tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39014947333430701612024-03-13T22:25:48.918-07:00RecollectionsReminiscing old memoriesAbhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-49021547811121472332015-02-04T13:11:00.000-08:002015-02-04T13:11:30.852-08:00My first scooty slipping experience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Slipping is a surreal experience. One moment you're in a normal motion, fully aware and assured, and the next moment, something makes you lose balance and you're leaning to left or right or front or back, trying to regain the balance but many a times you can't, and you fall. And all this time you know what was going on, but it all happens in a few seconds and before you can think about it, you're on your ass on the floor or ground.<br />
I've always been watchful for banana peels on the road and water on the floor after I saw people slipping in movies, tv shows and heard of it in stories. Perhaps I'd slipped on the water on the floor in the bathroom or in the living room or in my bedroom or in someone else's bedroom, a few times in last 26 years. However, banana peels carelessly thrown on the road or floor hasn't got me yet, so that is my proud moment when it comes to slipping.<br />
Today morning while driving to office, only few hundred meters away from my office, I saw this long trail of something that darkened the road, from a distance. I suspected it was water and I thought like always I'd smoothly drive over the trail, no chances of any harm done. But I saw this bike at a short distance and the rider picking it up from the road. I thought it was a one time incidence, but then I realized I was wrong when I found myself lose control of my scooty.<br />
All of a sudden my scooty started shaking and going out of balance. I applied brakes hoping to stop it in time before it loses its center of gravity and make me fall. Next second, before I could put my left foot down and break my fall, I fell and broke my record of zero accidents on the road. And this time it was a very juvenile kind of accident. I'm glad I wasn't hurt, at all, but the losing control and going out of balance scared me for a while.<br />
This other guy came from behind and helped me lift my scooty. I thanked him and mounted my scooty while I glanced behind me and saw him mount his bike, ready to leave. While I drove away, at 20 kmph, I could feel myself still shaking with the experience. After riding few meters, I stopped carefully, looked back and saw another bike skid on that patch of water or oil or some liquid mixture. I wanted to ask what it was, but I was so late for office that I just drove away, again slowly and carefully.</div>
Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-35878332338466103042010-12-25T12:08:00.000-08:002012-03-23T15:23:57.079-07:00Just Breathe, My CC#3 at Madhapur Toastmasters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today I got the same feedback I've been getting all my life, i.e., improve eye-contact and avoid looking down. Its hard to sometimes recall the speech while looking at the audience in the eye but then its the audience a person speaks for, hence they deserve the attention.<br />
<br />
As usual, I was nervous, and more so because this speech was something I really wanted to convey to the audience and not just a formality to finish my CC#3. So here goes my speech, titled "Just Breathe".<br />
<br />
<i>I was gasping for breath while my friends and I walked up the stairs, some 6 kms towards Tirupati. I took short pauses once in a while but eventually my friends decided to halt when they saw my face red with exhaustion. It was not my muscles that were paining, but my lungs which longed for more air due to the physical activity of upstairs walking. So one of my friends asked me to just sit and relax, he said, "Take deep breaths okay, just breathe". I felt like the critically wounded patient shown in the movies or TV shows, to whom the paramedics say, "just breathe, sir, just keep on breathing." I did feel better after few minutes of breathing in enough air.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Breathing is something we all do, involuntarily, but we usually don't realize it until we're gasping for what's most important for our survival, the air. Most of the people like me who have sedentary lifestyle or don't engage in much physical activities may get exhausted easily while doing physically challenging activities. This is because the capacity of our lungs to contain and process the air reduces with age. To keep the lungs healthy, one could either engage in sports or cardiovascular exercises which give lungs enough exercise, or, and this one’s for lazy bones like me, one could do some breathing exercises. </i><i>Moreover, over the years, our manner of breathing gets worse as well and to reverse</i><i> this to some extent, one must practice breathing the right way.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>I’m sure we all have seen children playing around all day that sometimes their parents and other adults may wonder, where do these kids get this much energy from. That’s because kids breathe naturally, they breathe the right way, they do ‘deep breathing’ whereas adults like us do shallow breathing. The difference is simple. Kids use their whole upper body till the diaphragm to breathe in air while an average adult generally uses till the chest area to fill in air while breathing which restricts the amount of air the body can contain in one breath, which affects performance of the rest of the body. Lesser air, which means lesser oxygen with each breath, tires a person easily as compared to other people who do deep breathing.</i><br />
<br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>Breathing exercises are like workout for
lungs, without any sweat! The main focus of breathing exercises is to
make a person utilize the whole upper body, especially the abdomen
region while breathing, not just the chest area. Also, various exercises
explore different kind of breathing techniques. Personally I practice
Kapaal Bharati. The purpose of Kapaal Bharati is to empty the lungs and
abdomen area by pushing out all the waste air so that more fresh air
could be taken in. Breathing exercises are best practised during early
morning hours so that fresh air is consumed in the process.</i><br />
<br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>If you might have observed, </i><i>when we are angry, fearful, or anxious, we over-breathe or frequency of breathing increases. In case of sadness, conflict or depression, we under-breathe or breathe less frequently. Some "hold their breath" in anticipation before a mystery is unraveled.</i><i> Breathing rate changes automatically depending on one’s emotional state or mood. But breathing is a unique bodily function that can be both automatic without any deliberate effort and a self-directed and conscious activity. So, when we bring breathing under our direct and voluntary control, we can use it as a tool to control emotions. We can easily observe the changes in our breathing when we consciously attempt to do so.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>Similarly, it is extremely difficult to directly influence the activity of heart, kidney, stomach, intestines, and other organs which are involved in the experiencing of emotions. Through breathing, we can influence the activity of these internal organs.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>While the negative emotions cause over-breathing, under-breathing, and other irregular breathing activity, the positive emotions cause breathing to be deeper, easier, and effortless. By the same functional relationship, when we restore our breathing to a deep, smooth, and rhythmical pattern, we can reduce the strength of negative emotions and acquire a peaceful and relaxing mental state.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Nature has equipped us with a "fight of flight" emergency response for surviving against the enemy or danger. It has also provided us with a "calming" response, to restore peace and serenity, equally important for our survival. You can trigger a calming response whenever you like by pressing the 'button," i.e. your breathing. Take five or ten deep, smooth, rhythmical breathes. With each out breath, say the word "calm" or "relax," silently in your head and there you are! You have triggered a calming response. It is simple and effective, most of the times.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Whenever you breathe directly through your nasal passages, the air that you breath in is made pure and once it gets through to your lungs and goes out your lips, it can then be optimized and leveraged in full. If you do this on a regular basis, you'll neutralize a lot of the more common issues while public speaking, like dry mouth, coughing and possibly a sore and painful throat. Make every attempt to acquire a great deal of fresh air as you possibly can and take in a few purifying breathes through your nose before you begin. Fill up your lungs and breathe out directly through your nose. Always remember and keep in mind that when you breathe in you are breathing in the good and when you breaths out you are breathing out the bad. This tends to be really simple and the payoff is immense!</i><br />
<br />
