ALLGOs Cancelled...

Allgos= ALL-GO-RHYTHMS… our annual cultural festival at Osmania University. This year its cancelled, well not that it affects me as I wouldn’t have ‘actively’ participated in it for reasons best unknown! But it reminded me of the scene in Rang de Basanti where an ABVP/SFI (Akhil Bhartiya Vidya Parishad/Students Federation of India who are responsible for quite a few boycotts in college which we inturn utilized it constructively;) )type of an activist spoils the ‘masti ki pathshaala’ of the ‘cool dudes’. Well something similar has apparently happened in our college.. they threatened to have a ‘RAASTHA ROKO’ (where they’ll just sit off on road and cause inconvenience to everybody till the college is forced to listen to them) if the juke-box is allowed at the festival.
Now jukebox is one event which is enjoyed by the majority guys of my college.. where they dance(if I can call it that!) on the steps of our main building with loud music (which sometimes hurts!) and do nothing more than just jump and jump and jump the full day.
Now our ABVP friends have objected to this juke-box and have ‘given permission’ to have an ALLGOS without jukebox.Our college guys didn’t agree-So it stands cancelled.
A lot like the movie right?Here too the ABVP guys feel that its not part of our tradition etc.
Now I don’t know if this influence of ABVP on college students is good for them or not.. but I’ll surely miss looking at the guys jumping on the steps ,feeling good about themselves with their ‘new moves’. It can get quite hilarious sometimes to see even the most padaaku junior doing something funny, and though the festival in our college may not be as good as an iitian or a bitsian one, at least in these three days we get to meet fellow students from other departments and basically have fun.I think with juke box or without, we should’ve had our cultural festival.
And if I can add a paragraph on the movie-Rang de Basanti.. I liked it a lot.(Some do say that nowadays I tend to like ALL the movies after I saw ‘neel n nikki’ as tend to compare movies with that one so I end up liking all the movies!).The revolutionary part was also well made, well I felt like becoming a ‘rebel’ after the movieJ I think it’s a ‘must-see’ for all. But well, not everybody liked it. I forced my father to go to the movie and I got to know later from my mother that he slept throughout the movie- well almost.So he wasn’t even awake when the defense minister was killed and so came back and told me that the movie had no story!!!(we laughed full evening when he told us that!)

Mouse-trap???

I came across this article today-"Cyberkids caught in a mouse-trap". It talked mainly of two examples which proved the harmful effects of the technology and gadgets on small kids.The first one was about an eight year old who loved playing a Hunting game onscreen and his parents were only too happy to indulge him.The game involves shooting down the enemy with a pistol aimed at the screen.Now his addiction has caused headaches, inability to concentrate and an involuntary movement of his head from side to side.
Scary isn't it?Now the second example that was talked about is an observation of a primary school teacher who said that it was difficult to get her students to grip the pencil (forget writing with it!) because these kids spend long hours holding the mouse or sms-ing which has spread their thumb and fingers apart,so they find it difficult to bring them together to hold the pencil.
I have never considered how long hours in front of the system would THIS way affect the kids.(We adults are anyway addicted!Its sometimes difficult for me to write my exam in english and not use our sms lingo!).I have very young nephews and nieces and I thought it was a very good idea to make them learn their nursery rhymes and play games in front of the computer.I even bought a few cds.. But after reading this article i guess my little niece just has to do with the boring coloring books or those dot-to-dot books which we used to use as kids!Am sure most of us are over-doting on the kids in our houses, so I am writing this post to 'save the kids from mouse-trap':)

HARI SADU...

