With No Preparation

Here comes the 28^th of this month and I will sit for one of the top notch entrance exams of the country. Yeah, majority of you guys would have guessed it right, its Common Admission Test widely known as the CAT. Cracking CAT is the first step towards chasing your MBA dream as it paves way into one of the best management institutes of the country, the Indian Institutes of Management or IIM’s. 

You might be thinking so what’s the big deal in that, every year lakhs of students sit for few management seats across the country in hope of making it into one of the IIM’s. But then it’s not about everyone, it’s about me. I have been blessed with a prophecy since birth that nothing will go smooth and in a planned way with me. And, CAT’11 is no exception to it. 

Family, friends and well-wishers bombarded me with their suggestions of first earning a good job after the engineering degree, gaining some expertise and experience and then finally switching the gear towards the MBA. But all those suggestions fell on deaf ears; I was least interested in their words. Then putting aside suggestions from fellow college-mates I filled the test date in the middle of festive week. 

And here I’m with no air of relief. The preparations haven’t been unto the desired level as it I’m in the battle field with no arms and ammunition's. Making the matter worse are the chances of change in the test centre. 

So, here comes the 28^th laughing all the way and here I sit cramping. 

Note: I’m sorry for not been consistent with my posts. The pre-placement tests, major projects, entrance exams and final year are keeping me all busy these days. Yet blogging is not a hobby but a passion for me and so I couldn’t keep much distance from it for a long time.

MTV ROADIES 9.0: Blogger n Chandigarh

Sneak peek into the Roadies 9 Chandigarh Audition through a blogger lens, click here. 

Everything or Nothing is the tag line of Roadies 9, truly depicting the ambiance at Indradhanush Auditorium, the venue for the Roadies 9 Chandigarh audition. People from all walks of life crowded in to get selected for the most popular youth based reality television series. Roadies series have always lived unto its image of being rowdy and dusty with sharp and ravishing twists and turns where participants compete with each other in some of the annoying, embarrassing and weirdest tasks. 

when you want something vigorously; the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it

Paulo Coelho once quoted that when you want something vigorously; the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. Till 8^th October these lines were just like any other thoughtful words, better only to be read and left behind. But then I experienced the same on my way to the Roadies 9 audition venue. Being nocturnal caused me dearly as I wake just an hour before I was asked to officially report at the venue. Brushing aside any negative vibes I rushed fast so as to compensate for the delay. But then, in the path of joy and me lies the ignorance of bus drivers who took mine waving hand as an act of surrender before their supreme power. 

Tension creeping with no other way around me saw a messiah in the face of a young gentleman in his early twenties ridding the Royal Enfield. Finally, for the last time with full vigour I waved my hands asking for a hitchhike. This time God was all with me, gentleman heart resonated with mine, his legs pushing the metallic brakes making his big powerful black sparkling giant to stop at once. The journey which could have taken almost half an hour took merely 20 minutes. 

Gayatri, a young beautiful charming lady, working with the MTV India who called me a day before disclosing the news of me getting selected as one of the few bloggers to unleash the backstage hidden secrets of Roadies escorted me to the scintillating podium, on the way handing me a placard with press written in bold letters. Yeah! You read it right, a press card. The auditorium was jammed packed buzzing and sizzling with wannabe roadies. A crew member told me that people have been flocking at the gates of the auditorium since last night, chanting Roadies anthem and shouting slogans. 

A beautiful model set the mood high with her blazing anchoring. Soon ex-roadies Bani, Anamika, Mohit and Suchit came in to spur up the mood and in no time whatsoever the auditorium was wobbling with enchanted spirits. Then came up the announcement of the 3R’s coming in which rocked the auditorium like never before; Raghu, Rajeev & Rannvijay were all there with people shouting, dancing and doing it all to show their love, affection and above all passion for the glorious reality television series. Nagesh Kukunoor surprised all with his being there to promote his latest flick starring Rannvijay.

Rannvijay directing all the participants strictly to use only Hindi as the medium of expression in the group discussion touched my heart, even somewhere in the country Hindi is given its due status. Time and again Raghu & Rajeev asked the participants not to wear any masks and conceive their true identity as befooling them wasn’t easy and the repercussions would be tormenting. 

