Last quiz at IIM Cal

Had the last quiz and class at IIM cal yesterday. These are some snaps of that. See if you can spot me

There’s one end term on 2nd and then just the rat race is left, before I can leave for home, and greener pastures than these. Wish me luck, for I am gonna need every ounce of it!
~Somanxo

Notes

This is for someone who gave me something to do with privacy. See this used to be your private blog. I knew that, and did not tell any of the junta who would be interested. The reasons are obvious.

Life sucks. The  ♦ in my ♥ has flown into the night sky.
Today’s the second last academic day of my life.
2 quizzes and an essay.

So many parts of me have died over here, that one more doesn’t even seem to matter.

~Somanxo

edit: that is now some other guys blog. Not that it matters.

Statement Of Purpose

For all you dudes and dudettes aspiring to get into universities or companies, there is something known as a SOP – statement of purpose.
There was a particularly painful form, which I did not fill, which has this question. The answer follows.

Successful leaders have a clear sense of purpose. What is your statement of purpose?

In order to supply any reasonable answer to this, let me also make my views on who successful leaders in my eyes are. I would say the Osama bin laden, Dawood ibrahim, George Bush Sr. ( junior just had another idiot to contend with, I mean the voters had no choice, if the other guy had won, we would have the same things happening anyway) , Indira Gandhi ( she actually won on a slogan “Garibi hatao” ( eradicate poverty, covertly suggesting that the poor be gotten rid of, something her son tried, and she accomplished in no small measure by dying). Among corporate persona – Jack Welch, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Vijay Mallya, Dhirubhai Ambani, Karsanbhai ( of nirma fame). You get the idea.
Of these, I like only Vijay ( owner of UB – the worlds second largest brewery) and Larry ( owner of Oracle), as in I aspire to follow in the footsteps of these two. There is of course the Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packers ( sigh!, may god have mercy on his soul).
Henceforth, everything I write should be seen in light of this.

One talks about long term goals. Let me give you a flavour of what mine are. Here! I closed my eyes for a minute and tried to imagine what I would want to be at 55. I came across myself in colourful Hawaiian shorts and a beach shirt having a meeting on sponsoring the next playmate of the year shoot at Bermuda. Err. The rest is confidential.

Lets come to short term goals. You see, I have been duped so far in my life into believing that one should be educated. So like most of the people in India I appeared for 2 such public exams, and unlike most, cleared them. Now what people fail to see is that it has its own costs. Mine is 6 years of my life. At the end of it all, I am in a position where 40 days and 40 nights is not happening. There are some things I want in life. I am not settling for anything less than that. Any job where I don’t get to eat quality food is out. ( sorry McDonalds and subway are at best stopgap arrangements.) Something like a good lasagna every 3 days ( sans the bird flu risk of course) is more like it. No mess or standardized arrangements which make you eat shit with a lot of other people. I understand fertilizer is needed in the country, but that’s for plants, not human beings.
Then we come to other essentials of life – namely alcohol. A weekend beer is a must. Anyone who asks me to give that up, I am not joining. An opportunity to use HLL ( Hindustan Latex Limited) products is also welcome. Apart from these, I really don’t have any other needs, apart from the occasional ( read pref daily, twice daily) shots of Jack Daniels, or Absolut.

Medium term goals – should I even talk about them. But wait, I already have. Refer to this for them.

And to any other evil HR who wants to know my purpose – up yours!
~hope you gets the ideaz
~Somanxo

Who says pictures cant tell a story

This happened while on the diamond harbour trip.
while the pics of sunrise etc have been lost, the most memorable one is still on, the only uncensorable one unfortunately. the guy in question apart from me is gola.

First, I got this idea, when he started snoring while we were having breakfast. ( nightout, after a party does that to some people )

Then, someone had a brilliant idea, since it was going photogenic, to capture a moment, a Canon moment definitely

Finally, the man himself joined the action.

so, aint it a nice story?
~Somanxo

Of Harbours and manchild

Few things have happened since my last post.
Yesterday we went to diamond harbour ( not pearl harbour) to watch the sunrise.
It so happened that I had come out after filling a form at about 3 AM. I went around, saw no one. Then I heard noises from the roof. It so transpired that most of my wingies were having a party on tank top. I joined in too. Then there was a plan to go to diamond harbour to see the sunrise and eat bread gugni there. So 8 of us went there, 2 on a bike and 6 in a Maruti 800, which is a slightly uncomfortable fit, possible only coz me and Krishna were normal human sized. There are some pics, which shall follow with a detailed post. Some of those moments I shall remember for quite some time.