I'm sure that most of us would agree that one of the most hillarious ad has to be naukri.com's HARI SADU-H for HITLER.. ad.Am sure I don't have to explain it.
I'm right now a student, so don't really know if real-life bosses are so horrible..but a story came up on tv today which has 'encouraged' me to write the blog.
A man has filed a petition in the court of law to sue naukri.com guys (Rs. 1 CRORE!) in relation to this ad.On first thought i couldn't figure it out.Almost everybody i know had appreciated the ad for its humor element and creativity.The reason for his anger is the way the name 'Hari' was treated in the ad.This man has a (middle school aged) son named HARI.Apparently this Hari (jr.) is being traumatised as everyone makes fun of him now.They just call him 'hitler' or 'sadu' or say mean stuff 'inspired' from the ad.
Ridiculous!That's what I thought of the story.In the world of brainless advertisements.. (like shahrukh doing a "main hoon na" in the bath tub!) we hardly get to see an advertisement worthy of being appreciated.Agreed that probably the Hari Jr. is feeling bad, but maybe he requires councelling or something, the father just can't take up such a step.If that is the case then all the people with names identical to our bollywood villian characters will end up doing the same thing!
I personally feel that what the father of Hari Jr. is doing is wrong. Instead of helping his kid grow up and face the teasing himself, he'l holding naukri.com guys responsible!
Every parent thinks that his child is second to none-but i just hope they never forget that their child is not perfect.
All in all I think it is a contoversy uncalled for..

Disable or Differently able?

I’ve read a lot of magazines over the past few months (thanks to my interviews!). When I thought about them, there was only one article that came to my mind instantaneously.. I’ll give a briefing on that article which was published in ‘The Week’ (March 19)..
It is about Joby Mathew who became the first Indian to win World Arm-Wrestling Championship.If that alone is a great achievement-read on.. Joby’s is a saga of great determination to overcome his congenital disability- his legs are ONLY HALF A FOOT LONG.He says- “Being differently able does not mean you are disable.”
This article touched me.I mean this guy actually overcame his disability mentally and look at what he has achieved, something that even normal people could not. He did not consider it as his weakness and has showed great determination. I can never imagine myself doing anything like this. (I sit and crib about a hand pain or leg pain than do something constructive in that time). One look at his photo is enough to inspire you.(I scanned a lot to post his photo on the blog,maybe sometime later).
Whenever I crib about something that doesn’t go my way, a close friend of mine always asks me to look at the people around me (in a more broad sense) and then I’ll see that compared to the people who live on roads with no food to eat, we are all far better off and blessed.I never took his words seriously but just remembered while writing this!
I think another aspect that comes to light is about these group of ‘differently able’ people. What they need is not our sympathy but more of our encouragment. Joby says,” The real villain in my life is not my disability but poverty” .So one more wish added in my list of “Things to do in life” other than making it big is to help these people, encourage them and give them financial support.
That also brings me to the movie ‘Iqbal’ (LOVE THAT MOVIE!). Even in that movie Iqbal is shown as a strong character who is not dependent much on anybody and encouragement did wonders for him. I really wish I get an opportunity to help some differently able person sometime in life.(the word ‘disable’ doesn’t exist in my vocabulary now, and if you notice that the word ‘differently able’ has some sense of respect, something that they deserve).