<i>I'd like to conclude by saying that we all must follow good breathing practices. If you're stressed, just breathe, if you're tired, just breathe, if you're dejected, just breathe, because correct breathing can heal and because breathing is life.</i></div>Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-74451535194006996682010-11-11T21:38:00.000-08:002016-12-16T02:56:24.975-08:00The Rat under the bed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"Did you see that rat!"<br />
"Rat! Where? Where is it?"<br />
"It went under your bed." I grinned about it as I bent to look below Atul's bed. Of one thing I could boast, the area under my bed was cleaner than Atul's.<br />
"Bloody ass! Now it'll loiter around and dirty the place. Why do you keep the door open, damn it!"<br />
"The bigger question is, why did it take refuge under your bed?"<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgil7F26QAmSIw1nrnovl5hQc6s9gQheYLn52OWJTgI0CcaonSbz9_j7roYZf2UHNLtd6pmowIVcI0huFXUN_tEF7BhB_4YAQu6Rlr_4pIytSjvjvjg9WNsI3sTLfp22DTHlZMufUaNA7XF/s1600/rat_under_bed.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgil7F26QAmSIw1nrnovl5hQc6s9gQheYLn52OWJTgI0CcaonSbz9_j7roYZf2UHNLtd6pmowIVcI0huFXUN_tEF7BhB_4YAQu6Rlr_4pIytSjvjvjg9WNsI3sTLfp22DTHlZMufUaNA7XF/s400/rat_under_bed.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Atul and I were room mates during first year of our college life. There had been minor incidents of rat infiltration in neighboring rooms which involved some efforts by the inmates to scare the thing away. This time it was in our room and we were not prepared to handle the situation.<br />
<br />
While Atul sat on his bed, doing something on his laptop, it continuously occurred to me that a rat was sitting under him, and occasionally I looked under his bed for some movement of that rat that might give away his specific location. None.<br />
<br />
"Did it leave already?"<br />
Atul looked up from his laptop screen, shrugged as if pretending not to care, then got back to whatever he was doing. It then occurred to me, if the rodents could climb walls, this one under Atul's bed could climb up the wall behind him and stun him.<br />
<br />
"Bhanu, my good neighbor, little help required."<br />
"Anything for you buddy! Give me five minutes."<br />
Did the rat just cross from below the study table towards my side of the room? I wondered as I sat on my bed waiting for Bhanukiran.<br />
"Yeah buddy, tell me." Help had finally arrived.<br />
"We have a rat situation."<br />
"Where is the rat?"<br />
"Under Atul's bed."<br />
Bhanukiran started laughing boisterously. Atul gave him a no-nonsense look.<br />
"The good news is that Atul is unperturbed." I further added with a grin.<br />
"I can't seem to find a rat below this bed." Bhanukiran reported as he looked below the bed from the wall side of the bed.<br />
"Neither can I." I said as I stared below from the other side. "No sign of the infiltrator."<br />
"Looks like it left. Enjoy!" Bhanukiran said and walked out of our room.<br />
"Maybe you scared it off Bhanu." I said which he safely ignored.<br />
<br />
"We must use this to kill any rat that invades our privacy in future."<br />
"What is this?"<br />
"Its a rat poison. It probably works on humans also, so we must wash our hands after handling this."<br />
"I won't take the dead body out after the rat dies in this room."<br />
"The advertisement says that it eats the poison, then goes out and dies, so don't worry. Now, we need some eatable to wrap around this poison cake."<br />
<br />
"What's the smell about." Atul and I just entered our room after lunch, two days later.<br />
"Maybe we didn't leave the windows open so the room feels suffocating."<br />
"It smells like something died in here."<br />
"The door was locked, what would possibly have come in and suddenly died?"<br />
Then it occurred to both of us.<br />
"Where is the smell coming from?"<br />
It was coming from under Atul's bed. Probably it was the same rat from last week only who had died. Upon further investigation it was discovered that the rat had entered Atul's travel bag which was open and contained some of his clothes. The rat had probably consumed the poison before taking shelter in his bag. We had unknowingly locked it in our room, so it couldn't go out to die, as the advertisement had claimed.<br />
<br />
That evening Atul took his travel bag outside the hostel, threw it in a garbage dump, put some kerosene on it, and left a lighted matchstick into it, burning the dead rat and all his clothes in the bag.</div>
Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-91548790044519826412010-10-09T09:08:00.000-07:002010-11-23T09:19:26.492-08:00My CC#2 speech at Madhapur ToastmastersThis was my second speech at Madhapur Toastmasters. I was nervous, yes but this speech was the most crucial one because first time success can be a fluke, but a second time success makes it permanent.<br />
<br />
<i>I’d like to start by briefly talking about the movie Groundhog Day. The protagonist in the Groundhog Day wakes up on the same day over and over again. He meets the same people, has similar conversations with them and visits the same places everyday, until he starts experimenting with his various options of living that one day differently.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Good morning, sir toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and dear guests,</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Have you ever felt like living the same kind of life over and over again? Sometimes living the routine life may make us feel that life is moving in a circle, and nothing significant or substantial is happening. To break the monotonicity, a person may plan an outing once in a while, travel during vacations, maybe start a new hobby, revisit an old hobby or take up interesting projects to work on, thereby meeting new people as well. One seeks change from the routine and to experience something different probably because change can stimulate and refresh oneself.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Change is basically a transition from one state to another. The transition may be drastic, like an accident, or a planned one, like moving to a new place. The transition may lead to disastrous consequences, for example, changes in weather patterns leading to low agricultural productivity, or may be a blessing, like accepting a failure for once and turning it into your next victory! Changes as trivial as buying something or getting a new look can uplift your mood whereas the anticipation of change itself, for example, making a big career decision can keep a person anxious for days!</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>If you observe, there are many changes in our daily lives that follow a certain pattern. They can be either linear, for example, growth of a living being, or circular, for example, change in seasons, day changing to night and vice versa etc.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>A change, especially a new one generally marks the beginning of something, hence that first instance most of the times becomes a memorable experience, like the first day at college, driving for the first time, or perhaps giving the ice-breaker speech at the toastmasters. These beginning steps, be it a good or bad experience, that may take life in a new direction remains in our mind for a very long time. Applying the same logic, a change may also mark the end of something, for example graduation, retirement or just the end of a phase in life.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>They say, "If you don't change, you can become extinct". The good news is that we all do change, whether we want it or not, whether we realize it or not, the bad news is that the change can be hard if one doesn’t accept it and learn to embrace it. Survival of the fittest theory shows that the species to have survived were not those with superior genes but ones which could adapt to the changes. Dinosaurs became extinct but cockroaches still survive. We humans have come a long way through evolution, survived and now dominate other species only because of our superior intelligence that allow us to cope with changes, and make some changes around us as well. While other species in the presence of external changes like drastic climatic change, habitat or food scarcity may generally die out or they may simply migrate to a new place, we generally can cope with the unforeseen changes even by staying at the same place, and perhaps eventually thriving as well. Ironically, the intelligence that makes us capable of making changes around us and helps us cope with changes also makes us vulnerable to the effects of those changes at various levels, particularly the emotional level. The important thing to remember here is that change may make us feel vulnerable but that experience can teach us new ways of life.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Living a routine life can in fact be good. Working on a routine can make a person more efficient and outcomes more predictable. It makes simpler to deal with any day to day life problems and issues. But maybe it’s something in our mind that can’t stand this routine life and demands for a change once in a while.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Sometimes, we just don’t want anything to change in life because it feels so perfect. But that’s the thing about change, when its time, it happens. It enters into our lives and eventually becomes a part of it. We then try to rearrange our life, make changes in oneself, to get closer to the perfect life we dream to live. Thus, almost all self-planned changes are due to some imperfection, some dissatisfaction with some aspect of oneself or one’s life. It is when we feel satisfied, achieve that feeling of euphoria that we stop making changes in that aspect of life and savor it for as long as it lasts.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>The process of change is a never ending loop. Change happens, and then we make that change a part of our life, or it just becomes a part of our life so that it doesn't seem like change anymore, then another change happens. Sometimes we have to create changes in one's life to keep things interesting, and sometimes we have to live the routine life to get things done. But no matter how the situation is, the 'change' is what makes memories, and eventually one settles down with the change and many aspects of life become like the Groundhog Day again!</i><br />