Meanwhile our joy spells no bound when we received news of interviewing the ex-roadies. I must confess this that even after being a Roadie Anamika hasn’t lost her perkiness. Ex-roadies narrated their eventful Roadie journey and life after that; they told us that Roadies unlike other reality shows isn’t scripted. They cherished each and every moment of the journey.

The group discussion rounds began soon after and we bloggers were given exclusive permission to be a part of it. It was overwhelming to see the MTV moderator setting the pace of the GD’s with participants doing their bit to outcast each other and MTV crew recording each and every intense moment. The interview with one of the moderator threw light on the essence of Roadies. It’s not always about aptitude but all about attitude which decides a participant altitude. 

  

nothing can trample hard work and strong will

Best things often happen late and so was the case here as our restless soul waiting to meet Raghu & Rajeev was given solace when Gayatri took us to their room. The twin stalwart narrated their Roadies journey from the very first series till the present one. They told us that nothing can trample hard work and strong will. It was great to see the youth icons full of humility and modesty. I found the mainstream media falsely distorting the image of Raghu Ram and Rajeev Lakshman. 

As a token of appreciation bloggers were given goodies from the crew of Roadies 9; thank you MTV India & BlogAdda for bestowing upon us a memorable moment to cherish for long.

Gustakhi Maaf: An Engineer testimony

Being enrolled in a four year degree course which would have not taken more than 2 years to accomplished if our policy makers would have thought out of the box resulted in mine writing this open letter to the Director-cum Principal of my college. 

Claimer: The post written here after is not a work of fiction. Any resemblance with dead or going to be dead (most likely to be me; thanks to all those scorching sycophants) is purely justifiable.

Sir, with due respect to your position (fair enough to ruin my career) and your age (fair enough to search Yatra.com) please bear with my impudence. It took my conscious more than 3 years and lots of humiliation to finally wake up to muster courage to pen my emotions. I wish you would have mustered the same amount of firmness and willingness to improve which could have laid me to suspend this self immolation task. Nevertheless, everything happens for good as your failure to curtail the wrongs gifted my blog a post to admire for long. 

Have you any idea about the crumbling situation of the college most scientific, modern and engrossing engineering branch? Please stop scratching your head… it has already been nominated for the best cricketing pitch! What, you aren’t able to figure it out the branch name I’m talking off? Mr. Genius, its Electronics & Instrumentation engineering whose students once were referred to as the extra intelligent engineers. Haven’t you noticed the apathy of the college faculty when I used the abbreviation ‘once’? Kindly have an introspection session with the faculty of the respective branch or gear up for the rebellious strike. Let the morons know that the custom of attendance in the lecture comes secondary to the duty of imparting knowledge. 

Dear sir I won’t leave you like that, it took me around 2 weeks and lots of courage to pen down the post. Have you ever been to the college canteen? I will suggest you not to try the daring task of entering it, if the answer to the above question is in negation. I know that the inflation is on a constant geometric rise in the country but then how can you justify the price of a single maggi as Rs. 25 when it hardly comes for Rs 10 in the market?  I always thought that MRP was something beyond which a shopkeeper can’t charge you even a single penny. But then the whole notion of MRP has been modified and transformed into LRP which stand for the Least Retail Price. Aren’t you aware of the fact that the canteen manager charges above the MRP? Please don’t nod your head again in negation, it sucks.

These were the two points a student can bear with, but what about the placements, a dream every student envisioned. Campus placements not only brightens up the career prospective of a student but also laden her/him with sense of pride and belongingness to the institute. Time and again I was told that the instrumentation engineering is the core of all industries as majority of them are switching to automation techniques for the production. Then why I’m left on the mercy of joint campus placements? Why I’m always asked to look for major IT companies setting aside my own core industries? 

Sir try to teach the faculty art of effective teaching, let them know that teaching if guided by favoritism results in an adverse effect in the mind and soul of a student which could jeopardize the country future as the students are the building blocks of a nation. Merit and not regional background must be kept in mind while rewarding the grades. 

Awake you soul and reason the post.