Today I received one of the weirdest salutations of my life “lilttle manchild in iim:P “
Was what a suspected to be fake aiyar bangalorean said. Must say the variety of salutations I get gets eclectic day by day. This one is up there with what a couple of my wingies call me ( “The most electrifying man on campus”). Theirs is more explainable though. Will put up a pic with my fluorescent yellow kurta and  black cord ( it is not velvet, why can’t u understand??) pant.

Off to watch the final match of the Indo-Pak series I am.

~Somanxo

Sorry!

Sorry! That’s the most abused word in English I know of. At least fuck is supposed to be derogatory in its usage most of the time, so technically it is not abused. Will start with a few instances :

Scene 1 : Table tennis match. Hard fought point, your opponents return miraculously manages to strategically touch the net and yet land on your side of the table, giving him the point. He says “ Sorry!” ( at least wipe of the silly grin of your face, I know you aren’t sorry)

Scene 2 ( female perspective ) : Some guy bumps into you intentionally ( occasionally it happens unintentionally too ) , then the same sorry!

I could go on and on. But that is not the purpose. I believe that the reason it is abused is because of convention and values that people have. Somehow a lot of people believe that just saying sorry does it. Typical comments ( usually from females ) “ How hard is it to say sorry?” “ You are being childish, just apologise” etc . What I fail to understand is that how it serves any purpose. If one is really sorry, saying it out loud is the last thing needed, usually some other action signals the intent anyway.

As far as I am concerned, it is a word to be used sparingly, and with intent. It doesn’t solve anything. I feel sorry occasionally, but rarely express that. If I did start doing the expressing part, family would be much closer. Mom doesn’t need me to say sorry to still love me. Why should anyone else? What kind of relationship is forged on lies and make-believe? Why should one even care?

This is the last post in my series of cynical and bashing a category of people. With this I am officially burying some corpses. Some of those who could have been.

And no, I am not sorry for doing that. Sad, yes.

edit : a couple of edits to be made. first one is now, next will be when and if i ever feel like it.
Few things for which one does not say sorry to me, basically u don’t get forgiven. If you were at some level, you have gone from there to being Mr. or Miss or Mrs. Xyz as your name might be.
To list them all would probably mark me as an insensitive SOB by most females, so I will desist from that, the only common thread among all of them is leaving ( even once) without the decency to say good-bye ( when not hampered by anything). I consider it worse than an outright slap on my face? Would you continue to treat someone the same way if they slaped you in your face? I think not.

next edit will be specific. dont know if the intended readers will read it. I dont think they will anyway.
~Somanxo

Bas itna sa khwab hai

It’s a matter of time. After all, everyone dies right? So what if lifelines are long, etc etc.
So will I .Am I going to become a ghost or vampire? Am I gonna be reborn as a movie star, or as a cockroach? Or is it going to be hell ( somehow, the thought of living among saints doesn’t really feel right!).  I somehow don’t think so. So its going to be final. What option does that leave me – make the most of the life I have, so that when I die, I wont think that there’s something left unfinished. I hate “unfinished business”

So what do I want to do? If I die anytime in the next 7 years, I will be mad at myself for these 2 years. So I am hoping to live more than that, much more than that, old enough to sit on a rocking chair in the winter sun in a garden, something like vito corleone. I want to die basking in the sun, quite some time down the line, preferably in the next century

Anyways, the time is immaterial. As I stand at the threshold of stepping into a corporate
Life, I have some expectations. There are a few things I want in life. Some decent standard of living, some good position in the organization I work for, a good car ( one that does 160-170 kmph ( ) , a harley. These are the material ones.

Coming to other things, I wish to marry, have kids etc. that part is pretty much human nature. Would like it if I could marry someone who loves me for who I am rather than what I have. High hopes, but then at least hopes should be high.

Highs and lows, passion and more passion before I die, hopefully while at a job!

These are the dreams, bas itna sa khwaab hai!
~Somanxo

What could have been

Hate. The word synonymous with love in my book. Not same, but very similar, levels of intensity and direction. Today, or yesterday as it were was valentine’s day. Yet another stupid day. I am generally indifferent to these days. I mean, with each day of the year, I discover that today is kiss day, rose day, mothers day, fathers day, wear your underwear over your pants day.. I mean there is no end. Why should any particular day mean anything much. Birthdays and anniversaries need to be remembered to keep some people happy, but at least they happen just once an year.

Valentine’s day is something which usually leaves me more cynical than other days, having lived in usually sad surroundings, which have made the whole exercise useless, apart from wishing other people around – why in heaven’s name? no idea, just coz of some random reason. Prolly just coz it exists. Whatever.