<br />
Unfortunately I forgot the speech few times in between, hence forgot to speak the second last stanza. But overall the speech went fine.Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-82121701277362890212010-10-04T12:09:00.000-07:002010-10-07T04:49:11.886-07:00Bhuda man (Old man)I was breathing in the cool summer evening air and mildly panting as I saw my friends play around and under the swing, and the seeker among them trying to catch others by touching them once. I generally got tired before others did, so I took some time to recuperate and enjoyed the twilight. I stared towards the New Officer's Colony as the light slowly faded into darkness. Suddenly I heard what I thought was the end of their game but ignored it for the time being. My friend and next block neighbor patted me on my shoulder and spoke in my ear, "Do you know about Bhuda man?"<br />
"Bhuda man!"<br />
"Yeah, rumor has it that Bhuda man visits this children park just before it gets dark and puts all the kids he can find in his big bag and takes them with him."<br />
"Yeah, right!" But I already had this image of an old energetic man with long untidy white hair and badly wrinkled face, long nose, long fingers with long nails and a bag where he stuffs any and every kid he finds.<br />
My friend looked at me with a serious and concerned expression, then suddenly started running towards the colony, leaving a trail of his voice behind that said, "Hurry before the Bhuda man finds us."<br />
'Damn' I told myself and ran after him.<br />
'I wonder why I listen to him' I thought, panting heavily while on the road of the colony, as my friend walked into the block of his house. I turned back and looked at the children park, deserted and slowly being covered in darkness, but I couldn't see any Bhuda man. Perhaps for a second there I wished I could see the Bhuda man for once.<br />
'Maybe I listen to him because he's taller than I am.' I concluded and with hasty pace walked back to my house.Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-81905821085785451392010-09-12T05:02:00.000-07:002010-09-18T09:18:12.450-07:00My Ice-breaker speech at Madhapur ToastmastersLast Saturday I delivered my ice-breaker speech at Madhapur Toastmasters, and it was an amazing experience. After a very long time I could complete delivering a speech. Moreover, I spoke for 6 minutes !! And except for a few seconds long pause, everything else went smooth. My eye-contact was poor and I should have been louder, as per the feedbacks I got, but the stage hardly shook this time. I delivered the following speech:<br />
<br />
<i><b>A bit about myself</b></i><br />
<br />
<i>I’d like to start by sharing a real life incidence that taught me that everything happens for a reason. My buddy and I were racing down the slope towards the Officer’s institute on our bicycles. My friend pedaled a little harder as we reached the gates and gained advantage. I put in some extra energy too but unfortunately, the chain of my bicycle came off. I was in a critical situation on a fast moving bicycle. I decided to jump off the bicycle and run with it to catch up. I jumped off but forgot to apply the brakes. The next moment I was profusely bleeding from my knees and had bruised elbows.<br />
Earlier that day, while filling some form for me, my father had asked me for two identification marks on my body. I only had one, i.e., a mole at the back of my neck. But by the end of the day, I had successfully got two more identification marks, one on each knee.<br />
</i><br />
<i>Sir Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and dear guests…<br />
</i><br />
<i>I am Abhishek Sainani, a student of IIIT-H pursuing MS by Research in computer science and engineering. My hometown is Pune, but I’m not a Marathi. I’m a Sindhi but I don’t know Sindhi. I get by using English and Hindi.<br />
</i><br />
<i>My father is an officer in the Indian Army; hence I was brought up in various different places in India. Over the years, I’ve developed a sense of belonging to the Army cantonment and my alma mater, the Army Public School as they were quite the same in every place I lived.<br />
</i><br />
<i>My mother is kindergarden teacher and pampers me a lot, she still does!<br />
</i><br />
<i>My younger sister is in 12th now and studying non-medical stream of science. She decided to follow my lead but like a good big brother I motivate her to study and understand things on her own rather than asking me only because I never understood any of the concepts properly, I just managed somehow. :D<br />
</i><br />
<i>Unknowingly I’ve always been following one rule in my life, to believe that future would be better than the present. I have had a great childhood, but also had fear of many things like deep water, heights, being on a speeding vehicle, ghosts, eating curd, syringes, strangers etc. When I observed that none of the grown ups had any of my fear, I assumed that as one grows, things get better. That’s why I didn’t worry about my fears and grew over most of them.<br />
</i><br />
<i>I never really liked “sainani” as my surname. It is so different, I used to think. I felt different and isolated. But people seemed to like the name ‘sainani’ and started calling me that and it became my identity! My respect for my surname took an exponential surge when I typed “abhishek sainani” in google and got few results corresponding to me. Since then I’ve been commenting on other’s blogs, writing blogs, reviews etc. online to increase the result in Google search for ‘abhishek sainani’. :D<br />
I have three hobbies: sleeping, dreaming and reading.<br />
I’d like to talk about dreaming. I used to day dream a lot in my childhood; imagine various desirable outcomes of an incident gone bad. One day I discovered that my thoughts during day time often became my sleeptime dreams at night. I told myself, woah! I think I might be having some kind of special ability and I started manipulating the content for my sleeptime dreams and succeeded in some cases. I always enjoy recalling my sleeptime dreams after waking up and for some time now, I’ve been keeping a sleeptime dreams journal as well and posting some of the interesting ones on my blog.<br />
</i><br />
<i>I’d like to share some interesting incidents that happened in my dreams. This one time I got angry at a ghost and punched him in the face. He got crushed to pinkish pulp. The ghost looked like the Vice-Principle of my school. This other time, I was almost killed in a fist-fight but I enjoyed it. And the wildest of all, I was captured by the terrorists and they interrogated me for information while I tried to convince them that I was a terrorist too.<br />
</i><br />
<i>I spend my leisure time either reading stories, watching movies and TV shows or talking to someone and listening to their story. I felt motivated to write a novel when I was in 6th class. I wrote two pages, describing a big, fast ship with lots of people going on a cruise, and then didn’t know what to do with those people in the ship. Lately though I’ve written one story each on two of my favorite topics: sleeping and dreaming. Perhaps at the back of my mind writing stories have always been my childhood dream, stories that capture the beautiful moments of life; stories about possible and impossible things that may happen in life.<br />
</i><br />
<i>As I have been penning down stories, I come to the conclusion of this story, which is just the beginning of a new phase in my life and I am sure I am out to gain here something because as I said, everything happens for a reason.<br />
</i><br />
<i>Thank you.</i><br />
<br />