My 21st Birthday…

I don’t know how u guys felt on ur 21st bday,but for me it wasn't like my other birthdays.. I felt really different today..as if I suddenly realized tht now I’m grown up!I mean-21 is considered to be an ADULT!(baap re-me an adult!!).I was excited on my 18th birthday because at tht time I loved growin old..but not anymore..Me and my friend came to the conclusion tht at 18 ur a major but at 21-ur an actual adult(mentally kathe!)
(I stil think-“My God!I’m ACTUALLY 21”)Maybe now I see the responsibilities that are lying ahead.I mostly will move out of Hyd-either for studies or for my job-so for the first time wil be stayin away from mamma-daddy!N one of the worst parts of growing up is tht my young nephews n nieces wil now call me chinnamma(aunty) rather than an akka(didi)which I would’v loved.
I just remembered a few of my cousins who got married at 21!WAT THE…..$#@#$%% How could they do tht..I mean-I stil feel like a kid(NOT THT I BEHAVE LIKE ONE!).So this coming yr I guess I’l also have to face some anxious over excited relatives who just jump over innocent girls who just crossed 21 to get them married!
Thanks to Orkut-a lot more friends called n wished-I felt really good.So for once I think orkut rocks!!
Now coming to my celebration part-it was pretty good..esp the evening!It didn start off too well..the lunch place was disastrous-the food sucked!I saw ‘harry porter’.Now I know thts not a very good idea(everybody’s whose heard this has just been askin me-“why harry porter” because I’m the kind who slept off reading the first harry porter book..tht too in the first chapter!).
The most embarrassing part was in the evening.We had a small get-together at a hotel..there was another group of around 10 ppl beside us n they suddenly started singing the “happy birthday..” song..It was the birthday of a qute boy..hardly 5 yrs old n his mom was helping him cut the cake-the scene was pretty qute!now fastforward an hour and a half.(tht family was stil there beside us)Suddenly I was surprised by a cake.(Till here it was ok).N then my family started singing "happy birthday dear divya.." tht too loudly!!!(with my jeeja ji encouraging everybody sayin”we should be louder than them!”)From my aunts-uncles to my youngest cousin everyone started singing n then clapped after the song!I even blew the numbered candle-21,2 n 1!!I really felt like a mix of a 2 yr old and a 1 yr old looking at those candles..I started the day feeling I’m a grown up now n again thinking about the evening..maybe am stil a kid and woh sab responsibilities ke liye abhi time hai...shayad!!

My IIM Interview experiences..

When my madam at college asked me about my interviews in front of the whole class-i just smiled and said-"Good".When my friends asked me i said-"ok,ok" n wen other iim call getters asked i just laughed!because i knew tht they are the only one's who'd understand tht no matter how well you do or how bad u do..u just cant judge ur chances of makin thru...
"So near yet so far.."
(i don kno why i'm comin up wit such cliched stuff today??)
my 5 calls are done..yet i don kno where i'l be.(I fortunately did my iimc well so..).But as far as the experience goes..I LOVED IT!
I met lots of ppl..had great fun before and after the interview..I esp remember my iiml interview where all the guys were so cool...they went on buggin a guy tht he'd convert the call as he was the only one wearin a stripes shirt while all of them were wearin plain shirts!so imagine all the silly stuff we were upto while waiting for our turn..the most wise-est statement tht was usually made to ppl who were last minute craming thru books was-"don try too hard-they'l screw you anyway"
N thts really the truth..those IIM profs are..don kno wt!no matter how much i wud prepare-each time i got screwed on something unexpected.Their knowledge base is tooooooo wide!.I now respect them a lot more than i did before..
The stress interviews were fun!!and especially wen they ridicule you and make u sound dumb-in my case,I would just smile n internally did feel dumb!!n continued to smile after tht!!
The no. of girls for the interviews were very very less..(so tht increases my chances as apparently the iim profs wudn screw up the girls ratio at their coll).
I also met guys who were so depressed tht they were goin to iim n not xlri as apparently the girls to boys ratio in the latter is 1:1!!!!so the guys were sulkin tht the kind of girls who come to iim's are so boring-Maybe this time they can cheer a bit;)
All my interviews were at IIM-B..chatha city(sorry banglore-ians) but the campus is reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally good.Everytime I go there,really wished i could study there.(Few guys wished too..as they saw a few 'hot babes'-as they called them, on campus!)
Anyway I shouldn get too greedy because wen i wrote CAT I thought MDI was my only chance..I'm very fortunate to have had this experience and now that its done,i'v given the interviews my best shot-i'l keep my fingers crossed and wait for the results!
(wish me luck!!)

My first one...

Hi guys!
My first blog finally...I kept delayin it..now tht my iim interviews r done,this is the only constuctive activity tht i could think off."My Journey..." it may sound cliched but frankly wen i thought abt wat i wud be posting..this was wat came to my mind.So guys,please comment wen u read my blog-it helps.N now if i'm asked to dedicate this blog then apart from my mom..(blah blah), sagar was the most important influnce-thanks!
I'm signin off now..hopin tht u guys wont get 'victimised' in the future:)