I have decided to dedicate this particular post to those who are the could have been’s.
What could they have been? Good friends for life, friends, lovers, any number of things.
These are people who I started talking, and it went on and blossomed into something which was akin to friendship, only it proved to be not. Somewhere, somehow the track went somewhere and that vanished into thin air. I hate these kind of relationships, and as far as these people are concerned, their lifetime is limited to my whims and fancies. I periodically chop my messenger and orkut lists. Rough estimate : 3 times I did this. About a 100 people ceased to exist for me. Another round is in the offing, this time the casualties will be more of the could have been’s. does it matter? Who cares anyway.
I mean, if people wont return emails and messengers, in this particular world, they might be dead. Why not make it official? Makes life more easy, gets rid of lies, and the could have been’s – in my opinion the most useless and time consuming people of anyone’s life. Remember anyone?

Lesson learnt : learn to forget. Learn to chop memories out from your brain. Learn to not hate people, or specifics. Learn  to give up on people. Learn to celebrate independence day, rather than Valentine’s day
~Somanxo

happy valentines day

to all the readers of this blog, and to some others.
have been wished, so decided to wish everyone with the same intensity
~Somanxo

Memories down the road of life

When I was lying down after a few drinks yesterday ( courtesy lappy’s bday, may he live long!), I began having flashbacks of memories. Have had them a few times in this last month. Before I move on to more forms like these , I will try and put in the memories of my life which I have and are mentionable. ( sadly some of the better ones fall into the unmentionables category for various reasons)

The oldest thing I remember is playing on the chest of my maternal uncle … would be 2-3 years types.  Remember his taking me out on rides all over jamshedpur. Have slight memories of maami as well, of visiting her in the hospital.

Also comes to mind the first entrance test I gave, to st Xavier’s, which I flunked.
I remember thinking that the seats were way too small.

Memories of being made to stand on the bench for the first time coz I was talking to D ( it never stuck me before then that other people could also speak telugu, I used to think it was a family affair )

Of staying back in jamshedpur for some time when my folks left, coz I wanted to stay with granny, and mausi ( ( this would be when I was 4 years old)

Of staying in the crèche when I was about 3 years old. Remember the quarter, which was much bigger than the one we were staying in.

Of setting my neighbors fence on fire with diwali crackers.
Ditto for curtains, and a saree of mom’s ( got a huge lashing after that)

Of breaking my head on a gate ( literally ) on dussehra ( the first time I got stitches, after which in a series I have now been stitched from head to toe)

Picking up a fight for the first time ( something to do with tere baap ki.. kinda stuff, was fun )

Picking up a fight to prevent someone bullying my bro ( was fun the next day in school, the whole say sorry to each other rigmarole )

Strangling my neighbour ( the idiot wanted to pick a fight, he was slightly smaller, went for his neck. Poor chap fainted. Never really messed with me again.)

Smoking dad’s cigarettes with my bro ( the whole flat came to see where the smoke was coming from )

Having a bath at the hot water springs in rajgir ( bihar ) ( I thought what a place, hot water for free )

Shooting an airgun at the yearly fair nearby
Ferris wheels ( I love em even now)

Bending down to pick up my pencil which had fallen, and remarking that IS really had such nice legs  ( I would still put her in the top 10 of girls I’d seen)

Playing commandos in the neighbourhood ( they’d dug these ditches and trenches for setting up an electrical substation )

Climbing the top of the water tank(about 300 feet) ( dad was max angry when he had to come up and get me down, not that I’d wanted to get down )

Catching dragonflies on winter afternoons

The day so much hail fell, that the locality was transformed into Kashmir for a few hours.

The first time I slept under the stars ( used to love doing that in jamshedpur )

The first visit to British council library ( was about 6 then, was my most favourite place for quite some time)

The cholera shot we ( me,bro, and cuz) took when we went to an uncle’s wedding. Me and cuz took it in our arms. Bro in his ass. That shot pained real bad. Still remember his repenting his decision.

Being afraid of injections ( remember creating a lot of scenes, I got stitched a lot, so had to take  a lot of tetanus shots)

Being duped by a sexy nurse into getting a shot taken when I’d fractured my wrist ( man, she put in the injection while sweetly talking about some other shit, never felt more cheated in my life )

Going to essel world.

Will skip a lot of them now, this is getting too long.

The day I learnt how to ride a bicycle.

My first flight ( to Kuwait )

Living alone in cairo ( was an interesting experience, how to have fun by urself)

A few crushes, a train journey spent all night up , and some others.

Howzzat for a life?
~Somanxo