And then I walked back to my place, mildly shaken by the experience but it was every bit worth it !!Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-6674681575640177912010-05-03T11:30:00.000-07:002010-05-05T09:24:09.537-07:00Essay/GD/PI @ IIM-L<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">This guest post is written by Amit Agarwal, IIIT-H alumnus, sharing his experience at IIM-L on 8th April.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Here I have tried to replicate the complete situation along with all the answers I gave to give a complete feel of what happened out there with me.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><o:p></o:p></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b>Essay Writing</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Time: 15 minutes<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Topic: <b>Nudity in art is prerogative of the artist. </b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Wrote about different forms of art and took a diplomatic approach. Argued that artists generally bare themselves to create the masterpiece and so nudity is not bad as projected and is in fact the correct representation of what the artist is thinking. On the other side some use nudity in art just to gain popularity and such acts should be curbed. So to conclude it is prerogative of the artist but it should be monitored from rogue elements. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Group Discussion</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Time: 20 min<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Group Size: 12 people<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Topic: Same as essay. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Talked about what was in the essay and gave a proper analysis of what I thought. GD went to fish market few times but was mostly repetitive. I made sure I presented my analysis fully when I talked and then moved back and listened. 2-3 people were not able to talk at all who were asked to summarize in the end. One was asked if he had anything new to add when he started summarizing which pissed off the professors. They stopped and asked him to give a new point but he continued summarizing. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b>Personal Interview</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">After GD, the professors said they will call in the same order as we were seated and I was the first one. We all were asked to wait outside and told that we will be called. I went out and had some water and put my tie in order again, cleared my throat and sat. After 5 minutes one of the professors came and called me. I entered the room.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Good morning, sir (to the first professor P1) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Good morning, sir (to the second professor P2) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i>They showed me a chair indicating to sit. I smiled, said thank you sir and sat down. </i><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: give your profile. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (Confused)... sir, I beg your pardon.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: (pointing to my file) your certificates.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I smilingly forwarded my certificates to him.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: So Amit, tell me something about yourself in about 1 minute.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (Had prepared a lot…so started off) Sir, I was born and brought up in Barakar, west Bengal and did my schooling from the same place. I did my +2 from Delhi public school, Bokaro and then went to IIIT, Hyderabad for my engineering. During my academics I have been very consistent and have achieved silver medal in mathematics Olympiad and have appeared twice in deans list and once in merit list. After engineering I joined IBM and am working as the SPOC for memory controller unit and also lead the hiring team. During this tenure I have received technical excellence and execution excellence award which is given to top talents. Also I have been nominated for talent spark. Reg my…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: (Stops me) Tell me about your family? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Sir, I belong to a traditional Hindu joint family and was brought up by my uncle. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: what about your parents? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Sir, my father passed away couple of months before my birth and my mother is a housewife.. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: (taken aback) what happened.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: sir it was a car accident. (my voice breaking by this time)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: (gave a sigh and a sad expression and moved on) So Amit, you say you are good in mathematics.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (trying to get back into the interview after a complex start, gave him a smile) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Using numbers 1 – 9 and 0 form a equation which is equal to 1. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (what the hell, I should know this but I don’t know..crap) Sir, can I use repetition of digits.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Do anything<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: sir, (1-9)*0 + 0! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: How…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: first term is equal to 0 and second term is equal to 1. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Are you sure 0! =1 <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Yes sir ( I was getting confused but stuck to my opinion and cursed myself for not using 1 simply ) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Are you sure.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Yes sir.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: I am not sure, I will check. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (he will not remember to check…scored the point ) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: I was looking for (1-9)^0 .<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (Oh crap, yeah that was the answer)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: (Deeply lost into my certificates and documents suddenly wakes up) …what is this. You have very poor marks, very very bad academics. What is this… just 88%, 84% … that is very bad.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (Thanks to time faculty who gave us an answer for this..) Sir, I have been involved in extra-curricular activities as well. In IIIT was the founder of robotics club.. (both were sort of ignoring by this time… and I was left all alone with no-one listening to my poor soul) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: You said you were good in academics and consistent. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: yes sir, consistent.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">P2 looks at my B.Tech marks which was 86.1 with ever increasing GPA year on year basis convinced him of consistency and he said okay and repeated that its still bad academics.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: What are the different areas of mathematics? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (what crap) Sir, I did not get you. Sorry<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: like algebra. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Trigonometry, geometry. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Geometry?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (I realized I have messed up) No, sir. I don’t think<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Then what is it<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Sir, it’s a combination of trigonometry and algebra. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: What else?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Sir, I am not sure. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: So you are from Barakar, What is famous in Barakar? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Sir, Barakar River (wanted him to take the direction of Damodar river which I had studied after my IIM Indore interview) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Anything else? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Sir, it’s a very small town and that’s the most famous thing (still trying to get to the rivers) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: What about coal?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (Shit… how can I forget that... I decided to play smart) Sir, coal is definitely there in the surrounding but not in Barakar specifically. Its there in Kumardhubi, Raniganj, Asansol. (FYI. Barakar is sitting on coal in the same way as other places I mentioned but said confidently thinking he will surely not know Barakar) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: (looked suspiciously but did not cross-question)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: (Still listening as I maintained decent contact with both of them while answering)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Why MBA?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (Happy over a prepared question). Sir, I would like to nurture my skills and gain and understanding of….<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: (Furious) Don’t give me such crap. All of you say that. It makes no sense. All you trained bastards. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (Shit. What to say now. Just stay calm). <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Still, you should do M.Tech. Why did you do B.Tech then? