cmus speaks

Eulogy

My best friend in high school was a douche. I know it sounds twisted, but that’s what I used to call him in my head. Douche. He was one of those towards who you express conflicting emotions of both love and hatred. We shared a bond, strengthened by the common love towards outdoor sports, Green Day and dark humor. But, he was the Ranchodas Chanchad of our group, and it so happens that perfection in another causes envy in self. He won the sprint challenge by half a second; he scored more goals in the football finals; he spoke more languages, and he had a Parker pen. Even the math lords, Newton and Pythagoras, were indirectly working in his favor. While girls shot affectionate, sisterly looks at me for helping them solve their math problems, they laughed at Rancho’s theatrics involved in his attempts to find the mysterious x.

A story to remember

“My Very Eager Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets,” I repeated after my mom.

It was the late 90’s. Pluto was then still a part of the ‘Planethood’. As I had struggled to memorize the names of all the planets of our solar system, my mother had simply smiled and introduced me to the world of mnemonics. A series of unfamiliar, dissociated, impersonal names had suddenly converted into a simplified, relatable phrase.

Happy married life, broheim

It’s been a while. There hasn’t been a single night when I have not thought of my blog. I could give a million reasons for not writing, but to put it in two words, life happened.

Profound stuff. I guess I've still got it. Anyway, my most loyal follower is getting engaged and I thought it was a good time to resuscitate my dying blog. To be frank, I ~~could~~ should have mailed this directly to him, but this is as much for myself as is for him.

Online v/s pencil-paper

XAT - Xavier Aptitude Test - is an all India test conducted by XLRI (formerly known as Xavier Labour Relations Institute), a business school in Jamshedpur, as an entrance test for its management programmes as well as to many other reputed top B-schools in the country. Around 92,000 MBA aspirants gave the test this year on Jan 6, 2013.

XAT is a pencil-paper based test with three or four sections of multiple-choice questions. Each question paper consists of 25-30 sheets of paper. So, that makes it approximately 25 lakh sheets of paper printed every year.

Hence, the question: Why hasn't XLRI shifted to the online test mode, especially when it could save roughly thirty 60-feet tall trees annually?

WWE: A true story

As a kid, I always wanted to become a wrestling champion. Partly, I think, it was because I wanted to show my dominance over others. Skinny little boy that I was, I wished I could look the other guy in the eye and scare the shit out of him. But the real reason was probably a bit more insignificant.

To be on the other side

“You will not believe what just happened.” He heard her voice from behind him. Sliding towards one end of the wooden bench, he gave her some space to sit next to him. He was staring blankly at the open fountain in front of him, which was constantly gushing out water and spraying liquid all over in the vicinity. The park was serene, as always; the peace interspersed with the occasional chirping of the birds.

An Indian by heart, tongue and soul

Recently, I stumbled upon an interesting writing challenge in The Hindu, which I shall paraphrase it here.

Choose any item that we come across in our daily lives, say the tooth brush or the comb, and then research and write a small article on it covering some points such as: When did it come into existence, how does it work, what is its purpose, et cetera.

The Seven Habits of Highly Annoying People

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is a self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey, first published in 1989, which later on reached more than 25 million people. The American author presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. Seven habits you can adopt to being effective in attaining your goals.

Of course, I was enlightened about this fact only upon Stephen Covey’s demise last month.