Mr. VK Pedia's blog , that I discovered yesterday has spurred me to post today again. Using the most solemn messages he has urged people to CONCENTRATE . I personally have always had problems with this word. When I was in class 5th, it so happened that my grandfather was reading a newspaper sitting on a chair beside me while I was reading my textbook. My right hand was simultaneously playing with a pencil. After 10 minutes, my grandfather could no more resist and remarked - "You can't do just one thing at a time; can you?". Years later when I used to study for my engineering entrance with Music blaring from my music system, he repeated that remark to my mom. And even today, while in office I cannot work with only one window open on my desktop. I usually will have a Yahoo! Or GMail window open while I am editing an official document and more often than not I would be composing a mail on these windows while I work on my document simultaneously. Multitaksing is something...

Media's over-enthused potrayal of a simple Darwinian concept of 'Survival Instinct' as the Mumbaikar Spirit has always agitated me ... so much irritating this term is to me that I could not even describe it in my own words. Thankfully, VKPedia has put his thoughts (which are the same as mine) very clearly - " 'To survive' is not copyright protected by the New Yorker or the Londoner or the Mumbaikar. It is the most basic of all instincts. In a life which is so subtly controlled by things beyond our control, this is what makes us report to work every single day. Volcano, earthquake or tsunami, I have some mouths to feed - at least one (my own). Not some media-devised snob value associated with living in one of the commercial capitals of this world." To read the complete post go to :- http://vkpedia.blogspot.com/2005/08/spirit-what-spirit.html

This blog completed 5000 (Panch Sahastra) hits (Pradarpanam = Impressions). Its been more than an year; I had started this blog during my summer internship in May 2004. Between then and today much has happened and this blog has recorded all of it. As of today, the next MastishK '05 and Prerana 2005 draw nearer; and Arbit Choudhury has transcended to mobile space from today. Among all this I continue to work with KPMG - and am still dreaming - the Indrajeet is still alive - hoping that he will never become a Nirmal. Here an old (unfinished) Poem of mine on Dreams ......... Chasing Dreams You dream big when, you're young. Jingoistic 'bout life without thinking of strife. Changing the world seems so easy then. You are too eager and ask! 'I will grow up when?' But as the times of test come, you fail! Is it conditions.... which betray you? or YOU who betray the dreams???? All dreams look like Shadows! Seemingly Real but fallacies all the same All roads are misty with...

It’s a mystery to me as to what we are supposed to do in life and as usual I was brooding over this subject when I thought over an analogy. Life can be supposed to have Work, Enjoyment and Satisfaction as its ingredients [one can add more to the list but those would fall under one of these 3 or a combination]. Then the next question arises – Is life a mixture or a compound? If it is a mixture then we can safely assume that life should contain both work and leisure – thus suggesting the work-life balance that most HR personnel recommend. Since the components of a mixture retain their own properties; work and life too would run on separate lines, at different times and for different purposes. But it could be a compound – right! In which case work and leisure would combine and form one substance. One substance – life. For example, for a musician, work and leisure are the same – music; for an actor, work and leisure would be the same – acting. Finally, for an entrepreneur Work, Leisure and...

My current reading is the biography of J.R.D. Tata (by R.M. Lala) since the past few days. It was probably just a coincidence that I read the chapter titled – ‘Getting Airborne’ which covered the birth of Indian aviation while I waited on the Bhopal Airport and during the flight to Mumbai. But as I flew from Raja Bhoj Airport (Bhopal) to Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport (Mumbai) in flat 1.5 hours I could compare my present with the text and it was exciting to make this comparison. Here are some quotes from the chapter which enthused me: “the only place to suitable to fly or land in Bombay were the mud-flats in Juhu, a fishing village and a beach resort ….” [Juhu? A village? … Mud Flats as am air strip for the country’s commercial capital?? ] “Captain Newall was keen on a passenger service than a mail service… Newall wrote to Peterson: “We do not agree with you . . . at Rs 100 per seat (Karanchi - Bombay) we feel confident they will do so…” [Rs 100!!!!!!! Gosh … sure I would love to board ...

Any movie which is accompanied by lots of pre-release fanfare invokes a typical scepticism in me; so was the case with ‘Mangal Pandey – the Rising’. I had almost expected a larger than life character of Mangal Pandey and an overenthusiastic performance by Aamir Khan. But to the credit of the film-makers, Mangal Pandey is a classic yet real-life presentation. Mangal Pandey was just a cog-wheel in the revolt of 1857, albeit an important one; the first spark but not the fire; a common sepoy in the British Army and a religious one. And so is he depicted in the movie. Neither the storyline nor Aamir’s portrayal of the character project Mangal Pandey as a great soldier – moderately educated, devoutly religious and even non-progressive (as implied by his strong belief in Castiesm). The narrative and storyline are successful in depicting that Mangal Pandey got caught in the winds of controversy merely due to coincidence and not because he had some heroic traits in him. There are some hints to ...

Just back from 1 week residential training at Rennaisance ↓ ..... A full week's training ... with a mixed group of KPMG consultants from Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore ... all ages, all enthnics, all qualifications (and so all designations in KPMG) ... 'twas fun - learnt a lot, revised some of my MBA stuff and found how to use it in actual business etc etc ... lots of case studies and mock interviews - an exciting week all in all .... will be leaving for home in about 2 hours time (Indian Airlines Flight for 6.30 AM) ... Today is a night out after a long time ... spent some time in NITIE writing software to be taken home ... and spent the rest reading blogs (we have net at home now :D ) ... read evam's blog after a long time - while reading the poems and about 'evam Indrajit' - the play ... and thoughts that I had just after watching the play, came back to me .. also inspired by the Poems on evam-blog here is a gush of wind from my side . . . . . . ----------------...

Well ... its been quite some time - we visited Lohagadh fort on 24th July ... considerable water has run under the bridge since then (pun intended).... and it is due to waters on Mumbai roads that I got the photos of the trip quite late. Lohagarh fort was built by the Marathas to guard the important routes on which trade takes place. It is situated near Bhaje village in Malvili, near Lonavala. It stands on a 3400 ft high hill, and the tough terrain makes it truly Lauh-Garh, implying invincibility of the fort. The fort could not be conquered by any attacking ruler, no matter how big an army he commandeered. The strategic marvel that this fort is, it is surpassed only by the monumental strategic blunder that lead to its fall. A twin fort, christened Visapur, was constructed on a hill adjacent to Lohagadh. Due to internal feuds between the then Maratha Rulers, the Visapur fort was acquired by the British with little resistance. The Lohgadh fort on the adjacent hill was then captured witho...