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Sir, engineering has taught me how things work but I have been in leadership roles all through and I think I am ready to take the next step (thanks to Sukesh who said this sometime back) so I would like to go for management career. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: what is the full form of SEBI?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (Forgot, so took a blind guess here) Stock exchange board of India<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">P2 starts laughing out loud…<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: (as if he missed the joke of the century asked him) what happened?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">P2 tells my answer... Stock exchange board of India<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Sorry, sir… its securities exchange (realized better to say no than guessing again) ... sir, I am not sure.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: Who is SEBI chairman? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: I am not sure, sir. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: Who controlled the market before SEBI<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (took a very dumb guess here) Sir, RBI<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: (laughing on his knees by now) what is this!?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Sorry sir, I don’t know. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: Okay. What does RBI do? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (Thankfully I know this) Sir, RBI regulated the money in the market. (Praying, please don’t ask me details I don’t know) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: You read newspaper?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: yes sir.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Which one?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Times of India and Economic times.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: What was the headline in yesterday’s newspaper?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (yippee, I needed this question) 72 CRPF jawans killed by Maoists.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: So who are these Maoists?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (good question, I have prepared for it ) Sir, it is a group of people who rose against the upper class back in 1967 and were for a good cause but eventually it got politically motivated and is now a threat. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: threat to what?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Threat to the administration and society and more so to themselves. They have been given guns without even knowing what they should do of it.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: So Barakar is a small town, why is that some places develop and some don’t? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Sir, it is because of the government’s policy of exclusive growth instead of inclusive growth. Governments focus on some towns which develop and the ones which are ignored.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: (Now looking totally frustrated. It was morning and I am the first guy, I am like, what is wrong) what are you talking about? You are not answering what the professor is asking. You are just speaking randomly.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (Boy, I am giving a decent answer please listen, why are you frustrated) I am sorry sir, Can you please repeat the question? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: What is the basic issue that some places develop and some don’t?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (thinking of a different answer) Sir, education is not there.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Leave education, what is the core issue?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (thinking hard. What else to say.) Sir, it is the mindset of the people as well (yeah, I started my philosophy. I was like now he can’t beat me). People born poor think that they will remain poor all their life.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: (interrupts) So you say nobody wants to grow? That’s not true. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: Sir, I did not mean that, but people in backward region believe in miracles that someone will come and help them out of their miseries. Places where such miracles happen develop and where they don’t happen remain backward. (I was on my toes again and almost said... “In your face, now argue”) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: (Giving up and in a lazy tone) I am not sure if there are many people in Durgapur or Barakar and if those places will develop.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (Boss, I cannot be provoked here... this is all bull shit you are talking and I can sense that) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: What is the foreign exchange reserve? <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: $200 Million <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: (laughs out loud and P1 as if sleeping and missing out on another joke asks him what happened) <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">P2 in a low voice tells him the question<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: (Repeats the question) what is the foreign exchange reserve?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: I am sorry sir; it’s around $300 Billion<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Do you know the difference between Million and Billion?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (very confidently) yes sir, its 3 zeros difference. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: okay. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: What is the foreign policy?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (took it as economic policy) sir, pre 90’s<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: Forget past, talk about now.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (pretty exhausted this time) sir, its pretty open now. And government is inviting companies to invest in our economy.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P2: (gave a dull look and looks at P1 and returns my file)<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">P1: Okay, we are done. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (to P1) Thank you, sir<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Me: (to P2) Thank you, sir<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><i>Placed the chair properly back and moved out of the room. </i><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">RESULT: I was finally selected for IIM Lucknow. :D<o:p></o:p></div></span></span>Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-24659317872493106072010-04-25T14:41:00.000-07:002012-02-07T02:21:31.103-08:00Attack of the dogs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was tired, but I wanted to practice jogging on front part of my foot, so I started jogging. It was almost dinner time and the ground was lit by the street lights barely reaching it. After covering half a circle of the ground between NBH (New Boys Hostel) and OBH (Old Boys Hostel), I heard barking sounds of some dogs from the area near OBH, and I think I was about 100 meters from them. I stopped, realizing that maybe the dogs didn't like my jogging there and were barking at me because the barking sound was directed towards me. I had a similar experience once early morning while jogging on the same ground, so had to jog on the road instead. I jogged back to the area near NBH and jogged there, covering a relatively smaller circle. Fully exhausted, I started walking back towards my hostel, OBH, when I heard the barking again, only this time I knew they were directed towards me because I saw about five dogs advancing towards me. For a second there, when I saw the two black dogs advancing towards me with a decent speed, I heard myself say, "O God, this is it. I'm dead."<br />
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It must have been a friday. Doesn't matter really. 6 pm on a sunny breezy summer evening, we were practicing karate. Following our teacher's instructions, we were doing some basic stretching exercises.<br />
"Wo dekho, Mux abhi aa rahaa hai. (Look Mux is coming now!)" Ninja exclaimed. Many turned, they must have. I continued with the exercise. When I heard Mux shouting, I turned back to look.<br />
Mux was on the ground, trying to push himself away from the two puppies advancing at him. Mux was shouting and was clearly very scared. The puppies turned away and left him.<br />
He joined us for the exercise but was worried about his bruises. Our teacher suggested us not to run away when a dog is after you, but stand still and there's a good chance they won't hurt.<br />
Later that evening, Mux met me while I was walking towards the lab.<br />
"I'm really embarrassed by what happened today. I felt so helpless!"<br />
"Hey, relax! You freaked out, it happens. I'm sure others won't freak out so much," and then I started giggling, "but everybody gets scared."<br />
"I was scared out there, I feel embarrassed now and you're laughing at me now. Arre kuch sharam kar (have some shame). Jab tere saath aisa hoga tab pataa chalega. (When you'll experience such an incident, you'll realize my agony)."<br />
