As I came out of my room around 2:30PM I saw a biiiig group of batchmates assembled – soon I found that all were planning to go a movie. It struck me hard – not because movies are banned or something, but suddenly I realized that I haven’t even thought of a movie for the more than 3 months. Why just myself, even others have stopped thinking about me going out on an outing or a movie. Even for this movie I wasn’t considered by others!! Nobody even asked me as a formality :( …. I have been working like a dog for the past 3 months – just chasing a dream – the online event that we are launching (I m sure most of readers of this blog know about it –in case you don’t here’s the link http://prerana-nitie.com/mastishk/ ) All I remember is that I have a deadline to meet, I get up everyday, drag myself to class, somehow spend time there (usually not in a position to comprehend what is going on – in dire need of sleep). And then I get back and start working. If I sleep early it is 3:00AM else ...

Just last post I wrote about the speed with which ideas penetrate through the net and now I find myself affected by the phenomenon. Reading Shubham’s blog on love I got a rush of ideas on my own concepts of love. I have never believed in the concept of love-at-first-site. In my opinion love is an expression of emotional addiction to anything. We love our parents, our brothers, sisters, and even cars, bikes and cities and towns. We get used to anything with which we spend considerable amount of time and somehow develop affection towards it. At first site we usually get attracted towards people (or for that matter objects like bikes) mainly due to one of the many attractive features in them. But love is not just appreciating these positive features. It goes much beyond infatuation; love means accepting your loved one along with the negative and positive points in it/him/her. I know some negative points about my mother, yet I love her – beyond expression. Same goes with my affection fo...

Got up late ... missed the first class and am early for the second.... so decided to visit a few blogs... As usual my blog itinerary started with Shubham...then moved on to Ganesh... and finally to vamsi....and then i got a shot.... to post on my own blog ... why?? I got something 'boiling' in my mind... My itinerary reminded me of days when I was in class XI-XII. When I used to get bored in the house my mother used to tell me to go out, meet some friends, freshen up. Isn’t it amazing how the online world is quite a mirror image of the real world? Even today when I get bored I move around; visit my friends (ie their blogs) and the come back to my house ie my own computer terminal. Another of my typical experiences on the net is the online payment of bills. Just like in past when people used to collect their bill from the electric department, go to the bank, take out money, move back to the electric office and pay the bill; in case of online payment I first go to my mobile se...

My first memory of Mumbai goes back to when I was in class 9th and came here with my parents. Crowded roads, jam-packed buses, pollution and finally dirty beaches – I instinctively disliked Mumbai. I remember having made a statement soon after that I would never live in Mumbai. But life took its toll. . . . . . . My next rendezvous with Mumbai was when I was in my second year of engineering and had to go to Pune from Bhilai via Mumbai. I spent around 4 hours on the Kalyan station – morning 4:00 AM to 9:00AM. And I confess I was terrified. Had never faced such a large crowd; the fact that the station buzzed like a fest at the wee hours of the morning was more than I could digest. I saw people all dressed up for office when I expected them to be in their cozy beds. I had quite a lot of luggage with me; had heard a lot about thefts and conmen of Mumbai; so had to move around all 5 platforms (for tickets etc) with my entire luggage. And then as my train approached, I was all prepared to ...

Today is 15th August, Independence Day - a great day for the nation; my motherland turns 58 today...... Here is an interesting peice of news on the occasion of Independence day of India Source: R-World Mobile News New York: The tower of majectic Empire State building here has been glowing saffron, white and green since Friday to mark India's Independence Day. The tricolor will don the building throughout the Sunday night. To add here is a poem dedicated to my dear Bhārat .... THE LOUDEST CALL ----------------------- Deathless it stands undettered as a rock ! As ages pass, and turn the clock. My nation Bhārat the greatest of all. Today gives the world one of its loudest calls. The Call . . . . . . . Come 'o' White & come 'o' Black See my glory, nothing do I lack Spiritual thoughts, you get in me Picturesque beauty, come here and see Tells you my people's intelligence: "You can't continue with your negligence" Even you...

