple of certification exams that the company proposes for employees. i was fascinated that how retailing, which i thought was just about storing and selling goods had sooo much to it, that all including layout of the store, placemtn of departments in the store, how the goods are placed and marketed, even the music that plays in the background all enthused me.the interviewer asks.. what kind of music should be played and why: the music actually soothes and relaxes the mind of the customer. afterall a cool customer would think more about what he needs and would shop more.then

what is ITs Role in Retailing., say specifically 3 areas where it operates: i am like, IT has its role in Retail just like in every spher of life, just making life simpler, tracking all the things. making accounting easier etc.what are challenges faced by IT today: attrition leads to lack of skills in the middle level organisation and lack of complete skill set as a result.tell me whats the turnover of Kraft (i said my project is in Retail in Kraft Foods). i am like, i am not sure, but i handle Kraft cheese and meat divisions, and i guess their turnover is around 10,11 billion dollars. So how big a company is Kraft: i am like it is the second biggest retailer after Nestle.]\but i thought Nestles turnover was about 70 billion dollars: yes it might be, as i said, Kraft is just behind Nestle and Kraft is worth about 10 billion dollars in cheese and meat alone, it must be worth much more , other products like chocolates, biscuits etc.but u said krafts entire turnover is 10 billion dollars: i as like. no i said only kraft cheese and meat is 10 billion, so he was like, you shoudl be clear on what you tell.i dont argue, but say, i tried to be clear, maybe i wasnt clear enough(phew, dont know how i managed this one, but probably that was the crucial thing. i got all figures wrong, all points wrong, but, to my mind i managed it alright)So what kind of a retailer is Kraft. i stutter badly at this one,, its a manufactorer as well as seller, but doesnt have its own outlets, has shops within a shop etc.

ok whats the turnover of infosys : 4.5 billion dollars.how much is it in indian rupee : i think for a while and say 1600 crores., interviewer smiling,, are u sure, i think again and say, yes sir 1600 croresthen which is the biggest IT company of india : its TCS, its worth about 5.5 billion dollars. But infy would beat TCS at it by 2010 or so...oh really.. what do u think the dollar rising and falling impacts the indian industry so much : yes sir, to counterbalance infy is looking to make deals in INR in which most employees are paid rather than in dollars so that, infy doesnt get impacted that much ( This is my worst answer, may be my killer)...ok Varun, had a good time talking to you, please wait outside and send th enext person.

i came out, was happy, though apprehensive. i know that a measure of success is how the assistant with my file returns and what she asks me to do next. she says, fill up the feedback form, i thought it was all over, i did that and then she says, u now have another interview with the director.i am tooooo happy, i know that the interivew i just faced was a elimination interview, i might have been eliminated if i stand no chance. but since i am called for the next round, i do have a chance. meet the entire batch up again. we do another round of intros. where are u from etc. exchanged cards etc. then we asked each other our marks.. that was my thriller. everyone was like, SPJAT-79, SPJ-81, CAT-92, SPJ-74 and when it comes to me, i am like SPJ-99, and all people are like,, arrey tu toh star hai...uske baad, everyone every sentence had a bash line. tu toh 99 hai, tereko kya interview lenge, tu jaaek bol, lena hai to loh nahi toh chod do and all that. the talk was centered around 99 for some time when one said, that he passed out school in 99, he has never got a 99 in any subject in life. it was fun. great interacting with people from different professions.

then the director intreview. Director was like, how was your experience since morning, how do you find the process, any change u suggest.then goes through my file, oh, so u have moved around india quite a bit, tell me how has been work with infy: i am like its been such a good learning experience. just a short while, but i know i have come a long way since been a college studentyou have been given a good appraisal in infy why do u think you have gotten it: i was like, since i was new to the team, i worked extra harder to blend in to the team, the project required working long hours, and i have worked 14-15 hours for weeks at a stretch without complaint. maybe that impresesd the managers.thats it.. ok, you have any questions? i am like. nope. nothing.ok, thanks for being part of the SPJain Evaluation process, the results you would know soon enough. thats all .

Quite an experience. Even if i dont get in, i would have learnt a lot from the entire experience in the least. i know i have a 50-50 chance but think that the one year expereince thing might weigh heavily against me. the interview and GD went quite decently