Mux picked up some stones and from the other side of the wall of the ground, threw some stones towards the dogs sitting in the middle of the ground.<br />
"A few dogs bothered you and you're targeting all the dogs! That's not justified."<br />
"That's because I can't see those two black puppies now." He giggled and added, "But I'm telling you, I'll kill those bloody dogs if I get a chance."<br />
<br />
For next few days, I laughed a lot about Mux's reaction that day when puppies barked at him. His reaction was normal and expected, but the way he shouted was really hilarious, so couldn't help laughing. And Mux cursed me every time I laughed at him, that such a thing would happen to me too.<br />
"Kameene, bhagwaan kare tere saath bhi aisa hi ho." (You rascal, I wish you experience the same.)<br />
<br />
A few days later, one morning, I saw <a href="http://sleeptimedreams.blogspot.com/2010/04/2nd-april-2010-early-morning.html" target="_blank">this dream</a>. It really scared me.<br />
<br />
And now, tired and exhausted, as I walked towards the OBH, I saw the two dogs barking wildly and advancing towards me, and few other dogs from the other side. I realized how weak and vulnerable I was, and helpless even with all those karate moves I had learnt recently! I could visualize those dogs biting me and ripping my skin apart. I wanted to shout for help but I dismissed that as a silly thought.<br />
I heard myself say, "O God, this is it. I'm dead." The black dogs had come very close. I took few steps back. My first instincts were to run, but I remembered my karate teacher's advice and didn't. I looked at the two black dogs and kept my mind blank. The dogs stopped, took some steps back, and then went back to where they had been sitting.<br />
Phew! Near escape! I took a deep breath. They didn't hurt me, but they did assert that the half of the ground near OBH was their area for the night. I walked towards NBH, then took a U turn to walk back to OBH.</div>Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-39326238990313133312008-08-15T08:20:00.000-07:002009-11-08T04:28:47.200-08:00A cat in the rainLast week, the twin city (Hyderabad-Secunderabad) and the adjoining towns/villages experienced heavy downpour. It was Friday evening, 8th August, that the rain poured like never before. At about 6 o' clock, Old Boy's Hostel, IIIT-Hyderabad (where I live), lost electricity. Two minutes later my laptop switched to hibernation mode. While it hibernated, I could still hear the dialogues and the sounds of the movie I'd been watching. I sat in the dark looking at the silhouette of the laptop's screen, and listening to the rain. I looked at the dark blue glass panes of the window beside me, as I heard many of the occupants (the students of IIIT) shouting and laughing.<br />I left my room to move around and find someone to chat with because there was nothing else to do. I walked across my wing and didn't sense much activity in other rooms. As I reached the central rotunda of the OBH, from where all the wings emanate, I saw few dark, human shaped bodies moving as single or in groups in random directions. Unable to recognize anybody among them or any voice around, I retraced my steps back to my room.<br />After a few minutes, I heard a knock at the door and was delighted. I opened the door and saw a tall opaque black figure (a 3D shadow, maybe!) standing in front of me. I recognized the face after I recognized the body language and pose in which he stood at the door, leaning a bit towards the left side. His voice sounded both familiar and novel after hearing the raucous music of rain.<br />"Akshay!"<br />"Come, lets go and find others. You shouldn't be staying in your room."<br />As I searched for the lock in darkness, Akshay told me that the water had collected in the passage of the wing of his room and he got wet while walking through the corridor of his wing, as it faced the rain directly.<br />"Open the door completely and let some fresh cool rainy air in," he said.<br />I couldn't agree more. The weather was indeed cool, a bit chilly perhaps. But it was great. We talked for a little while, standing at the door, then went to find others.<br />A few people had gone out to get drenched in the rain, few others wandered around, while yet few others played cards in candle light in their room!<br />By the time I decided to get drenched in the rain, the rain had lost its vigor. I met Amit while wandering across the corridors. We went to one of the wings where a few of our batchmates were standing outside their rooms and chatting.<br />Half an hour later the electricity was restored and we went to have dinner without the change of our wet clothes.<br />Under the ambiance of sound of mild rain, I walked to my room after dinner. I saw foot prints of some animal on my keyboard on my desk. First I thought they were footsteps of a dog, but rejected the idea. Without any further thoughts I rubbed off the soil imprints of footsteps from the hand-rest part of the keyboard. While I sat in my room later that night, thinking over the questions given as a part of assignment, I thought I heard a cat meowing. My first thought was that the sound came from outside the window. Living on first floor of OBH made it less likely though. Few more meows made me feel its presence near me. I felt something black move across my room. I glanced across the room and my eyes fell on a black cat standing and staring at me from near the bottom of my bed. It meowed softly once more. My first encounter with a cat in my room made me jump on my chair. The cat scurried under the bed. My basic instincts of fight and flight told me to flight (escape!), because fight was not an option here. Interestingly, as I saw the black cat, the first thought that crossed my mind was the famous superstition, "Don't walk the path crossed by a black cat. Let someone else unknowingly cross it first."<br />I left my room and knocked at Asrar's room. As usual he opened the door with a welcoming smile, even if he doesn't want it to mean that way! I told him about the black cat. He didn't hesitate to help me out, what a great neighbor! I stood at the door and told him that the cat was under the bed. He sat on the bed and tried to hit the wall and the trunk under the bed so that the cat is scared away. I stood on my chair, at a height well above the cat. After a few attempts, it worked and cat scurried out of the room, and I saw it enter the bathroom+toilet section of the wing.<br />I thanked Asrar and carefully closed the door while looking down, in case the cat tried to come back again. Being all alone in the room made me feel better. Not that I hate animals or that they'd harm me, but they'd do other sorts of things... in fact when we were not able to get the cat out of the bed, I asked Asrar to leave it there, but Asrar told me that it might dirty the room. I agreed. I figured out that while Akshay and I were standing at the threshold with an open door, the cat must have scurried into the room.<br />I told this to Akshay the next day. The first thing he asked, "Was it a black cat?"<br />I replied in affirmative and asked him as to how he came to such a conclusion.<br />He replied that white cat would be seen in dim light as well. In an attempt to prove that his conclusion of cat being black was a fluke, asked him, "couldn't the cat be brown?" to which he replied, as if he had the reply ready for that question, "brown cats are not found in this region of the country."<br />Akshay later added that the cat, to save itself from the rain might have entered into the room, since the door of my room was the only opening around while it rained cats and dogs!Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-48564579619253468612008-08-07T14:16:00.000-07:002009-11-18T10:30:27.146-08:00Second visit to YOCS.Last week, I attended YOCS meet. YOCS is Young Orator's Club of Secunderabad. During the major of the meet (which is a speech making session for 2 minutes for each speaker), the topic given was "Who am I?" or "Does society makes you who you are?"<br />The topic was something on which each person who spoke had his/her own opinion. Some of them frankly accepted that they didn't know who they really were, which is only fair. Some portrayed themselves in the work they do, which could be singing a song, reading a book etc., which basically meant that whatever you do shows what you are. Others described themselves<br />starting with their names, and moving to their hobbies etc.<br />Everyone was free to talk on the topic the way they wanted to. I framed my speech a little different after listening to some of the speakers. But, as always, I messed up almost everything when I started to speak.<br />I suspected that I knew the main problem with my speech delivery and yesterday my suspicion was confirmed. Standing in front of staring eyes and open ears waiting to hear what you have to say is not what makes me uncomfortable. It is my thought process and ability to think while speaking is what prevents me from speaking consistently and fluently.<br />I volunteered to be the next speaker after a few speakers spoke their mind, on insistence of my friend sitting beside me. I had all the points jotted down in my mini-textpad and was quite happy about what I was going to speak.