One of the topics often discussed in Indian MBA classrooms is core competency; probably because the theory was given by CK Prahlad; the Business guru of Indian origin. But is core competency model really true? Let’s take a few successful firms. Wipro was primarily a FMCG products company till 1980, when it diversified into technology. Today Wipro is one of the 3 technology giants of India with Infosys and TCS. Its revenues are fully dependent on its Technology arm. The extent of restructuring is so high that Wipro's website has no mention of its FMCG business any more See More Another giant, ITC was incorporated in 1910 primarily as a cigarettes company. But soon it started diversifying. Its Packaging & Printing Business Division was set up in 1925. In 1975 the Company launched its Hotels business, and entered the Paperboards business in 1979. In 1990 ITC set up the International Business Division (IBD) for export of Agri-commodities. In 2000, ITC's Packaging & ...

The IP messenger is the lifeline of NITIE ... this simple to use network messaging software is the most used tool in the campus.... here is a screenshot What is amusing about IP messenger that it is not only used for messaging but has entered all spheres of life – people are known in the campus not by their original names but by their IP names; birthday notices are put up; news is broadcasted; movies and notes are exchanged; opinions are popularized; and even daily feuds are publicized on IP messenger. A multicast on IP messenger is the universal panacea for all problems – whether you are searching some lost soul in the campus or trying to figure out the course for the next days test. During exams the IP messenger is especially busy. People multicast their doubts and pat come replies clarifying (or further mystifying) doubts. A very interesting feature related to multicasts is the IP War. Anyone who wants to pass time multicasts any abstract albeit controversial topic. Soon th...

Gandhi has been my philosophical preoccupation almost for the past 2 months. It started when I borrowed the book “My experiments with truth” from Aurko during my holidays. And it reached a high when I visited the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati on 30th June. I also had a chance to watch a video of the play ‘Mi Nathuraam Godse Boltoye’ based on the assassination of Gandhi while I was in the first few pages of the book. The sharp contrast to Gandhi’s personality and their philosophy was very interesting to observe. Even Nathuram Godse was a freedom fighter but he was against partition of the nation – and considered Gandhi responsible for it. His philosophy was that if creation of Pakistan is not opposed, many new factions might emerge in the nation later. A dialogue of the play goes like this- “Today Muslim’s have asked for a new state, tomorrow Sikhs might ask for one, and imagine if each of the Hindu factions ask for a state; this nation will be fragmented to every inch.” What comes out...

Ahmedabad was the last leg of my itinerary. After Akshardhaam, the next stop was Gandhi Ashram - at Sabarmati. But more on this in my next post which I have decided to completely dedicate to Gandhiji.  I am writing this post as a link from the past to the present. While Gandhi was a past. . . my further posts might talk about my present preoccupation - both material and philosophical. The reason why my posts have been few and far in the past few days has been my extreme involvement in an activity which paves way into the future. . . It is a dream that i have nurtured since the past 6 months . . . I have strived alone(initially) and with support (now) and am still working . . . the battle is fierce. . we are racing against time . . and technology is our strong-post . . hope our efforts succeed . . will write more about this "Dream" in the coming posts . . but to bite time here's a poem on "Dreams" (PS: If there are people who regularly vis...

The next day we started our day with breakfast in a local shack; enjoyed the generic Gujarati food there. Then we decided to cover our farthest point first – the Akshardhaam temple in Gandhinagar. It took us about 1½ hrs to reach the place. This was the much famed temple on which terrorists had staged a hostage drama some months ago. But on all other counts I had expected a normal temple and didn’t expect my visit to last more than ½ hr.         As I entered after thorough security checks into the premises, I saw green lush lawns and a long pathway…. Nothing was visible beyond the pathway. As I walked across the pathway into the large door, a large open space opened before me. It was now that I realized how big this place was. But the real fun was yet to come. We went into the temple and paid our respects to lord Swaminarayan. It was a very beautiful temple and the carving on the inside was articulate and impressive. I was surprised to find that...