<br />Standing at the podium is not the hard part, but speaking cohesively and consistently in front of people is. I started a few seconds late, trying to recall the starting line that I'd been repeatedly speaking in my mind. After the initiation I spoke a few more lines, then looked at the points I'd written and switched abruptly to something not in flow/sync of what I was speaking, though was related to what I was speaking on.<br />I ended whatever I was speaking with a quote, again not totally in sync with the starting of the speech. The best thing that I could do was to politely say, "thank you" and smile, and walked back and took my seat.<br />I was expecting comments like lack of confidence and fumbling voice etc. But the reviews were lenient for guests like me. The review that I received was that my speech was good, the starting few lines were good, interesting thoughts, but I deviated from what I was speaking on and abruptly started telling all the points I had thought about speaking. I was more like a high-school thing, reciting all the relevant points for the speech. Since I had limited time, I should have focused on the first part of my speech and elaborated on or extended that.<br />I fumbled and lost on many grounds, but in the end, it did feel great to go and speak my mind in front of people who listen and appreciate the good in what I speak and tell me where I did badly.<br />Waiting for the next meet....!Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-31040181502328681992007-06-15T08:38:00.000-07:002007-06-15T17:48:41.782-07:00One Day After The Gujarat EarthquakeAs I mentioned in my previous post, the only best thing about the earthquake were the holidays we got. Then after a week, when I went to school, something interesting happened.<br />On the first day in school after the holidays, during the morning assembly, it was announced that children of all the classes upto 10th should be given some practice to move quickly out of the classroom in an organized manner, as a precautionary measure against possible tremors and earthquakes.<br />So, during our first period, the class teacher herself said, "I don't think you people need any such practice, do you?"<br />We replied, "No Ma'am" in unison.<br />Actually we were a class of only 10 students and we were in 8th class.<br />Later that day, after lunch break, we played volleyball during our games period. By mistake one of us served the ball in the wrong direction and with great amount of energy that the ball went and hit the roof of one of the classrooms beside the volleyball court. I don't remember who it was but perhaps it was Amit (He was a big fat guy). Since the roof was a thatched roof of asbestos, the roof vibrated and the impact of the ball made rumbling sound. The ball bounced a few times on the roof before moving down the thatched roof and hitting the ground. But the damage was already done.<br />The students studying in that classroom thought that the vibration and the rumbling sound was an earthquake and so left the room in a haste and not quite the way they were taught to. We could hear the falling of benches and desks and footsteps quickly moving out of the room. Hearing the adjacent class leaving the room, the classes beside them also left their rooms and came outside.<br />It didn't take the teachers too long to realize what had happened. They did scold us for what we had done, but the incident was really hilarious. I later laughed a lot about the incident.Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-869821348746151622007-05-19T00:12:00.000-07:002009-11-18T10:29:45.128-08:00Earthquake... It happened to me!I woke up at 9 a.m. on 26th Jan 2001, in my home, on my bed, in front of a switched off T.V.<br />I realized that I had missed the Republic Day ceremony and celebration at school. My mother taught in the same school I studied in, and she preferred that I sleep well rather than attend the Republic Day ceremony. I leisurely skipped being there, standing in queue among my classmates and schoolmates.<br />I switched on the T.V. and started surfing the channels. I stopped at star movies which was showing "Muppet Treasure Island". I started watching it from the moment the boy decides to board a ship with some uncle of his (I haven't read the book, so I can't recall the exact details). It becomes more interesting when the boy discovers that the sailors on that ship were pirates.<br />I almost forgot about my breakfast because I got interested in watching the movie. My sister got me breakfast at around, maybe 9:45 a.m. and asked me what I was watching. Yes she skipped the school as well!<br />She started watching the movie with me, though she didn't like it much.<br />There was a mild tremor and we lost the electricity supply. I heard the generator starting, and in a minute we had electricity again!<br />Suddenly, the whole house started shaking wildly, left and right, then up and down, then randomly. My sister started shouting at the top of her voice. I asked her to relax, but she started pulling my arm and insisted that I come outside the house. She reasoned with me that it was an earthquake. By the way, my sister is 5 years younger to me, but far more sensible. I refused to believe her, so she ran outside the house in panic, without me. I saw the ceiling fan swinging, oscillating like a pendulum, reaching higher amplitude (greater potential energy) with every next oscillation. I couldn't watch T.V. because there was no electricity at cable T.V. channel station. I suspected that it was the generator which was shaking the whole house and it was nothing to worry about!<br />At that moment, I saw the T.V. slowly shifting to the edge of the setting we had kept it on. Here, setting is a pile of trunks nicely covered with a sheet of cloth. I moved forward to stop the T.V. from falling when the earthquake stopped.<br />I pushed the T.V. back to the center of the setting, towards the wall. I checked the T.V. which was still disconnected, then went back to my bed and started having breakfast. I looked outside once in a while, saw the sun rays falling on the tall bushes acting as a fence of the garden and the trees in the garden of my house. It was sunny and bright, and the garden looked great.<br />I was frustrated because I could not see T.V. and the reason I always liked to stay back at home to watch lots of T.V. shows. My mother knew this.<br />I heard my sister, Ramvir and Tiwari bhaiya walking towards my bedroom. Ramvir and Tiwari bhaiya were Army Jawans (soldier) assigned as helpers to my father who is an Army officer in Indian Army, and my sister and I called them 'bhaiya' as a mark of respect. My sister was still crying! They asked me to immediately come outside and told me that my experience a few minutes ago was of an actual earthquake.<br />WoW!! I finally experienced an eArthQuaKe!! I was excited and refused to leave the room.<br /><br />"It's all destiny", I said. This escalated their fear and increased their tension. They pleaded. I refused and resumed eating breakfast, but not for long. My sister was still weeping so I had to leave the house.<br />I sat outside, under the roof of my house, in front of garden. I tell them that it was sunny and I wanted to sit under the shade. Foolish me, I didn't think of the trees.<br />Finally I was sitting outside my house as everyone wanted.<br />A few friends met me in garden, after 10 minutes, and asked me to come out in the open space. I refused to do so until my mom came from school.<br />I don't know what had happened to me. I was behaving like a child, having this notion in my mind that staying inside the house is safe, that nothing bad would happen to me. Someone once told me after looking at lines on my palms that I'd live till the age of 80, so I was not afraid of death! My father later explained to me, after he returned from office, that even though I may not die, I might become a handicap or a 'challenged in some way' person, so it was better to be safe than to indulge in stupid daring which made no sense. Nothing significant happened after the 26th though, just a few mild tremors which I never felt.<br /><br />I felt sorry for myself after my mother narrated everything that happened at school. Whole school were in the middle of its morning assembly when the earthquake came. Some people, lost balance and fell. Actually many people fell on the first big tremor. Some showed extreme emotions and reactions. Some started crying, which humored me, because being in the open, nothing could fall on them, except raindrops! I felt bad because I wanted to see other people's reactions and their faces, colorless and tensed, scared perhaps. It'd have been fun and a new kind of adventure! But I missed it! Damn!<br />For lunch, my mommy and other aunties went into their houses, as an act of bravery, and got everyone something to eat. Apparently neighbors shared some of the food.<br />I hanged out with kids, eldest of whom was three years junior to me! But he was a good company; we shared interests in video games and cartoons. I went to call Prateek, but he lived in another block of apartments, so had other arrangements for himself.<br />I again cursed myself after lunch when I realized I could have toured around the army cantonment area of the town, to check how people had planned to live outdoors for, at least a couple of days! But I didn't. I still feel I should have at least gone to 'Old Officers Colony' to see what people were doing during immediate post-earthquake period.. I lived in 'New Officers' Colony' and old and new refer to colony and not officers.<br /><br />Then I thought of the town and the civil area and the only civilian I had acquaintance with came to my mind... never mind, I don't have to discuss anything about her here.<br /><br />On my first night after the earthquake, I was made to sleep on the co-driver's seat in a car, wagon-R maybe. My feet were cold, but better than being in the open. I thought of the people who might have lost homes because of this mischief of nature, this imbalance in the earth. I was making fun of this whole earthquake thing the whole day, since it was a new experience to me, and now I felt sorry for the trouble and destruction it had caused. I got updates on news through a portable radio which Tiwari Bhaiya had. I felt that I was born lucky and was living lucky. My house was safe, no major crack, a few very minor ones. I had good food and was sleeping warmly (almost) in a car. The roof of the car won't fall even if the tremors came again, I thought and smiled. The car was standing in the open space. The 'open space' was a big playground kind of space which was between two rows of houses in 'New Officers' Colony'.<br /><br />Days were generally pleasant, not very warm, but nights did get bit chilly.<br />Next day we spent some time inside the house. We used generator for limited time for electricity, but I could still not see T.V.. Nights were spent outside though. Next plan was to sleep in the garage, but I could see it was equally dangerous, even though running outside would be easier. The night after that we had '<span style="font-style: italic;">Shamianas</span>' fixed in the open space, to sleep in.<br /><br />During these days, I started getting bored, so I took my novel (Short Stories of Sherlock Holmes) with me to the <span style="font-style: italic;">shamiana.</span> My mother's friend asked me what I was reading and I had to stop. I showed her the book and when she looked away, I put it inside my blanket with me and slept. I like reading novels in peace, alone!<br /><br />Till after a few days when some mild tremors could still be felt, some families got "Tents" fixed for themselves in the open space, my family included. My father was a <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Colonel</span><span> in the Indian Army</span>, so he could get it done for his family. I didn't like the idea of tents. I wanted to go home and sleep in my bedroom, on my bed, and I was not being childish here. The tents just didn't feel good. We slept in tent for two days after that. During daytime, I could see tents covering the whole open space during daytime and reminded me of those days of Scouts camp in <span style="font-style: italic;">Panchmari</span><span> when tents were fixed for us and we students didn't get the experience of fixing tents on our own.</span> I also felt disgusted at the waste of resources and the hype this earthquake got by people here. But at least I could read my novel in peace, in the tent!<br /><br />The earthquake didn't really affect us, we were all safe and sound. Hardly any damage to the houses, at least not in the 'New Officers' Colony'. Four days had passed since the quake and people still were not willing to go back to their homes! I thought about the people who suffered in "<span style="font-style: italic;">Bhuj</span>" and "<span style="font-style: italic;">Rann</span> of <span style="font-style: italic;">Kachch</span>" and felt sorry for them and disgusted about the 'tents'. I talked to my father about this and he said that it was for our own safety.<br /><br />The good thing that happened was 'No School' for one week after the quake.<br />Then after we went to school, something more interesting happened!Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901494733343070161.post-35799174911606825232007-05-19T00:05:00.000-07:002009-11-18T10:30:00.037-08:00Deaths in the FamilyWhen I was studying in 12th standard, I only thing that was expected of me was to study hard and get good marks, so that I could get into a good institute and have a better future.<br />In those days, my <span style="font-style: italic;">daadi </span>( paternal grandmother ) used to live with me and my parents. Earlier I slept with her, but later I was shifted to a different room, lest I should not be disturbed while I was studying. I can't say that I was close to my <span style="font-style: italic;">daadi</span>, but I still liked her a lot. It was interesting to talk to her, and play "rummy" with her and listen to the stories she told me. Due to extra coaching classes and attending school, I was out of my house most of the day, so I hardly interacted with my <span style="font-style: italic;">daadi</span>.<br />It was during the second month of the session of my 12th standard and one morning, I was riding on my bicycle to school, when I met my classmate on my way and she told me that the principal of our school had expired. It was a shocking news. I could not believe what I had heard. My mind was disturbed the whole day, and was filled with those thoughts about the principle, the day he gave me a 'cup' for my good academic performance, the day me and my friend came late to school and he let us in, his jolly smile, his firm attitude... and lot more things. The whole school mourned. This was a new experience for me. The cause of the death of my Principal, that was told to me, was Heart Attack. I genuinely sympathised the family members of my late principal sir. But I never knew that this sympathy was going to turn into empathy in a few months time.<br /><br />A few months later, one morning my mother got a call that her brother, my maternal uncle (<span style="font-style: italic;">maama</span>) had expired. At that time, I was getting ready for going to school. I didn't know what had happened until later that day, when my father was preparing to leave for my <span style="font-style: italic;">maama</span>'s house (we lived in <span style="font-style: italic;">Jalandhar </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">maama </span>lived in Ujjain (M.P.)) to help with the preparation and managing of death ceremony because only my <span style="font-style: italic;">naani </span>( maternal grandmother ) was there with my <span style="font-style: italic;">maama </span>when he died. I didn't see any traces of grief or tears on my mother's face, but I realised that she was sad because she loved him a lot. And i'd agree that he was a extremely good person at heart. He didn't have good financial conditions but when me and my parents visited him, he always welcomed us and happily took us around <span style="font-style: italic;">Ujjain</span>.<br />My <span style="font-style: italic;">maama </span>had been bitten by a mosquito and got malaria. Situation got complicated and he got extremely sick. He was on complete bedrest. Doctors said that either he'd die(which he did) or remain paralysed for the rest of his life. Perhaps God helped him escape that miserable life! He was only 40 and have two small daughters.<br /><br />A few months later, while I was having my lunch during recess time, with my friend Arjun, my old English teacher (a good family friend) came to me and broke the sad news of my <span style="font-style: italic;">daadi</span>'s death to me. I was again not able to believe what she had said. She said she was sorry.<br />My <span style="font-style: italic;">daadi</span> was sick since the last 2 months and was partially in coma. She was permanently on bedrest and couldn't even speak. She was 86 years and nearing her death. Everyone knew that she'd die any day now. My father, during those days, had gone to my <span style="font-style: italic;">maama</span>'s house in <span style="font-style: italic;">Ujjain </span>to help in death ceremony of my <span style="font-style: italic;">maama</span>. We feared her dying before my father comes back from <span style="font-style: italic;">Ujjain</span>. We wanted her to die in my father's presence. Then a miracle happened. My <span style="font-style: italic;">daadi </span>expired the morning following the evening my father returned from <span style="font-style: italic;">Ujjain</span>. And that morning my old English teacher told me about the death of my <span style="font-style: italic;">daadi</span>.<br /><br />As if this was not enough, after two months, I came to know about the death of my <span style="font-style: italic;">naana</span> (maternal grandfather). He was well above 80 years and lived alone in a small flat in New Delhi.<br />Though he was close to me and the news came as a shock, the first thought that came in my mind was that of my mother, and later my <span style="font-style: italic;">naani.</span> It was a great loss for them, more than anyone else. And I was the one who lost 4 people I knew, I loved, I admired and it was totally unexpected thing to happen.<br />Well, death has its own ways... and is the ultimate truth of life! Never before had I witnessed death so close. With this series of heartbreaking incidents, I have started believing that "<span style="font-weight: bold;">death</span> is the ultimate truth and final destination of life".Abhishekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05519234767682408962noreply@blogger.com1